j.alicea

LOL yes!!! I hate doing it, because I really am trying to listen to everyone on the panel... but yeah, sorry person before me on every panel ever! Too stressed to listen!

@victoriansimpkins and @Sav no way he consulted faculty, or anyone, right??? I mean the going over time, which ruins the QA, which makes it pointless... I mean the QA is why we do panels... also, SINGLE-SPACED???? How is he going to frantically write in notes between lines 30 minutes beforehand???

Single-spaced and 8 pages??? That’s painful to hear... I personally feel as though I rely too much on my paper (looking down and just reading the text), so I’ve recently been focusing on just getting an idea, an example, some questions, and approaches to said questions, and leave it rather colloquial and open in order to keep people from snoozing and hopefully prompt questions and ideas from the audience. This has been successful for me at small and large conferences, but only on cultural or American studies panels, so not sure if other disciplines are more formal and rigid. I started doing this since, in my mind, the panel is more for getting some new hands on your ideas for a paper, not for presenting a polished paper with a nailed down argument. I bring my “more complete” papers, let’s say, to round-tables, which do the paper justice in ways that a panel cannot. NeMLA keeps having me back, at least, and I’ve received very positive and insightful feedback, so I’d like to think this is good advice if your abstract is accepted, @kendalldinniene.

Wow.

@Bopie5 word, I’m familiar with Elgin. Yeah idk I love chi, don’t get me wrong, but sometimes I feel that ive spent too much of my life there, and I am looking to explore the rest of the country, and ideally take a semester to live abroad while I study for the language requirement for QE’s. Question about California living to you and @kendalldinniene, is the cost of living really that bad?? I’ve looked at some city guides and it just seems outrageous to me that a studio could cost someone 1400, and I’m hoping they just had bad luck cause they were moving from out of state and didn’t know anyone or visit far enough in advance... I mean 1000 for a studio is doable (not reasonable, but doable), but 1400??? Plus utilities?????

@Bopie5 ah i didn’t realize there was a fellow Chicagoan here! And you’re in California now?? Truly living my dream... I’m from la villita in South Lawndale (however moved to west suburbs in carpentersville). I miss it and I don’t... I really just miss the Latino food and cultue, which is hard to find where I am now... @flungoutofspace oh I’m sure you will adapt if you move out to that area! My abuela came from San Juan, and before long she was wearing short sleeves in 30 degrees! On the other hand, judging from the schools to which I am applying, and my jealousy of your tropical life, perhaps I am being a little hypocritical of all your fears and you are so right, we should be concerned about people’s lives year round, not just when it’s sub-zero ?

Additional note: when I say it’s normal, I mean this normally happens, and everything shuts down just as it did today. No school will have you coming to class in -25. Everyone, breath! my point was more about the homeless and how little state and federal governments do to ensure that they don’t die in this cold (as I said, this happens every year, and my mom has to see it, so, you know, I just got a little passionate for a moment)

@dangermouse no worries, I didn’t take it as a negative, I’m just happy they are doing more outreach and excited to tell anyone about the changes they’ve been working towards! Also, the philosophy department is stellar, Gabriel Rockhill (translator of Rancière’s Politics of Aesthetics) is a rockstar and super helpful to any and all radical students, regardless of department. @placeinspace you get used to it right away! Just get yourself a puffy jacket, multiple pairs of long johns, heat sealing socks, and snow pants!

@pdh12 ah yes! Litersture, since they don’t have an English PhD program! I am particularly interested in Caribbean culture as a sort of bridge between Anglo and Hispanic and non-Anglo literary canons of the Americas, so I’ve been very inspired by all the recent work in the humanities with regional and island studies! Since I got into the PhD, probably won’t go to PEI. (although I would love to visit and pick some brains over there...) what are your research interests? Also, have they gotten back to you about travel funding to visit in March? Or an official acceptance letter yet? I am anxious to find out whether I will be lucky enough to get the multi-year funding deal, since that city is ridiculously expensive.

