somethinbruin

Cleveland State seems to be trying to attract decent faculty, but I'm not sure how much it helps them on a national stage. The greater problem, I think, is with some of their admissions standards (The MBA program in particular is not very selective. If you can pay, you can attend, basically). Granted, this doesn't cover all programs, and I'm guessing not yours, but some have pretty lax admission standards, and it hurts the academic reputation of the university as a whole. I'm afraid I really don't know enough about ABE to say whether the opportunity to work at the Clinic outweighs the fact that CSU isn't particularly well regarded nationally as a research university. I wouldn't want to steer you in the wrong direction, but I think it's probably a question you could ask to a current faculty member or student. If you did so tactfully, I don't think that should be a problem.

Does your university have a writing center? If so, consider making an appointment with them. They may not be experts your field, but they can work with you on structure and organization. The comments you mentioned (repeated ideas and the need for improved thesis quality) are comments that I often make on my students' papers. They generally speak to larger issues of overall focus and organization. So it may just be that you have all the information you need, but need to consider how strongly you've stated and constructed your argument. I would also recommend sitting down with the person who made the comments. I would do so before you start making massive revisions, since you don't seem to have a good handle on what she/he wants. It doesn't make much sense to revise for the sake of revising if that work isn't getting your essay to where your readers want it, so I would wait until the commenter can explain it to you.

I don't know much about the biomed engineering program at Cleveland State, but I can speak to the university's reputation as a whole. The university has done a lot in the past 10 years to transform itself from a commuter campus into a college that feels more residential. I think the physical results have been good. The campus looks more like a university campus, although it is urban, and the area immediately to the east of the campus community gets very sketchy quickly. While the physical grounds and some buildings are much improved, the academic reputation of CSU still lags behind some of the other universities in the region. The two best schools in NE Ohio are Case Western and John Carroll University (CWRU is better in some things, and John Carroll in others), followed by Kent State. Cleveland State and the University of Akron are larger schools, but their academic reputations are not as strong. Both are working to get better, but I wouldn't say they're "there" yet. Cleveland State in particular is struggling with the transition from quarters to semesters, with the faculty and the administration at (somewhat heated) odds over teaching loads and how best to assign classes appropriate credit hours under their new structure/curriculum. A few weeks ago the faculty voted "no confidence" in the president. Beyond CSU, I would say that opportunities to work with the Cleveland Clinic are probably huge positives. The Clinic is a jewel, a hospital the likes of which we are lucky to have in Cleveland. And the Lerners don't do anything halfway (except perhaps the CLE Browns...but let's not go there). They've been very generous to several of NE Ohio's universities. I'm sorry that I can't be more specific about your program, or more positive about the academic quality of CSU. The school has worked really hard in some areas, but general perceptions of its academics is that it lags behind several of its geographic neighbors. That said, it may be the right fit for you if the research opportunities allow you to do the work you want.

I would recommend waiting to learn in the US. The switch from driving on the left to driving on the right is a big adjustment (I did it the other way around--learned in the US then drove in the UK, and it was really, really tough). I think it would be easier to pick up if you just learned one way and stuck with it for a long time. Also, you will want/need to get a US drivers' license, because you'll need it to get insurance. Most states require drivers to have auto insurance, and you can't get that without a valid drivers license issued by a US state. In comparison to European nations, drivers in (most) of the US tend to be extremely orderly. I think this will work to your advantage, as it will be much less intimidating to get out on the road. Yes, you will see some aggressive drivers in the US, but it's nothing like the way cab drivers careen through most of Europe or the Middle East. By and large, most US drivers "follow the rules" and drive about 5-8 miles per hour over the speed limit. You'll pick it up quickly and follow the rules of the road in a similar fashion. If you go on green and stop on red, obey the signs, and use your turn signal, you'll be OK. Also, both of the places you've been accepted have fairly comprehensive city-wide bus systems (I think). While those bus systems might not be quicker than having your own car, you might look into using the bus at first so that you can take your time learning to drive. Regarding drivers' education in the US: You have to be careful to find good driving schools. Check with the local Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) in the city you're moving to, or with the local Better Business Bureau (BBB) to find driving schools with good records. It's been several years since I went through driving schools, so I'm sure it's easier to check websites and identify good schools. A good school may be able to work with you to get an instructor you feel comfortable with. I hope this is helpful. I understand your nerves, but I think you should be fine. Most people take to it rather easily, particularly if they take is seriously and get their practice hours done. Best of luck to you!

