2018 Applicants

[klader]

Hey, all!! I just finished the first year of my MA and will be applying for comp/rhet PhD programs this fall. 

I've been MIA on this forum lately due to adjusting to grad school, but I found my groove and am ready to participate here again this application season. It really helped me out last year applying to MA programs.

So far my tentative list is Miami of Ohio, Ohio State, Bowling Green, Syracuse, Purdue, Michigan State, and East Carolina. I'm still looking more closely at these programs, though, and will probably change and expand my list as I go. 

I'm also trying to get ahead on my thesis this summer, so this should be fun. 

Next year I'll have an administrative assistantship and won't be teaching in the fall, so that might help with apps? I will be very busy still, though. Just a different kind of busy. 

Edited May 15, 2017 by klader

[steve3020]

On 5/13/2017 at 1:02 AM, Daenerys said:

I would ask as many MA professors as possible to write letters for you.  They know your capacity to do graduate level work.  Applications I have seen are due between Dec. 1 and Jan 4 (ish).  If you do a good paper early in a course you could ask that prof to write the recommendation.

 

 

Hey there. That's true - after all one of my letter writers only know my work from three years ago. Hopefully it will be clear soon if I can ask my MA profs for letters. How's everyone preparing for their apps? For me, knowing that my one-year MA won't give me much time to work on apps, I started writing my new writing sample. 

[klader]

@steve3020 I'm in a 2-year MA program and have a year under my belt already, but I'm not very fond of the papers I wrote this past year. They might have some potential, so I think I'm going to sit down soon and comb through each paper to see if I can reconstruct it into a solid writing sample. Or I may adapt a conference paper if there are more intriguing ideas. 

Honestly, I'm a bunch of "I may" and "I think" points because I'm already overwhelmed! 

 

[bpilgrim89]

Hi y'all! I'm applying for PhD programs as an 18th-centuryist, so shout out to others in that oft-ignored period! I'm also halfway through a 2-year MA program (there are so many of us here!) This summer is drafting my PS and editing my WS - and beginning work on my thesis of course. 

[yanicus]

10 hours ago, bpilgrim89 said:

Hi y'all! I'm applying for PhD programs as an 18th-centuryist, so shout out to others in that oft-ignored period! I'm also halfway through a 2-year MA program (there are so many of us here!) This summer is drafting my PS and editing my WS - and beginning work on my thesis of course. 

Yay another 18th-centuryist! Best of luck with everything  Happy to talk via PM if you want to talk about c18 stuff, or have any thoughts or questions!

[Keri]

Hi, glad to see this thread! I'm currently in the process of preparing my documents to apply for Spring 2018 for an MA! I'm going to apply to Bowling Green, Texas Tech and Arizona State. Each has a "different" program but all are interesting to me! My only problem is that I currently live in South Korea and can't move back for school - so my degree has to be an "online" program that I can attend from here. This limits my choices and I only really liked these programs (with BGSU/TT tied for my top schools)... so I'm nervous I am not applying to enough schools and won't be accepted

 

I'm almost finished writing my writing sample as I've been out of school for 5 years and don't have my old papers. I have 4 people writing my recommendations currently and I asked them to be done by the end of June so I could apply at the beginning of July. I'm really excited! 

[TeaOverCoffee]

On 5/23/2017 at 0:51 PM, bpilgrim89 said:

Hi y'all! I'm applying for PhD programs as an 18th-centuryist, so shout out to others in that oft-ignored period! I'm also halfway through a 2-year MA program (there are so many of us here!) This summer is drafting my PS and editing my WS - and beginning work on my thesis of course. 

I'm always thrilled to see another c18 scholar! Best of luck to you on your apps this fall!

Edited May 30, 2017 by TeaOverCoffee
Grammatical error

[halofinder]

Please ignore. New here. Wrong board. 

Edited May 30, 2017 by halofinder
Oops wrong board

[Keri]

How is everyone doing? Asked for any letters of recc yet / gotten started on your SOPs or writing samples?

