anxiousphd
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Posts posted by anxiousphd
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Hi, I did my MA at Wake Forest and I’m in the PhD program at Duquesne. I was partially funded at Wake (ended up paying about $20,000 when all was said and done), but at least 2 students per semester get full funding, including a Writing Center assistantship and a stipend. Duquesne has similar funding for MAs, but the fellowship is for teaching and the stipend is higher, as far as I know. All students are at least partially funded and there are additional assistantships available. There should be 2-3 teaching fellowships, a fellowship with Women’s and Gender Studies, and a position as admin/office assistant available next year. Wake has a perfectly good program, but if I had known about Duquesne’s MA program at the time, I definitely would have rather been at Duquesne. Its really an amazing department.
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Hello all,
I'm moving to Pittsburgh in a month (!!!) and I found an apartment I really like with Mozart Management (http://www.mozartrents.com/). I had the opportunity to visit and tour 2 buildings and 4 apartments before choosing my favorite, but they also allow you to do an "Instarent" online if you won't be able to visit before renting. The application and leasing process are very thorough--and frankly kind of a pain in the ass--but it made me feel like everything had been thought of and handled. Most of their apartments (maybe even all of them, I'm not sure) include utilities, so there's one less thing to worry about each month. They also allow pets in many of their buildings, but charge a pet rent ($35 for me, possibly different for other buildings). They did require my parents to co-sign, and it seemed like this might be their general policy for students, but they easily accepted my parents' middle-class income. They have an 'apartment search' tool on their website, so you can see what is available for your move-in date, in your budget, in your preferred neighborhood.
Good luck to anyone still searching for a place to live!
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12 hours ago, telkanuru said:
I disagree. This is not a matter of personal taste. You are right; others are wrong. Timeliness and remembering to be at the meetings you agreed to is part of being a professional.
I tend to agree with this, but much like @fuzzylogician I'm not sure what options I have for dealing with this when I'm in a position of little to no power. With students, I like fuzzy's firm-yet-accommodating approach, but I've been at a loss as to how to deal with this from faculty in the past. I absolutely think they're wrong/disrespectful/unprofessional to blow off meetings or consistently arrive late, but I never feel like I can say that to them.
@MaytheSchwartzBeWithYou, one of my favorite professors during my MA was like this. She was amazing to talk with about lit and theory, and I learned so much when was a TA for her. However, she rarely responded to emails at all, let alone in a timely manner. We did an independent study together, and she often rescheduled our weekly meetings because she had forgotten to do the reading. Sometimes when I really needed her, I could count on her. She met with me multiple times to workshop my Writing Sample. She was a great second reader for my thesis. Other times, she really dropped the ball. She turned in nearly all of my LORs past the deadlines, and I can't help but wonder if that hurt my chances of admission at some PhD programs. Based on my experience, I would say that you should be wary of working with an 'unreliable' professor (if you discover that this is in fact his style and not a summer thing or a fluke) on major, time-sensitive projects, but that he may be someone wonderful to learn from and build a more informal relationship with.
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17 hours ago, Gl0rfindel said:
Hi! I'd be really curious to hear people's reflections on their undergrad training in literature and how it prepared them for graduate study.
I graduated with a BA a few weeks ago and am just starting to dive into the grad school application process. However, in reading about people's research interests and theoretical lenses, I'm worried that my undergrad department wasn't particularly... rigorous. We had one required theory course, but in class rarely went much deeper than close readings. My school has a very strong social justice culture, so most people professed to use gender or postcolonial theory, but at least in class discussions, this usually just meant complaining how a certain depiction of race or gender was "problematic." Often, professors were mainly discussion facilitators, instead of lecturers. In practice this meant most class time was spent listening to other students discussing the text to get the required participation points, instead of listening to someone deeply learned in the field. Professors have encouraged me to apply to top 20 graduate schools, but I'm not sure I have a very broad knowledge of literature. I received an A+ on my thesis, but I don't think I raised any particularly interesting questions about the texts.
I honestly don't want to complain: I had a great four years, and I made close personal relationships with some fantastic scholars who have volunteered to write LoRs for me. Maybe this is just par for the course for undergrad, with true rigor and theoretical breadth coming later. But I'd be very interested to hear other people's reflections on their undergrad experience: how it went, how it prepared them, where they think their education might have been lacking.
