madandmoonly

Yeah, no.

Rice is also a no-go.

I enrolled in the same joint MA at Brandeis (Eng & WGS; graduated last February) without ever visiting beforehand, so definitely PM me if you want to chat!

Congrats!! Feel free to get in touch if you have any questions!

Yep, after discussing it over with our advisors. I'm pretty sure I know which classes I need to take, so I've just been waiting for orientation to get that settled. Looking forward to starting next week!

First orientation's in two days, yikes, and then the department orientation is the day after. First day of class likely on the 27th? Haven't technically signed up for classes yet, but I'm pretty sure. Talked to my advisor for a bit yesterday and we're getting along well so far, so that's been really nice and also a relief. Currently working through Derrida's Specters of Marx.

Might want to check out Rice's English department as well. Very interdisciplinary with many people working on non-traditional projects; lots of science.

I also got an apartment close to campus!

I think the main thing I'd be concerned about is the cost of attending the conference. It's not just the plane ticket -- it's food, transportation, sleeping arrangements, and registration fees, usually. Anyway, it's generally a lot of money. Even more so since it's international, I think. Which is why it's nice to do it once you're already in grad school -- usually they provide funding for you to attend these things. If you somehow find some funding / expenses are for whatever reason not an issue -- I see no reason why you shouldn't be excited about going. If the conference accepts work from undergraduates, which you probably made sure of already, then you were accepted because your work is good. So. M2C.

@WildeThing Have you been assigned an advisor to help you figure out courses? That's personally what I'm waiting on b/c I also have a ton of questions but no one to ask them to as yet...

The reading list for the What is the Contemporary? course currently looks like this: Teju Cole, Open City; Don DeLillo, Cosmopolis; Mohsin Hamid, Exit West; Barbara Kingsolver, Flight Behavior; Jamaica Kincaid, Lucy; Ruth Ozeki, A Tale for the Time Being. I haven't read any of these novels before, so that's exciting! And that it's almost all POC!

English departments actually fully expect your research interests to change and develop. This is the purpose of dedicating the first few years to coursework. Even if you decide to change literary time periods I don't think this would cause much of an issue tbh? I personally wouldn't worry about it. But it would probably be useful to apply to schools that have various areas of interest for you if this is something you're already concerned about.

I think my schedule will probably end up being: Topics in Literary Studies (the required 1st yr class), Ecology and Philosophy (!!!), and What is the Contemporary? ?

It's amusing that some of us are already set up for the fall semester & I just got an email today asking for my official transcripts so I can actually be a real Ph.D student now. lol. (They're busy, I know, it's totally fine. ) I'm thinking about this problem a lot too! Mostly about the pre-1800 and post-1800 reqs (I need two courses in each), coupled with the fact that I plan on pursuing two different certificates which both have different course requirements as well. Along with all of the regular required courses + stuff that just sounds interesting.... Basically I'm gonna need a lot of guidance from whomever my advisor is about which classes to take. ? Me, trying to figure all this out in my brain:

I haven't gotten many new emails since April, so there's not much going on on my end... I have, however, probably memorized their website, graduate student handbook, and all the degree requirements for the next ~5 years, at this point... Yeah, I really need it to be August now.

I got accepted to present at two different panels at the NWSA this year!! I'm so frickin excited to go to San Fransisco, y'all.

I'm traveling, visiting family and friends, etc. In terms of academia-related things: nothing, really. Actually, I'm actively trying to spend my time reading stuff that's unlikely to end up on an eventual comps reading list. I have two theory books written by future profs (fingers crossed one of them ends up as my advisor) that I'd like to read before school starts, but other than that I'm staying away from theory till then. Trip to Alaska (graduation present) and my actual graduation ceremony in a couple weeks!

Ditto!! Surely we must. Congrats @arbie -- it's a great school for sure!

Turning down programs feels terrible every time and I hate it 0/10 would never recommend

I don't blame you honestly. That visit weekend was incredibly persuasive and everyone was just so chill somehow?? I'm still shocked by how much I liked everyone, given what a grumpy old man I usually am. Plus, I couldn't turn down that stipend or chance to work with TM. I'm really excited!

To the surprise of probably no one who's ever heard me say anything about anything, I officially accepted Rice's offer of admission.

I just turned down UT Austin's offer. Stings a lot, actually -- I absolutely adore my POI there. But this should cause some movement on the waitlist, so good luck for those waiting to hear.

See y'all later today!

When will GC member @dilby stop leaving us hanging & give us the deets about their second visit smh

Another thing to consider: When I was applying to programs I had similar anxieties about one student seemingly combining two fields in the same way that I want to do. But when I emailed them to ask them a few (unrelated) questions and mentioned our similar interests, they told me that their profile hadn't been updated since they started the program. So the info stated on the website was a bit outdated, as their research project had taken a different shape since then. So. I wouldn't stress too much about it -- projects change. Yours likely will, too.