clinamen

Just wanted to pop in and say: Yay!!! Congratulations and welcome!! ???

Hi everyone! Current UW student here! I went through this process a few seasons ago and I can't imagine not having had the opportunity to make visits -- they were so crucial to my decision. I'm genuinely sorry to hear that many of you are being faced with a "site-unseen" decision. I offered my email through the grad assistant at UW but I want to say here that am happy to talk with anyone on here or over email who is considering UW! To address your questions about professionalization, @tinymica there is a committee assigned to professionalization and there are meetings that I've been to dedicated to developing materials for students going on the job market. I am pre-exams so I will say I have not participated in "extensive" preparations for the job market at this point. That said, I'm sure that professionalization early on is something UW could improve. I don't know the standard, but I don't get the feeling that UW is significantly behind other programs (at least the ones I was able to visit). I'm happy to talk more about this or teaching or whatever if you want to pm me

I’ve done some serious thinking about USC, and while it’s a fantastic program, I’ve realized that there are not enough (if any ☹️) faculty there for me to work with in my field. I had worries about fit there when I was applying, and looking back to the visit, it was the one school where I almost didn’t meet any faculty one on one and I find that alarming. I met one professor because I reached out after the visit but I’m not sure if his and my work gel. My friend in the program at USC had a talk with me as well that was very much an “I don’t know who you’d work with” talk. There are over ten professors that are in my field at UW. I think that at the end of the day finding professors to work with and to be in your corner is what will make a program great or not so great. I’d rather have more options than not. The chance to take classes in Geography on theorizing the city is also something that UW has that USC does not and I would say that the city is the cornerstone of my work. So I think that’s that! Thanks guys ?

Thank you I value this perspective and what you’ve said has given me a lot to think about. It seems that USC might just be the middle ground/compromise location wise between the three and the better program overall.

This is exactly true. It created a different vibe because I feel like there was more excitement coming from (and perhaps directed towards) the Creative Writing half of the cohort. I wonder if the departmental attention paid to grad students will favor the creative writers or if there will be downsides to a program with courses and professors stratteling the two tracks. This is speculation, of course. But thank you for mentioning this @Warelin.

You’re right. I want to make excuses, but all I have to hang on is the cold. Otherwise, I hear nothing but great things about Minneapolis. Thriving academically is the priority for me. I know it might be the best program fit for me, I just don’t know if in reality I could actually go through with that decision, or I believe I would have already committed there by now.

Thank you so much for contributing and for sharing your own experience. I read your other thread about turning down your offer and I think you made the right choice. I have always lived in large and large(ish) cities and that is honestly a real priority for me and I would have made the same decision if posed with your dilemma. Especially if the location and the school aren’t right then you are right to wait it out and you will most likely have much better options next year. The fact that LA (as flawed as it is) is a large and active city is making it hard for me to justify turning it down purely based on location. Mostly because I realize that there are “worse” places to live far more incompatible with my need for the city life. LA is just ugh. It’s expensive and it’s ironically isolating because I don’t have any desire to spend hours in the car to travel over three miles. I certainly could make it work, but I would be bummed to have missed my ticket out. Its funny because I really dedicated everything to these applications directly after finishing my MA, so thinking about having a life outside of academia/ a PhD program is a new consideration. But an important one I think. So thank you for bringing that up.

@Melvillage_Idiot Thank you for your response! I will probably repeat this but I'm so grateful for this community, as we are such a small population of people going through very similar life decisions/following similar life paths and the shared experience on here is a relief from an otherwise isolating process. You are correct to interpret my post as a real decision between USC and UW. I keep coming back to UMN because it was a program where there were real "warm and fuzzies" for lack of better terms and a great fit. But I think it may be time for me to phase them out considering I'd much rather live in LA or Seattle. I am trying to decide if the presence of my partner and friends overrides the concerns I have with the programs. I think if any of the other programs had the same issues as UW I would rule them out easily, and that fact really really troubles me. But I feel that I should mention that I trust myself to be resilient and to make the best out of any situation. I do believe that I will find a way to thrive out of sheer determination wherever I am. About my partner factoring into the decision: He is wonderful and lived with me in LA during my MA and we didn't have any problems with managing our relationship and academia. In fact, I felt incredibly comforted and supported by him throughout and he was always a welcome reprieve from the stresses of graduate school. All of this said, we are both very independent people and part of that for me means that I am very, very resistant to making any decision based on him and he doesn't want that either. We are both at a point in our lives where we want to do what's best for ourselves, even if that means that we have to do long distance for a while. Also, I want to add that I was born and raised in Denver, and I know the DU area very well, and I am SO EXCITED for the both of you!! Denver is fantastic and please feel free to PM me with any neighborhood-related questions, or if you want places to eat, where to hang out etc. Congrats!

