Dr. Old Bill

Yes, but it's all worth it when you're...

Funnily enough, I just read an article in the Chronicle earlier today about a similar topic: how professors can take control of their digital identity. I have the misfortune of being just old enough that I was a teenager at the dawn of the Internet age, and as a result, some unfortunate items of "juvenilia" poetry still exist when you Google my name, as do reviews of a certain progressive rock band, and a few other oddly search-popular things. I always found that posting under my own name "kept me honest," so to speak...so while there's certainly nothing damning out there, there's obviously stuff that doesn't really say anything about the 2015 me. Fortunately there is more relevant material out there too, so it (hopefully) all balances out.

Well, this is indeed one of the reasons why I didn't apply to any schools outside the "top 50" (according to US News...), but there's one fundamental problem with many / most of these studies: they reflect current practices and current trends, whereas for people like us, who will (in most cases) be entering Ph.D. programs in half a year for a bare minimum of five years, and more likely six or seven, the landscape will have changed. Maybe for the worse, maybe for the better...who knows? There is a trend toward the worse, but six or seven years is a long time, and even the best predictive analyses can only do a mediocre job of forecasting the job market in several years' time. Additionally, program qualities aren't static. While the "tippy top tier" programs will likely remain in the top ten, there is always the potential for second tier programs to gain better reputations as time goes on. For instance, WashU's reputation is far better than that ranking implies. Likewise for Brandeis. I'm certainly not knocking this study, as it is very on point, as most of these studies are...but sometimes I think the doom-and-gloom goes a little too far. It's not a hopeless field for anyone who doesn't get into Yale, Princeton, or Harvard. It's more a case that going to one of those schools helps...but the same goes for virtually all disciplines. In other words, though the article is well-written and supported by lots of good data, there's nothing new here. You invariably have a better chance of getting a TT job if you go to a highly-ranked program. If you wind up going to North Fargo University and publish a stunning, renowned article on solipsism in Finnegan's Wake, you're still going to be an attractive candidate somewhere.

I figure that while we're all chewing our collective nails, waiting for acceptances and (alas) rejections, it's worth ruminating on why we're going down this crazy path in the first place! If you're like me, you've had one English course that has seemed to be better than the rest, whether by a small margin or by a large one... A course that either inspired or confirmed your decision to pursue graduate work in the field. For me, that course was a research seminar called "The World of Shakespeare's Sonnets," taken in the spring of my junior year. Sonnets had been a keen interest of mine for around a decade to begin with, so when I saw it was available during course selection, it was truly a no-brainer. Yet even my fairly high expectations for the course didn't prepare me for how wonderful it was. It was co-taught by two well-regarded professors -- one who was teaching his final course at the college before retiring, and one who is a "rising star" in academia. Together, they had incredible synergy -- one professor was more concerned with themes and poetic content, while the other was more interested in the historical framework. There were five papers, a 40-minute presentation, and an annotated bibliography required for the class, and discussion was always lively and enjoyable. Both professors went on to be primary LOR writers, and I still correspond regularly with both of them. It was just a fantastic experience, and I learned a hell of a lot. So much so that when it came time for me to decide what area of literature to pursue in graduate study, sonnet theory was a leading candidate. My WS is assembled from a couple of the papers I wrote for the course (plus a lot of fresh material), and I mention the course specifically in my SOP. In other words, while I've had some other excellent, inspiring, career-path-affirming courses, this one was definitely the pinnacle. So...how about you?

Not naive or shady at all, bgt! In fact, I'd say that's right on the money. On the surface of it, a Ph.D. is a 5-year commitment, minimum. But really, it's much longer than that, and much more than that. It can potentially mean a few individual years in different places around the country, and if the ever-elusive TT position becomes available, and you wind up being a leading candidate, then you're going to want to / have to take it...whether it's in Boston, Bakersfield, Bangor or Bismarck. That means it takes a heck of a lot of faith and support from a life partner to stick with you through all of that...and a lot of self-assurance on your own part to willingly emulate the Wandering Jew for years on end, with no definitive end in sight. It sounds bleak, but it's realistic, and if you don't have someone there who is dedicated to the ultimate end goal of your arduous journey, then you probably have to go it alone. There are shades of support, of course, and each individual partnership will work things out in their own way...but if my wife wasn't on board with this (and I emphasize that she has been from day one, and effectively steered me down this path to begin with, a few years ago), I would probably be doing this anyway, regardless of the consequences. It can be an almost impossible tradeoff for some, but at this point in my life I realize that while my life experiences have had their fair share of rewards etc., this is my "calling" so to speak (and I normally dislike such cliched phrases, but there you have it).

