indoorfireworks
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Posts posted by indoorfireworks
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2 hours ago, Indecisive Poet said:
Have all of my applications sent in + 2/3 of my referees have submitted all their letters! Unfortunately I sent in Illinois @ Chicago thinking that the application for fellowships was optional (turns out it's not). So now I'm trudging through another surprise 300-word statement. Has anyone else done this one? It asks for a description of my previous experience in my proposed field of study, including teaching, extracurricular activities, professional experience, etc... if only I could just refer them to my CV and to the personal statement I've already written for them. After 3.5 months of full-time application-writing, I no longer have the energy to pour forth anything that is remotely creative, so I plan to write a very functional, very bland description of my tutoring experience, etc. Not sure what they're even looking for, since the only funding I would get is guaranteed anyway ?♀️
Ugh, me. I have a good amount of teaching experience, but 300 words is far from enough to cover anything in sufficient detail. I'm not stressing it much since, as you noted, funding is guaranteed. Anyway, I'll share mine with you via pm if you're interested.
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13 hours ago, Warelin said:
For what it's worth, one of my professors submitted ~2 weeks late on an application that said letters were due on the same day. I was still accepted by that school.
Thanks for this. I know a lot of schools will take them late but this particular one seemed pretty unambiguous.
Turns out it’s a moot point in this case because my recommender finally sent in her letter a bit after my initial post. Big relief.
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I’ve submitted all four that are due today but I’m still waiting on a letter of rec. The prof says she is working on it and will have it turned in today but good lord being this close to the wire makes me anxious.
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I submitted my first application and already have an issue ?I triple checked to make sure all of my school info and transcripts were input correctly. I remember for a fact the school where I got my AA was there because I had to change the start month. Nonetheless, that school was not present when I looked at the app summary after submitting. I contacted the program coordinator who said she couldn't do anything, but to contact the IT help desk. They told me they couldn't do anything. I relayed that to the coordinator who said she would check to see if the info was there but somehow not showing up in the summary. I haven't heard back and it's been about 5 days.
I'm wondering if this is something the committee may not notice or care about since all of that info is on the transcript from my BA. Or if they'll just ask me to submit the missing transcript when they're reviewing the app. On the other hand, if that's not likely, maybe there's something I can do to get the app totally complete before the due date of 12/1. Honestly, this is my first choice school so if there's some way they could cancel my first app, I would be willing to redo the whole thing.
So therein is my dilemma - to pester the school for another course of action or leave it alone. Any input greatly appreciated. -
I just emailed and asked. Between 10 schools, there was a lot of variance. Some said 20 pages max including references, some said 20 pages of writing, plus references. Others said 20-22 pages of writing was fine. IMO, it's not worth guessing and it's not like anyone's going to penalize you for asking.
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Thanks, @Plurabelle @Glasperlenspieler @mobydickpic I just avoided the discussion of career altogether, and instead focused on how my research fit the department. I feel a lot better about it now.
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So it's getting down to the wire and my WS is done, transcripts and CV are uploaded, and SOPs are 90% good to go. I'm just stressing one last bit - When writing my career goals, should I state a TT job, but mention an alternative I'm considering so I don't seem unrealistic? Or will that look like I'm waffling?
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I've found a lot of good input on here about what to include in a diversity statement, but I haven't seen any examples. All the ones I've found online are for teaching jobs which, although there is certainly a lot of overlap, isn't exactly what I'd be writing for a grad school app. Would anyone who's written one be willing to share it via DM? I'm also open to other suggestions about what to include/not to include and structure. Thanks in advance!
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2 hours ago, coffeelyf said:
Hi everyone! Long-time lurker since my first round of grad applications 3 years ago, and now I'm finally feeling ready to participate, as I'm about to apply to PhD programs.
I'm applying with a MA, and want to use part of my thesis for the WS as it is really my best work both theory- and analysis-wise and reflects the kind of work I would like to do at the PhD level. The problem that I'm having is that my chapters are kind of short (~10 pages), with a long intro (~15 pages), so a combination of the intro + a chapter would be too long for most WS page expectations (~20 pages). The context is that my thesis is on 4 different novels, so each chapter is on one novel, with the intro and conclusion and one small interchapter for historical and theoretical backgrounds. Overall, it's a pretty long thesis.
I would love to hear your input on how to approach excerpting a MA thesis: should I craft a paper that's like a cohesive whole, revolved around one of my chapters? Can you offer some advice on best practices? I know that I should have a cover page explaining the excerpt and how it relates to the bigger project, but that's about it. I would really appreciate any advice, as this is the hardest part of the apps for me right now. Thanks!
