Two Espressos

Je suis très heureux que je peux lire cette phrase. That's another great thing about (most) humanities majors: you gain foreign language skills! (Though my response is probably wrong somehow... I struggle in French more than any other course). EDIT: Turns out I used the wrong verb (I always confuse them). Fixed.

While I understand your position (and, if I'm fortunate enough to be in your place, would probably feel similarly), Urbana-Champaign is a great school, and you shouldn't feel envious of anyone!

Great advice has already been posted here, but I'll add to it. I'm applying this fall to both MA and PhD programs. I think I have pretty strong odds for being accepted to an MA program (and hopefully a PhD program! Fingers are crossed.), but funding is, again, the main issue. If I dislike the options I receive next spring, I plan to work for a year and apply again. I'm looking into ETA positions, AmeriCorps/Peace Corps, etc. I guess I'll look into the publishing thing too. I've come to realize that a BA in English isn't career suicide, which is a wonderful feeling.

Very true. I don't have any teaching experience myself (besides tutoring, which doesn't count anyways!), so I'm speaking from an idealization of what teaching would be. I may find myself doing the exact opposite of what I intend. Thanks, that means a lot to me. I'll definitely take you up on the SoP/WS offer, though you'll be in Ph.D.-student mode come this fall, so you may not have much free time on your hands! Haha.

Objectivity is a fiction, so while I certainly don't plan on "indoctrinating" students or grading them based on their opinions, I have no qualms expressing politically sensitive ideas. EDIT: I should probably stop talking as if I'm a graduate student. It's a pretty huge if.

No, you're right. It's sad, really! I hope that someday I'll be able to combine scholarly work with activism of some sort. Some academics do this (Butler comes to mind).

I'm glad that there are a few of us on here! Neither of my parents are alcoholics...just painfully religious bigots (which may be worse?). There's something decidedly anti-capitalist about someone from lesser means undertaking (or in my case, seeking to undertake) graduate work in the humanities. I'd like to envision it as myself kicking capitalism in the balls. And I like that very much.

Me too! It's presumptuous to call myself a "grad student," as I don't apply for PhD programs until this fall, but hopefully I can count myself among your ranks soon! If I do get accepted to a program and complete it successfully, I'll be both the first college-educated and Ph.D.-wielding member of my family. Considering that I come from a working-class (read: pretty much poor) family, I'd say that's something to be excited about! And I love the irony of it, considering I'm dead-set on obtain a degree as "useless" and "economically unwise" as a Ph.D. in English.

Always follow the money. I read in the Chronicle of Higher Education today about a woman with ~80k in loans who is designing a comic series of some sort about her experiences. She said she hopes to pay off her loans by age 40. That's just sad. I hate to see that happen to people. The Chicago MAPH program is pretty theory-heavy, no? I'd imagine that it wouldn't be as conducive to your tentative goal of teaching at a community college as Washington State would be, unless Chicago has some sort of comp/rhetoric focus of which I'm unaware?

Ratemyprofessors.com isn't much use, at least in my personal experience. A quick glance at the spelling, grammar, and content in the ratings should verify this. There are always one or two articulate, thoughtful reviews, but they're the exception rather than the norm. I used to rate professors on there all the time (nearly all of them positive, to help offset the unsupportably shitty reviews given), but I gave up a few months ago. It was aggravating, and I didn't really see the purpose of numerically "rating" professors anyways. If you're concerned about grad professors (as teachers, as advisers, etc), I'd ask current graduate students at the program; they'd probably be the most reliable resource.

Good advice! I completely agree with your last sentence. The big problem with my English department right now is that some professors (two in particular) are involving students in the onslaught. It's getting crazy.

So I was wondering: how does one navigate rough departmental politics? Neutrality is obviously a goal, but it gets complicated when one wants to build alliances for letters of recommendation, etc. I'm wondering because the English department at my undergraduate university is riddled with multiple lawsuits right now--not even being hyperbolic. It's so strange, because all of this intensity is hidden unless you're on personal terms with one or more professors... So, if any of you have dealt with departmental politics--whether as a grad student or an undergrad--please comment below! As many of you will be starting PhD programs this fall, this information should be very useful for you!

