| A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z | AA | AB | AC | AD | AE | AF | AG | AH | AI | AJ | AK | AL | AM | ||
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1 | Testing | Undergrad | Graduate | Networking | Statement of Purpose | Writing Sample | CV | Letters of Recommendation | Other Details? Language prep? | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
2 | University | Acceptance or Rejection | Department | GRE Verbal/Percentile | GRE Quant/Percentile | GRE AW/Percentile | GRE AW/Percentile | GPA | Undergrad Institution Rank | Degree | GPA | Grad Institution Rank | Institution grants PhD in your field? | Famous Advisers? | Contacted POI at University? | If so, describe experience here. | Other connections to university (your own or LOR). Describe. | Areas of Focus | How specific was the project you laid out? (Describe as much as you want.) | Name professors in statement? How many? Was it Judith Butler? | Length of Statement | How did you begin? (Quote, anecdote, direct statement, etc.) | Other SOP comments | Relation to stated fields of interest | Length | Style of Writing | Complete piece or sample of larger work? | If part of larger work, included abstract? | Part of BA or MA thesis? | Other writing sample comments. | Conference Presentations? What kind? (1/National) | Publications | Teaching Experience | Fellowships | Research Experience | How well do you know them? | Undergrad/grad/mix? | Famous LORs? | ||
3 | Arizona State University | Acceptance | PhD English | 165/95th | 155/60th | 4.00/59th | N/A | 2.7 | University of New Orleans | MA English | 4 | University of New Orleans | No | Anne Boyd Rioux, Nancy Easterlin | No | Early 20th-century women science fiction writers | Very, very specific. | Named 3 professors and Project Hieroglyph (Center for Science and the Imagination) | 850 words, single-spaced | I began with an anecdote about my introduction to recovery projects | Made sure to give very specific plans for my diss. topic. Also highlighted teaching experience and how I've tried to work diss. topic into it as much as possible. | MA essay on evolutionary science and literary criticism | 15 pages | A bit out of my usual comfort zone, but shopped it into my first conference presentation so felt good about it. Lots of social scientists, evolutionary science, a look at gender studies and sexuality in a literary context. | Complete Piece | One national, one upcoming | Just college journal, but had one sumbission and one "revise and resubmit" at the time | One year as a TA, one year as an instructor post-degree | Nope | Just MA | Quite well. Professors and colleagues. | Grad. | One just published a pretty big book on my thesis author. | Not as great as it should be, to be honest. | ||||||
4 | Berkeley | Acceptance | English | 170/99th | 153/52nd | 5.5/98th | 650/82nd | 4 | Um... not sure. Good? I went to Berkeley for undergrad, too. | None | Nope! | I had really strong ties with two professors in the department, including the person who will supervise my Ph.D. | Old English literature, digital humanities | I laid out a specific project I wished to complete (essentially an extension of my undergrad honors thesis), and suggested future projects as well. | 2 at every school. Some Judith Butlers. :P | 800 words | Opened with a well known line from OE riddles. | Basically part of my senior thesis, so 100% related to what I want to work on. | 20 pp. + 2 pp. bibliography | Combination of database work, linguistic and anthropological background, and close-reading. | Complete | Yep. BA. | 2/ 1 undergrad at my school, the other the biggest international professional conference in my subfield (kind of a weird combo). | No | None | One summer research fellowship, 2 departmental prizes | 2 semesters research apprenticeship, 1 summer research fellowship. | Very close to 2, warm but not particularly cozy with the 3rd. | Undergrad (I don't have an MA) | Um, sort of? One rising star in my field, 1 super-famous person in a totally different field, 1 solid scholar in a totally different field | Intermediate proficiency in Latin, Old English; non-traditional undergrad (late 20's) | |||||||||
5 | Bloomington Indiana | Acceptance | English Literature | 163/92nd | 143/15th | 4.0/56th | 520/36th | 3.9 | public city college | None | No | No | None | Eighteenth-century lit and gender studies | Moderately specific | Yes, I named only one in this SOP, but I was specific in other aspects, such as library resources, that would be very helpful for me. | 800 words | By showcasing how my research was enabled by the archival and interdisciplinary work I had done. | Very related. | 19 pp. | Historical | Complete. | n/a | Yes, BA | 2 / regional MLA and one hosted by my school. | n/a | n/a | Yes, two summer research fellowships and an undergraduate fellowship offered by my school | 2 summer research programs and archival research. | 2 very well, 1 less well. | undergrad, but I had a graduate seminar with one of them and independent studies with all of them. | not particularly, although 2 were tenured and 1 tenure track. | latin/french non-traditional student | |||||||
