snagsby52

Same here. I didn't do that well on my GREs [badly on the math, and decently--but certainly not great--on the verbal section. However, I did do well on the analytical writing.] However, a lot of schools looked past the mediocre GRE scores to see that I was passionate about my work, and that my writing was really good. I had won prizes on my writing, so of course that helped. However, I am afraid that the Ivies care about these scores, so I wish that I was better at taking the exams. That said, no one (in the Humanities at least) gets in BECAUSE of their GRE scores. If you have a good application, then I am sure that good scores can push you over the edge in favorable decision-making, and make you lose out at some places (i.e. the Ivies) if they are too low. I think the scores judge your ability to take tests, but very little else. Everyone is entitled to their opinion, but in my mind, they are no indicator of how you are going to do in grad school. Candidates should be judged on their academic merits, rather than their ability to answer 30 verbal questions in 30 minutes. It takes a lot longer to write a good paper or thesis, and we have yet to imagine how much endurance it is going to take to write a good dissertation. :roll:

OK. I still have to go see Davis, but I'm desperately trying to decide where I'm going to go, and I wanted to see what other people thought about these two programs. If anyone has any ideas/comments about the schools, I would be so grateful for any words of wisdom that could be offered at this point. I don't want to influence commentary, but here are the strengths and weaknesses of the two programs (as I see them). UC Davis program: They have really wooed me, they are offering me more money (way more in the first year), and there are more people who work in my field. Strengths of the UNC-Chapel Hill program: the school is closer to home, I already know current and prospective students, there is a good and highly intellectual graduate community, and the name is well known. Worries about Davis: It is far from home and I'm unclear about job prospects. Worries about UNC: American Studies seems to be the focus of the program, and again, I'm worried about job prospects. However, I'm sure everyone is worried about their chances of getting a job after grad school, and I am not sure there is a difference between the two programs. opinions... Thank you for your help! Best, Snagsby

If it is in any way possible, I would go over there and see it. I'm not sure it will be possible, but I would think a lot before giving up the Cornell offer (which would no doubt be a very good and difficult program). Italy is really exciting, and when I was there I never wanted to leave (I ate two of those unbelievable thin pizzas a day, walked everywhere, and never gained an ounce), but you may want to look for info about the rankings of the Italian system, and find out a lot more about the program before giving up the US offer. Also--I was studying in England for awhile, and found the education over there to be very lax in comparison to US universities, and like Router, I have heard that it is even less rigorous in other parts of Europe. Many people I know have had this experience. Plus, in my experience abroad, everything is sort of self-scheduled, so if you are that kind of person, then great. I personally like a little more structure. That said, PhD programs are looking for interesting and diverse applicants, and I'm sure that my experiences across the pond made me stand out a bit in the piles of applications. This might very well be the case with you as well. Fluency in Italian is a pretty amazing accomplishment as well! I hope I will eventually make it there with French, but it is not looking good... best of luck!

Is it appropriate to visit a place where you are waitlisted? I don't want to accept a place that I haven't visited, and if I don't find out before the 12th, I will have to decline the offer because I won't even know what the school is really like. There is only so much you can find out from their websites. Any ideas about visiting?

I will be turning down offers from Wisconsin-Madison, Illinois-Urbana-Champaign, Boston College, and the MAPH at U Chicago. I am deciding between two schools right now, and I am on the Victorian Studies waitlist at Indiana.

I agree with the people that said to call. I've called two schools to find out why I still hadn't heard anything. It is perfectly valid--we did pay to apply after all. We deserve to know if we are waitlisted, and if not, we at least deserve the writing on cheap paper with words of regret if we didn't get in. No news at this point might very well mean good news, unless your schools say that they notify later than the normal deadline. On the phone, I found out from one school that I was first on the waitlist, and the other school told me that I would receive a letter in the mail shortly (and I was offered an MA instead of the Ph.D). It can't hurt to call. They will either say that you are on the waitlist, 'I'm sorry we were not able to offer you admission this year', or they will tell you that you will receive a decision in the mail shortly. If you don't want to call, then you can also email someone in the department. I have not had much luck with this though. I hope it turns out well! Good luck. I don't know the first thing about Chemical Engineering, but I hope you get in if that is what you want to do.

