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Everything posted by TC3
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Who applied to UNL's Engish PhD program?
TC3 replied to morningcrafter's topic in Literature, and Rhetoric and Composition
If anyone is getting antsy because Nebraska hasn't notified yet, I wouldn't worry about it. Last year the program notified unusually early; I would expect notification of acceptance for those *with* funding will go out sometime this upcoming week, and the website will show acceptance for those *without* funding the week after that, or possibly the same week. -
Advice for ugrad sophomore
TC3 replied to basicpolitics's topic in Literature, and Rhetoric and Composition
This always is how it feels, but I perceive that an encyclopedic knowledge of criticism/theory isn't necessary, nor is it really possible from the undergraduate level. Some programs definitely favor theory and criticism, and probably desire candidates who display knowledge in that area, but others may not. What matters most is that you seem to have a good grasp/sense of the subfield that you'd like to go into. Because my area is Romanticism, for example, it doesn't hurt me that I couldn't debate Jameson's postmodernism with a theory buff. Conversely, it wouldn't hurt me if I *could*, but that never would make up for deficiencies in my primary area. A couple of courses in criticism/theory would be good enough, I think, to show committees that you know how to do that stuff. Now, if your focus area would be in theory or criticism, that's another story. -
Of those who attended the visiting day, can any attest to whether or not it felt like an informal interview (despite the explicit insistence to the contrary in the invitation email)? Was anyone given any further information regarding their admission status?
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And by that time it will have been around a month since many other offers were made. People will have spoken with multiple contacts at those institutions before CU even notifies admits... Maybe the so-called timeline was just one of those overestimates that one typically finds on a website.
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Who applied to UNL's Engish PhD program?
TC3 replied to morningcrafter's topic in Literature, and Rhetoric and Composition
I did my MA at Nebraska, and can speak to some of the funding issues. UNL offers admission to *way* more people than they can offer funding to. It's likely that a student who enters the program unfunded the first year will get a one-year renewable TAship after that, but there definitely was a class hierarchy regarding funding levels. My MA was unfunded, and I often did feel like a second class citizen. I don't want to denigrate the great faculty there, of course. I eventually did find mentors, but because the program didn't have anything invested in me, it took a year for me to network enough to feel like part of the program. If you can get their multi-year funding package with additional recruitment fellowships, it's *awesome*. Lincoln has an incredibly low cost of living, and I personally really liked the town. The teaching load is 2/2, however, and a lot of students found that to be teetering on the edge of too much in addition to taking 3 graduate seminars and attempting to professionalize oneself as much as possible. -
I got the invitation, but I'm not able to go. According to the email, not going will not affect our chances of receiving a funded offer. If funded offers will be announced, I would have preferred to know this beforehand; that kind of thing is not the best way to surprise people when a trip is involved. I think that it's more of a meet and greet, though it is strange that they're doing it before announcing who actually is getting a funded offer. Typically, visiting weekends are to solidify offers that already have been made. I'm guessing that everyone who received the invitation is at least wait-list material; otherwise, why would someone be invited? I asked the graduate director months ago what the application pool and entering cohort typically were, and she said that last season they received around 100 applications for 4-6 spots. It seems that more than 4-6 people have received the visiting invitation, which leads me to believe that it includes wait-listers as well (Loyola probably gets fairly deep into the wait list). Regardless, it's perplexing to have the event before making any decisions or notifications.
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unrest/doom/insanity
TC3 replied to apieceofroastbeef's topic in Literature, and Rhetoric and Composition
Ugh, fall, that's awful. Have you applied to places that have begun notifying? -
Are schools open tommorow?
TC3 replied to alexdelarge's topic in Literature, and Rhetoric and Composition
I'm certainly teaching tomorrow: 8 am sharp . -
Ah, I didn't know about the terminal MA. In 2009, I applied to Penn State and didn't get in, but was told that out of 18 offers only 3 were made to applicants with an MA already in hand.
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A SCREEEEEEEEEAM INTO THE SILENCE
TC3 replied to Eli-'s topic in Literature, and Rhetoric and Composition
Dark & Stormy --- Reed's extra ginger brew, The Kraken rum, and lime juice. Hey, we literature folk are known for our drinking! There was a recent Chronicle piece, I think, about the AWP Conference cleaning out the hotel bar. -
I'm guessing that by MA they mean MA-to-PhD track. I understand that Penn State prefers applicants who have only BAs (not an MA from another institution).
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I don't know if it's a matter of "juice" or "talent." I made it into a great (not just okay, but *great*) program, finally, in my THIRD round of applying. I'd say that it was more a matter of maturation in my case, maturation in terms of research agenda, perceived fit in a program, career goals, teaching experience, etc. When hundreds of increasingly qualified and credentialed people are cramming departments with applications for a dozen spots at most, it's just as inaccurate to say that one didn't make the cut because one wasn't talented enough. Quite often, it's the considerations that can't possibly be predicted--avoidance of subfield redundancy, availability of particular faculty members, departmental mission and personality, etc.--that cut the pile of every applicant who deserves to be admitted to the pile of applicants whom the department has the capacity to admit.
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My family was also ambivalent (at best) about my decision to go to grad school, and especially my decision to get a *second* graduate degree. And I wasn't even leaving behind anything that they would have considered to be gainful employment! My future in-laws actually sat me down and expressed their concern about how I wouldn't be making an honest living (not their words, but the basic gist).