6 | Boston College | Acceptance | English | 169/99th | 158/70th | 5/93rd | 650/84th | First (British Degree Class) | Top 100 overall, Top 50 English department | None | No | None | Irish nineteenth century, narratology | Quite specific (names texts and theorists, suggested a starting point and possible further lines of enquiry) | One | 1350 (Yup) | Boring intro paragraph, brief description of my interests thus far and a thesis statement for my proposed project - anything else struck me as gimmicky | One paragraph on my academic background, then three on my research interests and proposed project, then one on fit | Different period (contemporary novel), but similar theoretically | 20 pp. | Abriged version of dissertation | No - I rewrote it so it worked as a complete essay | Yes | None | One undergrad journal pub | None | None | None | 2 quite well, the other was just a prof I took a class with | Within Irish studies they'd be well known | Studied Irish from age 4 to age 17, also conversational spanish. Joint Honours BA English and History | |||||||||
7 | Johns Hopkins; UC Berkeley; Notre Dame; NYU | Acceptance | English PhD | 168/98th | 149/35th | 5.0/93rd | 710/95th | 4 | Top 50 Private | n/a | no | Early modern poetry, ecocriticism, Milton | Somewhat specific: described past research and posed some further research questions; mentioned a recent journal article in the field | no | 2 pages | Anecdote about first getting interested in EM Lit | directly related | 25 pages for NYU; 20 for UCB JHU ND | Theoretical/close reading | sample, but edited to be self contained | yes | BA Honors thesis | 1 national undergrad | nope | none | 2 independent research projects | all 3 very well | undergrad | yeah | few years of latin | ||||||||||
8 | Kansas State University, University of Oklahoma, West Virginia University | Acceptance | English MA | 167/98th | 152/47th | 4.5/82nd | N/A | 2.1 UK/~3.7 US | University of East Anglia (UK) | None | No | None | 21st Century Literature/Comics/Feminist Literature | Moderately specific. I described work I've already done and how I want to take it further. | Yes, I named one professor and went into brief detail about why I wanted to work with them. No Butlers. | 800 words | I went directly into why I studied in the UK (as an American student) and how my work at UEA influenced my research interests. | |||||||||||||||||||||||
9 | Northwestern | Acceptance | English PhD | 170/99th | 158/70th | 5.5/97th | 780/99th | 3.71 | small southern liberal arts college | MA English | 3.85 | large state school | Yes | Thesis director well-known in field | No | Advisor knows POI professionally | Early modern drama, ecocriticism, history of science, sound studies | Reasonably: described master's thesis in detail, gave a direction to expand it toward a diss, asked four potential questions that might animate that diss | Yes, 1 | 500 words | Rhetorical question about difficulty of representing climate change through visual media | Directly related | 24 pgs plus endnotes | Historical/theoretical, broken into three sections, the last two close reading primary texts | Complete | MA Thesis | Yes, regional MLA | Writing sample receive a revise and resubmit from a major journal in my field | Yes, 4 semesters as TA, 2 as first-year composition instructor, one summer as instructor of lit. survey | Research assistant to prof at MA institution | 2 very well, 1 pretty well | All grad, from MA university | One a senior scholar in my field, both others younger, but with a couple recent publications | |||||||
10 | Notre Dame | Acceptance | English PhD | 161/87th | 150/41st | 5.00/93rd | 3.82 | large state school | M.A. Linguistics | 3.9 | large state school | Yes | Kind of | Yes! | Emailed with POI and had a pleasant talk about their work and my interests. | POI familiar with my M.A. advisor's work | Medieval/linguistics | Moderately specific -- stated specific interests and questions I wanted to explore, but didn't specify texts or time period beyond medieval. | Yes; 2 | 2 pages | Directly addressing why the university fits my interests and goals. | ` | Directly related | 20 pages | Theoretical/close reading | Complete | No | Written in Chicago format | 1 small regional | Minor journal | 1 year university; 2 years HS | 2 quite well, 1 pretty well | All grad | Two quite well-known in medieval circles | Intermediate skills in a language that won't help me; very basic skills in a directly applicable language | |||||
