Jump to content

kurayamino

Members
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Posts

    335

  • Joined

  • Last visited

  • Days Won

    3

 Content Type 

Posts posted by kurayamino

    What are you reading?

    in Literature, and Rhetoric and Composition

    Posted

    I hope I won't be mocked for this, but I've just started reading The Taming of the Shrew. I hadn't ever had a chance to read it in high school or in my class on Shakespeare (which focused more on the tragedies). I will say though, that I have seen Kiss Me Kate with Howard Keel (who was also fantastic in Kismet).

     

    I'm also re-reading Middlemarch for an in depth study of the book and it's very nice to read it at a leisurely 60 pages a week instead of having to finish the text in two weeks! I can actually enjoy it now. :)

    Forget What You're Reading....What Are You LISTENING To???

    in Literature, and Rhetoric and Composition

    Posted

    Anything by The National is typically my go-to music for a stressed out period, but surprisingly I've found myself listening to nothing but Bob Dylan's Highway 61 Revisited for the past three weeks. I think the abstractness of Dylan's lyrics on the album mirrors the abstractness of the graduate application process quite well, actually

    Yes! There's been a lot of Dylan for me lately, both in father and son forms. Highway 61 Revisited has been on my playlist, as well as Jakob Dylan's Seeing Things. Outside of that there's been a lot of study music on Pandora which includes Moby, Tokimonsta, Xx, Colcannon, and Miles Davis.

     

    I'm loving this thread though. It's awesome to see what kind of music people listen to!

    Decisions

    in Literature, and Rhetoric and Composition

    Posted

    Hello all!

     

    First, I know there's a "Decisions" forum already, but to be honest... I've looked through the topics and responses and was both simultaneously annoyed at how unhelpful some of the people are and horrified at how malicious others were. I hope you all don't mind that I start this topic here because I think, as English majors, we have a lot of things that are important to consider since our stipends tend to be on the lowest end of the spectrum and so forth.

     

    I just wondered what criteria you all feel is important in deciding between schools. I didn't apply to any place I wouldn't want to live or where there weren't people I wanted to work with. So, what are you all using as a metric to help you decide? If you have a top choice, how did it get there for you?

     

    I'm trying to use placement ratings and cost of living/stipend as my main deciders, but it's proving to be difficult. Sort of like, apples and oranges, in my case. Any other suggestions about what to use in order to make the best decision?

     

     

     

     

    2015 Rejections

    in Literature, and Rhetoric and Composition

    Posted

    I was a little crushed by my UC Berkeley (Rhetoric) rejection. I am sensing implied rejection from Emory and University of Chicago, but those hurt less, as in retrospect were not as good a fit. I asked for feedback from Berkeley (as I am anticipating I may need to apply to schools another year), and was told that there was nothing wrong with my application, I made the short list (which was still long), my POI liked my proposal, but ultimately the candidates who were accepted were chosen for reasons outside of my control, like balancing the research interests of the department, which faculty were taking new advisees, available funding, etc. This gives me simultaneous hope and dread. I only applied to two more schools (Brown and Stanford), and whether or not I am chosen—even if I am on the short list—is at its core going to be a little random. Though I haven't seen anyone post about Comp Lit at Brown, I know that the new student recruitment season will be in March (a colleague was accepted to the Performance Studies program a few days ago), so I am wondering if I may have been rejected there as well since I have not heard yet.  I am hoping that I may have a right place, right time situation with Stanford, as MTL is a similar program to Rhetoric. I also submitted that application a bit later and think it may have been an improvement.

     

    Alas.

     

    With Stanford at least I know their welcome week is in April, so we've got another two weeks before that becomes really anxiety inducing I think. I'll keep my fingers crossed for you for Brown though. They may just be really behind this year.

     

     

    My own rejection from Columbia stung some because I was also wait listed at the Grad Center the same day. It would have been really really nice to not have to move out of NYC. I have some implied rejections from Chicago and Berkeley. Berkeley was the hardest though, even over Columbia. 

