Strong Flat White

Curious about the waitlister for CU Boulder on the results page - are you an internal applicant (I ask because on the results board it says it's the only school you applied to, and because if so, I'd know you, and if I know you, I'd want to congratulate you)?

How do you know what they're going to order?!?!?!

I detect Coloradans. I see your Great Divides and your meads, and I raise you an Oskar Blues Deviant Dale's and a Renegade Redacted Rye IPA (...by raising you one, I don't actually mean that I'm one-upping anyone. I'm just trying for a rhetorical flourish there - I love me some Great Divide and mead as well). Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm. My best paper ever, I wrote in 3 nights with my dad in town and we drank tequila non-stop.

Wow, cool site. There's a lot in the world that I don't know about.

The wiki idea gains in popularity. I have to admit, it intimidates me. Can one of you sketch out what you envision? And before we do all this work, I guess we should be sure that there's not one already out there doing the same thing? (I don't know of any). Thanks for the ideas - the wheels are turning.

Wordpresses and wikis! How very...virtual?...of you. Touche! Larger than this forum, eh? Yeah, ok. I guess that makes sense. I hadn't meant for it to be so ambitious, but it's a good call. I was hoping people might be able to just whip something out off the top of their heads, and then when the dust cleared, anyone interested would have this huge collaborative resource. Like maybe you know of an intertextual theorist that not so many people are familiar with, and voila, that happens a few times over and we're all mutually benefiting from it. I'll have to give some thought as to how much I want to commit to the maintenance of a wordpress or a wiki before I pm you, but thank you so much for the offer, BowTiesAreCool. If I do decide to do it, I'll definitely be in touch, because I don't really have those skills you speak of. Much appreciated.

Dear literature people, I am wondering if there is broad enough interest here to jointly compile a huge list subdivided into smaller lists? The huge list would be all things intertextual.* The subdivisions would be intertextuality's specialized tentacles - the one I'm most interested in is virtuality.** Very good - two lists now, one for the big intertextual umbrella and another for virtuality. Within each of these, I wonder if we could subdivide one more time, so that we have the origins of the heritage alongside places/people where/with whom you can actually study that stuff? Examples: 1) Intertextuality as a broad umbrella and its canonical origins: - Kristeva - Barthes - Etc, etc. 2) Virtuality as a subdivision and its canonical origins: - Deleuze (reading Bergson) - Brian Massumi - etc, etc. 3) Where and with whom you can do intertextual studies - Judith Anderson, Indiana - Gerard Passannante, Maryland - etc, etc. 4) Where and with whom you can do virtuality studies - Elizabeth Grosz, Duke - N. Katharine Hayles, Duke - etc, etc. Would this be fun and productive for others? I know it would be for me...If so, let's just grow each of these lists so that "etc, etc" become things to sink your teeth into. If not, I shall happily and obligingly kill this thread. Just let me know. Thanks in advance, SFW * I know that things like intertextuality and virtuality are hard to define and mean a lot of different things for a lot of different people. As part of the fun, I'm willing to let it be what it is for anyone here - a good way to rethink and learn, no? Things could very well get sprawling and epic in this way. ** I know that virtuality may not intuitively grow out of intertextuality for a lot of people. That's fine. I have my reasons. I can elucidate if you want. Briefly, I have Hayles' definition of virtuality in mind, in which virtuality is a condition that prioritizes information over materiality. There is an informational tie-in to intertextuality insofar as what is intertextual is informational, though I know it can also be material. But for list-making purposes, I just want to see what is exciting and useful to others. Go nuts.

I wonder how my symbolic value and satisfaction of the major accomplishment of which you speak and hope for is mitigated by my not fitting a certain demographic? And I wonder how we two are getting lumped together? ComeBackZinc and I do very little other than butt heads and disagree, then agree to disagree, and then do it some more. ComeBackZinc has gotten into a PhD program - I have not. ComeBackZinc dispenses advice. I react. The fact that I've been registered as a longtime user on this site has nothing to do with ComeBackZinc's longtime status. I use the boards to find information precisely so that I can become a better applicant in the future - I'm still on the other end of it from ComeBackZinc - and when I feel like it, to speak up when I think I have something to offer or when something has been misrepresented. Bottom line, though, what I'm saying is what I take you to be saying: Go for it! Follow dreams and destroy barriers. Nobody has been a bigger advocate of this than me. Nadie. Look it up. And if my perceptions are altered by nervous applicants, I think ComeBackZinc would agree that I'll be the better for it in the long run. At least there's that one thing.