11 | Ohio State | Acceptance | English | 168/98th | 155/60th | 5.5/98th | 680/89th | 3.9 | outside top 100 (non-flagship state school) | MA (English) | 4 | 90ish | Yes | Semi-famous | No | n/a | Friends w/current doctoral candidate | Early modern lit and education | Very. I talk about how my MA thesis and coursework dealt with the subject, and I floated a couple of other directions for future work. | Not by name, but I alluded to details about individuals' work that demonstrated specific knowledge of their work. | 1000 words | I opened with a paragraph on the opening scene of Doctor Faustus. My goal was to make people give a shit about early modern logic by showing that it's present in a work everyone knows. | Last paragraph dealt with teaching | Paper on Logic in Spenser's Shepheardes Calender. So, directly related. | 20 pp. | Style meaning methodology? I use a combination historicist-formalist approach. | Complete. | n/a | No | n/a | 5 / regional MLA being most prestigious | n/a | 4 courses of Freshman Comp | Internal fellowships through program and the Folger, but nothing like the national, competitive felllowships. | Research at Folger Shakespeare Library | Very | All grad | famous within Shakespeare studies | graduate of Hudson Strode Program in Renaissance Studies; two years Latin | |
12 | Ohio State | Acceptance | English | 162 / 90th | 148 / 32nd | 4.5 / 82nd | 570 / 57th | 3.94 | Prestigious / "public ivy" | MA (English) | 3.96 | Top 50 | Yup | Not really | No | None | Early modern poetry / Shakespeare / book history | Very specific -- half was dedicated to the research I have already done, and how I came to be interested in that research, and the other half was dedicated to how I could utilize those research methodologies on another project (though qualified with an important "for instance"). | Yes. Two professors mentioned as close fits, and two others mentioned as having "significant overlap as well." | 873 (including header and a citation) | Maybe cliche, but my first line included a rather pertinent quote from twenty-five years ago, which then launched in to how the quote is still relevant...and why. | I felt it important to talk a bit about my development as an academic, and honored my late undergraduate advisor by mentioning her by name. | Utterly related. My SOP talks about wanting to continue this work and applying the same research methodologies to similar works. | 19 pages of content. | Historicist; academic, but slightly conversational and occasionally "light." | Complete | n/a | No | Went through around eight rounds of revisions, and was commented on by five professors. I couldn't recommend this approach more. | Yes, this paper was presented at an interdisciplinary graduate works in progress, and received a very helpful response. | One academic essay in an undergrad journal; lots of poetry in journals of all sizes. | 101 as a junior lecturer. | Multiple graduate assistantships in writing centers and an interdisciplinary field committee in my area. | Reader at the Folger Shakespeare Library | 3 very well. | All grad. | Not "famous" per se, but 1 well-established, and 2 up-and-comers | Second application cycle. Basic reading knowledge of one language (Spanish) that isn't particularly relevant to my field. Oh, and I'm a 1st gen student well into my 30s... | ||
13 | Ohio State | Acceptance | English PhD | 168/98th | 152/47 | 4/56 | 3.97 | SLAC | MA English | 3.9 | large state school | Yes | Yup! | No | Rhetoric & Composition | Very specific--pitched a dissertation topic based on specific questions that arose from thesis research. | Directly addressed that I was writing to apply and then jumped into research interests | Directly related | Whatever the max was...20? | Historical/theoretical | Abridged prospectus | no | MA prospectus | So many revisions! | 3 national conferences (2 times at the biggest one in my field) and a couple undergrad ones | A couple undergrad and one under review | 2 years | Research assistant to prof in undergrad | Pretty well...our department is too large | All grad | Yup! | |||||||||
14 | PSU, Illinois, wisconsin-madison, Buffalo | acceptance | english | 167/97th | 153/52nd | 5.5/98th | 680/89th | 3.7 | top 40 public uni | none | yes | nah | Nope. | american poetry | Pretty specific. I outlined my interests and research corpus. (smaller than it sounds because of the delimited period within which i propose to work | Yep--at least 2 at every school. | 500-1000 | quick reading of a text related to my research | related. | 20 pp. | interpretation. | complete | n/a | Yes. BA. | 2 / hosted by my school | nope! | TA for an intermediate lit course (not in my area tho) | One summer research fellowship | Thesis work; no archive research to speak of | Very. | undergrad (though I took grad seminars with them) | nein | german minor | |||||||
15 | PSU, OSU, UW Madison, UMD, University of Louisville | Acceptance | English PhD | 169/99th | 159/73rd | 5.5/98th | 3.97 | small liberal arts college | MA English | 4 | large state school | Yes | Very well-known in the field | No | Current UMD student (MA), advisors know POI at PSU, OSU, and UWM | Rhetoric & Composition | Moderately specific: identified sub-field of interest and methods; visible trajectory for future projects | Yes, 3 at each (usually 2 major, one side interests) | 2 pages | Quote from foundational scholar in subfield of interest, transitioned into my investment in said field | Related | 19 pages | Historical/theoretical | Complete | No | 1 in undergrad, 1 coming up in Spring 2017 (regional MLA) | No | First-year comp instructor--2 semesters | 2 independent research projects in undergrad | 2 quite well, one pretty well | All grad | All very well-published | 2nd cycle applying | |||||||