    Fall 2015 Acceptances (!)

    in Literature, and Rhetoric and Composition

    Posted

    Major congratulations to mehrlicht and andalus!  Both are fantastic programs from what I understand.  CUNY's got some really cool modernists -- even though I'm (sort of? these labels make me angsty sometimes) a "medievalist," I almost wanted to apply to CUNY just so I could maybe have the opportunity to meet Mary Ann Caws...

     

    It seems some universities (or at least, their advertising branches or whatever) just love to take advantage of our angst during the application process to jam in as much spam and advertising as possible... not sure why... UChicago is guilty of this too.  Why feel need to do this to people who may not be getting accepted?  Seems kind of inconsiderate to me.

    Yes, congrats to the new admits!! It's hard to keep track of you all because of classes, but it's nice to see happy news.

    I completely agree about the unsolicited heart attacks that both cuny and Chicago have given me. It's pretty reprehensible in my opinion.

    Fall 2015 Applicants

    in Literature, and Rhetoric and Composition

    Posted

    The more I think about it, the more I think that the significance of the GRE scores is underrated on GC at times. I know that stats can only tell you so much, but looking through all of the acceptances of the past while shows a pretty clear picture: that verbal scores of 165+ predominate. I wonder if cutoffs are simply higher than they have been in the past? Either way, I know that if I wind up getting shut out this season, that's one thing I'll work on for next year.

    I'm not really sure personally. My gre scores are horrible. I don't mind sharing, because I think it's important to remember that these numbers do not reflect us, our drive, or our ability to do academic research. 163/143/4.0 and a pitiful 500 something in the subject. I do think that there's a correlation between high gre scores and acceptances, but it may just be resources/time/prep instead of numbers. It's potential they look for and you can't quantify potential.

    Also, throwing my hat in for a Columbia rejection. Seems as though there's quite a few of us. *hugs*

    Plan Bs

    in Literature, and Rhetoric and Composition

    Posted

    I've debated on whether or not to respond to this, as I mostly agree with it. Or rather, I don't disagree, which is admittedly a very small distinction. Nonetheless, I've been thinking about it a lot since it was posted, so I'll just go ahead and say my piece.

     

    There is no denying that the market is bad, and quite likely getting worse for all the reasons you mentioned (and more). I've been an avid reader of The Chronicle for the past half year or so, and it is difficult to find anything remotely positive when it comes to Ph.D. outcomes in the humanities in general, and English in particular. These are all valid, factual truths that need to be acknowledged by anyone in our position as English Ph.D. hopefuls. However, even in light of the bleak prospects, I think there are solid reasons to pursue a Ph.D. in English.

     

    First of all, assuming that most people enter a program out of a love of most things English and academic, a funded Ph.D. program allows 5-7 years or so of paid immersion in the academic world. The pay is low, of course, and the demands are high...but considering that it is both an education and a de facto academic "job" for several years -- one that is, within reason, relatively secure -- it's not a bad way to spend a few years, particularly when you come out of it with a Ph.D. (even bearing in mind the sizable number of ABD folks). Lest this sound like polyanna optimism, I recognize that from a financial standpoint, and a broader educational standpoint, there are surely "better" ways to spend several years. Yet the initial impulse is a love of the discipline, and that has to count for something, in my opinion.

     

    Secondly -- and this is key -- mental and educational preparation for non-academic careers is important. The ideal, of course, is to come out of a Ph.D. program with non-adjunct teaching opportunities. There are countless articles that point to the correlation between better (read: higher ranked by USNews...) Ph.D. programs and better placements, and anyone not getting a Ph.D. at a top ten institution has to be even more realistic about the possibilities. It's a bit better than 50/50 for the top ten (better still for the top six), and worse than 50/50 for the rest...and the quality of placement has an unmistakable correlation with the apparent ranking of the Ph.D. program. Tiers are very much in effect here. So the idea of a "plan B" for post-Ph.D. is even more vital than a plan B for a shutout at this stage. But having said that, you will still be equipped with a Ph.D. While this is not a guarantee that you will inevitably get a higher position than you would with an M.A., there are many benefits, such as higher average pay, additional opportunities to consult or be on boards of directors, and a surprisingly broad range of intangibles that are available to those who are willing to look outside the immediate range of academia. In other words, getting a Ph.D. and having no immediate job placement is not necessarily a reason to avoid going down that path, if you are willing and able to adapt.

