English PhD at University of Michigan

[saramari]

Hello all--

I'd really like to get into Michigan's English PhD program, but I have no idea what to expect regarding their admissions process. I know that it's a good and therefore competitive school, but what kinds of scores do I need on the GRE to get in? Any help from anyone who knows anything about this would be greatly appreciated!! Thanks.

SaraMari

[cridamour]

Hi! Just some figures, you might already have these... Rankings for Ann Arbor in:

- gender and literature: 3
- post-1865 American literature: 14
- literature in general: 12

You can find other rankings on www.phds.org where you can give your own requirements.

So yes, highly ranked and pretty competitive. I would say for GRE scores, I presume they'll have an unofficial cut-off of 650 for the verbal. 650 will just be a minimum and you'll need to have a very good file to get in with 650. I'd say around 700 would make you more competitive. For the AWA, anything from 5.0 would be good, since universities do not really attach that much importance to it. For the verbal, I think an average score for a program like this will be somewhere in the 500s or so. (you just want it to be decent for funding reasons).
Again, this is just my opinion; I'd advise you to aim as high as possible for the verbal score and aim for solid scores on the other parts, if you can a 5.5 or 6.0 on the AWA. For these kinds of programs you will probably be competing with around 100 to 150 candidates for around 7 to 12 spots. (my estimate, but I think in literature (also English lit) more or less accurate) So, you cannot afford to put all your eggs in one basket. Good GPA alone, will not suffice, just as good GRE scores alone will not suffice, because of all those candidates, there will be enough with excellent GPA and GRE, so work hard on all parts of your application (GPA, GRE, SOP, letter of recommendation, CV/resume, writing sample!)
GOOD LUCK!!!