bigdgp

Branwen, Although I hesitate to help you out since we will probably be applying for the same spots at the same schools and your specs are better than mine, I guess I can throw you a bone with Latin study (LOL). I took an intensive Latin course this past semester at the CUNY Graduate Center, and our textbook was wonderful! The best thing about it is that it is very easy to use for a complete novice working alone, and it is comprehensive as far as grammatical constructions are concerned. It's called Latin: An Intensive Course and it is written by Rita Fleischer and Floyd L. Moreland. BTW, I guess they're not the exact same spots, since I'm less interested in French Arthurian literature and want to focus more on the convergence of Briton Christianity with Anglo-Saxon Paganism and back into Irish-Celtic Christianity, and all of the mystical symbol-sharing therein. Our interests certainly do cross, though. I'm sure I'll see you at the conference in Kalamazoo at some point.

This is all very helpful. Thank you!

I will be applying to PhD programs this fall and I'm a little nervous about my CV. I'm particularly afraid of the fact that I have no publications to list and that, as I have not attended schools that give departmental awards for papers, I have no writing awards either. Can anybody speak to the necessity, or lack of necessity, of having publications to list on a PhD application? I will be entering a program already having completed an MA, if that makes a difference

I've been teaching high school English in NYC for the past five years. I can't tell you how thankful I am to be delivered from that job!

I hope that this response does not seem disrespectful. I know how frustrating it can be to have your chosen life plan questioned. However, I wonder if you should be considering graduate school right now. As annoying as that statement may be, please understand that I am speaking from experience. When I was finishing my undergrad, I considered going straight into a graduate program in English. I knew that literature is my love and that I wanted to get paid to read in some capicity. I also liked the professor's work schedule (my father is a piano professor) and will even admit to being starstruck by the idea of putting those three glorious letters after my name. However, like you, I found the idea of carving out my own niche among critics extremely daunting. I didn't know what specific aspect of literature I appreciated to the extent that I could have 100,000 words to say about it. In the end, I opted not to go straight into graduate school and to spend some time teaching high school English instead. I am five years older now, and have had a great deal of exposure to the practice of teaching. I have had the freedom to choose which books I want to read since finishing my undergrad, allowing me to narrow my focus. I've practiced using critical articles about literature to inform my teaching practices and have been forced to narrow and specifically outline my critical approach. I am going back to school next fall for a graduate degree in English with a clear focus and a great deal more perspective. Admittedly, there are downsides to my decision. I have lost touch with my undergraduate professors, so an LOR from them would not have been sufficient. Instead, I took two classes as a non-matriculated student and had those professors write me LORs that were consistent with my current interests and abilities. Additionally, I am going to complete an MA prior to going on to a PhD (I am very skeptical of anyone who holds that doing so is more harmful than helpful. As many schools require a previous MA as only take direct admits, and most don't care). The fact is, if you aren't sure that you want to write about anything for 100,000 words, you probably won't be successful in your application, and you almost certainly won't be successful in your program. You will likely just end up wasting A LOT of money on the application process. This is in no way an insult to your intelligence, it's just a fact. Adcom's are experts at identifying which candidates are prepared for intense graduate research and which just really appreciate the nuances and subtleties of literature. Take some time, focus your interests and narrow your approach. You will be a much more successful candidate for it.

So I am extremely excited to be going to one of my dream schools next year (in the UK) for an MA. However, in order to be able to go, I will need to get a substantial loan. The new legislation that deals with Stafford Loans is driving me crazy. Apparently, Direct Loans is the only lender allowed to grant Stafford Loans for the fall semester. However, they will not (at this time) approve loans to overseas schools, as that has in the past been left to private lenders who could distribute government money. When I look for private loans, I keep hearing that I have to exhaust government options first (apparently not being allowed to receive any does not constitute exhaustion). I've heard a few different dates near the end of June thrown around as start dates for DL granting Stafford Loans overseas, but nothing concrete. I'm really afraid that those of us trying to attend school abroad will fall through the cracks. Anybody else know anything?

Although I'm not aware of the meaning of "FELP," I am also anxiously awaiting the fate of the US students trying to use Stafford Loans to fund UK study. I have accepted a spot in an MA program at the University of York, but I won't be able to go if I can't get a loan.

Haha! Well done! But don't forget, Back to the Future came from the 80's too.

Actually, I think Branwen is precisely NOT mixing up "feminism" and "about women," a mistake I think many people who think they want to go into feminist criticism make. A new historicist can honestly study the way a forgotten woman was informed by and helped to inform her cultural milieu. However, in my experience, feminist critics tend to begin with the premise that every decision and action throughout the whole of human history has been a deliberate and calculated attempted to screw over the female gender. (OK, maybe I am doing a little personal superimposing of my own by putting it in such hyperbolic terms, but you all get the idea. And I'm pretty sure somebody is going to turn this into a fairly spirited and entertaining discussion despite this retraction, which will, in turn, illustrate my point). I'm with you, Branwen, on almost everything you said about criticism (ESPECIALLY DECONSTRUCTION). I find that I am drawn to new historicists more than others, though.

Yeah, money when you are student in NYC will always be dodgy, but you know that if you've lived here. The nice thing about Rose Hill is that it is so far north in the Bronx that you could live outside the city in Whiteplain (sp?) or Yonkers and still be closer to the school than in parts of Manhattan. Also, it occurred to me that if you are really wanting to focus on the transformation of Guinevere from hero to harlot, you might look into the CUNY Graduate Center. That is another place where funding is iffy, but it has an excellent reputation for dealing with issues of gender in the Medieval period specifically. Plus, they are much higher than Fordham on the US News and World Report rankings, for what its worth.

Although I don't want to beat a dead horse with this Fordham topic, I did want to let you know some of the research I've done. I am also a Medievalist and I live in NYC, so I have learned quite a bit about Fordham's program. Dr. Katherine Little and Dr. Martin Chase are both associate professors, which bears the same validity as a full professor as far as academic reputability is concerned. The only difference is that an associate professor is still awaiting the number of years to make the pay jump to full professor. These are not the only associate professors of Medieval Lit., but they are the ones with whom I have interacted. Both are very kind and supportive, and I don't even attend Fordham! Trust me, very few people know more than I do how dreadful the Bronx can be (I taught public high school English there for two years). However, Rose Hill is in a beautiful section of the borough that is known for being actually quite wealthy. Also, they have a small satellite campus on the Upper West Side right next to the Lincoln Center, and many of the English classes happen there. Just some thoughts.

I am getting ready to do an MA program in the UK (either at York or St. Andrews) and I have talked with professors quite a bit about the struggles of a UK PhD getting a job in the US. I met with an adviser a few weeks ago at Hunter College CUNY (where I am currently working on an MA that I will leave early to finish in the UK) to discuss doctoral study. She advised me to return to the US to work on a PhD as UK doctorates do find it very difficult to get jobs in the US, even from the most elite institutions. She said it has very little to do with any perception about the quality of education. Instead, the fact is that there is a great deal of nepotism involved in landing an initial job in academia. Apparently, it is somewhat rare for a person to find a first position at a school where there is NOT a friend of his or her dissertation adviser in the department. Professors in the UK tend to have fewer close friends in the US. I'm still strongly considering staying in the UK for my PhD, though. Maybe I'll just try to stay and work there after I finish too. BTW, also studying Medieval Lit.