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Dr. Juice

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  • Posts

    11
  • Joined

  • Last visited

About Dr. Juice

  • Birthday 05/20/1981

Profile Information

  • Gender
    Male
  • Location
    NE Philly
  • Interests
    - Restoration period British history and literature, Aphra Behn, gender & class

    - Music, drums, lifting

    - drjuice1@gmail.com
  • Program
    English, PhD

Dr. Juice's Achievements

Decaf

Decaf (2/10)

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  1. i'm all set for housing. are you on UM Housing Dept.'s Roommate Finder yet? that's how i hooked up with my roommate/found a place.
  2. hey, not sure if you've heard from Rochester yet, but i have. Dr. Kegl replied to the e-mail i sent her declining my spot on the wait list: she said no spots have opened up there yet anyway. of course, i'm going for Restoration lit., so i don't know if that matters.
  3. hmmm...well, i'm an English major, and for all the programs i applied to, disclaimers were given on their sites about not contacting the faculty.
  4. hey all, i currently live in Philly, i've lived here all my life, and i got my BA and MA here as well. i won't be keeping up with this thread since i'm not attending grad school here, but if you have any questions at all about Philly (housing, safety of neighborhoods, places to hang out, etc.) i'm happy to help. feel free to shoot me a pm and i'll do my best to give you good intel.
  5. i just sent in my paperwork confirming my acceptance. i've started informally digging around. i haven't found much, but here's all i have so far: 1) the best places to look (closest to campus, safe area) are Coral Gables and South Miami. apparently, if you can't find anything in those areas, the next best is Kendall. 2) Here is UM's off-campus housing site. on the right is a roommate finder (not many people on here, though, and they're mostly all undergrads) and a link to apartment listings. 3) Here are Craig's List Miami housing listings. there are tabs at the top that let you choose "Miami/Dade." 4) i've casually browsed the listings and made a couple phone calls. prices i've seen have ranged from $350 - $900/month (per person). some of these prices include all utilities, others include 1-2 utilities, and some include 0 utilities. in terms of living space, there are a lot of studios and rooms in houses. in some places, you'll be rooming with students (not necessarily UM students, though); in others, you'll be staying with a family or just 1-3 other people (non-students). that's as far as i've gotten so far. i'm going to wait a couple more weeks before getting more assertive, but i plan on calling the Department of Residence Halls (305-284-4505) since they say on the site that they will help you find off-campus housing.
  6. I was under the impression that U Toronto was for Medievalists. The school itself has a great reputation internationally, but you're probably better off attending a program with a good reputation in American Lit. You Canucks have it tough; I've read about your plight in obtaining tenure track in your own country, with a lot of openings going to Americans. Personally, if I were in your position, I'd seriously consider an American school.
  7. i'm sorry, i'm not actually a doctor (although i do have the juice), so definitely don't follow my advice based on that. in terms of cold feet, i'm in the same boat as you. i'm reading a lot about the Humanities, particularly at The Chronicle, and the picture certainly does look bleak in terms of future job prospects. i mean, there are accomplished English professors on that site telling us we're committing career suicide by pursuing doctoral studies. my response? this is the field i love, and this is where my talents lie. we didn't choose to be highly sensitive and analytical readers and profound writers: these are our skill sets. i understand the risks, and i'm still moving forward. i'm going to try to find a niche for myself by doing non-academic internships and, if possible, business-related electives in addition to preparing for my specialization. the future worries me, too, but i can't not pursue the PhD. even if i become established in a career and reach financial stability without studying for the doctorate, i'll always feel there's something missing. haha, that sounds impassioned doesn't it? how corny...but about transferring: one of my peers from undergrad followed this path. he initially enrolled at a 3rd-rate school immediately after his BA. he applied for the terminal master's, went through the application process again, and now he's studying at CUNY. pretty cunning move, in my opinion: get the "easy" MA-level stuff out of the way and do the dissertation at a top-15 school. plus, in my opinion, it's nice to get experience working with different faculty groups at different universities. anyway, i feel your pain in terms of job prospects, but maybe if we're conscious of that now rather than in year 6, we'll be able to make ourselves much more marketable down the road. the people i truly pity are those who assume that all they need to do is get good grades and a tenure-track gig at a major uni will fall in their laps. we're all really bright to have made it this far, and we worked hard putting together prime applications. it would be a shame to let it go unless we were really sure. since you have until April 15 to bow out in a legitimate, non-offensive way, why not take a few days to mull it over?
  8. declined U Rochester wait list accepted U Miami
  9. i think this ^ sounds wise, especially the part about speaking to your referrers either over the phone or in person. at least, that's how i'd handle it. i'd want to be able to gauge how annoyed/disappointed they sound and/or if they seem like they'd be willing to write for me in the future. you can never have enough contacts, and it's good to maintain them. could you just be getting cold feet? another option could be to enroll, do well in classes, your TA, etc., and then transfer to another school. you could also just use the funding to buy yourself time to look for a job; this way, even if you don't find anything, you're still enrolled, working towards a goal, and supporting yourself financially. i hope things get better for you. i know it can be so difficult to get the ball rolling on a career/lifestyle.
  10. a broad range. i looked both on UM's Housing Dept. site (they have links to roommate/apartment finders) and on Craig's List, and I've seen $350 - $900 (per person) in Coral Gables and South Miami. for many of the places, all utilities are included. there also seems to be a lot of furnished studios.
  11. i noticed that as well, and i have the same stipend. i asked the admin. assistant of my department, and she said that only some of the grad students have part-time jobs in addition to the stipend. the rent seems pretty high, but what weirds me out is that i can't even find just a regular old apartment. there are tons and tons of rooms to rent in houses, but that seems so shady to me -- living with a family or a group of strangers who aren't even students lol.
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