Smellybug, can we be friends?

Yep, what everyone else said. Total non-issue. I worked in a somewhat unrelated field (journalism) for several years (6) after finishing undergrad. It made absolutely no difference on my applications to MA programs two years ago. I got several acceptances. When the time came last year for PhD applications, I mentioned my outside experience very briefly in my SOP, but dealt mostly with my research and areas of scholarly focus. Same result. Several acceptances, and at two interviews profs said how much they liked that I had experience in the professional realm.

To propose a presentation for a conference, you generally have to submit an abstract, not the full paper. Abstract formats vary. I've submitted to conferences that wanted 100 word abstracts and others that wanted 500. In general, your abstract should succinctly present the argument your paper will make. They're tricky little exercises, because you have to do a suitable amount of preliminary research, set out a clear argument and make the case for why it matters, all in an appealing way that will make them want to select you. Writing abstracts takes practice, and if you're not familiar with how to do them, I would recommend having a faculty member whose feedback you trust take a look at them before you send them out. After your submit your abstract, it will be read and decided upon by a chairperson or by a blind committee who decides which papers are accepted. This process is usually completed a few months before the conference, so you should have plenty of time to complete your research and write the paper. My MA program encouraged students to present at least once a year, preferably twice, and that expectation continues throughout PhD programs. I don't know about any specific history websites that publish calls for paper, but here is a humanities call for papers database that you might be able to find some conferences on: https://www.h-net.org/announce/group.cgi?type=CFPs

I agree with a lot of what Arcanen and ArtHistory have said. I do think that the position you describe seems more suited for a museum studies, museum administration/education, or non-profit administration degree. Those degrees seem like they will let you do the sort of outreach you desire, whereas history grad programs generally prepare you to be a researcher in a specific field/period. If you're set on history, I think your best bet is to try to bulk up your CV in ways that admissions committees like: research assistantships (volunteer if you have to), conference presentations, peer reviewed publications. Also, I think you should be realistic about the effect your GPA is going to have on your applications. You say an Ivy is your top choice, but the reality is that Ivies rarely admit students with sub 3.0 GPAs, regardless of other factors in their application. They just don't have to because their applicant pool is so large and strong. Your resources might be better spent identifying programs where your chances of admission are higher. If you feel compelled to do the blog for your own personal edification, then by all means go for it. But Arcanen is right that it won't do anything for your application, and might even hurt. Likewise, an unofficial internship isn't worth very much to committees since you can't put it on your CV. In the end, your application boils down to these things: Your grades, your SOP, your CV, your letters of rec, and (much less important) your GRE scores. Focus on the things you can affect in the next six months: Your CV, SOP, and letters of rec.

I'm coming into my PhD program with an MA already. Most of the programs I looked at were designed to be done in 5-6 years, depending on how quickly you wrote your dissertation. The shortest I applied to claimed to be 4 years, although students there privately confided that it nearly always took 5 years. I think 5-6 is a good ballpark for programs in the US. Schools do NOT want you to take 9 years to finish a PhD. That doesn't look good for their numbers. For students, anything beyond six years and you risk losing your funding. I can't speak to how long combined MA/PhD programs are supposed to take. I didn't go that route.

