Medievalmaniac

It's possible you were on a waitlist and they sent the rejection out when they knew for certain there would be no opening - although even then, there should have been notification a bit earlier.

A lot of people recommend not contacting professors ahead of applying. The argument is that it seems like sucking up, or like you expect them to drop everything and cater to you and you are not even in their program yet, i.e. they are too busy to meet with prospective candidates at all but the smallest departments. I disagree with this, and am glad you are taking a proactive approach. In my opinion, based on my experiences applying to programs, on talking with professors at multiple programs and especially at conferences, and my discussions with fellow graduate students, a lot of unnecessary stress, misery and dissatisfaction (and wasted money on transcripts and application fees) can be prevented with a simply inquiry to the persons of interest prior to application. Any good professor, or good department, will be willing to accommodate reasonable requests for information. They are, ultimately, looking for the next round of cohorts in their program, and they want the best candidates they can get. This means they should be willing to look at the work of prospective students and to have the chance to evaluate them ahead of the game. They are under no obligation to give an interview, to have a face-to-face meeting, or to promise you they want you if you apply. But answering some well-chosen questions concerning the department, their own expectations, and where they are in their careers is not (or should not be) a major hardship or extra burden, and anyone who feels you are out of line contacting him or her before applying to a program seems (again, in my opinion) to be somewhat arrogant. For the applicant - if you are researching programs online, and the faculty page lists research interests, but was last updated 8 years ago, or even 3 years ago - how can we know what the professor is currently working on without contacting him or her? I tend to cyber-stalk people I want to work with, checking through Amazon and Academia.edu to see if they have anything new out, and scanning conference proceedings. But you can't do that for every professor in every program you are interested in as an applicant. An email to a professor stating "I understand that your past research has included x,y, and z, which complements the work I do in a,b and c; can you tell me if you are still working in this area?" is acceptable. Another set of issues are those of tenure, and of retirement. It's not going to do you any good to apply to Big University to work in Bioethics if none of their Bioethics professors is a tenured faculty member - what are you going to do if your advisor ends up leaving the program before you finish? Or, what good is it to apply to Top Ten School to work with Professor I'm-the-Bomb, if she's not taking on any more graduate students because she's retiring? Ditto the professor who already has a full slate of cohorts and isn't taking on new graduate students now. It's a good idea to check with the professors you want to work with to see if they are able to acommodate you - and I think it is also a courtesy so to do. You respect the professor and admire his or her work, and you don't want to waste his/her the department's time applying if that's the main reason for your choice. Why is that bad? I think it is professional, and shows that you are a respectful individual who understands the academic world. I think appropriate, pre-appplication contact includes a brief introduction (like a sentence or two) of you and what you are interested in, two or three focused questions about the professor and/or program (E.g. Are you still working in the psychological profiling of individuals whose record includes repeat offenses of petty larcency? And are you currently taking on graduate advisees to your project?), and a polite "thank you for any information you are able to provide me with to help me narrow down my choices in this matter" closing. Obviously, you shouldn't send them emails rambling on and on about why you are applying and why you think they should accept you and asking very general questions you can find the answers to elsewhere on the website. But if you have questions only the professor or someone in the department can answer, it's better to ask than to get accepted, go, and be disappointed in your choice. This is, quite simply, your future on the line. You have the right to have the information you need to make an informed decision about it.

Hope they don't recognize your name down the line as the person who sent that email. It's the best option at this point - you did it, now you have to live with it. I do NOT recommend any further contact with the department, especially not an apology email follow up, at this point. It can only make you seem like a loose cannon. Academia is a small world, but ultimately, I doubt very seriously that the person or persons who see this correspondence will have any direct bearing on any activity you conduct with other schools. They are not going to forward it with a note that reads "Beware of this applicant! Do Not Admit!" You won't go on a national registry of undesirable candidates. Your response was not professional or really very mature - but these things happen. Let it go and move on.

