bluecheese

UF is one of the cheaper places to live - that said it is in the middle of nowhere. There is a bunch of stuff around the campus, etc. (it is a college town), but everything around it is incredibly rural (not that there is anything bad about that)--so, rent and everything else is on the cheap side. I don't know what your fellowship amount is - feel free to add it to the google doc or you can PM it to me and I'll add it. Anyway, I suspect you can live on a lot less in Gainesville than elsewhere.

Can someone update the funding info for University of Florida in this document. It's out of date. Much thanks!

Hey, It's (Not) About Me (and whoever else), could you add your funding information into this document? We're missing up to date info on UNC - Chapel Hill, etc. [i thought I'd post it here in case people weren't checking the other forum].

I tend think that imperialism, racism, classism, sexism, etc. DOES invalidate the cannon. I necessitates it being re-figured. Just looking at the history of main-line 20th century poetry - I would love if the "cannon" tossed out Elliot, Pound, Frost, etc. in favor of a much weirder (and more interesting) bag of texts: Manifesto driven -isms, Mina Loy, Patriarchal Poetry Stein, Elsa Von Freytag-Loringhoven, Lorraine Neidecker, Jean Toomer, mystical H.D., etc., etc., etc. Also, shouldn't the cannon be more related to pedagogical aims (one can only teach so much in a survey course) than it is to research. Texts that are canonical may overlap with research [you're going to have to have to know certain philosophers if you're an early modern scholar, for example] - that doesn't mean the cannon needs to be the at the center of one's research. In fact, I tend to think work that finds it center in the cannon is often boring and uninteresting. De-center your research. Also, I would love to see a dissertation chapter that read Joe Wenderoth's Letters to Wendy's in relation to a Wendy's menu. That would be awesome, and it would be "literature" centric.

This document is really getting close - keep the information coming! [edit: whoops, wrong link]

I'm a bit mentally exhausted from both writing my thesis, and then proceeding to do a bunch of research for the google doc on the funding forum... but I'll respond in short. I'm skeptical of this rhetoric about reading texts that are "foundational" to thinking - I don't see anyone mentioning key economic texts, for example (it all seems to come back to Chaucer, Shakespeare, and the biblical texts). If we're going to talk about what is foundational for thinking - classical literature, economic theory, philosophical tracts, writings relevant to any of the world's religions, popular works, etc. are all game in terms of the formation of ideas. To stupidly bite the "taco bell" bait: I think just an interesting reading can be taken out of a taco bell menu as can from a Shakespeare play [especially in our era of industrialized food, poor labor conditions, health epidemics, etc. --there is a lot going on behind, in, and around that menu]. Reading a Shakespeare play will let you fit in better in an English department. I'm not saying this because I haven't gotten anything out of thinking about Shakespeare plays (I TAed Shakespeare just a few semesters ago for a rather famous Shakespeare scholar... if that matters) - rather, I'm interested in the argument being made. Why are you researching something? To be simplistic: what's at stake? I tend to think the cannon is important insofar as we exist in a discipline that is full of people who are invested in the cannon because the discipline has taught them to be invested in it. It's this thing that exists and is always in need of re-formation. I guess I have very little faith in "literature" as an abstract thing. Sure, I value complicated texts that say interesting things about the state of thinking in a particular era and interesting readings of those texts--but I also value interesting readings of ANY text. I don't think that everything needs to be taught (or read) in a formalist context--if there is some key point or idea that can be taken from a text in order to fuck up one's own thinking (in the best possible way), then teach, read, write about, etc. that text.

Please feel free to add the comp lit info. Also, if anyone has info on the UC Schools [or wouldn't mind doing a bit of googling to try to find some info out], other schools, etc. please feel free. I did a bunch of (quick) internet research and filled in as many as possible. This info can of course be updated to be more accurate, etc. This thing is starting to look kind of impressive. Keep it up!

Yeah, I got my info off of the website - I'm not sure if it is up to date. That said, it is a different program. Hopefully someone who got into the English program will update that info as well. Thanks for adding! This is going to be a great resource!

I was able to find info for Yale and Vanderbilt (and I'm sure I'll be able to find a few more online)--some of this stuff is published on the program websites, etc. If you find any information there and add it to the google doc, please note that you found it online (and leave the school highlighted in yellow).

Yeah, feel free to add information for related programs.

Okay, I entered in all of the top 50 or so schools from the US News rankings - anything we're missing information from is highlighted in yellow. Please contribute! Maybe there is some information available on the board/website - also, feel free to update information if you have additional details. Here is the link (thanks to damequixote!)

Yeah. Hmm. I suppose it can be cross checked against any information on the results board, program websites, etc.

