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Because you'd not heard of JSTOR, I thought maybe it would be worth posting this list of resources. It's copied from where one of the librarians at my university has compiled a who's-who kind of list for research on the library website. I don't mean to assume that you're uninformed, but I just thought it might be useful to give you an idea of other resources of value if you're not familiar with some of the staples that I think most of us sort of take for granted. This is definitely not an inclusive list; I'm just copying and pasting from a site that I use to find things (and I recommend it to my students every semester as a good collection of the things they'll likely be looking at anyways). Desk-top reference collection • Oxford Dictionary of National Biography Online • American National Biography Online • Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online • Dictionary of Irish Biography • Oxford English Dictionary Online • Blackwell Reference Online • Oxford Reference Online (Premium) • Oxford Scholarship Online • Dictionary of Literary Biography Online • Literary Encyclopedia • Companion to Digital Literary Studies • Chicago Manual of Style Online • MLA handbook for writers of research papers • OWL (Purdue Online Writing Lab) Primary sources: indexes Indexes • English Short Title Catalogue (1473-1800)
(an index but the backbone to EEBO & ECCO) • Nineteenth Century Short Title Catalogue (1801-1919) • ArchiveGrid • C19, the nineteenth Century Index • Nineteenth Century, in association with the British Library Full-text sources (primary) • British Literary Manuscripts Online • Victorian Manuscripts from the Berg Collection of the New York Public Library • Literary manuscripts. 17th and 18th century poetry from the Brotherton Library, University of Leeds • Perdita manuscripts: women writers, 1500-1700 • Gerritsen Collection of women’s studies • Orlando, women’s writing in the British Isles from the beginnings to the present • Early European Books: printed sources to 1700 • EEBO (Early English Books Online), 1473-1700 • ECCO (Eighteenth Century Collections Online), 1701-1899 • Early American Imprints. Series 1, Evans (1639-1800). • Early American Imprints. Series 2, (1801-1819). • Eighteenth Century Journals II: Newspapers and Periodicals, 1699-1812. • American Periodicals Series Online (1740-1900). • Nineteenth Century Collection Online • Victorian Popular Culture • 17th-18th century Burney Collection Newspapers • Defining Gender, 1450-1900: Five Centuries of Advice Literature Online. • Past Masters - (Full text material from Antiquity to Modern). • Electronic Enlightenment - (17th-18th Century letters, documents, and correspondence). • North American Theatre Online - (Texts and production info). Secondary sources • ProQuest Dissertations and Theses • MLA Bibliography • ABELL online • Periodicals Archive Online • LION, 600-1903 (Literature Online) • Annotated Bibliography of English Studies • International Medieval Bibliography • Bibliographie Internationale de l'Humanisme et de la Renaissance • Iter: Gateway to the Middle Ages and the Renaissance • IIPA (International Index to the Performing Arts) • Theatre in Video • Cambridge Histories Online • Shakespeare Collection Digital Archive • World Shakespeare Bibliography • CPI.Q • Canadian electronic library. Canadian publishers collection. • Canadian Literary Centre • Canadian Reference Centre • Gender Studies Database • JSTOR • Academic Search Premier • Expanded Academic ASAP • Humanities Full Text (Wilson) • Humanities and Social Sciences Index Retrospective (Wilson) • Science in the Nineteenth Century • Film Index International • Film Literature Index Online • FIAF International Index to Film Periodicals plus • Films on Demand • NFB (National Film Board of Canada) • The Year's Work in English Studies • The Year's Work in Critical and Cultural Theory • Royal Historical Society Bibliography Online • Historical Abstracts Newspapers • Gale NewsVault • American Periodicals Series Online (1740-1900) • Times Digital Archive (1785-1985) • New York Times (1851-2007) • Washington Post (1877-1994) • PressDisplay ETA: I'm in Canada, so some of these are CanLit-oriented and will be less relevant. I'm posting them anyways. (That also means that there are probably several key resources that I'm not including because this list is geared a bit more towards potential CanLit scholars.)

I agree with Bunny but, as someone who has gone straight through from the BA, I really don't understand this idea that you're not "grown up" if you haven't taken a year off. I just don't agree with it; I feel plenty grown up, and I feel that--even though I assume this isn't the intention here--the idea that you have to leave school to "grow up" is belittling and false. Working outside of academia surely has many advantages, but I just don't appreciate this simplistic evaluation of non-academic life as the only place to "mature." Surely it is a place to test your boundaries, decide if academia is for you, diversify your skillset, and so on, and so forth. But progressing beyond childhood, young-adulthood, and even the 20-something ennui can be accomplished within academia.

I'm going to third that and say that a hand-written note seems to me to actually be more sensible and beneficial than a gift. There's no need for the recipient to feel awkward about it, but it demonstrates effort and thought from you without actually costing you much of either. I also will mention that I think personalized stationery is a very worthwhile investment for things like this; most people don't write thank-you letters anymore, so making it a habit to do so sets you apart in a very good way. I say this because I have been very deliberately and graciously thanked for at least a third of the thank you letters I've written in the past 3 years. It's a $100 investment that will last you for a few years (and, unless you get really fancy, it will be cheaper in the long run than decent greeting cards would be). Sorry, that was a bit tangential. (But I mean it!)