Oh. Hey. I'm a goat too! An older goat, but a goat just the same... How about that.

I recognize that we have a fairly small GC cohort this year, but in light of the impending acceptances / relocations etc., I'm curious about those of you with significant others and how you plan to navigate the necessary upheaval. Personally, before I even started looking at grad schools, I had a long, frank discussion with my wife about the possibility of moving. In fact, there were many conversations before I started doing any serious research on programs. She currently has a good job and a stable career...though in something of a "niche" field (non-profit arts administration). She's also happy with the city in which she works. Because of the relative narrowness of her field and job prospects, there's a better than 50/50 chance that we'll have to spend at least some of the time I'm in grad school apart. And while this is certainly quite unfortunate, we're also largely "okay" with that. This won't be the first time we've had to spend a large chunk of our relationship living apart, and we know that we can do it. The ideal would be to live together, of course, but fortunately we have both taken the "best in the long run" perspective on the situation. Having said all of that, assuming I get at least one acceptance, we'll immediately start looking for work in whatever area that particular grad school is in. If I wind up getting more than one, then we'll invariably do the same thing for each program. The quality of program I attend will be the biggest factor, of course, but finding places with good opportunities in her field will also be a consideration. I know that not many of you are married, but the same sort of conversation is probably necessary with any significant other. I'd love to hear other perspectives / plans etc.

First of all...congrats! Second of all...I've been thinking about this, in the unlikely event that I were to get called for an interview by any of my prospective schools. What I would do is bone up on the ins and outs of the faculty members of the field you are interested in. Get a solid understanding of their publications and their perspectives, if possible. The more familiar you are with the kind of work they are doing, the more it will demonstrate that you have a vested interest in the field AND Emory in particular. The usual "take this with a grain of salt" caveat applies, of course, and maybe some former Emory interviewees will be able to chime in here to give a better first-hand account. But I have to imagine that "fit" and "demonstrated knowledge of field" have to be two of the bigger checklist items in an interview like this. Good luck!

My pleasure! I definitely know the feeling. On my Cornell app, the GRE scores show as "pending." I contacted their admin personnel about it a couple of months ago, and they corrected it. Then I checked again last month, and it showed up as pending yet again, and I contacted them once more. They assured me that everything was fine on their end, so it must just be a software glitch on the student interface side of things. Hopefully this TOEFL issue will be of the similar variety for you.

I would contact the department ASAP. I just checked my application, and there's nothing in the field you mention -- everything looks complete.

I recall reading about this in past GC threads. While anything posted here is inherently informal (i.e., "grain of salt" territory), the consensus seemed to be that it does NOT seem to matter if you did or did not contact a POI prior to application. And my hunch is the same, really. There are a few POIs I contacted, but only one of them led to an in-depth conversation, whereas a couple of others were of the "yes, you sound like you might be a good fit" variety. When you think about how many applications the adcomms look at, and how many members are likely on each adcomm, you can start to get a sense of how tough it would be for one POI recognizing your name to matter a whole lot in the long run. If you did have a great rapport with a POI, that might give you a slight bump in your chances, but probably not enough to fret about not having contacted that person. ETA: cross-posted with Bat.

Terrifying...but exciting! But terrifying... But...exciting!

I don't know, per se, but it stands to reason, given that all of the application deadlines have now passed. Materials will likely be distributed to the various adcomm members for them to look over, rate, review etc. In other words, the process is now an active one -- our applications aren't just sitting, waiting to be read...they're now almost certainly being looked at. It's pretty exciting, really.

So...today is the day where we can assume* that pretty much every adcomm will start looking at our applications. I'm still more excited than nervous at this point, but give it a couple of weeks, and I might just be in a perpetual state of anxiety-induced nausea. *Edited to reflect that I don't really know this!

Turns out that only two of the schools I applied to allow for post-application fall semester grade reporting: Yale and Princeton. Rutgers sort of allows for it, basically having an "other" field to upload additional materials. If anyone comes across any others, please be sure to post.

I'm resolved to get into grad school. I just hope some adcomms are resolved to let me in.

Oh yeah. "A Good Man is Hard to Find" was my first entree into O'Connor, and I think about it often as well. An addendum to my earlier post: turns out my parents-in-law bought me The Lyric Theory Reader for Christmas. It's been on my Amazon wish list for nearly half a year. Edited by two POIs at programs I applied to no less. What a gift! I've already poked my nose into that, so Piers and Dr. Jekyll might have to wait.

