wetheplants

Hey friends! Anyone heading to the CDC (comparative drama conference) in Baltimore this March/April?? I am presenting but seriously in need of a roommate at the hotel! Let me know! =] Also, I will also be attending the "Imaginary" themed conference at Northeastern in a few weeks. I live here so I won't be looking for a roommate but if anyone wants advice about the area, please feel free to message =]

I ended up going for Boston College instead - I quite like the phrase of "a herd of cats".

Alright guys, I've made my decision - BC it is for a two year Masters in English!! Thanks to everyone for all your helpful input over this year... I really can't thank you enough! =]

From Dartmouth, actually, but yeah. Do you have any idea why people don't think it's as prestigious as other programs?

Obviously you're the only who can answer that question. I was in a long distance relationship for my last year of college, with my boyfriend 3 hours south of me. We would see eachother about every other weekend, so two weekends a month out of four. We would try to swap - he would come up one weekend, and I'd come down the other. (Well actually, he came up more, but that's because we had lots of friends on campus.) But anyway, I found that arrangement to be very manageable. I was still able to have a social life during the week and weekends, while only losing one weekend a month to being out of town. The weekend he came to me, we'd still go out and spend time with friends. And seeing one another every other weekend wasn't too bad. But if that's not enough time for you, or she wouldn't be able to come out and visit you, etc, etc - that wouldn't necessarily work. Oh and just to note - as a frequent Boston>NYC traveller, it is about a 4/5 hour drive, and close to 5 hours on a bus. It is never a 3 hour trip (although I wish it was!)

Thanks for the input! That's a good point - I'm kind of doing the masters because I'm not entirely sure if I want to study drama in a theater or English department. Dartmouth might give me the option to continue to do both (as I did in undergrad) and BC will be sorta like - you do the English coursework and if you like it, you go English PhD - if you hate it, go theater. But yeah, I appreciate the idea! I'm trying to gauge how heavily the Ivy would be weighted. I think I would prefer to go to BC, but again I don't want to just turn down an Ivy without at least putting some thought into it... and I'm from the Boston area so I really have no idea how people perceive BC outside of greater Boston.

Having done it many times, I can safely say that Boston - NYC is NOT a 2.5/3 hour drive. It's like a 4/5 hour drive. *shrugs* and it adds up if there's traffic... which there always is!

I second these people - I'm a Bostonian who did plenty of commuting to NYC to visit my boyfriend. It was very manageable! Its certainly a long bus ride at around 4 hours, but not a bad time to do some reading or get work done, and it's usually pretty affordable! Just book your holiday weekends early.

Honestly, I just think they're like "We're Columbia and so we can do whatever we want." I dunno, I'm not gonna wait around to hear back from them. If they can't even give me an answer by mid-April, I'm certainly not going to neglect my other offers just to hear back. I think it's really rude to treat your applicants like that.

Just turned down offer from UVA, and will also turn down offer from UChicago's MAPH tonight... hope that will help out somebody out there on the wait list!! =]

Hey guys, St. Andrews gave me a generous extension when I asked for one. Also, can anyone help me out? At this point, I've pretty much narrowed it down to BC, St. Andrews, or Dartmouth's MALS program. Does anyone know very much about MALS? I'm very curious if the reputation will still be so great because it's Dartmouth, or if people won't take it seriously as a two year Masters in a subject.

Hey guys - I got the same "second round" email from them a few weeks ago. I emailed them back again today (I have deadlines on April 15, what else can I do?) and was told that since there aren't any scholarships, they may not be sticking to the April 15 deadline and that they haven't made a decision about my file yet. I'm thinking at this point that I'll most likely have to end up making a decision before I hear from them.

I really appreciate seeing this thread, guys! I've always been sort of on the fence about how much I particularly cared about teaching - I'm also a fiction writer and figured that a bestseller or two might land me the kind of professorial job opportunities that others would be competing for. This is really helpful to read though. I haven't really done any teaching, and I'm debating between which masters program I should pick right now. I'm leaning towards BC's, which is funding me (although funding isn't mandatory for me, as my parents are willing to pay for whichever program I think is best) and they also have TA/TF positions available for the second year. Maybe I should determine how much I really like the teaching aspect before I sink myself into a PhD program after this...!

Oh, Andrew Softer might be my advisor next year at BC, if I decide to go!! What is the book about, should I read it?

I don't think I'll know till next week. I had emailed the department contact asking when I would know because I have deadlines coming up starting on the 31... so she very kindly told me! Anyway, I'll report back... maybe I'll have heard from Oxford or the ever mysterious Columbia...!