harpyemma

I'm looking for some advice on if/how/when to broach this topic with my partner. I'm in a fairly new relationship, about 3.5months so far. My partner is in the final stages of his PhD and will be finished in late Spring next year. I'm in the last couple of weeks of my MA at the moment and will be applying for PhD programs in the next few months. We're both currently based in the UK. He's applying for a job (and will probably get it) at one of the biggest names in Silicon Valley, to begin sometime after his PhD finishes. He's also applying for a similar (but less well-paid by some way) job in London, and has offers on the table for several jobs where we are now. I'm applying for PhDs all over--a couple in the vicinity of SiValley (though Stanford is obviously much closer than Berkeley; a couple in the Midwest; a few on the East Coast and a few in the UK (a couple in London; Cambridge, a couple in the north). We're both aware of what the other is doing. But we haven't talked about it once--probably, i think, because we're still in the v early stages of the relationship. Having said that, it's clear that we're both really into each other and i do think we ought to talk about it. I just don't know how! I don't want to be presumptuous about the seriousness of the relationship, nor do i want to put the cart before the horse and start worrying about something before it happens. At the same time, i don't want to get more attached to this guy only to find out that he's moving to CA and i've only got PhD offers thousands of miles away--nor do i want him to feel like i'm pressuring him to take (or not take) a certain career path--i.e. sacrifice his plans--for my benefit. If he moves to the US, he'll be locked into whatever job he takes for c. 4 yrs in order to get his green card. If i do a US PhD i'll be locked in whatever city i'm in for at least 5yrs. If i do a PhD in the UK we're looking at 3-4yrs. I don't think i can do a long distance relationship for that long--especially on the back of what'll be maybe only 9 months of being together! There's a small chance our paths will line up--he'll get his SiValley job and i'll get admitted to Stanford; he'll be offered a London job and King's or UCL can fund me--but the odds really are stacked. How does one even begin to discuss this sort of heavy stuff in a relatively young relationship? (The crazy, untrusting, afraid-of-getting-hurt part of me wants to just stop seeing him now and get it over with.)

chinese whispers

I also had to take the GRE and GRE Subject Tests really far from my home. For the GRE i stayed in a hostel in London and it was right by St Paul's so i got woke up a couple of times in the night by the bells--but it really wasn't that bad. For the Subject test(which, incidentally, i bombed, although not much of that, i think, can be put down to lack of sleep!) i had to travel down to Canterbury from Manchester (>5hr journey) so i had to do the hostel thing again. I wasn't really worried given how well it had worked for the general test... but, boy, i should have been. In the room with me was the MOTHER of all snorers. My GOD. Nothing would shut this woman up--i tried waking her up, asking her to sleep on her back, etc. And i had earplugs in and everything. In the end i went and slept in the living room on a terribly uncomfortable couch. It was awful. to reinforce what everyone else has said--if it's only $55, i'd get the hotel room.

Honestly? If it were me I would keep publishing under my maiden name.

I don't really know anything about librarianship as a practice, but i have experience as a scholar in both US and UK academic libraries--would the difference between Library of Congress and Dewey Decimal classification systems pose a problem? UK libraries use Dewey, most US libraries don't, i think.

For a CV, you won't be restricted on length--if you have enough publications, conference presentation, professional memberships, awards, teaching experience, etc. to rack up four or five pages in your CV, by all means show it off rather than condensing to one page. A former professor of mine's CV currently runs to 25pp!(which, if you're interested, you can view via his website here: http://www.amitavakumar.com/?page_id=159) I don't know about a resume, though.

simple minds (hey, hey, hey, hey, oooooooooh-oooooooh...!)

Incidentally, not having a paper longer than 8 pages seems very odd to me--was your UG degree in English?

Yeah, the trouble with the UCs in general, really, is that as an international applicant i have pretty much no hope of funding. I'll give it some thought, of course, but, argh, even if i got accepted it'd still more than likely be a wasted $100+. Also, someone PMed me recommending Duke's Lit program--thank you. I could have sworn i checked recently, in the last couple of weeks, and the website said they required the Subject Test--but apparently not. Woo! Seriously, my score is abysmal. 36th percentile. I

If you've decided to put off applying for another year, until the Fall 2013 round, then i would definitely advise you take the GRE again--in about a year or so. There's no reason why your verbal score wouldn't increase (and with it make you a far more competitive candidate) in that time: two years is plenty, especially with studying and practice, to improve your score quite substantially.

