heliogabalus

Is Galinsky not a big deal these days?

Why wouldn't you?

Also keep in mind that a lot of people don't finish their PhDs--often because they're tired of living on such low salaries. Professors usually don't make tons of money either, so every one I've ever known has been acutely aware of the role money plays in accepting a job/grad school offer. As long as you're polite and honest, nobody is going to think you're a jerk.

Something to keep in mind when negotiating funding: It is not the professor's money; you are not taking anything away from them if you get x-amount of dollars more. It doesn't make any sense to be coy--just say, "Hi, I would love to come to Illinois, and would in a second, if Minnesota weren't offering me $3000 more. Is the funding package there at Illinois set in stone at this point, or is there any flexibility there?" Also, keep in mind that you're going to be teaching classes (usually the ones the profs don't want to teach) and grading papers (which no professor yearns to do), but you will probably be making 1/2 of what the cleaning staff makes. Get as much as you can.

Queens College (CUNY) doesn't have any writing profs specializing in genre, but they are pretty much open to everything, and some of the English profs are interested in genre or write genre stuff.

If the program is a good fit, I'd apply to the top programs. It's hard to play it safe with grad school--so many don't even get into their safety schools--and the top programs are likely to offer the best funding and chances at getting a job. If you get in, will it be worth the money you spent on the application? If yes, apply.

"It really would take another MA degree to even come close to having leeway to explain away an F." -- This sounds right.

I've never even heard of anyone getting an F in grad school... People are trying to be nice, but my guess would be that a PhD isn't in the cards for you. From the writing in the post, am I right in guessing that you are a foreign national studying and paying international fees? Schools are so hungry for money from foreign applicants (esp. from China where a PhD is immensely prestigious and opens so many doors) that at the MA-level, I think they might be tempted to take some weak applicants. With the F it sounds like the professor is trying to send a clear message to you and admissions committees that he believes you should not do a PhD. Also, can you get an MA with an F? I thought that you could not get an MA if you got anything lower than a C (or even a C, which is basically an F in grad school).

I'd be very wary of getting a spouse to leave their job--if they have a job they like and are doing well in--to follow you while you get an MFA. The majority of people getting an MFA will never publish a book and will never make money from their MFA. It's a bit of a vanity degree. You could wind up broke, using your stipend to support two people, and that might be very hard on a marriage. I would only go to a program that has a great stipend (Michener, WashU?) and with a good record of students getting book deals (Iowa?). Even then it's a gamble. And I don't mean to be overly cynical--I have an MFA and I'm glad I did it. You might want to look into low-res programs, so your husband won't have to give up his job.

Don't go unless they pay you.

At 7560 pounds, it isn't cheap (but I think that's for the whole MA program), but you could look into something like the distance learning MA Nottingham offers (other British universities have similar programs). http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/pgstudy/courses/english/english-studies-by-web-based-distance-learning-ma.aspx

Bank Street is highly respected in NYC by private schools with lower schools. Not sure about in publics, but I imagine so. Outside of New York, I don't imagine too many people know about it.

Sorry to be a bit harsh. But really, this is like an medieval historian telling a 20th century labor historian that they have to pass Toronto's Latin exam to make it to candidacy.

The professor's an idiot--at least when it comes to ancient history. This can't be the supervisor to your thesis. If she's just doing a class where you're supposed to come up with your thesis idea, talk with an ancient historian who could supervise your thesis. Run your proposal by her/him, then set upa meeting with labor relations prof and tell her, "I talked with Prof. X and he liked the idea, and said that the standard way to go about writing ancient history theses is.... Would that be ok with you?"

Aren't Rutgers and Indiana two of the big Victorian schools? Also CUNY b/c of Talia Schaffer? (I'm sure all the other big name-schols are strong too.)

Medieval studies at UT--that's awesome. I took a Chaucer class and some medieval Latin classes there.

I'd go straight for the PhD--I'm in a similar situation and wonder about applying for a PhD sometimes. You have 4 classes or so of grad level lit classes, right, so you can get recs from those professors and use papers you wrote in those classes.

Keller and Russell's book should take you through intermediate.

Southern Illinois? I'm sure it's a great place, but it's not one that I hear mentioned as much as places like NYU, UVA, Iowa, WUSTL, Cornell, Alabama, Indiana, Wisconsin ... I'm sure it's an awesome program, but I'm a bit surprised to see it listed as one of the 5 most prestigious programs.

Aren't all English PhD programs heavy on critical theory?

Yeah, paying for the degree does not make sense. Apply again, or do a part-time program (where you can keep a job that pays well).

Columbia has many advantages because it's in NYC; Brown, on the other hand seems to fund its students (do any Columbia students get complete tuition remissions and a stipend?) and has a smaller group that probably gets more individual attention. If anyone is deciding between the two, it would be crazy to turn down a funded (as in you pay nothing and get a stipend) offer for an unfunded one, unless there are major mitigating circumstances.

Before you discount Austin, take into account that housing, food, and entertainment are much, much cheaper in Austin than New York. Also, since the weather is better there is more fun, free stuff to do outside there too. (I'm not applying for Classics, so I have no dog in this fight, but I have lived in both cities.)

They take completely different approaches, but both should do the job. If you spend a lot of time with Keller and Russell you'll understand the language at a pretty intimate level. With the Cambridge style, you'll quickly get comfortable reading long passages, but you'll be reading Latin in a more instinctual way. I used to think that the former was the only way to go, but I've taught with a Cambridge style text and it worked much better than I would have expected. Just look at samples of both online and see which you respond to.

I'd go for Keller and Russell's Learn to Read Latin and Learn to Read Greek. Exhaustive grammar and all the readings are authentic.