And back to grad stuff, @dangermouse I am finishing a MA at Villanova now, and I know for a fact that they really don’t care about gre, and, if it were up to the department, they would do away with that requirement. Also, it’s a really nice program with tons of faculty support, tuition waiver, good stipend, and lots of interesting new hires in ethnic studies, postcolonial lit, queer theory, and gws. Pm me if anyone is interested in further info.

Tbh the weather isn’t that crazy for Chicagoans. every year it hits at least -20 or -25 for a day or two, plus wind chill, it’ll then feel like -35, and cold day closures are inevitable. It’s definitely colder than it’s been in my time, but only bu about 15 degrees. I spoke with my mom (who is out and about because she works for BEDS; the homeless and those who can’t afford heating need our prayers or well-wishes), and she said it honestly doesn’t feel much colder than previous Winters (and many homeless will freeze, as they do every year...) we are all kinda surprised a fifteen degree difference caught so much media attention. Not to hate on those who are missing Hamilton, but, idk, if you’re from chi you should be used to shit getting cancelled this time of year, and realize the extreme winters are literally killing people, not just plays. that said, I love Lin, Boricua pride and all From Chirican to Nuyorican, just wanted to add that perspective after talking to the ma. Good luck everyone, and remember how lucky we really are.

@kendalldinniene good intel (no upvotes left :/)! Additionally, let us do away with all these "implied rejections," no? There is so much we don't know about the inner-workings of these adcomms - how their waitlists work, what kind of students they are looking for this year (probably different from the last year), whether the department even knows what kind of funding they will receive for its admits, etc.) and, I've said it before so I'll say it again, a rejection is only a rejection when it is, in fact, a rejection! There's a reason some hear back from a university in late January, and others hear back, from the same university, two or more months later! ** I realize that I am essentially saying, "Do away with this damn "implied rejections" topic!" And I realize it can be comforting to have any sort of closure, even negative, but I like to stay positive to counter-balance all the dread and despair humanities folk seem to cling to so dearly. (myself included).

@Eucerin oh no! Don't take my post as negative! Berkeley is AMAZING! The struggle is totally worth! But yes, wait till you have all the information (until the 24th) and then decide what is best for you. If this is any consolation, a friend who attended UCSC (which has an even more dismal funding package) managed to get funding all the years she attended, and received more than the base stipend, and she doesn't know anyone (from UCSC, UCB, UCI, and UCD) who didn't manage to do the same!

@Eucerin I know how you feel. Unfortunately, UCs are underfunded so you are going to have to do more independently to ensure that you can, well, survive in the most basic of senses. I recall Aristotle's politics, here: "The polis comes out of communities joining communities at first just to live, and then to live well" (this is not at all exact, just the jist). The more work you do, the closer you will get to "living well," but considering cost of living just keeps going up in most parts of that state, it will be an ongoing struggle. (But you've been struggling through this process, so you know you can keep on keeping-on!) Fortunately, most of the UC programs that I've looked at require a pro-seminar the first year, and provide lots of faculty support for the many applications you will inevitably be submitting while attending (once again, while stressful, this can be beneficial). Professors coming out of UCs have told me that you really have to fight once they send that funding information; even if you have no other offers (not the case for you), you need to try and negotiate, even if it's just for some money during the first few summers, or to ensure that they give you just one more year of guaranteed funding and stipend. Once I receive my funding package, I plan to meet with a few profs who have gone through this process for further advice, and I will make sure to pass this information on to you, if you would like. Also, I found the general grad handbook for Berkeley: http://grad.berkeley.edu/wp-content/uploads/graduate-student-handbook.pdf You should see if you can find one from previous years that is specifically for rhetoric.

@Eucerin I definitely could be wrong here, but you are "guaranteed" two to three years of non-resident tuition waiver and fellowship (not sure how much that is), and the third year, so long as you are in good standing, that is, as long as you complete your qualifying exams, they will grant you stipend ($18-$19k, I assume) for your quarters/semesters (not sure what system they go by), plus student fees (I assume, or I hope, this means resident tuition, since the UCs tend to use the language of "fees" as opposed to tuition waivers) for the next one to two years. From there, you should probably qualify for dissertation or teaching fellowships for your final years. You will probably have to apply for summer funding through research projects or summer TAships or RA position.

