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/lit/ - Literature

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2711722 No.2711722 [Reply] [Original]

I have a question for people who are in or know a lot about doctoral English programs.

Which specialization is the LEAST popular? I mean, which specialization could I apply to where I wouldn't have the most competition?

I honestly like the full range of English lit and don't care if I'm studying Milton or Romanticism or 20th Century Lit. or whatever. I just want to get into a good school.

My current English professor said Theory/Criticism is the most popular and I'll face the most competition applying for that specialization but poetry and poetics will have scant competition. I think she's full of shit.

What do you guys think? Right now I'm leaning toward Romanticism or 17th Century British. Most good schools have fewer professors in those fields so, I'm assuming, fewer applicants. But then I think that the 20th Century Lit has more professors, so probably more spots open.

what do?

>> No.2711731

How about Australian, Canadian, or other English-speaking countries? They sure as fuck don't get as much attention.

>> No.2711726

>I want to get a doctorate.
>In what?
>Anything. As long as it's a doctorate.

You are what's wrong with education.

>> No.2711740

>>2711726

I don't care what my specialization is in an ENGLISH DOCTORAL PROGRAM. Seriously, I don't care and that doesn't make me what's wrong with education.

It doesn't fucking matter what you specialize in; you're going to end up teaching Intro to Lit, anyway. Who fucking cares what you write your dissertation on? It's ALL interesting to me.

I just want to get into a good school, so I can teach a good school.

Blah, blah. Go fuck yourself.

>> No.2711755
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2711755

>2012
>not being in a relationship with a manic pixie hipster whose favorite author is Joyce

>> No.2711771

Post-Jacobean and Pre-Enlightenment literature would probably be good. Where did all the Swifteans go?

>> No.2711778

>>2711740
>I just want to get into a good school.
You're a fucking leech.

>>2711726
This guy's right.

>> No.2711794

>>2711778
>>2711778

Oh, I'm so convinced by your samefagging. You just sound bitter that I still have opportunities before me.

Oh gee, maybe you're right. I shouldn't try to get into a good school where most graduates get tenure track positions. No, that would be DISHONEST WOULDN'T IT?

Oh dear! Imagine if I applied to study Milton just because I wanted to get into U Penn or U Chicago but only kinda liked Milton at the moment. Wouldn't that be a travesty?! :0 !!!! where have my morals gone?! :0 !!!!

>> No.2711797

>>2711740
From someone who has been through the process in another field, take my word that schools can tell when you're bullshitting an interest. It won't necessarily be difficult to get past the paper assessment stage if your coursework, recommendations, writing sample, and statement look good enough but the schools worth going to - the ones who will fund you in full without putting outrageous teaching duties on you - will bring you in for a visit where you'll interview with the people in the field you say you're looking to study in. Since - if you're at all smart - you'll have mentioned these people in your personal statement, you'd better damn well know their work and be more than lightly conversant in their specialty field overall. If you don't impress them you won't get in, end of story. So if you choose a line, be polite enough to put the effort into actually learning it so you don't get your ass handed to you like I've seen happen in some interviews. In the current economy the doctoral applications keep rising each year so with all the candidates available there's no reason to take someone on promised potential as opposed to someone with demonstrable knowledge.

>> No.2711804

>>2711794

The only honest thing to do is to go to a State University and study exactly what you like the most. Then when you graduate you can teach 8 classes a semester as an adjunct professor making $28,000 a year.

But at least you'll know you didn't apply to a good school just because you find the whole scope of English specializations equally interesting.

>> No.2711809

Romanticist here, competition is decent, not what you're looking for. It depends on some things. You might have trouble finding people to work with for >>2711731 (but limited competition). >>2711771 is better advice.

Not that you'll make it through the program. Good luck with apps, though!

>> No.2711810
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2711810

>>2711794
>:0 !!!!
>:0 !!!!

>> No.2711816

>>2711797
>>2711797

Yea, I've received similar advice from professors. I have 20 or so months until I'm applying to these programs, and I have about $300 to spend on books. So, I'm researching the professors whose books I'm going to order.

Then I'm going to really master those books from those top tier schools and write my samples specific for the programs.

I'm very dedicated to getting into a good school even if, as those other people think, I'm a dishonest leech about it. I don't care.

>> No.2711819

>>2711809

hey, what do you think about Milton? What's the competition like for Milton studies?

>> No.2711820

>>2711816
>I have about $300 to spend on books

I hope you mean that as its own fund. Applying can be expensive.

>> No.2711824

>>2711820

I meant I have $300 for buying books from faculty I plan to target.

I have enough money to apply to 20 programs, which will cost about $2000.