The DGS where I did my master's said a strong intro and conclusion are particularly important and if/where I need to trim, some of the close readings would be best. My WS is a theoretical reading of three poets/four total collections, and I'm just going to summarize the whole analysis of the last collection to get to 20 pages. I may just include a paragraph or two from each collection for schools with lower page maxes. The DGS and gradcafe people have all said to just use brackets and a few sentences in place of where I cut and note on the cover page that I've done so.
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On 11/3/2019 at 9:26 PM, karamazov said:
Does anyone have adviser/letter writer appreciation gift ideas? What have people from past cycles done for the professors who have gone above and beyond to help throughout this process? What are people from this cycle planning? I definitely want to do something for my professors, especially since they really have done so much that they totally did not have to do (reading and re-reading revised writing samples, statements of purpose, etc.). I feel like gift cards are maybe too, like... monetary? I've thought about things like gift baskets, but I don't really know the food/candy/etc. preferences of my professors. I would love to hear other people's ideas!
Last year I got my writers tins of some nice tea. I spent less than $20 apiece, but I felt like it was way better than a gift card.
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13 hours ago, merry night wanderer said:
I get the impression they do not think MFA = MA, and rightly so, because MFAs 1) don't write Master's theses (and as such have not had the time to seriously hone their interests) and 2) have wildly varying requirements for literature classes. I think if you have taken lit classes and done well in them, it will count, and as such the expectation would be that your sample is better than an undergrad's, but an MFA is a creative degree at the end of the day and not a scholarly one. Some MFAs are all studio classes.
It is also not rare for MFAs to have funding, or some degree of funding. Full funding is just highly competitive.
I'm going into apps with an MFA and of the schools that I've asked about it, here's what I've found out:
- Ohio State generally considers an MFA equivalent to an MA, but there are some MFA students who they feel would benefit from an additional master's and only admit them on that condition.
- Kent State considers MFA equivalent to MA.- Illinois at Urbana Champaign and UMass-Amherst do not consider an MFA equivalent to an MA and would require a student to complete one before being admitted to the PhD.
Hope this helps. If there's any doubt, I wouldn't hesitate to ask. It's an additional two year commitment; you don't want to be hazy on whether it's necessary or not.
As far as whether an MFA will hurt you, one of my letter writers has just encouraged me to use my SoP to play up the critical work I did--and I did a lot, even for a studio degree--to address any reservations lit programs might have. Ultimately, I get the impression it comes down to the SoP and WS as it does with everyone. And if it will make you feel better, look at the grad student profiles on the department's web site. You'll see a smattering of MFAs, which I found encouraging. -
19 hours ago, onerepublic96 said:
Sidenote, @indoorfireworks, on first reading your post I misread 'if he was still active' as 'if he was still alive' and that's just... something... ?
haha yes, that's also an important factor
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I was leaning against it for the most part, but I made two exceptions. The first was because of a very out of date department web site. The second was on the advice of one of my letter writers; I emailed a POI who was of retirement age to see if he was still active. I'm glad I did, because he just retired at the end of last semester. In each case, I just made a quick statement about what I liked about their work, what I plan to do in a PhD and asked A. what graduate level classes they are teaching or plan to teach and B. if they expected to be available for dissertation committees in the next couple of years.
Both were extremely gracious and I'm ultimately glad I contacted them, even though the first POI said he didn't know how he felt about my proposed methodology. That was kind of a bummer to hear, but it wasn't outright negative and I'm not taking it as discouragement toward applying. And regardless, I feel really good about knowing I'm only applying to places where there will grad-active be profs I want to study with. I can imagine being very frustrated spending the time and money researching a school, reading a prof's work, applying, and then finding out the POI isn't there or isn't working with grads much.
TL;DR - it's a case-by-case thing, and I would really only do it if there was a reasonable chance they might not be doing work you're interested in (if they're there at all). But I would definitely do that research on your own first. I imagine it would look bad if you asked "hey, what are you working on" if articles are readily available online.
As far as finding up-to-date pubs, I definitely recommend Academia.edu and ResearchGate even if you do have access to a university database. I found a lot of work from POIs as free pdfs on public sites that my U's library didn't have. -
They do offer some fellowships, but I get the feeling they're super limited, plus I don't have the minimum combined GRE (probably should have studied for the quant). ?
