teafortwo971

Thank you for that--I do have a habit of overthinking everything. A lot of my MA cohort applied for PhDs whilst still finishing up the MA and I felt a bit behind.

Hello all, I've just finished an MA in Comp Lit, which I did immediately after finishing my BA in English. I am planning to apply for PhDs for Fall 2016, so that will be two years off between the MA and PhD (really just about 1 between finishing the MA and applying for the PhD) I know that (especially based on some of the other threads on this board) that time off is often considered a good thing; I am worried about what I will be doing with my time. I did my MA in the UK (I am a US citizen) and am keen on staying over here for a bit to work before returning home. If I do of course manage to acquire one of those impossible visas, I will very likely be doing job that has nothing to do with my degree (most likely something administrative or in consultancy/grant/bid writing). There are no guarantees that if I were to go home I would be working within an academic field though I would have the freedom to try to get some kind of work within a university (no work restrictions!). I am planning to try to publish no matter what, and continue to submit to/attend conferences. I am just afraid that doing 'non academic' work for 2 years is going to reflect poorly on me. I guess my question is really, am I setting myself up for disaster if it appears I 'abandoned' academia to work for a few years? Is it going to make me incredibly less competitive. I know Literature is a particularly difficult 'field' to work in, regardless, but if I am not involved with teaching, books, or academics at all I am afraid I am going to look less dedicated. I know I need to time to apply because I would never get everything together by this December, but would it be best for me to pick up some odd jobs here and there that might tie in more with my future plans, rather than an unrelated, salaried position? sorry this is so convoluted, but I really appreciate any advice! I feel like I need to make the major decisions Right. This. Second, though I know I still do have some time. thank you all so much!

Hello all I just finished my MA and am planning to apply for PhD programs for 2016 Entry (taking a bit of time off to make some money/avoid burnout as I went into the MA right after undergrad). I am hoping to rework some of my past papers for publication in this time as well, however as a graduate, I am no longer affiliated with either of the universities for which I produced the work. So my question is really, is this done? I am not considering my MA thesis yet as won't see the mark for quite some time, but I do have two large undergraduate projects I have been sitting on that I know have some potential (with of course, quite a bit of reworking). Is it okay to try to publish now that I am temporarily out of academia? Do I need to get in touch with the professors/advisors from these past projects (other than for advice)? Do journals refuse works that come from unaffiliated authors? And, furthermore, were I to try to write up something new in my free time, is it possible to see it through to publication or must it have come from a university setting? I have never attempted to publish anything before and I am in the very early stages of this process--I haven't even identified any prospective journals yet--but I'd like to get a head start since I know how important publication is to career prospects in my field (Humanities, English specifically) Thank you!

Hi all I am currently finishing up an MA in Comparative Literature at UCL, with a BA in English Lit from America. I am really hoping to do a PhD in English at a top school in the US-UPenn, NYU, Columbia etc are all on my radar. I know the programs are competitive and as I want to stay in academia, I know that the field is too. I am considering taking a year out and starting another MA in September 2015; Digital Humanities (hopefully a 1 year program in the UK, most likely Kings College London). I know the field is going in this direction and I have always been fascinated by DH (a lot of my favourite professors are working on DH projects, as are some of my peers that were trained in straight humanities) though I have no actual experience and training. This is obviously a very costly investment as there is no funding for Americans taking on MA's in England, but I feel like this could not only make me a much more competitive PhD applicant, but also more appealing for potential tenure-track positions later on (I am terrified of ending up an adjunct until my soul gets eaten away). Does this seem like a massive waste of time and money? I know that I need a year or so before starting a PhD anyway as I did not take any time between my undergrad and my MA, but the more I think about it, the more excited I am by the prospect of getting involved in the emerging field. Is this worth a year and about $50k in loans, or should I just go straight for the PhDs and hope for the best?