orphic_mel528

Haha, I just made a thread about this! And btw...law programs are most definitely not so much easier than PhD programs. Especially that part about graduating with $150,000+ of debt and no job in sight because the market is flooded with lawyers.

Just curious: What have the reactions been from family/friends/whoever regarding your PhD plans? About an hour ago, I told a friend I was starting my PhD this fall, and he made a wisecrack: "Putting off non-academia and a real job for a few more years? Good idea." First off, I was shocked he would say this, even jokingly. He's known me since I was 15, therefore he knows I've been working since I was 15. I worked full-time through the entirety of my undergraduate and graduate education. I had three jobs during the latter, actually: one full-time and two part-time. I haven't been unemployed more than a month in my adult life. I had a career in a different field for a decade. So it was super bizarre and insulting to think about the possibility that he was making some kind of crack about my work ethic. Second: Why is it that no one seems to understand that most people are working while doing their PhDs? Teaching undergraduates isn't considered a job, orrrrr? Because that's what I'm doing now, and I get a paycheck...that's what having a job is, right? Or am I confused? A close family member reacted to my plans as follows: "Why would you want to do that? Who's going to pay for that?" After I explained why I want to do that, I also explained that only a small number of applicants are accepted and are given jobs/stipends to pay for their studies. "Why would they do that for people who want to read books?" http://gph.is/1sCcMr3

Especially for those who have had a series of rejections and are holding out hope for their remaining schools. Far be it from me, the Empress of Non Sequiturs, Mad Hatteress, and Pied Piperess of Logical Discussion to be stodgy about rules and regulations, but it's just...kinda shitty. You only need to spend five minutes on these forums to see that people are checking that results board like their lives depend on it. Even for people who have gotten an acceptance or more than one, it's still irritating to have decisions wafting around out there in the cosmos somewhere and no closure.

That's a stupid thing to do.

I am a paper/pen snob, and I ended up unintentionally converting about 2/3 of my MA cohort to my system, including a couple of professors. Here it is: https://www.amazon.com/Travelers-Notebook-Brown-Leather-LB/dp/B000ZYF22M Midori is a Japanese stationery company that makes gorgeous paper and a number of other organizational accoutrement. Is the notebook expensive for a notebook? You betcha. Mine was a gift. Are there cheaper knockoffs that are just as nice and work just as well? Yep. https://www.etsy.com/market/fauxdori Have I now had it for five years and would never write notes in anything else? Yep. Is it refillable? Yep. Can you fit like five of the notebooks in the cover and keep them separate and organized? Yep. Can you buy moleskine or knockoff moleskine cahiers and have them trimmed down for free at Staples so you don't have to buy the expensive Midori paper? Yep. Do they have an accessory binder that keeps your full notebooks archived for highly-organized future perusal? Yep. https://www.jetpens.com/Traveler-s-Notebook-Binder-011-Regular-Size/pd/13655?gclid=Cj0KEQiA0L_FBRDMmaCTw5nxm-ABEiQABn-VqaxdqILFJvcKr2aTe6C6oNcqQg4g_qtnwS68KzwDmlkaArmG8P8HAQ

Important thing to remember about the summer language programs is that sometimes you are not funded for them, so make sure to check on that if you're considering that route.

I worked full-time while I did grad school full-time, so I was always in business casual work clothes. I teach Comp I now and I don't wear jeans, but I do wear pencil-style trousers, so like the trouser version of skinny jeans. I usually wear a flowy kind of blouse and a blazer. My profs in grad school were always dressed casually.

I'm here to tell you a not so secret secret: Every last damn one of us is faking it 'til we make it. Everybody's been here. I was at an international conference surrounded by brilliant people and I was feeling pretty good about myself, like, "Man, I've been brought into the fold, this is what it's about!" And of course some other graduate student was there, too, and made this brilliant presentation, and then I ran screaming out of the conference, shrieking, "I'M A FRAUD!" Ok, the last part didn't actually happen, but part of me thought about it. What's funny about this is that after the panel was over, that same person came up to me and very sheepishly told me how much they enjoyed my presentation and said it was so much more innovative than theirs! Everybody feels this way, because we're all people with incredibly high expectations of ourselves. We wouldn't be here if we weren't. We can't see the peak, even when we're standing on it, because deep down, we all want to keep climbing. That restlessness is what academia is about. I was four years out when I started my MA and am approaching three years out as I prepare to start my PhD. My advice to you is to read and write. I try to read a book or two a week, and I write essays on the readings. I also have discussions with people whenever I can--informal, impromptu seminars with former lit classmates. It gets your brain where it should be.