I've narrowed down my list to 7 US schools, 2/3 UK schools and one Canadian--for now. Depending on finances/employment that may need to get dropped down by a couple on the North American front. I took the GRE last year and got a good enough score (but not great: 670V 720Q 5.0AW) not to warrant taking it again, so that's a load off my mind. I've approached two LoR-writers and have got thumbs up from them; just waiting on my MA thesis advisor for the third--but i don't want to ask her until i've handed the thesis in. I've got a writing sample in mind but, again, i'm putting off thinking about it until after i've submitted my thesis (in a week or so). I'm editing it for potential publication anyway, so it's a nice two-birds-one-stone job. It's right at the 20pp limit right now so whilst i've got some things i'd like to add, it also requires a LOT of stremlining to keep it in check length-wise. Argh. Trying not to stress about it now, though... I've yet to begin work on my SOPs, research proposals (for my UK applications) or fellowship applications (going for AAUW International Fellowship). At all. I haven't begun to contact POIs yet, although I was in contact with David Eng at UPenn last year so i suppose there's that? Will order transcripts (UG, study abroad and MA= three sets of fees, ugh) in November. Ditto sending GRE scores. Hopefully by then i'll have found a job... First deadline is just 19 days after i get my MA results. Hoping my current school doesn't go slow on the transcript requests, what with slow-ass international mail to factor in, too. But then i guess there's some wiggle room for hard copies of things to arrive, esp. if it's out of my direct control.

American Psycho

I loved Breakfast of Champions and Slaughterhouse Five but i really couldn't get along with Galapagos, personally. I'm currently in the middle (of the end) of my MA thesis so i've been reading a lot of comic books (because words are too much right now, if that conclusion was too oblique). Have just started The Tale of One Bat Rat by Brian Talbot and i'm loving it.

I'm hoping you folks can help. I can't find this information in my style guide or... anywhere. I'm writing a paper on Yiddish poetry in translation (Celia Dropkin and Anna Margolin, FYI) and i'm trying to figure out: a) how to differentiate between translations in in-text citations, especially where for lots of my quotes it wouldn't matter which one i cite as the translations are, in those parts, the same; how to list them in the works cited list. Example: I'm quoting Anna Margolin's poem "My Ancestors Speak" and the primary translation i'm using is by Shirley Kumove. I want to compare one line of it to a translation by Adrienne Cooper. I was intially thinking i could mention with translator it is every time i cite, like: yada yada yada 'men in satin and velvet' (trans. Kumove line 2)... yada yada yada 'speak with God' (trans. Kumove 6) yada yada yada 'like idols' (trans. Cooper 16), but the trouble is that 1) that will eat my word count like woah and 2) lots of the bits i'm quoting have been translated exactly the same--so it's really a toss-up whose name i put. Anyone know what the rules actually are? re. Obviously the poems will be listed under the poets' names--but after that i'm a little unsure what to do. I would suppose i'd then write it out like: Margolin, Anna. "Poem A" trans. Whoever [source]; "Poem A" trans. Somebodyelse [source]; "Poem B" trans. Thirdguy [source] and so on--but would i list the poems in order of appearance or in alphabetical order? Alphabetical is what i'm gut is saying, for obvious reasons, but that'd be a ballache to read... Help? ARGH! I sooooo wish my Yiddish were good enough that i could skip the translations! This is torture.

Hey folks, I'm back in the ring for the 2012 round! Brief precis on me: BA in English followed by MA in Gender, Sexuality and Culture (offered by Manchester's English and American Studies dept.). Interests in gender and sexuality, medicine, literature, disability studies, ageing, the body, anti-psychiatry. Degrees have been largely focussed on C20 and 21 texts and ideas (so consequently bombed the Subject GRE...). Researching applications for this year, i have (spurred by a growing worry about the proximity of the East Coast to the UK...) taken a fresh look at Stanford and Berkeley and discovered their interdisciplinary programs. My initial feeling is that these are a far better fit for me than the straight English doctoral programs they offer, but i'm here to see if you agree--especially from anyone already attending at those schools in those programs. I've never studied Rhetoric, which makes me a little concerned about applying for Berkeley's program, but then i've read that it's really nothing like a traditional Rhetoric program (and i wouldn't want it to be!)... how true is that? Looking at both the Rhetoric program and the MTL program, i've fallen in love with them. My whole academic career thus far has been interdisciplinary (esp. compared to others coming from the UK) and i'd like it to continue that way. (I'm also very much attracted to the fact that neither program cares about Subject test scores.) But, i dunno. Thoughts?