I completed my undergrad in a department that was not at all rigorous. I was generally able to get away with doing my work last minute, skipping some or all of the reading, and not paying much attention in class. I still made almost all 'A's. There were a few courses (literary theory, gender and sexuality in lit) which challenged me, and I would not have been at all prepared for grad school without them. Other than my undergrad honors thesis, which was roughly 25 pages, I had never written a paper longer than 10 pages. I got really lucky that I managed to become self-motivated during my last two years of undergrad, because I could have easily gone all four years without becoming much of a scholar.
My MA program was the first time I ever really had to work at school. My first year, I read an average of 1,000 pages a week. I wrote papers three times as long as what I wrote in undergrad. I was unprepared for the work-as-you-go expectation of grad school, so I wrote most of my final papers in the span of four days during the first semester. They (mostly) turned out pretty good, but after that semester I learned to start working on papers much earlier. After the first semester, I was used to the rigor of graduate school and it's been pretty smooth sailing since then.
What I'm getting at here is that if your undergrad was anything like mine, your first semester might be rough. You may also be best to start at an MA program instead of going direct to PhD, so your transition isn't as difficult. But ultimately, if you did well in undergrad and are prepared to work a lot harder, then you will be absolutely fine in grad school.
Also, so far most of my graduate courses have been discussion-based, but it's been a lot more interesting and rewarding in grad school when you can assume everyone did the reading and has something useful to contribute.
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Look into which MA programs are funded. Although they are relatively rare, there are some MA programs which offer partial or full funding. There may also be Graduate Assistantships available outside of your department. For example, and acquaintance of mine worked as a Residential Director to earn her tuition and a stipend during the MA. If you are unable to get the majority of your MA funded, however, then I think going straight to the PhD would be the better option.
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My best friend from my MA program is nearly 8 years older than me! We meshed better than I did with students who are only a few months or a few years older than me. My point is, age really doesn't matter because you and the other members of your cohort are likely to be at a similar place in your lives. I can see there being a greater divide between married and unmarried students, but even that isn't necessarily the case. I agree with the other posters, just be yourself! You wouldn't have been accepted into the program if you didn't come across as mature to the admissions committee!
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11 hours ago, rld07 said:
@anxiousgrad, just curious, but was your MA at Wake Forest?
Yes, I'm finishing up there now.
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I did not teach at all in my MA (except for electing to TA undergrad lit courses for no compensation). I will be teaching 1:1 in my PhD at Duquesne. The first semester, I'll co-teach a course with a student with more advanced standing in the program. After that, I'll be on my own. I will teach first-year writing every fall and an introductory lit course every spring, and they will try to arrange for me to co-teach an upper-level course with a faculty member in my fourth year.
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I GOT INTO DUQUESNE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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2 hours ago, Old Bill said:
Aaaah! I'm anxious (!) for you! Fingers, toes, arms, legs, and eyes crossed for you!
Such a nerve-wracking time, even as an observer -- I hope this thread explodes with happy posts in the next three days!
Thank you!
So far, wine has been the only effective way to forget the anxiety
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I just got an email from the DGS at Duquesne: "I just wanted to update you on your waitlist status. The deadline for replying to offers for the PhD program is this Saturday. I have one candidate who I have contacted multiple times and who has never responded; I am assuming that she does not intend to accept the offer. If, by the end of the weekend, we have not heard from her, I will instruct the graduate office to extend an offer to you."
I'm freaking out. I think I might actually get in.
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3 minutes ago, ShakesRos said:
Hi. I know I'm being annoying...but...any chance your friend has notified Tufts that she is declining?
I'm not sure, sorry!
