Cotton Joe
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Everything posted by Cotton Joe
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@klader That seems to be sound advice. The state college in my home state has great faculty, but they don't offer bunk for funding, even for PhD students. I don't plan to apply there anyways. There is, however, a certain highly ranked and historically English-centric private university in my state to which I have considered applying. I doubt that attending there would hurt my chances of being employed elsewhere in the state, but I also doubt my ability to get into that program, so overall I am likely not attending in my state. -
Seriously, I am at wit's end here. I have gone through four major drafts, and I am still not satisfied. What can my personal statement tell the committee that my letters, writing sample, and CV cannot? I am imaging the admissions committee reading at least 50 of these essays, for a more prestigious programs, 100s. How many of these two page essays will begin "Ever since I was little" or "I have always wanted to..." or "I first became interested in..."? I don't want to use these ridiculous worn-out phrases and essay structures. How can I do anything unique or interesting in this genre of writing? People have been writing two page personal statements for years and years! The prompt wants me to write about research interests, qualifying experiences, and reasons for studying at University of X. There really are no unique qualities to me that my other materials do not already speak to. I have no specific reason for choosing generic American lit M.A. program A over generic American lit M.A. program B aside from funding and location. I have no burning desire to attend any specific university. I have never had an epiphany or a defining experience which pushed me toward English studies. What the heck, then, do I write? I am so monumentally exhausted from trying to get this right. I am tempted to write 100% bluntly and honestly "I want to be a professor. I need a PhD to be a professor. I want to research and write about American literature. I need an M.A. to be more competitive in the PhD applicant pool. Your program offers the highest GTA stipend and is in the cheapest city. Therefore, I am applying to your program. Let me into your program, goshdarnit."
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@modernecho I did know this about those Ole Miss professors. However, I have a current mentor/adviser who consistently tells me to get out of the South. She has specifically expressed dislike of U. of Mississippi, which she let be known after I told her it is a target school for me. She does so, generally, I think, only because it is in Mississippi. I am mostly wondering if her urging me to leave the South is valid, or if it is derived from some less savory impulses like weird prejudices and misunderstandings of the region. I do believe it is also a touch of the same theme I have seen of professors recommending me to go to their alma mater. I have had a U. of Arizona grad tell me to go to Arizona, a Wisconsin-Madison grad tell me to of to Wisconsin-Madison, a UConn grad tell me to go to UConn, Ohio State grad to Ohio State, etc. etc. Perhaps this is just another case of that same urge. Nonetheless, Vanderbilt and UNC Chapel Hill are dream schools for me, though I am sure they are dream schools for many other, more qualified and more brilliant people. Thanks for reminding me to keep my head in the clouds and keep dreaming.
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Say for example that I do undergrad in Tennessee, MA in Mississippi, and PhD in Tennessee: would a record like that limit me to only teaching and working in the South in the future? Additional question: Can I study the same time periods and authors if I attend a school in Chicago as I would if I stayed in Tennessee? Is it possible to work through a PhD studying Southern literature in a school like University of Chicago or CUNY, or some other prestigious school outside of the region?
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Thanks for the suggestions. I'm not 100% tied to the southeast. However, both my family and my partner's family live there, so moving too far away would be a challenge for both of us. I looked into the programs you mentioned. I am only interested in MA level study at the moment. No U. California campuses offer MA level English degrees, at least not the ones I have looked into (David, Riverside, Berkeley, Santa Barbara, Irvine, and Santa Cruz). The UK program looks interesting, but I was unable to quickly find any information about funding, so that does not bode well for my chances of attending there.
