OutdoorsEd

Reaching out here - I was asked to teach an Early American Lit mini course a week ago and it started yesterday. I haven't studied or read any Early American since my undergrad days 15 years ago. I'm a comp instructor now, so this has been a challenging week of planning for sure. We've read the following: The Iroquois Creation Story Hajiinei (Navajo) Christopher Columbus “Letter of Discovery” John Smith from The General History of Virginia William Bradford, Of Plymouth Plantation Jonathan Edwards, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” Benjamin Franklin, “The Way to Wealth” Thomas Paine, Common Sense Poe's "Fall of the House of Usher" Hawthorne's "Sleepy Hollow" and “Young Goodman Brown” Herman Melville, “Bartleby, the Scrivener” I'm really struggling to come up with good research topics. This experience hasn't been bad, but I've been lucky as I'm certainly no expert on the material. Any suggestions?

It's individual meetings with each. Two separate interviews in the same day. What are they looking for if it's just generic questions? Is it really possible to sell myself here, or do they have a particular candidate in mind prior to the interview?

Hi Grad Cafe, I've been selected as a top 3 candidate for full time position in an English department at a community college. I have a final interview with the college president and the dean in a few weeks. Any tips on how to prepare for this? They didn't provide any extra info. I did a teaching demonstration and 60 minutes worth of question and answers in the initial interview. Like many people in the field, I'm feeling a bit desperate for this. It's my only successful application, and I'm terrified of my future if I don't get the job. Thanks for any help!

I know this board has slowed down since April 15, but hopefully someone here can help me. Forgive me for bumping this periodically over the next few months. I had to turn down my offers this cycle due to financial and family reasons. Avoiding a long story - I think I'll be able to apply again the spring of 2019 when I'm 34. I have six years of K12 teaching experience (English), an MA in rhet/comp with teaching experience, and now teaching experience at the community college level. My GRE scores will expire by then, but I feel like I can get back to those scores (165 verbal, 151 quant, 6.0 writing). Since I'll be teaching most likely K12 and not connected to a university, what can I do to boost the quality of my application? How hard is it to find valuable publishing opportunities while a K12 teacher? Should I volunteer somewhere? Any advice is appreciated. I don't want this dream to die.

Wasn't sure how to properly title this. I've been accepted by a college of education doctoral program with GREAT funding. Like, no-need-for-loans-ever funding and they even just upped their offer when I told them a few concerns I had about paying for grad school. They also have a leading scholar in my field of interest. I think he has over 100 publications to his name. He's a grant writing machine and is still churning out great papers to good journals. EDIT - I should note that he has already said he would be my advisor. Their doctoral students get published quite a bit (say 3-4 publications before finishing), usually as 2nd or 3rd authors but most get at least one 1st author publication. But the school is by no means prestigious. You'd think "party time" before Ivory Tower. How much does the school name matter if I'd come out with multiple publications and a prominent advisor attached to my dissertation? I've also been accepted into a top 10 program, but it's unclear exactly who I would be working with at this point. The students publish some but I think the average was more like 1-2 with only a select few getting a 1st author publication. The funding isn't as good either. But the name...oh man...the name is the kind that your parents bring up at Thanksgiving dinner when they want to one-up everyone else's children.

My experience is similar but on the opposite end of the spectrum. At 32 years of age and a male with a wife and 3 year old kid, my family wants to know why I'm not just slugging through some job I hate so my wife can stay at home with the babies. We're even planning for her to do that with our next. For at least a year. $31k in the bank reserved solely for her to take a year off with no income if we have a baby while I'm in a doctoral program. My father-in-law couldn't be more disappointed in handing her over to me.

Funding at school A wasn't really negotiated in a traditional sense. They asked me when I was visiting about what concerns I had about transitioning into grad school. My field brings in a lot of teachers, so many of us are taking paycuts and making lifestyle changes to make this work. I told them that I was worried about moving my family across the country and that moving trucks were expensive. They offered the $5k in the same email they sent when accepting me. I knew about schools B, C, and D ahead of time. I didn't even think to negotiate. I'm not sure that's really possible for grad students.

