Minnesotan

If someone is seen breaking into my house (even if it's me), I truly hope someone calls the police. I don't see the investigation of potential crimes as a waste of money.

Lots of rhetcomp folks are working on sports now. Seems an odd fit, but after talking to them it sounds quite interesting.

If you're taking the GRE soon, make sure you learn the difference between compliment and complement.

I found the source article most interesting because it had such a large sample (almost every U.S. doctoral program in rhetcomp). It seems acceptance criteria are more standardized in their subjectivity than I had thought. If that paradoxical statement makes sense.

Heh... don't get me started on law enforcement money pits. The DARE program, along with the general "War on Drugs" this country is waging against teenagers with dimebags, is bleeding the country dry. But this is neither here nor there. As for locking the discussion, as long as people behave relatively well (this is the internet, after all!), there's no need. If anyone gets carried away, I'll step back and let one of the other mods decide. To this point, there have been many frustrated remarks from all sides, but nothing deserving of a lockdown or ban. While I don't think Gates is special in any way, I agree with Yellow that the general idea of racism (like classism, sexism, religionism, etc.) needs open air, not censorship, to improve.

According to ASU's 2007 survey of Consortium members (Doctoral Consortium in Rhetoric and Composition), here's what is most important:

You are the biggest hypocrite ever. You can whine all day long about the plight of your people in academe, but when someone else says there are limited opportunities for their people, you immediately suggest they leave if they don't like it. How about you start treating people equally before you start pointing the ever-present finger of racism at everyone else?

That's true. But I go elsewhere for my porn. It's free on the internet.

rofl

I guess I would rather pull myself up by my bootstraps than sit around whining about power differences. If I feel bad about being born poor sometimes, it just makes me work harder. Luckily we live in one of the more meritocratic countries on the planet, so hard work is often rewarded. It's not that I don't sympathize with anyone's problems, it's just that I recognize that we've all got them. It doesn't help to pout.

Very dismissive. But this is how anyone with a victim complex treats anyone in the supposedly dominant group. Yet, a tiny little situation occurs involving one black man, and it' WWIII around here. Let's get real for a minute. This Gates issue is not a race issue. It's hardly any sort of issue. The guy spouted off to the cops and got taken in for a cool down. He didn't even spend the night in jail. Get over it.

UDub also tends to lose applications. They lost mine twice when I applied. I guess I should have taken the hint. =)

My first MA year, I forgot I was only paid on a 9-month basis. Ever since, I've been stashing a couple hundred bucks per paycheck in a separate account that I don't let myself touch until summer. It really, really helps.

You've made me fall in love with you all over again, RS!

post-modernist

I would also ask if there is a field rotation for applications. My MA advisor was in ancient history, and he said they get x number of grad students per year, which is about 5 less than all of the sub-fields available. That means some sub-fields don't get to admit anyone if they admitted one or two the year before. The year after that, maybe they will get a few. That said, I would keep in mind that the best application doesn't necessarily win; often what the program "needs" that year takes precedence, unless (and I doubt this happens often at an R1) there is a lack of qualified candidates in that sub-field.

Almost all that matters in the humanities is what, and how much, you publish. You can get your PhD at SW Podunk Baptist State U. and work at Oxford, if you publish plenty of good work.

There are ethical concerns involved here (since she accepted an offer already) that aren't involved in our past discussions of "wheeling and dealing" for more money. I think I would go with the full funding, mainly because I couldn't afford to go otherwise. The thing is, you're not going to make friends at School A if you choose to quit. Academia's a small world, so keep that in mind. That said, universities' treatment of grad students is exploitative at best, and I would not feel an inch of compassion for the bureaucrats whose picnic I've pooped on because I've caused them more paperwork by changing my mind. The thing is, I doubt you hurt them as much as he department who accepted you. Tough call, but you've gotta do what you gotta do!

Don't mind them -- we're paid to nitpick our FYW students all day, so it often bleeds into our private lives. As for your request, can you tell us you SoP strategy? What kind of LoRs you're lining up? Whether you're in contact with potential advisors? This info would really help us give you a better answer. It seems numbers (GPA, GRE) only keep you from being disqualified in the humanities; they don't actually mean you're qualified.

I tend to embrace the free market (most often out of necessity). If the giant box of Ramen noodles that will make up half of my dinners for the next month is ten cents cheaper at Walmart, I'm shopping there. Local businesses can fend for themselves. If I get a tenure-track job at Yale, I'll be a bit pickier, perhaps. We'll see.

There's just nothing like the personal contact we can expect from the academic community. Who needs business types when we can all be rude to each other every day and NOT have to make the big gobs of money while doing it?!

If you're looking for specificity, you'll need to make the first move. Many lovely people are severely pressed for time and only answer the questions posed by the dozens of potential advisees who contact them. It seems like the prof you contacted hit the major points, expecting you to ask more detailed questions about what really interests you.

"Sr. using summer 2 prepare 4 grad school appls. Any Advice?" Don't write your SoP in chatspeak. But seriously, folks... the first thing I would do is identify an advisor to meet with, preferably someone who has not been out of grad school for more than a decade. They should have some solid advice for you, and migt be willing to look at drafts of your SoP. That, I think, is the most important piece of a humanities/ss application. Once you have a few good revisions done, start recruiting people on the street to read the thing. The more eyeballs see the page, the better off you'll be.

This reminds me of my dad's reaction when I got my ears pierced (a couple of decades ago). Growing up on a farm and being open to change sometimes feel mutually exclusive. =) If I ever told him that on principle I refuse to vote for Republicans or Democrats, I'm not sure we'd be on speaking terms.

You once again exaggerate the issue. Black males have not committed every crime the world has ever seen, just like any other group in question. The point is that the evidence leads some people to the conclusion that they commit a disproportional amount of crimes. There are probably many reasons for this - economic, cultural, what have you - but I am not extrapolating this in any way in order to make generalizations about all black folks. All I am saying is that this set of facts could have influenced the decision to call the police to investigate, which seems much more reasonable than your "old white lady" example, which was patently absurd. As for smoking pot and getting charged with "lesser crimes" like concealed handguns, I think you need to take a look at what these lesser crimes have the power to do. I mean, do you think someone who is carrying drugs and a handgun is likely heading out for some innocent pheasant hunting (in the middle of Los Angeles, no less)? Doubtful. Pot use on its own is comparable to a parking ticket in most states. If you get caught smoking pot AND carrying an illegal firearm, perhaps there are deeper issues than recreational drug use. As for your claim that only white celebrities get away with pot use, I can't even count the number of black celebrities who not only use drugs, but also preach their use. Isn't that one of the three possible themes of rap music? If public use of marijuana was the benchmark, Snoop is getting away with murder! The guy should be public enemy number one! Apparently hyperbole is the only rhetorical tool you possess. The fact is, male enrollment was long ago overtaken by female enrollment. If racist, sexist policies continue in academe, white males will not have a chance unless they were born rich (as you assume we all were).