Two Espressos

antigone56, I think that most people refer to the numerical ranking of a given program in the USNWR rankings, since the reason two or more given programs are ranked equally is that they have the same numerical score and should thereby ostensibly be "equal" in quality (you probably already know this). At the risk of belaboring the issue, I'll say that I think that ordinal rankings (even USNWR) are very useful for broad classification: they help capture the intuitive sense of academic prestige. It's when we start splitting hairs (e.g., "Is program x, ranked 30th, better than program y, ranked 35th?") that the usefulness of rankings completely breaks down. That's my two cents, at least.

I'm glad to hear that others are enjoying their first week of classes as well! I agree that the workload is intense--my one seminar has 600+ pages of reading this week-- but I'm loving every minute of it.

My orientation starts on Monday too! I'm ridiculously excited. Here's to hoping at least some of us cross paths--anonymously or not-- at a conference or something in the future!

I've officially moved into my new apartment! I've only been here for a few days, but I can already tell that I'm going to love it here: lots of great restaurants and bars, a plethora of both chain and local stores, awesome locally sourced food, tons of opportunities for intellectual collaboration both at UNC and at peer institutions like Duke-- not to mention the gorgeous NC weather. I don't know about you guys, but with classes starting in less than two weeks, I can barely contain my excitement. We're really going to be Ph.D. students! Just think about how stressed/nervous/self-conscious we were about our abilities and grad applications a year ago... and here we are. Best of luck to those who are in the process of moving or are yet to move!

This week. I'm so excited.

The best part of rereading this thread is seeing people like Girl Who Wears Glasses who thought she'd have to do things differently next round...and then didn't need a next round. It makes me happy. What would I have done differently? I would have paid much closer attention to fit and funding, applying to a different set of schools. Oddly enough--or maybe not?-- the one program on my list that ended up being an excellent fit for the direction my research interests were going is the one I'm attending this fall.

From my understanding, what Proflorax has written here is basically correct. I was originally under the impression that TA positions were taxable but fellowships were not, but I now believe that to be erroneous. Here's a helpful discussion:

My GPA was roughly similar to yours: 4.0 major GPA, 3.76 overall. I'm attending a top 20 program this fall. Your GPA is certainly not a death knell. However, I'd encourage you to look at the individual statistics for the programs you're considering. From my admittedly limited investigation, it seemed like many top 20 programs had average GPAs of 3.8 or 3.9 (see, for example, http://englishcomplit.unc.edu/admissions/applying/FAQ).

Sad, but very true. It's probably only going to get worse.

Our apartment is ~2.5 miles from campus, which isn't exactly within walking distance but is still fairly close. We're on a bus line, though, and the buses are free.

I'm moving soon as well: less than a month, actually. Grad school will be upon us before we know it.

This. A similar sort of thing happened with me: my interests slightly shifted in the time between submitting my SOP and visiting my program, so the parts of my statement that really were in tune with the department were more implicit than explicit, but when I visited and articulated that shifting focus, it became apparent that my interests nested quite well with the future direction of the department. Personally, I think that that's probably the most important thing: matching with the department's focus or focuses, which goes much deeper than just historical periods and broad methodologies. I agree with Swagato: generally speaking, avoid catchy opening phrases or long biographical anecdote. There will always be exceptions to that rule, but at least in my case, the brief personal anecdote that opened my SOP was, in retrospect, goddamn awful. I'm pretty sure it added nothing to my application as a whole, and it was never mentioned by anyone. I regret writing it.

Cool, thanks for the link! I appreciate the helpful advice and recommendations all of you have provided in this thread.

Yeah, I find the idea of applying to 15+ schools absurd as well. From my limited experience of chatting with other applicants both online and off, applying to one or two dozen schools--or more, even!-- seems to be the norm, though.

My roommates and I are also in the throes of finding a place to live this August. We've found and applied for the perfect apartment and are currently waiting for owner approval. If that obtains, we're going to sign the lease as soon as possible and move down there in early August. Exciting stuff, everyone! Until moving day, that is.

We're still here, Rose Egypt. I'm usually just casually checking the boards without logging in, but maybe I should try to wean myself from Grad Cafe entirely for a while? It really kills productivity, and now that I've actually made it into a Ph.D. program, I have less of an excuse to spend hours upon hours on these forums. I do want to return in late fall to answer questions and offer advice about my program specifically, though. I'll be back, folks!

Ah, now you've piqued my interest! Hm...