Finishing my MA thesis now. Mostly I would like to burn it and all these books and run nekkid down the street with a bottle of tequila in one hand and a kazoo in the other.

It's in English, but have you read Vandal Love?

I agree with this... to a certain extent. I think that it's worth giving some of these places the benefit of the doubt. Their funding might not look like much at first glance, but what they offer you might be higher than what they quote and/or you might be able to talk them up once you've offers. I will say, though, that part of my decision on where to go next year was based on my desire to not go into debt over this, and that I will be attending a private institution.

Does wet food increase intelligence? My cat's mostly a dry food eater, and I've recently become a bit concerned that it is negatively affecting her brain:

I'm finishing an MA in Canada right now. My understanding has been that funding is really hit or miss--and I've never witnessed it being hit--for international students. Canadians have access to quite a lot (at least by the American standards that I'm used to) of federal funding and so many universities don't really bother offering funding that will actually cover costs. This is based not only on my experience as an MA student, but on my offer from U of Toronto's PhD program when I was admitted this season. Don't get me wrong: their offer was substantial, but by Toronto's standards, it was not livable. Of course, that was true of one of my offers from an American university as well. The difference for me, though, has been that I have not met any--and I mean any--international students in Canadian programs who are funded enough that they will not either go into debt or draw substantially from savings. Every time I say this on gradcafe, someone comes back to say that they know their cousin's neighbor's husband went to some Canadian university and he got such good funding that he built his mom a mansion and regularly uses $50 bills to light fires, and all I have to say there is that is awesome for those mythical people who get that funding. I have never met one in two years in a Canadian graduate program, I have never heard about one from someone I know, and I have actually only met international students who are going into debt or leaving the program for financial reasons. So... take that how you will. I don't consider this a reason to not apply to and seriously think about these programs--as I mentioned, I faced the same potentially problematic funding from American institutions as well--but it certainly is something to factor into your considerations and decision-making at each stage of this lovely process.

I should add that I am not sure that I would feel as strongly that the OP should probably just go for it if I had gone straight to an MA/PhD program. By doing an MA (and taking two years to do it), I really got to gauge how I feel about the profession. I was able to experience rather extreme disenchantment and decide that I still really want to be doing what I'm doing, and that is pretty invaluable in my mind. And I also got to teach for three semesters. Going through a separate/terminal MA first will (perhaps) take you longer to get to the PhD, but, if you decide you hate it, you've invested a lot less and you can get out in a short period of time with a degree or drop out without it feeling like quite so much of a letdown. If you decide you love it, you'll really know what to shop for because you'll have a much better idea of 1) how schools sell themselves, 2) what they actually have to offer vs. what they say they're offering, 3) the kind of environment you want to work in, and 4) how to choose a degree that has a better chance of getting you what you want in the long run.

Maybe I'm swimming upstream here, but I would apply if I were you. I say that because I think I probably was you, and I applied, and I went, and I'm about to do it again (the going; I've already done the applying again). I guess I'm assuming that your malaise is not frustration with academia but frustration with your current position; I felt that at the end of undergrad and I feel that now at the end of my master's (exhibit a: I am on here and watching Chopped instead of marking papers). By the end of undergrad, I just wanted to burn all of the books I'd ever read and run out and join the circus or something, but within three weeks of graduation, I felt like I needed to be reading and writing, I was worried about my next project, and so on. Right now I want to take my cat and run away to the midwest where I would find a job at a diner and make just enough money for kibble and freezer pizza. But I know that, by mid-June, I'm going to be researching and getting excited about the next place I'm going to study and all the awesome things I'll be learning there. So... I'd apply, if I were you. Unless you feel that it is not where you're studying, I think that it's a really good bet that you're just feeling the impatience that I think nearly everyone feels when they're almost done with what is basically a huge project. It's probably just that there's an end in sight and you want it to be here now (and, ideally, without you having to do the work required to get there).

the Grad Studies Director of the department you applied to Edited to add: but also check to see if there's an official letter that you're to respond to (check your online app and any info they sent you electronically or on paper for this).

I agree with proflorax! Asking questions (as long as you're not a jackass about it) demonstrates that you're considering things seriously and practically. This is not a bad thing. And I would maybe send the request for talking to current students to whomever seems to be in charge of the departmental office. (Here she is called the "Student Information Assistant.") I've gotten a bunch of emails like this (I'm a current MA student) and I almost always reply to them. I don't know how many responses you'll get, but hopefully they'll send out your request and there will be at least one person like me who wants to respond!

