CulturalCriminal

All the info presented already is solid, but I will add that it is a good idea to look at the CVs of profs you admire/want to work with to see where they present/ed regularly. For example, there are a few conferences that both of my main MA mentors regularly attend. Also, ask your mentors on their opinions about certain conferences. I didn't always do that and as a result went to some awful conferences. I have since avoided some negative experiences by consulting said mentors about their experiences at conferences. Conferences can be a great experience, but they can also be an awful experience that turns you off of academia if you aren't careful.

Was behind on the update. Just finished my MA and am reapplying more broadly for PhD after failing to get into the couple of exciting local programs for fall 2018.

I’m confused. Are asking what the difference is between a rhet/comp MA vs a Lit/Eng MA? If you have an MA in Literature or English (not focused on rhet/comp), then you certainly could get an MA in rhet/comp. I had a friend who immediately started an MARC right after finishing the MA Lit. That said, he decided not to finish the MARC. It sounds like by the end of all of this you’ll have 3 MAs. While having two is certainly not odd (I noticed many of the folks my uni brought out for final stage prof hirings this year had managed to snag an MA in Lit+ Mphil or MFA), it seems like a PhD with designated emphasizes (or their equivalent) would be a better way of exploring one or both of these interests.

I think you might be underselling the prestige of Edinburgh. While it certainly doesn't have the universal recognition of UCL, I'd be surprised if most Lit/English departments wouldn't recognize Edinburgh as a great program. Likewise, I think it is better to go somewhere where you'll have that fit. If you're able to tell that UCL isn't a great fit, chances are future PhDs will as well.

Wow, y'all managed to not read any of the women or Black writers... That it's self might be an interesting way of spinning a topic though? "Find an Early American text from this period that I have failed to include and convince me why it should be included in future courses" Why did you select these specific works (or did you select them)? It seems like you have some clear divisions here (i.e. creation myths, European contact, early settler colonies, founders, American Renaissance/Dark-Romantics) that you can have them analyze or compare/contrast. At the end of the day though, I imagine who ever charged you with teaching this class is the ultimate resource here. That aside, if you teach this course in the future you should really consider fitting in the likes of Cabeza de Vaca, Rowlandson, Wheatley, Bradstreet, etc

Not to try to pull you away from rhet/comp, but most Lit programs aren't really "Capital-L Literature" anymore. I just finished my M.A. in Literature and spent the majority of the time looking at genre fiction, comics, film, and TV. My area exam was on weird speculative film and every paper I've presented at conferences on the University's dime has been looking at film, comics, or TV. Even with the British renaissance and medieval lit requirement I had to meet, there was the option of taking non-canon focused classes (i.e. my renaissance credit was satisfied by a History of Children's Literature Course where I just had to focus my big term paper on a work from the renaissance). I think what you are worried about encountering in a non-rhet/comp degree (reading the canon) is not really all that common anymore. There are folks in Lit departments that literally only work with narrative nonfiction. This, again, is not to push you towards a Lit degree. In a Rhet/comp MA with IA/TA duties, you'll likely share an office with Lit folks and might even be assigned during your first year to work in a big Sophomore Literature survey course with a lead professor. Further, the MA is meant to train you to work in English departments teaching rhet/comp as a lecturer OR prepare you to go on to a PhD designed to do the same as a professor (with a research obligation attached). This doesn't mean you have to take any lit classes or physically to teach lit classes in the future, but it does mean that in all likelihood your boss (i.e. the Dean of an English department) will be a lit person (and likely a "Capital-L Literature" person). Even if you decided to focus on the goal of running Writing Centers, most of those centers are part of English departments and their Directors doubling as English profs/lecturers. What I'm getting at is that you might look at getting to know what the Lit folks you'll spend the rest of your life working with are actually interested in; I think you'll be surprised that a lot of us are into the same things you are.

I still haven't actually gotten the official email or change of status on the my-status webpage, as my "bump" was only indicated when I called to check...

1. I don't think most places are expecting an honor's thesis from you (or really care tbh) 2. That you have writing center experience is a plus as an undergrad, so no worries about not having research experience yet 3. If I'm not mistaken, that score puts you above the 90% percentile. You good. 4. As long as you did researched writing of some length (i.e. 6-20 pages), I'm sure your LOR writers will have plenty to discuss. 5. I don't think GPA really matters, so long as you got over a 3.5 in English related courses 6. If you are unsure if what you want to research has merit, dig through online and physical library resources (i.e. JSTOR) and see where the scholarship is at the moment. Likewise, doing your due diligence in researching what faculty you want to work with will likely tell you if you are going in the right direction. For me personally, when I started thoroughly doing this step I realized that there really weren't many folks I could work with on the PhD level for what I originally was planning and had started working at in smaller projects. I ultimately switched course (slightly) to something more relevant to the current conversation in scholarship in my area. I agree with some of the folks commenting here. It sounds like you have some research to do on how grad applications work and what programs value. Honestly, getting at all that info that makes a great SOP and making sure you've got it down on lock sounds like the main (and only significant) thing you need to work on. You can of course also start trying to get papers into conferences and relevant journals. You might also consider MA if you don't feel that you are prepared for research yet. Not sure if this is still the case, but someone on here did recently indicate that Bucknell still has fully-funded slots open for the upcoming fall. Likewise, there are a few state schools that are still accepting applicants (though funding is harder to get by this point). There are also some MAs that accept in the Spring, but these often don't offer funding for Spring applicants. If these options don't work for you, you might also consider applying to both PhDs and MAs for Fall 2019. Better to be in an MA and develop as a researcher (and get funding to go to conferences) with easy access to profs than being shut-out and not being on/near university.

