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bhr

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Everything posted by bhr

  1. I think it's pretty easy to turn schools down. Something like "I'm honored that you would consider me for admission into your program, but I have to do what's best for me right now, and that is to go to...." Personally, I think you should volunteer the other option. If they want you bad enough they may want to make a competitive offer (fellowships, money, travel funds), but it's also true that departments want to know who they are competing (and losing people) against.
  2. WVU for PW or Lit? Cheryl Ball starts there next year and she's amazing.
  3. DAMNIT MAs! It's been nearly a month since my single unfunded acceptance, I need a funded option!
  4. Well, I'm going to be a lot more positive than the previous poster. I think it definitely can work, and if she can find a job she likes in the area than I don't see why there would be any resentment. Heck, she may not even need to postpone her education significantly if she can register for MA-level classes at the new institution. I hate the idea that you have to put your schooling first at the expense of everything else. I know dozens of PhDs and ABDs who would never have finished if it wasn't for the support of a spouse or loved one. Heck, having that person on your side outside the department probably will help you keep from going insane.
  5. Justified, if you haven't seen it yes, and the first season of the Americans (which just started their next season.
  6. You and me BowTie... I just bounced off the wall during a revision conference with my capstone teacher to the point where she ordered me to go take a nap. I don't think I've slept well since January 15th, and until I have a fully funded offer in hand I don't see that changing. FSM, please help me now!
  7. keep in mind that very rarely are folks hired as straight composition profs, and there is a big range for that reason. WPAs can get a lot more or less than a regular English professor, depending on how the position is treated at a school, for example. Also, the ability to teach Tech or Science or Business writing, all often part of the Comp/Rhet education, will determine a range of opening salaries. FWIW, the University of Maryland system starts ALL TT positions at at least $50k, regardless of field or campus, and Comp teachers tend to come in right at that number. Mind you, that salary doesn't include things like summer classes, online classes or any other extra money generated. Our newest hire here came in at $55k this year, but taught two winter classes and is planning to teach four summer classes, putting her first year income somewhere around $75k. Salary data at state schools is public information, and often can be found online.
  8. I haven't ranked my programs by mascot or color, or anything, but I definitely ranked the programs I considered by football team back when my list was 10-12 long. Being C/R, most of them were Big Ten schools, which made the ranking pretty easy. Less than encouraging news for Purdue is that they finished last, behind a school that doesn't have a football team.
  9. Honestly, the best advice I can give is to see if any of your professors is heavily involved on a national level, and make friends. I've got CV credits that most BAs don't because I'm working for a professor who ran a major conference, works for a journal and is writing a book, just because I made my interest known and was willing to work.
  10. I feel like you all will get this (none of my classmates did). I'm in a year-long practicum/comp theory class in my undergrad and today, for the first time since August, the rhetorical triangle was actually discussed. The words ethos, pathos and logos had not been mentioned in any context before now, and I had to bring them up today (we were discussing teaching how to write supports). Does that seem ridiculous to anyone else?
  11. Just remember, there is no such thing as a hokie.
  12. Three. Still in submitted status, though obviously I can understand the delayed process with the sudden loss of a major figure in the department.
  13. I'm definitely on the digital literacies side of the fence. New Media writing. That sort of stuff, though I'm a bit scatter-shot as well. I didn't apply to study with her directly, but I'm hoping to build on the work of Dr. Selfe at OSU.
  14. I have a number of friends/internet friends on both sides of the MSU/UM rivalry. When I posted my MA offer on FB I got at least three "Sparty, NO!"s. I find that I've jumped in on the side of MSU in online debates between my friends, though not strongly. Coming out of a D3 program, however, I am looking forward to going to a school with a real football program. Or even Purdue.
  15. I'm a huge fan of Samantha Blackmon (she's a big part of the reason I'm even applying to grad school). I'm disappointed not to see she isn't teaching any gaming-centric classes, but that's just one semester I guess. Also, have they announced who is taking over the OWL yet?
