Minnesotan

*sigh*' Can someone remind me what HCP stands for, so I can send this to the appropriate forum?

Go for it.

Haha! Another benefit of the small town: there's nothing else to do, so completion rates are higher. =)

How is karma fuzzier than prayer? I officially pooh-pooh that stance!

laff

I moved from an R1 in a gigantic city to an R1 in a tiny college town when I upgraded from MA- to PhD-candidate, and the adjustment was difficult a first. The thing is, I keep asking myself where I would find the time to spend an hour each way on the subway to while away the evening at the newest Ethiopian restaurant downtown, like I could do once in a while as an MA student. The answer is, most days I'm lucky to have time for food that doesn't carry the option of being super-sized. I don't get days off to visit museums. I can't afford opera tickets. Basically, there are few amenities I really, truly require, considering I have no time to do much with the responsibilities I have to my school, my students, and my significant other. I guess, to me, there are more important concerns than the availability of good sushi. Fit, funding, cost of living, library quality, program atmosphere, student culture. I find that, when I do have time, it's best spent immresing myself in the college town culture, which did not seem apparent to me at first, either. I go to readings for books by scholars in competely different fields, I attend a goodly amount of public lectures, and I malinger at coffee shops and used book stores. I always end up seeing a colleague, or meeting a friend of a professor, or their dog walker. It's all connected in the college town. And, while it may not be the same culture as Giant City, or the culture might not be apparent at first, there is a culture if you're willing to seek it out. **I tell you this story because I would hate to see someone give up a good fit, an acceptable funding package, and quality advising because they were homesick, or they didn't like shopping at IGA instead of specialty grocers. If you can't live somewhere, you can't live somewhere -- do what you need to do. But I would think twice before giving up guaranteed funding in this economy.

I would contact those American Studies programs about funding. I know for a fact WSU cut funding for first-year PhDs in American Studies for next year, and the rumor mill has it that Purdue might do the same. The problem is that English programs are normally better established, so they have endowments that cover their butts when budget crises occur. Newer, interdisciplinary programs are struggling with the financial woes of most unis. You'll never see WSU English or Purdue English without cash -- they just have too many alum donors. That said, private schools probably don't have to consider cutting funding like that.

I hope so. They really need to discourage more people from attempting to earn PhDs.

Good advice, indeed. After three years of grad work, I can't disagree with anything SFLA had to say. Grad work is tough, but it is also very rewarding, if you are suited to it. Just make sure you're doing what you love and you'll be fine (although overworked, underpaid, and ignorant of the last time you slept).

You're going to pay for an American Studies PhD? I'd stick with English, where they still fund you.

You forget about karma. Wishing the competition luck should propel the wisher ahead of the game.

Hiring freezes merely @#$% up the job market for the next two years, meaning anyone already in a PhD program could get screwed. I was talking to one newly minted PhD from my program, who said of the five interviews he had, four have called back already to say they were told to postpone the search. With the new year coming, I'm betting he hears the same from job #5 soon enough.

Why not post a link to a Google Doc, or something.

phds.org

"Graduate applications have increased 75% in the past five years, partly because seniors apply to as many as ten schools

Well, I realize you're mixing theoretical fields and time periods here, but it seems to me that the vast majority of female grad students in my department work on feminist rhetoric or theory. Other than that, there seem to be quite a few rhet and tech folks, and post-colonialists. Are you trying to avoid the fields for which departments get flooded with applications, or do you have grand hopes of finding the "hot" field to help you get in? I would not chase trends at this point in your career. Do what you love.

Get your guaranteed funding before it dries up. The CGS should propose an admissions freeze any time there's a hiring freeze. It's time someone started protecting grad students.

Topic moved to the appropriate forum (Bio).

Heh... I, too, was wondering why citations would be an issue, unless you were fabricating evidence. Hopefully I'm wrong.

Most of the big programs in the humanities reimburse or partial reimburse for travel to interviews. Then again, a lot of programs in the humanities don't even do interviews.

A 570v isn't that bad for a science/engineering applicant. If you were in the humanities, I would say retake it or don't apply. For your app, they're probably only looking at the quant. section.

I think half of the classics world would love to study under Tony Long. After reading this thread, I remember now why I switched disciplines before my MA. The classics field is among the most competitive, with the lowest likelihood of ever finding a job. =) I wish you all the best of luck.

I would not count on admittance just because a professor encouraged you to apply. In fact, of the ~20 schools I applied to for my MA and PhD cycles, a professor encouraged me to apply. I got rejected at more than half of them. I guess this is a variant of the old maxim, "don't put all your eggs in one basket," with a little "don't count your chickens before they hatch" mixed in for good measure. I'm not sure why so many maxims deal with poultry. Someone should write a paper.

I'm moving this to PoliSci, since it is field-specific.

Moved to Computer Science. OP can pm me if Engineering is better. I don't know - I'm a rhetorician.