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Counting the 2 official rejections I've received so far this cycle, I've amassed 28 rejections over 3 application cycles. I taught at a 2-year college in between my MA and PhD. It wasn't bad for the couple of years that I did it, but I wouldn't have been able to keep on for an indefinite amount of time. It's a good way to stay "in the business," even if tangentially, as you take some time "off" from attending a program.
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I thought I'd also add some insight from the creative writing end of things, as I tried to get into that area during my second admissions cycle attempt. Seth Abramson's research (love it or hate it--regardless, it's an awesome amount of data) indicates that the average matriculation age of an MFA candidate is 26.5 years old, meaning that most MFA-ers will be somewhere in the neighborhood or 29 or 30 when graduating, depending on program duration (2 or 3 year--a few are 4). Some of those MFA-ers then go on to creative PhDs, which usually take at least a couple of admissions cycles to land, meaning that sometime close to their 40s they'll emerge with the doctorate and look for academic employment. For writers, this is fine; they got into "the business" to write, and that's exactly what they did every step of the way. It may behoove the rest of us to take a page from that playbook. If we're getting into the critical doctorate to do research on literature and language, that's exactly what we're doing every step of the way---the point isn't to get some credential and then "start" our career. Of course, I could be talking out of my ass. Always a possibility.
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I think that as more programs are clogged with hundreds of overqualified applicants, it will be more and more common for people to be in their early 30s when receiving the PhD. This in itself shouldn't be something to be ashamed of--it means that we'll be a bit more mature and clear on our goals when going onto the academic job market for the first time. As my MA thesis chair told me when she learned that I'd still be 22 when I received my MA, "we've got enough young scholars," and I kind of get what she meant. In other fields, it's typical for people to work for years "in the field" gaining integral hands-on experience before transitioning to graduate study, but because the humanities don't really have any professional component outside of the academy, we've tend in the past to be a bit incestuous in our degree-granting (the BA goes onto the MA at 22, the MA to the PhD at 24, and the PhD to a professorship at 28, where s/he will in turn produce more people to go straight through the system). I think that the perceived maturity factor will become more of a significant consideration among admissions committees, especially as more programs, rightly or wrongly, embrace "professionalization." I'm 25 now and will be 26 when I start my doctorate this Fall, meaning that I'll probably be 31 or so when I get my PhD. I washed out of applications two years in a row and was accepted during my 3rd round (this year). It wasn't just a matter of weathering the storm, of course. This was the first year that I actually had a solid sense of what I wanted to do with a scholarly career in a particular subfield, and I believe that that came through in my statement of purpose. Regardless, considering that the PhD is the pinnacle of educational credentials, it isn't anything to be ashamed of to be earning it in one's early to mid thirties. I knew some grad students in their 40s when I was in my MA program; those people had families, a history, etc., but they were all incredibly happy to be doing what they were doing, and they were great teachers and scholars to boot.
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A SCREEEEEEEEEAM INTO THE SILENCE
TC3 replied to Eli-'s topic in Literature, and Rhetoric and Composition
I agree. We shouldn't be naive about the whole thing, but at the same time, it's a pretty sweet gig. -
Seconded. It's important, I think, to come to terms with graduate admissions as an unavoidably imperfect process. It's definitely true that deserving people are passed over (and quite frequently, I'm sure), just as it's true that some who are accepted don't turn out nearly as well as everyone had hoped. Plus, once it gets down to the top fifty applicants out of a pool of 500, so much more than merit determines the final cut: avoidance of subfield redundancy, availability of POI, perceived fit in department cohort, etc.
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Great bus system. I did my MA there. Starlite Lounge was the best. And of course the CoHo.
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I've lived in Dallas, TX and Lincoln, NE. I currently live in Indianapolis. I'm looking forward to Columbus, and am appreciative of the neighborhood advice a few posts above. I visited Columbus for a day in January 2009 (the arm pit of winter, when no city looks pretty), and got the impression that the Clintonville and east-of-campus areas were not as nice as the others. I enjoyed the North Star Cafe, the Surly Girl Saloon, and that ice cream place on High Street when I was there. That's nice to know that the load will not be 2/2, even if it goes to semesters.
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That sounds better. Hopefully the graduate director will be in contact with us soon regarding real numbers.
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Maybe so. As more programs notify (and I'm implicitly passed over), Ohio State looks more and more like it will be my top choice. I haven't heard anything about the funding situation yet at OSU. I recall that the stipend is low (like ~12k?), but that may be outdated information.
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Hah. It wasn't a big deal. The coordinator (read: administrator, not faculty member) seemed happy that I called, and said that she had expect at least a few people to call for confirmation before the graduate director got hold of them. Edit: I called because last year a program to which I had applied showed that I was admitted on the website, but I called and was told that no funding was on the table. I had to make sure immediately; I couldn't walk around with any ambiguity.
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I got a snail mail letter yesterday, too, and when my website status rolled to "Admitted" I called the graduate coordinator to confirm that that meant that I would be funded and everything. Ohio State is one of my top choices, too.
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I'm British Romantic Literature and Digital Humanities. Clare Simmons is my POI.