Nothing that was said was that bad. If they had said it to me on the public forum, it would not have bothered me so much. I just didn't understand why I was receiving private messages outside the public forum about the same thing--explaining their point of view, and attacking my emotional response and my logic skills. They are blocked from writing to me. I perhaps overreacted and got freaked out, because I just didn't want to have a private argument with someone who I knew had already been discussing the issue for six pages. I got on thegradcafe to discuss my grad school situation, and I commented on the whole textspeak conversation because I wanted to make a point about the cultural effects of using textspeak. I am sure everyone of us--no matter where we got in or didn't get in--is really stressed right now. It is natural that people would want to make themselves feel that they were right about things, but enough is enough.

I think the economy has been on a downward turn for awhile now; but yes, I am sure that next year could be even worse. :shock:

I have heard this as well (from several professors), and I think it is very, very true. :roll:

*

Thanks Jewelbomb for the article; however, I don't think anyone doubted that there were studies of masculinity in literature out there--at least I hope not.

I'm interested in this masculinist criticism. What would you write about using this masculinist criticism?? Phallic symbols in literature? The importance of male characters' clothing as a way of showing dominance over other men?? Truly interested.

To sashababie: I think you misunderstood what I was saying. What I meant by the comment was not a reference to private messages from or to Minnesotan. It was a reference to private messages directed towards myself. One of the members on this forum sent me a rude private message disputing what I had said on this public forum. I find that offensive, and in all the truth the vehemence with which he/she explained their point of view in the private message scared me. It was becoming personal, and this is an issue, not a battle of personalities. On the internet, I would rather keep anger in the public rather than the private space. I think that is a perfectly valid point of view. If other people want to have angry private message wars, then fine, but I don't want to.

This textspeak/text-talk conversation--I don't even know what it is really called officially--has gotten out of hand, and I would just like to say that if someone doesn't agree with what someone has said on the forum, it is TOTALLY inappropriate to send them a private message criticizing them. If you want to criticize something I have said, then please go ahead and do it in the PUBLIC forum. If you want to have a nice conversation with me about your grad situation, then I am fine with people sending me messages. As to the textspeak, if you don't want to speak in English, then don't. However, stop acting like preserving coherent English isn't important when you are using it all over this forum. If you really want to prove that it is not unbelievably annoying, and that it is unimportant to a grad culture, then use it and see how long it takes for people on the thegradcafe to stop talking to you. The attempt to intellectualize the use of textspeak through the use of proper English is frankly stupid. If there are international applicants who are having a hard time with their language, I say good for them for trying so hard. I am not fluent in another language, and the fact that they are writing almost perfectly in English is a remarkable achievement, which anyone who has ever studied another language would know. Yet, there is no excuse for writing in text English if you are an English speaker going to grad school. That form of speech is the only method of communication some kids use these days, and I cringe when I think of the day when I will receive a paper that begins: "Dikns wuz a gud writr, cuz he writ lot 'o books." Yeah, you can understand it, but do you want to?

I know we have moved on, but I must stand up for Minnesotan and my fellow humanities applicants by saying that text-talk (text-speak) cheapens the greatness of the English language, and it hurts to see people not using the language correctly. Perhaps it is because I am in English, but I see "u" instead of "you" and my reaction is immediately one of disgust. If that is what you want from people who care about language, then so be it, but I am pretty sure that even though you are in the sciences, you want to be respected as a writer and a speaker as well. You will have to write and give many talks in the future, so I would think before you criticize the English "geeks" who are able to do those things with ease. I am certainly not a language snob, and I often have typos in my work, but there really are limits. Anyway, I will back up my hatred of text-talk with an anecdote: I did A-levels in England, and I heard a horror story from my teacher about how a student wrote an entire A-level exam in text-talk. Can you imagine? The teachers thought they were failing their students, and it was painful to realize that the culture was breeding a generation of semi-illiterate kids. This is an informal forum, but it is "thegradcafe" for a reason; it is for people who will go on to write long research papers, whether they be in the Humanities, the Sciences, or the Arts, and every paper will require a mastery of the English language. This is grad school, and nobody wants to read anything that isn't really good. I will admit that at one point, I was writing text messages a lot--shortening all my words--and I realized after awhile that I was forgetting how to spell things correctly; my mind had become too used to that kind of spelling. Now I only text in full sentences, which is kind of silly, but I think it is cool. I think it interesting that excel started writing in full and coherent sentences without the use of "u" when the discussion got going, because it really is embarrassing to write in text-talk. If he wanted to prove his point, then he should have continued; however, in truth nobody would have even wanted to continue the conversation if he did, because it is unbearable to argue with someone using that language. After awhile, you feel like an adult who is insisting on fighting with a child armed with play-dough. I certainly do not think you are stupid excel. I congratulate you on your academic achievements. However, if you become a professor, I think you will eventually feel that you are dishonoring your students when you use such language.