And then, get five thousand people from among your Facebook friends to read and comment, and send it to former professors to tear it to bits. (I'm only exaggerating in terms of the number of people...you want as many eyes on that document as you can get, preferably academic ones). Speaking of - Bran, have you had a chance to look at my latest revision?

Has anyone heard anything on this initiative? I haven't seen any new blogs. For a brief nanosecond, there was an option available to me at the bottom left-hand side of each post to "blog this", but then that disappeared and it said I don't have permission... techno glitch, maybe? I've begun my application season, so I'm ready to go on the blogging thing whenever it's set up to allow us to start.

Hey, Bgk - I would be glad to do a blog as well, if you haven't already taken care of all of it.

This. If you are serious about it, contact the graduate secretary and ask to arrange a visit to the department. Let him/her know specifically which professor(s) you want to appoint with, if possible, and also ask if there would be a possibility of meeting with a few of the current graduate students. Some departments will not grant interviews/appointments of this nature to prospective students, only those who have been accepted already. Be prepared for that possibility, and don't take it seriously, or as a sign, or anything silly like that...Top programs, with top professors, often discourage such appointments- if they were allowed, a program receiving hundreds of applications a year would never be able to maintain its academic/research standards, because the professors would have to devote far too much time to interviews. They usually just have one or two open house dates, on which prospective students can tour the campus and visit the department. Smaller departments, and those with less applicants each season, are often more willing to accommodate individual campus/department visits.

If the paper you are sending is on that topic and that professor's work is the best available research on the topic, then a. using his or her work makes sense and b. it's going to offend him or her deeply if you don't use it. In terms of misinterpreting - well, the professor put the work out there, and it's therefore open for interpretation, reinterpretation, and so forth. Unless you totally misread what s/he wrote, this should be a non-issue. The only issue that should come into play here, is whether or not you believe that piece of writing is the best possible reflection of what you are capable of producing as a scholar at this point in time. They are looking for academic potential, a polished or emerging writing style, and your research focus. I applied to my MA program and quoted the admissions director's work because it was the best material published on the subject. I got into the MA program. I'm sure there are many others who have had the same experience. Also, remember: just because that person works there, doesn't mean s/he will necessarily even see your application. Not all professors in every department do. In fact, I recently spoke with someone I listed as a POI last season, who never saw my application and didn't know I wanted to work with him - the department admissions committee voted on the applicants, made their selections, and THEN showed those chosen to the POIs. So...you never know.

Apply and see. I had a low GPA as an undergrad (2.77). Fifteen years ago. I have since taken a year of study with a 3.56, and then returned to school after a hiatus and received a Master's degree in my field (2010) with a 4.0 GPA and a presentation at the biggest conference in my field. My GRE V was 690 and AWA was a 6; I received a perfect score on the Praxis II subject test in English. I also have publications, conference experience, journal editing experience, and have been teaching in my field for a decade. My top choices didn't even look at me because my undergraduate GA from 1997 was too low to qualify. I am, however, applying again and hoping for better results this time around - I'm taking the GRE subject test and will include a letter of explanation concerning the lower undergraduate GPA this time around. I recommend taking the subject test if your field offers one, a high score on that MIGHT offset your undergraduate GPA. Ultimately, who knows? Any given year....On the other hand, contacting a graduate admissions counselor at your school of interest and discussing your situation might be a good idea as well; they can tell you if your application would receive serious consideration or not. Good luck!!

One other thing to consider is that because it is a new and unknown publication, and also an online one, many departments will not consider this publication as "valid" as a publication in an established print journal. It sucks, but it's true. Although it does look like academia is shifting to a much more dynamic and online format in terms of journals, at present the overall attitude is "let's just wait and see" in terms of the quality of such. Also - as others have said - just getting something published isn't enough; almost anyone can get something published. What matters most is publishing something of quality, something that is a contribution to the field and will stand the test of time. If you decide to go to the conference, it needs to be because you want to go, not necessarily for what you think it will bring you in terms of dividends towards graduate school. For me, as I've already said, going to conferences is a great thing, but I would not go to a conference that required I pay a hefty price tag to attend unless it were an established conference and I had a very compelling reason to go. The International Medieval Congress at Kalamazoo to preside over a session and/or give a paper? Absolutely. The "Popular Culture and The Middle Ages" symposium in San Antonio, Texas? Love to - but not happening. Ultimately, it's about your own personal priorities and individual comfort levels, of course.

