xolo

God, is it time to apply again? I'm soooo glad I was admitted to a consecutive MA/PhD program since I don't have a degree in my field and my university only takes people whose goal is a PhD. I sooo feel for you guys that are getting ready to reapply! I never want to go through that again! I used magoosh for the gre and liked it. I managed to get 168 verbal which is shocking.

I was admitted to a top-10 program at a pretty well known state institution. I hope that answers your question - basically go for what you want! In my case, I was out of school longer than anyone else on this thread and I came from a totally different background from Spanish or even the humanities. I went back to school for several years which afforded me my LOR writers and allowed me the opportunity to produce some writing samples. I don't think it was sublime prose, but it was a solid and unusual research topic (just my humble opinion I think those were the most important factors in my case. It also helped that my research topic lined-up very well with the graduate advisor's interests. I also think academia in the US is more open and diverse than Spain and Latin America. But beware of what you ask for, in my case teaching undergrad Spanish courses is what I would call a labor of love, especially considering the paltry salary (But still, I'm very appreciate of what I have).

I think universities are businesses in the sense of not-for-profit businesses where public funding is managed. Unfortunately, for decades public funding has decreased, hence the double digit or greater tuition increases and the student debt crisis. Also, in the humanities there are about one-half the TT jobs as compared to 30 years ago. Enough of my sweeping generalizations, I think it's a great concept to meet and discuss this predicament, but unless the public and legislators are on-board, you might as well cloister in a room and theorize. And just to be more pessimistic, institutions in general, certainly including academia, have been in decline for decades. And I agree this is a great community until this kind of thread comes along. Some people don't like being called an ass-clown making shit posts. Really, really disappointing.

I don't know what your undergrad degree is in, but the five years afterwards have made you a BETTER candidate. Of course, you need to write an original SOP and have an interesting writing sample. One area you haven't mentioned, in general you need three academic references, that might be a challenge. Get your ducks lined up! ¡Pan comido! ¡No te va a costar un ojo de la cara! ¡suerte!

Yes, I too would like to hear from people who have a PhD in hand as to how they are doing. Although this is a detail, my program still provides me health insurance, but they dropped offering it for dependents. I'm glad they did, since Obamacare is way more affordable. Actually, if they dropped my coverage, Obamacare would really help alleviate that burden.

I agree with the OP and I won't hedge my comments by questioning the OP's motives, their personality flaws, or in any way try to indirectly discredit. My reasons for getting a PhD is because I love my field and it is not to find a job.

My advisor (before I was admitted) bluntly told me that a PhD in the humanities is signing-up for a life of poverty. I think that was the epitome of honesty on her part, not an attempt to dissuade me from the program. She also admitted me with 6 years of funding, which is one reason I am attending that school. So, I think you'll have to figure things out on your own, hopefully semi-random internet postings will give you some different angles on the issues. And I agree about long-range plans, the same advisor who admitted me based on my "plans" tried to get an idea how open I was to changing my interests (ie, she wanted her students to be flexible about research topics). I go to a prestigious state school and LOTS of students are here in part because of its reputation (It's just obvious). To answer the thread topic, grad school is completely different from what I imagined. I only took language classes in undergrad, in grad school fluency is taken for granted (I teach language classes now). So that was a BIG change (maybe just applies to language programs, but it's almost impossible to know what to expect from casually reading the grad handbook)

My completely personal opinion is that it won't hurt, in fact it will help, that you spent a year or two in Latin America studying literature. I recommend you contact the graduate advisors at the universities where you want to apply and ask them.

Whether you lecture or not seems to depend on the school/department. My first semester, first year, my department put me in front of a class of 40 students and I was the only "professor" in the classroom, teaching language. I might be a little different since I have no degree in Spanish but my school only takes PhD students, so my peers were often better prepared with a couple of years of teaching experience. A great life experience but a baptism by fire! There are a lot of good books out there. I also recommend any workshops that might be available. I thought it is also common for grad students to teach in History departments?

I went through the application process last year. It was nerve wracking and grueling and exciting. If anybody has questions that I might be able to help with, just ask or PM me. I'll review SOPs and other materials that are for language programs.

thanks for the great suggestions!

I've just started my program and I've been teaching since day 1. I mean, I'm the only "professor" in front of the class, I grade all the papers, and I write the exams. It is a major time commitment that leaves little time for my own coursework. So, I'm just wondering how this all works long term. In a couple of years I need to produce a 50 page thesis and a few years after that a book-length dissertation. So I ask, where do I find the time for those things? Maybe some of you more experienced people can enlighten me. Teaching is a great life-experience and I have a lot of fun, but I feel it could take all my time if I let it.

