cassidyaxx

Is anyone else thrown by Boston University's announcement today that they're closing admissions? It's only a few weeks until deadlines and now I have to find a backup school to apply to. I hope other schools don't follow suit.

@EffervescentMoon I've made some dents in my materials, definitely also feeling a bit behind schedule. I am working on what should be the final draft of my writing sample, so once that's done I'll feel a lot better. Then I just need to customize a few more personal statements. I'll be cutting it close to the December 15th deadline for some of my schools, that's for sure.

Just got informal confirmation that UConn's cohort will definitely be smaller (almost halved) this year. The grad exec committee said around 7, but pushback may shrink that to around 5. Wanted to let people know in case they're applying and this changes their minds.

@senorbrightside I'm not in the Spanish lit field, but I'd be more than happy to swap with you for another pair of eyes! i'll dm you my email. And @Bopie5 hi friend! That'd be great. I'll send you a dm

I know some people already were working on swapping SOP's... but if any other procrastinators like myself are still looking to swap, I'd be up for it!

Seconding Ebony Elizabeth Thomas, she is amazing. Since Penn isn't taking people though, I'd like to give a shoutout to UConn's faculty. There are several well known facullty working in YA lit, one of whom is Kate Capshaw who is actually friends with Ebony Elizabeth Thomas. She does AfAm lit and Children's lit. Two others are Victoria Ford Smith and Anna Mae Duane. They are worth looking into, and UConn also has enough faculty working in queer lit that it may be a good fit for you.

Just seeing if anyone would be interested in swapping writing samples within the next week or so! Mine is on Dracula/posthumanism/passing and Irish lit if that's up anyone's alley though I'd be more than willing to look over something dealing with a different field too! Hope everyone is hanging on in there this so far this cycle.

Just an update for UConn. While currently the grad exec board has NOT paused admissions or selected to cut admissions, there is SERIOUS push back from the English Graduate Student Association. They are hoping to get the grad exec board to agree to at least cut lines of funding for the incoming cohort, but their ultimate goal is to get them to cut admissions this cycle entirely. I don't know if this will happen, conversations will be taking place in the upcoming weeks, but I will keep people posted if I hear anything. As someone who is planning on applying to UConn, I'm obviously hoping they keep admissions for this cycle.

I've fallen off track quite a bit with my materials, as I was hoping to be done with them before August, and am not quite yet finished lol. But would definitely be willing to swap once I have more done, though! I'm still planning on applying, but I feel that many of the schools I apply to will probably end up cutting cohort sizes (UConn has been in the talks of doing so, with a push to do so by grad students with pushback from the grad exec board). So I've been planning on having multiple back up options (editing jobs, education programs, etc.) available to me in the chance that I'm not accepted to any programs. This will be my first semester teaching two sections of First Year Writing, so I'm a bit stressed. Both teaching as well as my seminars are online for the fall, and I assume they will be for spring as well, as I don't see the COVID situation getting any better (though of course I hope it will) in time to have a ~normal~ spring semester. Still looking forward to my seminars for fall, though!

I'm not sure if people are still visiting this thread now and then, but if those who were willing to share SOP's would be also willing to forward them to me as well, that would be amazing! I am starting my applications for the fall in the coming weeks, and the SOP's for each school are what I struggle with the most. Thank you!!

Same here!

Glad to see some familiar people in this thread! Like everyone, I'm also concerned about this application cycle. I am currently at Uconn's MA program, and currently our EGSA group is attempting to get everyone in the program an additional year of funding. I'm not quite sure how this would work out for MA students in particular, as the scheduling is quite tight, but just alerting people what Uconn is doing. At least I may potentially have another funded year if I am unable to get into a program for 2021. I've been talking closely with my advisor and other professors, and they've still pushed me to continue with applying for the 2021 cycle. I am going to spend the summer working on materials, and also once we are in the late months of summer, start emailing schools to see if there are any changes to funding and what they expect their cohort size to be. I'm also concerned about how competitive this cycle will be, as someone who was shut-out of PhD programs out of undergrad, but I do have some hope. I have a few backup plans because though I love the work I'm doing and ultimately would love to be in a PhD program, the job market is going to be even more abysmal now (I was aware of this previously, and I will say that even despite this, having another five or so years to do something I love is worth it to me, even if I don't land a job). Since I think I'd be happy teaching in general, as well as doing other jobs in academia, I'm exploring MA's in education, and also library science programs. But we will see, I am definitely holding out hope to be admitted into some Lit programs this cycle! I hope everyone is doing well and I'm sure some of us will have luck in 2021!