>> No.2711831

Sincere question here.
What's more difficult: getting into a top-tier grad school or undergrad school? Like is it harder to get into Yale or Yale's doctorate program?

>> No.2711832

>>2711816

I did something similar in my application process. Book reviews will be your friend. Not so much for the books of the professors you plan on meeting with but for all the others that have come out in the field. It'll be a patchwork competency but you'll at least be conversationally familiar with the positions they argue and their relative strengths and weaknesses. A lot of work in mine was published only in articles though so then you just buckle down or hope for heavensent abstracts.


I don't envy you going through all this. It wrecked my life for the better part of a year. Paid off but I don't think I'd have the strength to do it again.

>> No.2711836
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2711836

ITT: reasons why I'm not sure if going back to school is worth the headache

>> No.2711838

>>2711831
>>2711831

Most of the top tier English programs have acceptance rates from 2-5%. So, they're pretty difficult to get into – about 1 out of 20 – but not impossible if you're really dedicated.

The Ivy League undergrad acceptance rates are about 10%

>> No.2711839

>>2711831

good grad schools are more difficult to get into

>> No.2711843

>>2711819
Budding Miltonist here. Milton is endlessly fascinating and complex, but you have to be able to step up to that homeboy's level. That means being versed in theology, the political and intellectual history of the English Civil War, Classical thought and literature, as well as English and Continental Renaissance literature. Some programs will require you to learn Classical languages and maybe Italian, though the really important stuff has already been translated into English.

Milton spent the majority of his public life as a civil servant, basically the Commonwealth's propaganda minister, so you'll be forced to read Milton's official publications, like his tract against Salmasius and his polemic against a book purportedly written by Charles I.

Also, the Milton scholarship community is small enough that a good Miltonist will be able to keep up with just about all of the debates going on. A Shakespearean of Dickensian scholar wouldn't be expected to do the same, given depth, breadth and volume of scholastic output for these authors.

Milton was very self-consciously a bookish poet and demands very careful and bookish scholarship. Generally speaking, high theory used to "open up" Milton isn't encouraged, so he may or may not be your cup of tea.

>> No.2711845

>>2711836
>>2711838
Yeah it's a nightmare getting into doctorate programs. Most of my MA friends were a year ahead of me and just went through the process. Some of them are going to podunk America just to get into a program that will give them a halfway decent assistantship. I'd love to go for a PhD but, sadly, it'd be a severe paycut for me even if I get a job teaching at a university. It's sad that I can say that, being a high school teacher.

OP, listen to the people here, try for areas of study you're actually passionate about. Brit Lit in general is pretty oversaturated regardless. World Literature is getting more and more popular but if it doesn't interest you then don't go for it.

>> No.2711876

>>2711845

Yea, I mean, part of me thinks I should just not try so hard and go to a 5th tier school like Baylor or Louisiana State or Northeastern University and just study whatever I want to study. Write my dissertation on the reinterpretation of mythology in Lord of the Rings or something. But then I think I'd end up with a shit teaching position.

I mean, even at pretty lousy schools, the tenured teaching faculty generally have degrees from reputable schools. And any school in the top 30 - even schools like Rice University - have acceptance rates around 2-5%.

>> No.2711883

>>2711876
have you looked into UNC Chapel Hill? I'm an english major right now here and I have no idea if we have a good grad school. but unc in general is decent.

>> No.2711891

how are you going to get professors to write recommendations enough for 20 applications?

but i can understand your approach to this. let's say you actually do write a worthwhile dissertation in your specialization; does the fact that you picked the specialization based on its having been a low-interest area among applicants, make it a worse dissertation than if it had been like your true passion?

it will make an interesting story to tell later in your career, perhaps even to troll your colleagues: yah i didn't care about my phd specialization, i'd just picked that as a way of gaming the system.

>> No.2711899

>>2711883

Are you kidding? Yea! UNC-Chapel Hill has a really good program. It's on my list to apply to. It's definitely top 20.

I've stalked your faculty's page looking for who will be my "target" at your school!

If I could get into a school at UNC Chapel Hill's level, I'd be perfectly happy. It's a good, solid 2nd tier school.

>> No.2711902

>>2711891

it's really easy nowadays. recommendations are done online and professors just copy-paste them. when I went from my undergrad to my masters program, I applied to 15 and it was no problem.

>> No.2711908

>>2711771

The worst period in English lit.
>hurr durr scatology
>fuck off

>> No.2711919

>>2711804
Not OP, but my mid-tier state university is currently hiring and English teacher for 40,000 starting salary teaching four classes/semester.

>> No.2711925

>>2711919

And whoever gets that position will have a phd from a top 20 school.

>> No.2711928

tall people pee in sinks