PaperChaser
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Posts posted by PaperChaser
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More random places to see in Louisville:
There's some good shows that come in town each year, and I think the main places for that type of thing are the Kentucky Center for the Arts and the Palace Theatre (I noticed Alice in Chains up on their sign yesterday. I'll be doing some Greek singing competition there this weekend too, so I guess they do a bunch of stuff).
There's a lot of events that happen at the Fair and Exposition center near campus. The state fair happens in the Fall; there's something for everybody as you walk through that place during that. Unfortunately they're closing down the huge amusement park next to it (Kentucky Kingdom) that I went to as a little kid.
In the Spring, Churchill downs (right by the campus Krogers) is obviously a really big deal because of the Derby, so anyone near campus will be right in the middle of all that, which can be fun. To kick it off there's the largest annual fireworks show in the world or something called "Thunder over Louisville" each year downtown in the middle of the Ohio river. In I think August, the Iron Man super-triathlon cuts through campus. In October or November, the streets of Old Louisville close down and the St. James art show moves in and sets up all sorts of booths for people to visit and buy art from.
The Louisville Zoo is nice as far as Zoos go and it's in the middle of a lot of parts of town that students tend to frequent.
For mall-type shopping, the Jefferson Mall is close and can be accessed by I-65 or by Preston St. For nicer malls, in the east end there's two big ones right next to each other in St. Matthews, and there's a great new-ish shopping center called the Summit near Springhurst where there's another shopping plaza.
EP Tom Sawyer park out that way is a nice big park if you want to run or work out. There's also a nice one by the zoo, and a couple very big public parks (Cherokee and Seneca) downtown by I-64. If you're into biking, there's a really nice route that starts through those two parks, continues along the river downtown, then goes out towards Shawnee park and farther west all the way to where 265 ends. Iriquois park isn't the safest out of all the parks but it's perhaps the closest to school. I run downtown near campus and work out at U of L's Natatorium which is really a nice pool, and their gym is good too, but getting to those places can be an issue if you don't have a parking pass.
WOW Thank you for so much information!!!!! I wish I knew more (read: anything) about Louisville, but I guess I'll find out when I get up there. Since you have a lot of suggestions on what NOT to do which were very helpful, do you have any suggestions for finding a decent place to live? I do have a (relatively new/nice but not conspicuously so) car, so I CAN drive but really prefer either to walk (which sounds like a really stupid idea from what you've said...also, I'm a fairly small chick) or have a less than 15 minute commute. Are there any decent apartment complexes, or do you just have to wait and hope something pops up on Craigslist? Is there a way to find roommates who aren't totally sketchy? (Dumb question, but had to ask.) I just don't know how to find something from a distance (NC) that would be in my price range and not crime central. On the plus side, my dog is a pretty stellar theft-deterrent; on the other hand, not all places allow pets.
Do grad students have to buy parking passes? (I'm sure by this point you can tell I have NO idea about the university...) Are they the expensive but really kind or the $200 a semester "have a nice 2 mile walk" type? Hmmm, this is all information to factor into where to live, that's for sure! Thanks for all the suggestions, and please keep them coming!
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So, to all the other Rhet/Comp applicants: I'm curious as to how you're going to compare your offers (if you're lucky enough to have a choice). Since there are no rankings, I'm having difficulty putting together decision-making criteria. Money, location, and teaching assignments count for me, but I'm curious as to what everyone else is privileging. There's a vague pecking order led by a few older, established programs (CMU, Penn State, Pitt, etc.), of course, but I'm not really sure how valid that is these days, especially with so many new groundbreaking, interdisciplinary programs. What do you guys think? How are you going to compare/contrast your offers? How do you quantify "reputation"--whatever that means in our discipline--and how will it factor into your decision?
Good luck to all the other applicants.
I am only speaking for myself, but here's my "valence":
1. If I applied to a school where I knew a graduate of the program, how pleased they were with their experience. (That says a LOT to me.) I.e., if they had it to do all over again, would they have chosen the same program?
2. Funding. Sorry, it's reality. I have more than $130k in law school debt, so I had to rank schools with the best stipends and committed funding (i.e. Louisville) over schools with shaky guarantees and low stipends (i.e. South Carolina, even though USC was high up on my "people I'd like to have on my dissertation committee list"). I can only take out a little bit more money in loans, so I have to go somewhere with a stipend I can make work.
3. Location. Again, kind of shallow, but it's 4 years of my life, and I have to be able to tolerate the climate.
4. Job placement rates. At the end of all this, I need to know I'm marketable AND that the school will help market me. I'd rather be a bigger fish in a smaller pond than struggling at a "top" program, but again, that's just me, and I've been jaded by 3 years of law school!
