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repentwalpurgis

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repentwalpurgis last won the day on October 19 2013

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    Female
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    ( ・ω・)ノ
  • Application Season
    2014 Fall
  • Program
    English M.A.

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  1. Thank you for your response. As you might imagine, I wanted as much feedback as possible, so I did actually post this to reddit. However, I find that editing posts here is super glitchy and weird. I realized it wasn't terribly readable, and I think my browser is preventing me from seeing where you can edit the posts. I'm still trying to figure out what's wrong, since I've never had this issue before. Anyway...I appreciate your advise. I'm not sure if I have the stamina to go through this MA program AND then the PhD, given the job market. My offer isn't funded--so I've got loans to consider to boot. I'm really leaning toward the negative side of things, here. I don't know if I could really do 20 hours of freelance work on top of the MA. Based on my personal tendencies, I know that would be really hard for me.
  2. Hi there... I am deciding whether or not to attend graduate school, and I would greatly appreciate your logic, wisdom, and sage advice. I graduated with a BA (concentrating in both English and Spanish) about 2.5 years ago. Right when that happened, I had my heart set on becoming an academic for quite some time. Even given the state of academia, I was determined to be an excellent candidate for an academic career. I basically ignored most of the warnings about delving into academia, and focused on what would make me more likely to succeed based upon advice from professors/mentors: more jobs for early modern lit, so I'd concentrate there (supposedly, maybe you've heard otherwise), having a couple of languages under my belt, having unique research, etc... With all this in mind, I set out in the summer of 2013 to make it happen. I chose to go for the English MA, because I figured I'd get my toes wet, see if it was going to be the right choice for me, going to graduate school. I followed the typical instructions for making your graduate application as strong as possible: my letter writers received neat and tidy information about my goals and ambitions, and I received strong letters in return (I guess I must have, anyway) I re-edited an old paper and turned it into a great topic that had a focus similar to that of my proposed research, blah blah... I got into four of the six schools I applied to. Of course, I wanted to go to my #1 choice, and figured I'd stick with that. But I was able to think about my options, and feel pretty good about my results! Around that time I was also hired to a pretty decent position as a grant proposal writer. It was a position that actually used my degree to some extent, paid well, and promised future opportunities. I decided to defer my acceptance and wait it out...save some money. About a year later, I have since quit that job (I worked for some dishonest folks, it turns out, but I was able to learn a lot about proposal and technical writing, which was pretty neat). I currently do freelance writing on the side (currently mostly editing but also some blog writing), tutor ESL, substitute teach. I basically make my own schedule and I LOVE that part of my lifestyle. I think I am pretty "self-motivated," but mostly, I love being my own boss. I sometimes wonder if I couldn't freelance write full-time. I'm definitely not exactly breaking the bank but I am actually working from home most of the time, and I think I can figure out how to make a lot more money if I decide to make freelancing my goal. But I don't know. I am so disheartened about everything I hear about the academi job prospects following graduate school. It would seem that everything I'd (likely) have to give up---like being able to decide where I want to live, living near family, studying or teaching exactly what I wanted...has become more important to me than ever. As much as I do really enjoy early modern lit, I can't help but feel like resigning myself to studying/teaching it/being an early modernist forever doesn't really...fit anymore. It seems like I am giving something up---like I decided on early modernism because it seemed like the academic/job prospects were better, and I might find a job more easily. Not that I don't love that time period. Substitute teaching is kind of fun, but I really don't like the uncertainty of it, and if I'm being perfectly honest, it doesn't really seem that far a cry from adjunct-teaching---the lack of benefits and overworking, anyway. I've been really lucky: I've held a few jobs since I've graduated that have actually used some of the skills I learned from my degree, and I've learned that English majors CAN get jobs! I've started to fantasize about revamping/revising my post-graduation plans...and