wreckofthehope

Depending on all the usual factors, 6,000 is around 23 - 25 pages, at least that's what I've found.

As someone moving countries with a partner, I had to put location on about equal footing with fit, which unfortunately meant that I didn't even apply to many of what I thought were my very best fit schools. Setting that particular situation aside, though, I agree very much with Lons' approach. My interests haven't shifted a huge amount, but the way that I'm framing them has, when I look around now at schools, there are about five places that I never even applied to (but considered seriously) that would have been absolutely ideal for me at this two-year-in stage...at the time, I thought that they were alright, but not good enough fit-wise to spend money on applying to them. So, I suppose I'd say - do concentrate on fit, but also try to think about fit in broader terms than 'this school has three professors for me to work with,' and, yes, if you have the money and time, do apply to those schools that are on th e edges of your list (often you just don't know enough at this stage to rule them out).

Those are really not representative numbers for the humanities as a whole, I know of plenty of schools that offer $14,000 p/y stipends(at least they did a couple of years ago and I can't imagine them going up by almost 50% in two years)...obviously, they're mostly in areas with a lower cost of living, but $14,000 is not a lot of money, wherever you are. My stipend is just below your stated range, and I'm in one of the most expensive US cities to live in....were I not in a serious relationship, it would be a bit of a struggle - certainly finding housing that I could afford would be a lot harder and I'd almost certainly have to share an apartment with three or so others. Getting an additional job helps, obviously, but there are barriers to this, for example: if your stipend depends on you teaching one or more classes a semester, or you're an international student (who can only work 20hrs a week - and your required teaching for the stipend counts towards those 20hours per week).

Prime is free for students for the first year and half price thereafter. Definitely worth signing up, even if you mostly use it to order cat litter and other groceries that you're too lazy to carry from the store (not that I do that, of course ). The Book Depository sells via amazon marketplace as do others - with the combination of extremely low prices for most books and ease of use (search/ ability to compare multiple vendors etc) amazon marketplace wins out for me. I work in popular fiction, though, so a good percentage of my books cost mere cents on amazon marketplace

Regarding American Studies in particular, I don't think the MA suggestion is necessarily that helpful - Am St is interdisciplinary by nature, if you are interested in Asian American Literature and culture and are bringing your studies in Poli Sci and International Relations to bear on the subject, I wouldn't think your undergrad major would disadvantage you.

UW Milwaukee!

Though, as an fyi, they are taxed if you are an international student (at 15% usually, I think).

I've heard that, too. I think it's very difficult to tell how true it is because, in all likelihood, a lot of the people that move to the UK to do their PhDs are already inclined to stay there, if they can (and once trained and networked within a system, it is easier to stay there than to have to realign yourself academically). It's definitely true that there's far less teaching available to UK PhD students; that said, everyone I know who is doing a UK PhD has taught, my friends at Oxford have all taught a fair amount...it's just that it's usually up to the student to seek it out, and it is also very different in style to US teaching experience (one-on-one tutorials, or very small seminar classes).

Oxford has fantastic resources for Medieval and Early Modern scholars and I think the work being done in those fields is fairly exciting - a lot of work in material culture , book history etc, from what I can tell. As a whole, Oxford is self-isolating; and in English, especially, that has led to a sometimes unhealthy satisfaction with its own scholarship and methods...at least that's what I feel. So many people are lifelong Oxonians (BA -to-MA-to-MSt.-to-D.Phil-to-Lecturer- to-Fellow), people enter at 18 and never leave and I really think that contributes to the weird disinterest the faculty has in what's going on outside. Cambridge's faculty seems a lot more progressive, generally, and has a lot of interdisciplinary centers set up etc. Edited to add: I should say, though, that I had an absolutely amazing time there as an undergrad and, while I think their English course could do with a bit of modernization, I am eternally grateful for the breadth of the curriculum there. I just think that it's often far from the best place to be as a grad student, depending on your field.

Yes, you need a Master's to apply for PhD (D.Phil) programs (which are, in any case, not really 'programs' per se). Oxford accepts around 45% of D.Phil applicants in English, Master's degrees are a little more competitive, but still nothing compared to the competition for places in the States. Funding is the issue, and as an international student, you'll find there is very, very, very little available. Speaking as a graduate of the university, I would be wary of going to Oxford for all but a few fields (Medieval, Early Modern and maybe British Modernism). They're a very, very traditional faculty that has a very inward looking attitude (personally, I think this is a bit of a stunted environment for a grad student to learn in. Although, of course, others probably disagree) - if you want a more current and nationally/internationally engaged department, there are plenty of fantastic UK schools to choose from (Nottingham, Sussex etc) and London schools, especially, are much more collaborative and have grad students engaged in a lot of multi-institution reading and research groups, grad conferences etc.Of course they don't have Oxford's name recognition outside of the UK, so it's a bit of a catch-22. Research vs. Taught: A research degree is a degree done entirely by research - the UK PhD is a research degree, there is no (or extremely minimal) coursework and the student is expected to spend their time as a student conducting and writing up research. The Oxford MPhil is also a research degree (though the Cambridge MPhil isn't), as is the MRes (and MPhils) offered by many other UK schools. A taught postgraduate degree is usually a Master's degree (at Oxford an MSt or an MSc, usually, at Cambridge usually an MPhil) - these will have a substantial component of coursework (often 5 classes for a year long course) and a research omponent in the form of a dissertation (usually of between ten and twenty thousand words...40 to 80 pages, approx).