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I'm always interested in which dystopic predictions become reality. I noticed that there has been an obsession with post-apocalyptic art recently. I know dystopia and post-apocalyptic has existed for a long time, but post-apocalyptic has made its way into the mainstream and currently seems a prominent genre. Just off the top of my head, there's Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, Independence Day, I Am Legend, The Matrix, Fallout, Last of Us, Metro, any number of zombie games/films (Shaun of the Dead, World War Z, Walking Dead), The Road, Bioshock (kind of), 2012. In a theory of horror class I took, we discussed how monsters in horror films of the 1950s and 1960s represented cultural fears of the day, like sexuality, communism, drugs, immigrants, etc. Obviously, we (Americans, at least) are culturally obsessed with the end times. Maybe another line of study would be dystopia/post-apocalyptic literature and doomsday death cults. It's all fascinating to me, and I would certainly enjoy delving deeper into the theory of the apocalypse. Also, I'm convinced that David Foster Wallace predicted Trump's presidency. President Trump is President Johnny Gentle from Infinite Jest.
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Our interests seem similar. Which professors at UA stand out to you as potential advisers? I am currently interested in Andy Crank, Trudier Harris, Emma Wilson, and Phil Beidler. Also, what other universities did you apply to in addition to UA? My shortlist currently consists of UA, University of Mississippi (my preferred option), and University of Kentucky.
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@cowgirlsdontcry Thanks. University of Alabama is actually one of the schools I am applying to for my MA, but I have heard from several people that they have a tendency to neglect people who are not in the Strode program or who are not early modernists. Do you have any input on this? Would Alabama be a good place for a masters? Also, I like how you are detailing your approach to cannon. I have been worried about not finding a mentor who exactly matches my research interests, but you are helping to reassure me that I can still have a niche research area without adhering exactly to the interests of my advisers.
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@cowgirlsdontcry If it's okay to ask, which Southern university are you attending? Are there professors there who are interested in the post-apocalyptic theme, or are you finding general Americanists to study under and proceeding with the theme on your own? I really like your suggestion to consider the intertextuality of these kinds of works.
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@RydraWong Thanks for the suggestions. I have considered approaching post-apocalyptia through eco-criticism. It seems one of the genres which is most open to such an approach. Here's my problem with taking an approach like eco-critical or feminist, or any other set analytic lens: I feel like I'm always writing the same paper. I can do a feminist reading of any text, but I'm always doing the same paper with a new skin. The same with eco-critical. Same basic tenets, new skin to make everything look shiny and new. Perhaps this is a result of my undergraduate understanding of literary theory, but I have tried several approaches in undergrad, and it always feels like once I figure out how to do X reading of text A, I can just do X reading of any text. When I try to use a critical lens, I feel like I am always looking for the same thing in every text, never discovering the nuances and uniquenesses of the text. So, what I'm trying to say: I am trying to avoid articulating my interests through a particular critical approach. I don't know if that's even possible or wise to do.
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Hi friends. As I am deciding where to apply for graduate study, I am having a difficult time deciding on a focus area. One potential area I am considering but am having trouble finding information on is dystopian and post-apocalyptic literature, film, and video games. Under this categorization, I include anything from classic and contemporary dystopian novels (from mild to extreme dystopian setting) like 1984, Brave New World, and Infinite Jest, to more contemporary post-apocalyptic books, films, and video games like The Road, The Walking Dead, Threads, The Fallout Series, Last of Us, The Metro novel series, etc. I find dystopian art and especially post-apocalyptic art to be enthralling because I find that placing humans in such perverse and inhuman situations can be a fantastic way to investigate some essential elements of human nature and a great way to satirize or otherwise investigate current political and social trends. I have browsed many English department faculty websites, but of the ones I have searched, I have so far come across zero professors working in this area. One reason I may not be finding anyone working in this area is because I have mainly searched departments in my geographic region, the Southeastern United States. Here are a few questions I have been unable to answer for myself and with which I would appreciate any help that you all have to offer: Is dystopian and post-apocalyptic literature a prevalent area of study? Are my searches for professors fruitless because I am looking in the South? Do any of you have experience researching or writing about this area? Can anyone recommend prominent scholars on the topic? Are there other broader areas of study under which a focus like this would fall? How would I go about articulating an interest in this area in an SoP, especially if my university does not have anyone studying exclusively this area? Thanks so much for any advice, guidance, or helpful nudges that you can offer!
