allplaideverything

Admittedly, my "talking about fuck the Ivy League" was regrettable shorthand for a more substantive critique. I definitely don't mean to make people feel bad for where they choose to attend school. I apologize for that. Of course there are plenty of amazing people who attend (and work at) Ivy League schools--that's not really a question. And of course there are plenty of great reasons for pursuing a PhD (or other degree) at an Ivy League school. The problem, though, is that many of the great reasons for going to an Ivy have to do with the way in which prestige reinforces inequitable systems of power and privilege. I don't begrudge anybody for deciding to go to what is most likely an amazing program with great resources--I do, however, begrudge the basic concept of the Ivy League. If we're opposed to inequitable systems of power and privilege, then we must critique a small network of colleges that, due to massive endowments, exclusionary practices, and a long tradition of elitist networking, purport to be better than other colleges and work to maintain the imbalance of resources and power in higher education.

I'm on my phone on a MegaBus, so unable to add all my thoughts and feelings, but just wanted to applaud some folks in here being real as fuck. As another poor person, I've hated being surrounded by rich folk in college & grad school, and have been feeling like the PhD will be the worst yet (and if lucky, TT position would be even worse in that sense, lol), but some of y'all are making me feel so much better. Caroline, was it this thread where you were talking about fuck the Ivy League? Because yaasss let's be friends!

lol oh word? I mean, do you think erring on the side of transparency and honesty would be more acceptable? Like, no way $250 is going to get my underemployed ass to Riverside and back, nor is $400 going to get me to Davis and back. BUT, combined, I could probably make it work.

Hey Team, I wanted to start a thread for people to ask questions / share thoughts about campus visits--what to ask, what to pay attention to, how important they are, etc. Also, I have a question! Do y'all think there's a way to go about getting two schools in a similar region to reimburse you for the same overall trip? Like, how do I ask Riverside and Davis if I can show them the receipts for my flight into LA and out of Sacramento, weeks apart, and get both of them to give me the max reimbursement (which still won't add up to the total cost of the trip)? Any thoughts / advice would be dope!

MonicaBang is the best username.

I just read the Visiting Day email more closely yesterday, and yoooo the Zong! events should be so hot. That book is just wild-- an FMoten panel followed by a reading from M. NourbeSe Philip is so dope. It's going to be pretty expensive for me to get down there, but I'm definitely trying.

I worry that I've become nearly unbearable to hang out with, as all I can think/talk about is which program I should choose. And then I worry I'll become even more unbearable to hang out with when all I can think/talk about is scholar stuff.

Dude, that's my question, too. I was surprised you hadn't turned Davis down yet, seeing as to how prestigious UT-Austin is (but maybe my perception of that is also based on creative writing, where UT is top-tier). I love Davis for a lot of reasons, but I feel like it's also my default because it's ranked significantly higher than my other schools. Would I be crazy to go to a 40-something-ranked school over a 20-something-ranked school? Or what about a 60-something ranked school? (FWIW, Caroline, I think all three of your remaining potentials are very well respected, so I don't feel like you'd be way out-of-line coming to Davis.)

Ahh congrats Kurayamino and all others with new dope acceptances! Rutgers is great.

I feel you! I'm a mess trying to figure out how to make what is essentially an impossible decision. We do already have a thread for this stuff, though, so more info and thoughts here:

Congrats on all the new acceptances! I just got into Fordham--from an email to check my status update!

USC creative/critical dual program--6 accepted (3 fiction writers, 3 poets).

Acceptance from Syracuse--sounds from the letter like they only accepted 4 this year, or only 4 with funding, or only 4 invited to campus visit. Rejection from Brown.

It's still very early in admissions season, overall. I know the waiting is hell, but hang in there!

Is anybody else here weighing other offers yet? I'm excited about Riverside, & I've got what I feel like is an impossible choice ahead of me.

So, of course folks are right that we should ask current students about finances, and more generally about what it's like to be a student there. But I also want to put a little pressure on the idea that current students' answers will be reliable. In my M.A. and M.F.A programs, there were people who struggled financially and people who were fine, people who complained constantly about the teaching load and people who were fine, people who struggled to find meaningful mentorship and people who were fine. I think whether you're able to live on a grad stipend has more to do with who you are as a person than it does with a city's cost of living or the specific amount of the fellowship (and similar with teaching load, etc.). Certainly we should ask, but keep in mind that these kinds of questions are very subjective.

Caroline, congrats! I had to cut KU from my list, but I miss Kansas so much!

I very casually mentioned to a DGS at Institution A (on the phone) that I was really excited about the possibility of studying there, and "looking forward to learning more about the program as I weigh this offer against another"--he doesn't yet have clarity about the budget for next year, but seemed to suggest that in March he'd know more about trying to get me more funding. Question: Is it typical / responsible / ethical to give more specific details about other offers to your institutions? Aka can I / should I tell Davis that my other offer is from Riverside and they've offered me a larger fellowship?

Rdsull, I'm scanning the GSEA meeting notes and see something about a "final job talk"--is the Department hiring another professor right now?

1. Yay Davis leaning! 2. Personally, I hope it's harder. Shouldn't the PhD be, like, the hardest thing we've ever done?

I can't help but turn up with critical theory when thinking about the system of prestige, and how, like capital itself, it reifies its own values constantly. I think prestige is total horseshit, but its dominance over the social and economic landscape means I can either allow myself to be interpellated into its own value system and choose to pursue prestige, or I can be swept into the margins and crushed. That sucks!

All of the advice in here is so great, but I'm still freaking out! I'm overjoyed to be accepted to two programs I thought would be excellent fits for me & my interests, but I feel like there's no way to choose between them! One is ranked higher, but the other has hired some serious rockstars in the past few years! One is close to my tattoo artist and the other is close to a person I run a chapbook press with! One is stronger in my specific field and the other is stronger in my more general interests! I'm in love with both of them! Ahhh!!

Has everybody who applied to CUNY heard back from them now? How about Brown?

It seems to me that all the programs you applied to are pretty dope, and are all ranked in the top 50. One of the things I think we (or at least I) forget in these situations is that we don't actually know what we want--or, rather, we can't say for sure what's going to be best for us in the long run. The idea of a "dream program," to me, seems like it's built on lots of expectations that might not really work out the way we think. If your dream program is Columbia and you wind up getting into UC Riverside, well, yeah, there's a prestige gap there, but it might wind up being the case that you would've loved Riverside or hated Columbia. I don't think there's anything wrong with turning down an acceptance to re-apply next year. But in my personal experience, I've been surprised so many times at how my "dream [X]" didn't live up to my expectations, or how my "back-up [X]" turned out to be exactly what I needed.

Kurayamino, I finished my MFA at IU last year, and have been talking with a lot of the PhD folks there throughout my application process this year. I've got opinions and things, if you want to PM me to chat!