IllinoisThrowAway

As the article states:

A fourth-year doctoral candidate at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) may face deportation after being dismissed from his studies due to noncompliance with COVID-19 testing.
Yidong Chen, who goes by the nickname Ivor, lived with his mother in Champaign-Urbana while working remotely as a teaching assistant in the fall semester of 2020.
Because his mother has greater chances than he does of contracting COVID-19, Chen barely left their home until the start of the spring semester of 2021.
Chen opted out of his university’s policy on COVID-19 testing, which changed multiple times throughout the past few months. 

After a few minutes, the panel issued the following as a result of noncompliance:
Dismissal from the University for one year, effective immediately Two 1,000-word reflective essays A trespass notification that prohibits Ivor from setting foot on University property, subject to enforcement by the University Police Department A petition letter for University re-entry after one year 80 hours of community service Evidence of successful academic or work history during his one-year dismissal

The full story can be found here: https://nextshark.com/university-of-illinois-phd-student-dismissed-covid/

Sadly, this isn't uncommon. The Union has fought for students many times but the administration has continued to pull stunts like this many times.

If you haven't made your mind up yet, please consider these things when applying/accepting offers.
 

As the article states:

A fourth-year doctoral candidate at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) may face deportation after being dismissed from his studies due to noncompliance with COVID-19 testing.
Yidong Chen, who goes by the nickname Ivor, lived with his mother in Champaign-Urbana while working remotely as a teaching assistant in the fall semester of 2020.
Because his mother has greater chances than he does of contracting COVID-19, Chen barely left their home until the start of the spring semester of 2021.
Chen opted out of his university’s policy on COVID-19 testing, which changed multiple times throughout the past few months. 

After a few minutes, the panel issued the following as a result of noncompliance:
Dismissal from the University for one year, effective immediately Two 1,000-word reflective essays A trespass notification that prohibits Ivor from setting foot on University property, subject to enforcement by the University Police Department A petition letter for University re-entry after one year 80 hours of community service Evidence of successful academic or work history during his one-year dismissal

The full story can be found here: https://nextshark.com/university-of-illinois-phd-student-dismissed-covid/

Sadly, this isn't uncommon. The Union has fought for students many times but the administration has continued to pull stunts like this many times.

If you haven't made your mind up yet, please consider these things when applying/accepting offers.
 

As the article states:

A fourth-year doctoral candidate at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) may face deportation after being dismissed from his studies due to noncompliance with COVID-19 testing.
Yidong Chen, who goes by the nickname Ivor, lived with his mother in Champaign-Urbana while working remotely as a teaching assistant in the fall semester of 2020.
Because his mother has greater chances than he does of contracting COVID-19, Chen barely left their home until the start of the spring semester of 2021.
Chen opted out of his university’s policy on COVID-19 testing, which changed multiple times throughout the past few months. 

After a few minutes, the panel issued the following as a result of noncompliance:
Dismissal from the University for one year, effective immediately Two 1,000-word reflective essays A trespass notification that prohibits Ivor from setting foot on University property, subject to enforcement by the University Police Department A petition letter for University re-entry after one year 80 hours of community service Evidence of successful academic or work history during his one-year dismissal

The full story can be found here: https://nextshark.com/university-of-illinois-phd-student-dismissed-covid/

Sadly, this isn't uncommon. The Union has fought for students many times but the administration has continued to pull stunts like this many times.

If you haven't made your mind up yet, please consider these things when applying/accepting offers.
 

Flagship (and Ivy) at the undergrad level does not apply to the grad level. There are programs at satellite campuses that many would consider stronger than the flagship campus. I think it's important to remember that support for your field will differ by each department and placement is the most important thing.

Nobody can predict the future but they do can figure out how much people will get paid. Nobody is going to get rich from grad school but one should be able to live off a stipend without the need for roommates and they shouldn't have to worry about tuition waivers being withdrawn.
UIUC's administration has actually done really bad damage to its students in the past including threatening to withdraws tuition waivers back in 2017/2018 for all future students. Luckily, the Union prevented that from happening. 

This happened a few days ago:
https://www.wcia.com/news/local-news/student-says-he-was-dismissed-from-uiuc-over-covid-19-testing-non-compliance/

In 2020, the PoliSci department received 90 applications, admitted 16 and 10 accepted.
In 2019, the PoliSci department received 75 applications, admitted 18 and 8 accepted.
In 2018, the PoliSci department received 88 applications, admitted 24 and 10 accepted.