Thanks. Most of my perspective comes from the exceptionally helpful advice of other grad cafe members over this past year, so a communal "thanks" is in order. I think this too! It's wishful thinking perhaps, but I feel like many of the users on this site are the crème de la crème of the grad school set (evidenced, as I see it, by the many admissions to strong programs that many users receive each season). I believe that there are a lot of extremely intelligent future educators, theorists, etc. among us. True, though, as I said above, It seems to me that the grad cafe houses a large percentage of the highly talented, so I'd like to imagine that many members will be much more successful than they anticipate!

Don't do it. It might be tempting at this point, but going into debt for an MA in English is suicidal. A far better option would be working for a year--teaching abroad, tutoring, or any random job you can find, really--and doing reading, research, writing, etc. on your own. Then apply next year for funded MA/PhD programs. While the US News and World Report rankings aren't completely indicative of quality, then do reflect--at least in a general sense--perception of quality by outside forces. Numbers do matter (especially to administrators), so while sweating over the minutiae of the rankings is foolish, ignoring them altogether is even more foolish. When analyzing graduate school prospects in the humanities, always follow the money. If you don't have funding, don't go. Think about it: let's say that you take up the unfunded MA offer, going, say, ~$30,000 into debt in the process. Let's also say that you apply to PhD programs later on and get accepted to one or several programs. Once again, let's say that you complete the program successfully and now are approaching the job market. The sad reality is that most of us PhD-hopefuls (I'm one of them) will end up as adjuncts. I'm okay with that very real possibility; I love English enough to embrace such a fate. And while being paid less than $20,000 a year is terrible, to put it mildly, being paid $20,000 while trying to pay back $30,000 in loans is even worse. I hope you heed my advice.

TripWillis with 548 posts? Holy shit.

Yeah, I brought reading material for my independent study with me, but I didn't read it at all the whole trip. So much for being productive! I wonder: is it normal for attendees to only attend only a few panels per day? 'Cause we spent very little time at the actual convention and lots of time exploring NOLA.

I'd say that it's worth being a member. Membership isn't going to help with graduate school directly, but it does provide some opportunities for networking, conference presentations, scholarships, etc. I've presented at two STD conferences thus far, and I've enjoyed both of them. And I've been elected president of my university's STD chapter for the next academic year, so that's nice too: another line for my CV!

Hello all, I'm not sure if STD (I love these initials. To paraphrase a former professor, "STD? What the fuck were they thinking?") has much of a presence on these boards, if at all, but if there are any Sigma Tau Delta members among us who attended the international convention in New Orleans this year, I'm curious: what were your thoughts? Did you enjoy the convention, hate the convention, barely attend the convention? (My group was without an adviser this year, and we only spent maybe two hours or so a day at the convention. The rest of the time was spent either sightseeing, dining, or getting drunk on Bourbon St.) I liked the panels that I attended, especially the one I presented in, but some of the panels were disappointing. Really, a panel on Twilight? What the fuck?! I realize that most grad cafe members are either enraptured with acceptances or despairing over rejections right now, but if you want to take a break from the hell that is the application season, please comment below.

That would be really cool, but it's such a specific niche, so I doubt anything like that would ever happen. I would totally watch it though.

Woah, that's really high praise! And I probably don't deserve it, either. But thanks a lot, rawera and TripWillis! I didn't think anyone on these boards even knew me, haha. I do hope to "tear it up" next fall though. I'm ready to kick some ass.

I don't apply til this fall, but both of those points define me to a T: extreme impostor syndrome and extreme gratitude for finding thegradcafe.com. I don't know what I would ever have done without the support and help of you guys. Thanks a bunch. I get really excited thinking about the prospect of reading former gradcafers' books in the future. Judging from the intellect and ingenuity of people on these fora, I think it's safe to say that a few cutting-edge theorists are among us! PS: Congrats to the Harvard kids by the way. That's an extreme accomplishment.

Congrats, everyone! (EDIT: realized that a third person had been accepted to Columbia) Members of these forums have provided me with tremendously helpful advice and have been tremendously successful themselves, so I'm hoping that I'll be able to emulate them when I apply next fall.

This is awesome shit right here. First the post about the virtue of the "uselessness" of an academic career, and now this. I hope you don't mind, but I'm totally saving some of these quotes and adding them to my awesome-quote-collection.

Exactly the same for me: I have to check thegradcafe daily!