In just over a month I'll be taking a two week trip to Europe! I'm very excited for that. Currently I'm a manager at a campus bookstore so I'll be doing that probably until the beginning of August. I'm hoping to start doing some reading and writing, and I started to work on a paper that will be comparing Faulkner's The Sound and the Fury to Martin Mcdonagh's The Beauty Queen of Leenane. I'm also signing up for a beginners Irish course! I'm just so excited to know I'm going back to school after taking a gap year. I'm really excited to be able to teach some sections of freshman writing as well as get back into my studies.

You're welcome! My sister actually commutes from my house to Hartford (she works at an accounting firm) and she says it's really not that bad. She says on an average day with no accidents, it takes maybe about an extra 15 minutes with the traffic. We live about 45 minutes away so this puts her at just over an hour for her commute. I think it really depends on your comfort level with driving in congested areas, but it's nowhere near as horrid as dc conditions, haha.

@StamfordCat so really it depends. The Hartford traffic isn't ~quite~ as bad as DC sounds. Hartford is really about a 40 minute drive from storrs campus on a typical day with average traffic. Since most people are heading towards Hartford in the morning, it would probably not be too traffic heavy, just the usual traffic for a morning. Your way back in from storrs, however, would most likely not be fun. The traffic gets very very crazy around 3:30-6:30, as so many people are going in and out. Then it can take a long time to get home, especially if you need to go over any of the bridges back into Hartford. Hartford is still a pretty nice area and has a lot to do, but personally I hate traffic and Hartford is known for awful traffic. Manchester is still more of a city than storrs, but the commute is much better. It's about 30 minutes to storrs, and you miss the majority of the traffic within Hartford. Manchester is also only 15 minutes or so from Hartford, so you'll have plenty to do around you. However, I would say if you are looking for a nicer apartment, you'd probably have better luck in the Hartford area. Manchester does have some nice ones as well but not as much selection as Hartford. It isn't impossible though! Many people do commute from where I live (near storrs) to Hartford and while I myself didn't like doing it, it probably wouldn't be as bad if you're used to driving in it.

Yes definitely! So for restaurants it really depends what you like. My favorite around here is Chuck's margaritaville and steak house. It has Mexican/steakhouse food and it is awesome! There are also some good ones on campus as well. My favorite pizza place on campus is husky pizza. A nicer restaurant just a bit off of campus is red rock. For towns, there's not too much worth seeing outside of Mansfield. If you're in Manchester, Manchester has a whole bunch of good places. Maggie McFlys and artisanal burger company in Manchester are awesome! As for parks, Mansfield hollow is a nice walking trail area right down the road from campus for Manchester, there's wickham park which is beautiful. West Hartford is near Manchester and they are the place to go if you're looking for something a little more upscale. They have a plaza called blueback square which has a ton of boutique shops and amazing restaurants. They are a little pricier but not unreasonably so. Really Manchester and Hartford are the go to areas, they definitely have the most stuff to do. However there are definitely some good spots in storrs/ Mansfield as well.

You're welcome! Any more questions feel free to ask

Manchester area is pretty nice! It can get a bit pricey sometimes depending where you are. That would be much closer to Uconn health. I would also suggest looking into Columbia, Andover, or Hebron areas as they're a bit more rural and tend to be cheaper. Those are fairly in between the two. However, I'd probably recommend Manchester because while the drive from Manchester to Uconn and vice versa isn't terrible, the ride to Uconn health is bad and very traffic heavy. It'd be easier to live closer to Uconn health to save time and stress and just deal with the 30-35 minute commute to Storrs.

Just accepted my offer to Uconn! For anybody with questions about the Storrs area, PM me! I've lived here my whole life and did my undergrad at Uconn as well.

Thanks! It's a great funding package so I'm pretty excited

Accepted Uconn's MA offer today!

Finally got an email back from BU saying that more people accepted than normal. Said they will be pulling from waitlist but possibly only one spot. They also said there are a few people they'd most likely pull before me (ouch), and said they'd keep in touch.

Just turned down a funded offer from Villanova

Declined Portland state's funded MA!

I just turned down the GA ship! I really hope whoever's next gets their day made the program seems nice and everyone seems so friendly and lovely. Good luck to all!