ArthChauc

I was thinking Flowers for Algernon this whole time--I'm not a Minnesota applicant, but my thesis advisor did her Ph.D there and only has great things to say about the program. I wish the best for all of you!

Wow! Congratulations to all the Brown/Cornell acceptances! I didn't apply to either, but I just wanted to say that I'm super excited for you guys. I don't know if I'm feeling extra mushy today because it's Valentine's day or because it's a good distraction from actually working, but I just wanted to say that I'm sincerely so happy for everyone who has been accepted to programs that they love thus far and thankful to those people who have been and continue to be positive resources and "cheerleaders" on this forum. Speaking from my own experience, it's totally devastating to be turned down by a school you applied to (especially if you loved it) and it's hard to be happy for others sometimes, but I'm so impressed by everyone's supportive attitude toward each other--it reminds me that academia, at the end of the day, is a community and a fantastic one at that. Cheers, all. Eat a ton of chocolate today. You know I will.

Yeah. This is definitely trolling.

Ahh I'm so excited to see this! I'm currently working with materialism and the mechanization of female bodies (totally on a whim, sometimes your thesis decides what it's going to be about and then you have to write it). I am obsessed with David Wills--check out both Prosthesis and Dorsality. Also, Steigler is great, I'm surprised nobody said that. I had the opportunity to meet N. Katherine Hayles in May and she's awesome, check out her book How We Became Posthuman as well as everybody's favorite, Cary Wolfe (who I will be meeting this spring). Also, if you want to die a little inside, check out Parasite by Serres. But yeah. David Wills. He's the man.

I can't even imagine how this could get downvoted. Because I've overused my optimism (ie: upvotes) today, consider this my upvote.

Edit: Just...*sigh*. Never mind.

I think you're right. Blahh. I didn't even know SMU interviewed, but apparently it's only 12 applicants, or at least that's what it normally is. Blahhhhh.

Is anyone here that SMU interview post that's on the results board? Seems to be that that's the only person who's heard a peep out of SMU. They aren't set to start doing rejections/acceptances for a few weeks if it's anything like last year, I didn't see anything about interviews before.

This is almost exactly what I had written. I also wrote something about the importance of having a contention plan and a "support system" of some kind, whether it be a parent, significant other, friend, etc. outside of the field who you can throw ideas off of and has an unbiased view of the academe.

I've decided that a mid-afternoon movie is just what the doctor ordered. I'm going to go see Labor Day despite the abysmal reviews it received, mostly because the part that I care about is popcorn.

Can I be part of this Medieval/Latin gang? I'm also a Medievalist with two years of rusty Latin, a year of Old English, and a semester of Old French in addition to Hebrew, French, and Spanish. Long story short: HELP!

...seriously?

I would recommend contacting the DGS immediately and wouldn't do anything else on the website with your login. I actually received something not so different on Tuesday as well (however, mine was accompanied by an email from the DGS)--do you mind sharing which university this was?

Edit: Redacted my post. I don't want to get involved with this debate. Also, is it just me or is there no real away to delete a post entirely?

Ahh, astute observation!

RU/VH and RU/H are the new criteria that is being used as R1 and R2, etc. are no longer used--RU/VH stands for "Research university/very high" and RU/H is "research university/high". Based on that, Maryland and Colorado do not fit with these new rankings and are thus RU/H rather than RU/VH. They are the "new version" of R1 and R2. You can find that information here: http://classifications.carnegiefoundation.org/descriptions/basic.php Also, thank you for your reply. That was my gut reaction as well re: teaching undergraduates at RU/H universities.

Wow, congrats Fitz! Urbana is an amazing school and a fellowship is fantastic!

Also, this is closely related to rankings so I thought I would mention it. I know it's a bit of an outdated term (I know they use something like "very high research institution" now), but is there a consensus about going to an R1 Ph.D institution over an R2 ("high research" blah blah blah) or other institution? There are 108 RU/VH universities and I originally assumed that they made up the top 108 "rankings", but a closer examination shows that isn't necessarily true--schools like Baylor, Boston College, Northeastern, Saint Louis, SMU, Colorado, Maryland, etc. are all ranked high in some studies but are RU/H instead of RU/VH. Does this make a difference? I know it matters when it's a university at which you're trying to get tenure, but I didn't know what significance (if any) it has at the Ph.D level. If you aren't familiar with the old Carnegie system (I wasn't until some late night reading) then this website is a good resource for you: http://www.washington.edu/tools/universities94.html

I'm glad to hear I'm in good company. My program is three 24 year olds and everyone else is 25+.

I started my MA at 22 as well. I've already been admitted to one PhD program so I'm excited to start my PhD at 24 and get married in 10 months. Woo!

I've heard from many scholars that you shouldn't pay for your graduate degree at any stage. Not only should the school be funding you, but you're losing out on the opportunity to gain valuable experience teaching which helps your CV at all levels of the game. Fellowships, too, can provide esteem for a CV. Of course, do what's best for you, but I can't imagine not wanting experience in the field. I'd get some more information from graduate students currently in MA programs (aside from me). As anyone paid for their degree on GC? I'd love to hear more.

Kamisha, that is legitimately scary. I had an ex-friend post a fake RateMyProfessor review at the beginning of this year and I thought that was really out of line...I can't imagine if they tried to get back at me in other mediums. People truly have issues with strong women, that's for sure. I'm lucky to be in a program where we're all very amicable, and your post reminded me of that.

I was hoping my Zizek comment wasn't lost on people! I happen to find him fascinating, but there is no denying that he has some slightly sexist tendencies. Just slightly.

I hope that was the first line of Redflight's statement of purpose. "I am a misogynist, so what. Also, have I mentioned I like Zizek?" And yes, Des. Truly pathetic.

Seventeen schools sound divine. I applied to 12 and have heard back from 3. An acceptance came for me yesterday which helped my two-rejection streak, but I'm just ready to hear back from them all already. Even if they're all rejections. I bet most people here are on the same page.