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Hello all, I think I make a similar post about every two months, but time for sending out applications is quickly approaching. I get more nervous with each week, and I still have so many questions about this huge journey. So I will be applying for MA programs in either lit studies or composition. I am hoping someone can give me a rundown of how each program would differ. What goes on in a lit program that doesn't in a composition? How would a thesis for each be different? Will pursuing a literature MA hurt my chances of getting into a rhetoric PhD if I change my mind? How would the eventual career course for each differ? What would I be teaching or researching with a rhetoric degree? I have worked in writing centers and have done undergrad research and publishing in writing center studies, but I don't think I want to make a career of writing center work. What else does a rhetoric track offer? Overall, I am looking for any information on the differences between the two programs. Thanks!
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@Wyatt's TerpsOf the professor's I have talked to, those in literature fields tend to give the same advice you have given here. They tell me to pursue what I am interested in and to make sure that I am passionate about what I plan to study. The rhetoric/composition professors have tended to tell me that the jobs are in R/C. That always seems to be their number 1 reason why I should go R/C instead of literature. Anyway, just an interesting observation. Thanks for your input. You always give solid advice, and I appreciate your time.
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Hi everyone. I will soon be applying to MA programs, but I cannot decide which track I should pursue. As an undergrad, I have taken courses across the entire English field, from digital humanities, to renaissance and early modern lit. I have also been working in a writing center and have conducted two research projects which I presented at regional and national WC conferences. I have enjoyed each branch of research equally. When I consider which one I should pursue if graduate study, I usually lean toward whichever field in which I am currently working on a project. For example, during the WC projects, I was excitedly researching Rhet/Comp programs and considering R/C as a career path. But this semester I took a research heavy literature course and became more interested in research lit faculties. I know a few sub fields I would be interested in, but I am having trouble really deciding which to go for. I have heard that Rhet/Comp has a stronger job market right now, but I won't finish a PhD for 6 or 7 years, so I suspect things might change between now and then. How did you all go about deciding which field to pursue? What are some other resources I can look into to get a better feel for what a career in each field will be like?
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@Ramus Thanks for your input. I have defintely been wary of Georgia's program because of the enormous teaching load, though I would really like to work with Cody Marrs, who I mentioned in the initial post. His interests almost exactly match mine, but as you say, a 3/3 load would almost certainly overwhelm my ability to concentrate on studying. Thanks for your input on AL as well. So far, Mississippi is still looking like my best option of the schools I have reviewed at this point.
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@Warelin Wow thanks for such an in-depth answer. I'm sorry it came at the expense of my own ignorance, but hopefully other people searching this forum will find it useful as well. That was a lot of work that you absolutely did not have to do, and I certainly appreciate it. Although, I think I might have misrepresented SC's stipend. I said it was per semester, but I cannot actually tell from the website if it is per semester or per year. In my previous post, I meant to write per year, not per semester as per year seems to be how most schools advertise stipends. I could very likely be wrong here, as I was with the SC stipend, but I don't think Vanderbilt offers an MA, and if they do, it is not funded. I may consider them once I move on to PhD level studies, but for now, they are off the list. The stipend is actually a weighty factor in my decision as it will likely be the only source of income I have during my time in school. With Mississippi offering a summer teaching assistantship and additional merit scholarship, their total stipend per year could end up being about $17,000 as well, though their average rent is about $300 higher than Columbia. Anyways, just thinking out loud. Thanks again for your contributions. South Carolina was not on my radar at all prior to this thread, so you have definitely opened some new doors for me.
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@Warelin Thanks for the reply. South Carolina's living stipend is below my expected level. As far as I can tell, they offer about $8500 a semester, and I think Columbia might be more expensive to live in than Oxford. Thanks for the information about Alabama. I am also interested in early modern lit, and some important early modern stuff comes from the south, so I think I could make that work as well. I have not looked into LSU at all, but I will be checking them out as well now.
