So, how's the studying going?

[cridamour]

Do have a couple of questions I'm hoping you could help with....first of all, HOW MANY univs should one ideally apply to? I'm thinking about 10! Spacing it out...NYU, Stanford, Columbia, Boston, UCLA, Michigan, UPenn, Cornell, Brown, U of Chicago, Berkeley...I am interested in Modernist Lit and they all have excellent english depts.

Is three letters of recommendation enough? 2-3 pages for an SOP?

So, answers:
- 3 LORs is enough, no need to get more if you know you'll have 3 people singing your praise. It's always good to keep a 4th one "on the bench" in case one of the 3 is late or messes up. (I had one of those and had to resort to a last minute change..., so, arrange this early enough in advance.)
- SOP-length depends on the university, most have different requirements. On average, 1000 words, but some ask for 500 words or allow you to write 2500. Try not to just fill out however much you're allowed. I would advise you never to go over 1500 words.
- Now, number of universities... As you can see from my signature, I applied to 16 universities and wasn't sorry. In the end, I only had 2 offers with aid (which was a must for me). I was also rejected by my safety school (Oregon), so there is no way to predict your chances! If you want to make sure you're going to have a place to go to for the Fall of 2007, I would add some more universities. (if you can afford it) Some schools admit only 3 students, so even if your profile is excellent and it matches their research, you can still miss out. For Comparative Literature, for example, Brown admitted 5 students and Cornell only 3. Nobody (in literature) will be in a situation where you have a choice of 5 admits with aid.
For any other questions, feel free to post here or contact me by sending me a PM. Are you applying for English Lit?

[bluewhisky]

hiya cridamour....so grateful for answers..thanks a ton! Yes I am applying for a PhD in English Lit..specifically in Modernist Literature but cant get any narrower than that at the moment! Yes aid is a MUST for me as well and shall try and apply to as many universities as i can afford...
At the moment am trying to decide the topic for the critical essays that i need to send in along with my applications! Also my GRE Subject scores seem to be taking ages...still havent gotten them..am dying!

will keep you posted on whats happening...what exactly are you doing? Comp lit in?

[grassissinging]

Dear Phinlit, Pkkim and Bluewhisky,

Hello there! I have been visiting this site for sometime but remained silent for very long. Taking the GRE in Lit was a big disaster for me. I haven't yet lost my hope completely because I still get to see people like you in this forum and the other forum like livejournal . Thank you so much for inspiring me through your enthusiasm expressed in mails written to each other.
I took the last GRE Lit exam and felt the same like you guys. But I was wondering why pkkim and phinlit are taking the test again, you scored more than 74%? Are you aiming for 99%? I think that is more than enough! I am thinking of retaking the test in November/December and I hope to get around 65%, is that too little or too much to ask for? I have no idea of what the average score is for admission. Some of the schools I applied last year suggested I should apply again and some said they would hold my application for one more year. Imagine the money I spent applying to 10-13 schools. I am taking the general GRE too at the end of August. I really hope it works this time, for Fall 2007. It's becoming more and more tough to get a placement for PhD in English Lit these days. I am interested in Postcolonial Lit.

Bluewhisky seems to be in track, he/she has already chosen a clear-cut area "Modern Lit" but I don't understand why pkkim and phinlit wants to move away from Business dept when the job prospects are so great in that discipline! Not only that they are taking this difficult test over and over again. God bless you, you have so much patience and courage to win over things!! Well...of course one needs passion to study and do well in a subject and you guys have vowed to achieve that. Will you guys help me with my study plan? I desperately need help and motivation to keep me moving . Good luck to you guys!

[pkkim]

Grassinging, I only took the GRE Lit test once--on April 1. Fortunately, it looks like I won't have to take it again (whew!)

I'm getting a second bachelor's, and my school awards undergrad lit credits for an over-80 percent performance on the GRE Lit exam.

[cridamour]

Double posting... Erin...

[cridamour]

Grassissinging, if you're having serious trouble with the GRE Subject Test, why don't you look into universities that don't require it? If they don't require it, they will surely understand it if you don't take it. (I presume you have to travel pretty far to find a place to take the test. If I wanted to take it, I would also have to go to another country because the test is not administered in Belgium...) I believe it is better to hand in an application without GRE Subject scores (if it is no requirement) than to hand in an application with low Subject scores (if there is no absolute requirement to report scores). You good give your all for the next test and maybe apply to some schools that require the test and some that don't. About reapplying to the same schools, my advice would be, don't! (Unless they told you the only thing that was missing was a better GRE Subject score.) I reapplied to a number of universities this year and was rejected by all schools I had applied to the year before. So, unless they give you a clear indication that they will let you in once you obtain higher GRE Subject score, I wouldn't apply to the same schools again. I have rarely heard of people getting accepted after a certain rejected them the year before. That's just my opinion, from experience.

At the moment am trying to decide the topic for the critical essays that i need to send in along with my applications! Also my GRE Subject scores seem to be taking ages...still havent gotten them..am dying!

will keep you posted on whats happening...what exactly are you doing? Comp lit in?

Yes, the writing sample is really important. I actually spent last summer writing a whole new paper because I felt I didn't have anything that represented the work I wanted to be doing in grad school. I had one of my old professors read it and comment on it. And, I must say, it was a great idea. You need time to do this, of course. Then again, I worked on my applications full-time from July through December. (I applied to 16 universities...) So, any other questions, I'm here. It takes a lot of courage to "survive" a round of applications, so, good luck!

About me? Well, I'm finishing up my teaching assignments (2 more weeks!) and then I'll continue organizing my big move to Providence to attend Brown for the next 5 years (if I'm lucky!) I'll be doing Comp Lit, a wild mixture of American, Italian, and French lit, with a splash of film studies and gender studies! My main interests are 20th century and mostly from a psychoanalytical angle. I'm still deciding whether to focus on limit events (Holocaust, Hiroshima, 9/11) or typically female maladies and suicide. (My mom's comment: "Couldn't you pick something a bit more up-beat?") I'm sure my classes will guide me in one direction or the other.

[cridamour]

Double posting, Erin, please delete...

[bluewhisky]

my scores were horrible!!! will definitely do the test again in nov. feel like a truck ran me down all over again