Maybe Minnesota - the Comp Lit/Cultural Studies Dep't (Comparative Studies in Discourse and Society PhD track)?

Austin and WashU are very strong for C20th but I'm not sure about Native American Lit...I think Austin is well known for 'ethnic lit', though...

Anyone have recommendations for rental agencies in JP (particularly), Brookline, Allston, Brighton or Newton? We need to move at short notice

JP or Mission Hill might work for both of you - somewhere along the Green Line E branch, or near the 39 bus - you'll get the T or walk to NEU, she can do the same to the Back Bay and then bus/shuttle or T it to BU...would not be much extra (maybe 10 minutes from Copley/Back Bay Stations).

I have a completely different understanding of the Carnegie classifications....maybe I'm wrong but, as far as I'm aware, they are nothing more than that: classifications. They are certainly not rankings. And, in any case, R1 no longer exists as part of those classifications, does it? Research institutions seem to be divided into institutions with very high research activity (RU/VH) and high research activity (RU/H). This is a classification of the university as a whole and doesn't necessarily tell you all that much about an individual department. I mean, if you look at the US news rankings for English (an admittedly problematic ranking, but at least it gives you an idea of general perceived prestige of departments) you'll see departments from RU/H universities ranked well above departments in some RU/VH universities. Also, surely any PhD is a research degree, regardless of whether the university is classified as RU/VH or RU/H - isn't that the whole point of the PhD? I think some schools offer a Doctor of Arts degree in English, which is a teaching/practice focused degree, from what I understand of it.

It was my understanding that part of the reason for Berkeley's long average time to degree was their willingness to keep students on who had essentially already finished their dissertations but had not found a job yet. Once they get a job, then they graduate. So, they increase their time to degree but also increase their percentage of students who are graduating into full time employment. Anyway, I think the average overall in English is something like 10 years, so Berkeley's isn't exactly that bad. Anecdotally, though, I'd say that most people I know of finish in between 5 and 7 years, I presume that the outliers (the 10 to 15 year people) are what shift the overall average up across the board.

Yeah, 20mins up Lake street, and another 10 to 15 to get to upper campus, where classes etc are. It would be at least a 30 min walk, in good weather. If you're coming from Brighton, then it's fine...but if you're taking a bus, or even two buses, and then having to walk 30 mins...I don't know, that seems like too much of a bother to me.

I wouldn't recommend any commute where you have to switch to the 86. The 86 on its own is a bit of a nightmare - though doable-(and you'd still have a 20 min shuttle ride or walk to BC from where the 86 lets off), it only comes twice an hour and is often completely off schedule due to rush hour traffic, so making the transfer would probably end up being the biggest pain in the ass. Yeah, like tekanuru says, unless you are sure you're going to drive to school (and can park) I wouldn't recommend living in Watertown; Brighton will be MUCH easier. Also, the 57 doesn't really go anywhere near BC, unless you are going to the seminary/do something on Brighton campus?

Air NZ used to let you take a huge amount of baggage weight and two bags included, not sure if this is still the case, so they might be worth looking at for the initial journey over. Other than that, my only tip is that we shipped a few boxes of stuff over for a very reasonable price, and it might be easier to ship your bike than travel with it? The company we shipped with was called Excess Baggage ( website is excess-baggage.com).

Purr-due

In London : Birkbeck for sure - look into their London Consortium PhD. It's an interdisciplinary center that's jointly run by Birkbeck with film and architecture institutions and museums and they are highly focused on contemporary theory and philosophy. Also, it's about an hour outside of London on the train but totally commutable, the University of Essex has a joint Philosophy and Art History department that is one of the best places to do continental philosophy in the UK and I have no doubt they'd be interested in a project like yours.

Sorry to barge in to the conversation, I was browsing the thread and was taken aback by the suggestion above. Why would you do that? (not being snarky...just can't see it working logistically, or being worth while at all - a UK degree is only three years long, so coming back while you are less than half way through...perhaps only a year in, seems a bit bonkers to me...why go at all, if you don't want to be there?)

Brighton is a pleasant, if a bit run down, seaside town. It's a center for LGBT life in the UK, and has a large LGBT population; it's also full of hippy types, so I imagine that it's likely one of the best places to find vegetarian food in the UK! It has a pretty good music scene, and lots of students, as there a a number of universities in the region. It's small, but not that small (certainly not compared to some college towns in the US). London is an hour away on the train, so very easy to get to, if you want big city stuff, but really Brighton has a lot to offer: loads of little cafes and restaurants, twee Victoriana, and pretty good weather (for the UK...whose bad weather is, in any case, a bit of a myth...although, I suppose it all depends on where you are coming from).

Yeah, that's what I've read, which is partly why I would love to get her eating some wet food. She doesn't drink all that much water, either, despite me emptying and refilling her water bowl twice a day (I though maybe she was not drinking that much because she was picky about the temperature/staleness of the water).

She was a rescue cat, so I presume that has something to do with it. She's a bit traumatized (though WAY better now) and wouldn't let us touch her for a really long time, and didn't eat anything at all for the first THREE weeks that we had her. Part of the reason I haven't tried extra hard to get her onto wet food is that it's been such hard work to get her to trust us that I worry about making changes etc. She's almost a normal cat now, nearly two years after we got her, but still....only kibble.