NoodleKidoodle

This is a difficult time, everyone. It's very complicated. Just sending out all of my best vibes :)

whoops, yes. edited...

I don't have hard numbers on numbers of offers and don't want to give out wrong info -- I just know that this is why the funding structure is set up this way. From what I know, though, the writing program needs a lot of teachers -- they hire phds and mfas, as well as people outside english. this is why their mfa program is funded -- which I think is pretty rare (although @Warelin seems to have better intel, see below). so it's not exactly ultra competitive -- It's not like there's fewer teaching spots than there are prospective teachers. Again, it's not that grueling of an app or an interview. I don't want to use the word "formality" because i don't know if that's the case. Interviews are also right after acceptances go out -- and you're notified before the april 15 signing date. so you won't commit to the school without knowing your funding situation. source: went through this process...

every school has a different funding structure; umass' funding is through teaching in the writing program, which is not the same as the english program. so, just because english admits you, doesn't mean that writing wants to hire you. at the same time, the writing program app/interview is not particularly grueling.

It's not just about the applying. It's also about the doing. Are you prepared for seven (or more) years of education after finishing this stressful senior year? When you land in grad school three months after finishing undergrad school, will you be ready for a marathon almost twice as long as your undergraduate career with a less clearly-defined social structure and fewer institutional supports? Do the schools you're applying to offer deferments in case you want to take the break? I took a few years off and I think it's the best decision I ever made. I really highly recommend going out in the world and working a little... I don't know your life experience, but if you haven't held down a full-time job, I think it's an important thing to try before you commit to being a professional student. It really changed my perspective on time management, labor, problem-solving, teaching, basically everything. I think I'm a much better grad student for it.

caveat, i'm in coursework, so this might not apply to later stages, but... depends so, so much on where you are. and who you are. and how you handle school. and what you're trying to get out of any given experience. for example, grades in grad school are meaningless. I know a lot of people who came out of undergrad and had a really hard time adjusting to a world without grades. how do I know if my stuff is good? the answer really is that you'll never finish the idea -- the feedback will always be more things to think about, more ideas to hone. you're never going to get a paper back that says "great, perfect." if you do, you've been let down. so this question for me is really about how you find value in your work and what you're after. there's no way to measure yourself that's objective and "real," so you have to set up some definitions you can live by. this semester, I have two seminar papers. I want to use one to explore a new interest. I want to use the other to improve my skills in clarity and analysis. if I do both of those things, this semester will have been a good one. and I'll use the comments I get to set goals for next semester. my program is dope because we aren't trying to outdo each. sure, it can be a spectacular bummer when you get passed up for a position and someone else gets it, but I always keep in mind that seven years is a long time. there's gonna be more stuff. --- there was also a question about time. i think honestly it's more helpful to tell you what I did this week. everyone does stuff at their own pace. 1. worked on a paper for a conference that's in a few weeks. I had hit a wall. I think I've spent three hours this week re-orienting the focus of the paper and making a revision plan that I plan on doing in small chunks each day. 2. graded papers for my students (this semester, that's fifteen of em) 3. had a fifteen-minute meeting with each student about their next paper. had some pretty good ones. 4. read four articles (~20 pages each) for one class 5. read one book (~250 pages) for another class -- this class has a pretty high reading load 6. planned three lessons to teach next week 7. spent three hours teaching 8. spent five hours in class 9. couple of meetings here and there. 10. random writing/email time/notes revision* 11. half an hour each day preparing for my language exam. ugh. let's assume thirty minutes per student paper (a slow pace, but one that I intentionally choose) and twenty pages of reading per hour... i'd say that's about 48 hours. give or take. my math is probably wrong too *notes revision, where I write down the greatest hits from my reading in the hour before class, is something I recommend to everyone. it's great having one sheet of organized notes to refer to when discussion is going real quick. plus it helps you remember complicated stuff you might have read six days ago.

I'm in the second year of an MA/PhD program. Has your PhD so far been what you expected it to be? The first and most important difference is that the universe is much smaller than it was during undergrad -- I don't interact much with anyone outside my concentration, much less the English department. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, but the weird, freewheeling years of knowing everybody on campus are definitely behind me. Other than this, honestly, I don't remember what I thought grad school would be like. What are you impressions of your program? Uh I think that everyone in my program is a genuinely good person who is doing the work that we do because they think the world is better for it. I also think that they care deeply about the success of other people in the program. I don't know if I answered this question right.Has anything about your program surprised you? The amount of free time that I've had to schedule myself has been pretty massive. I know this is to be expected, but when you look at it and you're only on campus ten hours a week, after having a real person job and sitting at a desk for four times that long... well, it's strange. The other thing is that, even though everyone in my program is really smart, nobody's, like, quoting Foucault at each other. We complain about overly opaque writing and heavy reading loads. There's no real need to present yourself as incredibly smart. We're all already here so we might as well be real with each other. At least, this is the vibe at my school.How are you feeling in general about your experience? pretty good.Have you found your research interests changing? Radically. Basically, when I came to grad school, I knew what I liked. Now, I know what the field needs and what I can do to help.Are there any hardships you've faced that you want to share? uhhhhh it is sometimes harder than you'd think to find classes where you can write about the stuff you want to write about. this is probably because I'm still pretty early in the program. but because my concentration is small, there aren't a lot of classes. which sometimes means ending up in places you wouldn't expect. this is a good time to try new things, and new things can be good, but it can be a bummer when you don't have the chance to, you know, do the stuff you're trying to build a career around. also (I keep editing this response as I think of new stuff, sorry). It is necessary, not just ok, but necessary, to build a life outside of your program. This doesn't necessarily mean a community if that's not your thing. But interests. Don't spend all your free time listening to podcasts about your area, or doing extra research. Do something else. Be a person in the world. You'll be much happier. How about any successes you'd like to celebrate? going to my first conference in a few weeks! I think my big question for current students is: what do you wish you had asked about or known when making your decision? Anything undergrads wouldn’t have the foresight to consider about PhD life when applying? When you visit, you want to know how people treat each other. There are SO MANY horror stories in grad school of students who double-cross each other, or advisors who give up, and stuff like that. I'd pay attention to how people treat each other, not just how they treat you. They know they're supposed to be nice to you. But if you pick up on really good communal vibes, that makes it seem like these people really care about each other, then maybe it won't be so bad spending seven years with them. All of the stuff for finding faculty you vibe with and all that stuff... that stuff obviously matters. But in the day-to-day, you need your people. --- I'm writing here because I remember how I felt two years ago when I got that first offer. There was a snow storm and my workplace was shut down, so I was just sitting at home, refreshing my email. When the notification came in, I cried so much. I went straight to my friends' apartment and we ordered pizza and celebrated. It was such a great day. The thing about that day that I'm starting to realize was that it was exciting because I was going on a new adventure, and new adventures are exciting. And the validation of getting a yes meant so much. But now I look at that moment and think about how excited I was and, knowing what I know now, I think that I was justified in feeling that way.