 

I just finished my writing sample completely (though I'm sure I'll edit it again soon) and have written the first draft of my SOPs... so about 5 edits to go! I'm waiting on one last letter of recommendation, then a quick resume and I'm finished. 

 

Hoping to apply by the first / second week of July since it's online programs, not traditional ones. I'm also hoping to start in Spring 2018 if they allow me to. 

Edited June 8, 2017 by Keri

[WildeThing]

I've asked for recs and will spend the summer preparing for the GREs and polishing the sample.

[bigfluffybearcat]

Hi everyone! This is my first post, but I've been lurking around here a while. I'm very glad I found this site.

I'm hoping to apply for an MA in English, with concentration on rhetoric and composition (although I have only very little experience in that specific field, haha). I have a BA in English... but I live in a third world Asian country, and English is not my first language. Not sure how that's gonna affect stuffs--hopefully not too badly! I'm just really hoping I'll be good enough for U.S. universities.

I've got my university list pretty much fixed (I'll be applying to 5 universities). Right now I'm preparing my application for a scholarship from my government, because there's no way I can get myself anywhere without that. Unfortunately that means I'm a bit behind you guys in preparing my university application. I'm planning to catch up later in the summer.

Best of luck to us all!

[verjus]

Hi everyone,

I just finished my first year of an MA program and am planning on applying this December! I'm taking the summer to study for the GRE subject test, prepare my SOP/writing sample, and get started on my thesis. It's a little a overwhelming! Good luck to all!

[Keri]

Good luck on the GRE everyone! I took mine in May. It was tough, but I felt so much relief when I got a decent score after all the studying. You can do it!

[klader]

Hey, everyone! I hope you're having a happy first part of summer ?

I've gotten really off track ? I had this marvelous plan where I'd be reading for my thesis, working on my SoP and WS, and working on two conference presentations I'm giving in the fall. However, since I got out in May, my progress has been  abysmal -- read maybe 30 pages of ONE book (I checked out like 15), have a draft of only one SoP for one school, and have a few slides/thoughts for one presentation. I've also been working at a part-time job, too, but I stopped so I can have more time for this. 

How can I better manage my time for the remainder of summer so that I make some solid progress on my apps and everything else? How are you all managing your time and getting stuff done? 

[verjus]

@klader

You're not alone! I had a hellish end to my spring semester, and as a result I've been braindead for the past 2-3 weeks. But, realizing how much I want/need to do, I'm trying to get myself into gear by breaking things up and making myself accountable to others. I'm drafting a schedule with realistic minimum weekly targets for applications, thesis research, paper submissions, and GRE studying to make everything a bit more digestible. (I get an inordinate amount of pleasure just writing a plan down, building in tolerances, and then assessing my progress. The delight of checking things off is almost NSFW )  Also, a few of the people in my MA class are getting together for a workshop in a few weeks to read/give feedback on each other's work and ideas. Can you set up a similar group in your cohort? Otherwise, I'd be happy to participate in something online. Also, I'd also suggest returning to your plan and making sure your goals are specific, achievable, and time-bound. Sorry to sound all management-robot-like, but's just how I've learned to cope in my life as an over-anxious person.

Edited June 11, 2017 by verjus

[lit_nerd]

Hello everyone!

I'm about to finish my undergraduate degree in English at the University of Wisconsin - Madison in the Spring of 2018 and will be applying to PhD and MA programs in English Literature. I'm researching programs now and working on my SOPs and Writing Samples and trying to line up Letters of Recommendation. I was wondering how many of you have had essays published in journals or presented at conferences. A few of the schools I'm interested in applying to require a CV, and I don't have any published research to put on a CV. Do you think this will be concerning? 

[Dr. Old Bill]

42 minutes ago, lit_nerd said:

 I was wondering how many of you have had essays published in journals or presented at conferences. A few of the schools I'm interested in applying to require a CV, and I don't have any published research to put on a CV. Do you think this will be concerning? 

