sankd

Man, this game? German, Arabic, Gujarati. French (reading) Of course, Arabic at this point really should be MSA. Going to Lebanon in 5 days to pick up some dialect.

I read about 50 or so books a semester. I can't count the amount of articles. I wish I could give tips on how to read well, but I am one of those weird people who can churn out a good 750 word review less than two hours after picking a book up. It goes in ebbs and flows. Next week I have seven books and four articles to read. I also need to produce 6500 words of thoughtful analysis on all of that reading. It's a busier week than usual.

I prepped for my first year by backpacking through Eastern Europe, knowing that every other summer afterwards would be filled with work. This summer I bounce from Beirut to back here for intensive French, and then two weeks of writing lecture outlines for the class I am teaching this fall. So my advice is, if you can spare the time, take advantage of that summer before your first year! It helped that I already had two research languages down before I started, but you'll never have a summer without major obligations ever again. As for "summer prep reading," okay. I mean, I had my comps list set within the first couple weeks of my first semester. If you know your exam fields, it can't hurt.

At the same time, there is still a weird segment of departments that want that program name - with the assumption that the candidate must be adequate coming from such a place - over the individual quality of the applicant. That was obvious at some of the AHA panels on the future of the profession. The academy still has a lot of bad habits. Also, if you don't want to be in academia, connections always help! In fact, they probably help a lot more than in search committee/department politicking.

Kind-of ironic given the bump in funding per student offered to the 2011 cycle. Oh well, at least Michigan will graduate some of its hundred Americanists. Hopefully. Edit: Hopefully for the students applying for 2013, that is.

My professors have consistently told me to skim. Let's be realistic.I was going to do it anyway. Also, yeah. Grad school is work. Right now, I'm taking 15 credits and TAing, which is better than next year when I will be teaching, taking classes, and reading for comps. I think the total amount of reading I have this semester is 45 or 50 books. About 250-300 pages of writing. Counting is kind-of pointless. Last summer I backpacked through Europe and visited friends across the country. I drank and ate and had fun. Why? Because from now on, my summers are pretty much gone. Research trips abroad, preparing for class, reading for comps. I need to take credits during the summer so I keep getting paid, too. Then there's the non-school elements of being a first year graduate student. You should be devoting some time, in my opinion, to being social. We're not hermits 24/7. That takes energy too. Making connections in the community and with your colleagues is really important for your development and well-being. I have been on both ends of it.

I was 29 when I started my MA, 31 with my PhD. Good luck!

Just stay away from Classics, period.

Really? What about Pandey at Emory? Cole does South Asia?

Getting an MA is a good way to answer these questions. I was sure about what I wanted to do when I entered an MA program, and then changed completely by the end of my first year and never looked back. I still feel passionate about my first choice, but it's not what really drives me anymore. A word of warning. Don't do something Indian unless you are prepared to learn one of the languages if you are interested in getting a PhD later on.

It is a lot of money. I did 11.

Apply to a mix of terminal MA and PhD programs. Don't put all of your eggs into one basket either way. It's nice to have options to weigh. Yes, you can apply to PhD programs during your second year of the MA. I did it.

Yeah, frankly nobody takes a medievalist applicant seriously if they are lacking languages. Get your French, German, Greek, and Latin done.

Well, it's much less problematic if you are on an assistantship. You can always leave a PhD program with a MA. You can even leave at that juncture for another university - it's the only time you can do it without being completely stained with a scarlet letter. You and your program don't really have to worry about the funding you did have because you worked for it while you were there and your departure frees up a funding line for a new student. For fellowship students, it is a little different but the general theme is the same. The department has a lot of students. They are concerned about their bottom line. You leaving with an MA after being accepted for 4-5 year funding is only going to impact your professional relationship with your advisor, if anything. As for this supposed wasting time, I worked as a TA as a MA student and I finished all of my classes and my thesis in four semesters. I also did PhD applications this past cycle. While I was used for my labor, I was still able to make progress.

I don't think it should just be whether they can construct a prelims reading list of appropriate breadth. Frankly, you should have an advisor that will actually care about what you are doing. "Fit" often helps, but it doesn't necessarily mean that having the same exact research areas will motivate the professor to make time to read over your work, suggest research directions, make office time available for you, direct you to workshops/conferences, help with networking, and so on. While that may sound like a whole load of hand-holding, I think mentoring still involves the little things like just showing up for your student's presentation. Letting your student know you got a fellowship to study abroad for a semester (and then Skyping if necessary). I know a lot of graduate students and a lot of professors, and some professors are just terrible advisors. EDIT: I am lucky that I actually do have an advisor that cares about my work and career. They have fought for me publicly and privately. Which is why choosing to leave was not as easy as it would seem on paper.