curiousgeorge

Don't go to NYU or any private university for an MA unless you don't have to pay (and you probably will). No matter how much you love critical theory (and I take it you mean this broadly, i.e. just not Frankfurt School shit?), do not go for any of the sexy MA programs that cost a billion dollars like MAPH at Chicago. The publics like those already mentioned on here will prepare you just as well (if not better) for a Ph.D program. If that's not your objective, there's little reason to do an MA in any humanities field given the time and money you'll invest that could be spent in other ways. I didn't see Indiana's Culture & Communication Department mentioned yet -- they have excellent film/media faculty and they fund their M.A. students. You have to teach public speaking (and no, nobody who is accepted has a background in public speaking), but at least you don't have to pay. University of Oregon has a film studies track in their English Department that will get you an M.A. Finally, Georgia State has a Moving Image Studies M.A. track in the Communication Department with some very good faculty (if you like cognitive stuff or affect, Greg Smith is there). I don't know about funding, but it will surely be cheaper than going to NYU/Columbia/Chicago. You also might look into the Visual Studies programs at UC-Irvine and Rochester. They are both MA/Ph.D programs, though-- no terminal MA. The Rhetoric (Film Track) program at Berkeley has already been mentioned, and you'll obviously get all the critical theory you want there. Someone mentioned Duke -- the department which has film faculty is Literature. They have a bunch of film superstars (Jane Gaines!), and you can wipe the drool from Jameson's mouth for your critical theory fix. And there's always Modern Culture & Media at Brown. Just don't put all your eggs in those baskets...and again, those are all Ph.D programs with no terminal M.A (you're more than welcome to apply to them right out of college, though). Not sure if that's helpful at all. Maybe you didn't intend for your original post to be read this way, but it sounds like you're saying that you think you should look into programs that don't have "film" or "cinema" in the title because your B.A. isn't in film studies...even though that's where your interests lie for graduate school. Apply to programs that can support what you want to study; don't worry about the title. They won't care that your degree is in Biology or Business Administration if you can demonstrate in your SoP that you have a good reason to be going to graduate school for Film Studies. PM me if you want a longer rant about the public/private/funding/grad school in the humanities issue. There is also great advice regarding the last issue elsewhere on these forums, as you are probably aware. Read (Harvard Literature/American Civilization Ph.D) William Pannapacker's article "Grad School in the Humanities: Just Don't Go." Oh, and disregard nearly all of this post if you are independently wealthy and don't have to worry about money. Good luck!

Read Gravity's Rainbow?

So California is bankrupt. Bummer, dude. Are we going to have any funding by next year?

Stiles-- this is all great. Thanks so much!

Honestly, searching for "media" or "film" (or some combination of the two) in the results section of this site will probably yield a pretty accurate picture of where people really apply. I'll go out on a limb and say that if nobody on here has applied to it in the past 3 years then you probably don't want to go to it (unless it's a brand new program). And yes, I'm assuming that for every worthwhile program there is at least one applicant who is dorky enough to post his/her results on an online forum...

If you want to hear about conferences and special CFPs from journals, I think the two best resources are: UPenn English CFP site: http://call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/ It's only "English" because it's run out of the English Dept. H-Net listservs-- there are about 5 million of them, and lots and lots of people submit CFPs through them. Plus, Peffy-- lots of people present at conferences if they aren't at the moment affiliated with an academic institution. Don't worry about that at all, seriously.

Apply more widely. This field is competitive, but it's not like we're working with the odds of winning a nobel prize. With those numbers I feel like you HAVE to eventually get in somewhere attractive with money. Seriously-- UCSD and Indiana (my meaningful acceptances) aren't exactly Duke and Harvard, but they're competitive programs; I have a low three gpa from a top 30 (and that's on a good day) SLAC, mediocre GRE scores only slightly higher than your first try, no publications (couple of conference papers though) and I've never done anything but go to school and fuck around with school in my spare time. Your new GRE alone would land you an assload of $$ when you're accepted for Ph.D. So-- if I can get in at Second Best University, you can DEFINITELY get in at Tell Your Parents University! In terms of real advice, why don't you have more people look at your SoP. Or did you already do that? It honestly might have just been the fac matches and some lack of clarity in your research goals that kept you back. A conference paper this year prob wouldn't hurt-- and talk it up in the new SoP. I think they like to have titles and topics to remember you by. Plus, network! Who are your rec writers, and who do they know? Milk that shit! Oh, and just to clarify-- from all that I've ever heard, "research goals" just means clearly stating the problems/questions you're interested in; you prob shouldn't feel the need to have a sentence in your SoP that says "I know that I definitely want to write my dissertation on representations of mailboxes in films made by colorblind fans of the show "Twilight" and that is what i'm going to do, thanks bye." Ugh, there's a reason why I'm not a guidance counselor. Seriously don't stress. I have a funny feeling that you're going to be FINE if you apply again. And if you choose not to, well, then you'd be following everyone's advice about humanities grad school anyway.