16 | Stanford University | Acceptance | English | 170/99th | 155/59th | 4.0/59th | 690/92nd | 3.3 | not prestigious/SLAC | MA abroad, related field | foreign GPA; high | well-known international research university | Yes | Sorta | no | LOR knows some faculty members; several faculty members have visited my current department. | American literature | Very; describe thesis in detail and grand idea for the future direction of my research | Yes, 3-4, no Butlers, but maybe some up and coming Butlers. This part was very sketchy, not so in-depth. | 1100 words | Anecdote that illustrated themes/ideas I developed throughout the SOP | Very narrative, but focused on research trajectory | Related. | 21 pages | Historical + close-reading/theory | Complete | No | none | No | 1 year during MA | none | yes, fairly significant. | 2 very well, one pretty well. | mix | one is well-known, yes. | first round; three languages; non-traditional background. | ||||
17 | SUNY Binghamton | Acceptance | English | 157/74th | 146/25th | 4.0/56th | NA | 3.6 | large R1 state school | MA (English) | 4 | Top 50 | Yes | nah | No | None | Poco and Film | Very; describe thesis in detail and grand idea for the future direction of my research | Yes, 3-4, no Butlers, but maybe some up and coming Butlers | 900 words-ish | Paragraph on the final scene of a film, including description, quick reading, and how it jumpstarted my interests | only briefly mentioned assistant editor position on large journal in my field, and teaching | Completely related | 19 p. | interpretive and cultural | complete | n/a | No; want it to be part of the dis | Yes/ 1 small grad student conference, 1 national PCA/ACA | one submitted; awaiting decision | 2 years during MA | n/a | just the norm | 2 very well, 1 less well | All grad | nah | ||||
18 | SUNY Buffalo (2nd on list), University of Florida (3rd on list) | Waitlist | English | 157/74th | 146/25th | 4.0/56th | NA | 3.6 | large R1 state school | MA (English) | 4 | Top 50 | Yes | nah | No | None | Poco and Film | Very; describe thesis in detail and grand idea for the future direction of my research | Yes, 3-4, no Butlers, but maybe some up and coming Butlers | 901 words-ish | Paragraph on the final scene of a film, including description, quick reading, and how it jumpstarted my interests | only briefly mentioned assistant editor position on large journal in my field, and teaching | Completely related | 19 p. | interpretive and cultural | complete | n/a | No; want it to be part of the dis | Yes/ 1 small grad student conference, 1 national PCA/ACA | one submitted; awaiting decision | 2 years during MA | n/a | just the norm | 2 very well, 1 less well | All grad | nah | ||||
19 | Texas A&M University | Accepted | PhD English | 170 99th | 157 67th | 6 100th | 780 99th | 3.3 | Schreiner University | MA English | 4 | New Mexico Highlands | No. | Helen Blythe | No. | 19th Century British and Irish Literature, Literary Theory, Sensation Novel, Gothic Novels. | Pretty specific. I made it clear what my project leanings were, the authors and books I wanted to look into. | I kept mine pretty general and focused on what I was doing in my MA as well as what I wanted to research in the future. I didn't name any POIs. | 2 pages (single-spaced) | I introduced myself and where I was going to school, then went into what I was researching in my MA thesis. | It showcased my interest in contemperary literary theory and its applicaiton to Victorian texts. The sample played to my strengths and interests. | 20 pages. A&M actually asks for 15 pages but I sent the full thing anyway. | I tend to be a little more casual than most of the articles I read. I really dislike people who talk so above your head it's hard to make sense of them. I try to write so that my family member could pick up my paper and understand what I'm talking about. | Complete Piece | Just a paper from a seminar course I took in my MA. | I've been to 2 national conferences, or rather I went to the same national conference two years in a row. I've been to two Graduate Conferences, the University of Nevada- Reno, the University of Arizona. I've participated for the last 4 conferences, or student showcases, at the school I was attending. | Maybe one day... | My MA program has you teach off the bat. So I've taught Freshmen Composition three times and I taught a British Literature Survey course. | Maybe one day... | I do my own research all the time! I assisted the Victorianist professor with her work on Anthony Trollope | They've been my professors the past two years. | Grad. | Helen Blythe is fairly famous in the Victorian field. | I'm fluent in English and Spanish. I also know a fair bit of Latin and French. I hope to be fluent in French by the end of my PhD. | ||||||