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For anyone thinking of applying to University at Buffalo, be aware that they're putting a "pause" on funding new PhD students.
https://www.chronicle.com/article/Amid-Rumors-of-Shift-to/247199
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On 9/16/2019 at 7:32 PM, Ramus said:
Frankly, I wouldn't even consider having anyone that old serve as an advisor or dissertation director. Even if you do ask them straight up if they're going to retire, there's always the real possibility that they change their minds (happened to a guy in my cohort who came to work with a dude that retired a year later), take ill (an unfortunate reality), etc. But, more importantly, it's a bad idea to have someone that old direct your thesis because profs that old don't have to give a shit anymore. There will be no repercussions if they take too long to email you back, devote little time to you and your development, or act like a jerk to you. They may or may not be up on the most recent scholarship, let alone that in your area of expertise. Chances are their professional connections are dated, too. And don't forget that they haven't been on the job market for literally decades, and almost certainly have very little sense of what's needed to be successful on the present job market.
So, in short, just don't put yourself in a position to depend too much on the old faculty. By all means, chat them up, ask them the questions about the minutiae of literary cruxes, talk about how their careers developed, etc. But don't take them on as an advisor or a dissertation director.
On 9/14/2019 at 12:28 PM, signandsignifiers said:Send them an email! Ask them frankly if they're taking on graduate students. You don't have to say that you're worried about age, but you do want to know that they'll direct your dissertation or at least be on your committee (there are other reasons why they might not take on new students, so it's good to ask even if the faculty member is younger). If you have their word from the onset, it's less likely that something will happen.
It's tough because there aren't a ton of professors in my field of interest in general, and the 77yo is in a really specific niche that I haven't seen anyone else doing. At least the 70yo is at a school with other profs in the specialty. Anyway, thanks both of you for your input.
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Here's one full example and a guide for selecting/writing one. I remember coming across another example, but can't find it now. Will PM you if I find it.
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Here's one from a prof at Kent State. There's a link to another one in the comments.
https://wraabe.wordpress.com/2016/02/18/application-statement-phd-in-english/
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On 3/5/2019 at 6:27 PM, signandsignifiers said:
In other words, make absolutely certain that each faculty member you need to work with will work with you--and check if anyone's planning to retire any time soon.
I've been thinking about this issue a lot and am wondering if there's a decorous way to do this. One of my POIs is 77 and another is 70. Do you have any suggestions for how to inquire?
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@northwestnative @WildeThing @Indecisive Poet
This all seems very helpful, thanks!
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On this subject, how much of a difference does name recognition of previous institutions make? I have a bachelor's and MFA from an R1 in the south that's pretty low on the USN rankings, but I have some good things going for my application, including two scholarly publications. Is it worth it to apply to top 30 schools if I didn't graduate from one in that tier?
EDIT: I'm definitely applying to the upper-tier schools because the respective faculties align with my interests, not out of a sense of prestige. -
Hey hey, this seems like a good time to jump in after just lurking last app season.
Last year, I was finishing up my MFA in creative writing and applied to six CW PhDs and three lit. I definitely think that the pressures of teaching, working a 2nd job, and finishing my thesis were a huge time/energy burden on my PhD apps. I got on one CW and one lit wait list, but didn't get an offer. Of course it stung for a bit, but in the time since I've seen how much of a benefit it was. I didn't really have a firm plan of study in mind and my WS/SOP were pretty garbage. In the time since, I've realized I really don't want to do another CW degree, and am way more familiar with the lit fields I want to pursue. My main focuses are psychoanalysis and Marxism, especially within modern and contemporary poetry. I just finished my final list of schools yesterday and now have a total of 11.
I have to admit I'm particularly anxious about not having a lit background. My bachelor's is in psychology, but I did a couple lit classes then and in my MFA. My GRE scores are decent for verbal and writing (96/92) but 12% in quant, yikes. I think the main thing I have going for me is that my new writing sample was just published in a scholarly journal, so hopefully that demonstrates critical reading ability enough to make up for not having formal classes?
My other main concern is how much detail to go into about POI's work in my SOP. If anyone would care to share that section of their SOP for reference, I would really appreciate it.
Looking forward to being more active on the forum over the next few months (and hopefully beyond)! -
I applied to FSU in poetry and was notified yesterday of being waitlisted. I asked one of my thesis committee members who is a recent PhD grad there and he said “I don’t think the huge waitlist thing is true, for what it’s worth,” but that’s not definitive.
Would it be worth it/appropriate to email the school and ask the size of their waitlist?
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Hi everyone, this is my first post. I just logged in to U of North Texas' site and saw my status as Decision Deferred. There was also a note that they need my final transcript. I'm assuming that just means my transcript with Fall semester's grades? And is it bad that I'm just seeing this message so late in the game? Kinda wondering why they didn't send an email to me about it. I saw on the boards that UNT has sent acceptances already. Any insight into what Decision Deferred might mean, I would be glad to hear it.
Shellacked again...
in Literature, and Rhetoric and Composition
Posted
I got an email from Pitt's university press about new poetry collections. Of course I only saw the sender, not the subject line, before I started freaking out ?