Admission Chances English Lit. PhD Programs?

Hi!

I’d like to know what my chances are of getting into top PhD programs in English Literature?

I’m an international student and recently earned my MA in English Literature from Murray State University in one year (GPA: 3.8, two unfortunate B’s in my first semester).

My field of interest is Modern and Contemporary Drama.

I did my undergraduate studies in Germany (American studies and political science), but didn’t earn an undergraduate degree (different system).

Right now I’m doing an internship with a literary magazine, and I’m also trying to get a teaching position for January.

Since German is my native language, I have already fulfilled the language requirement for most programs.

In addition, I will present one of my papers at a conference this October.

My GRE scores are (just taken last week):

Verbal: 640

Quantitative: 570

Analytical: ?

The Programs I’m interested in (I know, too many):

Yale

Cornell

Columbia

Michigan, Ann Arbor

Minnesota, Twin Cities

NYU

Indiana, Bloomington

U of Pittsburgh

Ohio State

Vanderbilt

Purdue

Rochester

SUNY Stony Brook

UConn

UT Knoxville

Loyola Chicago

Texas Tech

Ole Miss

Thanks a lot!

Top 1 Answers

A few days ago

CanProf

Favorite Answer

You should be able to get into one of these, though maybe not the top schools (“Ivy League” as they are called in the US). What will be of great important however is for you a) to get good letters of recommendation from professors familiar with your work. and b) A good, well-written statement by you concerning why you wish admission, what your goals are etc. For “a”, if you can get a letter to a university from a professor who is him or herself a graduate of that university’s program that really helps and b) if possible get one of your professors to help you with this.

Good luck.