Ceci n'est pas un télévision, Michel.

There is no measure in the occasion that breeds; therefore the sadness is like, without limit. TOTALLY BOGUS!

Actually it was, and I think it was posted in the context of questioning Kenneth Branagh's casting choice in Much Ado About Nothing. Also, I don't know whether to give you sensate points for that because that's basically every Keanu gif.

I conducted myself very much this same way in my MA program's mixed delivery (some online, some in-person) Bibliographical Methods class. My professor was a man with the saddest eyes I've ever seen, and occasionally he would say things to me, such as, "I would complain about the gif of Keanu Reeves you posted with your response last week, but it was relevant, so I'm very conflicted about it," or, "It's not that I don't agree that Dieter Borchmeyer is a great name for a Doberman..."

1. Not to be confused with the prominent Meat Loaf cover band, Salisbury Steak. 2. A peanut relaxes and hides far below from the cinnamon squirrel.

1. I posted a conversation I had about Meatloaf today that occurred probably within 20-30 minutes of @positivitize post about Meatloaf. 2. It absolutely is; excellent catch. A hoarder of acorns, I run in the night...

Somewhere, Meatloaf is feeling validated and he doesn't even know why.

NO, I WON'T DO THAT.

This is bizarre. My IG is cinnamonsquirrel822. Just go...go and look at the most recent post...

Oh, it's much worse than that. These are Floridians, Donny. That's Melbourne, FL they're talking about.

I feel like I'd be Ally Sheedy, TBH. Minus the dandruff.

I'd love to be Old anything. Like if I had some kind of lore around me in my neighborhood, where children gathered around campfires, or smartphones probably, and told mildly terrifying stories about Old Mel's house. "We can't trick or treat there, that's Old Mel's house!" Another life goal.

I should be cut off, honestly. Old Mel? Is that like Old Greg? "Easy now, fuzzy little man peach!"

Considering how many programs offer this option, and even accept PhD applicants to MA/PhD programs when appropriate, I wouldn't think there would be a stigma attached to it.

My undergrad transcripts look like the Battle of Bosworth, so I was not all that surprised by the fact that my "academic work is not as competitive as other applicants'." Not to be snarky (of course now everyone will think I'm being snarky): I'm not sure I understand the accusations on the results board that these rejection letters are "rude." To me, the language in these letters is pretty standard for professional writing: we've rejected you and here's why. I'm not sure what people who thought it was rude expected, but it's not typical for a business or similar entity where applications are involved to write back and use personal or overtly complimentary language. It's particularly important to consider that they probably sent out hundreds of these and do not have time to personalize/soften the blow according to individual expectations of which they have no knowledge. I guess what I'm trying to say is that I know we're disappointed, but we don't need to channel that into reading too much emotion into these totally robotic letters.

Don't despair. My very first post on GC was all about this very same thing. I started UG as a pre-veterinary medicine major, switched to psychology, had a major health crisis, and ended with what would likely be considered an abysmal GPA. The health crisis also prompted a complete withdrawal for an entire semester, so I have an entire semester of Ws on my undergrad transcripts. And all of this for another discipline, too. My undergraduate transcripts look like the Pismo Beach Disaster, for real. I did an MA in English, not just because I needed to in order to change careers, but also because I knew that if I ever wanted to go for a PhD, I would need a stronger GPA than my undergraduate one. My MA was not completed at what might be called a prestigious program: it's a small program at a large public university. Please don't think that this will hold you back: fellow graduates from my cohort are now attending schools like UC Berkeley, Columbia, and Purdue, among others. So if there's a school near you that offers an MA in English, don't hesitate to apply there because you think it will hold you back in the future. To be frank: You will likely have a much decreased chance at getting into a top 20 MA program, but as I hope I've made clear, you don't need to go to a prestigious MA program to get into a prestigious PhD program. You need to get ballin' grades, yes, but I really and truly feel this PhD game is about fit and resources as much as it is about numbers. I hope she doesn't mind me saying this, but @imogenshakes is a really great example of this. She's gunning for a clean sweep out of 8 very selective programs, and it's not that she doesn't have ballin' grades and test scores, but as you can see from the results board, there are people with higher scores getting rejected from programs that imogen got into. So we can surmise that it's not just a numbers game--it's about your CV, writing sample, and your SOP, too. Doing an amazing job at demonstrating your writing ability and showing who you are and how you fit into a program is even more important than the numbers.

For real, we've got to fight the power of the EM naysayers. The tribe will persevere!