What's the best bar in the Hillcrest/North Park area? I have no specific criteria; just tell me where you like(d) to go. Best coffee shop to sit around in for a while? Will I kill myself riding a bike down University Ave. to get to the UCSD Medical Center shuttle? Can one realistically expect to see any pedestrian traffic in either neighborhood? Where in Balboa Park can one just kinda camp out and read/nap for a while on a nice day? Frisbee? Any free tennis courts? How much police activity in the area? How sensitive are the residents (and how old)? Likely that I'd be noticed/chastised for taking a piss on the street at 3 AM? Will the neighbors call the cops if friends and I are loud while walking down the street at this hour? It may look like I'm straining to seem "crazy," but answers to these questions will honestly help me determine if it's worth shelling out the extra money to live there.

Hyde Park is really nice (the high 30s and 40s from Guadalupe to Red River). It's on the shuttle route (as a previous poster mentioned), within easy biking distance of UT, and is even walkable (rare!) if you want a stroll on a nice day. There is a nice little strip of stuff on 43 st as well as up Duval that is probably all that most of the posters here seem to be looking for-- couple of places to eat, a great (though busy) coffee shop, laundry, supermarket, gas station, and...tennis/basketball courts if you aren't into the indoor gym thing. Rent is pretty affordable if you're in one of the motel-style complexes, but I think you can even get a little cottage house without going broke. (I'm basically writing this because living in a neighborhood like HP sounds surprisingly great right now...come on, Hillcrest) That said, West Campus really ain't that bad as far as noise and parties. You have to deliberately walk over to the frat section to have much contact with that stuff, and while the landlords may be a little less scrupulous because they're used to dealing with stoners and "musicians," there wasn't one night while I lived there when I found myself cursing the neighbors because I couldn't sleep or something.

I like, uhh, did some reading and stuff this semester? Oh and I watched TV (on the internet!) and read newspapers and shit cuz that's what we do in media studies school yup yup yup!

I knew this thread was going to be good...

If you don't mind living in a sleepier area that is in close proximity to the MOVE house, West Philly is quite affordable, provides easy access to Penn, and is honestly pretty nice (just don't act like an idiot, same as any city really). Philly in general isn't particularly expensive for a northeastern city, and you certainly won't need a car...

Ooh and let's take it a step further: let's say (in a really more than perfect world) you got offered a TT position at both a kind of second rate dept in a place you love and a top dept in a place you're a little apprehensive about. All things considered, the offers are the same except for location. For instance, for me it could be Drexel v. Boulder. Which would you take?????? My goodness, I feel so naughty even thinking about this!!!!!

See I was hoping that San Diego would be perfect in that way. You get to wear scarves, jackets, sweaters, sweater vests (!), whatever if you want, but you also don't really absolutely have to. Very flexible climate fashion-wise. No? One of my friends who grew up around there even suggested that you can just drive 15 minutes inland if you don't agree with the temperature in SD proper on any given day. But, when it comes down to it I'd much rather be living in other places. If I had to pick one as a grad student, I guess it would be the philly area-- either around penn or slightly west, slightly southeast of temple, or the suburbs. I honestly cannot imagine a better place to go to grad school-- or any school (gentrification, what?).

That shuttle really works? The 9:30 cutoff scares me...but then again, why would I have to go to campus at 9:30 pm? I'm sure I'll dig myself into some hole that makes it necessary. I guess I ask because when I visited all the students mentioned how the grad housing shuttles are sometimes so full that you have to wait for the next one. Any recs for a real estate agency to use? Craigslist can be unreliable, and when I lived in Austin I actually found much more cheap stuff through a broker.

Ooh I got a plan for all the people stuck on the stupid waitlist for grad housing: I'll move in, poop in the middle of the living room every night for a week so that my roommate runs away, and then casually suggest that one of you be my new roommate. Then I'll stop the pooping (if u want). Grad cafe solidarity!!

Alright, so thanks for the encouragement/advice above-- I'm going. Visit was very nice. As my potential (probable) adviser said to me, "you have to get used to the fact that it's actually just okay to enjoy yourself and your surroundings here." I'm paraphrasing, but that was the gist. Indeed, a scary thought! Now about the housing: anyone else have SHORE? What the hell is the deal? The agreement seems pretty shady-- no choice about when you move in (the request is only a formality, from what I've heard), no choice about which building you end up in, and the main criteria for roommate matching are move-in date (surprise!) and gender? Sorry, just gotta be the curmudgeon of the group I guess... Congrats to all who got in and are going. We should have a secret gradcafe community handshake/distinguishing accessory...or something.

That's very helpful. Thanks!

I'm obviously jumping the gun since I'm only waitlisted, but I really want in at USC so I'm fantasizing early. My question: can anyone who knows the USC experience imagine living in Koreatown and biking (or maybe taking the subway even?) to USC for school stuff? Is living even moderately close to downtown just a huge pain in the ass?

I grew up in New York, went to college in the area, and went to grad school briefly in Austin. Austin will seem STRANGE if you're used to the pedestrian traffic and the bustle of New York-- it's really more like living in a suburb once you're outside of the 6 block downtown area (k fine, it has three Main Streets instead of one). That said, it can be really nice for the same reasons: proximity to at least a modicum of culture and a teeny tiny feeling of relevance without having to climb over 600 snotty transplants at the neighborhood Oren's every morning (yes, I'm a square upper west sider, for the record). But-- I don't know what kind of neighborhood you're looking for. I guess I'd recommend parts of East Austin if you're looking for something closer to the cool (read: gentrifying) neighborhoods of NYC. Basically, Austin is worlds away from NYC in terms of feel/atmosphere, but I'd say that it has most of the same "stuff" that you'd probably want. Plus, you will never pay 7 dollars for a beer or 10 for a shitty sandwich. Actually you know what, that's not entirely correct-- Austin can be weirdly, randomly overpriced. Bars close at 2, which is annoying when you've just biked 6 miles to be able to meet your friends and get a little sloppy without worrying about killing yourself driving home. And thats...about it.

Hi all, I was accepted to the English Ph.D program at Syracuse, but my work will not be in literature at all-- they have a fairly significant group of film and visual culture scholars, so it's not even like I got in under false pretenses. I'm wondering if anyone in the lit community has thoughts on these kinds of English departments. Is it pretty common for there to be students taking classes with you whose work essentially has nothing to do with literature, or would this be kind of strange for either me or the other students there? Further, how easily do you think it is to apply for jobs outside of English proper (say, in film and media studies, communication, visual culture, etc)? Even though the work should speak for itself by that point, my Ph.D will still say "English," after all. I would fear that a question like "well, why did you go to an English department, then?" would always nag me, but I'm more than willing to be wrong on that! Finally, any thoughts on the caliber of that department in general? I see that it isn't exactly ranked in the top 10...is this a significant hurdle even if one's dissertation is solid?

Yeah, doesn't the article sort of gloss over the centrality of humanities scholarship in advancing the visibility/importance of identity politics during the past 40 years? For good or ill, this is usually what I think of when I think "humanities."

I still have no "view decision" link on my app too. I have no idea what it means...maybe they just have to do them one by one? You'd think a future media studies Ph.D would know how a system like that works, but I have literally no clue. Anyone else done waiting? I received notice from the last school I was waiting to hear a decision from today (rejection from Minnesota Am Studies). Still technically waiting to see what'll happen with the USC waitlist and to get the official Northwestern rejection...but wow. Do I have to just...focus on school work again? Good luck to the rest of the community. And to the dejected poster with really good numbers: I wish I could give you an answer. My numbers are considerably worse than yours (from undergrad at least), and people usually think the name of my undergrad institution is fake when I tell them (I went to Penis University). I scored near the 50th percentile on the GRE math, though verbal was good. I guess there's just really something to be said for networking maybe...it seems like nearly all the successful applicants I've talked to have had contact with the schools that accepted them either directly or through a current faculty adviser/recommender. Still I imagine you were near the top of every pile even if you weren't accepted. What are you interested in, if you don't mind sharing?

Sorry, didn't notice at first that you were already aware of the Northwestern weekend. But yeah, I think that's still the verdict. Sucks, I know..I wanted to go there too.

I got the acceptance from IU on Feb 6. They definitely sent out one round of admits and rejections, but I'm not sure if they're done accepting for the standalone M.A. or not. Northwestern had their interview sessions for finalists this past weekend. I was not invited, but I heard from a friend who went. So, I'm guessing that if we weren't accepted for the chance to fight to be accepted, then we aren't going to be accepted at all. It's all bullshit, dude. Anyone know what it means when applyyourself application status says "graduate school final review?" Is it really a "review," or is it just one of those cruel ways in which the department lets you know they've made a decision without telling you what it is? Haven't heard a peep from the dept in question, and a few acceptances were posted as early as mid-January. Eek.