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Cassifrassidy

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Posts posted by Cassifrassidy

  1. 31 minutes ago, GlacierPoint said:

    Guess who's going to be taking the GRE subject test at 8:30 AM on Homecoming Day ? And had that realization occur mid-class the day after registering for the test.

    At least the testing center is on campus so I don't have to get up too early for travel time. I do feel sorry for the others who are coming in off campus because the campus is going to be a mess that day! I have no idea where they'll park and the usual route to the testing center posted on the school website will be inaccessible on the day of the test.

    A plus is that I'll have no shortage of drinking buddies that night to help me forget about bombing the Literature GRE. It got me out of work that weekend too so that's nice since I was originally meant to work the Friday night before Homecoming Day then during the day on Saturday again.

    I'm tempted to ask my letter writers to put that fact in the letters for the programs that require the subject test because HC at my school is a very big deal.

    In undergrad, I was very involved in Greek life, and I was the president of the presiding body which essentially put on recruitment. I had to take the subject test on the morning of the final night of sorority recruitment, which I had to put on. I stayed up until 3 the night before to do numbers matching and then woke up at 5 to get ready for the test. It was crazy stressful but hey, you get through it (and you get alcohol at the end of it!). I personally wouldn't worry too much, I don't think the GRE subject is really going to make or break your apps. If you have a strong SoP and WS, you'll likely be fine. 

  2. On 6/29/2018 at 4:50 PM, Cotton Joe said:

    U of Alabama, Tennessee, Kentucky, Mississippi, Louisville, South Carolina, and North Carolina State all offer funded MA programs if you are currently located in or interested in moving to the southeast. Off the top of my head, the funding at those programs includes tuition remission (to varying degrees), health insurance, and stipends that look something like this:

    Alabama: $14k/yr (Alabama also has a really nice fellowship available to MA students called the Graduate Council Fellowship which is service free for one year and carries a stipend award of $19k. They really like queer south studies there, if that is something you are into.)

    Tennessee: $10k/yr

    Kentucky: $15k/yr

    Mississippi: $10k/yr

    Louisville: $15k/yr

    South Carolina: $8k/yr

    NC State: $10k/yr

    I would like to point out that I think UK's English Dept does competitive funding. I'm from Lexington, KY, and I know someone who entered into the English program this year and he said not everyone was funded. Though Cotton Joe did specify that there were varying degrees of funding at each place, just wanted to emphasize that unlike somewhere like Alabama which funds all of its MAs, UK does not.

  3. On 8/12/2018 at 9:43 PM, ZTG92 said:

    I have been having these same feelings of anxiety, so it feels good to see I am not alone I guess. I just moved across the country a few weeks ago and was having severe anxiety leading up to the move and since arriving. I start my semester soon and every evening I have this crushing anxiety that I am going to be miserable, have no personal time, or not be able to rise to the challenges. Thank you both for the shared experiences, hopefully it goes away soon! Cassifrassidy, I definitely understand what you're going through and you're not alone lol

    You are definitely not alone! Sending you good vibes

  4. On 8/12/2018 at 1:16 PM, klader said:

    Hang in there! First few weeks are scary. My program had a really intense TA training that met every day for several hours, so I was completely drained during & after it. 

    What I will say is that after finishing the intense training, everything felt easier. I had classes only a couple times a week and could spread out my reading; I taught only a couple times a week and had some space to leave an assignment description alone for a few days and think about how I wanted to write it. 

    Once you get into an established routine during the regular semester, things will start to feel "normal." But it is absolutely overwhelming at first. I'm sure your cohort feels similarly, too, so I'd recommend reaching out to them, as you are all going through this together. 

    Best of luck! 

    Thank you for the reassurance! It's helpful to hear others' experience (especially that it's going to get easier haha)

  5. 9 hours ago, jrockford27 said:

    You're not nuts, this is all - unfortunately - very typical and natural.  When I first started, I was convinced that I was the stupidest person in the room at all times, and that the admissions committee must have made some grievous error. Fortunately, my program spares us the anxiety of first year teaching on top of all the other first year anxieties, but nevertheless, things were daunting as hell.

