rising_star

My guess is that the difference in teaching is less than you think. Isn't UW on the quarter system? Unless you really get a quarter without TAing each year, then you're really comparing teaching 4 sections a year to teaching 3 sections a year. The 2-2 is common in English programs, I think, and is typically two sections of the same course with the numbers capped at 20 or below (at least from what I've seen at a few institutions). So, personally, I wouldn't let the teaching part persuade you. I would definitely ask questions about the longevity of the funding. For years, UW had the reputation of being a bit of a snake/viper pit because students had to compete against one another from one year to the next (and sometimes one quarter to the next) for funding. Seattle is a great city with awesome opportunities but, the cost of living is definitely higher there than it is in Tucson. The Gender and Women's Studies Program at Arizona is exciting and dynamic but there are also great gender theorists at Washington. The only difference there is that since Arizona requires a PhD minor, you could get some formal recognition for your gender studies coursework (not sure if the same option is available at UW).

You need to check into the placement record of UCONN's PhD students. This information should be available on the department's website. If not, ask your POI and the DGS for it.

What are your career goals? If you want to be competitive for academic positions, you should go to the higher-ranked program.

Start by looking at the literature. What are you interested in? What studies (articles or books) capture your interest? That might help you decide on a general, broad area for your research. Then, as you're reading those (or after, it's always good to re-read), think about what gaps there are in the published literature. Do they identify areas in need of further inquiry? Is there a theory that captures your interest that you want to apply? If so, where has it already been applied and how? Taking stock of the current literature is always the first step. From there, it can be easier to identify a specific project once you know what projects other scholars think are out there. For a master's, you don't necessarily need to come up with a completely original (or novel) research idea.

I don't understand your strategy/goals here. You could get a job in international education with your international experience plus the master's degree you're already earning. What d you hope to accomplish by completing a second master's?

Attending without funding is crazy, and even crazier when you have a perfectly good funded offer on the table.

This is really field dependent. In my field, a lot of people have tattoos (though probably more women than men), some of which are visible and some of which are not. When I think about my coworkers, I think a few of them have visible tattoos (think inside of the forearm) but very few do. It may limit your options for future employment, which is something to consider.

This seems silly to me. You'd probably be better off just completing the master's at Uni 1 and then dropping out of the PhD program there. If you did a year at University 1, then enrolled in the MSc program at university 2, you'd likely have to repeat all of the coursework, adding a year to the master's program.

Are you really willing to do an unfunded graduate degree?

I think reading a paper a day, at least on weekdays, is an excellent habit. I also regularly peruse the table of contents for numerous journals related to my research and teaching interests, even if I don't read that many articles from them.

VirtualMessage, I'm not sure where you've worked but that has emphatically NOT been my experience with WPAs at... three different institutions that I've taught at since starting my PhD. They have helped me craft better assignments, integrate the writing work into the course better, etc. They haven't imposed any best practices on me or forced me to do things in a particular way, other than by following the same criteria outlined for all such course (which, for example, might be a minimum number of written pages with X opportunities to revise). But those criteria were outlined by a faculty committee, not the WPA, and are built into the academic catalog so it's not like one WPA could change them. OP, it is definitely possible to change fields at the graduate level if that's what you want to do. I would read up on rhet/comp so that you can be sure you're using the right language in your SOP to really situate your interests in the field. If possible, maybe audit or enroll in a graduate level rhet/comp course, which will shows adcoms that you're committed to the transition and also give you the chance to familiarize yourself with the specialized language and way of thinking. Good luck, CrashJupiter!

You should be able to ask the programs directly about their placement record and get that information. You will also want the placement record of your POI at each school since that can make a huge difference, especially in an interdisciplinary PhD.

Forgive the intrusion on this discussion, which will probably just further derail this from the original post. As someone without a PhD in English or Rhet/Comp, I for one am glad that in places where WIC/WID (WAC/WAD?) is done there are also pedagogical workshops on how to teach writing and do it well. Because really, it is everyone's job to ensure that students can write well. I'm in the social sciences but I need students to be able to explain what they've read, report on their research findings, etc. But, I also don't receive any specific training in how to teach writing unless I seek it out for myself. For me, WPAs are helpful because they can look at my syllabus and assignments and help me figure out how to craft things better, what aspects to emphasize in my teaching, etc., so that students become better writers in my course. In fact, one of the best compliments I got from students last semester was that they became better (or stronger) writers in my course. And I don't teach writing. I teach [redacted] social science where writing is in there because they need to be able to think critically and communicate their ideas.

My fear is that, even if the BLS projections are accurate, that won't translate into more tenure-track or even tenure-track-like (full-time lecturer gigs with promotion to senior lecturer after 5-7 years) jobs being available. The trend, even before the 2008 recession, has been for institutions to replace retiring TT faculty with adjuncts or full-time lecturers employed on a year to year basis. They say they do this because it gives them flexibility. If you think back, you may realize/recall that there were predictions of a booming job market that would happen in the 90s/early 2000s due to a wave of retirements. The retirements happened but the TT jobs weren't being advertised at the same rate. It doesn't matter whether or not the BLS is right if institutions decide that TT or even full-time teaching positions are no longer needed or desirable from their perspective.

No, you shouldn't worry about it. It's really not much work to change the address on a letter and upload it to a different site.

Yes, kingxrocks, it is easy. Knowing what you can/should to prepare for alt-ac careers actually is the easy part. Actually doing those things and doing them well is the much harder part. Take summer internships for example. That is easy to say you'll pursue but, depending on where you are, opportunities may be limited or you may not be able to find a paid internship (possibly of concern depending on your funding situation), or your program may forbid outside work/employment even in the summer. In my grad program, there was pressure on PhD students to teach at least one summer course (so 4-6 weeks) because it benefited the department to have us do so, Consequently, you were left with less time to pursue your research, relax, visit friends, etc. If I'd wanted a summer internship in grad school, it could've only been 6ish weeks long because I was also working (teaching a summer course) to pay bills and put food in the bowl (screw tables, I didn't have a table to eat off of in grad school). That's why I say it's easy to know what to do and potentially much harder to actually implement it. Similarly, some advisors may drop you or otherwise pull away if they realize you want to be something other than TT faculty somewhere. Even where departments recognize the need for alt-ac training, there are faculty who do not see it that way and don't let their students do certain things that might facilitate that transition.

Do the rotations and take it from there. Yes, there are lots of areas to choose from but you want to pick something you can do even when you're bored or otherwise hating the topic.

I would go back to the drawing board and try to improve your applications for next cycle. $100K in debt for a master's with no guaranteed job prospects or even a guaranteed admission to a PhD program is a HUMONGOUS gamble. I personally would never do it and would advise others not to.

A couple of weeks is actually a ton of time. If anything, I would contact your top choices and ask when they expect to make a decision on your application.

It's not unprofessional to ask for a release. But, they also don't have to grant your request.

I wouldn't ask too many questions about why they didn't nominate anyone. There may be internal university politics at play that you have no knowledge of and that really aren't your place to know about. Seriously, it's not worth stressing out over. The only thing that matters with funding is whether there's sufficient funding for you to be the best scholar you can be. I turned down multiple fellowship offers to go to a program that offered me less funding. I don't regret the decision because it was the best place for me to do my research. Sure, there were times where I wished I had the fellowship and fewer TA duties but, those TA experiences helped me land the job I have now.

Frame it as being about growing as a scholar and be polite yet firm.

I lived with people in my department and people not in my department in grad school. They each had their pros and cons but my preference was not living with people in my program.

It may not be required but whether or not it's needed will depend on your research interests.

Wait until you're on the job market!