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Academicat

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Everything posted by Academicat

  1. Ohio State has a funded MA/PhD, but students do sometimes go to another institution upon completion of the masters. Good luck!
  2. I don't know how it is in your field, so I can't say. In my field, I know very few people who did graduate school unfunded. It's just not worth it if you don't have funding.
  3. I wouldn't be able to go to grad school if I didn't get departmental funding. I can't imagine paying that kind of money out of pocket or acruing that much debt unless the field were an especially lucrative one. Because jobs are so scarce in my field (English), out of a sense of ethics, many departments only admit students if they can afford to give them an assistantship with a tuition waiver. Have you considered applying for programs that offer assistantships so you don't saddle yourself with debt?
  4. I just realized that I've been teaching college long enough to have taught people in my cohort during their freshman year. I feel old.

  5. The experience is valuable, and coursework is only a small portion of the value of graduate school. You have little work experience, so do take advantage of the GA position. Additionally, get involved in other activities as they arise: symposiums, conferences, leadership opportunities. Look at it this way: everyone with a master's degree has gone through course work. What will distinguish you as a PhD candidate and on the job market is all the other stuff you did (and how you did it).
  6. You know what... I just remembered, the last few months I lived in Mississippi, Megabus added a stop to Oxford, so you actually MIGHT be able to take a Megabus up to Memphis, though I don't see the city listed on the Megabus website anymore, so they may have given up on Oxford. The schedule is limited, and you're dealing with Megabus, which is notorious for being late (I once waited four hours for a bus to NoLa that never came), but it may be there if you need it. Give them a call and see if they're still running the Mississippi route. Ah, the joys of public transportation in a rural town.
  7. So sorry y'all but there is no public transit to Memphis. The best you can do is the shuttle service to the airport which costs over $100. However, you make good friends with people carpooling up to Memphis and out to Tupelo for shopping trips.
  8. The "quality of life in Oxford generally" is really dependent on who you are, what you need, and what you do. It's a small, isolated college town, an island of wealth in an otherwise pretty impoverished state. This leads to both positives and negatives. There are many cultural activities despite the size of the town, which is nice. The culture is car-centric, which can be frustrating if you don't drive. If you want to ask more specific questions, I'm happy to address them. As for the relationship between English and Department of Writing and Rhetoric (DWR), there is some collaboration between departments. Literature graduate students and MFAs usually end up teaching composition or working in the Writing Center at some point for the DWR. Graduate students are also part of teaching circles, committees and other professional development activities in the DWR if they wish. That being said, the DWR is still new, so English and DWR still negotiating their relationship with one another, but you will rarely see evidence of that. The librarians are fabulous. Every single one of them. They are great about ordering books if they're not in the stacks and faculty think they ought to be - at least our department's librarian was. They're all helpful, collaborative, and do all they can to support your teaching. If you ask more specific questions, I'm happy to address those. Best of luck with your moves!
  9. Hey all - I lived in Oxford for three years as faculty in the Dept. for Writing and Rhetoric, where you will likely spend some time teaching if you accept. If you have questions about the area, please ask. I do want to let you all know that, despite the fact that the COL is low in rural Mississippi, it's not all that low in Oxford proper. Rent is killer, but if you have a reliable car, you can live outside of town fairly cheaply.
  10. I just reached my quota of positive votes for the day, so I guess I'll have to switch to downvotes instead.

  11. Congrats OSU admits! I'll echo toasterazzi's welcome and invitation - if you want to talk about the program or the city, I'm happy to email/skype/chat.
  12. Oh drownsoda. We all think we're the only ones who feel the way you're feeling now, but the truth is, you're brilliant and capable, and we all have these imposter-syndrome crisis of confidence moments. Your credentials are more than acceptable. I echo the advice of the poster above - check out the lit/comp/rhet subforum, and use your networks for advice and support. The waiting is torture, but while you wait, read happy books, get lost in your video games, binge watch something bright and cheerful on Netflix, and spend time with people who are important to you to pass the time. It will be okay.
  13. If you were still able to submit it via the online form, you're probably okay. Don't stress.
  14. I'm going to point out another advantage of smaller, regional conferences in your field - you get more opportunities to "shine" and talk to people one-on-one. It's good to give people as many opportunities to see you as possible because, when you go on the market, you never know who will be on the search committee. As an added bonus, local, regional conferences are usually more affordable and less time-consuming. If you can swing it, it's worth it.
  15. I'm on the third day of a massive conference, and my inner introvert is crying out for quiet and solitude. Just keep swimming...

