khyleth

Because there's at least one Villanova admission on the board: I'm finishing up my MA here now and would be happy to answer questions as y'all make decisions. PM me if that sounds useful. Good luck, everyone!

I'm finishing up my second MA (my first was in history), and it's been a great experience. It was probably the right choice for me, since my stipend pays more than I was making beforehand and I've been able to network. However, it's not something I would recommend to most people. It's not looking like I'll get a PhD acceptance this round, and the informational interviews I've done with people in the workforce have indicated that having two MAs marks me as a "doesn't know what he wants to do" job applicant. I don't think it's going to end up seriously hurting my non-academic career, but it hasn't helped. In short: it will look better on a CV than on a resume, and even for a CV it's no silver bullet. I wouldn't do it without funding.

Just got a rejection via email. Check your inboxes.

I'm oscillating between a few moods: When I'm in my "strong independent editor who don't need no PhD" mode, I'm listening to the new Doomtree album. http://youtu.be/MCJJ5aR5vwA When I think my whole life is about to collapse, I drown it out with doom metal (Windhand, specifically). And when I think maybe I'll end up with an acceptance after all, I'm getting into Courtney Barnett. http://youtu.be/bcnIhzaDTd0

Plan B is the same as Plan A: I will work. I realized recently that I was viewing the PhD as a safe, six-year tunnel where I'd be insulated from having to participate in capitalism, where I could just focus on the life of the mind. But that's not what a PhD is, because that tunnel ends at what might the most brutal of all job markets, and the lucky few who succeed in that market work much harder for much less than their peers. The academy is run by businesspeople, and academics have to hustle for dollars just like everyone else. I had to realign my thinking. It occurs to me that I can't keep thinking of my career as something that will really start at some point in the future. My career started a decade ago. So if I get into a PhD program, I'll do work: I'll research and teach and look for freelance gigs on the side because I probably won't land a tenure-track position. And if I don't get in, I'll research or teach or edit. Either way, I have to acknowledge what is, for me, a fairly hard truth: Academic labor is still labor. I am a hustler. And if I don't start taking that seriously, I'll be hustling till I die. I'm sure everyone else has already come to terms with this, but I'm a slow learner.

And my axe! Count me as number seven. No news.

I've received conflicting advice about whether editorial work is relevant to a CV. One the one hand, it shows that I have experience working with manuscripts and some knowledge of the publishing process; on the other, it's not academic work. Anybody have thoughts on this?

Yes! I mean -- really, Michigan? You want me to separate my SOP into a "personal essay" and an "academic" SOP? Maybe you'd like to hear about my first kiss, too? How about the time I overcame the adversity of writing a dozen mini-essays in slightly different formats? /rant

Unearthing this thread since I'm in a similar position. I've done one course as a TA and two years working in a university's writing center. Applying to Chapel Hill and figured I'd take a shot at a teaching fellowship. Has anyone done this before? Anyone doing this currently? Should I be quoting teacher-y books? Should I tell them about the time I accidentally taught an ELL student how to plagiarize? How about sexy headshots?

One term for that sort of stuff is (neo-)medievalism. There are a couple of societies for this, as well as the International Conference on Medievalism. Most of the scholars in these circles seem to come from the Medieval Studies side of things, but I'm sure a few must be working in English departments. I've attended the conference once and been in touch with a few people there. Here's the main society's web address: http://www.medievalism.net/ They also sponsor sessions at the Kalamazoo and Leeds conferences every year. I was going to say you should PM me for recommendations, but really I don't know anyone working in the specific areas you're talking about. I can say that Richard Utz at Georgia Tech is one of the central figures of that society and a really nice guy. I emailed him last year out of the blue, and he was able to put me in touch with all the right people. He also took an hour out of his conference schedule to sit down and talk with me about my career options.

Hooray! I've been in touch with a couple of current students about housing; their insights were really helpful. I'll be happy to copy those emails to you (or put you in touch with them yourself) via PM.

The most important thing to bring is enough cash to get you through several days. When I moved to a foreign country, I ran into serious problems getting a bank account started, and my credit card company rejected all purchases as possibly fraudulent (even though I'd called twice to inform them that I was moving). It took a week to get everything sorted out, but I ran out of money on Day 2. If I hadn't met some very generous new friends within those first few days, I don't know how I'd have made it through.

I'll PM you Junia. To correct what I said above for any lurkers: it looks like transportation costs from west Philly would be about $80 per month.

Another option, for those of us on a more modest budget, is to check out army/navy surplus stores. I snagged a really great-looking waterproofed canvas backpack with a heavy-duty plastic interior liner for $25. It's not as professional as a briefcase, sure, but it'll keep my stuff dry--and look awesome doing it--until I can afford something more grownup.

I know that, for PhD applicants, a lot of professors will say that they'd rather have students who've worked for a few years -- those of us who took some time off (these professors say) tend to be more grounded, have better professional social skills, and are generally more likely to take an active role in their education. I've spent the last three years as an editor, and that was a big part of why I got funding (I'll be tutoring in a writing center). Like you, though, I'm curious to know how those years will affect my post-PhD job prospects.