5. Willingness of program to encourage/allow interdisciplinary studies. Since my interests fall best into Rhet/Comp but also involve the law, I don't want to go somewhere that discourages interdisciplinary studies.
6. Campus visit/current students/current faculty. I either get a good feeling or a bad feeling and go with my gut. Could I see myself here for 4 years?
I didn't apply to any super-prestigious programs, so I do have the luxury of multiple offers. I'll make my final decision after all the (paid, thankfully) campus visits, but right now I'm leaning very hard towards U of Louisville. The students have reached out to me, the faculty has been SO nice, the funding is as good as it gets, and I think I'd be a good fit. I can't compare that to the "top" programs, since I didn't apply to any of them, but it's a school with a good reputation, great placement rate, and happy students/grads.
That's just me! Hope it helps!
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I may not be as well-versed in the politics of academia as some of the other repliers, but I do have a few thoughts... It seems as though you are having doubts about continuing with your current program. Are those stemming from your desire to complete your Ph.D. elsewhere? Or are you happy with your institution but worried about the prospects for the future? Perhaps you just need to sit down and think about what you really want, not necessarily what you feel pressured to do.
As far as taking a year off from school, I can't see how it would be a bad thing. I have taught high school for several years, and it's been wonderful teaching experience; because pedagogy is one of my area of interests, this only helps me.
Good luck!
Ditto Wordslinger. I took 4 years "off" because I didn't get in ANYWHERE my first round of PhD apps. In my 4 years "off," I taught one year of high school (which I personally did NOT enjoy but learned a great deal!), and went to law school. I figured, worst case scenario, I could be a lawyer. I didn't much like law school, but I did really well, so it overcame the objections that my MA grades (3.9) were a fluke compared to my undergrad grades (2.7..YEAH). Plus, at least in Rhet/Comp, a law degree is an asset, so my time/$ commitment to law school (I also got a TON of publishing opportunities in law school) wasn't a waste after all. While I wouldn't suggest doing the law route to someone who doesn't have any interest in anything legal AND doesn't want to incur a tremendous amount of debt, I do think spending a year or more out experiencing the world--teaching, working, traveling, whatever--VERY OFTEN makes the difference between a so-so application and a successful one.
Besides, if you can afford to take a year off, you'd be crazy to pass that up! Take some time, evaluate what you really want, then reapply. That's JMO.
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Friends in the field... yes !! That's what this site has become to me. Somewhere to share anxieties and experiences, not to mention dreams and interests. After all, I live in a country where my field is basically non-existent, none of my friends care about English lit, and none of them even read as much as I do (even in Hebrew). So the minute I discovered this place, I was like... wahoo!!!
When I first joined, and saw all those magnificent states (3.8 and above GPA, 800V GRE), I nearly choked. My dad is on the adcom and is a tenured prof at brown (though not at English, not even in the humanities), and he's very number oriented, (which is why I did the general GRE again), and as I read things on this forum, I slowly realized that numbers had very little to do with acceptance to the ENGLISH PhD (stressing English, since I don't know what it's about it other fields). With us, my age might be an advantage rather than a deterrent, my GPA is from 9 years ago (pre GPA inflation), and the better scores I have in the GRE now show that I have the ability to sit down and study (the subject is important to me, specifically, since it's been so long since I've been in school and in the field). So yeah, with all the information we keep getting that the dry, hard, stats aren't as important for English, I keep wondering why ppl ask for them. I suppose insecurity. God knows I have my share of that as well.
I also learned what to stress on my next SOP (for next year, that is), and am hoping that friends made here can help - reviewing the SOP and writing sample, emotional support (doing this again next year will be harrowing, I'm sure).
Agreed. If you're a "perfect fit" other than some pesky numbers....someone on the committee will see that and pull for you. Sometimes your numbers are about as indicative of your prospects for success as your shoe size is of your worthiness as a human being.
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I applied to UT Austin, Purdue, Ohio State, Penn State, and S. Carolina for rhet/comp...and have heard nothing from any of them. Getting a little worried since UT, Ohio, and PSU have all sent out acceptances already...eep!
I think South Carolina has too, but I have heard anything on my app. My recommenders (I went for overkill expecting this to happen) were all on the late-ish side, but I think South Carolina only required 2. I'd really like to work with some of the people there, but the stipend is really low. You aimed a bit higher than I did in the rest of your apps, so you'll probably have plenty of options
"Pending." Pending what?
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Paperchaser is not far off.