  16. I worked for four years before returning for a PhD, and that experience was a strength in my applications. Because I'd done professional work in my field, I had ideas backed by experience, which led to plenty to discuss in my statement of purpose. Take some time off, but make sure you're doing something with that time. Try to earn money by doing work that will also grow your CV.
  17. Clean eating describes the way I (do my best to) eat, though I never used that phrase to describe it before. You might be a clean-eater, too, and not even realize it: In a nutshell, it's eating simple meals made of real, fresh ingredients, and avoiding overly processed foods, refined sugars, and grains that aren't whole. Veggies are emphasized, though "clean" meats and whole grains are fair game, too. I cook this way because of two influences in my life: My mom, a farm-raised from-scratch cook who keeps a garden and cans for winter, (though she uses refined sugars and white flours), my high school best friend's mom, who did the from-scratch thing, but only cooked with whole grains and natural sugars (honey, maple syrup, apple sauce - that kind of thing). I acknowledge that I am lucky to have had good food influences in my life, but I am really surprised that we've become so far removed from this kind of cooking that it's become a movement. I'm part a friend's clean eating FB group, and a lot of the conversations there have surprised me. The folks in the group, many in their 30s and well-educated, are learning that pumpkin pie spice is actually just made up of a combo of spices you already have in your pantry, and they're sharing recipes for things like oatmeal, turkey pita pockets with spinach, granola, and peanut butter on a whole wheat english muffin. It's cool what they're doing, and I'm happy to be part of it (and pick up a few new recipes along the way). I'm surprised at what a huge deal we're making of a "clean eating" lifestyle, which is really just basic home economics, but a little more thoughtful. As unpleasant as the realities of processed food are, it did have its place in history in freeing women from domestic kitchen tasks and allowing them the free time to pursue education, careers, and civic engagement. The push to celebrate better living through food chemistry took off somewhere around mid-century, so I wonder how long it took home cooks to start rebelling and how radical, "clean eating" chefs from previous generations appeared to their processed-food embracing peers. Were they considered silly for being chained to the stove rather than making a TV dinner and getting on with it? Wasteful for spending more money on fresh ingredients than the cheaper, processed equivalent? (Was the processed equivalent actually cheaper in the middle of the last century?) I haven't found a way to voice this to the group politely (and I don't see the point because what they're doing is good), so I'm bringing it here. Do you all cook? Do you consider yourself part of a movement because you cook, or is it just a thing you do? These are the things I think about when I should be reading for next week's class. I'm really interested to hear what you all think.
  18. Have you done anything meaningful since you past applied? If the answer is (hopefully) yes, then the professors' letters should reflect that (if they were part of that meaningful work).
  19. When I delivered pizza, I kept the delivery fee and the tips.
  20. I don't know if there's a concrete "limit," but when the hook stops being a hook and starts being a distraction/spacehog, it's too long.
  21. I fall asleep reading, I wake up reading, I read when I eat, I read on the bus... I'm swimming in ideas and words.

    1. Show previous comments  3 more
    2. Monochrome Spring

      Monochrome Spring

      On another note, you should download the 10,000 hours app and start tracking your reading. Then you can say you're an expert. :P

    3. Academicat

      Academicat

      Just in case the eventual PhD doesn't convince anyone? :)

    4. Monochrome Spring
  22. I think writing to ask how you can improve your application packet this time around is a great idea; I did that after my first round of applications didn't give me the result I was hoping for, and I got some wonderfully helpful advice. It's a normal thing to do, and that's the kind of email the DGS can respond to at leisure, when he has a pocket of free time here or there. You're not demanding much of his time (as a coffee date would, but it keeps you in his consciousness and helps you learn and improve. I second Chadillac's advice, too - if you can swing taking a class as a non-degree seeking student, that will give you a chance to show the faculty how awesome you are. Best of luck!
  23. I know you're looking for a fully online program, but if your writing center can spare you for a couple of summers, IUP might be a good choice. The department has a long tradition of producing successful composition (especially writing center) scholars, and the program is online except for either two or three summer sessions. The program is also cool in that instead of comps, you'll keep a writing portfolio. Ben Rafoth is on faculty there, and Bill Macauley and Brian Fallon are products of the program. http://www.iup.edu/english/ Best of luck!
  24. Unnatural hair colors: a perk of being a grad student, or a hit to professionalism and credibility?

    1. Show previous comments  8 more
    2. spectastic

      spectastic

      get this, our company doesn't allow beards. you can have a mustache, but that's it. how fucking stupid is that?

    3. Academicat

      Academicat

      They're anti-hipster. Grow the most epic, badass moustache your hair follicles can manage. Stick it to the man! http://dailypicksandflicks.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/Awesome-mustache.jpg

    4. spectastic

      spectastic

      i'm not man enough to do that

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