Native Clevelander who came back to get her MA, so I'll help you as best I can. Disclosure: I LOVE Cleveland, but I'm more of a sports/arts/culture person than an all-night partier, so I'll do the best I can in that department. Night life: Cleveland has a night life with activities/bars if that's your thing (East Fourth St, West 6th Street, Warehouse District). The new casino on public square, bowling at the Corner Alley, plus three sports teams make downtown a more active place than it has been in years past. I believe most bars/clubs close up shop around 2-3 a.m. I doubt the nightlife in CLE would would compare to New Orleans (also, the campus culture at CWRU is pretty internally competitive, and most of my Case friends don't have time to be out all night, so be prepared for that. CWRU has a reputation for working grad students hard). Other great things in Cleveland: Cleveland Zoo (world class/free on Mondays), Natural History Museum, Great Lakes Science Center, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Playhouse Square Theater Complex (2nd largest theater complex in the country), pro football, baseball, basketball, semi-pro arena football and hockey, a few minor league baseball teams, Wade Oval Wednesdays, Cleveland Orchestra, Cedar Lee Theater, Great Lakes Shakespeare Festival, House of Blues concerts, a few solid comedy clubs. Most of these lie outside the realm of nightlife, so I don't know how much interest they are to you. I'm not sure what you mean by open. (The city is very LGBT friendly, if that's what you're asking.) As far as active, there are TONS of sports/recreation opportunities if you're looking to get involved. There are dozens of races from 5ks to marathons, triathlons, bike trails, rec leagues, kayak tours. Heck, people even surf on Lake Erie when the wind kicks up. If you're interested in it, there's a group that does it in Cleveland. CWRU is a few miles from downtown Cleveland, on the city's east side. CWRU is within walking distance of the Cleveland Museum of Art (world class and free!), Little Italy and Coventry (great restaurants), Severance Hall (Cleveland Orchestra), Wade Park Oval, and Hot Sauce Williams (best BBQ in the city). Cleveland has a lot of positive attributes, but there are a few things it is not: It is not pedestrian/public transit friendly. You cannot walk from CWRU to downtown (the neighborhoods are not good), and the bus system is shoddy/unreliable. Also, housing immediately around CWRU is expensive compared with other suburbs. If you move a little further out, you can live somewhat cheaper ($700/month for one bedroom in Cleveland Heights/Shaker Heights), but then you have the issue of parking on campus (don't know how this works at CWRU). Housing in/around CWRU operates very much on a good block/bad block basis--the shift between a good neighborhood and a bad one happens that quickly. It can be hard to tell on the map where you'll be fine and where you won't be. Despite this, in the nice areas (coventry, Cedar Lee, Little Italy, Shaker Square), you can find some nice, walkable urban neighborhoods with unique storefronts, great cafes/restaurants, local bars, and independent theaters. If you wanted to live a little farther from CWRU, I would recommend Tremont, or Ohio City and the W25th neighborhood. There are great bars/clubs there, some of the best nightlife in the city (also, the West Side Market...the best indoor/outdoor farmer's market in the country, imho.) If you don't like the winters in Omaha, you're going to hate them in Cleveland. Colder, windier, and double the snow. I would definitely make sure you ask potential landlords about whether they provide snow removal or not, particularly if you're not keen on doing your own shoveling. This would also be an issue if your apartment has on-street parking, as many cities have snow bans on parking when snowfall exceeds three inches. As I said before, I love Cleveland. It has a lot to offer besides clubs. But if night life is your priority, then Tulane might be a better bet. If you have specific questions about Cleveland, feel free to PM me. I'm more than happy to answer them as best I can.

Truth. I spent a few summers running athletic camps for kids (ages 8-15), and it was the worst. Half of the kids were only there because a week at camp was much cheaper than day care. Some really wanted to learn the sport, and others had absolutely no interest. The money can be really good, though, with high-level training camps. Still, I will be looking to work at my university over the summer. I've been told that nearly all PhD students can teach or RA over the summers at my school. I hope that's the case, because I would much prefer to teach rather than looking for some other work.

Yep, I saw your presentation! Kismet. My MA program is in Cleveland, and one of my profs helped organize the conference. The MVSA needed volunteers to help out, and in exchange for volunteering, they let us attend the conference free of charge. I enjoy Victorian lit, even though I'm not a Victorian scholar, so I caught a few of the sessions on Friday and Saturday. It wasn't in my area, but still felt like I grasped and learned a great deal. It was fun. I'm headed to West Virginia University in the fall. I had other offers, and never in a million years would I have thought that's where I would have ended up, but when I visited the campus I fell in love with the program. You teach a TON, and that I think will prepare me more for the type of academic career that I want. (I like research, but I LOVE teaching at small universities.)

Hi there. I just wanted to give you a shout out because I was at the MVSA conference this year (not as a presenter, but I sat in on some sessions) and I think I saw your presentation. I'm not a Victorianist, but I thought you did a nice job. Best of luck in your PhD studies. I'm starting in the fall as well (contemporary/postcolonial/theory) and turning my attention to publishing more so than conferences. Still shooting for a conference a year, but trying to add a publication as well.

I disagree regarding the jeans (which seem to have come up several times on this thread). In the department that I've TA'd in for the past two years, and at the universities I adjuncted at before coming here, jeans were expressly off limits. Your colleagues may very well think less of you (that would certainly be the case around my department), and their opinion is just as important as the students'. My cohort's teaching mentor perhaps put it better than I can. He said, "After you've got tenure, you can wear whatever the hell you want. Until then, dress up." For me, that would mean khakis at a minimum. Since I'm a woman, that usually means dress slacks and blouses/nice tops, with the occasional skirt/dress. But I would caution strongly against jeans, not because I think it will have an overwhelming negative effect on your students, but because it could affect how your are perceived within your department. Most professors don't wear jeans when they teach, and you should be dressing for the job you want.

