bluecheese

Yeah, it is hard to remember that it is only Feb. 13th... there is at least another month of news (at least on the standard acceptances end of things -- and stuff can drag out well beyond that too with waitlists, delayed acceptances, etc.). Ugh.

this. also, http://www.youtube.com/embed/2bXJ2VYEnDw

I agree. I do think that it is important to recognize privilege (as a deformity) in order to try to act in such a way that one doesn't have privilege (when it counts, on a political and community levels). There is a degree in which not acknowledging that privilege can lead to people just thinking that they're great individuals because they study great literature (complicated books by white dudes). I think it is important to crush that idea.

I think english programs should only accept diversity applicants.

PhD students can teach high school, it is harder to teach a unionized public high schools... but there are plenty of opportunities through nonprofits, charter schools, and teaching programs (NYC Teaching Fellows, etc.) Teaching High School is an option if the whole tenure track thing doesn't work out. It is a "fall back" in the same way that getting an MBA, going to Law School, becoming a truck driver, etc. are fall backs... if the thing you're pursuing doesn't work out, it's the thing that you fall back on (I was not giving the PhD any value aside from the value placed in it in terms of personal career preference). Professors and PhD students are often assholes too, especially when they say/do little to challenge power. Further, often people who get PhDs (when it doesn't work out) go get MBAs, go to law school, etc. You're delusional to think that they don't. Also, lots of this supposed "critique" of the forest does little to actually help people -- professors are so caught up in their desire to be critical of the "system as a whole" that they never bother to journey a neighborhood over in their quickly gentrifying cities. I think that is a problem.

LOTS of MBA programs that aren't that hard to get into and many of them have extreamly high job placement records (90%+). And the MBA was just an example, any number of professional schools, etc. are there as backup plans for PhD students (teaching in high schools even). People in PhD programs are in privileged positions. Shit, I have a friend who is working as an adjunct who makes 35k a year (he's working his ass off teaching 4 courses a semester, but still). My father worked as a wage laborer (janitor) for most of his life and never made more than 35k, and he only made close to that when he somehow managed to score a public works job working (working 80+ hours a week). And aside from the two years he worked there, he never made more than 20k. My education puts me in a highly privileged place. The stipend NYU offered me is almost as much as the MOST my father ever made in his entire life. Seriously, if you don't think you're privileged you're delusional. If you're not highly critical of the privilege that you do have, you're an asshole.

broke, not poor. A PhD student has so much cultural capital -- also, anyone with a PhD can get an MBA at any moment. They may choose not to, but let's not conflate graduate stipends and uneducated wage labor. I currently make 13k a year as a GTA; I don't have much. That said, I'm not working 60 hours a week at a fast food joint to make 13k... and I'm building my CV, etc. while making 13k. I have no intention of ever going to law school or of getting an MBA, but I am privileged (and critical of my own privilege... to the best of my 13k a year ability... that said, I do wish that I was more involved than the couple of protests and donation work that I do every year... I'm kind of a shitty person).

Are we talking a FtM or MtF trans person, or what? Also, "male privilege" is an abstraction that probably needs to be defined -- I'm sure both forms of trans people (and the massive flux gender across the spectrum) benefit from some kind of male privilege. In that sense, we might even say that women sometimes benefit from it as well (depending on how they carry themselves, etc.) Again, it depends on what types/aspects of male privilege we're talking about. MtF trans people get beat up, can't find jobs (thanks to discrimination), and often end up in and out of prison (at shockingly high percentage rates). One might say that they have had some kinds of "male privilege" at some point in their life (possibly in terms of how they were treated in school growing up, by their parents, etc.). Really, it is all very slippery territory.

Yay!!!!!!! Congrats! Glad it worked out for you!!!!!

Who says hatred can't be analytical? Feminist killjoys, unhappy queers, angry black women, cantankerous wage laborers, and melancholic migrants are my favorite kinds of people. Maybe you should "think harder."

This. Also, get culture shocked and then get angry at rich people -- don't affix yourself to them like a tick.

Awesome! Congrats!!!

Both sections of the GRE do matter for funding at some schools -- this tends to relate to university wide standards for fellowships, etc.

