sobeobe

Wow, thank you! This is really what I've been looking for: someone who has been there who can give me a rundown like this. I think I will probably have a little culture shock, but it should be cool, once I get used to it. Looking forward to it. A lot. Campus is gorgeous, by the way. Also, I wonder how my crappy old Volvo wagon will fit in with all these luxury vehicles you speak of... Should be interesting

Ha. No, not familiar at all. Never lived in the south, barely even been there. I'm a westerner at heart and have spent most of my life in or west of the Rockies.

I was always under the impression that your wait-list was supposed to be about one and a half - two times the size of your incoming class. So, if you had four coming in, there'd be roughly a wait list of eight. Though, I've seen this be even smaller; one year, I was wait listed at Texas Tech and I believe they had four incoming and three on the wait list (and even with three people, rather than 50, there still wasn't a chance for me). Anyway, I'm pretty sure none of the schools readwritenap mentioned had 20+ person phd cohorts. So, it must either be a regional thing or the wait list must encompass MA, MFA, and PhD. At least, that'd be my guess.

Datatape or Lolopixie, any good news?

Ole Miss for me.

Figured I would mention that I officially accepted the Ole Miss offer. If anyone else on here is planning on going, I look forward to seeing you in August.

Not that it matters, but I agree with everyone else: funding.

Nope, but I did my undergrad there. Bozeman is one of the best places on the planet!

Anyone want to give a rundown of Oxford, MS?

There have been a few mentions throughout the thread about "gut." Totally off topic (but then again, a lot of this is) but every time I see a post about "gut," I can't help but thinking of that quote from High Fidelity: "I've been listening to my gut since I was 14 years old, and frankly speaking, I've come to the conclusion that my guts have shit for brains."

Well, best of luck to you. The wait list is stressful; been there before and it was tough. There's always a pretty significant chance it could work out though, so I'd stay hopeful.

Bummer Datatape. How are things looking with Bama? I saw on your sig that you were wait listed there.

Toledo is... Well, interesting. At first glance, it's a total shithole. And that mostly holds true. However, you can find really interesting little places here and there. I'd say Toledo is the epitome of having to really search for, find, and then stay in the places you enjoy.

There were other programs in the running, but I think my decision is pretty final at this point. Ole Miss is definitely where I'll be next year. The faculty I talked to were great and the department wants to start getting environmental lit more integrated within the program, which is a very attractive option for me. I like the idea of helping to establish something. Coming from NYC? See, I'm coming from Ohio, and I don't care for it much; I need some place with a little more culture. Oxford is pretty damn cool. I have a friend out here who got into Purdue, but didn't get funding, so I don't know how their package is. All three of those programs seem really great though. There's nothing better than having options. If you choose Ole Miss, let me know.

Hey JBarks, my area is environmental literature and ecocriticism, mostly with 20th century American. You're medieval, right? I'm not worried about the stipend; it's bigger than my M.A. stipend and seems on par with most of the other numbers I've been hearing from folks accepted to other programs. Maybe a bit lower, but not by much. And the teaching load is solid. I've heard that FSU (which I saw there on your signature) is making people teach a 2/2 load. Is that true? If so, that's nuts. Plus, like you said, COL is pretty cheap. I can live on the cheap pretty easy. What are the other programs you are debating between? If you don't mind me asking, where are you leaning? Have you visited the towns at all? I know this probably shouldn't be the case, but a deciding factor for me is definitely locale. I want to make sure I am in a cool place, somewhere with culture