WendyWonderland

Just realized that it's April 15 today and there are still institutions out there who haven't sent me any notifications...

I have, maybe many others here have also, worked in other fields before seriously consider academia as a career choice. It may sound foolish, but academia for me is a career, not just a job. I like reading, teaching and feeling that I am making a change to the world. I am fine with no TT job, and I possess the thought that I will really enjoy myself as a visiting professor here and there. In that case, I can travel around the world and really do culture studies. To be honest, I don't even dream to land a tenure job right away. However, I believe that every field has exceptions for exceptional people. All fields are torturing and soul sucking in a way or another, however, it makes a difference between you choosing a job and a job choosing you. Nothing is easy in the beginning, and I believe the only way to a miracle is being a miracle. I guess most of us know about the job market, but I am not in this for making money. Intellectual pursuit is a luxurious way to spend one's life and can't be measured by a salary. As adjuncts I am pretty sure you only have to teach and have no publication requirements which means you will have more time to either do something else or get better in your field. It won't be worse than a TA salary, at least I believe so. Only my personal opinion. I am single, which means I have no one depending on me, and it is always easier to fly solo. I have no loans. So maybe it depends on the individual. I hope your situation changes soon and don't forget your initial passion that got you into books.

Which Loyola are you talking about? I am from LMU. You can pm me if you have question.

No, hell no. Sorry to break the bad news to you, but the tuition of international students are WAY higher than domestic students. For the UCs, if you are a Cali resident, it is around $5200 per quarter. Domestic students can apply to residency, however, international students are not allowed to. If your are international, it's $5200 per quarter plus $16.000 international students' fee a year which can only be waived after you advance to candidacy. This means that admitting an international student would cost the school 16.000*4= $48.000 more than admitting a domestic student. Plus in some cases, English may not be your native language, and you may experience difficulties in teaching. I think private schools are easier because the tuition is the same in private schools.

Well what I think is, if they let me wait for that long, then I am not their first choice. I am pretty sure they do it in waives. It is almost end March, I don't get it how they can be that slow.

Thank you! I think I am good for the first year now, however, I have to seriously work through the whole summer so I can get by September and October. Grad school is more like an investment. And sometimes it sucks if you don't earn money while you are young and have the urge to travel. But I think at the end it is worth it.

Did you email him/her? I am not thrilled about not knowing for the next few months and quit waiting on UCLA.

I emailed them and got quick responses. " the committee will be releasing decisions on a rolling basis over the next few month". Good luck everyone.

Hi folks, anyone heard from UCLA? I am on the edge of giving up on them.

Thank you, I will ask. However, I think we are not allowed to work more than 50% on campus (I am international). I might tutor Chinese/ German / English on the side. If I can make $100- 150 on the side each week, I am good. I cook very well that saves money?

There is no way I can survive on my funding. My school is in one of the most expensive cities in the states. My rent alone will be like $1000. If I want to live cheaper, I will have to live far away and commute to campus, but I don't have a car. And I teach, so I have to be on campus on a regular basis. After some calculating I decide to live on campus to save the transportation money. Ok if I only eat I can survive. But I am pretty sure I will need coffee and books and have some kind of social life once a week. And there are phone bills and basic clothes and toilet paper etc. I won't need much extra cash, just maybe $500 a month. I think that's not too hard if I find some tutor job or retail job on weekends.

Hi! Thank you so much for your kind post! I am happy to find someone with similar interests and backgrounds! To be honest, I think that your chances are higher than mine because you did your undergrad here in English. I am sure that your English is already at a high level. The next step might be learning some foreign languages if you haven't already done so. Your chances of getting in are higher if you speak 3+ languages. It also depends on your interests and what kind of schools you want to get in. If you are shooting for Ivy leagues like most of the Chinese candidates do, you simply have to have a gre verbal score over 160. You will be evaluated against the other Chinese candidates and their scores are crazy high no matter how their English really are. When I applied I was taking courses and working long hours in retail to pay my bills, and I simply didn't have the time and energy to study for it. My verbal score was so low and I ended up getting tons of rejections from Ivies. Lots of people here will tell you Gre score doesn't count. Maybe that's the case if you are a native speaker. If you are an international candidate, the committee has to make sure that your English is nearly perfect so you can teach American undergrads. I have an offer, but I think that is because I visited that school. They were VERY surprised by how good my oral English is. I have almost no Chinese accent. But who knows that if you have a lousy Gre score? The other thing is your WS, it has to be a good fit. I said that I am interested in Asian American studies but my sample was in German poetry. A professor from a commitee wrote me an email stating that they think I am an interesting candidate and they liked my paper, however, the fit was not there. Feel free to pm me with other questions. Good luck!!

Does anyone have the experience of teaching+ part time weekend jobs + studying 3 courses? Seems like what my life is going to be soon for the next 6 years.

lol, sorry I was talking about myself. Just got a rejection from UCI telling me that the fit was not strong enough. OK, I will email UCLA now.

That post stated that it was unofficial from POI. I wonder when the official (rejections) come...lol

I wonder if I am the only one who applied to JHU. Their humanities center is mysterious... Not much info out there.

Oh really? I am sorry for you, hugs! But hey, I did not get into the ones you got into! It's crazy how we all apply for the same universities. There are only 46 comp. lit phd programs out there. Half of my applications went to the UCs, which was a mistake. But Cali weather is dreamy...I emailed IUB, UCI, WUSTL, JHU so far and will continue with UCLA (rejection for sure) USC (rejection for sure) and Oregon. I almost applied to ND, I heard that they have great funding! Good luck!

Maybe we should each pick an university and ask where they are in the process of reviewing. I volunteer for JHU. Anyone wanna take WUSTL?

MONTHS?????!!!!!!!

I know how you feel, because the first time I applied I got rejected everywhere. It was brutal, and it took me 2 years to prepare to reapply. If you do not have a MA I encourage you to look for funded MAs now, you will be surprised by how much you have improved in 2 years doing graduate work. If you do have a MA I suggest you to find a part time job and do more research on different departments and reapply next year. Apply broadly and widely, and there is no safety school. It has to be a good fit. An easy way to know if you are a good fit or not is by browsing their current grad students' profiles online. It really helps. You have to do a lot of change in your application, and work and research/ try to connect with departments. It's hell but maybe it is worth it if you really have your heart settled in academia. However, I worked 2.5 years in culture management before I applied to US grad schools, I knew what I really wanted in life by that time. If you haven't worked at all, maybe you can try? You can do so much with a literature degree. Marketing, sales, all kind of managements, translation, city admin work...just try life out.

Lol you already got in there:). Did you receive the email 3 weeks ago? I think my gre scores are too weak for fellowships.

Thank you so much! I will do that!

Anyone heard from JHU? They re either too slow this year or nobody here applied?

After me contacting schools, I got an email back today stating that "Our readers are still reviewing and preliminary decisions are still not settled." They also ask me to tell them if I have other offers. What is the politic of answering this email?

Thank you! I have been depressed and unproductive for a whole month. It has to stop now and today is the day! Hug and good luck to you too!