Minnesotan

What kind of grad course has lectures?

I normally tell people to try to eliminate as many distractions as possible, but it seems like grad students are the worst TV whores around. The smarter they are, the more inane their choice of programming. My girlfriend, for instance, loves reality shows about people dancing and going on diets. I think they're two separate shows, but it might be a touch more entertaining if they're not.

Are most math people indiscreet?

I don't think anybody even looks at the writing section, unless it's disturbingly low (i.e. <4).

I'd be willing to read a draft of that, when you've produced some pages. =)

Mmhmm. You're probably right, Jasper. I am spoiled in my secure role as a trained First Year Writing instructor. I can get a (low-paying, under-appreciated) job in any town as an adjunct. However, I also did an interdisciplinary MA, and I still received a TAship, though I had to beat the pavement to secure the one for my second year. Still, I'm willing to put out ten or twelve applications across campus, if it means saving $25,000.00! Conditions may be different in other disciplines, but in the ones I'm familiar with (in the humanities), you would have to be rich, a fool, or both, if you planned on paying for grad school. If you PM me, I can recommend a few programs in North America that are willing to fund interdisciplinary MAs. Speaking of which, look to the big-name, unionized Canadian schools for good funding: UToronto, York, Western, UBC, etc.

Just so long as you give us a handicap of three post-modernists, we'll take you any day.

composition (And the @#$% papers I'm going to have to grade next week, yet again!)

Don't accept an unfunded or underfunded offer from a US grad school. Generally speaking, one should not pay for an advanced degree. My program (English, as well) doesn't even accept people unless they can guarantee full funding by means of fellowship, TA, or RA. Most reputable programs are the same way, with the exception of blatant cash-cow MA programs. One piece of advice I was thankful for was to always apply for the PhD program, if there is an option. If an adcom thinks you need more work, they'll offer you an MA spot anyway. Either way, you're earlier in line for funding considerations at some programs (though this does not apply everywhere), just because you checked the PhD box. Silly, but true.

You pay for it three or four times over when you pay Canadian taxes. You're better off staying in the states and buying real insurance, instead of the grad student "hope I'm covered" policy.

I have to be careful, though, because I have the tendency to make fun of undergrads too much, already. My mockery starts to bleed into lecture time, if I get carried away.

For a Lit. PhD, most every program is going to be in the single-digits for acceptance rate. Here's how I look at it :* Pretty much everyone gets into undergrad somewhere. less than 5% apply to grad school. 25% of those people get into a master's program. 50% apply to PhD programs. 10% get in (if un/lucky). 50% of grad students are promoted to candidacy** 50% of PhD candidates finish their dissertation about 50% eventually receive a T-T job. What this means is that for every 100 people who go to college, 0.0078125 receive the type of job most (humanities) PhDs hope to get. *I should mention that my math is based on the rough estimates I've wheedled out of professors who have served on admissions committees in the past. Thus this is certainly not precise, but for purposes of "ballparking," I think it's an illuminating exercise. **In English, including prior attrition rate of MA, I would assume. This was the rough estimate two grad program directors agreed on -- the numbers could be specific to those two institutions/programs, I suppose.

I think the velociraptor would kick both their asses!

I'm in English, so I'm clearly exempt from the strangeness!

Which is the only reason you're not getting banned for placing advertisements on my forums! Consider yourself warned.

I'm a big nerd, so I like getting paid (albeit bad wages) to talk about books, write about books, and, of course, to read books all day. The only time grad school stops being fun is when student essays come in, but there are other ways to evaluate student work. =)

If you have any useful information, feel free to share. Surely a potential applicant should have done some research, yes?

Not true. Most good schools offer you at least a TAship to pay the bills. I would seriously reconsider going to graduate school if you have to pay for it! Better to wait a year and hope you get into a legitimate program, where you will receive academic and financial support.

If you have money to pay the tuition, you can probably get into UChicago's MAPH program.

Orshee (Which only makes sense if you've read Richard Russo's Straight Man.)

They're very nice over at the vet clinic. I take my cats there sometimes. Most of the dentists around here seem reputable. Look for the folks with the bigger ads in the pone book -- they've been around for a while.

Post-Doc

It's going to be a little while before the results are in, but they look ominous. The Chronicle reports the common sense view that this year's stimulus money is covering up the real damage the UC system is going to take. We'll find out if they're right in 2010-2012. If so, there might be a mass-exodus of big names on the order of the UW-Madison deterioration of the past couple of years. Here's the name of the article, so folks can look it up through their own library system, rather than butting heads with the Chronicle's New York Times-esque paranoid security bots (heaven forbid one should *read* the words a paper prints!): In California Budget Deal, Bad News for Colleges in 2010.

Yet one more reason the original respondent made the right decision, if this is how people at Berkeley act. You need an attitude check, mister "My dad researches better than your dad!"

-hole.