ps. To hopefulone: how are you faring? Any news?

Still waiting on the first-year funding from UNC, and for Indiana.... waiting is just not my forte. I am now choosing between UNC and UC-Davis (and if all goes well, Indiana), and I have come to the point where I really just need to decide. Do they understand how much we check our email? They can't, otherwise they would not keep us waiting so long. I don't believe it. :?

There may be a section under English Doctoral programs in the Graduate School US News and World Report ratings which gives the 10 top programs in Rhetoric and Composition. You can look at a copy in the library (that is what I did). I would ask your professors for recommendations though; that is the only way to find out about good schools in specific subfields. I study Victorian lit., so I can't really help you with programs. sorry! :roll:

In some ways I am a little old-fashioned, so I agreed that all this new stuff is getting a little crazy...what is "digital humanities"? However, I don't think that literary criticism is about the schools; it is about the literature. We don't need new schools to come up with new ideas and get people excited about literature. I refuse to believe that literary criticism is dying. It is too bleak, and fatalistic. Thousands upon thousands of people still apply to grad programs in English. When each university in the United States is getting 200-600 applications, the suggestion is that Literary Criticism is very much alive and well. Perhaps the job market isn't looking good, but hope is necessary in this profession. People still care. We obviously care, and we can change things.

I don't know anything about the Purdue program, but William and Mary is a great place to do American Studies (especially Colonial studies), because surprise, surprise, it is right next to/in Colonial Williamsburg! If you are doing Southern Studies, it is also a good place to be. The winters are really mild, and the summers are extremely hot and humid...in fact, they seem to go on forever. It wasn't cold until November this year. If you want to do American Studies, I would accept one of the masters programs in AMS if they are offering enough funding. If you don't want to do specifically Women Studies, you will probably be unhappy trying to make all your american studies aspirations fit into the women's studies structure. Plus, there are a lot of people who think reading and teaching Women/Gender Studies stuff is the best thing since sliced bread, and they would love the spot. They can sit at a table for an twenty-four hours straight discussing Judith Butler. If you are not one of them, you might find yourself in an uncomfortable position. I myself am interested in historical women's issues in relation to literature, but some of the theory would drive me crazy. Anyway, best of luck.

I'm still waiting on NYU too.

Just heard from the University of Chicago today. They accepted me into their MAPH (Masters of Arts Program in the Humanities). Honestly, it makes me feel a lot better, but I certainly won't be going. First off, how do they think you are going to manage without any funding? Secondly, people applying to English programs are over the general humanities education--we've specialized in English, and that is why we are applying to the English Ph.D. program. Why don't they accept you into an ENGLISH masters program? Oh well. I genuinely thank you Chicago, it was a nice thought.

Have you written to them to ask where you are on the waitlist? I did, and I found out that I was first on the waitlist for my field. It all depends on where you are on the list unfortunately...in any case, it sucks to be on waitlists...I hope I find out soon! Have you been told whether you will receive funding if you are offered admission? That is what I'm worried about.

I've spent a lot of time in both cities, and I would definitely say Cambridge. It is somehow a brighter city. I personally think it is one of the loveliest cities on the planet, and it is less stuffy than Oxford...but then again, there is nothing like Oxford bookstores and libraries... Good luck!

Are there people STILL waiting to hear from the University of Chicago? I'm starting to think that they've forgotten to send me a letter or something. If anyone is still waiting, please tell me. If I don't get something by Monday, then I'm calling again (they told me to). Maybe my application got lost or something, and wasn't even read...Is that possible? Maybe this is a good sign and means I'm still being considered? Who knows... :shock: