heliogabalus

You didn't happen to post as YoungCharlie earlier, did  you?

It's gotta be...

I had the exact same thought...
 

 

You didn't happen to post as YoungCharlie earlier, did  you?

One thing to consider is that, depending on how busy you are (are you working, for instance), travel time will really cut into writing-time. During my MFA, I actually ended up writing less than usual because I was working, commuting over 2 hours (there and back), and spending a lot of time reading and commenting on others' work. The ideal situation is to live very close to where you are attending.

Hello,  I am a second year MA student in the Classical Studies program at Tulane University. Considering there are only four of us currently in the program, with all of graduating in May and with no new students entering this past year, they program is in need of some new applicants. I really want to recommend this program and encourage others to apply. Three of us are from ivy league schools, with all of us applying to competitive PhD programs in Classics. I can not begin to say how much I have enjoyed my time at Tulane; it has been amazing. I have had so many great experiences with the faculty and other students. They really have been so great to me. Dennis Kehoe is a super star and so chill, and all the young faculty have been so helpful in grad school advice and have been more than willing to read all my application material, etc. In addition, Tulane provides a very generous stipend in addition to the tuition scholarship (about $17K a year), and I have gotten to be a TA every semester - and have been able to give a few lectures in various undergraduate classes. I have found New Orleans very livable on the stipend amount, and it is just an awesome city. Additionally, they department has been really generous with summer grants that have helped me excavate abroad in the summer. 
The deadline in February 1st for all those interested. I am writing this completely on my own volition - this program really is fantastic and I hate to see a funded terminal MA program end due to lack of qualified applicants. This is such a rarity and a fantastic opportunity for those considering a postbac, MA, etc. I have primarily worked on my ancient and modern languages during this program - and I did not have to pay for the cost of a postbac; in fact, I was paid rather than having to pay. 
I am happy to answer any questions about the program, etc! Please consider Tulane! 
 

My dream is to teach translation theory courses in a leper colony--take that Applied Science!

My dream is to teach translation theory courses in a leper colony--take that Applied Science!

I'm trying to find what poster you mean in your first sentence, and I can't--do you mean heliogabalus?
 
 
If so, unless I'm very much misreading the context of their post--or misunderstanding the rhetorical thrust of your mention of it--they meant to criticize that idea, right?
 
An aside to the aside: I'm as much of a public school booster as the next guy--I turned down elite private schools to attend a third state school for my PhD in large part because I feel much more comfortable in that setting, and certainly did experience (or felt I experienced, if that distinction holds) the odd moment of pretension on my visits. But I'm also not a huge fan of some of the casual thrashing of "elite, private schools" that is, in its own way, just as snobbish as the image of an Ivy League professor in tweeds curling his nose under his monocle because he doesn't like where you've put your paraphs.
 
Absolutely all of my prior education has been at large, state, land grant institutions with strong (and very strong) rhet comp presences: the University of Minnesota, and Ohio State. And all that instruction has also emphasized that style and message are not discontinuous, and that graduate level research papers are expected to be grammatically correct and largely free of mechanical errors. Surely it does students a disservice to require that, but simultaneously deemphasize its instruction? I think Proflorax's point about the need for grammar not to be fetishized or taught in isolation, but also not overlooked, is well-taken.
 
Edited to add: I see I cross posted with mollifiedmolloy; the schoolmarmish medievalists are out in our full crotchety (and crocheted?) force.

Řezníček, I'm trying to think of any departments with faculty doing work 1920's and 30's Czechoslovak lit--Bristol or Glasgow maybe? Harvard has 2 really good people but they focus on 70s and 80s' underground stuff, I believe. Maybe Michigan, Paloff looks like he works with it tangentially and Toman has worked on that time period. I think the only place to do Slovak is Pitt, right? Medieval Czech stuff is really only handled in the US by a guy in the English dept. at UIC and a historian at Oregon, but I think she just works with Latin.
It sounds like you have some time to figure out what you want to specialize in, but you will probably want to before you apply. Also, you should take into account the job situation--whether it's a concern to you now or not. It will be in 7 years. There just aren't enough academic jobs in Czech lit--that is my real interest too--to have a decent chance of getting one (since a fair amount of the US Czech scholars are lecturers instead of professors, you may very well be competing with your teachers for academic jobs), so you might want to think about whether you really want to do a PhD or something like an area studies MA which will be faster and prepare you better for non-academic jobs. At the very least, if you apply to PhD programs and say that you have no real concerns about what you will do with your degree, the ad comms may pass over your application. (The first week of a grad program for Czech, my advisor pulled me aside to put together a game plan for transferring to a completely non-Slavic field where there might be a job.)