I don't feel that the WS is quite that flexible: my impression has been that cohesion is important. I'm not saying that I don't think interdisciplinarity is marketable or that no one should ever cross imposed time-period boundaries. Rather, I think (based on two rounds of apps and getting advice from several faculty from three different institutions during those application processes) that a very significant part of the application process is demonstrating that you can envision the sort of work that you will be doing going forward. Part of that work is specializing, and another part of that is composing a dissertation that addresses a specific topic of appropriate size and relevance. I would think that writing a paper about something that you are not going to propose as your field of study could convey that you're indecisive and/or don't understand the profession or the purpose of graduate study. While I think that it's perfectly fine--and even a good idea--to convey broader interests in your SOP, I also think that showing that you have a very good idea of what constitutes an appropriate concentration for the purposes of the dissertation and declaring yourself upon entering the job market as a Victorianist should probably trump actually exploring your broader interests in your WS. This is especially true if exploring other interests means presenting a sample of your writing that is not relevant (or only tangentially so) to what you propose to do once you've been admitted to a program. Of course, I think that it's understood that, when you arrive at the program, you will explore and perhaps completely abandon what you proposed to do in your application and even in your first year or two of study. But the implication of the WS, SOP, and application materials should still be that you comprehend the parameters of academic work and the work being done in the departments to which you're applying. From the sounds of it, your circumstances are making this a lot more difficult, but I don't think that you necessarily have to abandon your WS; perhaps you can rework it to be sure that the concentration is on your intended field and Milton is a vehicle of study? Also, re: auditing: have you checked into unofficial auditing? Maybe you can find a prof who's fine with you just showing up to their class and participating and you can just skip all of the official stuff (i.e. the administration). It won't be on your transcript, but it might be a constructive environment for writing a 20-page essay.

I would also ask to be put in touch with a current MA student. They might not have statistics, but they will probably be able to give you a feel for the program.

Some of the schools require that you fill out some official rejection, either online or on paper (which you then mail, obviously). What I did was write personal emails to each of the people I had spoken to either on the phone or at the open house, thanking them for welcoming me and for the opportunity but stating that I have chosen to go elsewhere for personal as well as professional reasons. In the case that I had had extended and/or detailed conversations with the person to whom I was writing, I usually referred to that in some way or another. Then I notified the DGS (who was usually someone I'd spoken to but not a POI) and any students from the uni who had gone out of their way to welcome me and help me make my decision. Then I filled out the official form. I would take the time to notify the most important people you spoke to (or the ones you spoke to the most) individually. In the grand scheme of things, you won't spend a hell of a lot of time writing an extra email, but the fact that you spent the time to do it can't possibly hurt you. And it's not like there's no chance you'll ever interact with them again, so going out of your way (even if it's just to write an extra email) to be polite and gracious isn't going to hurt. At least that's how I'm thinking about things.

I would take the offer to teach as well. You'll find out if that's what you want to do, you'll learn to balance your work and your teaching duties (and/or learn that you don't want to bother), and you'll have a lot more fun than you would if all you were doing was marking. Marking is the worst part of teaching, and TAships that are all marking or jobs as a marker put you in a position where you are doing the least desirable work (reading undergrad work that may or may not be very impressive or informative) without any of the more interesting parts (helping them learn to write, teaching them new stuff, inspiring discussion, and so on). Unless the program that has the marking position is A LOT better than the other and you firmly believe that it will get you into better programs, I'd take the other if I were you. Edited to add: I'm coming out of an MA program where I will have taught for three semesters by the time I move on, and I think that the experience has been invaluable for me. One of those TAships was basically a glorified marking position, and it was miserable (there were other factors, of course, but the marking was part of the issue). I would pick actually teaching and marking over just marking almost regardless of the other stuff.

Thanks for the link! Sorry, I've been operating largely from my phone of late and searching is more difficult.

Hey guys, How are you finding housing from somewhere else? I'm in another country and looking at housing... any recommendations?

I didn't study in a group and don't know anyone who did, but I do know someone who studied in a way that I think might be easy to divide up (and that was very successful for him). He made a chart with all of the big titles, a list of characters (the most important ones from each text), and some main themes/well-known aspects of the work. He then memorized the chart. Maybe dividing up the work for making a chart like that would work?

I've been rejected from Columbia, so either I'm exceptionally uninteresting or they're still thinking about you guys or both. Also, interzone, I think they've already notified for Toronto (I was accepted, and from the results listings, it looks like they notified enough people that they have probably notified all of them). I wouldn't bet money on it, and not just because I don't have any, but that's what I think.

semicolon: I would definitely pass/fail it. I did that with a couple of my undergrad classes (math and science) and they didn't bring my GPA down. (I found out later that I'd gotten an A- in both, which would have brought my GPA down, but it wasn't nearly as bad as I thought. Is it possible that your situation is also not as bad as you think once you factor in grade curves and the like?)

Yeah, Rutgers emailed me to say I have been considered and rejected.

I've been wondering the same. I also wonder at what point I should just suck it up and call to find out.

Thanks! It was a really nice chat and I look forward to going to visit.

FYI: Toronto is notifying their accepted students today as well. I just got a call (yay!).