Silabus

@silenus_thescribe First, I want you to know I sooooo wanted to go to UT for my PhD! You're living the dream already! And you know, I guess you're right. I don't have any regrets about what I've done so far. Also it seems like a lot of folks meet people in their PhD too.

Only if you're Mr. May. All other months are beneath you.

Plan. Make a calendar and split up the proceeds of what we sale to pay back our loans or fund our research trips.

Our crazy-deranged-ness will be on the same wavelength! xD

I know two couples here at my MA who met during their PhD's as well. I figured that was just an anomaly but it sounds like it happens pretty regularly! Maybe so! Maybe so! And hopefully doing a PhD won't just make me some kind of crazy deranged person! xD

These girls all get themselves married off in their 20's or sooner sometimes, it's definitely making it worse! xD And if being out of the sun helps with skin health then...I definitely have that going for me! Ha ha!

Ha ha! I love the solidarity! I tried to do the same but no matter how small I make the photo it's still too big a file.

Ha ha ha! Oh you two put it in perspective for me! I hadn't thought about it that way either. I'll be moving into a pool of academics, a whole different pool. Okay, yeah, and I guess you're not exactly dead at 30. xD @Caien I'm also perpetually single! *high five* Edited

I hope I don't come off as melodramatic but I was sitting in the back of a car, going with my friends to the grocery store for no other reason than to get away from the computer, when a thought hit me about this whole PhD thing: I've already spent 6 consecutive years of my life on the higher education merry-go-round, with my PhD it's 5 more years. I'll be 28 when I get my PhD if I complete it in 5 years. 28. Meanwhile, already, it feels like I'm lagging behind my peers who just got their Bachelor's and went to get jobs. They're forging careers, getting married, getting engaged, and I've been so busy trying to keep a 4.0 GPA, go to conferences, read novels all the time, write papers, work in the summer to kind of make a dent in my student loans, that I've done nothing else but get degrees. I mean this isn't to say that I dislike what I'm doing, I love it, but at the same time some part of me keeps saying: You're going to be lonely for as long as you do this. Again, maybe melodramatic, but at 28 who exactly is going to be left in the dating pool? At 30 I'm going to be washed up in the looks department right? I just worry I'm going to be some unhappy professor somewhere, lonely, with my dog, teaching British Literature, and kicking myself for all the time I spent chasing degrees and not love. Yup...I'm being dramatic. But it's how I really feel!

Oh that's tough. Well, I mean, that's really something you have to decide for yourself. However, I'll give you my two cents. If you want to go Visual Art, Theory, and Poetics, then I think Chicago is a better choice. Not to mention they're pretty cutting edge there too. Now, if you really love theory and the prestige of an Ivy League, go Cornell.

A lot of MA programs are seen as money making programs for universities--this is especially true if they also have PhD programs at the university. Try looking for MA programs where the MA is the highest degree the university has. So the university I'm at is like that, MA is the highest degree, and it's really nice. Your tuition is waived, they pay you a stipend (albeit a modest one). Oh! And they have their admissions open until March! I...ummm, I dunno if this is appropriate for the forum or not but I'll pass it along to you. I don't want anyone to have to live on their grandparent's couch! New Mexico Highlands University And the DOG is; Helen Blythe helenblythe@nmhu.edu Shoot her an email if you want. I know the program is still looking for students.

Oh I hope not. I soooo want to work with Rachel Teukolsky. I was meeting with my MA thesis advisor earlier today and she asked: Well did you contact Teukolsky? I was like: Noooo, I didn't want to come across as a ham.

I added my two cents into the form too! I don't know how helpful it was... but there you go! My Undergrad GPA is also not stellar.

I have a question that somewhat has to do with this. Is anyone else going to the Texas A&M recruitment days? I'm planning on going! I'd really like to make friends and we'd already have something in common, we're both on the GC!

This list of projected dates just brings up more questions. Well, it did help with Florida State. Brandeis says they let you know late February to Early March. But what's up with Vanderbilt? Actually, Ball State says Mid-February. It's the middle of February. I just...I need to know! xD

I will take that funded offer! xD I sooooo want to be involved in their Victorian Studies department!

As one of those BA to MA to PhD people, I've gotta tell you that we get tons of rejections too. I think trying to figure out some rhyme or reason for how these acceptances or rejections go is more of a rabbit hole than anything else. There almost doesn't seem to be a logic to it. One year you'll have the world in your hand and the next, none of them want anything to do with you. It depends on the committees that year, depends on who you're up against, maybe they didn't like the first sentence of your writing sample. There's no real way to know and no checklist of qualifications to insure you'll get into those top tier programs either.

Same! I applied to Cornell! I REALLY want in on their Theory department! They are one of the best schools for Literary Theory in the country! UGH!

@positivitize Yes! I'm so happy about it! We're both still waiting to hear from IU though. @tvethiopia Thank you! It has been a good day!

@Zelda Thank you! And thank you for the vote of confidence!

Ahhhh! I finally got accepted somewhere! I was starting to think I was going to receive a slew of rejections but NO, there is at least ONE acceptance! I got into Texas A&M's PhD program! Part of me was like: Maybe you should email them just to double check that they didn't get it wrong somehow. But I am sooooo happy, I just finished running around my building screaming my head off.

So, funny story. I've applied to the University of Wisconsin- Milwaukee's PhD program. I got a rejection letter in the mail today. However...it's not addressed to me. It's addressed to someone with my same last name. I tried calling today but wouldn't you know it the lady who handles that stuff isn't working today. I'll have to call back tomorrow. Now, my assumption is that if they're in the habit of mailing out rejections and my name was on a list then I've still been rejected...I just received the wrong letter. I'll know for sure tomorrow. I sort of hope there was just confusion. I also plan to use this as leverage: Excuse me but because of your mistake you have to accept me now. It might not work but I can try right? Give them a laugh? They'll remember me next year? Maybe?

@positivitize Oh ho ho! I hope so! I hope this is true! Good on you for those back channels! You've given me hope once more! I'll just keep my fingers crossed. And for you too! I'm wishing both of us much luck!

@positivitize I'm glad I'm not alone! Maybe things are just happening in waves for everybody.

Awww, no! You guys have heard from IU already? I haven't...this isn't good. I really liked them too for their Victorian studies department. Well, I'm happy people here got in! Even if I am put out about not getting in myself. Well, or maybe my acceptance is just delayed. A guy has to hope!