    You're adjusting to new experiences, a new position, and a new way of being in the world and in academia.  It's going to feel overwhelming, and there are going to be growing pains.  It never becomes easy, but as you become more familiar with the lay of the land, and a new body of expectations, things will become much easier to handle.  

    If it helps at all, most graduate students I know also manage to have vibrant personal and social lives if they want them; and, likewise, grad school is isolating but also offers remedies to isolation. You're going to figure out how to make your life work.  Everything is going to be okay.

    Thank you for the support and validation ❤️ I needed to hear this right now

  6. Hi everyone,

    I just started my program, and I'm feeling pretty overwhelmed already, so I was wondering if anyone else just starting is feeling that way/felt that way when they started and can commiserate, esp in regards to teaching. My actual classes haven't begun yet, but I'm currently in my training for teaching. Every day it seems like they spring new requirements on us, and it's starting to really wear on me. And classes haven't even begun! But I'm worried about being able to manage my time while also having SOME time for myself. I wasn't even supposed to be teaching this year--when I was admitted I was told I would work in the writing center. Then suddenly, they tell me that I'll be teaching, not just TAing, but teaching my own class. I've also moved across the country and away from my support system and I recently got out of a very toxic, emotionally abusive relationship which I'm still kind of reeling from. Bottom line is just that my anxiety is building and I'm having difficulties sleeping, so I guess I'm just searching for people who understand what this feels like so that I don't feel completely nuts haha

  7. University of Alabama offers full funding to all of their incoming MAs (and their department is super nice!). Syracuse University (where I'm attending) is also a fully funded program, though they have limited funding spots. But they usually do cycle through a lot of students, which is why they typically accept more students than they can fund.

  8. 18 hours ago, bpilgrim89 said:

    For something like this, it's hard to say. I think it should be the person you've had the most contact with. When I did it, it wasn't the DGS I had the most contact with, but a professor in my field who was on the adcom. Because it sounds like you've had the most contact with the DGS, you might want to try them; however, they might feel like they can't give you feedback because of their role as DGS. It might be better to ask whoever seems like your biggest POI at the university. No harm in sending two emails to two separate people, so long as you're always polite, concise, and deferential.

    Thank you! That's very helpful.I'll reach out to a prof that I have had contact with.

    Also, thank you all for your help again, but just to update: I got funding at Syracuse! Also in an unexpected plot twist, I got off the waitlist at LSU's PhD program! So will not be taking a year off :D

  9. I would definitely give their DGS or Grad Coordinator a call if they haven't responded to email. There's one program I've communicated with that is terrible at emails, but they're really great over the phone! That might give you a little more info, though you might need to try a couple times or leave a message because departments are so busy this time of year.

  10. 20 hours ago, Kilos said:

    absolutely no shame in taking a year (or two) off to get your bearings--especially if you're not fully sold on any of your options. 

    Thank you so much for saying this. I really appreciate being validated because I know my family will think I'm totally crazy if I don't accept this offer (which I have been thinking myself to be honest). The more I've been thinking about it, the more appealing a year off sounds (though obviously there are cons). Your personal experience also is helpful in weighing my decision, because like you I would prefer to go straight back in to academics.

    28 minutes ago, bpilgrim89 said:

    You might want to ask them what the committee's hesitations were, so that you can address them for future admission cycles.

    Wow, that's a really great idea! I hadn't though of that, but I will definitely do so regardless of if I take a year off or accept UA's offer. Do you know who the best person to contact about that would be? Should I ask the DGS to point me in the right direction?

    9 minutes ago, Warelin said:

    I've spent some time in Alabama. I can offer this: The professors I interacted with were incredibly nice, thoughtful and wanted to do what was right for their students.I know several students from the MA program who have gone to Ohio State, Yale,. Notre Dame, Washington University in St. Louis, Emory University, Duke University, Rutgers University, University of Illinois-Urbana-Champaign and University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill. Tuscaloosa is more liberal than one would think. Students were celebrating when Obama won his second term.

    That definitely eases my worries. I've been going back and forth a lot on whether or not I think it would be "prudent" (whatever that means) to accept, and I definitely change my mind because I feel like I know little about grad programs. Your insight is very valuable, thank you!

