<p>So this season I have been accepted at Kenyon College, Emerson College, Salve Regina University, Northeastern University, Boston University, Emory University, and New York University. Financial aid is comparable from each institution but Emerson is the only honors program I got into, and that’s kind of nice.
I want to major in English with a concentration in Creative Writing with the intention of moving on to graduate studies in the field and eventually teaching the subject. I will be doing a lot of writing during my undergraduate years with a focus in fiction, quality of English Program is a huge factor for me. The only schools on the list that I’ve visited are Salve Regina and NYU, but I am visiting everywhere else before the May 1st, deadline. If you haven’t heard of Salve Regina no problem, it’s a small school I applied to as a safety.
Based on any knowledge of the program, and with the knowledge that money and gut instinct for me are pretty much a wash for most of these schools, which program would you recommend for me in terms of quality of teaching, grad school placement, and overall school enjoyment. If you wouldn't mind adding some detail about your choice (X Factors, Personal Experiences, industry perspective) that would be great!
Thanks for taking the time everyone! It’s a good choice to have to make.</p>
<p>I attended Oxford College of Emory but still know quite a bit about Emory’s Main campus. One of my closest relatives has also professionally published over 20 novels and two of my friends are English majors interested in creative writing. </p>
<p>English at Emory is an excellent program and almost all classes are taught in a seminar style format. There are a wide variety of literature courses availible, ranging from works on the Civil Rights Movements, to American Environmentalism, to Lord Byron. The creative writing professors are supposedly outstanding although they don’t seem to require the constant revisions that are so necessary to crafting an excellent book or short story. This is almost surely due to time constraints. After all, revisions take time, often far longer than what a semester with a full course load allows. </p>
<p>Keep in mind that Emory also requires students to complete around 10 general education courses. This means that you won’t just do English all the time. You must take other courses across a variety of subjects. </p>
<p>Beyond academics, Emory’s on campus life is quite strong and may be more vibrant than that of NYU’s. However, this is due to Emory’s location in an Atlanta suburb. Though ATL is close to Emory, and indeed quite accessible via MARTA, ZipCar, or a friend’s car, the separation between the city and school means that most students socialize on or near campus. </p>
<p>Thanks for the input! I can’t wait to visit Emory. How is it’s reputation vs NYU? It’s ranked higher but fewer people seem to know about it?
Anyone else have thoughts on this decision?</p>
<p>I was accepted at Emory as well and I think I will enjoy it. However, I am a little Jealous that you were accepted at NYU. I wish it was on my radar when I was applying. Emory has a bus system that can take you downtown if you so desire, but can you beat Manhattan. But NYU is a little too “Shark Tank” for me so good luck if you go. I thing I am a little disappointed with is that I didn’t get the reactions I thought I would when I told people I was accepted. But who cares it’s top 20, that’s hard to beat.</p>
<p>Obligatory: The academic market in English is completed glutted, and less than 20% of people who begin a PhD in the discipline will end up in a tenure-track professor job in the field. Perhaps the situation will be a bit better by the time you are searching for an academic job, but it doesn’t look that way - the market’s been terrible since the 1970s and many universities are converting full-time professor positions to part-time adjunct jobs with no benefits.</p>
<p>BUT that’s irrelevant right now.</p>
<p>For an English major who wants to write, I would personally recommend a small to medium-sized environment because, in my experience, you’re more likely to get intensive writing experiences/assignments there. So personally I’d narrow it to Kenyon, Emerson, and Emory, and perhaps BU (it’s medium to large-ish). I have an irrational bias against NYU so ignore me on that note. I was in an honors program at a SLAC and personally I found it quite pointless. All of the classes are already small and intense, and there weren’t any special classes or even that many special experiences for honors students - anything we did, the non-honors students could do, too. So I wouldn’t choose based upon that.</p>
<p>From there I would just choose based on visits. They’re different. Emory’s probably the most well-known on your list; Atlanta/Decatur is a nice funky area with a cool writing/hipster scene that might appeal to you. (Emory is technically in the city of Atlanta, but in reality it’s in a more suburban area of Atlanta and is very close to/overlaps with the city of Decatur.)</p>
<p>Kenyon’s quite rural-ish and Midwestern, I think, so that wouldn’t have appealed to me as much when I was 18. Emerson’s specifically focused on the arts and journalism/writing so that may be a great environment for a budding writer to be in, except for me personally I love to talk to non-writers because they inspire me in unexpected ways. So personally I think I might go with Emory.</p>
<p>boyohboy, you’ve got some great choices, such that I knew what you were going to major in just from reading the list of schools to which you were admitted. The other posters make a lot of sense about the schools they address and the kinds of schools they prefer. I’d just like to add some support for NYU as a great place to shop for images, as Ginsberg put it and his NYC predecessor Whitman might have put it, and NYU as a great faculty of creative writers who are themselves surrounded by some of the greatest writers in the US. The creative writing brainpower of NYC is not to be underestimated. And NYU is one reason for their concentration there. Oh, to be 18 and have these choices! I have no horse in this race. </p>
<p>Thanks for all the replies! Juillet, I’ve been hearing that a lot about the saturation of the English PhD market. If I went to one of the less competitive schools on my list (perhaps Emerson), would it hurt my chances of getting into a top grad school? I won’t know until I’ve visited, but I’m liking what you guys are saying about Emory and NYU. </p>
<p>Bump. Any other thoughts?</p>
I’d go Salve Regina, without a doubt