20 | UCLA | acceptance | English Literature | 163/92nd | 143/15th | 4.0/56th | 520/36th | 3.9 | Dartmouth College | None | No | No | One of my recommender's knows someone on my adcomm because they study the same century, etc. | Eighteenth-century lit and gender studies | It was moderately specific. I talked about how I wanted to continue the work I presented in my writing sample which only scratches the surface of larger issues I want to work on. | Yes, it depended on the school, but I did try to find at least one person I definitely wanted to work with, but I also would usually conclude by speaking about "gender studies professors" in general rather than specifically targeting them as I did with my main interest named professors. | 900 words | By presenting a snapshot of how I became so invested in the themes I want to research which is partially personal, but largely dependent on two specific classes I took that are outside of my period of study (to show breadth of knowledge) | I used the majority of the SOP to detail how I have done academic research as it relates to the writing sample I sent in and my future goals. | Very related. I looked at an eighteenth-century text and a popular Restoration play under the lens of performance/masculinity. | 19 pp. | Historical | Complete. | n/a | Yes (but it contributes towards my thesis rather than be derived from it, if that makes sense. | 2 / regional MLA and one hosted by my school. One other invite, but I was unable to attend. | n/a | n/a | Yes, two summer research fellowships and an undergraduate fellowship offered by my school | 2 summer research programs and independent archival research at Yale. | 2 of them very well, 1 of them not as well. | they teach both undergrad/grad, and I had a graduate seminar from one of them. | Not particularly, although 2 were tenured and 1 tenure track. | 2 years of Latin, 2 years of French. non-traditional student | ||||||
21 | University of Alabama, Villanova University | Accepted | English Lit MA | 168 / 98th P | 157 / 67th P | 4.5 / 82nd P | N/A | 3.91 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
22 | University of Cincinnati | Acceptance | PhD English | 165/95th | 155/60th | 4.00/59th | N/A | 2.7 | University of New Orleans | MA English | 4 | University of New Orleans | No | Anne Boyd Rioux, Nancy Easterlin | No | Early 20th-century women science fiction writers | Very, very specific. | Named 3 professors | 850 words, single-spaced | I began with an anecdote about my introduction to recovery projects | Made sure to give very specific plans for my diss. topic. Also highlighted teaching experience and how I've tried to work diss. topic into it as much as possible. | Excerpt from my MA thesis | 25 pages | A lot of cultural/historical context for a largely-forgotten writer who was quite famous in the nineteenth century. Hardly any scholarship on her stuff, and zero on one of the stories I wrote about, so largely primary sources. | Sample of a larger work | Yes | MA Thesis | One national, one upcoming | Just college journal, but had one sumbission and one "revise and resubmit" at the time | One year as a TA, one year as an instructor post-degree | Nope | Just MA | Quite well. Professors and colleagues. | Grad. | One just published a pretty big book on my thesis author. | Not as great as it should be, to be honest. | ||||
23 | University of Connecticut | Acceptance | English | 166/96 | 149/37 | 5.5/98 | 600/66 | 3.8 | small state school | MA (English) | 3.9 | none | no | no | yes | brief email asking if she thought the program was a good for for me | None | 19th century | Moderately specific | Not by name, but I alluded to details about individuals' work that demonstrated specific knowledge of their work. | around 1000 | personal anectdote | very related | 20pp | historical I guess? | Complete | n/a | Yes, MA. | none | none | none | none | none | very well; former professors | all grad | no | Jesus that's a lot of questions. Third round of applying. | |||
24 | University of Kansas | Acceptance | PhD English | 165/95th | 155/60th | 4.00/59th | N/A | 2.7 | University of New Orleans | MA English | 4 | University of New Orleans | No | Anne Boyd Rioux, Nancy Easterlin | No | Early 20th-century women science fiction writers | Very, very specific. | Named 3 professors, including Kij Johnson and Gunn Center for Science Fiction | 500 words (so hard) | I began with an anecdote about my introduction to recovery projects | Excerpt from my MA thesis | 25 pages | A lot of cultural/historical context for a largely-forgotten writer who was quite famous in the nineteenth century. Hardly any scholarship on her stuff, and zero on one of the stories I wrote about, so largely primary sources. | Sample of a larger work | Yes | MA Thesis | One national, one upcoming | Just college journal, but had one sumbission and one "revise and resubmit" at the time | One year as a TA, one year as an instructor post-degree | Nope | Just MA | Quite well. Professors and colleagues. | Grad. | One just published a pretty big book on my thesis author. | Not as great as it should be, to be honest. | |||||