Others speak Spanish, too. What's funny is that I'm agreeing with you. My agreement is just less discriminatory than yours. And I'm ok with that.

I attempted a long post. Forget it. What I want to say is that, I see a bunch of "no regret" style justifications for tough decisions, and that I very much relate to the "no regrets" mentality, and that I think it is the "no regret" types that might not be registering. We're more hardcore, I think, than we get credit for. We see "Are you ok with this or that dire circumstance?" and basically laugh, because let's face it, it is understated already, to the point that the "no regrets" people would actually be considering far worse outcomes. Who said McDonald's? Or better: Unemployment. Strong language for a family man who lives too near his father-in-law to not feel an acute sense of responsibility. Strong language for Strong. But I mean it - I speak for myself but I'm not alone. I'd let it drop but in this case we know our audience. It is a no regrets audience, this time. When we say no regrets, we mean zero regrets regardless of the most dire outcome. Adjuncting? Fuggetaboutit. Let's try ditch-digging. I'll dig you a ditch at minimum wage with a smile on my face if I can dig it with a certain no-regret knowledge in my back pocket.

I'm not sure how true or not true this is...in any case, here is an FAQ from Harvard's website: What if I already have a Master's Degree in English? Will I have advanced standing? If you already have an MA, a maximum of four graduate-level courses may be transferred from the other institution, at the discretion of the Director of Graduate Studies. Transferred courses will count as 100-level courses toward your PhD requirements. Please note that an MA is not required for admission to the PhD Program – and indeed, the majority of our applicants do not have one. http://english.fas.harvard.edu/graduate/graduate-admissions/ It would be cool if any Harvard admits could say whether they had an MA upon entering, but I won't hold my breath. My point is that they haven't ruled out MAs from an adcomm policy perspective.

...Or even for people who do fit that background.

Judging from how the other thread went down, I should get 3 downvotes for what I am about to say, which is... I have a diamond in my bowels. Me? I upvote that kind of thing. But that's just me. Evidently.

The crazy thing is that it wasn't a troll at all - his book is searchable and the dude uses his real name (as you can see from the graphics that eventually get posted). I spent way too much time one night reading all the forums he's posted to (lots of science and philosophy and philosophy of science, etc.), most of which he's banned from.

Well, and so we've seen different things, haven't we? Different things, different perspectives. There you have it.

If you liked reading that thread for entertainment value, I've been a big fan of this one: Our good friends in philosophy had one dfindley to contend with. It's just...kind of awesome. Happy reading.

Well it's nice to see that your buttons can also be pushed when being told really pedantic or obvious things! As you recently wrote to me, Hashslinger, you may know these things, but others may not. As to some common ground, now that we've corrected each other in kind, I have to agree that some grad students do need to be reminded to act like grad students. I like your phrasing that it's not an extension of undergrad. Some people just miss the boat on this, and it's hard to watch.

It's quite possible that I'm a weirdo minority, but I actually felt inspired reading Semenza...like, yeah, ok, tough gig but let's roll up the sleeves and do this thing. Which I think is the right attitude to have. The longer I'm in the field, the more optimistic I get despite learning and knowing how uphill the battle is. I'm not trying to be contrary, here - I really think there is another way to read Semenza, and I offer that perspective to would-be readers reading our conversation.