Hey, you said "in a few weeks."  Some of these deadlines are quickly approaching. 

If anyone reading this is in a similar situation in New York City, I would put in a similar plug for the city colleges.  They're affordable, and many of the faculty are accomplished scholars and co-teach at the Graduate Center. You have access to all of the resources of all of the city colleges - libraries, courses - and I think the Grad Center still credits the courses you take within the system for the MA, toward the PhD, if you ultimately decide to apply there.  
I didn't do this, because I had a job and took just one or two courses per semester, but some MA students adjunct within the system to help pay the bills.  I did get a reasonably generous fellowship, within the department, and thus got to know a lot of the faculty, as well as a better understanding of how the sausages get made in academia.  At Hunter, anyway, there was a healthy mix of people studying to be English teachers, MFA in writing people, and folks who wanted to go on (and did) to PhD programs, so a variety of perspectives.  After 10 years out, when I went back to faculty to ask for recommendations, they all remembered me.  I'm where I am now because my MA thesis advisor took the time to talk through with me a list of schools I should apply to.  I don't have direct experience with the other city colleges, but I would highly recommend Hunter.

Or, you know, you could go to a fully-funded program with a solid placement record. Just a thought.

"If you don't have enough attention to detail to put commas where they need to go, what have you overlooked in your critical edition of this important text?"
 
Is that really true, though? I've heard this argument before, but I'm a bit skeptical. I can't imagine thinking, "This person doesn't know when to use a semi-colon; I bet they don't know when they're plagiarizing." I'm a huge fan of using proper grammar and punctuation--you don't want to give anyone any reason to discount your writing--but I think the reason for some professors being highly critical of grammar and punctuation is because of something entirely different: classism. As a college professor (especially a lit prof), you are supposed to be the most educated person around in terms of English and writing. By making grammar mistakes you are showing that you did not attend the type of elite schools/programs that concentrate on teaching you when to use who or whom and when to use the subjunctive. It makes sense, but it's also more than a little snobby.

"If you don't have enough attention to detail to put commas where they need to go, what have you overlooked in your critical edition of this important text?"
 
Is that really true, though? I've heard this argument before, but I'm a bit skeptical. I can't imagine thinking, "This person doesn't know when to use a semi-colon; I bet they don't know when they're plagiarizing." I'm a huge fan of using proper grammar and punctuation--you don't want to give anyone any reason to discount your writing--but I think the reason for some professors being highly critical of grammar and punctuation is because of something entirely different: classism. As a college professor (especially a lit prof), you are supposed to be the most educated person around in terms of English and writing. By making grammar mistakes you are showing that you did not attend the type of elite schools/programs that concentrate on teaching you when to use who or whom and when to use the subjunctive. It makes sense, but it's also more than a little snobby.

"If you don't have enough attention to detail to put commas where they need to go, what have you overlooked in your critical edition of this important text?"
 
Is that really true, though? I've heard this argument before, but I'm a bit skeptical. I can't imagine thinking, "This person doesn't know when to use a semi-colon; I bet they don't know when they're plagiarizing." I'm a huge fan of using proper grammar and punctuation--you don't want to give anyone any reason to discount your writing--but I think the reason for some professors being highly critical of grammar and punctuation is because of something entirely different: classism. As a college professor (especially a lit prof), you are supposed to be the most educated person around in terms of English and writing. By making grammar mistakes you are showing that you did not attend the type of elite schools/programs that concentrate on teaching you when to use who or whom and when to use the subjunctive. It makes sense, but it's also more than a little snobby.

"Maybe you will be a great high school teacher or novelist or whatever you want to be."
 
Great high school teachers and novelists should be excellent writers too, in my opinion. I'm afraid high school teachers often aren't good writers, but students usually spend more time learning to write from them than college professors.
 
The best writing guide I've read--it did wonders for me as a writer--is Writing With Style by John Trimble. It's pricy, so you may want to get a used copy/older edition (they might be better, actually), but it is more than worth it. Whether you go on to get a PhD or just write emails, it's worth becoming a good writer.

Whose TT jobs will be eliminated and replaced with adjuncts and VAPs.

Whose TT jobs will be eliminated and replaced with adjuncts and VAPs.

Whose TT jobs will be eliminated and replaced with adjuncts and VAPs.

How long has everyone been saying this? Decades.

what has changed exactly since you last asked for advice and ignored all of it?

Congratulations, and good choice.