     

    Third, market forecasts are one thing, the present reality is another, and the future reality in six or seven years is another still. Those of us entering Ph.D. programs in 2015 will be on the job market for 2020 at the absolute earliest (and those will be outliers, really). 2021 - 23 are more likely ranges for the first stab for this cohort. There is no denying the gradual decline of demand for English professors, and the ever-dwindling market at this point. Yet politics and economics are notoriously fickle, and long-range outcomes are difficult to predict, thanks to an ever-shifting landscape. In the unlikely event that Obama's plan to make Community Colleges free for millions goes through, that would have a marked effect on the landscape...and it's hard to say exactly how. Presumably more students would be compelled to enroll in college, and while there have been some valid arguments lately that this would lead more to a "shift" within academia, rather than cause an influx of new hires, it is -- once again -- difficult to predict. The next president could come along and take a Scott Walker-esque approach to higher education, imperiling the academic system even more. Or the next president could come in and make education a number one priority. These are things that will happen (or won't) while we're in the midst of our Ph.D. programs. Frankly, it's unpredictable.

     

    That brings me to my final point: no industry is immune to these shifts. Retail seemed safe, until the economic collapse in 2008. Manufacturing? Same story. There are some industries that seem to weather these shifts better than others (there's always a need for health care workers, for instance), but in a broader sense, the job market in general is hit and miss. What's more, it varies by city, state, and country.

     

    The bottom line, in my view, is that getting a Ph.D. in English is invariably a risky proposition. The market is slowly shrinking, and we can't see what it's going to be like in six years. Yet if you have the foreknowledge when going into the discipline, and keep yourself informed (i.e., keep your eyes open) while you're going through, you should be better prepared than someone who is going into this field expecting to get a TT job at an R1 institution. What it comes down to is why you are doing this, and what you are willing to get out of it at the end. As someone who is married and in his thirties, I am more than happy to be paid 20 - 30k or so for five or six years to get a Ph.D. in the field I love. The worst that will happen (provided I don't wash out, of course) is that I will have a Ph.D. when I am 41 and be left to say "now what?" But...I'll have that Ph.D., and will have had several years of doing what I enjoy.

     

    All of this is to say that ComeBackZinc (and Lifealive) is decidedly not wrong. It just comes down to what we, as individuals, are able to do to best equip ourselves for alternate possibilities when we ultimately graduate.

     

    I can't upvote you WT, but you deserve all of them. I can't imagine taking this step without being well informed about what the prospects are for gaining a TT job. Personally, the 5-6 years of guaranteed funding is much higher than the wages I'd been making for my last thirteen years in the workforce, so in that sense, it is also a step up economically, and I suspect I'm not alone in this. I've thought of a number of things I want to do after my PhD, and while gaining a TT job is one of them, it certainly isn't the only one. I plan on making sure I gain a number of other important skills for my resume while I'm in the program so that I can make myself a candidate for other career choices other than teaching. 

    Plan Bs

    in Literature, and Rhetoric and Composition

    Posted

     

    [One semi-related question I do have -- does anyone have advice for something I could do in the summer? What have you found to be helpful/rewarding/relevant types of work? I'm doing an intensive language program until mid-June, but I would love to do something related to academia/my field in June/July. Ideally looking for something vaguely intellectually engaging where I could use/develop my skills and build my CV.]

     

    I know I had considered applying to this: http://www.andover.edu/summersessionoutreach/ifroteachers/pages/default.aspxand the application isn't due until April 1st.

     

    I also looked into some paid internships in editing over the summer like at Ferrar, Straus, and Giroux http://us.macmillan.com/fsg/about

     

    There's also a list floating around here on fully funded MA in English programs which I had started going through to find ones close-ish with late deadlines.

     

    That being said, I wish you all the best of luck in these next couple of weeks.

×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

This website uses cookies to ensure you get the best experience on our website. See our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use

  I accept