For what it's worth, I got into an MA with a ridiculously low math score. I was 99th percentile on the verbal (730 according to the old scale), and 5.5 on the writing, but something like 30th percentile (or maybe even lower?) on the math. And for schools that don't have the cutoff, there are a bunch of admits like me out there in English/Humanities. I'm rooting for you, OP, and if/when you get in, your verbal/linguistic strength will carry the day. And even if you decide to retake the GRE and reapply, I think it's much healthier and productive to just realize, hey, I'm way talented in this other area, and so by applying to a humanities-based program, I'm playing to my strengths. That's that. That doesn't mean math disappears from life but don't dwell on it - it just happens not to be the currency you truck in. And in studying for the GRE, even though I sucked so bad at math, even I could tell that there are "tricks" to doing well. It is a nut that can be cracked, which is the maddening part...for people like me and you who struggle at it, we have to decide what's worth it...how much work should you put into something that may or may not matter? It's a tough call. I half-assed it by studying a little, and throwing the rest of my blood/sweat/tears to parts of my application that I knew I could make stand out in a big way. But...any given math problem on the GRE is an invitation to find the shortcut rather than just have the general knowledge to slog out the arithmetic. I've thought a lot about this, because at first it angered me, but then I realized that no matter how flawed a standardized test might be, there is actually a pedagogical angle to it if what we're testing is aptitude. Recognizing a trick or shortcut instantly? Might seem unfair or somehow loaded, but for those with real aptitude, I guess the case can be made that it's justifiable (?). We could actually look at the verbal in the same way, you just don't realize it because it comes so naturally to you. Bam: aptitude. Imagine having to slowly think through subject-verb agreement. It might sound ridiculously basic, but that's essentially what we're doing on math, or what people who learn English as a second (or third or fourth or fifth) language might experience on the verbal. In a weird way, it's a way of overthinking it. A good study guide that fits your learning style can get you some big mileage in that regard. Or, maybe try one of those Kaplan-style workshops that guarantees raising your score by so many points? I have no experience with those, but a guarantee sounds nice, right?

Hey, I read Semenza for a proseminar! So, mikers86, what's uninviting about it? Just curious. As someone who didn't know anything about anything when I began studying literature I found it really helpful.

Right back atcha.

I stand utterly corrected re: CU Boulder. Had no clue they'd do this this early, and was explicitly told otherwise. Sorry, all. If anyone's considering the unfunded MA, however, I'd be more than happy to chat.

To Aztecson23 and ComeBackZinc, I'm pickin' up what you're puttin' down...and in fact, I get a bit of a kick out of how people use the results board to try to gauge the exact moment when notifications begin, or else begin early, or else begin late, as if departments somehow are required to do the same thing year to year. As if they might never change what they do, or else change nothing and simply do whatever they want. I get that. In this case, however, we have something going unclaimed and a Fiz mysteriously making noise about it. We have someone who presumably uses the results board but doesn't use the discussion threads. We have me providing concrete communications from the department in question. And that communication was very recent. And that communication was unsolicited and cautioned against the inaccurate posts of last year. In my mind this makes the so-called Boulder acceptance of a different kind altogether - to me, it's the difference between founded and unfounded speculation. Nothing to get too caught up in, for sure. And of course the possibility remains that CU English felt the need to give me inaccurate info on the topic of inaccurate info, and that Fiz's noise signifies nothing, and that the likelihood of someone using the results board but not the discussion forum, is a confluence of seemingly suspicious factors but is in fact mere coincidence. It is possible, I give you that. But for the many who seem eager to know CU's decision, what I'm saying is that even if the Boulder post is real, hope remains alive until March if we put any stock in what the department says. And to my thinking, it's a big IF anyway...this is reasoned hope for Boulder applicants.

I have an advisor/recommending professor who did his undergrad at College Station. He's probably my favorite professor of all time. We sometimes talk about College Station and we lovingly refer to it as a shithole. We mean that with all the love in our hearts, I'm sure you get it (not as bad as Lubbock, not as bad as Waco...not nearly as good as Austin!). And to move on from there? Well, judging from your list of schools that you applied to, your destination will inevitably be an adventure. Here's hoping you get your choice. If you get into Boulder I'll be happy to steer you toward some rough equivalent of the Dixie Chicken. More or less. Good luck.

Hey Despejado, is the Dixie Chicken still kickin'? I know lots of friends and family that went to A&M and all the stories swirl around the DC. All my memories of visiting College Station evaporate into drunken nights at the DC. I've tried to go there sober but it has never worked. And speaking of all things A&M, how is the English department? I've always been so curious.