bluecheese

If people have the time/funds they should apply to more programs next go around. If you have a solid application, it's more about having options when the dust settles than about "getting in somewhere." Just on a sheer funding level, it can mean the difference between a 13k stipend with too many teaching responsibilities and a 25k stipend with two years on fellowship. That's a HUGE difference, and it more than offsets that application costs, time, etc. Also, I have a partner who needs to get a job. If I only got into certain places (like Ann Arbor, UW-Madison, Buffalo...) we definitely would have made it work, but it would have been much harder. I'm not writing this to be annoying or anything--I just think I have a good perspective on how this stuff works from literary journal submissions, MFA applications, etc. (I'm used to getting lots of rejections, it's ultimately the acceptances that matter).

If CUNY is a good fit you should totally go. It's a great program.

Seriously, being waitlisted doesn't matter. You'll find people to work with--it just means that the 5 people on the committee ordered your application slightly outside of the one's they accepted (likely for very arbitrary reasons).

You started the thread, and then made jokes about people's sizes like 5 posts down. UGH.

This thread is stupid. A lot of people's opinions on it are even stupider.

How aren't bodies related to politics? What planet do you live on? On a basic level the obesity is related to corporate excess and oil (cheap carbs are thoroughly woven into corporate agriculture as are the bodies that consume them). Obese bodies also undermine the technocratic objectification of bodies by corporate media. I don't know shit about fat studies as a discipline, but these things seem blatantly obvious to me. I also recently saw a book that interrogated fat in relation to shame--that seems like really, really ripe territory to study. Also, I take the snarky joke about my mother's chest hair to be underhandedly trans-, other- and intergender phobic.

Congrats!!! It's an awesome program! Sorry to hear that you probably can't attend. (I had to think about similar things when I was initially weighing programs).

Yayy!!! Congrats!!!!!

I've heard bad things about funding there (from both a current faculty member and from one of the people who wrote me a recommendation)--that said, I would have applied if I had taken the subject test. I hope you all get decent/livable stipends!

Seriously? Medical discourse takes all kinds of troublesome positions on things. Also, how is medical discourse immunologically distinct from "culture"? Also also, why are you being a dick toward vegetarians? Personally, I try to only eat things that I've shot in the face myself (my parents have a farm). But I definitely don't gesticulate pointless, seemingly-testosterone-scented comments toward people who are doing something because they feel it is right (sure, it often is an excuse to be political in a very harmless way, but some of the most radical and engaged people I know have also been vegetarians... so it isn't a single kind of person that makes that choice). Ugh. This thread is super annoying.

I really need an all encompassing system to help me feel better about the fact that most of what I do is stupid and that I'm probably just going to die an incredibly stupid death in a cubicle in a third tier university reading papers by some student who poorly quotes talking heads from FOX News.

::People are so rational. I always assume that they should do the correct thing and comport to my techno-futurist utopian ideals that ignore all cultural, social, racial, sexual, economic, etc. contingencies.:: Also, various "-studies" often exist is already-extant departments. I think English departments should be eliminated because it is stupid that there is a department that focuses on one language (xenophobic, racist). I think everything should be merged into comparative literature. I have no real reason for doing this, except out of snark. That said, if we're talking eliminating disciplines for arbitrary reasons, I think my idea is better.

Awesome! Congrats!!!!!

Ugh. Honestly, if my only option was a 2/2 teaching load, I would get a job and then apply again next year. That's such a nasty amount of work (if you're going to do a good job teaching) that there won't be much time to research/study anything. It sounds like you have other options though, so all is well.

Congrats to the Yale admits!!!! AWESOME!

Waitlisted at Penn State (posting in case anyone is interested, already turned it down).

Have you read the book Ghostly Matters? You might find it interesting. Honestly, those interests are so broad that you could just about apply anywhere -- most schools have quite a few people specializing in queer lit, as well as a women's studies and american studies departments (that you might draw on for your project).

In regard to UW Madison: I've heard nothing but great things about the program -- a variety of classes, a required minor (that can really benefit your research), great placement, etc. That said, funding in the first year can be troublesome. I know a few people who had to fight for 8k a year stipends for office jobs for the first year (after that, I think the stipend is 14-16k depending on what you're teaching).

Congrats! I hope you get full funding!!!

Sexier in a Milton Friedman Shock Doctrine sort of way?

Based on my own experience (I attended two third-rate state schools, and now am getting an MFA from a major state school): The general quality (motivation, level of learning coming into the institution, etc.) of the student body tends to result in things getting "dumbed down" at smaller state colleges. Or, even in the more challenging courses, the theoretical discourse, literature, etc. tends to be out of date. This isn't always the case, but it seemed to be true to a degree. I do think you can get in somewhere good out of those schools, but it is going to be harder and you're going to have to back it up with a great writing sample, GRE scores, etc. I feel like I had to do that--while our the PhD program in English here is in the middle of the second tier, I definitely am not in a "top"/prestigious school. It's a good school and a lot of the scholars here are on par with those at top ranked programs imo, but yeah. Also, smaller state colleges often don't get as interesting of scholars. They get some, and if you hunt them down and do well in their courses you'll be fine at ANY school. But it is definitely harder. I don't think it has that much to do with funding in terms of _Humanities_ degrees. That's kind of silly. I suppose it is easier to end up lost in the crowd writing mediocre papers at a large state school, especially in large lecture classes--but if you're the motivated type of student who hops into a low level graduate course as an undergrad, etc. you'll be in great shape. It's pretty easy to be a C student at a prestigious university and then to jump into a absurdly profitable corporate consultation job, I hear. There are definitely less opportunities to do that elsewhere.

Yeah, the snow in Buffalo is nasty -- good for writing though!?

This was my plan B if applications didn't work out: http://www.youtube.com/embed/EmZvOhHF85I (either that or some kind of teaching gig)

Yeah, blehhhhh.

Seriously, if you have schools you're honestly debating between -- check them out in detail, visit, etc. You should turn down the offers lower on your list though, I think. (it helps the schools try to get the best candidates they can too)