positivitize

Yup! She's about a 7-hour drive from me, but money makes the distance closer. For the first time in 7 years, with our combined income, we'll be solidly middle class. I'm looking forward to see how she reacts when I'm coming apart at the brain-seams. Good point Emma. 7-10 was as wide a net as I was able to afford given the limitations I had on time, money, and program fit. Between fees and sending out GRE scores, I spent about 100$ a pop and the 1200$ I spent meant a few months of eating ramen like undergraduates. You are absolutely right though. If you can find 30 programs where you would fit and where you would be excited to attend, apply to all of them (money permitting).

I can also speak to the virtues of staggering your graduate careers, as I have been the supportive significant other to an overworked and overwhelmed graduate student for the past 7 years. I've learned an immense amount from going through the process vicariously through her and I like to think that I've made her graduate career easier by being present when she needed to vent (or when she needed someone to proofread). My advice is that you should both go through the application process even if you decide to stagger your entries. Applying to graduate school, unfortunately, has a lot to do with the unadvertised/unknowable circumstances of the departments to which you are applying, and this means that good candidates with strong GPAs and excellent writing samples get shut out due to dumb luck. It's also more competitive than it's ever been as more and more funding gets cut. You both should cast wide nets (7-10 schools) and understand that there are no safety schools. You might both be amazing candidates but your problem might solve itself if neither of you are accepted (most likely) or if only one of you is accepted (likely). If you both are accepted then you can worry about the details of which one of you goes/work out the details of a long distance relationship. Generally speaking, the odds are against acceptance. I have more bad news for you though... Even in the best case scenario where you both get into your dream programs and you're right down the street from each other/at the same school, the odds that one of you will have to compromise. Google the "Two-Body Problem" then consider that your dilemma is even worse as in order to end up in the same school, you'll have to end up in the same department. Usually, when a University advertises a position, there'll only be funds for one tenure-track position open in the department. Spousal hires are uncommon unless one of you is a rock star, and you or your spouse might be stuck as a lecturer/adjunct for a few years before the Dean can open another TT position. When my fiancee landed her TT gig earlier this year at a small, regional comprehensive, state school, there were 184 applicants, 14 skype interviews, and only 3 or 4 on campus interviews. Things don't get more likely after getting accepted to graduate school. They get vastly less likely. The GOOD news is that merit plays a role in both graduate and job applications, albeit a limited one. Work your butts off and, hopefully, you can become giants in your respective fields and have departments scrambling to offer you spousal hires. A short story to give you hope: This past semester, my fiancee's department (part of an R1 and a flagship state institution) was miraculously given the opportunity to conduct two TT searches at the same time. When they offered the first of those positions to a woman, she informed them that she wanted a spousal hire for her husband... who had applied for the second position and was eliminated from consideration early on. She also informed the department that her husband was strongly considering a one-year appointment at Oxford and he had already secured a spousal hire for her--the insinuation being that my fiancee's institution had better sweeten the pot or they'd lose both candidates. The department had scrambled to open enough funds to field competitive salary offers and had to invite him to a belated on campus interview. Another candidate had also accepted the second position, so my fiancee's department had to cash in a future TT line. The moral of this story is that if you're enough of a big deal, even in this buyer's market, universities will always scramble to get their candidate, and the big universities will find a way to hire both you and your husband if one of you knocks it out of the park. It can be done! You just have to be, like, the very best. Hope this helps. Good luck to you on your journey. Support each other and have patience with each other. Know that you'll both change radically. No one leaves graduate school the same person they were when they started.

Accept the 15th, then withdraw your acceptance if you receive funding on the 17th. It's shitty but not unheard of. Don't ask for an extension. When it comes down to it, most departments understand that you need to make the best choice you can for yourself. Be prepared to explain yourself if you do take this route, and don't be surprised if you burn a bridge or two. Still, if your fit/desire to go to the school that has waitlisted you is strong enough, it will be worth it for you in the long run. Sometimes you've got to be selfish. Just my 2 cents. I'm by no means an expert and could be wildly wrong.

I've been expecting this to happen for a week or so now. If I'm being honest, half the reason I sent them out was so that I wouldn't receive more rejections...

I wish I had Milton... mine was all random obscure bible verses (seriously, like 11 questions about the bible), some Chaucer, some Old English, and some Melville. I had a question about the play adaptation of Billy Budd. I really think the subject test is ridiculous. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billy_Budd_(opera) What the heck. You've got all of Melville's works and you make BILLY STINKIN BUDD into an Opera? Melville =/= Pirates of Penzance

I really enjoyed talking with Rae Greiner (one of their Victorianists) when I went on my visit. She's absolutely fantastic and her research is really cool too. If I were going for Victorian Lit, I'd be thrilled to work with her.

Awesome! Congratulations!

I'm not exactly sure when they offer it, so I won't speak to that. I will say that I took it in October in 2016 and that it was the last literature subject test available before applications were due. I lucked out to get a spot. To study for it, I looked at all the notes from my old survey courses, re-read the intro to each critical period from my Norton anthology, took the practice tests multiple times and watched Thug Notes for texts that I hadn't read yet. I'm not sure how much good it did. The whole test is comprised of 230(?) 5-option multiple-choice questions that cover everything from Caedmon to Raymond Carver. I only knew the answer to maybe 40% of the questions, but I had 1/3 or 1/2 guesses for most of them. I answered every single question, which apparently is a bad idea. The way it's scored is that it adds one point for each correct answer and subtracts 1.25 points for each incorrect answer, so it can be worth it to guess if you can eliminate enough incorrect answers. I finished somewhere around the 56th percentile, which wasn't great but was good enough to get me into a strong Ph.D program. If I retook it, I would guess on fewer questions and leave some blank--I think that would help my score a lot. I was also surprised by how many questions there were about bible passages and masculine vs feminine rhyme--but I'm sure each test will be different year to year.

I second this nomination.

so happy for you. congratulations! it's been a wild ride.

I grew up in the northeast--in a small/sad town that enjoyed a "real" winter, so I might be biased, but the 1/1 load sounds a lot better than a 2/2 load. Also, I've spent the last 5 years in Kentucky (where Gov. Bevin attempted to cut university funding MID-FISCAL year). I am thrilled to be getting out of a political climate where higher education is constantly under siege. The danger to HE in states like Kentucky, Wisconson, and other states with governors who want to run HE like a business is very real. I'd go to the New England school.

CONGRATULATIONS! I'm thrilled for you!

Unfortunately, I'm located about 17 hours drive from Syracuse and lack the financial mobility to take a trip up to scope out the place. Although it's not preferred, the reality is that I'm looking at moving to a new apartment sight unseen. Thank you for the response. Even the little bit about the walking distance/shuttle was useful. Cheers!

Have you heard anything (positive or negative) about Copper Beech Commons?

Congratulations! I'm so happy for you! It's an amazing school!