jhefflol

Official sponsor

All places to which I didn't apply! Seriously congrats to the acceptees!

I started looking for conferences to submit to, just to do something productive with my time. I'm finding that the conferences for which I have papers to present and conferences that match with my interests are either the week before or the week of my comps. Boo.

I was 22 when I started my MA and was the youngest in my cohort/possibly the whole program. Most people in my program are mid-late 20s, early 30s, and a number of older/more experienced students, so there isn't really an attitude that someone is "too old" in my program. However, I got that whole, "Oh, you're only 22?" comment quite a bit.

Now that some decisions have started coming in (congrats to those who have been admitted!), I thought maybe we should talk about thank you gifts for our recommenders. I know that there are some other threads around GC, but I thought we could talk about field-specific gifts. What do you plan on sending to your recommenders, if anything? I've seen some responses that suggest a personalized card or email is sufficient, others have given gift cards or other material gifts. I was thinking maybe a gift card from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or a local book store if I were to go the gift card route. Personally, my favorite gift idea I have seen on GC is a mug from whatever university the student decides to attend. However, this raises my next question: When is the appropriate time to give such gifts? After all letters have been submitted? Once the student decides where he or she will be attending? Once all admissions decisions have been received? What do you guys plan to do?

Congrats! How exciting!

I'm here to say that I basically did the same thing everyone else did. I mentioned each program's unique writing center or program by name (on recommendation from a current PhD student/dear friend) and then my fit paragraph was basically, "Given my research interests as outlined above, I'd be honored to work with blank, blank, or blank during my residency at blank university." And then I mentioned whatever colloquia and/or consortium the university participates in and hoped the rest would be obvious.

Serious congratulations to whoever it is!!

Congrats!!!! Woo!

I've already accepted the fact that I'll be Dr. Jessica, your server at that one restaurant on the weekends. I've also accepted that I'll be adjuncting for a while. It doesn't bother me, really. TT would be amazing but probably not going to happen for a few (10) years after I graduate. That's part of my motivation for wanting to start so young.

I'm somewhat in the same boat. Only I'm from Northern CA and think of it as a dirty, dusty, meth pit. Very few people that I grew up with are actually doing something productive in their lives. To each their own. But I'd never go back. I find the youngness of LA fun, though. I'm all about quirky bars and new brunch spots. At the same time, I used to be involved in one of LA's historical societies that involved Great Gatsby release parties, swing dancing, and historical tours. I find the old LA just as fascinating as the new. That being said, I am also ready to move. Mostly because I get stir crazy if I live in the same area for too long and would like to give the oddness of the east coast a try.

Just a heads up, I'm not sure how the departments are different, but when I applied for my MA I never really received any sort of official notification of admittance. I had completed my undergrad there and logged in one day to MyCSULB and there was a link to register for postbacc classes. That's how I found out I was admitted. Just make sure to keep up on knowing your status, but I hope professional programs are more rigid in the admissions process than programs in the humanities. Good luck!

I just woke up. Its nearly 5:30 pm. I was supposed to work this morning, but I had terrible nightmares all night and woke up with a migraine which put me in no condition to wait tables in a loud, cramped craftsman house. I'm clearly handling this whole waiting thing well!

My favorite class so far is probably a toss up between Old English and the Shakespeare grad seminar I just completed. I loved translating Old English and learning about Anglo-Saxon culture, but at the same time I saw the most growth in myself in my Shakespeare seminar. I produced a seminar thesis that I'm very proud of and figured out how to situate myself as a scholar among recent scholarship in my specialization. I think that in itself is beyond measurable value.

Meh, I tried Googling myself and apparently there's someone with my exact name studying English at Kent State. Other than that, they'll find out that I'm on the honor roll and a link to a Prezzi I did as an undergrad called, "What is a Critical Argument?" Gotta love those ed classes.

Crazy, I was thinking about starting the Blogilates calendars. I just followed her on Tumblr to see if I want to start in February. I'm thinking about taking adult ballet classes since I danced for 15 years of my life, but quality studios are expensive and I'm not sure where I placed my shoes when I moved this summer. What kind of dance are you looking in to? Do you mind me asking where you're applying to in CA? I applied to UCSD, UCI, and USC. I'd prefer to change states, though.

So far I've been doing a lot of pleasure reading: about one book every 2 days. Its a costly habit. I'm hoping to get back in to weightlifting because that was a hobby of mine that I used to enjoy before grad school and was actually good at it. My boyfriend and I are going to start meal planning/prep on Monday, so hopefully that will motivate me to lift. I've been thinking about starting running again, as I used to run half marathons about once or twice a month, but it just sounds so boring now. I find that I'm having a hard time adjusting to all of the down time I have. During the semester, I have class more than full time and two jobs; I'm doing something every day of the week. Unfortunately, one of my jobs is at a community college, so after finals I went from working/having class 7 days a week to just serving at a cafe on Saturday and Sunday mornings. My friends are all servers who work nights, and my boyfriend manages a restaurant where he puts in 60+ hours at his job, often forcing him to come home around 4 am on the weekends. Basically, I'm really freaking bored. And I'm trying to save money in case I have to move which means not going out. All of this down time means I stress out more often than I should. I'm not handling the wait very well.

I'm dead lolol

This is excellent advice! I'm going to start brainstorming short-term goals now...thanks! Yeah, 15! And that was whittled down from a list of 20 schools that I had at the start of the season. Sometimes I still wish I had applied to more though.

I feel like this is an appropriate time for a screaming goat video compilation, but I'll save that for when admissions decisions start rolling in.

I'm totes a goat. Yeeeaaahhh!

I had to submit one. I remember it was very brief, though. Good luck! And feel free to message me if you have any questions. I might not be in your field, but I'll try to help!

Part of me is glad that my field doesn't tend to conduct interviews, but part of me wishes that interviews were the norm. I am such a people person and all of my years of acting and public speaking make me a great interviewee, so I know if I had one, my chances of acceptance would increase. Also, it would be nice to know which programs were actually interested in me sooner, rather than waiting until mid-late February and March to hear anything. On the other hand, the added anxiety over yet ANOTHER facet of the application process isn't something I think I would want to face. I'm curious how those who have to go through an interview as part of the admissions process feel about the procedure?

Agree. I went through 60 pages of the results for English today. That involved a lot of heavy/anxious breathing. Good news is that someone from last cycle had the same GRE scores as me (except I have a better GPA and a slightly higher subject score) and he/she got in to at least 1 program! There is hope!

This is what I tried to do with my SO, but my nerves got the best of me. I just wanted to be sure he was willing to go with me if the situation presented itself. I hope everything works out for you two! No need to stress about something that might not happen, right?