25 | University of Massachusetts - Amherst | Acceptance | PhD English | 164/94th | 147/27th | 5.5/98th | 600/68th | 3.4 | Small state school | MA English | 3.97 | #176 US News ranking; large public uni | No. | Not known. | No. | Early modern drama. Multimodal semiotics/cognitive poetics/ performance studies/ discussion of alterity. | Moderately specific. Did not mention specific dramatists/authors/works, only time period. Did name specific theories/theorists related to proposed research. | Yes, named 2-3 POIs per SOP, along with specific references to research and how it informed/inspired my own. Also mentioned resources/groups in the university + surrounding community that would be sources of support and influence. | 2 pages | Came from a different undergraduate background, so began by briefly addressing my previous field of study/career and how it morphed into literary studies. | par1&2: Brief discussion of academic/professional background/how I found my focus. par 3: Specific information as to intended path of study/research. par. 4: Addressed potential weakness in application without making it look like I was addressing a weakness. par. 5: Discussion of why I applied to that program: POIs, resources, reputation, etc. par. 6: Conclusion. Restated reasons for pursuing career in academia. Brief mention of goals/philosophies for the future. | Aligned exactly with stated fields of interest. | I think UMASS was the one that wanted a WS 10-15 pages, if I remember rightly, so this version of the paper was 14. | Not sure what this means. It was a paper that was accepted to an international conference and for publication. MLA format. | Complete | N/A | No. | I felt confident submitting the piece as my writing sample because of response from professors, its acceptance to an int'l conference, and its publication. I didn't really have a reason to ask for any further advice/revision on it. | 2 at university where I did my MA; 4 in the US; 2 int'l | 1 | Lecturer in different discipline +4 years. 1 year high school English teaching experience. 2 years Writing Center experience. 1 year adjunct (Comp I). 7 years as a curriculum developer, including English and French lit. | N/A | I took two classes with one of them, including my capstone seminar. He was very familiar with my work and writing sample. Took one class each w/ the other 2. | All from my MA program. | They're all well-known/respected in their fields. Not Butler-famous. | First PhD app cycle. Current adjunct instructor at HBUC. Fluent in spoken/written French. I'm 31. | ||||
26 | Syracuse University | Acceptance | English MA | 162/90th | 150/39th | 4.00/59th | 540/46th | 3.02, 3.91 Major | small state school | None | No | LOR did MA here | Fairly Specific | No | Aligned exactly with stated fields of interest. | 10 Pages + Works cited | Complete | No. | 1, 10 years ago | no | work at a writing center for 2 years | took classes with all 3 of them. One of them is a father figure | All undergrad | no | ||||||||||||||||
27 | University of Indiana-Bloomington | Acceptance | English PhD | '' | '' | '' | '' | '' | '' | '' | Yes | Read the DGS's book, sent her a thoughtful email | LOR familiar with faculty here | '' | '' | '' | '' | '' | '' | '' | '' | '' | '' | '' | '' | |||||||||||||||
28 | University of Nebraska-Lincoln | Acceptance | English MA | '' | '' | '' | '' | '' | '' | No | '' | '' | '' | '' | '' | '' | '' | '' | '' | '' | '' | '' | ||||||||||||||||||
29 | University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill | Waitlist turned acceptance | English | 170/99th | 158/77th | 5.0/90th | NA | 3.9 | top 100 public university | MA (English) | 3.6 | '' | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
30 | University of Pittsburgh | Acceptance | English PhD | 161/87th | 150/41st | 5.00/93rd | 3.82; 4.0 major | large state school; well-known | M.A. Linguistics | 3.8 | large state school | Yes | Yes! | Yes! | POI asked to speak over the phone after I reached out via email. | POI familiar with/fond of my M.A. university | Medieval/linguistics | Moderately specific -- stated specific interests and questions I wanted to explore, but didn't specify texts or time period beyond medieval. | Yes; 4 (2 major, 2 side interests) | 2 pages | Speaking about my academic career and the questions I grappled with throughout it. | ` | Directly related | Max length | Theoretical/close reading | Complete | No | Written in Chicago format | 1 small regional | Minor journal | 1 year university; 2 years HS | 2 quite well, 1 pretty well | All grad | 2/3 | ||||||