On the other hand, for the sake of argument - I do know a former child actor who is now a medievalist with a tenure-track job. So, it's possible. But then again, this fellow isn't trying to stay in films at the same time.

I dress simply, and for comfort and enjoyment. My personal style is "boho", I guess, if you had to term it as something - a lot of long flowy skirts, which I pair with simple colored tops, tunics, and sweaters; linen pants with peasant woven tops; maxi dresses worn with sweaters; tweed skirts and sweaters with boots in the winter; accessories are scarves, necklaces, earrings, occasionally rings, and hairsticks/other hairtoys (( have very long hair, which I always wear in an updo for work/school). I get complimented often on my appearance when I go to conferences, and have never had anyone say I look unprofessional - but at the same time, I am not and never have been a slacks and blazer or suit or business casual kind of gal, and I think dressing in a way that doesn't represent you makes you feel uncomfortable and fraudulent. You need to find a style that works with your view of who you are both as a student and as a person and, ultimately, as a professional teacher, if that's where you are going. It takes time, trial and error to cultivate a look that works for you across the board, but when you do figure it out, it gets very easy to maintain.

Yes, Mason is an MA program but some good courses there; you could go to GW for the PhD and take Mason courses via the consortium.

Brannie-Poo, don't forget, I would be more than happy to read through your paper and make suggestions/corrections if you want other eyes on your writing sample. I LIVE for this stuff. Editing is my life (or, at least, it is for the next nine weeks, as I am teaching the dreaded Creative Writing course this term....! Ulp.)

Well, I've already posted this somewhere, but I'll repeat it, because I know everyone is looking for everyone else's take on this All Consuming Topic. I'm honestly not sure how much better my application can get. My undergraduate grades, which are now almost 16 years old, were not great (2.77, although that's only for the last six semesters, following a transfer from another school where I was a Dean's List student with a 3.5 - they would not combine the GPAs, which would have put the cumulative at a 3.1), but I have an MA with a 4.0 GPA from 2009. My GRE scores were OK - abysmal Math, but verbal in the 89th percentile, and a 6 on the writing section. I do, however, have twelve years of teaching experience at the middle school through college levels, in English/Writing, Art History, and French; for the past eight years I have designed and written my classes from scratch and been able to focus on the subject matter I love best, medieval literature and medievalism. I have seven languages with an intermediate to fluent proficiency including Latin, French (Old, Anglo-Norman, and Modern), Spanish, German, Italian, Anglo-Saxon and Middle English, and I have multiple publications already out (Encyclopedia of Medieval Pilgrimage, Encyclopedia of Medieval Chronicle, Student Companion to Pre-1600 British Poetry, a reference book on Literary Romanticism, and an article in the Virginia English Bulletin, among others). My chapter on teaching Tolkien in an Epic Lit class is currently being edited for the MLA Approaches to Teaching Tolkien Volume. I have also presented at multiple conferences, and been a session organizer; next year I will be presiding over a session at my third appearance at Kalamazoo, and I am an active member of multiple organizations in medieval studies. I have also served as a reader and editor for Hortulus, the online medieval graduate studies journal, for the past three years. In other words, I am a serious, committed and dedicated scholar, and I have clearly demonstrated not only that I have an aptitude for this work, but also that this is what I want to do for the rest of my life; but that seems not to have been enough for admissions officers in the last go-round. I know it was a tough year, and I also know that my undergraduate GPA isn't up to snuff - but there isn't anything I can do about that nearly twenty years after the fact. Since the undergraduate GPA was the deciding factor in my rejections, despite its having been so old and my having the 4.0 at the Master's level, the only way I can apparently redeem the application is to do better on the GRE. I have therefore spent the summer studying Math with a tutor, and will begin in on reviewing for the English section next week, with an eye to registering for and taking the GRE general examination at the end of September. I am also taking the subject test in October, and have begun reviewing for that. My entire focus at this point is to push those scores up, because everything else in my application, undergraduate GPA excluded, is honestly as good as it can be. My writing samples are from my published and under revision for publication work, and my statement of purpose says exactly what I want to research, why I want to research it, and how I am going to research it. i have also contacted a different third recommendation, in order to freshen up that aspect of my application. If I don't get in this year, it will not be for lack of preparation, desire, and working my ass off to that end. But, if I don't get in this year, there's always next year...and the year after that...and the year after that... And meanwhile, I am still teaching, researching, writing, and publishing, as well as conferencing...so not getting a PhD will be depressing and heartache-making, but it is not going to stop me from being a medievalist.

