delimitude

I wasn't aware that my comments rendered me so clearly a Madoff sympathizer; otherwise, I would have thought twice about posting them. In any case, I'm not sure graduate students are being defrauded in the same manner that people were defrauded by Madoff (I think that's unfair to the academy and unfair to Madoff's victims). The job prospects for English PhDs are fairly clear and transparent, easily available, updated and published annually. In that sense, nobody is getting duped or deceived. There is no conspiratorial bait and switch. According to your vague logic, one could argue that even getting a BA in the Humanities in certain disciplines is a rip-off, as it does not offer a reasonable opportunity of securing a job in that field. But that is a different matter. Practically speaking, what are you suggesting people do? Do you think they should not apply to graduate programs? Apparently, my suggestion that they become better informed about the schools to which they apply, what they intend to study, and the job market surrounding those choices is not enough for you. There's a growing movement to unionize adjunct labor and improve adjunct conditions, but that seems off your radar, also. Many schools have graduate teaching unions that guarantee reasonable stipends, health insurance, partial dental, etc. (as mine does), and we could work towards broadening that movement. Yet I get the impression that your bitterness would return us to the bleak suggestion that the "Ponzi scheme" subsumes all of this. I agree that administrative jobs and salaries are out of control; that governance is falling out of the hands of faculty; that tenure-track jobs are being replaced by adjunct labor; and that graduate labor reproduces much of this. But I feel as though you are intent on a Kafka-esque upshot: no hope and no future for the graduate Humanities cat subjected to the institutional peril of the academy, stripped of agency and inevitably forced outside the gates, endlessly awaiting their sentence of work camp labor. Things need radical fixing and adjustment, but it seems as though you only want to tirelessly wave an angry and defeatist banner--and to what end, really, I'm not sure.

English studies PhD work only seems like a Ponzi scheme to the (admittedly) majority that do not get jobs. Where you get your PhD matters. What you study matters. Where you publish matters. This goes for other terminal degree fields, too (MFA, M.D., J.D, etc.). If you treat graduate studies as a job, as an intensive and competitive program designed to weed out the least capable, then you'll be fine. I feel as though this is understood. The OP reads to me as another iteration of anger and resentment over not getting a job. Yeah, the economic structure of the academy right now is utterly flawed (admitting far more grad students than there are full-time or TT jobs because they are cheap labor; then employing the majority of most of those grad students as exploited adjuncts because they are cheap and available labor), but this should not be news, and you cannot change the reality of that institutional problematic simply by complaining about the reality of that institutional problematic, especially when it seems to come from such a place of personal misfortune. English graduate studies is not a place to extend curiosity and fascination with (or passion for) English (unless you can afford it, and are willing to pay for it as such); it's a competitive enterprise. Of course it should or could be otherwise. But it's not. Practically, ask yourself this: based on your research speciality, where you intend to go to graduate school, and how willing and able you are to publish while in graduate school, what kind of academic job do you expect to get? Stats on placement for English PhDs abound, if you need help figuring this.

Thanks, Strong Flat White! I also thoroughly enjoyed the conference! I don't want to ask too many person-specific questions and disrupt the anonymity thingee, but do feel free to PM me.

Here is a link to a fairly comprehensive guide to apartments around campus, suggested by current graduates and maintained by the English Graduate Organization: https://sites.google.com/site/egogators/student-guides/apartments

Oh, and oops! My panel is called "Making Bodies: The Human Machines."

If you look around, you can find a decent and relatively cheap place to live in Gainesville. Also, if you don't have a car, there is a rather reliable bus system (free for UF students). As far as apartments go, I would NOT recommend staying at the Continuum (a huge graduate housing complex by downtown that is an extension of the UF Housing branch)--one is treated as though one is living in a dorm, and nobody needs/wants that. Are any of you coming to the Welcome/Visiting Days this upcoming weekend? As far course registration goes, it usually takes a little while for them to sort it all out and finalize everything, but you usually get your top choices (so it seems). What courses are you interested in taking?

Hey Strong Flat White -- I'll be there! I'm presenting on Sunday on the "Making the Human Body" panel. I'm staying at the Days Inn down the road. The conference schedule looks fantastic!

I'm a first-year UF English PhD student, and would be happy to (try to) answer any questions about the area, program, whatevers.

The program is basically bankrupt. Initially, the program was the interdisciplinary brain-child of two departments working together (English and Philosophy). As time has progressed, however, both the English department and the Philosophy department (rather analytic in nature) have become rather insular, taking care of their own (in fairness, due to larger financial constraints imposed by the university at large). Most funding for students in Philosophy and Literature comes from sources outside the department/program (teaching, say, a Comm. section, as they always need warm bodies, or working in an administrative branch of the university). These forms of funding are year-to-year, on an as-need basis, and not necessarily renewable.

Psh. Especially if you're in a PhD program already, just be sure to maintain your mandated minimum GPA (so as to avoid losing your fellowship, assistantship, place in the program, etc.). If you're in an MA, I wouldn't sweat it. Statement of purpose and writing sample are going to mean more than the quantitative measures (at least at schools that know how to properly invest in their future). Of course, grades lower than an A are often thought to be "indicators," but a grade in a seminar is a piss-poor way of determining your potential future in academia.

Gilles Deleuze Jacques Derrida Martin Heidegger Bernard Stiegler

Whatever you do, DO NOT apply to the Philosophy and Literature interdisciplinary program. Trust me.

I wouldn't worry about going over by 50 words. Good luck!