Hello everyone! This post comes from a place of desperation, as it is about ten days from the 15th when I will have to have all this sorted out. My problem is that I am deciding between three schools and am completely deadlocked and unable to commit, even mentally, to a single program. Things are not aligning to make this choice an easy one as I was hoping. Here is the situation, I will try to make it brief: After visiting, UMN is the department I liked the most as far as ~vibes~ go, but the location (and more the climate) is something I don't think I could honestly get past. It also feels like a long haul as they fund for six years, but six years of teaching is a lot, and is a long time to live in the midwest. USC is offering the best funding package -- five years with three years of fellowship. They also have a stellar faculty and reputation because at almost every visit the professors I've spoken to and the current grad students at varying institutions have implied that I would be a moron to not go to USC. The location isn't ideal for me, though. I have lived in LA for three years and I am very ready to leave and while I was at the visit, I just didn't see myself at USC for reasons I can't quite pin down. UW is a school I have wanted to attend for a while as I applied for my MA, last year for the PhD and again this year and ~finally~ have been accepted. I know I love Seattle and have been wanting to move back here (I did my undergrad here) for a while. All of the life-outside-of-academia things would line up quite nicely for me here. My partner is moving back here to finish school, so we could continue living together and not have to do x amount of years long distance. My friends are here, and I love the city. However, the program has serious problems. Because I will be entering with an MA the funding package is only four years because I would only take a year of coursework. As far as I can see the year of coursework has drawbacks and benefits, but I would basically have to hit the ground running. I also had a troubling conversation with the DGS, who didn't even try to convince me to pick UW. I've talked to four different grad students and they all had different experiences with completely different opinions. But I am absolutely in love with the campus. If this even matters. I should mention that strong cultural studies and interdisciplinary opportunities are imperative for me, but I strongly believe that I would have this at all three of these programs. All three programs are comparable in ranking. Especially USC and UW at 33 and 35. But I am sensing that USC may have a bit more clout? It may be a question of location. I am honestly at my wits end with this decision process. I know it is an embarrassment of riches, but picking the ~right~ program has come to feel like an insurmountable decision (wrought with panic and stress) that I feel ill-equipped to make. Advice, anecdotes, commiseration are all deeply appreciated.

Yes I have heard the horror stories as well about no funding the first year, and luckily that is not the case here. I have it guaranteed the first four years.. so I am hoping that it isn’t difficult to secure funding beyond that! Thank you all, these comments are very encouraging ?

Out of upvotes but thank you so much for this information! I hadn’t considered this type of funding situation — I will keep my fingers crossed that there is something like this going on at UW!

Ahh thank you so much for this!! You have made me feel better and a bit more equipt to be happier about this development! I am definitely going to check in with current grad students. Luckily I am visiting this coming week so I will come prepared with questions. I am only concerned because the DGS had told me over email only a few weeks ago that all phd students receive five years of funding and that my incoming cohort (smaller than previous years) would be the first to get the sixth year guaranteed as well. I'm anxiously awaiting a response to the email I wrote to ask about this conflicting information.

I feel this so hard. I just got off the waitlist at top choice and the funding package is only four years.. whomp whomp. God help me is right. This was not meant to be an easy decision process for me apparently!

Officially accepted to UW off the waitlist!! But my funding offer is for fewer years than I expected...

I can totally relate! At least it seems you have narrowed it down to two! I have only narrowed it down to three and one (the one I think is my first choice) is a waitlist so I'm really feeling the stress. The one I liked most after visits is in a climate I just don't think I could handle and in a region I just don't particularly want to live in. I had no idea that this part of the process would be so stressful (or even stressful at all)!!