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I'm stuck on a waitlist, and I was rejected from the other 11 programs to which I applied. The program where I am waitlisted only accepts 4 students, and I am 2nd on the waitlist. As of about 10 days ago, when I last spoke to the DGS, 2 of the 4 who were offered admission had accepted, and 2 had not yet decided. Either both of those people, or one of those and the person ahead of me on the waitlist, would have to decline for me to get in. I feel so hopeless. I feel like there's no chance of me getting in, and that I just have to wait around with my perpetual nausea until they finally tell me it's over. Of course, the 15th falls on a Saturday. I might not know anything until Monday. And it's a holiday weekend, so maybe not even until after that. I know a week isn't that long, but after six months of this I am at the end of my rope. I have a few back-up options, but I'm not thrilled with any of them. I feel horrible all the time. I'm embarrassed because I'll have to tell everyone I got rejected from 12 schools; to people outside of academia who don't know how difficult this is, that just sounds like I'm not good enough. Maybe I'm not.
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5 minutes ago, LurkyLurker said:
Anybody else around here still hopeful for some movement?
Yes! I still haven't heard anything from UNC Chapel Hill. I contacted them, per my advisors' suggestions, but they did not respond. I know since I wasn't one of the original waitlists it's a long shot, but it would be a dream come true.
I'm second on the waitlist at Duquesne. They only matriculate 4 students. Of those offered admission, so far 2 have accepted. No word on the other 2 or on the person ahead of me on the waitlist. So, I could still get in, but my odds aren't great.
I never heard back from U Maryland CP, but I am pretty sure they just can't be bothered to reject me.
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5 hours ago, JuniusBattius said:
Has anyone gotten any updates from UNC this week?
The head of the program I'd applied to had said that they hoped to have things straightened out "within the next week or so" last week, but I have still seen no application movement. This noncommittal behavior is making me lose faith in the institution as a whole, not just my application.
I am wondering when it would be acceptable for me to reach out to her again.I have been similarly frustrated. My advisors think I should reach out to UNC and see what's up (and not-so-subtly emphaisize that I'm still interested in the program), but my instinct is to wait in agony until they tell me.
I know I'm almost certainly not getting in, but the possibility really hurts. I would do anything to go there and it feels like they're taunting me. I know they aren't, of course, but it just feels that way.
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22 hours ago, JuniusBattius said:
I feel this so much re: UNC. I caved and emailed the head of the graduate program I had applied to and received this response:
"Apologies for our long silence. The reason you haven’t heard from us yet, is that we are trying to sort out our funding issues. We do not accept students into our PhD program without being able to fund them and because we are a state school it often takes us longer than we would like to hear about our budget for the upcoming year. This is the case this year. We hope to have a sense of what we will be able to do in the next week or so. I know you have other offers you are considering and decisions you must make, and I apologize that we are complicating this process. I will let you know as soon as possible."
I will read it over once and feel a little hope, and then re-read it and feel absolutely heartbroken.
14 hours ago, Old Bill said:For what it's worth, I was at UNC's visit days yesterday and today (just got home twenty minutes ago, in fact), and chatted with the DGS about waitlist situations. He said that he should have a clear picture of the funding situation on Wednesday or Thursday of this week.
He also mentioned that prior to his stint in the DGS role, all waitlists at UNC were considered "acceptances"...but acceptances without guaranteed funding. So you could be "accepted" to the program, but they might not be able to pay you or offer tuition remission. Needless to say, the waitlist system is certainly a lot better! That said, it's obviously not perfect. Sorry to those of you who still haven't heard anything one way or another.
Incidentally, the way funding works at UNC is weird -- he said that around 70% of rejected offers simply "disappear." The funds don't get reallocated to other students, and funding has to come from elsewhere. Weird indeed...Thank you both for the information! It's good to know that the uncertainty is probably almost over.
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Programs that accepted and waitlisted people weeks ago still have not bothered to reject me. They know they're rejecting me. I know they're rejecting me. But the tiny little 0.001% chance that they are not rejecting me is very painful. Please pull the plug already, UNC and UMD.
- Yanaka and JuniusBattius
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2 hours ago, cheldorado said:
Hey all! Anyone have any advice on re-contacting schools you're waitlisted at? (After I was initially waitlisted I exchanged several nice emails with the grad chair.) Foremost, should you even poke them about this or is considered a bother? And secondly, is there any best method for going about it in a delicate way? This specific school couldn't give me any info about their waitlist (where I was on it, what type of waitlist they do), so I wonder if it's invasive to inquire again? On the other hand, their visiting day just passed I believe, and I also want to express my continued interest in the school (it's an all eggs are in this basket scenario). Any advice anyone has would be great!