Hold up. You don't have lemonade in the States? The fuck, serious??!?! No lemonade? Bleughgrenigbugebiue beer is vile. Even non-US beer (don't even get me started on that fizzy pop crap... gives me such a stomachache). Best i can do is a pear cider (like, alcoholic cider, not "cider" as in apple juice, a la the US). Which pretty much makes me fail at being British. That being said, i don't recall a night playing Ring of Fire where everyone else was doing shots of beer and i, hating the stuff, was doing shots of voddy. I lasted, i'm told, an admirable amount of time...before passing out on the toilet.

Keeping literary, there's a Gertrude Stein cocktail...but it's fucking weak. Has like *no* booze in. Considering Pimm's is only 25% ABV/50 proof, mixed in equal volume with the syrups (not even taking into account the splash of soda), that's about as alcoholic as a standard cheap red wine--you've have to have like ten of 'em to get anywhere. I think i'd probably slug some gin in there. 2 ounces Pimm's 1 ounce chamomile syrup (combine equal parts strong chamomile tea and sugar on a stovetop and cook over moderate heat until the sugar completely dissolves.) 1 ounce lime mix (combine equal parts lime juice with sugar syrup and stir to dissolve) splash of lemon-lime soda 2 lemon wedges Method Fill Collins glass with ice and add Pimm's and chamomile syrup. Squeeze lemon wedges into glass, add lime mix and top with more ice. Add a splash of lemon-lime soda and stir. Garnish with a cucumber stir stick.

This is fast turning into "Keep a Drink, Drop a Drink" (only in the literature forum...), but amaretto and pineapple is peculiarly delicious also. Discovered by accident on account of one hard-of-hearing barkeep. edited because i wrote it like i'd been dropping drinks all day.

I wish they did the The Bell Jar one in a sweatshirt. And i'd love to see this design on something! http://greaterthanorequalto.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/PhilosophyInTheBoudoirTomerHanukaDesign.jpg

I'm from the UK and whilst i was considering applying to a UK PhD in an in-case-of-emergency situation, i ended up deciding not to. As has no doubt been said elsewhere, the UK PhD is very, very different from the North American (and particularly US) PhD and, if you're hoping to get a job teaching in the US after finishing, you'll find yourself in a much less advantageous position than your peers with US doctorate (albeit 3ish years sooner than them). You might also want to note that it's even harder to get funding for UK PhDs than it is in the US. Even UK/EU applicants will struggle to find funding, especially in the arts. Manchester, York and Exeter are the three most highly-ranked universities in the UK for English/related studiy (according to the 2008 RAE scores) and they have ten funded places between them for PhDs in English (and only UK/EU students are eligible). Also note that funding deadlines are coming up soon if they haven't already passed. It's an alternative, certainly, but for most it's not a particularly viable one. (And, sure, tuition is much lower in the UK that it is at, say, Harvard, but even if you can afford it, is self-funding really the way to go if you're playing the long game and will, eventually, be looking for employment post-doctorate? I would say no.)

Apart from getting my drink on (but of course) and finishing my MA, i'm not sure what to do for the next nine-ish months before application season starts again. What are you guys's plans for the coming months?

Have you read the rest of this thread? Accepted applicants were, we have it on good authority, notified last wee--so it's fairly clear that the rest of us are rejectamundo. We should hear by mail the week after next (mail going out at the end of next week).

This blows. I was wondering why my tutor hadn't updated me (she called up yesterday); i guess she didn't want to be the bearer of bad news. What especially sucks is i'm going to have to wait for international mail... ugh.

Just saw a new Harvard acceptance up on the board--another notified by email. Anyone want to claim it?

You're right--spelling it 'pitty' is ridiculous. If you haven't got the "juice" to apply a second time (I for one will certainly do this again if i need to), odds are you're simply not keen enough. Applying to programmes you have no real interest in is ridiculous.