It is very, very uncommon (almost unheard of) for an undergraduate to have a single notable publication on his/her C.V. It is also very uncommon (but slightly less so) for an undergraduate to have any kind of conference presentation on his/her C.V. There is certainly no expectation that you should have anything like this, despite the C.V. requirement...so don't worry about it one bit!

[lit_nerd]

11 hours ago, Old Bill said:

so don't worry about it one bit!

Thank you, @Old Bill! That is great information to have; it definitely soothes my worried mind. If you wouldn't mind me asking, @Old Bill, how did you narrow down which PhD programs you wanted to apply to? I'm having trouble deciding if I should be applying to higher or lower ranked programs (according to USN and NRC rankings). Being a 20th century American, it seems that many schools have a good fit for me. If I focus those schools that have 20th century Americanists down to schools who also have faculty focusing on Ideology and Psychoanalysis in 20th Century American novels, my list gets too small. Any advice on finding schools with great fit?

 

[Dr. Old Bill]

5 minutes ago, lit_nerd said:

@Old BillIf you wouldn't mind me asking, @Old Bill, how did you narrow down which PhD programs you wanted to apply to? I'm having trouble deciding if I should be applying to higher or lower ranked programs (according to USN and NRC rankings). Being a 20th century American, it seems that many schools have a good fit for me. If I focus those schools that have 20th century Americanists down to schools who also have faculty focusing on Ideology and Psychoanalysis in 20th Century American novels, my list gets too small. Any advice on finding schools with great fit?

"Fit" is one of those difficult things to determine, yet is pretty much essential to the application process. You've got your era narrowed down, which is an important first step, and have an idea about specific subfields, which is important as well. One general bit of advice I have at this stage is to think about academic articles you have read that seem to mesh well with your interests, then find out where the authors of those articles are working...and if they're still doing the same type of work. If they are, then that's great...but you still need to look at what the rest of the scholars in the program are doing as well. If there are a couple of others who seem to be in the ballpark of your interests, then that program may be a good fit. There are still other subtle factors as well, however. Things like location, stipend, general program stature (I don't necessarily mean "rankings" here), competitive vs. cooperative environment etc. are all a part of "fit." Once you've got a few programs that are in the ballpark of "fit," then it might be a good time to reach out to current grad students in your general field, and potentially a professor or two -- for the latter, just a brief, polite email mentioning your interests and asking whether or not the kind of work you'd like to do would be supported in that program would suffice. For an email to a grad student, you might want to ask about what the location is like, how students interact with each other, whether the stipend is truly livable in that location etc.

"Fit" tends to come into sharper focus the further along you get in the application process. It's alright to start out with a list of twenty or so programs. Once you've got your Writing Sample sussed out, and have started drafting your Statements of Purpose, and have simply gone through program websites over and over again, some programs will start to appeal to you more than others -- you'll start to "feel" them a bit more. I personally had a large spreadsheet for each program; the headers were as follows: School, Location, App Fee, USN Rank, App Deadline, Lang. Req., Application Reqs., GRE Subject (Y/N), Funding, What Appeals to Me, What Doesn't Appeal to Me, Specific POIs, Overall Interest. In other words, I made a point of being very organized, and whittled things down as I gathered more information and honed in on the things that specifically appealed to me. There are many x-factors that are hard to take into account, of course, which is why I always recommend applying to at least ten programs (ideally a few more). In my case, I learned after the fact that two of my POIs at my top choice program are retiring next year...meaning that it probably wouldn't have been as good of a fit after all. There are so many variables that applying to more programs is just prudent, in my opinion.

Anyhow, these are just a few thoughts on that eternally amorphous notion of "fit" -- you'll never find a definitive answer to what constitutes "fit," and yet it is a legitimate (and perhaps even the most important) factor in applications...

