CulturalCriminal

Thanks! It is! I emailed back my acceptance today, so I guess I’m going to be a Red Raider. Looking forward to working with folks like Kendall Gerdes!

Update: I'm in at Texas Tech! 99% sure I'm going to say yes!

Got into Texas Tech's Technical Communication & Rhetoric PhD! Pretty stoked and will likely say yes!

I’ve been pretty silent this year, but can’t help joining on the convo. I did apply to Texas Tech’s distance-based TCR PhD (haven’t heard anything). It’ll be interesting to see, as I kinda redefined my self as a multimodal and visual rhetoric person this year, after some time in my current position (Lecturer & Writing Center coordinator).

After a few months of lecturer life following the completion of my MA, I’ve finally come to the conclusion that I can’t afford to go back to a grad assistant pay scale. I’m pushing back my plans on going to a full time PhD program, instead focusing on my teaching for the next 2 1/2 years and hopefully snagging a Senior Lecturer position (there are two nearby flexible PhDs I’d be happy to settle for if I have the security of a senior lecturer position). This is an important space, one that helped me greatly over the last year. Good luck to all of you, but remember: don’t go into more debt (or let your debt grow) for a PhD.

Are you just tired? Or is the material not having as much importance to you as you thought? if it is that you are just tired, I’m afraid that being tired is pretty normal throughout grad school. if it is the material, then you need to figure out if there is something else that will hold higher importance to you. While I was in my MA, I had a moment where I heavily questioned if getting an MA in Lit was actually something I should have been doing. I kept looking around at the world around me and seeing it getting worse, all while I was reading and writing on stuff far removed from the current socio-political context. Ultimately, I had to come to a decision: I was either going to step away from Lit or reorient my focus and goals in Lit. For me, the later has worked and I am now grateful that I held fast; becoming an educator was 100% the right move for me as I can get at teaching critical thinking through my lecturer duties. While I do still have multiple questions in regards to my next step (am I applying for PhDs this year, am I holding off to get in a better financial situation, should I focus on getting a Senior Lecturer position and only then get my PhD somewhere flexible, should I take a break from scholarship and flex my creative impulses), the fact remains that I have greater clarity and self determination because I looked hard at if I should or shouldn’t stick to what I was doing, or even stay in my MA program. in other words, I think you have a lot more to think about then just whether you should take a break.

It’s not fully funded and my understanding is that it doesn’t fare well when it comes to Uni budgets. The program is attractive though...

I can’t imagine that you’ll be too out of place with what you describe as a sample. It might be good to zero in on programs that are theory based or have faculty interested in your methodologies. That said, most programs are going to make you have specific period or cultural categorized courses for the majority of your studies. For example, I had to take the following in addition to electives of my choosing: a medieval, a Brit early modern, three post early modern (one Brit, one American, one open), and a crit theory survey course. I’ve heard of other MAs being more structured and other MAs being less structured. This is to say, that chances are any MA program in the states will likely only give 2-5 courses you can freely choose beyond the MA thesis or exams. BTW, where I got my MA (Texas State U) has McCarthy’s papers and there are a few McCarthy scholars here, in addition to us having a Center for the Study of the Southwest.

Pretty much every program on my apply list

I know this is an older thread, but it seemed relevant to my own question: Do low-res MFA grads get jobs teaching? I already have an MA in Lit and am currently lucky enough to have a full load as a lecturer, but I like the idea of getting an MFA so I can sharpen my creative writing skills and get to work with certain faculty (low-res). However, I also feel that getting another degree needs to eventually help me at least get the bump to Senior Lecturer. So, would adding a lowres MFA actually help at all with the details we all wish we could not deal with—getting better job stability and pay?

I have friends with similar backgrounds who likewise want to be lecturers and got their MA's at programs where they were able to teach first-year writing for a year (after assisting large classes their first year). Even with their backgrounds and that one year of teaching university, they still are having trouble landing full-time lecturer positions. I likewise have a friend that has a similar background as you and didn't get to teach their own courses while in MA. She is in an even worse spot. Hell, she even got laughed at in an interview for trying to sell her K-12 teaching experience as applicable to uni. If you are strictly interested in teaching at community colleges, you really need to go to an MA where you will be able to get some experience teaching. Most community colleges expect prior experience teaching at the university/college level. Likewise, you might really consider the fact that my experience with CC's in popular areas (i.e. Austin, CA Bay Area) was marked by a rather high number of folks with PhDs there. I imagine LA is much the same, as there is likely a high number of folks that finish their PhD in the LA area and decide they'd rather stay in LA working at a CC as a Senior Lecturer than be a Prof out in the boonies.

To be honest, it sounds like applying to any of the programs I'm interested in would be a good bet. Minnesota's CSDS (or simply other PhDs at Minn w/ the grad minor in CSDS) might also be a good bet, especially since it housed with comp lit but allows better flexibility. There is also Northeastern, which is where Hillary Chute is. Just as with CSDS, you might look at programs that focus more on studying methodology and theory. These programs may not necessarily have faculty working on graphic narrative/comics, but do grant you the freedom to look at a broad spectrum of "texts". Then again, funding and cohorts are less stable/large in such programs and you would need to be REALLY interested in critical theory.

I’d say neither. If you want to teach CC, you need to go somewhere where you can get at least a year teaching experience, which online programs seldom offer. This is especially true if you want to become a lecturer.