Ahhhhh.... a girl after my own heart. Like Branwen, I am also a medievalist specializing primarily in Arthurian/Celtic matters, but I also work very extensively in mythography and folklore. I cannot imagine that someone with a double-interest in medieval studies and in folklore studies and the ability to travel pretty much anywhere would not look at Ohio State, for starters; also, Oregon. You can look at doing work at George Mason and completing a dual degree via the consortium, which gives you the option of completing coursework at Maryland College Park, Catholic and American Universities as well; WUSTL has strong professors in Medieval and Renaissance (David Lawton, Joe Loewenstein, Steven Zwicker). Memorial University in Newfoundland, believe it or not; the bonus there is Bill Schipper in Anglo-Saxon studies. One thing you need to watch out for is that a lot of the folklore programs that lead to degrees focus in American studies. Overseas (for example, UCC Dublin) is a good bet for folklore that deals with more medieval-y sorts of matter; but of course there's the dicey question of the degree's "worth" in America if you choose to return here to work - there are threads about that on this forum if you search for them. Hope that gets you started, anyway!

Departments don't always fund conference participation, and don't always fund the entire cost of attendance. It all depends on the department's resources, how many professors are making use of conference funding, and so forth. Generally at a small public U. you can count on 80% or so funding for two conferences involving travel, 100% funding for conferences not involving travel tickets (local/regional) or 100% funding for one distance conference, per annum. In departments with bigger budgets, you can sometimes get more. Nearly always, a department will also fund graduate student conference participation to greater or lesser degree; my old department gave us a $500.00 stipend (which covered the plane ticket...! lol) In terms of conferences and their usefulness on applications - well, they do demonstrate commitment to academic behavior, but not much else. You can pretty much always get an abstract accepted at any conference, so just presenting a paper is good practice and good for showing you are committed, but isn't all that impressive in the end on a CV, unless the paper is subsequently published. What conferences ARE good for - invaluable for, really - is a.) stimulating your thinking and keeping you current with work in the field; b.) giving you the chance to meet and get to know scholars from all over, which results often in networking leading to other presentation and publication opportunities and also that all-important outside reader for your dissertation; c.) keeping you interested and engaged in the subject matter. Grad school and early teaching years are strenuous and they are grunt work - you can get really worn down and lose your "spark". I have found that attending a few conferences a year keeps me fresh and lively as a scholar, and prevents burnout. I would NOT, however, travel on my own dime to the tune of a thousand dollars to a foreign country simply for a little-known/unknown conference. I would TOTALLY go to the Leeds International Medieval Congress, but if there were a local "Alterity and the Other, a 2-day conference" in the Czech Republic - unless I wanted to visit there just to go, maybe as a vacation, that coincided to some degree with the dates of the conference, I would not do it. There are other and better ways to spend that money.