So...I actually have three (widely divergent) options for you. Perhaps one of them will be the right fit for you. 1. I also don't think there's any harm in applying in the fall. If you apply in the fall, that means you won't start for a year, so you'll have some time off and time away from studying. That will give you at least a modicum of distance and perspective on whether the academy is right for you. 2. Or, you could consider a stand-alone MA program instead of going right into a combined MA/PhD program. Going the MA route first can give you a change of scenery/professors to work with. It will give you a gauge of how much you need to up your game to be ready for PhD work, as the step up is considerable. Many MA programs also let their GTAs teach, so you'll get a sense of whether teaching in the academy is really for you. 3. Of course, I could also advocate shelving the PhD talk for a while and taking some concrete time away from school. That is, after all, what I did. I worked as a reporter and editor for a few years. I wrote every day, which turned out to be great experience once I went back. I think I was better prepared, but I also will not get my PhD until I'm about 35 (not old, but not exactly young, either, eh?). Still, working for 6 years was long enough to convince me of what I really wanted to do. I think only you can really decide if you're having a legit change of heart, or if you're just burned out. Take some quiet time to start working through those feelings--talk to your friends and allow them to support you. You sound burned out to me, but it's your call. I just wanted to let you know that you have several different options on how to proceed, and that time is on your side. You do not have to decide your entire future tonight. Or tomorrow for that matter. If you step away, it will still be there later. Truly, the best of luck to you. Trust yourself and you will make the decision that is right for you.

When I started reading your post, I'm sad to say that I thought it was satire. I still sort of hope that it is... What should you do to get admitted to the one Ivy that you're considering applying to? Um.....pray? offer bribes? Sacrifice three chickens under the harvest moon? Because the reality is that you have to be a nearly perfect candidate across the board--test scores, grades, service, presentations, publications--and then you still need a heap of luck. You can be great on paper, but if you're an Americanist and the school graduated three early modernists last year, you're probably not getting in because you're not what they need. If the school just hired a new contemporary professor, they're going to bring in students to work under them, which means they'll prefer contemporary students to Chaucerians that year. It's a total crapshoot, full of variables that you do not and cannot control, no matter how strong you may think your writing sample is. You will be better served going into this process assuming the worst, and then working like the dickens to make sure that doesn't happen. Even then you might not (probably will not--the odds are not in your favor) get into your chosen program. Very few do. A healthy sense of hear is helpful, because the reality is that every year brilliant and well-qualified candidates apply widely, not just to a single Ivy, and get rejected everywhere. At the top level of study, everyone is good.

It should not hurt your application or your CV at all. Yes, it is important to convey a focus (particularly in your SOP), but it's also important to show that you're capable of engaging in the sort of professionalism that the field demands. I think the fact that you can engage with different media can be a way into exploring how you can bring Victorian Lit to students through digital humanities (see! Anything can be spun to relate to your field!) Just as an example, I am a contemporary British lit and postcolonial studies MA student (soon to be PhD). I have one presentation on my CV that deals with contemporary British poetry, but the second presentation concerns itself with adaptations of Shakespeare's Coriolanus. The first is in my field, but the second is not, and when I went on PhD visits, every school that I went to mentioned how appealing of a candidate I was because I had actively participated in conferences. None of them brought up that one of my presentations was outside of my focus.

My gut reaction is that $150k is a ton of money, and unless you are really, absolutely certain that going to this school will guarantee that you'll be able to pay it off, then you shouldn't go into that much debt to get the degree. The interest rate on federal DirectLoans is about 8%, so if you amortize that over 30 years, your monthly payment will be about $1,100 a month, and you don't want to be burdened with that, particularly since public administration can be low paying when one starts out. With regard to outside funding, there isn't a lot out there, and competition for it is fierce. I would not count on being able to fund your graduate studies through outside funding. I know it happens sometimes with the sciences, where professors or graduate students can get grant funding to support their research and work, but it happens infrequently in the humanities. I'm not sure about MPA programs specifically, but I would guess that outside funding is rare and that most students who are funded get that funding through their programs during the admission process. I'm sorry that I can't be more rosy in my outlook. I think it's great that you got in to your dream program, but there's no denying that they've also put you in a tough spot. Your heart, I'm sure, really wants to dive right into it, while your head seems to be asking some very difficult and important questions. I don't envy you your choice.

