AurantiacaStella

Well, I had my master's degree the second time, so that in itself was a difference. It was in a different discipline, but I took 5/16 of my master's-level classes in the university's English department because my degree has a pretty liberal cross-registration policy. I think another major difference between the first and the second time was having a very focused sense of my research interests and being able to articulate them much more clearly than I could straight out of undergrad. Also, the master's degree gave me a chance to further develop my language skills, and to get a couple publications. Okay, so there were a lot of differences between the two application cycles, but I do think it was pretty important that I took several graduate-level English courses and did well on the subject test, at least to show that I'm serious about English as a discipline.

This is my second time, and I took the subject test this time but not the first time. I have a masters degree in another discipline, and I think a good score (just above 600, so not amazing) on the Lit test showed that I do know lit. I sent my score to all the programs (even though only 2/5 required it) and I went 4/5. Obviously I don't know if that really made a difference, but the lit test is something I'm glad I did the second time around.

From what I've been told, a 2:2 will be rough if you have never taught before, even if you are teaching two sections of the same class. But I think it could be manageable as long as you have a dissertation year, and obviously it will take less time to prep after you have more experience teaching. A prof of mine told me that he thought I should expect to devote an entire day to prep, teaching, and meeting with students for each two hours of class. So, if you taught MWF, those three days would basically be spent on teaching responsibilities.

I think that amount of money would be just enough to get by in Gainesville. I used to live in a slightly less expensive city than Gainesville, and I lived on $12,000 a year. However, that was with my health insurance covered, so if yours isn't covered I'm not sure how you would manage that stipend + paying for health insurance in that city. Also, I doubt you could afford to have a car with that stipend. Hope this helps a little.

For those interested in language acquisition, check out this thread: I already posted this there, but I highly recommend the following books for learning to read French and German (I did both at once, and was proficient in each within ~9 months): • French: http://www.amazon.com/French-Reading-Karl-C-Sandberg/dp/0133316033/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1363119844&sr=8-1&keywords=reading+french • German: http://www.amazon.com/Jannachs-German-Reading-Knowledge-Richard/dp/1413033490/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1363119876&sr=1-3&keywords=reading+german

I'm presenting, but I'm not sure I want to reveal my identity.

Transfer credits don't really have anything to do with it. Just because you go through a second set of coursework, that will not necessarily change your way of thinking, which could become firmly established in your masters program. I'm not saying this is necessarily common and it's definitely not good to be inflexible, but one of my recommenders told me to be careful -- especially with programs that prefer applicants straight from the BA -- not to present myself in such a way that it seemed I had everything figured out as a result of my master's degree. Would be curious to see what PhilSparrow thinks about this.

I agree that almost every department is very dysfunctional, but it seems to me that some of these statements must be one-sided or distorted.

Sadly, many similar things could be said about many programs. No department is perfect, since each one is filled with fallible profs and students. And unfortunately, in general, academe is a very disfunctional and sometimes discriminatory envrionment. Edit: All we can do is work to change it from the inside. This thread certainly isn't contributing to academia's evolution in a positive way.

Some programs/professors want to mold/shape you to their methodology, and that is harder to do if you've already done graduate-level work.

How much do you have to pay for this sort of tutoring?

Yes! On my CV I specify the proficiency level for each language.

That's bizarre. @BrookeSnow, did you check your spam folder?

There's also a summer language prgogram at Middlebury, which is supposed to be pretty intensive and immersive: http://www.middlebury.edu/ls

Sometimes professors will offer independent study courses in obscure languages, at least this is the case with medieval ones.

I think you choose it, but with the approval of a professor. For some, it is obvious what language to learn: i.e. someone who studies modern Irish literature but right now I can only read it in translation would definitely benefit from learning modern Irish. As far as French/German/other modern reading languages, generally you would choose the one in which most scholarship is written in your subfield. I hope that makes sense.

Those language requirements are something that you have to achieve once you are in the program. But it can be a plus if you show that you are already working on your research language(s) in your application. I think it depends a lot on the field, but, for example, for medieval studies you really must have a start on Latin and probably a few others for it to be feasible for you to finish your PhD in a reasonable amount of time. Languages are one of the major things that slow people down in PhD programs, so I think for those programs that are trying to speed up their students' time-to-graduation, they will probably be particularly glad to see that you have a language up to snuff before starting the PhD. Also, as for how you learn the languages -- that depends on whether you need to know it for reading, speaking, or both. If just for reading, many universities have reading-only language classes for grad students, in which you'll learn, say, all of French or German in one or two semesters. For speaking, you'd really need a class. And, also, if you can demonstrate reading knowledge through a language exam, then you could realistically just study it on your own for a few months and then try to pass the language exam with no classes at all. This is *the* book for learning to read French: http://www.amazon.com/French-Reading-Karl-C-Sandberg/dp/0133316033/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1363119844&sr=8-1&keywords=reading+french And I found this one pretty good for German: http://www.amazon.com/Jannachs-German-Reading-Knowledge-Richard/dp/1413033490/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1363119876&sr=1-3&keywords=reading+german

Great idea! I'm finding some really awesome stuff. These seem even better than the mug with the school's name. Thanks!

I read this suggestion around here somewhere -- I think I'm going to give a coffee mug from the school I'm attending to each of my letter writers. I think it's a nice idea, especially if you are at all close to them.

I think you should definitely tell him and the others as well. Mine wanted to know all the details, so I told them. I would definitely focus on the positive, and I would not try to make any excuses because you've had a positive outcome! I suppose you could just tell him you've been accepted to UNC and you're attending, and then see if he even asks about the others.

This is really an individual thing, and I have to say that you two really just have to talk out what each of you is willing to sacrifice. My fiance (not an academic) and I are not willing to live apart, and he was very clear with me that he wanted to live closer to his family for the next few years because he has a few older/sick relatives. So, I limited my search to a certain geographical area. It's all about compromise! It was much more important for me to live together with my fiance in a place that would make him (and thus both of us) happy than to exhaust all my grad school options by applying all over the place. So, basically, you just have to talk about it and be willing to compromise if you want your relationship to last.

You're saying that you as a couple live off two UT stipends. right? Because that's really a lot different than one person or a couple living off one stipend.

I'm really just curious. I guess because I have a smaller area of focus than many others at this point, I naturally think very specifically about who I will work with. Don't you think about who will direct your dissertation?

So I definitely don't think you need to know their work inside and out. But how could you not have at least one POi at a school if it's a good fit for you? I would not underestimate the importance of your ability to get along/communicate well with your potential advisor. The emails should begin to give you a sense of their personality and what it would be like to work with them.

Sorry, I didn't mean that as a direct response to what you wrote. I actually think it is very important to think about alternatives (before & after the PhD) and really quite naive not to, so I'm glad this thread exists. I think we should all acknowledge that there are plenty of other ways -- outside academia -- for us to live happy and fulfilled lives. We just have to be open to the opportunities that are available to us, whether they are what we originally expected/hoped for, or not.