School A - $20k/year stipend. Most doctoral students get summer funding for an extra ~$5k. Health insurance covered for me but no dental or vision. No family option. $500 guaranteed per year for a conference and around $750 per conference when I present. $5k fellowship to offset moving costs. Research assistantship for 20 hours a week. School B - $20k/year stipend with additional summer opportunities. Health, dental, and vision covered for family. $0 in premiums. $15 copay. $750 per conference when presenting. Teaching assistantship with two classes taught per semester. School C - $15k/year stipend. Student health insurance options but have to pay premium. Teaching assistantship with two classes taught per semester. Conference money only available when presenting and is determined by need. School D - Funding is not guaranteed and is competitive. Largest fellowship possible is $26k/year but is year to year. Scholarships available. Research assistantship required but undefined until on campus. Tuition waived at all schools. oh and all schools are public.

Have you met with any professors you'll be working with at the schools? How often do grad students publish? Are there opportunities for being a 2nd/3rd author on a publication? How much money is offered for conferences? Is it a cohort experience? There are so many questions to ask and it's why I suggest visiting and being willing to ask the tough questions. Based on what you've written, I'd say NYU is the best choice. It sounds like you could finish grad school with savings if you play your cards right. Both are great programs on paper but unless you really figure out which is best for you as a person, I say go with the one that sets you up for the best future success.

Awesome! Congrats! And as a selfish person, I'd just like to say that if you decide to go elsewhere, let them know soon. They haven't rejected me yet, so I'm taking it as a maybe. ?

PhD? Did you go to the interview weekend?

Anyone heard back from the Joint PhD in English and Education at the University of Michigan yet? I noticed that acceptances have gone out in early February the past few years but there were two years that were later. Just curious if anyone has heard anything yet.

Don't mind me. Just here to complain that a week after interviews and Peabody has yet to officially reject me. My patience is wearing thin with checking so many portals every day!

I saw a few UM joint programs post on the results today. Women's Studies And Psychology and Social Work And Sociology. I wonder if the joint programs all release around the same time?

Are you the 167/160 GRE score person? If so... Just out of curiosity - why did you choose the EdD route instead of PhD?

I haven't. There's only been a few PhD applicants to Peabody to post at all on Grad Cafe, so who knows what's really going on out there.

Especially at a program like Vanderbilt. You have to think that with Vanderbilt's top tier ranking (#5 in US News but was #1 just a few years ago), Vandy will be offering many students that could have Stanford, Harvard, and Yale as options. While I'm disheartened to realize that I am not one of their top applicants, I also feel a tidbit of hope in that I have not received an outright rejection yet. I could be a backup in the case that a spot opens up.

If you look on page 3, you can see my full response. I spoke to someone in graduate admissions at Peabody, and he said he didn't know anything. He checked my application and said it was still under review. He did say that interviews were in early February, so he expected I would know one way or the other by the end of next week.

Well honestly @hopefulPhD2017, I had given up hope! I figured interviews had gone out and they were waiting until later to send our rejections just in case the interviews were all terrible. Now I have to check my email 100 times an hour again. Thanks!

I agree. But I legitimately had a question and felt a bit confused by some information that was out there. I received an email a few days ago saying thanks for applying and that my application was still being reviewed. Yet it's common knowledge that the interview weekend is February 10th, which is coming up fast. Plus some have already posted that they've received interview invites. The email I received had a phone number to call if I had any questions. I called it mostly asking if I had missed anything since the interview weekend was coming up soon. The guy was very nice and checked my application for me and sent me on my way. No harm, I don't think. Hopefully no foul.

I called today as well. Around 140pm central time. I spoke to someone in graduate admissions. He looked up my application and said it was still checked as "under evaluation." He couldn't say if that meant I was not sent/not going to be sent an interview invite. He did say I could expect to know for sure one way or the other by the end of next week. The emails from Kim Brazil are auto-sent, which I figured was the case. She however is not "in the know" for any specific programs so getting or not getting any of her emails doesn't mean anything. If I had to make a guess, I'd guess that interview invites have been sent out and they haven't switched anyone to rejected yet just in case those interviews don't work out. Still strange that only two people that received invites out of any PhD program at Peabody check and post on Grad Cafe.

So are we thinking that all of Peabody has scheduled its interviews or just LPO? I'm too terrified to call and ask. Someone else do it for me. Haha.

Yikes. That stinks if true. I hope those of you who did not get an invite have good luck and fortune with your other programs. Hopefully TLD still has some time left? If not, I'd like to see the final dagger on my application status.

Wow. Okay then I would expect notifications to go out sooner than next week. I doubt most people can take off work/secure babysitters/whatever within two weeks. Or maybe they can. I don't know. I just want to know if I'm worthy!

Still 14 days left in January. If the "end of January" part is accurate, then this week is out. It'll definitely be next week. Does anyone know when the interview weekend is scheduled?