I had nearly this exact same thing happen to me on a visit to School X. A professor asked what other schools I was considering. When I named a few, including School Y, he said without a hesitation, "Well, X is a better school." It came off as extremely condescending and off-putting, particularly since I was leaning toward School Y. In the end, this behavior helped me make my decision, because I knew that wasn't the kind of department I wanted to be a part of. When I wrote to reject School X's offer, I purposely omitted the school that I chose. They don't need to know that. I kept it polite, thanked them for their time and consideration, and explained that I accepted at a program where I felt it was a slightly better fit for me, personally and professionally.

My understanding is that, under the Council of Graduate Schools' April 15 agreement, you can change your mind about accepting a financial aid offer anytime through April 15th without penalty (as long as you notify the school in writing that you're decommitting). After April 15th, you have to ask for and receive a written release from the school you originally committed to. I don't know how amenable schools are to granting these releases (I have no experience with this) or if they might refuse to release you. At the very least it's a considerable show of poor form and bad faith to back out after you've said yes. I think this is one of those situations like choosing a wedding dress: Once you commit to "the one" you need to stop shopping, otherwise you can drive yourself crazy going over other options in your head. Of course, if you offer you accepted is just an offer of admission, and not an offer of financial aid (ie: a graduate assistantship or fellowship), then you're free to commit to another school as you please. You only need to get the release if you accepted financial aid. I'm not an expert, but that's how I interpret things. It's technically possible to get out of your original commitment, but it is poor form, and there's no guarantees that you will get your release.

Your elaboration begs a question for me, and forgive me because I do not mean it to sound cruel, but what is your back-up plan (career-wise)? The path you've set out is extremely narrow, and you've indicated that you understand that. Only one person in the US gets to be the ambassador to Turkey or France, with relatively little turnover. So only a handful of people will ever achieve these jobs, and I think it's important to consider what else you might want to do/be able to do with the degree/school you choose. Consider what your secondary plans might be, then look at your programs and see if any of those schools situate you better to find a job in that area. By all means, consider how you can pursue the career of your dreams, but don't do so at the expense of at least a modicum of practicality. Make sure that whichever program you choose will prepare you for a more realistic/obtainable job. Again, I don't mean this to sound like I'm pooh-poohing your dream. You should go after what you want, but have a secondary track in mind as well.

Good for you! Perhaps once you get there, you can work on developing a friendlier, more collegial atmosphere among the students. It only takes a committed few to start working on a culture change!

I would caution you against feeling negatively about your alma mater because of your undergrad experience there. If there's one thing that grad school taught me, it's that undergrad is over. In graduate school, things like the town you're living in matter much less because literally all that you're doing for the next five years is studying. You're not going to have a happening social life, unfortunately. In fact, a less exciting town might be a good thing because there will be fewer distractions. This decision should be based on where you feel you could get the most out of your education. It sounds to me like you feel school A has the package you want--good adviser (whom you haven't exhausted as a resource because you only took two classes with her/him in undergrad) and an interdisciplinary approach. With the humanities job market the way that it is right now, interdisciplinary study can be crucial. If you can incorporate other areas, different medias, then your chances of getting hired are exponentially better. Good luck with your decision making process. I'm sure you'll make the choice that's right for you!

The name on the CV is far less important than the actual contents of your CV. All of the schools you list are of sufficient quality to get you good name recognition on your CV, so go with your heart and then work like the dickens to build your qualifications--research, publish, present, teach, and get good grades. THIS is what will open doors after you graduate. School A might be able to set you up with connections, but ultimately it will be up to you to cultivate those relationships. I suspect you will be able to do that at all of your other schools as well, since they are all large schools with large alumni and donor networks. Go with your heart, and where you will be happy. Ultimately, that will make you a better and more successful student.

I agree with this entirely. Over the course of the last two years, my department (in a private, respected university with a graduate program) has hired two tenure-track faculty members. In each instance, we've brought in multiple candidates from the ivies. Both times, the school went with a non-ivy candidate because the students from ivy league schools had virtually no teaching experience. The students from other programs had extensive teaching records, examplary syllabi/reading lists, multiple presentations and publications, and the ability to teach as both a generalist and a specialist in a chosen field. Other things matter beyond rankings. If you go with the program where you won't incur debt and work yourself hard to build a stand-out CV, you'll be just as employable at the Ivy-leaguers, if not more so.