Managed to read some Flannery O'Connor on the plane last week, and quite enjoyed a few stories ("Everything That Rises Must Converge" in particular...). Got back home from Vancouver a couple of days ago, and my wife and I made a semi-impromptu drive up to Buffalo today to visit my in-laws (who are fantastic). I brought A Defense of Poetry, as well as a copy of Piers the Ploughman and Dr. Jekyll... as possible reading candidates. Though I aim to raid their attic, which is full of boxes of good books too...so we'll see! I'm so glad I married into a highly literate family...

Holy moly! Congratulations, Proflorax! It puts our various fretting-over-acceptance threads in perspective, doesn't it?

Hey folks, I just wanted to wish everyone a happy new year...a year that, for some (or most) of us, will be full of radical changes, new directions, and happy relocations. While I personally vacillate between excitement and dread over the prospects of the next few months, New Year's Day has always been my favorite holiday: there's something about the first day of a brand new year that fills me with hope and optimism. And for this year in particular, that is amplified! May 2015 bring all of you happiness and good things!

Thanks, TakerUK. Excellent perspective there. Worth more than $.02, I assure you.

Just replying here to vent my frustration with my independent study. I actually wound up getting an A in the class I was a little worried about, but got an A- for my independent study. The parameters of the study were to write a 20-page paper, and I wound up writing a 27-page paper, which I revised extensively, based on my advisor's recommendations. This morning he sent me an email telling me first of all that I did an excellent job of encompassing so much in 27 pages...then oddly enough goes on to say there was more I could have covered. It's truly a contradiction. He also pointed out a dimension that neither of us explored during our meetings that I could / should have explored. As a result, I got an A-. VERY frustrating. I've sent him back a very polite email, telling him that I could revise further since grades aren't technically due in until January 2nd, so we'll see what he says. I'm not too hopeful, however. What this means is that I will probably not be able to send in my fall grades. I was really hoping I could, but an A- in an independent study is probably enough to raise a few eyebrows. Given the amount of research I put into it, I'm annoyed, but I also have to recognize that there's an element of "them's the breaks" involved. Sigh.

This has nothing to do with anything, but... welcome back, Felibus! GC really missed you!

It's really a "YMMV" question, as 1Q84 pretty much points out. In theory, an independent study allows you to do the kind of research on a subject that interests you in a very specialized way. It forces you to be accountable for getting stuff done in a timely fashion, as there's really only one person who you are working with, and depending on his/her level of involvement (it can vary widely), you may be "mailing it in" for much of the semester, or you might have stringent weekly (or bi-weekly) expectations. I had an independent study this past semester after discovering a professor I knew (but had never had a class with) had a vested interest in the poetry of Edwin Arlington Robinson. I'm a big Robinson fan myself, and so when I saw a few books on EAR in the professor's office one day, I struck up a conversation that led to him offering to do an independent study with me. I met with him once per week throughout the fall, and while he was fairly casual about "assignments" etc., it sprung up sort of organically that I should write three or four pages for him per week...with the result being that near the end of semester, I had the bulk of my final paper (intended to be a minimum of 20 pages, but ultimately wound up being 25) written. Now, this is all well and good, and I'm fine with the paper I wrote...but the problem is that sometimes your own view of the project will diverge from the professor's view. I had intended to approach the I.S. from a prosodic standpoint, and spend a lot of time comparing EAR to other poets of the era. The professor is decidedly not a prosodist, and he didn't find a comparative analysis interesting. As a result, my paper wound up being sort of middle of the road. It's well-written and cohesive, but I don't think it's publishable, as it wound up being more of a thematic and prosodic analysis. I have no regrets for doing the independent study, but I'm not sure if it was a valuable experience. I recognize that this seems like it's skirting your main point, but it's not -- the course is not necessary, but if you can link it back to your main focus of study (which is admittedly more important for Ph.D. applicants than M.A. applicants), then sure...it will show that you have managed to successfully work on your own to produce a long, academic document, and like 1Q84 says, it will hopefully create a strong, personal, academic bond with your professor, who can then talk at length in a LOR about your aptitude etc. But more important than even this, successfully navigating an independent study might show you whether or not graduate study is right for you, as much as the other way around. For the record, most programs I applied to won't be able to see that I've taken an independent study, as it won't be on my transcript until next month. Despite this, I don't think it's going to affect my applications one way or another, yet it might have helped in some small way had I taken it in my junior year and needed a different strong LOR-writer...or if the study itself dovetailed perfectly with my research interests, as opposed to partially. Edited to add: I have no info to back this up, but I suspect research seminars will carry nearly as much weight as an independent study. Class sizes are usually smaller, and the professor usually gets to know you better than in a lecture format. Two of my LOR writers were from research seminars, and I'm certain that had I needed another, I could have had a different professor write a positive LOR based on a research seminar this past semester.