Even though I'm not in your field, I am in the humanities, and I can sense the excitement here just like for me last year. Good luck to all of you. And yes, when I look back at my writing sample (which I thought would make a good publishable article), I just groan. So don't stress too much about typos, just do your best! FYI, last year the acceptance to the school I am now attending came in mid-February. The waiting goes by really slow and really fast.

My first year has had real ups and downs. I feel pretty good about having survived so far. The main "achievement" for me was teaching a class (I was the only "professor" in the classroom) and grading the papers. I wrote one exam. That probably doesn't measure up to going ABD (congratulations) or possibly publishing papers (congratulations) but I'm pretty happy overall about the life experience.

Is anyone else teaching? THAT was a major time commitment. I'm a grad student but I'm the only "professor" in front of a class of 40 students. I also grade all the papers.

You could also see who has PhD programs in Chicano Studies (or maybe you're looking at MA?) and contact the lit profs in the program to make your inquiry.

I don't believe any of your scenarios apply to Berkeley (that was my response, this specific school was mentioned, but I think this might apply to UC in general). If I remember correctly (maybe I'm wrong) the student health care is about $3,000 per year at Berkeley and is provided free (not really free, but paid for by the respective departments) to funded PhD students. Dependents were offered this same $3,000 per year coverage, but paid for by the student. Thus, no access to obamacare, right? At a TA salary, the obamacare subsidies will generally reduce the cost of health care for, say, a family of 4. (ie, the cost will be significantly less than $9,000/year for those 3 dependents). That's why Berkeley eliminated the option to insure dependents. Of course, they could have offered special $100/month or about $1,000/year as you mention for your school. (I assume you are not at a UC as this sounds like too good a deal, but I don't know). For a family of 4 (my example) that $3,000/year you cite is probably going to be very roughly the same as the cost after obamacare credits, depending on individual factors. So why should UC heavily subsidize dependents when the federal government already offers that via obamacare?

I'm pretty sure the reason Berkeley (and some other schools) have dropped dependent health coverage is because of ACA (obamacare). If insurance is available for dependents through the employer at any price then there is no access to government subsidies via obamacare and the exchanges, one must pay the employer provided (full) price. This is a smart, pro-student move on the part of Berkeley because it gives students the ability to access health insurance for dependents using obamacare and the exchanges, which will be heavily subsidized at TA salaries, depending on the personal details of each applicant.

First of all, for a non-native speaker your GRE scores are fantastic. An AWA 4.0 is usually considered 'safe'. I can tell you though, I studied and re-took the GRE and raised my AWA from a 4.0 to a 5.0. That was with moderate study for a month, but focused. So it can be improved.

Hey SK, I remember your avatar from the Languages sub-forum. Your post sort of mirrors how I have been feeling, although I never once considered bailing. No way am I going to do that after coming this far and getting into a top program. No way, they'll have to take me out in a bag. Have you spoken with your advisor? I have this awesome advisor that has really stood up for me. I'm teaching from day one and my advisor flew interference to get me the schedule I need. Are you going to be teaching German? My program is really focused on research and teaching. This is an awesome thread, I can really relate to the message, it is intimidating to make such a big move.

Hi Rose, you're doing things right. GREs can be improved through study/re-take. The GPA and especially the GRE are sort of expected to be good, that just gets you in the door. I'm not in your field, but last cycle when I applied I noticed Psych does seem very competitive. I consider the core of the application the LORs, Writing Sample, and SOP, at least in the humanities/languages.

telkanuru has said what I was thinking. It sounds like it might not be you, it might have been your supervisor.

AWA 4 is usually considered "safe". i.e., it can't hurt you and in engineering I would think this is plenty good. for random question 1, I think this might depend on policy and budgets which vary for random 2, why not try to ask the advisor if you can talk to a prof when you're there for r3, PhD programs are usually funded, MS varies so YMMV

Hi Paul, I'll answer although this is just my opinion and this is a controversial area, but most people on this forum would agree you are doing the right thing. I think for an MS it is probably less important and during summer some of the profs might be less available. I wouldn't blast out an email every day, more like what you are doing. I think the consensus is that it can't hurt and might help. BTW, that's a fantastic GRE score.