Or, in my case:

Woah, slow down there. I of course agree with much of what has been written above, but I want to emphasize that you really shouldn't worry too much about graduate school applications at this point. Enjoy college life and your growth as a thinker and person; stressing about Ph.D. applications can wait! That's not to say, of course, that you shouldn't be thinking at all about these sorts of things, but I strongly suggest letting these concerns take a backseat to just being an undergrad. When I was a freshman, I made the mistake of being so wrapped up in worrying about Ph.D. applications that I ended up missing out on a lot. I feel like I'm writing to a slightly younger version of myself here. If I may be so bold, this sentence here does not bode well for your chances as a graduate student or future professional. I suspect your attitude on this reflects your age (again, either academically or physically; I don't want to presume that you're young), but assuming it isn't just that: the job market isn't the last thing on most everyone else's minds, so you're already at a disadvantage. Think about that. I speak as someone who will be starting a Ph.D. at a top-20 program this fall. I think my advice--and especially that of previous posters-- is eminently sensible, so I encourage you to mull over these things.

Anti-intellectualism in American culture (and I guess in Canadian culture as well, apropos your listed location, margarets) is pernicious. Personally, I haven't had to deal with it much, but I'd suggest trying to ignore it when you can. If the problem persists, nicely tell the person or persons to stop, explaining why it bothers you. I just don't understand why someone would gleefully admit to not reading, for example; if there are factors beyond your control that prevent you from so doing (learning disabilities, etc.), I get that. But if you're just being willfully ignorant, then my immediate reaction is to think, "this person is a moron." If you're up to it and feel that it is appropriate, engage in a defense of your field. This is surprisingly easy to do: the arguments in favor of many disciplines, even in the purportedly "useless" humanities, are quite strong. I will gladly argue with someone over the value of what I do. I know it's cool in America to flaunt one's idiocy, which is reflected in American politics and culture at large, but I want nothing to do with it.

This might be the best typo on the internet.

dot.matrix and ALeafOnTheWind, thank you for your suggestions. I remember seeing the DFW book on infinity in my university library; I'll have to check it out. And per your advice, ALeafOnTheWind, I'll look into an Analysis book for the set theory basics.

Thanks for responding, clurp. I'm very interested in interdisciplinary work between the sciences and the humanities, especially as regards language, so I've begun exploring formal logic, which is intimately related to natural language. I'd like gain a working knowledge of set theory as well--more than just a passing familiarity, but obviously much less than what graduate level maths students need-- because set theory is in some sense fundamental to mathematics, which also bears some relationship to natural language. In short, I'd like to have a background in set theory that would enable me to use those ideas in my humanistic research. Ideally, I'll be able to study set theory formally at my Ph.D. institution, but I wonder if I'll be able to find a course that will suit my needs, seeing as my maths background is minimal at best. One other bit of relevant info: I've read and own this book, which very briefly treats set theory, and while I think it's a great text, I want to find a book that's more in-depth while still remaining accessible.

Yeah, the time-to-degree rate in the humanities is deeply troubling; no one should be spending a decade in a doctoral program. Many of our friends in the sciences finish in 4-5 years, so I think 5-6 years--perhaps 7 in some rare cases-- is a reasonable goal for an English Ph.D. I haven't extensively studied this issue, but I'll offer a few suggestions as to why the time-to-degree rate is so bad: 1) foreign language requirements, which seem to trip many people up, especially those who haven't studied them prior to their doctoral program; 2) course distribution requirements, as outlined above; and 3) the terrible state of the job market. The last one may be the most significant reason: because it's so brutal out there, perhaps many people stay on in their Ph.D. programs as ABD teaching fellows so as to avoid possible joblessness when they go on the market. I know that at least some people do this. Thoughts from others? As an anecdote, my program requires its students to finish the doctorate in 8 years, but the program is designed to be completed in six years. I don't plan on taking longer than that.

Hello all, I'm planning on doing a lot of reading this summer before I start my Ph.D. this fall, and one of the things I'd like to learn about is set theory. Could any of you suggest an intro-level book on set theory that doesn't presuppose a lot of mathematical knowledge? There appear to be a lot of ostensibly "intro-level" set theory books; I'm having trouble finding one that fits my needs. I'm in the humanities, so obviously my mathematics background is rather paltry, mostly limited to propositional and predicate logic, but I think I could handle a book with some rigor so long as the theorems, proofs, etc. are introduced slowly and only after having been given the requisite information needed to understand them. I tried reading this book, but I quickly found it to be too difficult, as it began using notation without prior explanation. What's worse, the book had no solutions to its exercises, which is terrible. I was thinking about trying this book instead. Is this a good choice? Would you suggest something else instead? My ideal text would have at least a handful of exercises--with solutions!-- and would be self-contained, i.e., providing all the knowledge necessary in the early sections to understand the later, more difficult sections. Thanks!