Mostly commenting because I want to hear people's answers to this. I'm waitlisted, I know that I am second on the waitlist, but I haven't heard anything in about a week. One part of me knows that probably means that nothing has changed in the last week, but another part of me wants to check in. I've considered checking in under a different pretense (by asking some specific, unrelated questions about the program), but I don't know how obvious that would be.
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10 minutes ago, Scarlet A+ said:
It seems like everyone has received all of their responses, whether positive or negative, and have moved on to the final school decisions/planning for a gap year.
I was feeling okay when no one had posted any results on here about the MA programs that I'm still waiting to hear from (Syracuse, Ole Miss, Purdue), but now that someone has posted about getting accepted into SU's MA program, my heart is broken.
I want to contact them, just to get an answer, but I don't know if that's a good idea. Can it hurt anything this late in the game?
If I contact them, what should I say?
Extra info: I got into Alabama U, with a great fully funded offer, and Villanova accepted me, but still hasn't contacted me about funding (another joy to obsess over). Do I mention this in the email, if I send one?
Is it abnormal to wait this long to send answers? Should I just assume I'm rejected? Not even wait-listed T_T
Since you have other offers, I would suggest contacting the programs. You can use your other offers as a justification for contacting them: you need to know if you're accepted or not because you want to accept/reject your other offer. From what I've heard and in my own opinion, that's one of the best reasons for contacting a program to which you applied.
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41 minutes ago, natalielouise said:
UGH, was starting to seriously consider Villanova and then I see that the other school that accepted me rose to 35 which is a significant change (I think it used to be 48 or 50). Rankings are bullshit, I'm not saying that they are everything, but it would be tempting to accept the offer from CU Boulder since they are evidently doing a lot right now that is reflected in the new rankings.
I didn't go to Villanova, but after applying from an MA-only institution this year, I got the impression that certain programs were less inclined to accept students from programs that don't also grant a PhD. Ohio State's website, for example, seemed to indicate that they only considered MAs for transfer credit if they came from a PhD-granting institution. I may very well have been denied for a myriad of other reasons, but their website made it sound like if I had been admitted, I would have been required to repeat my MA coursework.
Take that FWIW, I don't have any inside info or anything.
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14 hours ago, la_mod said:
Didn't even get into the MA program I applied to as a backup! I am beyond devastated. I don't know what I'm going to do.
Possible silver lining: many of my professors/advisors have told me that they prefer--and many people they know on other admissions committees prefer--for graduate students to have taken at least a year off at some point. They think that students who have some time 'off' are less likely to get burnt out and are more likely to complete their dissertations than students who go straight from BA to MA to PhD. My professors also explained that it was beneficial for them to take time off, and they highly recommended I do the same (I'm trying my best not to, but that's another story). So, even though it's painful now, you may become a better graduate student and scholar in the long run because of what seems right now like a setback. Don't give up. I'm sure that you're well-qualified and would be extremely successful in an MA or PhD program, and after taking a few months to refine your application materials, I'm sure admissions committees will agree.
- la_mod, Dr. Old Bill and Abyss21
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Vent of the Day: No one else who applied to Duquesne's English PhD seems to be active on here this year. I know from the DGS that they offered admission to four people and I am second on the waitlist. Since I have no info on who was accepted, however, I can't gauge how likely they are to decline their offers. I just have to be patient. I don't wanna.
My application season 2019 starts here
in Literature, and Rhetoric and Composition
Posted
Hi Jose,
At Duquesne, I think you might enjoy working with Emad Mirmotahari, Greg Barnhisel, and Linda Kinnahan. Emad is a Postcolonial scholar, and the latter two profs are modernists.
It sounds like you’re a very competitive applicant.
Funding is guaranteed for 4 years for all PhD students, and virtually guaranteed for a 5th year (the first 4 years are a teaching fellowship, while the 5th year could be a different sort of fellowship). Some students secure funding through the department or university for their 6th year, although it is rarely necessary for a student to spend more than 5 years on their PhD here.
Please feel free to message me for more info about Duquesne!
-Courtney