The only reason those places smell like microwavable pasta is because microwavable pasta is made out of asbestos.

"I am an animal. Language is my worst deformity. When I was a child my parents threw books at me and I chewed and swallowed them like discarded flesh. The flesh was toxic and it caused me to grow mass upon mass of benign tumors. My eyes and hands are especially corrupt and deformed with these masses of flesh as try I manipulate things like new books. Please accept me to your graduate program, it will make me feel sad and bourgeois. My weirdly shaped body will drop book on the floor and I'll cry. I'll shiver in the corner because I have no fur, I only have language and clothing produced in oppressive factories... I have no faith in literature."

Yeah, I don't get where all of this hostility is coming from/going (from all directions)--it's just a practical discussion. Type some stuff, drink some cold beer, look at cat memes. Whatever. Chill.

AH! I ment to upvote -- sry! (upvoted above to make up for it)! I feel especially bad because you just mentioned being down voted =( Edit: I'm assuming that the CV building is legit.... if you go to an MA program, participate in conferences, teach, etc. I'd assume that one's CV would expand into a more impressive document simply by virtue of being involved in such things.

Really? What makes you say that? Going off of the results board, I'm assuming they'll respond sometime around (or after) the 20th.

I'm just responding generally and particularly simultaneously -- basically, I'm treating the thread like a round table discussion. I don't see why that is a problem. Teaching, conferences, panels, readings, publications, awards, etc. are all on a CV and they all add to your application. They will look at all of this, especially if your application makes it to the final round. I might call this "CV Pumping" -- I don't have a problem with that rhetorical gesture, even if it does have a bit of a negative tone. Being a candidate who is actively engaged in all of the things that compose a "pumped up" (I imagine body building) CV is likely going to mean that the candidate is more prepared for graduate education. And even if their writing sample and SOP aren't leaps and bounds better, the entire package is going to be improved by their graduate GPA and involvement in scholarly pursuits (as illustrated on the CV). Also, I actually think that an MA can lead to a stable career -- the chances of that career being in the academy are slim. That said, there are all sorts of opportunities to build concrete skills (project management, publishing experience, etc.) while in an MA program. It can also make someone a more well rounded applicant for other graduate opportunities besides the PhD (business school, law school, and a variety of other professional a schools). I do agree that going to a program that isn't funded (unless it is an incredibly affordable state school) is a mistake. It isn't worth the debt (nor are overly expensive undergraduate degrees, imo).

I would like to say that people can get hired at very impressive places with short CVs -- if they have a degree from a certain school, a few articles in impressive journals, and are highly impressive during the hiring process (job talk, etc.). There are ways to get around having a short CV. That said, having an impressive CV does help.

I think statement of purpose and writing sample are implicit -- those can definitely be improved over the course of a MA too. That said, the idea that having an impressive CV won't help a PhD application is absurd. It is part of your application packet, and they're going to look at it. A CV alone isn't going to get you into a program, but it can illustrate that you're on your way to being an impressive job candidate. Schools care about their placement records.

Did you only apply to Nebraska? -- I have 4 acceptances, but I also have a lot of implied rejections from other schools (included programs that are much lower ranked than the acceptances that I do have). I wouldn't take one rejection that seriously. Funded MA programs are a great opportunity for all sorts of reasons -- they DO improve your CV and application packet for PhD programs. They also can improve your application to all kinds of graduate programs (law school, for example -- I have a friend who got a terminal history MA and then got into Cornell's law school). Seriously, an MA is not going to hurt your chances of getting into a PhD program -- it will add things to your CV, transcripts, and possibly give you a chance to improve your GRE scores. This can be helpful regardless of what you decide to do after your MA (that said, don't expect to jump into an academic job with just an MA).

Such a great program! Congrats!!!

Yay! Congrats on getting into Nevada!!!!

I'm assuming rejection at Duke based on what's been posted in past years on the board. Maybe there is still some hope, but I think the chances are slim at best. I assume we're all going to receive rejections at the end of the week (last year a group of people posted on the same day, and then the rest were rejected a week later--this seems like the most likely scenario... that said, schools can always mix things up).