I would say you should also look at American Studies PhD programs, as well as delve deep into faculty to get a better idea of programs that may not be on your radar.

Be a veteran and find somewhere that needs a veteran to run their veteran tutoring program ?. The position is a 75/25, lecturer/administrator, position that the department had to fill (with a vet) or they loose grant money.

I’m going to disagree a little about the importance of advisor over prestige in the hiring process. Though you should definitely try to get with well fitting profs who may be a bit big in the field, the hiring committee members and deans in charge of hiring you aren’t all that likely to be operating in you or your advisor’s specific field and (unless they are titans of lit with broad cross appeal) will likely have no knowledge of how important your advisor is. I think this is especially true for your average state school or small liberal arts college where they’re hiring to fill an area that is limited to one or two faculty members. This is not to say who you work with isn’t important. It totally is and they can totally alter the path you head down as a researcher. Just, I think there is a need for caution when assuming going to a tier 3, 4 school that has a hip advisor will be of more help to getting a job than going to a tier 1, 2 that has an advisor who - while not famous in the field - will fit and support your interests.

Update: I have landed a full time lecturer position. I think the non-ac experience is certainly valuable to those that haven’t had it; I just got that experience while I put my BA on hold to work for 4 years and now know that leaving academia isn’t attractive for me. I also keep up a side hustle in content writing and know making that full time (while financially lucrative) wouldn’t be a good fit. Super excited to get to keep teaching and not have to worry about adjunct bs this year.

I’m applying this year (round 2). I am a 20th/21st c. American Media/Cultural Studies person interested in space/place, crime, intersectionality, public memory, and seriality. I am going to retake the GRE, as a program I was waitlisted on told me I would’ve been higher on waitlist if it wasn’t for my low scores.

@indecisivepoet It sounds like you might actually be started on #9, as it seems from other posts that you are realizing that you are mostly interested in 18th/19th c. British Lit. I think that is pretty good, though you may of course try to really consider if you are more interested in 18th vs. 19th c. British Lit and can break it down further. It sounds like you have some basic ideas on the foundation of critical theory, but you need to engage with current scholarship and be familiar with current use of theory relevant to your interests. In my experience, the general/standard grad theory course is not really enough. That said, my "book a week" advice was based off this one individual being in Undergrad. Given that you are in a summer program and are entering the world of grad school, I would say trying to get a book a month in is more realistic approach. Plus, it'll aid with the various research papers you'll need to write for your Masters. Since you are aiming for Fall 2020 PhD cycle, I think #18 might be good to return to in a year. There is a good chance that simply being in a Masters program and engaging with current scholarship will help you towards this goal.

Not a PhD, but I saw this CFP that seemed relevant to your interests: https://call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/cfp/2018/06/04/queering-the-us-south

After applying to a couple local PhD programs and unsurprisingly not getting in, I'm going to be applying again (more broadly) for 2019. I know I'm not the only one who has done/ is doing a round 2 or 3, but I am curious what the work experience was for y'all. If you have an MA/MFA, did you become a lecturer? Did anyone struggle to get a job at least as an adjunct for a class somewhere? Are there folks here who took university staff positions instead? Or left university/college employment entirely? I ask because, though it looks like I am fortunately fairly close to locking down a full-time lecturer position, some of my friends who also just finished up their MAs/MFAs seem to be coming up short on getting lecturer gigs. Some are considering taking adjunct gigs over 2 hours away just so they can actually get some more teaching experience, as it is hard to compete in an area like Austin. Did anyone here do anything like that? Likewise, I've also heard from current lecturers and Senior lecturers that it can literally be the day before the class starts that some schools will hire on lecturers. Did any of you have an experience like that? If so, how did you not go crazy while waiting until late August to find out if you had a job?

To streamline program info that I'm aware of: - English PhD: U Dundee, UC Irvine, UC Davis, U Wisconsin, CUNY-GC, Maryland, Ohio State, CU-Boulder, Northeastern, Oregon, Michigan State, UGA, U Florida, Bowling Green, Texas Tech - There are a lot of options for folks interested in an MA - Most American Studies programs are open to the idea of Comics Studies I think the biggest thing for anyone interested in Comics Studies is for them to read relevant journals (i.e. ImageText, Inks, Popular Culture, American Literature), read notable books in the field, and consider going to comics specific conferences (Comics Arts Conference in Anaheim is a blast, as it is held at WonderCon). Doing these three things will help establish: A. if you really want to do Comics scholarship B. where the field is at right now C. who you might want to work with D. if you actually want to work with them after meeting them in person (real talk, y'all) E. if getting an MA might be worthwhile in the name of working with certain faculty

You likely already know this, but making sure schools (and specific faculty) are working in your field of interest is super important

On my CV I just have the grad (or expected grad) dates for my degrees. All the work you've been doing also sounds like it is worth including on a CV. If you feel the need to explain a gap, I would just point to all the great opportunities you've had during the break in your education while writing SOP. That said, I don't know if you really need to spend much time explaining yourself so long as you do well once you return to undergrad.

I think if you are in an MA and interested in PhD, the expectation is that you've got a couple conferences under your belt. Conferences are cheaper for grad students, sometimes have awards for grad students, and can be a good environment to verify that you are actually interested in a life of research. They're also good prep for your being able to present your research, something that you'll likely have to do when going through both hiring and tenure processes.