  16. Purdue still has me as Submitted. Minnesota is in Final review though, which is worse. My profs are just sick of me stressing out abiut it to them, so I am glad I found you all. I would love to know something about ECU too, I would jump at the chance to work with Will Banks, but their site does not even give a status.
  17. Excuse me, but that's two insults you've thrown my way (three if you include apparently calling me a liar), for no reason. I've had a couple of exchanges with Wendy on here, and as far as I can tell she applied to programs for lit and rhet/comp, which does come off a bit unfocused as far as that goes if her SoP reflected that she was undecided on a PhD focus. Now, as to the xenophobia comment you leveled at me. First, my residents are exchange students doing a single year here, (at a small state school) so their degree won't reflect their work stateside at all. Now, back to the OP here. She thinks that the adcomms undervalued her MA because it comes from China, and I actually agreed with her. It's likely that she has an extra obstacle to overcome when applying to programs, merely because her university won't carry the same weight as a program that the adcomm is familiar with. One of the dirty little secrets that they never mention to us when we apply to school is that the track record of our MA or BA program at that school matters. If I go to a top program and bounce out it will likely hurt the next person from my program who applies. If they have no experience with your program, you need to wow them to convince someone that you are worth being the first. Schools with 100% placement rates don't just have them because they have a big name, but because they consistently turn out graduates who succeed at the next level. For Wendy, if her program doesn't have cache stateside it's going to be an obstacle, but not one really that she can fix. I stand by my argument that getting feedback on things like her SOP and CV and improving them will have a decent impact on her shot to make it to the next level. I really don't think that the adcomms are biased against "developing nations," they just don't know enough about the schools for them to help. It's better to focus on the stuff you can control. Btw, my argument also applies to folks like myself, who are the first people to come out of their US-based program and apply to top programs. An MA from a top school in China, especially if it isn't producing well-publicized research, matters about as much as a degree from University of East Podunk on your resume.The Sorbonne, Oxford and that ilk are well known and respected here, but the same can't be said for schools in the rest of the world (or even in this country.) And it's 2 in the morning and I've got an 8am. Nodding off typing this.
  18. Right now I have one admit (with nebulous funding) and it's been like three weeks since I've heard from them. Everyone I told assumes that grad school is a done deal, but until my money is locked up I still am full of anxious energy. Heck, on duty the other night I started emailed ResLife offices at half the schools in the country to see if anyone is hiring, as I figure I can do an unfunded MA application still.
  19. I don't mean to be critical, but before blaming the adcomms for having a bias against China, maybe you should explore your own resume and look for faults. It appears that you've applied to a wide variety of programs, which may have come across as unfocused in your SOP. The commenter before me also hit the nail on the head with your syntax. Now, obviously, we all write a bit "lazy" on forums like this, but if you write the same way in your application packets you are going to have problems. I'm with ResLife on my campus, working with international housing, and I've heard the same argument you make from many of my residents. The fact of the matter is that you're right, your degree isn't going to count as much as one from an equivalent program in the states. The adcomms know the professors and the quality of work coming out of domestic programs, so they will carry more weight than an international program.
  20. Sadly I won't be at C's, but there are some great Purdue folks going that you all will enjoy meeting.
  21. The WPA listserv is going to kill me. Random emails with "Congratulations" as the title, or a stray email from someone on one of the adcomms. The one that got me today was seeing a From: from one of my DGSs, just to see a bit of CCCC spam. Killing me.
  22. Well, it's not like your money goes far in MSP either, sadly. Honestly, I asked about prestige last week (and applied to MSU and UM), but based on some conversations this week I honestly don't know how much program prestige matters (as long as it's in the general area of decent). If a program is helping you get published, present papers, attend conferences, that's the prestige you need personally. If you have an advisor who helps you get a paper in to the Cs, for example, I think you can be at bumblefuck U and still get a job, so find a place where you are happy.
  23. I got an MA yes from Sparty but am APD at Minnesota and Purdue
  24. We applied to 3 of the same programs, and I've only heard from one of those three.
  25. Save your money and come to Pullman in June. My travel funds just got approved and I think I'm doing one of the opening panels.
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