JennyFieldsOriginal

first of all, if you're writing a masters thesis, and you know you're a beginner (as EVERYONE is during graduate school, in my humble opinion) try not to worry too much when you're getting started. pull quotes, entertain messy ideas, generate compelling readings of passages you find interesting...this is all the stuff that will start you on the road to where you need to go. the IDEAS are what you should be concerned about right now if you are starting out. don't impose an idea of what a "finished product" should look like on yourself. before you know it you'll be rooting through texts trying to make the works conform to your notion your project as opposed to really going on a productive expedition through the text. it sounds maybe trite but think of yourself as exploring the works that you have something to say about. regarding format: once you write a large chunk you might see if it makes sense to break things into chapters or whether it feels artificial to do so. within university requirements, of course. it sounds like your advisor is not much of a mentor. that's really a shame and i feel for you on this point. is there anyone else in the department that you could approach for advice? if not you're going to need a "virtual mentor". that is to say, you need something to aim for. if there are several critics you really love and admire try to jump into their work headfirst. it might be best to look at journal articles or essays because the short form can help you get your head around the thing. depending on your field there might be some obvious choices for you. develop your own thoughts and style to be sure, but keep your eyes at the top and claw your way up there. i also second inafuturelife in terms of working in a group. this can be supremely helpful. in fact, that's how they do it in the big leagues...by that i mean that's how your professors work. that's how phd students work too. writing gets put before many trusted sets of eyes before it goes to publication, and i think that's because it's good for your writing and good for the people involved. it can be important for you to explain things to others in conversation to clarify your thoughts to yourself. sometimes a fresh ear can hear what you mean to say. the compelling part of your argument may jump out to a listener even if you are too close to it to quite grasp it. you said you had a hard time finding people to show your work to. i don't know if your university has workshops for graduate students, but many do. even if it's mostly phd students it might be productive to sit in and make friends if you can. also, if your university has a writing center you might be able to meet with a "tutor" there for free. that's not to imply that you need tutoring by any means, but often the people who work there are talented undergraduates or graduate students and they might be able to give you some thoughts. along the same lines, see if there is an undergraduate honors thesis program. when i did mine people LOVED to get together in groups and would have descended eagerly on a masters student, thrilled to trade work and get and give advice. also, ask around in your classes if people want to get together. see if there is an email list you can use to get in touch with people and put out feelers. good luck!

hope you don't mind some unsolicited advice these are two EXTREMELY helpful websites for anyone preparing for the test: http://lasr.cs.ucla.edu/alison/hapaxlegomena/index.html http://www.duke.edu/~tmw15/ i printed everything out from here, made a giant binder and went to town. i also skimmed really quickly through the entire norton literary theory anthology. i have not much background in theory, and i went through this in a day and a half. i think i got all of the 6(ish) questions i had on theory correct. i went through the entire norton british anthology in exhaustive detail (i am an americanist and i focused heavily on american lit in my undergraduate courses...so i was in a bit of a bad spot for the test and had to make up for it) i hate to admit it, but i also picked up a few points thanks to sparknotes. i wound up scoring a 710 on the test. some of my LOR writers were really worried about how i would do because i hadn't had as many survey courses in british literature as maybe i should have. so this score was more than i expected. this test is basically about putting hours and hours of reading in. and nothing for detail. i'd also not rely too heavily on the princeton review or REA books...the REA practice exams are especially useless. i wouldn't even glance at those practice exams. use the princeton review and the one ETS gives you if you want to do a sample exam. REA will frustrate you and really not provide much benefit. princeton review on the other hand, while it hasn't really kept up with the changes in the test in recent years, will still give you a decent idea of what to expect and will bolster your knowledge base. literary terms in the back of the norton are all the review you will need. (it's like a little dictionary at the very end of the anthology...if you don't look for it you could easily miss it, as i almost did) princeton review literary terms were quite good also, but certainly not as comprehensive as what the norton has to offer. also: when you're taking the exam, you need to be moving VERY FAST the entire time. you've got to be answering questions quickly and accurately. you need to guess strategically and move on. i'm being so emphatic about this because i really screwed up my timing when i took the test. i guessed on some questions i probably shouldn't have, and i was kicking myself about answers i knew to be incorrect as soon as i got in my car because i allowed myself to get flustered by not working fast enough at the beginning. all's well that ends well, and i got above a 700 which was what i needed, but i definitely lost points i didn't need to lose. and just fyi- some things about the test may change, but ETS's inexplicable fascination with restoration comedy lives on! very best of luck to all who are taking the april exam!

here's the thing i'd worry about: how sure are you that if you took a year off you could put together application materials that would get you into a PhD program that is as good/superior to your undergrad university? another consideration: i took a year off and it was a great thing for me because it helped me put together the best possible application package, but it has been a really awful year. it's hard to read/write/work independently, and i'm not really producing anything. i absolutely cannot wait to start my PhD program. taking a year off was unbelievably tough for me, because, as you mentioned in your post i FELT read for graduate school. though i got to do some great things will be a huge boost to me when i start this fall, it was still a painful year. here are some things i would consider were i in your shoes (in my case i would go back to my undergrad institution, but your answers to these questions might differ) how excited are you about the program? are you enamored with the other students, the academic community? can you see yourself doing really great scholarship there? are the resources top notch? are there good research facilities? some programs (i'm thinking of the northeast consortium) will allow you to take some classes at other schools... could you do that at your school to meet new students and professors while remaining in your program? do you have an advisor you'd love to work with for the next 5-7 years at your current school? (unscientifically) what does your gut say? have you seen and done everything there is to do where you are now or are there faculty you maybe haven't taken a course with? are you excited about embarking on a PhD where you are now? bottom line: taking a year off is a risk, but if you calculate greater rewards then go for it and i hope you put together a stellar application package and get in everywhere you want to go. best of luck making your decision!