I'd just try to make sure that the other portions of your application are strong to help balance it out... it definitely isn't that big of a deal given that your scores are 4 years old; schools will take that into account.

Yeah, it's really great to see all of this. I was just thinking that it might be great to make something like this out of it: http://mfaresearchproject.wordpress.com/2011/09/18/funding/ I know "rankings" are touchy things, but I also think it is the sort of thing that could be legitimately useful to applicants (knowing which schools have the best stipends in relation to cost of living). It obviously shouldn't be the singular determining factor--but, I also think it could benefit future applicants to know the financial situation before hand (and might convince them to apply to some places that they might not have considered otherwise). I like the rankings format because it is easy to read, and it gives a sense of where the best stipends are. It doesn't say anything about placement, etc. (but there are other rankings, websites, etc. for these things). Thoughts?

This is great--keep the info coming!

Great--this will be an awesome for future students. Everyone please add your info! (or post it and it can be added).

Can people share their funding packages? Or, can we start an wiki page where people can enter information about the various funding packages they've received in order to start a database for future applicants? I think it might be a useful resource... thoughts?

I hear the graduate experience at Yale is very similar to the plot of the novel The Man Who Folded Himself by David Gerrold. Quick plot summary: "This is a novel about time travel, and as such it comes with all the expected weirdnesses - time paradoxes, alternate realities, etc. However, the really weird part of this book is the way that the protagonist interacts with past and future versions of himself. While he starts off with the generic stuff, like betting with his past self on sporting events of which he already knows the outcome, he graduates to having sex and a relationship with his past and future selves, including massive time-traveling orgies. He eventually impregnates a female version of himself, and she may turn out to be his own mother. Basically, time-wimey, orgy-porgy." (I assume their reputation in theory comes partially from historicists who are often hostile to theory? If they have any say in the reputation ratings, I'd assume Yale would do okay. I assume this is true of Harvard also. Both of their English departments seem rather conservative to me.)

It's 17k for the first year, and then 13k for the years after that (with potential for summer funding--almost everyone gets a couple summer classes and one GRPP which add up to about 4k each). So, 4 years at 17k. Also, many people get dissertation fellowships that pay 23k in their 4th, 5th, or 6th year. So you'll usually make around 17k, but there might be a year or two at 13k. I hope that's helpful.

Yeah, Buffalo sometimes doesn't fun PhD students (English)--this is especially true with regard to international students (there are several international students in the PhD program at my current school who were accepted to the PhD program at Buffalo with no funding...)

Michigan (this year) accepted 20/1000... which is about the same as some PhD programs (10 out of 500). But yeah, all MFA students specialize in creative writing -- which isn't to say that some PhD students don't specialize in it also.

SUNY Albany acceptance (w/ TA... apparently they don't fund everyone?) ...turning down.

Yeah, it kind of sucks. They also probably have a way-overworked admin staff (like most places) who find it easier to just copy-paste the same email (or something) to everyone who asks.

Penn State has already sent out waitlist notifications, so I'd assume rejection. I think the board lists MA waitlists, but those are actually PhD waitlists (its an MA program that funnels into the PhD program for students who weren't accepted outright... it's a weird way to do things).

Just to jump in, and to try to get this back towards legit discussion: Sometimes waitlist don't get "full" funding, or they don't get as good of funding. I'm sure this is especially true at places like UW-Madison where funding isn't "perfect" (some accepted students have to work to get 8k stipends working at desks their first year, so waitlisted students likely fall below them... which doesn't sound great... but, again, I'm sure this is broken up by discipline... maybe Shakespeare scholars have more resources than 20th century scholars, or some variation on that). I'm sure other schools have similar situations. That said, the vast majority of top schools say that they only accept people they can fully fund, so if you get off the waitlist you're fully funding. You might not have the same amount of funding as the person who got a presidential scholarship, but you're still in the program. And, honestly, just because someone got in outright or got a university fellowship doesn't mean they're going to be a better scholar, etc. That's silly. Let me emphasize this for anyone with doubt: being waitlisted DOESN'T MATTER. I was waitlisted at the MFA program I'm attending, and I was accepted to two others outright (all fully funded). I chose to go to this one because of ranking/location (even though the stipend was slightly lower). It worked out well, and I'm now better published than most of the other people in the program (including people in other genres in their genre--I've published more fiction and nonfiction than some of the fiction and nonfiction writers, and I'm mostly a poet). When I tell people I was waitlisted their like REALLY!?!? A waitlist doesn't mean you're worse, or will be liked less by faculty. It just means people ranked you slightly [emphasis on slightly] lower based on a packet of relatively-representative documents that you sent them over the internet.