Stay close to the University and downtown. But even downtown living will be far lower than what you are accustomed to. A renovated loft for $800 maybe? Cheaper closer to the Uni. It is a college town so it lives and dies by the semester schedule. Nightlife is difficult. There's cultural stuff but not any real party life. Honestly, the bulk of your life will probably be spent on campus as its the hub of the city. Yoga and beer within walking distance of campus. Public transportation is not ideal. I'd stay out of the surrounding 'burbs you'll see advertised -- High Point, Kernersville, Winston -- until you know the area better. It's a weird place in that a suspect neighborhood can be right next to a former plantation home. So until you know those ins and outs stay close to school.
And Raleigh and Charlotte are within driving distance. That's your best bet if a more urbane social experience is your thing.
There is a decent alt-hippie type of scene though. Farmers markets and the like can be found.
I definitely back up Coyabean's admonition of the 'burbs. They may appear "close" on Craigslist, but Greensboro is REALLY spread out, so going more than one zip code away from campus is usually adding 30 minutes to your commute. There are a lot of new student housing (if you have no pets, kids, or issues living with undergrads) that looks pretty nice. There are more hippie-ish Victorians around UNCG that are decently priced BUT most of them don't allow kids or pets and don't have W/C connections. There's a real problem with parking around the UNCG area and the adjacent neighborhoods, so if you want to live close, you might need a bike. A number of the "renovated" buildings downtown (the ones near the law school) are the subject of homeowners' association lawsuits...so...can't name names, but do your homework so that you don't end up in one of those!
I have friends who commute from Chapel Hill daily. If you don't have class 5 days a week, I'd opt to live there and commute----MUCH better graduate scene and social events. Greensboro isn't really a grad student's dream town, but it's tolerable for a finite period of time.
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I'm applying for Rhet/Comp programs both MA and PhD but haven't heard back from anywhere yet (the schools I applied to are in my signature). Its nice to find another Rhet/Comp applicant though, there don't seem to be too many of us on here
I think the applicant pools are a little smaller this year-from what I've been told by admissions people anyway. My first choice school took me right away (literally, the day after I faxed in the missing part of my app!) but ....nothing but crickets from several of the other schools. Then again, I don't think admissions committees are as anxious to let us know as we are to find out!
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Unfortunately, she's my graduate chair and she has not really been involved with anything that I have done. I've just taken a breezy course where she just tells you what to do in graduate school (when to apply, how to get committees together). It was mostly just her talking. Other than that, she's just been out of the loop. I had to talk to her because she asked where I was applying. I even told her that I'd be talking to a department chair of one of the schools that i was applying and she blew it off like it was nothing. She's been saying "don't apply to top programs" to everyone in the department. I don't know if it's just me but I don't believe it's the best approach for motivating students.
I mean, I've talked to professors at most departments I'm applying to and they've been quite interested. She said "it'll be tough getting into these schools even with the letters of recommendations". Kinda shocked me. These are not top 10 or 20. It's more like the top 30's, 40's and 50's in ranking.
Ignore the bitter troll and go for your dream. Have a backup plan in case you have to go to Round Two. Then send the bitter troll a sarcastic thank-you note when you get your degree
My high school English teacher always wrote on my report cards that I was the laziest student she'd ever had in an AP class. "You'd be lucky to get INTO college." It took me more than a decade, but the satisfaction of sending her a "note" on law firm letterhead saying that not only had I gotten 2 master's and a law degree BUT ALSO that I got into my first choice PhD program was SOOOOOOO worth the work!
The really negative people want everyone else to be miserable too.
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Hello,
I am considering attending a lower ranked (50-75) computer science department. I feel like this won't be enough to land me a TT position. However I realize rankings don't matter NEARLY as much for work outside academia.
So what can I do with a CS PhD besides the tenure track?
and out of curiosity, what can one do with, say, a Classics PhD besides becoming a Classics professor?
CONSULTING!!! After law school/legal practice, I've seen that there's a HUGE need for integrating and improving legal software. And lawyers can generally afford to pay you pretty well
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I had to cut out exercise to make time for grad school applications. Add to that all the stress of applying and I've never been heavier (not morbid mind you, just plain 'ol fat). I just calculated that if I lost just one pound a week from now until I start grad school then I should be in pretty good shape but I was wondering if anyone else is finding their pants a little bit of a tight fit after the months of work put into applications? Of course, this cold weather isn't encouraging me to return to my previous active lifestyle either. :-( How has everyone else managed in balancing apps and health?
