heliogabalus

UNC, UT.

<<Does this mean I shouldn't be going into academia?>> Yes.

Can I be the dissenting voice? Dude, you're a shoo-in. Don't listen to these guys. Don't even apply to any other schools, just start buying Cornell shirts. And don't worry about practical things like chances of getting tenure, you can pay your rent in poems.

(Vcelka Maja, sorry about the typo)

Celka Maja! An MA from a Polish university especially in Polish Studies (Jagiellonian is top-notch) will make you very competitive for Comp Lit programs. If it's good and you get your language skills up to par, you'll probably be able to teach 1st year Polish right away in your PhD program. That said, there are few--very few--job openings in Slavic each year, and even fewer that specialize in Polish. I'd do Comp in Polish, English and Russian so you can apply to both English and Slavic departments once you get your PhD. (Also, if you decide to do English, you can of course sell yourself to English departments as wanting to explore Jozef Konrad and his Polish precedents.) I say do it--at the very least you'll have an MA that will be much more useful than an MA in English or an MAPH (for any job-gov or private sector that needs someone who knows Polish).

<<Am I crazy for thinking I can have a baby and still finish in five years?>> Yes.

And sorry if I was being a jerk--I have no doubt that people can get a lot out of the program.

<<University of Chicago is a non-profit organization, so calling the MAPH program a "cash cow" is incredibly unfair.>> It would only be unfair if people were claiming the University of Chicago were taking the money from MAPH students and putting it in the pockets of shareholders/owners. Taking the money from MAPH students and using it to pay for (fund) PhD students, professors, staff, build fountains, fix urinals, etc. does not hurt an institution's status as a non-profit organization at all.

Definitely compare costs of living. Austin is a cheap place to live with lots of inexpensive options for entertainment. Also, because of the weather you can be outside pretty much all year.

I can see how the mistake was made. It bugs me when schools choose incredibly vague names for their programs.

No. It's JHU's comparative lit department, basically, and as such it's very well respected. NRC has it ranked 5-17; Harvard's is 5-16. Not exactly trade school.

I hear you don't even have to go.

Anybody know about Bryn Mawr's funding for English?

Probably better to go for the MA in the actual language, and then do the PhD in Comp. Lit. Since most Comp. Lit. PhD's will be hired by national lit departments, it's probably good to have an MA specifically in that lang.

Yet Texas still funds better.

Austin is awesome, and they have an incredible old Medievalist named Kaulbach there. If you get the chance take a class with him.

Marie-Luise, why do you want to get a second PhD? Is your first PhD in something literary? While I'm in no position to know what the admissions committee is thinking, my guess would be that if you're finishing up your PhD, they would be expecting you to be turning your thesis into a publication, getting a university job, and publishing a lot of articles, not going for one more PhD.

Aiming to grant expertise in a subject in only one more year than it takes to get an MD--insanity!

The only situation where it makes any sense to pay for an MFA is when you have a good job and you can take it part time, when you'd take a bigger financial hit for quitting even if you got an $18,000 - $30,000 fellowship. I'm in an MFA now part-time, have good friends who've gone to well-funded MFAs, and I think if any of us were paying big bucks for what we're getting (got), we'd be furious. An MFA is fun, but it's not worth a whole lot.

Are you hoping to become a professor? I would be worried that your anxiety disorder would make teaching hellish for you.

Don't get too specific: Just say you plan to spend all your time during the PhD looking at porn.

UNC has traditionally been regarded as one of the top Classics programs in the country.

I'm a teacher who'll be starting an MFA this fall. I'm certainly not the expert, but from everything I've read to get a tenure-track university gig with an MFA you really need to have a couple of books published. You can probably get adjunct positions with just the MFA, but salary and benefits-wise, getting a low level administrative job at a college would probably be better. For a back-up plan, you might want to get the secondary ed certificate, get the MFA, teach English for a few years, and write like crazy during the breaks and the vacations. If you publish some books, then you might get hired at a university. If you don't, you still have a job that involves lit and writing. If teaching at a public school doesn't sound appealing, check out good private schools. They often have a collegiate feel and can pay quite well. From everything I've heard, the MFA really guarantees you almost nothing in the way of employment. So shoring up the risk with some other qualifications might not be a bad plan.

As people have alluded to, numbers-wise the MFA at Cornell is harder to get into than the PhD; same with Iowa. They take, maybe, what 2%? Probably even less. Most MFAs are highly selective. And since you have broad interests in literature, it sounds like you don't have a specialized interest in what you want to explore for your dissertation. Why do you want a PhD/MFA in English / creative writing?

I grew up in Southern California and now live in New York City, but if I could wave a wand and be in any city in the US, it would be Austin. I went from a little liberal arts school in upstate New York to UT, and it was the best thing that ever happened to me. In addition to Austin being a great town, UT being such an immense school that you can find anything you want there (Hittitologists? Sure! Expert on Gypsies? Upstairs.), Texans are awesome. They're friendly, non-judgemental, and eccentric. (New Yorkers, in my experience, are much more rigid.) It's a great place, and if you're in English you can take classes with Ernest Kaulbach, who is hysterical and brilliant.