2018 was the year when the University threatened to take away future students' stipends.

Flagship (and Ivy) at the undergrad level does not apply to the grad level. There are programs at satellite campuses that many would consider stronger than the flagship campus. I think it's important to remember that support for your field will differ by each department and placement is the most important thing.

Nobody can predict the future but they do can figure out how much people will get paid. Nobody is going to get rich from grad school but one should be able to live off a stipend without the need for roommates and they shouldn't have to worry about tuition waivers being withdrawn.
UIUC's administration has actually done really bad damage to its students in the past including threatening to withdraws tuition waivers back in 2017/2018 for all future students. Luckily, the Union prevented that from happening. 

This happened a few days ago:
https://www.wcia.com/news/local-news/student-says-he-was-dismissed-from-uiuc-over-covid-19-testing-non-compliance/

No worries, I think you'll be OK. Let's not forget, UIUC is the flagship state public school in Illinois so you're in good hands. That said, it is true that your network tends to be clustered where you do your PhD studies but that doesn't mean that you are bound to be regionally locked there. I think if you are able to produce great research, you are very likely to be hired anywhere. 
Good luck!

I'm more excited than nervous at this point. I have 150 pages of theory to read (and a 300 word assignment) for my first class, which starts on the 31st, on top of my day job in a Writing Center, and some other reading material for two other courses (one of which has had exactly ZERO professor interaction so far). That said, from the two syllabi I have so far, I think juggling three graduate courses and a full GAship will be "heavy, but manageable." It helps that I have a legitimate interest in all three courses (research methodologies revolving around Shakespeare's Sonnets, intro to teaching freshman composition, and metaphor and analogy in Renaissance literature).
My goal, at this point, is to take three courses in the fall and spring, then only two for NEXT fall and spring so that I can have a heavier teaching load, if possible. I would also like to audit a language course at some point (I'm undecided on whether that will be Latin or Italian), but I might have to do that during a summer session.
Finally, I was thrilled to get my first choice for graduate mentor. I hit it off quite well with this professor during the open house back in March, and we have corresponded a few times over the summer. She reminds me a lot of my UG advisor, and is also quite distinguished, so I think she'll be a great fit, and should be able to help me a lot moving forward.
Tuesday is the big departmental graduate orientation. Even though I've been working in the department for a couple of months, I'm excited to finally meet most of my cohort and a few more professors. I've made a point of using the weekends to extract as much from summer as possible (I've hit the beach three times, and went and had a whirlwind trip to NYC last weekend to see Hamilton), since fall is going to be UBER busy!

Honestly, there's not a lot you can do to prepare for this section other than read some past examples of questions and work on your critical thinking skills on the fly. The first time I took the GRE general, I got a 4.5 on the AW section, and was quite annoyed about it. I truly expected to have at least a 5, and in my heart of hearts thought I would have gotten a 6. And that 4.5 was the primary reason why I went back to retake the GRE, even though I know it's not a huge factor in decisions. Well, the second time I took it, even after reading a GRE prep book and studying a hell of a lot harder than the first time, proved even more of a challenge...especially the AW portion. I didn't wind up making a cogent argument until at least 15 minutes into the 30 minutes allotted for the first portion. I felt I probably had a 3 on that at best. The next question was a little better, but still not great. I figured I may have gotten a 4.5 on that one. So I was actually a bit surprised that my AW score was once again a combined 4.5 when I got my results back.
 
Most of us here are surely very-good-to-excellent-writers. It's what we do. A B+ on a paper for us is like a C on a paper for others. But the AW is honestly not about "good writing." I'm serious -- it's not! It's more about coming up with as many problems with a particular chunk of text as possible (for one section), and developing a germ of an idea -- no matter how valid -- in the other. If you write well enough and make no spelling / grammatical errors, you're probably always going to get a 4.0 or above. And from what I've heard / read, the AW score, if it is even looked at, receives less weight than the verbal...which itself is often more of a "checklist" item.
 
Bottom line: study however you can, but certainly do not fret about it. There are too many other elements of the application worth fretting over (namely the WS and SOP) to waste excessive time worrying about the AW section of the GRE, I assure you.