All the sitting has flattened by butt into a pancake! (Three years of law school didn't help...) I gained 20 lbs between Halloween and New Year's!!!!!!! (And I was SKINNY! UGH!!!)
I'm hoping once I'm esconced in my program, I'll lay off the sauce and get off my bum again!
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Where are good places to live in walking/short commute to U of L? Decent cost of living? Fun stuff to do? Any avoidance suggestions?
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Any info on Greensboro, NC would be very greatly appreciated.. I'd be coming from NYC so any info about food, cost of living, social life, safe/unsafe areas would be wonderful..
Coming from NYC to Greensboro? Oh, you'll save a TON! Housing isn't quite as cheap (new law school and UNCG expansion have jacked up downtown housing costs), but you can find something reasonable outside of downtown. Aside from housing, the cost of living is reasonable EXCEPT for Guilford County taxes, which are among the highest in the state. I'd advise registering your vehicle elsewhere if you have one. If not...get one, because there aren't grocery stores within walking distance of UNCG and the bus system SUCKS.
Food: totally non-descript. Undercurrent is one of the better restaurants, but most are chains. Very suburban.
Social life: Europa (wine bar) is pretty popular, most of the clubs are skanky and have come and gone. I'd say social life=driving an hour to Raleigh.
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Could those who applied to and were accepted or rejected by Rhet/Comp programs this year post the timeframes for decisions? Thanks!
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What are the scores of some successful English Ph.D. applicants in the past?
I got a 6. I don't think it's indicative of much at all. Your statement of purpose and writing sample are what matters. I'd honestly say-from what I've heard-GRE scores in general are more of a tie-breaker between otherwise equally qualified candidates AND a "do you meet the minimum criteria" thing than anything else. But that's just me.
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I'm just curious because it has not come up in conversation, how popular "Rhetoric and Composition" is as a subfield? I know that at my mid-sized university, my English advisor told me she could only ever remember one person from the school applying to a similar program but I'm not sure if that is because our school isn't particularly geared towards this discipline (I came at it from the Communication department but eventually figured out that I really enjoyed writing studies and wanted to be looking rhetorically at literature, not, say, new media). A lot of the programs I've applied to just give general acceptance rates for the English department, though, so I really have no idea how stiff the competition is within this concentration. I realize this is off the literature beaten track, so I apologize, but I'd appreciate anyone's thoughts!
Some schools have separate PhD programs - English Lit and English Rhet/Comp. My BA and MA were in Lit, but given the tight job market, I applied only to Rhet/Comp this time around. I also went to law school, though, so I'm pretty out of touch with what's really current in academia! I do know that Rhet/Comp programs tend to have higher placement rates generally.
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I heard from two schools several days after administrative people called to request missing items (oops). I guess if you mess up your application but they're still interested they'll contact you. I also heard from another school shortly after applying (which was weird), so I guess that school was pretty desperate. The other three I'm waiting on and have heard NOTHING, although some other posters have gotten accepted to one of them. I wouldn't "worry" until the end of March, and if you didn't apply early for funding (if that was an option), you probably won't hear anything until May or June.
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On 2/5/2010 at 2:35 AM, Eli-Why? said:
If you've been accepted/waitlisted, would you post your subfield here? Thanks!
I'm too lazy to type the schools (esp since I haven't heard back from 3...) but I did get into my first choice, fully funded. I'm doing Rhet/Comp focusing on language crimes/rhetorical concepts of legality and of course Comp pedagogy. I may change my mind though, since I'm getting pretty sick of the law!
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Straightshooting: While I agree with some of your points (I too think that without the resources the academy provides pursuing research interests past a certain point becomes, if not impossible, at least very difficult), I think Baldwin's well thought out and polite post deserved a more mature response on your part. And speculating on who deserves a spot in grad school and who doesn't, regardless of their motives, is just silly.
Ok, having weighed in with my (unsolicited) 2 cents on that issue, I also wanted to say that this is my second time around applying to grad schools. I graduated years ago (2004), applied to several schools around the country, and got accepted into....wait, let me think, oh yeah, now I remember, not a single one of them :-(. And it sucked, there's no reason to sugar coat the fact that rejection hurts. But by not immediately going to grad school I had the opportunity to do some really incredible things. I lived in a foreign country for almost 2 years, became fluent in another language, I worked in a field completely foreign to Literature, and, eventually, when I realized that a life outside of the university was not something I wanted, I got an M.A. in English Lit from a "nowhere state school" (to steal bookchica's perfect phrase). This time around, my luck has been much better. I've been accepted into one PhD program with funding and am a finalist in another. So don't lose hope. If this is what you want to do, you'll find a way to do it--even if the route there is longer and more circuitous than you might wish.