It seems like quite a few eng/lit departments would be a great fit, as it seems to be increasingly the norm for these programs to have one or two folks focused on Chicanx lit. Likewise, you might look at Ethnic Studies or Latino/a/x Studies programs. I'm not sure comp lit would be a great fit, though I could be wrong on that front.

Whelp, today was the day I finally got the bump to no, after being on UT’s waitlist for months. I suppose this means round 2, bigger net, try to adjunct in the meantime.

Whelp, no longer waiting. Called today and get the unofficial n-o. Honestly, I’m feeling good just be out of limbo and I’m excited that I was on the waitlist at UT, especially since folks from MA program have really bad luck applying there. Next cycle I will have the freedom to throw a bigger net on applications and a better sense of how the process works, so I’m not too broken up about it.

What are you defining as safe? I’d consider most of SanAntonio to be relatively safe, but safe is such a loaded term.

You might call Olga. They’ve got a few second offers out. I was told it might be May before a concrete yes or no happens.

Well, it is April 16th and I am still apparently on the waitlist. I called today to learn that it may be May before I hear anything more. This is really nerve-racking. While I am lucky in that I am nearby UT and not going to be moving soon, I need to get a job if it is a no. I didn't have high hopes for this cycle and expected to reapply to more schools next year, but I also expected to have clear answers by today...

@punctilious how exactly is this fit finder supposed to work?

How's that decision going?

I’m resurrecting this thread partially since I imagine potential 2019 applicants might find it helpful, plus there’s probably more info out there

Barring movement on my waitlist status, I’ll be reapplying next year to more PhDs. As I’m interested in comics studies, people keep telling me to apply to UF and FSU. Are Tallahassee and Gainesville queer friendly? Trans friendly? Will my NB partner face a lot of crap at local school districts?

Same question, but specifically: is Tallahassee Trans friendly? Butch girl friendly? PoC friendly?

Tom’s are the cowboy boots of Austin lol

MA placement information is harder to get, so I wouldn't be too worried about it. It's really PhDs that you need to be concerned with for placement. Both programs are seemingly well regarded, so I would say either would be great. I use to live in the bay area and would absolutely love to go back, if I had the money. I went to high school with a few folks that got their UG from Mills and they all loved it. I don't know anyone who went to Wake Forest, though the head of my MA committee was a visiting assistant prof there and seemed to like it well enough. VMI is right across the street if I'm not mistaken, a military academy with a bit of a reputation for having confederate flag loving students. My cousin went there and had a bit of a conservative phase while there. Pretty location though.

This is certainly true for me. Getting job at UH after PhD=dream

While it's certainly not a liberal and a queer enclave, I'm sure you'll be fine. There is some acceptance of gay men, and you will be in a department with mostly like-minded folks. Stick near campus and I am sure it'll be a safe and a mostly-friendly few years. My trepidation at applying to Tech or eventually getting a job there is rooted in the fact that I'm a butch-ish trans gal engaged to a chicanx, non-binary person who teaches high school English. While I can probably deal with staying in the University bubble and wouldn't be all that worried about my research interests causing conflict (though WTAMU would be a much different story), my partner wouldn't have that comfort.

Going off what has been said here, Vermont seems like the obvious choice.

I actually was pretty big on cycling before I moved to central Texas. Unfortunately, commuting on the bike is really hard to pull off here; biking lanes and safe cycling conditions are hard to come by in commute areas. This is especially true with campus and the immediate roads off of campus. Recreational cycling is possible though, and fairly nice. This is especially true if you live NW of campus. Highcrest apartments/townhomes are popular with faculty and graduate students, while also having easy access to roads that are fairly cycling-friendly. It's also a bus stop for the school and local buses. Though it is certainly tempting to live in S Austin or near it, having done so personally I can tell you that it is not fun to make that commute regularly. San Marcos may not have all the Austin fun stuff (i.e. non-college bars, trader joe's, alamo drafthouse, good live music, lots of theatre, etc), but there is still some pretty good stuff in San Marcos and it isn't that bad a drive to get to Austin (or San Antonio). There are some nice apartments in Kyle, but being in San Marcos has its perks. Rent is basically the same from Onion Creek to New Braunfels, so might as well be close to campus (that's where parking sucks). If you do decide on San Marcos, beware the many "private student housing" apartments that are owned by big corporations. Despite having shiny exteriors, the apartments are awful and the people are worse. Likewise, San Marcos has laws against multiple non-family residents renting houses (I think it is no more than two non-related people can be in a house). This means that the "lets just get a bunch of folks together to rent a house" model is technically not legal in San Marcos. Another thing: The trains in San Marcos are also notorious for just stopping on the tracks, so living NW of campus is a good idea to avoid being late due to a train. One final note: flooding. San Marcos, like most of the cities/towns in the region, is a river town. This is great for water recreation; hoping in the river for a few hours on a bad day is great. That said, flooding has over the last 10 years been on the rise. We get pretty big rainy days every few months that can cause flooding in some neighborhoods and apartment buildings. Can you guess why I keep advocating NW of campus? It tends to not get flooded as much. Even in neighborhoods that don't flood that much, you can still get flooding if an apartment is poorly planned (my first complex I lived in here got flooded three times while I lived there, even though we really didn't live in an area that should necessary be getting flooded.