hopefullyyours

I will be starting an MA program in English in the fall, and I'm wondering whether my current hairstyle is going to be appropriate. I recently buzzed my head, and while I love it, I've heard from a few people that it's not professional enough for grad school. If I don't get it cut this summer, I can have it back to a decent pixie by the time I move. I want to keep it short, but I also don't want to look like I don't care about my appearance. As a woman (and one who doesn't wear makeup or dress in particularly feminine clothes) I'm afraid it might work against me. My other concern is that I'm moving to Alabama. Am I just listening to stereotypes, or is it really that conservative? Is my haircut going to raise more eyebrows there than it does in southeastern PA, where I live now? Any advice would be appreciated!

Hi everyone, I just wanted to thank everybody once again for your advice and give you an update. I eventually applied to the Hudson Strode program at UA. I was accepted into the MA program and I'm thrilled to say I'll be moving down to Tuscaloosa this fall. Now I just have to find an apartment!

This is such a relief to hear-I think a lot of my anxiety comes from the fact that I've been expecting myself to have fully developed interests and work when when I've barely been studying English for two years. Thank you!

Thanks for the reply! To answer your question, I'm most interested in the English Renaissance. It's funny that you should mention the Strode program, as one of my favorite professors got his MA there and loved it. I'll definitely look into it more!

Hello all! I'm a rising senior studying English and I am pretty desperate for advice, specifically regarding choosing an area of interest. Everyone in my year seems to know exactly what they're doing and I'm starting to panic. I'm not questioning my overall goals; I know that I want to eventually get my PhD and become a professor at some point. I'm just having a hard time nailing down one area to study. My studies so far have been pretty general and, having switched majors, I feel like I've been playing catch-up for the past two years and haven't had time to specialize. I've managed to narrow the possibilities down to either Victorian or Renaissance literature, but I haven't done a huge amount of work in either of those areas. Should I take a year off to make up my mind? I love studying literature and I know I want to keep doing it, and a year away from academia just sounds frustrating to me. At the same time, I don't know if it's even possible for me to get my applications together this late in the game. I've spoken to several faculty members, and I have some advising me to wait a few years, one thrilled that I'm considering grad school at all, and one actually offering to help me with my application materials as soon as I return from study abroad in a month. As I said, I'm thoroughly confused and starting to panic, so any advice you can offer would be highly appreciated!