I can't believe I'm saying it---okay yes I can---I'm no longer interested in being a professor. I've watched so many graduate students become utterly jaded and mean and overworked. I've watched my professors fly from state to state, dragging their families along with them... I know these are all realizations that I probably would have benefitted from digesting earlier in the game, but I'm just not sure if I should attend this English MA program anymore. Maybe if I hadn't had some decent jobs/opportunities this year I'd still be all about it. Have I simply ignored the realities of academia the whole time I've been planning to go to grad school? Sure...maybe mostly at the beginning of my application cycle. These doubts have been wearing at me for a while. I'm hoping some of you might have some advice: I should probably just search for an alternative career, right? Maybe grad school will happen sometime in the future, in a different way? Maybe some small weird part of me thought that academia might fix itself a bit before it came to be my turn (I know, I know). I can't be the only person who has felt this way. Advice??? Did you have a similar experience as me? Are you a freelance writer? Do you have an English BA, too? Advice??? Advice???? And if there's a better subreddit I should be posting this at / good resources for this dilemma... Sigh.
  3. I'm reapplying, I think. I was happy with my results, and deferred from a couple schools. I will either attend one of those in 2015, or another that I've reapplied to (and been accepted to, heh). I got a good job and I'm building up my savings. This time around I feel like I could say that I know a thing or two. And damn, will those rec letters be easier to come by...
  4. To ease your minds (or not), there were 20 waitlisted and 4 accepted for the M.A. I have no idea about the Ph.D.
  5. sigh - I had some hope that this one might be funded. It is my favorite one; the fit is too perfect. I have a chance to make money and perhaps go back, though. and yeah, technical writing can be quite lucrative...
  6. I must admit, as a fellow freak-outer, that I don't get it. I'm super stoked that I made it this far. It's just a thing I managed to get through. I'll view hearing back from schools as a very good surprise. And this does not mean that I am not serious about the process. I'll be doing a lot in the meantime.
  7. Hey, sometimes people want to own books - write in them - put them on a bookshelf. I hear there is a difference.
  8. Yeah, I honestly don't feel stressed...just...relieved that I applied. I'm not even done yet with all my apps, actually. I'm moving in the next month and I'm just focusing on that, wellness, and my jobs.
  9. Go beyond JUST checking the program websites. It doesn't matter if they "emphatically state" on the website. Always, always contact the department. This saved me a wealth of grief last week.
  10. Last night I laid down before bed and finally breezed my way through The Book of my Fathers by Miklós Vámos, which is a fictional family history set mainly in Hungary and spanning 300+ years, à la Middlesex, kinda. I nearly cried - it felt so good to just read. Also, it's just an amazing book. And then I woke up in the morning and remembered I still haven't started tweaking my Georgetown writing sample yet - the ONE school on my list that requires 8-10 pages instead of 15-20. I also nearly cried, for different reasons. At the very least, a few apps are already in and the others are getting close. We're getting there.
  11. Seriously, I'm sorry, I would go through this if I have time (I don't) - but you gotta check your grammar.
  12. I never said you wouldn't make it into graduate school, nor did I call you lazy. I am also a big proponent of short as sweeter and would rather turn in something that the adcom would actually expect. When I say that the 500 word SOP should be adhered to, I am also thinking of the leaner constituents that potentially make that shorter statement even better, and whether the adcom feels that way as well - in fact, might they be looking for that degree of expertise? There's a thread somewhere here discussing the 500 word SOP and how some were surprised that those statements (that they felt weaker = less wordage) yielded positive results, even with brevity. Of course, if the school specifically says that you can bend the rule, then that's your choice. But why waste money on an application if they specifically say not to? Some do. We're all applying to different schools here and your "95%" mentioned are likely different from mine. I'm not going to just bend the rules because I feel a certain emotional reaction toward them...I don't love it either, and I don't see anything in my response that implies that I am being "cheerful" about it. edit: I just laughed out loud at the thought of myself arguing, DON'T ACCUSE ME OF BEING CHEERFUL
  13. I fully understand your point, but I'd rather not run such a risk!
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