Bigdgp....hehehe, make that three of us..... You can join Branwen and me in our book project we're going to embark upon one of these days! 'Zoo 2011 CFP rolls out this month....!

The next subject test for English is October 9. (Or, at least, it is her ein Virginia). And that's the only one available until Spring.

Branwen - I would highly recommend doing the Latin first, then picking up again on the French after you've safely been admitted to, or even begun, grad school proper. You know you need the Latin, because medievalists just DO. But dependent upon the program you end up in, you might not even need the French - what if you get into the Celtic studies program and go with the Welsh instead (which I KNOW you would prefer...!! ) Or, what if you decide to go with the idea you had awhile back and you find instead of French, you would use the Hebrew? At this point, your focus really needs to be on the class you are taking and on prepping your writing sample / application to be the most competitive you can make it. I'd hold off on the second language aand really work in Latin. A good base in Latin can never serve you badly, but if you try to do too much right now you could get too overwhelmed and hurt, rather than help, your application overall.

Read, read, and read some more. Whose work do you admire? If you don't know, this is a good time to find out - and you do that by finding scholars through your reading. When I started out in my own reading and writing as a child, I was mostly in love with fiction, and at that mostly anything that had supernatural elements, especially dragons, fairies and elves. I was also fascinated with mythology, especially Ancient Greek mythology. I also loved travel writing, especially books about France and the UK. From these initial loves, it was an easy jump to related nonfiction - from The Hobbit to "Beowulf: The Monsters and the Critics" and "On Fairy-Stories", for example, from the Narnia books to Lewis's The Allegory of Love, from Spenser's Faerie Queene to Rosemund Tuve's incredible work on metaphor in early modern literature, from Bullfinch to Joseph Campbell's Hero With a Thousand Faces, from the Prydain Chronicles by Lloyd Alexander to the Mabinogion and on to scholarly articles on Welsh medieval literature, and then from those authors I was more familiar with to those I had not yet met. My critical writing is, both consciously and unconsciously, modeled on the writing of scholars I have come to admire as individuals - meeting them at conferences, interacting with them on listservs, and so forth - and also as names over articles and on the title pages of books I admire. It's difficult to develop a fluid style that is clearly recognizable as your own, but this becomes far easier when you are using as models those writers whose writing suggests the kind of style you, yourself, love to read and hope to achieve. I am fond of the jam-packed sentence, of clearly and forcefully laying forth my arguments, and of incorporating as much evidence/support as I can though examples. I prefer wide, general ideas that spiral into close readings, but I am also adept at the quick point of attack. My style, ultimately, is best-suited to book-length work, but I have learned through imitation to craft decent article-length pieces as well. I prefer writers who don't overclutter their work with academic jargon, who use theory without pointing out that they are so doing, and who are honest in their dealings with a text - they don't try to push the text to offer up what isn't necessarily there, or exaggerate or push to make their arguments; but rather. they sort of sit with the text and let it tell them what it has to say. My preferred scholars are those who develop relationships with the pieces they are writing on, over time, building from one article to the next to a deep and profound respect and love for what they are doing which is evident in their writing. IU also prefer the "Renaissance writers" - those whose knowledge and interests span large areas of time and text, and who are able to draw on a much larger body of evidence as a result, which (to my mind) makes for more interesting arguments. I am also a "writerly" scholar, in that I am concerned with grammar and syntax as an author might be, owing to my own work as a fiction writer. I craft my sentences, and I am excessively fond of archaic expressions and old-fashioned points of grammar (as is probably evidenced in this very post, lol). This is more than likely due to a childhood steeped in C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien, as well as so much work with medieval and Renaissance texts, with their use of rhetoric. But I have taken what they did and recast it so it works for a modern audience as well. So - long story short - you need to find some models of the type of writing you want to do as an academic, read these, parse them out, learn how those writers craft and develop their arguments, and then adapt through practice to suit your own stylistic and academic needs.