Thanks! Yes, if it weren't for the 4.5 analytical, I'd probably just let it go. Harvard states that 166 is generally the verbal they look for, but I truly believe they wouldn't nix an otherwise great application for a 162. And yes...the analytical score bugs me. I sincerely thought I nailed it. One problem, however, is that one of the two topics was very political...something about government workers. I suspect I may have focused too much on one side of the issue. Either that, or I just got an ETS employee who was in a bad mood that day...
 
I will indeed be writing the English Lit Subject Test. I downloaded the practise exam, and it doesn't actually look too horrible. One of the nice things is that you don't have to get everything correct to be in the 99th percentile. I think getting around 80% right gets you to that top point. I'm spending the next month and a half going through a reading list I found in an old thread and simply reading as much as I can. Some have suggested more basic familiarization, such as looking at Wiki pages for assorted texts, or finding solid synopses...but since I have the summer off, for the most part, I'm just going to go through and fill in some of my gaps. Doesn't seem like a bad use of time anyhow. Although I've lined up Joyce's Ulysses for tomorrow, and given how much I disliked Portrait of the Artist... I may be singing a different tune in a couple of days.
 
I've customized the list to the essentials, by the way, so feel free to PM me if you'd like me to send you the spreadsheet.

First of all...welcome to Grad Cafe!
 
As for whether or not you should get another M.A. or try to go directly into a Ph.D. program, well...that's a good question. All I can offer is my opinion, which should be taken with a sizeable grain of salt. Be that as it may, here are my thoughts on the matter:
 
I suspect the biggest concern is the gap between your last degree and your current plans. The main problem that comes with that is not having any current letter writers (unless you've kept in touch with old profs) other than employment-based ones. It also shows that you may be out of touch with current educational standards, and might be far removed from the scholastic environment. Have you done any programs or studies at all in the intervening years? Have you kept tabs on things in the interim? Even things like being a subscriber to the Chronicle of Higher Education, or something along those lines can always help in your SOP.
 
Your other Master's was not in English, but was at least in a field that is in the ballpark of English, and given that your B.A. was in English, I'm guessing that that won't be a big problem. It's also a major bonus that the work you've been doing involves a lot of writing an editing. These are the sorts of things that can inform your SOP as well. Teaching experience probably doesn't matter much either (most folks here, other than those on the comp/rhet track have little or no teaching experience either -- in other words, it's really not a prerequisite for Ph.D. applications). Not having a recent writing sample shouldn't be an issue, so long as you have a writing sample that is of the right length and quality (assuming its on an historical topic, or something that isn't inherently tied to 2005). The other option, of course, is to write something new from scratch. This would be a good idea if your specialization interests have evolved since you graduated nine years ago.
 
Is funding a concern for you? Funded M.A. programs exist, of course, but they are almost as competitive as funded Ph.D.s., and fewer and farther between. And if you're just looking at an M.A. as a springboard to an eventual Ph.D., then it's worth considering that some programs seem to prefer candidates with only a B.A., while some prefer candidates with M.A.s. Having two M.A.s has the potential to make your academic trajectory look unfocused (i.e., an adcomm in a couple of years might see your B.A. and two M.A.s, not to mention your age -- you must be well into your thirties -- and think you're a "career student"). So there's that angle as well.
 
My gut tells me that, depending on your area of interest, you should try going down the Ph.D. route. Be forewarned, however, that you'll need to take the GRE general test (at the very least), and some potential programs might require the GRE subject test, which is only offered twice in this cycle: late September and late October. Also, you'll need to find at least three quality LOR writers, whether they are former professors, current supervisors, or others who are very familiar with your writing and/or professionalism, work ethic etc. Your SOP will have to be fairly unique, and I suspect that in your case, you'll want to explain why you've spent the last ten years in your current field, and why you now want to get a Ph.D. It's unusual, but not unheard of. And some programs will see your experience as a benefit (I'm not personally mentioning my age directly in my SOP, but it's always required on application forms and it can be inferred anyhow).
 