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@piers_plowman Thanks for the information. Sorry for the huge list of questions that I am about to throw at you, but you are the first person from Miss. that I have talked with on this site. Does the Mississippi MA require three years, or are you just taking three years? Do they offer funding for the third year? How do they determine who gets merit scholarships, and are those awarded for the first semester that you attend? What is the teaching load during the semester and during summer? If you don't mind my asking, how much is your rent, or do you have other non-rent living arrangements? Are there affordable places close to campus? I will potentially be moving with a partner so hopefully rent won't be as big of an issue, but I want to make sure I can survive on my own regardless. Do you have a car? Is life in Oxford viable with just a bike? Is there any kind of public transportation? The university website has a list of current graduate students, but it does not have email addresses. If I wanted to contact a grad student for further information about the school and the city, how would I go about finding email addresses for them? Thanks again, and sorry for so many questions.
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I am an undergrad beginning applications next Fall semester, and I need advice on my current school list and perhaps any experience with the schools or living in the cities. I am primarily interested in Southern literature, theory, identity, and philosophy, Civil War literature, history, and philosophy like Transcendtalism, and African American literature from pre-Civil War to now. I plan to pursue an MA first then go on to a PhD. My current top two MA schools and potential advisers or professors with whom I am interested in working are Leigh Anne Duck and Adam Gussow at University of Mississippi and Cody Marrs at University of Georgia. Aside from University of Mississippi and Georgia, my list includes, in order, University of Alabama and Kentucky, and if I decide to pursue Rhet/Comp instead, University of Illinois. My dream PhD schools are UNC Chapel Hill and University of Virginia. I am confident in getting a good placement for the MA level, but I am concered about things like living stipend, fit with the university, and potential for improvement before moving to PhD. I have a strong application which I think will place me at the top of any MA level group of entering students, but I do not think it would be strong enough to ensure me a spot at my dream PhD schools. I will definitely be applying to an MA at Miss., Georgia, Alabama, and Kentucky. Would the application fees be worth it to also apply to PhD at UNC or Virginia? Does anyone have experience with Mississippi or Georgia and their faculty working in Southern Lit? What are some schools I am not considering which also have strong Southern lit faculty? What is it like to live in Oxford, Tuscaloosa, Athens, or Lexington? How do the costs of living compare? Of the four, Alabama and Georgia offer the highest MA living stipend at $13,500 and $14,000 respectively, but Georgia expects a much higher teaching load at 3/3 for the second year. Mississippi offers $10,000, and I do not yet know Kentucky's stipend. I have chosen each of these MA schools because they offer funding. Mississippi is my top interest, but they also have the lowest stipend offer. How likely am I to get other fellowships or scholarships in addition? Will $10,000 go very far in Oxford? That is already below my lowest margin for a stipend, but Mississippi seems like where I want to be for Southern lit.
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Thanks again! Your posts are encouraging. The second project I mentioned is actually a challenge to non-directive tutoring, specifically through the lens of male attendance and experience in the Writing Center (turns out, sometimes guys just want you tell them how to do something instead of asking how they feel about minute details). So that's my concern there: both challenging the bread-and-butter of non-directive tutoring and doing it through the eyes of male students feels like a middle finger to the whole Writing Center world, and one I am nervous about expressing because I am just an undergrad. What I plan to use for my writing sample won't be rhetoric and comp related; it will come from a term paper from the special topics master's course I am taking with my department head next semester. I will be taking that class specifically to get a feel for master's level study and to work closely with the head to create a strong writing sample, so I feel I will have that aspect covered. The only feedback from professors I received on the projects came from my Writing Center director who sort of mentored me through the project. She offered to write me a letter of rec after I completed the article, so I assume that means she thought highly of it. Do you think a Writing Center director will be a good source for a letter of rec? She was the faculty supervisor for both of my research projects, so I suppose she has good insight into my research abilities/enthusiasm.
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@klader Thanks for the advice! I have another question regarding my undergrad research that maybe you could help out with. I have presented on two projects, both of which I personally designed and carried out. However, I don't think they are all that great or significant in any way. The first one I did was the first ever primary research project I have done by myself, and there were obvious and glaring issues with the methods and design, though I was invited to write my now published article based on the research. The second project was of slightly better design, but its focus is a bit contrary to more mainstream Writing Center studies, so I would be hesitant to use it as an example of my focus in graduate studies. So what I'm asking is are admissions committees going to lambaste my crappy undergrad research for being crappy undergrad research, or will they be understanding that I was designing and writing those projects with no experience and little support? Should I mention that those were the first independent research projects I did, or should I try to play them up as some great achievement for my undergrad career?
