champagne

What's your specialty? I would wear whatever historically accurate clothing is appropriate. Yep, this is definitely the way to go. Just be sure your frock is properly seasonal. You don't want to commit an Elizabethan faux pas.

Exactly my thoughts. I fully expect to be rejected across the board next year, but, in that small chance that I have one acceptance, I plan on being the best damn academician that program has ever had. I don't think there can be any other philosophy for any program. Kick their ass, bfat!

It's just turtles all the way down.

I don't think you have to worry about stature affecting your influence over a class. A former professor of mine can't be more than 5'1" and 105 lbs. yet she probably leads the world in inducing changes of pants.

Hyperbole is an aspect of language that should be used only in creative contexts, not in academic discourse. Otherwise, it becomes less a vehicle of affective sentiment and more a tool of internet trolls. I'm assuming you're familiar with the type, though maybe I shouldn't.

What are you doing that so occupied your time otherwise? Also, since there were three minutes between the quote and post, I'm assuming you have a distorted sense of time and space, or you have a disturbing addiction to hyperbole.

But I do believe it is a contest of who can contribute most to the elevation of human existence, and (though it is your choice) if you choose to trudge that route through the belittling of other people, it may be harder for you.

Regardless of how you stand on this field or the legitimacy thereof, I think the idiom of being able to say nothing if you can say nothing nice has been wildly ignored. Even if I vehemently disagree with anything a colleague says (which is more ubiquitous in academia than probably anywhere else), I try not to say anything if I'm not well-informed about the subject. With that said, what are some texts that may give me further insight into "Fat Studies"?

I'm assuming that you and your partner have had the conversation of the stark realities that come with being in the academic profession. I'm also assuming that since you've (very successfully I might add) survived an entire application season with your partner that they are perfectly aware of the anxieties and uncertainties that come with said profession. With that said, significant others (I feel) should have and be aware of their complete veto power in the decision process. After that, it becomes a grand adventure, one that involves you working in a career that will benefit you in ways that no other could. As long as open communication exists, then you should have no qualms of making the move or your convictions of making the right choice.

This comforts me for some intangible reason. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cpfQSqfpuac

@Gwendolyn: FWIW, an undergrad professor whose opinion I would trust over anything has very pointed opinions on 3 out of 4 cities at which you've been accepted. Obviously, different strokes apply to different folks, and I definitely don't want to force my opinion on your situation which I know next to nothing about; however, my professor did his post-graduate study in Madison, and he still talks about it as one of the greatest times of his entire life despite having little money. He has also stated that he has several friends and peers that studied at IU. They rave about how great of a city Bloomington is. I've heard the exact same from my peers. He also had a very negative opinion of Columbus. He had a few horror stories of the city itself, not necessarily the program. If you're other school is Miami, then I'm afraid I have no acumen to attest to it, and this entire mini-dissertation has been moot. Nonetheless, what are we doing if not coming and going and talking of Michelangelo and such?

Yeah, sorry. That was awkward syntax. The former. Though it might be just as sad if it was the latter.

Good news! He's an avant-garde genius!

This begs the question: Should I be embarrassed about knowing just as much about fashion as my cat?

Three cheers for this thread title. Corky St. Clair is an American hero.

I just wanted to clear up that I upvoted in approval of the hilarious sentiment you presented, not that you feel you'll get pissed on. PSA: Champagne does not condone person-on-person micturition.

I wish virtual high-fives could go on my CV...

New band name! I call it!

This should clue you in to how useless the writing section is on the GRE. Obviously, I've never read any of your work, but you would have to be a better writer than 9/10 of the people taking the GRE (when you consider the girth of the population taking the test). Any preparation book gives a pretty good synopsis of scoring well on the exam. From what I remember, it was basically make sure you answer the question first. Also, as dumb as it sounds, I was advised to really indulge in my vocabulary. I know that using jargon is almost antithetical to good writing (as you should know), but I scored 96th percentile. Something must have stuck.

1) If you're already accepted, then the POI or adcomm knows more about you and your literary research than is probably legal in most states. They would have spotted the BS by now. 2) Professors are human beings just like everybody else. They probably enjoy craft beer and Downton Abbey just like any other proper member of the bourgeoisie. 3) They have been in graduate school, too. In fact, they went through this process when information wasn't nearly as accessible as it is know. While you should definitely respect their position and possible impact on your future, they probably have just as much reason to be nervous about meeting someone that could, on the whole, be way more knowledgeable about their field than they were at the same time in their life.

Ha! This was my exact thought process when reading your predicament. Just because anti-semitism was the fashion of the time, doesn't mean we need to condone it in the 21st century.

Even though I'm spending most of my extra time studying for the GRE and organizing the preliminary parts of my application, I'm reading DFW's Infinite Jest.

Just a hunch but I would take the website listing of notification dates with a heart-attack helping of salt. I think those are put out there to give adcomms and directors breathing room when putting their cohorts together.

If we follow this conceit further, the "tip" you give these institutions is the amount of scholarship you contribute to the field with their name attached to your CV. I don't know about you, but I plan on leaving a hefty tip.

As a black/white/yellow/purple female/male/untouchable/entity, I find all of this polemic highly offensive. I'm going home!