31 | University of South Florida | Acceptance | PhD English | 165/95th | 155/60th | 4.00/59th | N/A | 2.7 | University of New Orleans | MA English | 4 | University of New Orleans | No | Anne Boyd Rioux, Nancy Easterlin | No | Early 20th-century women science fiction writers | Very, very specific. | Named 3 professors | 850 words, single-spaced | I began with an anecdote about my introduction to recovery projects | Made sure to give very specific plans for my diss. topic. Also highlighted teaching experience and how I've tried to work diss. topic into it as much as possible. Also mentioned my less-than-stellar undergrad experience and my eagerness to Do All The Things as an MA student. | MA essay on evolutionary science and literary criticism | 15 pages | A bit out of my usual comfort zone, but shopped it into my first conference presentation so felt good about it. Lots of social scientists, evolutionary science, a look at gender studies and sexuality in a literary context. | Complete Piece | Was slightly longer than requested, but I felt strongly about the quality of my work so I went for it. | One national, one upcoming | Just college journal, but had one sumbission and one "revise and resubmit" at the time | One year as a TA, one year as an instructor post-degree | Nope | Just MA | Quite well. Professors and colleagues. | Grad. | One just published a pretty big book on my thesis author. | Not as great as it should be, to be honest. | |||||
32 | University of Washington, Seattle | Acceptance | English Literature | 157 / 74th | 151 / 45th | 5.5 / 98th | N/A | 3.67 | University of California | MA (English) | 4 | none | No | nah | No | 20th/21st Century American Literature / Queer Studies | Moderately specific | Yes, 2 professors, known for working with modern queer American texts | 900 words-ish | Direct statement of research interests as they relate to modern trends in modern American texts | Completely related | 18 pages | interpretive and cultural | Complete | n/a | No (Completed Comprehensive Exams instead of MA Thesis) | 7 conferences (3 regional conferences, 4 grad student conferences) | n/a | 1 year during MA; additional teaching position at local CC to begin after application completed | none | just the norm | 2 very well, 1 less well | 2 grad / 1 undergrad | 1 prominent in Medieval studies (but this isn't my field) | Jesus that's a lot of questions. Second round of applying. | |||||
33 | UT-Austin | Acceptance | English PhD | 165 | 156 | 5 | 590 | 3.77 | Small, lesser known liberal arts college | N/A | No | No | No | None that I'm aware of. | 19th and 20th cent. American, particularly Southern lit considered from a transnational perspective. Interdisciplinary as well. | Moderately specific. Traced questions from evolved interests, named specific authors, but not specific works that I want to pursue further. | Named three professors in statement. | 1200 words | Jumped right into what I wanted to study, time period, theoretical framework. Mentioned upbringing and what sparked my interests in undergrad. | Worked on it for about three years on and off! | Directly related. | 19 pages | Critical. | Complete. | Ba senior seminar final paper. | My writing sample was critical analysis of film, not literature. Tied to my SOP bc I mentioned that I was interested in film and literature and applied theory I mentioned in SOP to this film. However, I was quite worried about the fact that my statement was on film. | One presentation at college I attended. One presentation at ACLA international conference in March 2016 on a topic unrelated to my SOP. | No | None | Undergraduate summer research and internship fellowships. | None. | 3, one was my advisor, one supervised senior seminar paper, one taught me in two classes. | Undergrad | No | First app cycle, applying after almost 4 years out of undergrad. French minor. | |||||
34 | UT-Austin, UW Madison, Boston University (off waitlist) | Acceptance | PhD English | 166 (96th percentile) | 141 (15th) | 4.5 (82nd) | 600/68th | 3.63 | Top 40 public university (37th on US World & News) | N/A | No | In-laws are a UT Austin family, lot of them went to Texas schools (particularly Austin). Friend from undergrad went to the PhD program there (not totally sure if either of those mattered, but yeah) | 19th Century American Poetry, Women's Literature, Queer Theory and Disability Studies | Moderately specific, I'm in a very niche area and I pretty much told them I'd like to stay there, though I didn't go much into the kinds of books or authors I might reference. I talked about my thesis (undergrad) and talked about how I'd like to continue a lot of the trains of thought I started there (monstrosity and disability in the 19th c as it relates to women, the way women would conceptualized, etc.) | Named 3 POIs, didn't go into specifics of their research | 2 pages (single-spaced) | From my recollection I either opened with a little about my journalism background (been a freelance writer for 2 years), how I documented shows and why I wanted to go back to school then a deep dive into my research, or an anecdote about my parents, then the same deep dive | Sample was an excerpt from my undergrad thesis, a good overview of the sort of research I'd be doing | 22 pages | Academic. Lol jk, it was very theoretical. Lot of discussion of poetics, sociocultural readings and close reading. | Sample of a larger work | Nope | BA thesis | Only one academic publication (French translation of this colonial text in undergrad), roughly 30 journalistic publications/articles | 1 year Writing Center experience | N/A | Yeah, for my thesis (archival research at Harvard) and for my translation project (archival research at my undergrad institution.) | VERY WELL. One was my thesis advisor, another was my professor whose classes I took 3 years in a row, another same deal. Also my school was super small, so I got to know them well. | undergrad | They're respected, but no one is ultra famous | I'm capable in French. 