My experience was similar to the above post (sorry, there's no way I can't mangle your name, but it's lovely!) But I have a slightly different set of stories, if you're interested. One of them (the first) is my own, the others are my sister and my MA thesis adviser, who is now a department head
1. I went to a semi-anonymous state school, failed out, went to three community colleges, and finally got a B.A. in English from a mediocre state school. I then went into pharmaceutical sales (yes, it is that awful) for two years before getting a M.A. from my undergrad institution. I actually LIKED my M.A. program, so I did really well (3.97), but I BOMBED the GRE Lit (sub 50th percentile), did a horrible and unsupervised job of applying exclusively to PhD programs in places I wanted to live (not realizing that STATE schools have to give priority to their own students) and got in NOWHERE. So I taught for a year at a Title I high school, hated it so much that I would do ANYTHING to just get out of (podunk medium sized southern town). So, on a whim and without studying, I hurriedly applied to take the LSAT and sent in recycled rec letters in the hope that I could get in somewhere. Well....turns out I have a knack for the LSAT (178), so my "please someone, just take me" situation changed a bit. I ended up getting into all of the law schools I applied to but went to the one that offered me the most funding. I hated law school, but I figured that-worst case scenario-I could either use the degree to get SOME sort of teaching job in a community college, go into research or consulting, or (really worst case scenario) employ myself. Of course, in my last year of law school, the job market CRASHED, offers were rescinded, the law review was practically suicidal...but my middling grades (3.4) and work experience (same firm all through school-not just summers) got me an offer from the DOJ and from the firm I worked for.
Problem: I didn't want to be a lawyer. Prior to getting job offers-I suspected I might not get any-I applied to PhD programs. I worked really hard on my personal statements to show how my detour through law school made me a better candidate and how it opened a lot of doors in terms of what I would be qualified to teach. I applied to 6 schools and have heard back from 3 - all 3 offered full funding and their top TA-ships. (Since my first choice accepted me, I don't really care about the other 3.) I asked what made me a competitive candidate (never hurts to ask) and ALL of the program directors said that it was because I had a law degree, extensive research and publications in the legal field, and that I could teach in more than one department. So, to those who say "law school isn't the answer," it may not be the ANSWER, but it can be a PATH. My advice to those who do law school in hopes of transitioning would be to go to a school that will at least partially fund you. Unless you stay in the law, where you go doesn't matter (I went to a decent private school in the south), so keep the loans DOWN.
2. My sister (who had high undergrad grades from an Ivy) randomly moved across the country, couldn't find a job, went to rehab....anyway, after a year or so of working at a mental health non-profit, she decided she wanted to get a PhD/MD in Cognitive Neuroscience (Psychology). Problem: She had never had a psychology class. Not ever! She was an English major. So she started taking non-degree seeking classes at the local (luckily, flagship) university, worked really hard, got a research assistantship, charmed the hell out of the department head, and applied the next year for the PhD/MD program. She went to a two-day "finalist interview," thought there was no way she could compete, but ended up getting in, fully funded with a year-round RA position. Fully funded for SEVEN YEARS! Had she not shown up and paid for classes that wouldn't count towards anything (but allowed her to show how smart she is and how badly she wanted into the program), she would not have had a chance in heeeeellll. But...sometimes showing how badly you want it and that you'll do anything ethical to get it works! I think that she had worked (for free, initially) for one of the professors and got to know the rest did it for her. A name with a face and a work ethic tend to trump perfect but basically anonymous apps.
3. My thesis adviser didn't get into a PhD program after his MA. His wife was in law school, so he took non-degree classes at the attendant university for a year and reapplied to PhD programs. He only got into one-the one at which he took non-degree classes-but, as he's said to me many times, ALL YOU NEED IS ONE if it's what you really want.
So, my long-winded point is, there are sometimes ways to get in other than just applying year after year. If you know why you weren't "a top candidate," then work on that. If your outcome goals are super-fuzzy, refine them. If you're dead-set on a top school, maybe consider some other options. Try getting another MA (or JD or whatever) in a field that would mesh well with your existing degrees and make you more marketable when the PhD is said and done. (That was another comment I got-JD=marketability later on..) But don't give up if it's what you really want, because you CAN make it happen. It just might take a little longer or require a little more creativity
Lesbian life in various places (recommendations? warnings?)
in City Guide
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Not to be confused with the Piedmont Triad (Greensboro-Winston Salem-High Point, NC) which is definitely not friendly to much outside WASP/hetero culture.