Anyway, I'm not sure how helpful all of this is, as it's just my opinion based on what you've presented. I think it will be a bit of a harder sell for you than for some others, but not by such a large degree that it's not worth pursuing. The biggest obstacle at the moment will be getting everything together over the next three months. You'll probably need to do some very thorough research in a short span of time to determine the best program "fits" for you. This is easier if you have a research focus in mind, as you can correlate that focus with the interests of other professors / departments. After that, it's a question of getting all of the materials sorted out: SOP, WS, LORs, GRE tests, transcripts (you'll want to get on that sooner rather than later, thanks to the time since your previous graduation), a C.V. (this will be more important for you than for some others), and other intangible items. It's doable, and if your true goal is to be in the academic environment for the rest of your life, then it is worthwhile. I don't think (personally) that getting an M.A. first will be worthwhile. It's just one more year (or more) of schooling, considering that few of the credits transfer over, in most cases.
 
This is a long spiel, delving into "tl:dr" territory, but as a fellow "non-traditional" applicant, I hope that at least some of this makes sense for you. Either way, good luck, and feel free to PM me if you have any "older applicant" questions.

Professor GodKing Amazing at OMG College was one of my POIs.
 
True story.

I completely agree with this, and having gone through the B.A. - M.A. - Ph.D. progression, rather than the B.A. - Ph.D. one that I had initially planned on, I'm infinitely grateful to have received my M.A. first. People can (and routinely do) still thrive when going from B.A. to Ph.D., of course -- it's really a YMMV situation -- but there's huge value to getting acclimated to graduate study via an M.A. first, and it still gives you an advanced degree if you realize that you don't want to go down the Ph.D. road after all.

I don't agree with the following, however:




I say this with no trace of intended offense whatsoever (obviously!), but the notion that you need to start a Ph.D. with a firm idea of what you'll write your dissertation on is one of the biggest myths out there about this process. I'm nearly done with my M.A. and have zero idea of what I'll be writing my dissertation on during my Ph.D. Sure, I've thought of some vague possibilities, based on what I've already been focusing on, but dissertation topics are often arrived at by regular consultation with professors and mentors, combined with the evolution of your own interests, combined with what's happening in the world of academia in your subfield today. Honestly, some people don't know what they're going to write their dissertation on until after they complete their comps. In other words, you are allowed to explore for quite awhile until you finally have to hone in and specialize.

As to the OP, UIUC seems like a no-brainer to me, based on what you've described. Remember, however, that rankings don't apply to Master's programs, so that's a false equivalence in the for/against list. Still, I think that at the Master's level, you want to go to a program that is institutionally strong in your area of choice. Remember that when it comes to POIs, while they're still very important, you'll only be working with them for two years, as opposed to the five or six at the doctoral level...and you'll (theoretically) have a better idea of your specific focus once you're done with your M.A. In other words, if you know that gender studies (broadly defined) are your main interest, then going to a program that is strong in that realm will help you to whittle down to more specifics, which will then introduce you to some of the key POIs in those specifics, which will then allow you to focus your Ph.D. program research around those POIs...and those POIs may be different from the POIs you are highlighting now.

Both are great programs, of course, and it's a luxury to have a choice! But from what you've stated, I think UIUC is your best bet.

Oh. I'm also looking at programs adjacent to CompLit, such as Romance Studies, Modern Theory and Literature, etc. I suppose it would be good to decide on which colleges to apply to by... the end of this month...? 

As the article states:

A fourth-year doctoral candidate at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) may face deportation after being dismissed from his studies due to noncompliance with COVID-19 testing.
Yidong Chen, who goes by the nickname Ivor, lived with his mother in Champaign-Urbana while working remotely as a teaching assistant in the fall semester of 2020.
Because his mother has greater chances than he does of contracting COVID-19, Chen barely left their home until the start of the spring semester of 2021.
Chen opted out of his university’s policy on COVID-19 testing, which changed multiple times throughout the past few months. 

After a few minutes, the panel issued the following as a result of noncompliance:
Dismissal from the University for one year, effective immediately Two 1,000-word reflective essays A trespass notification that prohibits Ivor from setting foot on University property, subject to enforcement by the University Police Department A petition letter for University re-entry after one year 80 hours of community service Evidence of successful academic or work history during his one-year dismissal

The full story can be found here: https://nextshark.com/university-of-illinois-phd-student-dismissed-covid/

Sadly, this isn't uncommon. The Union has fought for students many times but the administration has continued to pull stunts like this many times.

If you haven't made your mind up yet, please consider these things when applying/accepting offers.