    Thank you so much to everyone who has responded. I will say, I do really like UA's program and all the people I've met. My biggest hesitation is just that I like Syracuse's program better and I think it fits better with my interests. That being said, I do think I would be happy and successful at UA. I have talked with the DGS at Syracuse this morning, and I am currently first on the list (there is at least one person who has yet to commit, but I'm not sure if there are other available spots). I'm really hoping I'll be funded there and be able to avoid this dilemma. But regardless, thank you to each of you who helped me work through my thoughts and gave me more info! I really appreciate it.

  11. I am having a dilemma on what to do. I can't decide if I'm just panicked and overwhelmed because the decision deadline is so soon, but I would really appreciate anyone's insights.

    So I'm an undergraduate, and I've been accepted with full funding to University of Alabama for an MA. I've been accepted but waitlisted for funding at Syracuse for an MA. I've been accepted to Rochester's MA and given their highest funding offer (50% tuition). I've also been waitlisted at LSU's PhD program. 

    I recently visited both UA and Syracuse. I really liked UA's program when I visited. The professors I met with were very intelligent and helpful, I really liked Tuscaloosa, and I generally got good vibes from everyone there. Everyone was really kind and genuinely seemed like they wanted me to do well and make the right decision for me. However, I am a 19th centuryist, and they don't have a huge amount of people in my field. They have two professors I really like and would enjoy working with, and they apparently have just hired Dan Novak, a Victorianist from Ole Miss, so there will be three. However, their Victorianist, who I would like to be my advisor if I attend is going on sabbatical in the Spring. The teaching load is also intense, being 2/2. I am also wary about Southern politics and its defunding of education (though UA seems to me like they have a lot of money, based on conference funding, grants, etc.). Also, I am inclined not to be swayed by ranking, which I do think is arbitrary, they are a lower ranked program and have lower placement rates. My overall goal is to go on to PhD programs and go into academia, and I know that the job market is really competitive, so I don't wanna shoot myself in the foot early on.

    I loved Syracuse's program. They have so many professors in my field, and my top three interests (19th century British, gender and sexuality, and genre/pop fiction) are big in their program. I liked the location, and I would like to move to the Northeast because I am very liberal and there's a lot more there. I connected really well with their professors and students, and I really think I could do really awesome work there and the program would give me a lot of resources to grow academically. Also, their placement rate is AWESOME, and the program sometimes accepts their MAs into their PhD program, which is nice.

    I should say that I initially applied for Rochester's PhD program and got deferred to their MA program, which I was accepted to. A couple of weeks ago, I emailed Rochester's DGS and let her know I would not be attending the program because of funding. Today, I got a response from her, saying she was sorry for the lateness of her reply, and that she hopes I will reapply to Rochester for their PhD program, because my application was "among the stronger applications that just barely missed this year’s cohort." Now I'm wondering if I took a year off and worked on my application if I would be able to strengthen it and get into programs that meet my interests more fully and have better placement. I also wonder if I could get accepted into a PhD program instead of an MA (which is what I ultimately want to do).

    Bottom line, if I get funding at Syracuse, I will definitely accept. But if I don't, I'm not sure if UA is the best offer for me, and I wonder if I should take a year off and reapply. But I'm also wondering if I'm just being snobby and ungrateful and I should accept UA's offer, especially because there's no guarantee I'll get an acceptance next year. What are your all's thoughts?

  12. Damn, y'all are being kind of hard on the OP. As an undergrad who comes from a generally uneducated family/background, I found the entire application process immensely confusing and difficult to understand its nuances. I have sympathy for you AbsurdLife, it's a difficult and emotional process. I personally am in a similar situation: I have a funded offer from a lower choice program, but I am waitlisted for funding at my top choice. My advice based on nothing more than my own sense of courtesy would be to call the DGS, explain your situation, and see what they're willing to do. I know most DGS I have encountered are very sympathetic and really want you to make a choice that's in your best interest. They obviously value you and want you to attend their program, but surely they don't want to trap people into their program when said students want to go somewhere else. That being said, I would prepare yourself in case they aren't flexible, and ask yourself how much you REALLY want to attend the other program and whether you're willing to bank on getting off the waitlist, no matter how likely it seems. That's the action I would personally take. Please do keep us updated!

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