Graditude

As soon as I hear back from Arizona State, I'll let you know... Where have you applied?

ill Aha, then I will leave the My ASU acct alone. I'm worried they'll end up sending me a bill for wear and tear

Thanks. Can I ask whether they emailed you, or did you have to keep logging into your My ASU acct to find out?

ASU: would anyone who received word from Arizona State be willing to share a bit more info? Are they working their way through the no-list first, then the yes-list? Is it completely random?

Fiz, no les hagas caso. Camina hacia la luz.

OK, no tea no shade? But you two have been on Grad Cafe for years now. Your perceptions may be slightly altered by hanging out with nervous applicants year after year. After year. I do see that you also give lots of good advice -- just a thought for consideration. I won´t put a smiley face, but this post comes from a place of love.

No flame. Your advice is reasonable and seems well-intentioned. You may be overlooking one thing: the enormous symbolic value and satisfaction of finishing third-level studies for people who don't fit the predominant middle-class Anglo background. I wasn't going to offer actual advice until I read your advice (which, again, makes excellent sense in some cases), but now I will: Fiz, hombre, go to grad school and kick ass. Even if you never get the tenure track job that people have been first-world whining about on here for months, you will certainly be able to use your skills to help others -- maybe by teaching at community college, maybe by writing. How can you know until you try? You're obviously smart and put-together enough to get a fellowship, so now I order you to make the most of it. Read a lot, write a lot, think a lot, make contacts and find a way to give back. No digo más, no vayan a pensar que soy un pesado.

This is the first really interesting and honest post I've read on this entire forum. There is no easy answer, but thank you for sharing this. No eres el único y te deseo lo mejor con cualquier decisión que tomes.

From the list of recent theses and conference presentations, it seems that the major interests at CCR are composition pedagogy and discourse analysis/cultural studies. Creative writing at Syracuse seems to live in the English dept. But that doesn't mean your diary may not intrigue them as a writing sample. None of us can say.

Agreed. It appeared last night only minutes after we were talking about Syracuse, no one has come forward to talk about it, and it's the only one on the board.

That sounds doable. But if you've been offered a funded place on a doctoral program in the States, my suggestion would be to take it instead of starting a second masters. But you will know best what suits your plans.

It's very tough for US citizens. Your best hope is for funding from the school itself. You probably know they've raised tuition in the UK while cutting AHRC funding. Your biggest expense will be living there, I'm afraid.

I did my MA at Nottingham. The program you're considering at UEA finishes classroom work in the late spring, and there's nothing to stop you doing your dissertation on your own time wherever you like -- as long as you submit by the deadline.

If the Syracuse acceptance is here, could you tell us a bit more? It's for English lit, right?

...then you will have saved up enough for the ticket by mid-April, but that means you will be arriving during Semana Santa, que es la temporada más cara en Madrid. Make sure you have somewhere to stay before arriving. Es que casi no hay donde quedarse en abril, y abusan con los precios.

Well, you know what they say about Massachusetts. [EDIT: Sorry if that sounded flippant. Was meant to be sympathetic.]

Do they still make them?

Just patiently waiting with occasional moments of terror. It helps that the spring semester started this week, so there are classes to concentrate on. And yourself?

The results from previous years are not typical, so don't let the other dates worry you. CCR has gone through several big changes recently, including a change of director. In the previous director's final year they accepted almost no one and 'lost' applications, which meant that they didn't notify some people until late April. But that was probably not their best year...

How do you mean, according to the board? There are no CCR results yet on the board for this year. They expect to notify us at the end of this month -- that leaves two more weeks. If you haven't already sent an email, my advice is this: don't. Really don't. It will just give them more work and perhaps annoy them. Grad school requires lots of suspenseful waiting: Did you pass the exam? Was your conference paper accepted? Will you be nominated for the award? Will you get a job interview? Etc etc etc. Better to find something else to do in the meantime while you wait. Good luck.

We've both applied to CCR, I see... This could be the year of the non-traditional aka almost senior citizen grad student in Syracuse.

They may just seem that way. Grading all those papers adds years to their appearance.

Actually, I'm the eldest here by far -- guaranteed. I've been working full-time as a college translation and writing teacher since my mid-20s, and now I'm 40 plus 1. So if you're feeling old, relax. Stressing about your age will only hasten the wrinkles.

Don't let them walk you down the aisle yet!