@sad_diamond and @Warelin That all seems right to me. Judging from their heavyweights in the Romance languages dept., and the professors I've known who come from Duke, it is an extremely rigorous and competitive environment (my professor, who is so sweet, has remarked on this, gleefully...) which can be a very positive experience, for some. Luckily, as competitive as that program is, you won't be competing for fellowships and funding (like at some UC's, including UCSC and UC Davis, from what I've been told). Of course, internal competition over funding can also be a benefit (imo): it pushes you to apply apply apply every quarter (since they all mostly operate on quarter system) for scholarships, grants, fellowships, TAships, and what have you. A recent grad from a UC has told me that it made it all the easier when they graduated and had to apply to dozens of jobs to get one offer (for a tenure track position!). @pdh12 speaking of UC funding, have you heard back yet about travel funding for the UCSC visit? Or an official letter of acceptance? Are the UC's struggling with money again? Also, (I know this goes way back) but they were surprisingly kind and almost seemed more excited than I was... but I suspect that the early call and their excitement over your work and potential admission is just indicative of you receiving multiples years of funding (as opposed to just one, and then you're on your own - apply to all the TA positions in all the humanities departments, STAT).

@purrfectpals Was it just a mass email invitation, or an email from a professor? If from a professor, go ahead and email and ask if there might be a travel stipend available, in which case they would reimburse you for the flight. Or, you could email their Grad Student Services Adviser and ask the same question, or ask what alternatives they offer for international students. Good luck, and congratulations on your acceptance (assuming you were invited as an accepted student)

@swarthmawr check the Interdisciplinaria studies board - they have a thread just for Am studies, and quite a few applied to UT, last I lurked...

@conraddy check this thread out: https://forum.thegradcafe.com/topic/106843-funded-english-ma-programs/ that said, not sure how accurate it is, or whether any are still accepting. Villanova is still accepting, and they offer tuition for both years and a stipend to about 5-7 new admits per year.

@kendalldinniene I mostly just wanted to respond to recommend that you check out “Esto No Es Berlin” (This is Not Berlin), whenever it is released for streaming (I have yet to find it, since it just premiered at Sundance this weekend). I’ve been excited for a while, and I think it falls into quite a few of your scholarly interests. Here’s the trailer: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=KJdfFkq7Cp0 and as For how I came to my areas of focus... idk, it took a lot of different experiencies: thinking in “broken” English and Spanish; reading a ton of modernist lit, with some ambivalence; listening to a lot of spoken word, slam and rap; teaching math; getting into island studies; reading postmodernist (Spanish) Caribbean philosophy; reading a lot of Western philosophy and perhaps being a little too suspicious; reading Anzaldúa, and then reading Mignolo. All those things and others happened and now I’m trying the PhD thing.

Additionally, The Graduate School Mess by Leonard Cassuto is worth a read for everyone doing graduate studies. The cold hard facts and statistics are, well, cold and hard to swallow, but I believe it also opens new avenues for academics and resists the ideal of a traditional career path for scholars. Most importantly, it reminds us that teaching and “research” (a term that is relatively new, or at least the way we use it, in academia, is relatively new) are indeed at odds (to the detriment of our students and our scholarship). He interrogates the idea of a research institution, and, in my opinion, very clearly shows its origins (one being economic coloniality, for those of us who prefer the language of decoloniality ; or capitalism).

@Sav thanks for the link - looks fascinating, and extremely important to the future of academia. Also, it’s crazy that MLA 7 already looks so strange to me now... how I miss the days when footnotes were right there on the same page, and block quotes didn’t look so damn clunky :/

University of Alabama: February 28-March 2 Washington University in St. Louis (WUSTL): February 28-March 2 U Wisconsin-Madison: March 3-5 UC Santa Cruz: March 14-17 Rice University: March 21-23

Yeahhh but I am not so jealous of how most have to apply separately to work in particular labs first, and then apply to the program!

Hey y'all, I would like to point to jonnyboy's posts in the Applicants thread - it appears that not getting a request for interview from UChi does not indicate a rejection. Interviewees are those whom the adcom is unsure of. So if you were invited to interview, you're still in it! If you haven't heard anything, you are also still in it!