[cowgirlsdontcry]

On ‎3‎/‎5‎/‎2017 at 6:19 PM, la_mod said:

I am definitely on the boat (assuming I don't get off this waitlist).

My plan:

+ get MA by August 2018 through one-year program

+ have writing sample finished May 2017 (it's my BA honor's thesis!)

+ maybe re-take the GRE Lit next month

+ submit for a CFP that relates to my research so I can add it to my CV (// get selected, so that I can add it, lol)

+ write specific SOP section for each program I'm applying to before starting my MA in September

+ clean up the more general parts of my SOP fall semester

+ try and be cool about this all 

All good ideas. I did an MA after BA as I don't believe I was ready for PhD. It greatly improved my chances, because I have a couple of major conferences and was able to see that I could write a good thesis. I was accepted at a school that requires a master's.

[lit_nerd]

2 hours ago, Old Bill said:

 Once you've got a few programs that are in the ballpark of "fit," then it might be a good time to reach out to current grad students in your general field, and potentially a professor or two -- for the latter, just a brief, polite email mentioning your interests and asking whether or not the kind of work you'd like to do would be supported in that program would suffice. For an email to a grad student, you might want to ask about what the location is like, how students interact with each other, whether the stipend is truly livable in that location etc.

I've always been a bit nervous to email people at the current program. Would you mind taking a look at an email I'm considering sending to a DGS at a school I'm interested in applying to? I can PM you a draft. 

[Dr. Old Bill]

37 minutes ago, lit_nerd said:

I've always been a bit nervous to email people at the current program. Would you mind taking a look at an email I'm considering sending to a DGS at a school I'm interested in applying to? I can PM you a draft. 

Sure, fire away.

[RydraWong]

@lit_nerd Welcome! I'm starting a PhD in literature at UW-Madison this fall - the faculty all seem lovely and it's certainly a good place to do 20th century American lit. Do you know if you'll be applying to Madison's program?

Also, you've already gotten a good answer to your question about publications/conferences so I just wanted to add that I didn't have any publications and the only "conference" I'd presented at was my university's undergraduate research conference, and I managed to have a fairly successful application season so I wouldn't stress about not having lines for these things on your CV! 

As far as fit goes, you've again received excellent advice re: contacting professors and such, so I'll just add that one really helpful thing that helped me narrow down my school choices / figure out "fit" was talking to the professors at my undergraduate institution, especially the professors who were working in the same area of interest as me. If your professors are up-to-date with research in your  field of interest, they will definitely know who's publishing cutting-edge stuff, which programs are generally strong, etc. When I was making my list of schools, I'd go to professors, show them my list, and then they'd rattle off a few people they knew at other institutions that were doing similar work, so that was extremely helpful!

Edited June 12, 2017 by RydraWong

[lit_nerd]

4 minutes ago, RydraWong said:

@lit_nerd Welcome! I'm starting a PhD in literature at UW-Madison this fall - the faculty all seem lovely and it's certainly a good place to do 20th century American lit. Do you know if you'll be applying to Madison's program?

Hey @RydraWong! Thanks for the kind reply! That's great to hear that you will be starting at UW-Madison this fall, it is a wonderful place. I don't think that I will be applying to Madison's program. I've lived in Madison nearly my entire life, and I'm ready for a change. With that said, I hope we bump into each other at College Library this year! Do you know if you'll be a TA in any courses this year? Do you know which professors you'll be working with? I would highly suggest getting to know Elizabeth Bearden, she's a wonderful professor (though she teaches Renaissance literature, she also teaches courses on literary theory). Feel free to PM me if you have any questions about living in Madison!

Thanks for the advice as well. I'll make sure to show a couple of professors my list of schools that I'm considering. 

[aves]

I'm definitely in this boat right now! Going to be applying for Fall 2018 PhD programs and a few Masters. Mainly working on improving my GRE scores right now then improving my writing sample and writing my SOPs will come later. Just trying to stay sane while studying 7+ hours a day for this test