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Background: I am a rising senior at a small liberal arts satellite school in the southern US. I plan to start submitting applications to MA level Rhetoric and Composition programs in Fall 2017. I have three semesters of classes and one semester of student teaching for my education minor. My long term goal to pursue a PhD in Rhetoric and Composition, but I plan to take a few years off of graduate study after I complete the MA. My undergrad concentration is in Literature, but I want to pursue Rhetoric & Composition for several reasons: I want to teach and study pedagogy more than I want to write about literature, though I do enjoy writing about literature at times. I also think that Rhet/Comp is more employable outside of academia (am I wrong about this?). I also think that my education minor will be a good boost to my interest in teaching and pedagogy and, in conjunction with the Rhet/Comp MA, will set me up with a solid framework for further work in education and academia. Prospective Programs: So far, I have these schools which each offer a fully funded MA Rhet/Comp program in mind. In order of interest: University of Illinois, University of Georgia, University of Kentucky, University of Connecticut, and University of Alabama. These have been selected based on available funding, location, faculty, work experience offered, and graduate placement. Are these sensible choices for a Rhet/Comp MA? My resume thus far: One published article in a regional Writing Center studies peer-reviewed journal. One university research presentation, one regional Writing Center conference presentation, and one National Writing Center conference presentation (I won a travel grant from the national conference organization). I have two years of experience tutoring at a Writing Center. I have interned with one national literary journal and have produced one edition of my university's local literary journal. Next semester I will be taking a master's level course as an undergrad special topics course (I plan to use my term paper from this course as my writing sample for applications). I won a scholarship from my department for a CNF piece that I wrote. Before I graduate, I will have had one semester of secondary level student teaching experience. My concerns: Will this list alone be enough to be competitive at the institutions I listed above (if not at others)? I did most of these things in two semester last year, so what else can I do in the next semester before I start applying to make my resume stronger? How do I link all of these experiences together to make a strong SoP for Rhet/Comp studies?
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I have recently switched to English from Computer Science. I am finishing the second semester of my junior year of undergrad and my second semester in the English program at my university. I am currently in the process of researching grad programs and have been talking with my department head about my options. Here was his suggestion: He says he thinks I should stay at my current university for a master's then move on to a PhD program from there. His reasoning: Because I have only been in the department for a short time, he thinks I won't be able to get great letters of recommendation or a solid writing sample out for a higher ranked program. He thinks I should stay here and work with professors I already know and am comfortable with so I can work on writing samples and developing the skills I will need to succeed in a PhD environment. I have proposed this to a few other professors, and they say they second his opinion. Here's the rub: My university is a small liberal arts state satellite school. I know I won't have any problem getting accepted to the program, but I worry that going here will not prepare me for a more rigorous university or that having a master's from this school will hold me back from getting into a larger school. Also, there are only a couple of GA spots available in the department and the TA spots only pay about $8000 a year without full tuition reimbursement. This school is in the southeastern US so things are a bit cheaper, but that salary is not at all competitive with the other schools I have been considering. Here's the rub's rub: I like my university's city and the faculty (though they aren't by any means a world renowned staff). A professor I really admire is starting a literary publication at the school, and I could very likely get the graduate assistanceship for that and help her grow the publication which is something I would very much like to do. Also, there's a strong chance I could get my school's writing center graduate assistanceship. Both of these GA positions pay more but require about 30 hours a week of work, and I wouldn't have time to get teaching experience. So now my question: Should I attend the master's program at my current university and sacrifice name recognition and a higher salary for comfort with professor's I already know and a good graduate assistanceship? Or should I disregard this advice and seek out a stronger master's program? Also, because I am a bit self conscious and suspicious of authority: Could he be recommending this school because he doesn't think I have what it takes to succeed in a larger school? Or is there any possibility that he just wants to fill his own underfunded program with strong students to make his department look better?