if it is far and away the best program you get into, i say go back to your undergrad institution. i applied to my undergrad institution, and that was the advice i heard at least. on the other hand, my mentor has known me since i was an 18 year old freshman. he has been a wonderful (and towering) figure in my academic life. i think we will remain close wherever i choose to go for graduate school, and i will always always always want his feedback and opinions on my work. i will always value that relationship...but i can't see myself being mentored by that person for the next 6 years of my life. i think a decade with someone is just too much. if i stayed at my undergrad institution i would have become a disciple not a protege, and that gets to be a really weird and dangerous situation i think. i'm just putting my two cents in though, i know everyone is different and not everyone has a relationship with their mentor that would make this a danger. i have a kind of doe-eyed reverence for my teachers (slight exaggeration) that made this a BIG consideration for me. i think a lot of people who are pursuing graduate school admire their teachers a lot, so it's maybe something to think about.

i've had a good season so i can't complain, and the 2 rejections i've gotten have been TOTALLY understandable (really there were not a lot of people in the department with whom i'd be a good mentoring fit. so no bitterness.) there's just the one implicit rejection that is going to sting if i don't prepare for it. but this thread is nice. it's not so bad to dream a little. to all those on waitlists (this might sound obnoxious but in no way do i mean it to be): i have several schools i'm going to have to turn down, and i know that at least 2 of them have waitlists. i know there are probably a lot of people in my position as well and that = a lot of people who are going to be getting into the schools of their choice off the waitlist. i know it's horrible and painful to wait, but the waitlist is by no means bad news. i'm really really crossing my fingers for everybody to get in where they want to go.

I'm going to second this. I applied fairly extensively, and I didn't see any suspicious acceptances (i.e. even the ones that were posted well before anyone else had other acceptances listed within the next few days) Personal anecdote: I saw someone's admit possibly an entire week before I got my own to the same school. This caused an enormous freak out on my part, but wound up being meaningless. The UCLA news was posted fairly early by one person, but this turned out to be followed up by a huge round of decisions. I have yet to decide whether the information I've gleaned from this forum has been good or bad for my psyche, but I think it's hard not to get spooked when others have news and nothing has appeared in the ole inbox (as I well know!) I could be totally missing something but nothing has seemed too improbable.

I'm smack in the middle of the alphabet and got an acceptance an hour ago. Hope this helps!

one reason the number might seem really high is that in the case top tier schools like UCLA, they're going to be admitting a lot of the same students harvard, yale, chicago, etc. are admitting. just like students cast a wide net applying, these universities are forced to do the same when admitting. they don't want to wait till people hem and haw till april trying to get more funding, then turn them down. they don't want to wind up with an entering class of 5 because they waited too long to make offers to candidates they really want. when contending with multiple funded, top tier offers, UCLA has to assume a lot of these students are going to decline. also, the crisis in the UC system has not hit UCLA quite so hard. to be clear though: i don't know where the anonymous poster got his/her info, and it could be totally off. but i'm not surprised that the number they may have accepted is a little over twice as high as the number that might wind up attending. but this is the internet and everything is suspect i suppose.

i second the previous poster. i took a year between undergrad and grad school (no masters though) and i've been successful so far...of course i still have a lot of schools to hear from, so we'll see just how successful i end up being i actually had a professor express a concern about the fact that i was NOT applying directly out of undergrad, and wanted to make sure i'd be doing some sort of academic thing so that it didn't look like i was taking time off out of indecision about school. the cohort at my undergrad institution skewed fairly young as well. however, i think if you took more time before a PhD can be a really good thing depending what you do. you might well have better luck when you're older, but it might not necessarily be because you're older, but because you did something in the interim that makes you a more appealing student/scholar. i also want to say i'm really sorry to hear this cycle isn't going so well for you. i'll cross my fingers some good news will come down the pipeline and if you decide you want to go to school later the experience of this round of apps will no doubt make you a stronger candidate. best of luck to you.

greekdaph, i'm considering having this tattooed on me. this is incredibly helpful and will go a long way towards improving my life this week, and really soothes my shaky nerves as i anticipate talking with faculty. just want to give a resounding, THANK YOU!

So I've been invited to an admitted students day for and English PhD program. I'm going to have to pay a decent amount to fly out there and get a cab to the school, and the travel allotment the university is offering isn't going to cover me staying in a hotel (Naturally I'm happy they're paying anything for me to go). They have offered to set admits up with graduate students to stay with, but is that a super inconvenient pain in the neck for the student in question? It would basically be a night of crashing on their couch and I'd bring a little thank you gift, but I'm not sure if the offer made by the university was something anybody is expected to take them up on or what. If anyone has thoughts or experience I'd love to hear about it. Thanks!

Kam, I didn't receive any reminders either. I noticed that you're applying for MA/PhD programs, and none of the PhD programs I applied to wanted any financial information (because funding is merit based). So don't be nervous

i applied to 12 and to be completely honest it was too many. i wouldn't go back and change anything, but i applied to some schools that i wasn't really enthusiastic about because the thought of NOT being accepted was just too awful. again, i'm not willing to say it was a mistake, but i think i really could have capped it at 8 or 10. at the end of the day, the expense was really out of control.

honestly if you have professors that you trust i'd go to them. they can give you the inside tip in ways that are almost impossible to replicate with any amount of research. also, current grad students at your undergrad university are a great resource. in my experience applying, no one is more willing to give honest information or sit down with you for an in depth conversation than a graduate student. hope those weren't absurdly obvious suggestions, but graduate students are often overlooked as a resource. also, look at faculty profiles at your university and see who did an MA before the PhD. depending on your ultimate goals they might be able to give you the best tips.