MA / Ph. D. Admission Advice Needed, English/Humanities

Graduate School
1

<p>Greetings and Salutations!</p>

<p>I'll get to the point straightaway: I hold a summa cum laude BA in English from a State school (3.86); earned the English Department Award, and an M. Ed. from the same school (3.73); scored in the 91st percentile Verbal GRE; bombed the Subject in Literature GRE (retaking in November, spending the summer studying); and had strong writing samples and series of LOR.</p>

<p>I (foolishly) applied to six top-tier Ph. D. programs for English / American Literature, and was rejected by all. I am reapplying this Fall, most likely to M. A. programs due to my horrific results last go-around.</p>

<p>My questions are as follows:</p>

<ol>
<li><p>I suspect that my 3.86 UGPA is not viewed as favorably as one from a private institution, and this was a contributory factor to my not getting in. True?</p></li>
<li><p>Would it make more sense to apply to American Studies/Humanities programs, rather than English? My fascination lies with post-bellum, pre-WWII literature, and the context in which it was written, but I'm not entirely sure that a M. A. in these specialties will allow me into a high-quality/good-fitting Ph. D. program in Literature, my eventual goal.</p></li>
<li><p>Is it necessary that I apply to M. A. programs exclusively? I'm having difficulty finding stats on successful Ph. D. applicants in the case of many schools, and, with the exception of UNC (who told me that my application was "strong, but misguided", particularly in the area of the SOP, which leaned too much away from the direction of a strictly scholarly snapshot), have little in the ways of frames of reference to determine if I am in fact a viable candidate.</p></li>
</ol>

<p>Thanks tons!!!</p>

<p>PS...Looking at MA programs at William and Mary (American Studies), and Clemson, Wake Forest, NC State, and several Boston-area schools for English.</p>

2

<ol>
<li><p>FALSE</p></li>
<li><p>I suspect false as well. I’ve seen on LiveJournal that if English PhD students have had MA training, they did it in English. </p></li>
<li><p>No. You are MORE than welcomed to apply to a mix of MA and PhD programs to see what kind of results you get. This is also a good way to be sure that you CAN go to graduate school ASAP. But it’d make sense to apply to MA programs that have PhD program attached to it so that you MAY be recommended for PhD track when you finish up your second year and will be shooed in with funding for the rhe rest of your studies. If you want to apply to terminal MA programs, ask about funding AND results. See where they send their students for doctoral programs.</p></li>
</ol>

<p>You might think you had “strong” writing samples and SOP, but apparently the grad schools didn’t seem to think so. Get feedback from several professors if you can from your M.Ed and undergrad. What you might have written did not click with the department well. If you want to apply to those programs again, take the time to speak with the professors there and get an informational interview to determine the atmosphere of the department so that you can write a suitable essay for it.</p>

<p>What you DO need to concentrate on right now is finding matches for your interests.</p>

3

<p>I greatly appreciate your input. I’m thoroughly committed to diversifying my schools, and focusing more on getting my strengths across to the programs that I feel will be the best fit. Your assurance that my UG career at a State school was not in vain has bolstered my spirits.</p>

<p>I’ll keep y’all posted!</p>