emoryenglishphd

asleepawake, grad students in the program like me, some even love me. They told me so. I've asked why. They told me it's because I'm honest.

I suppose this one's not so noteworthy: grad students steal ideas from each other. Professors also steal from grad students.

Grad students have a strong distaste for Rhet/Comp and fought the department on a recent hire because he didn't "teach literature." He teaches writing ... and literature.

One professor served on a student's exam committee, helped develop her lists, coached her through the process, passed her, and then abandoned her committee because he didn't like a topic she was working on. Another professor abandoned a student because she was not pursuing a research career. Also, he didn't like what she wore to the exam defense.

The chair of the department had no clue about departmental policy concerning coursework even though he had been chair for more than two years and had advised grad students for several. When he "discovered" it, he told his students not to follow it because he thought it was ridiculous. He bought gifts for grad students using department funding.

A professor threatened to fail graduate students because they posted their responses late. After several offenses, students complained about her. The male professors laughed them off, explaining that she's just a crazy, psychotic woman.

For those of you rejected by Emory: don't feel bad, It's not a good program. For those of you thinking about accepting Emory's offer: don't believe L. Otis's claims about President James Wagner. The English department is guilty of the same things. I wish someone had told me the truth from the beginning.

Another professor, who ya'll probably respect, looked at students' potential composition syllabi and asked, "What are you good at?" The replies varied from rollerblading and wearing a jean jacket. These responses, one of them a Fulbright scholar, indicate how much the students respected the professor.

No Latte, I'm very much a part of the program. In fact, I'm considered one of the top students. I'm disgusted by that. Yes, I realize it's easy to ask: why didn't you just leave? I'll ask you this: why would you leave a "top program" that pays so much? I have no where else to go. I have no interest in giving up the stipend. I have no where else to go.

Two professors, who you probably admire, decided that African-Americanists should TA for for Early Modern courses while their white counterparts TA'd for Americanist courses. The African-American students subsequently TA'd for Mark Bauerlein. Look him up.

One professor, who you probably thought you'd want to work for, once drunkenly told a student that he only wanted her to take a certain course because he "wanted to write an article" with her. The course she took didn't end up counting for the distribution requirement he promised her.

One professor, a highly respected one, maybe even a professor you mentioned in a statement of a purpose, refused to allow ASL or indigenous language courses to count as part of graduate students' "foreign" language requirements.

One professor, a highly respected one, maybe even a professor you mentioned in a statement of purpose, agreed with grad students in the seminar that creative approaches to criticism had nothing to do with feminist and minority approaches to self-identification.

One professor, a highly respected one, maybe even a professor you mentioned in a statement of purpose, once told a seminar that Cormac McCarthy's _Blood of Meridian_ is anti-imperalist because McCarthy uses the Spanish language. Every graduate student agreed with her.

Why did you apply? If you've been accepted, or even rejected, feel free to ask me anything about it.