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poppyensemble

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  1. Hi folks, I just moved into my apartment and am getting quite excited about Beginning Stuff so soon. Thought I'd bump this thread up to see how everyone else was doing!
  2. I'm graduate student in Beijing,majoring in translation and interpretation. I'm really interested in Comparative literature. But it seems to be a very tough program for Chinese student. Can you be so kind as to tell me more info about the program?

  3. reading this thread has been really helpful. : ) does anyone know anything about the 85-95 prescott street block of harvard affiliated housing? e.g. the area, the building, how loud the nearby art museum construction work gets... from what i can tell it's really close to main campus buildings, but i don't know much else about it.
  4. I think you should call/email your International Student Office (or the equivalent) ASAP and see what they say. There's a good chance there have been previous situations like yours; or if not, I think they'll at least be able to tell you what your options are. Good luck! Hope you find a way.
  5. I think there's a very small chance you'd not be approved by the university admission office. However, you want to be sure (glitches/mix-ups are always possible), and with the deadline already here... I think you should just call the Kent State department ASAP!
  6. i'll be starting a comparative literature phd in the fall. does anybody else here live in beijing? : )
  7. Here's some further food for thought. On how the humanities (and the texts and intellectual methods we teach and value), might in fact be seen as essential to a healthy civil society: http://www.truthdig.com/arts_culture/item/troy_jollimore_on_why_democracy_needs_the_humanities_20100423/ Snippets [The claim that democracy needs the humanities, that the crisis in humanistic education leaves “the future of the world’s democracies hang[ing] in the balance,” is a strong one, and more hardheaded readers may respond with skepticism. As much as the humanities may enrich the lives of those privileged enough to devote themselves to them, they continue to strike many people as, essentially, frills. As long as a majority continues to see them this way they will be among the first things to be jettisoned when times get tough. Nussbaum’s contention is that this view is precisely the opposite of the truth: As the subtitle makes clear, the main part of “Not for Profit: Why Democracy Needs the Humanities” is devoted to substantiating the claim that the skills taught by the humanities are “skills that are needed to keep democracies alive.”] ... [socratic pedagogy, then, is meant to produce an ideal citizen, one who is 'active, critical, curious, capable of resisting authority and peer pressure'—the kind of citizen who poses a threat to authoritarian regimes but who enables democracies to function.] Or a shorter, slightly more critical take on Nussbaum's argument here: http://www.newstatesman.com/books/2010/06/value-democracy-nussbaum-arts
  8. yeah, i'm looking to live off-campus; but the dorms also sound far from terrible if things don't work out, at least for the first year. sounds like we're all pretty unfamiliar with boston. i'm looking forward to getting to know a new city. i keep hearing nice things about cambridge/boston, so that's at least reassuring! especially since i'll be going in for comparative lit, and —i don't know the specifics about your departments— but if the average in mine is anything to go by, i'll be in the area for a looong time. : )
  9. ha, housing is one of those very logisticky things that i know i'll have to deal with sooner or later, but have wedged firmly at the back of my mind for now. ) you've probably seen this already, but there's some helpful housing info going on here: i also hear that harvard affiliated housing (http://www.huhousing.harvard.edu/HarvardUniversityHousing/index.aspx) can be quite a solid option (though it's apparently lottery-based), since the locations tend to be decent, all utilities are covered and you don't run the risk of running into supremely unpleasant proprietors etc. all that aside though, are you folks absolutely set on living off campus for the first year? as for post-acceptance euphoria, definitely! i still oscillate wildly between thinking of what i should be doing to prepare for grad school and not believing any of this has actually happened.
  10. hi folks, i'm heading to cambridge this fall. looking forward to it! good luck with deciding. tufnel, i have a really close friend who is currently doing the first year of his polisci (er, government) phd. he seems to be working superhard but also having a pretty jolly time. : )
  11. wow, a whole lot of 'tough love', as you say. : ) at the same time, you weren't at all defensive and quickly came to fully appreciate the other users' points of view, which i think says lots about your maturity and character. honestly, we've all said (plenty of) things —just perhaps not on these boards— that were unfortunately timed and not particularly well thought out, that ended up (very reasonably, but definitely not intentionally) hurting others. and we pretty much all have many moments of self-doubt (i know i do at least!), and times where we simply freak out about everything and our self-worth and where we stand with others (even though we know we shouldn't). so definitely be a lot more sensitive about where others are right now — as all your very sensible colleagues pointed out — but also don't be too hard on yourself. i think people were very frank and reasonable in telling you what upset them, but you also reacted pretty graciously. last of all, congrats to you! and good luck and strength to everybody at this extremely nerve-frazzling time of year!!
  12. I think "intellectual consequences" here (hopefully, and much more likely) is gesturing towards how one's academic interests might benefit from/map onto New York's particular resources. e.g. If there are particular galleries and archives in NYC that would be really helpful to your research; or, for instance if one is researching representations of the urban in modern literature, then New York is obviously quite a stimulating environment; etc. So don't go unleashing your wrath and skepticism upon those NYU PhDs just yet.
  13. did just that today. seems like a GREAT place. good luck!
  14. i'm quite sure i'll be declining columbia within the next two days. —though not without some heartbreak : ( it seem likes a wonderful and vibrant place, and the profs and students there have been warm a& responsive. i've been told that there's a waitlist (a subtle, and sensible, nudge to tell me to hurry up!)... so for any who are on that and would like to go, best of luck!!
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