2nd round applying (I applied during undergrad 2 years ago). I'll be 24 in July (is that relevant? Idk). | |||||||||
35 | UW Madison | Acceptance | English PhD | 166/97 | 152/47 | 5.0/93 | 590/65 | 3.93 | a UC school | N/A | No | 20th/21st century American literature (speculative fiction)/ feminist literature | Pretty specific, said I wanted to continue work done in my honors thesis but I also made sure to explicitly state that I knew my interests would change/stated a new field I could see my research intersecting with | Yes, 2. no butlers. | 500 | A quote/very short anecodte and then jumped into why i wanted to study in my field | Very related to my field. | 20 | i'm not sure what this means? i used feminist theory, some critical race stuff, and a lot of close reading | Complete | no | yes, BA | I finished my thesis in spring 2016, tweaked it over summer with help from advisors and then added a ton of footnotes last second after my advisor told me to. so yeah a lot of people read this over the course of like a year. | Just my undergraduate research conference | no | None | 2 very well, 1 pretty well | all undergrad (don't have a MA) | one well known in my field, other was a past MLA president so they're pretty well connected I guess | First app cycle, applying as a senior in undergrad but i have taken one graduate-level seminar that kinda gave me an idea that i wanted to do this + i think let my letter writer know that i could do this? I'll be 22 when I start in fall 2017 so i feel pretty freaking young | ||||||||||
36 | UW Madison, U Georgia, UC Davis | Acceptance | PhD English | 164/94th | 147/27th | 5.0/94th | 660/86th | 3.97 | large commuter state school | MA English | 4 | Same as undergrad | No | A couple well-known in my field | No | UGA has close ties with my UG/G university and my mentors specifically. UW has one POI connection with one of my mentors. | Early modern drama/poetry, non-Shakespearean dramatists, ecocriticism/material culture, book history & digital humanities | Moderately specific. I've not done any work in my proposed field as a whole (done eco stuff and book history stuff, not together though), so tried to lay out how I see my broad interests working together. | Yes, named 2-4 POIs per SOP. At least one sentence about each and why I wanted to work with them. No Butlers. | UW, 500. UGA, 1000. | UW, just jumped right in with research interests and work I've done so far, proposed my project in the first para. UGA, a short anecdote about how I developed my interests, then jumped into specifics in 2nd para. | Structured around my interests by order of rank. Intro, para 1 about primary interest and WS, connected WS to secondary interest, then discussed a prestigious internship I had post-MA and how it relates to my DH work and what I want to do in that area. | Related to 1/3 of my proposed fields, but discussed in WS how it shows my thought processes about the other fields/my approaches to eco and material culture. | 17 pages, not including Works Cited, which I messed up terribly in the UW app (but apparently it doesn't matter) | Historical and analytical. Lots of digital archival work and secondary sources. | Complete | n/a | No | 5 rounds of revisions, worked closely with my advisor/mentor, a PhD friend of mine at a top-20 program, and three other faculty I'm close with. PLEASE DO THIS. | 4 conferences. 2 from my uni (diff departments), 2 regional. A lecture from my time as a TA, three roundtable presentations at various departmental events. | No peer-reviewed, but 4 posts/articles in prestigious blogs in my field. | 2 years; 2 semesters comp/1 semester TAship in MA, a year of adjunct with 4:3 courseload divided between English and comp | GAship | Reader at Folger, Folger summer internship (unpaid, but still) | 3. Two very very well (former professors, current colleagues and mentors) and one well (was his TA) | Both, since I got my BA and MA at the same uni | All are well-known and respected in their fields, but wouldn't say Butler-famous. | First gen student, first app cycle. BA was double-major in English/History. Took a year off between MA and PhD apps to teach adjunct and save some money. Took 5 years of Latin in middle school but don't remember much, so not really relevant here. I'm in my early 20s. | ||
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