chitown

I only have limited knowledge of Kalamazoo so take this with a grain of salt; a friend of mine attended WMU and I visited her a few times. I suggest living close to campus as parts of Kalamazoo can be sketchy. It is not really a college town. It's more like a small truck-stop town that happens to have a college. Cost of living is fairly cheap. My friend rented a nice, spacious two bedroom for about six hundred. It is also about two and a half hours from Chicago, accessible via the Amtrak. There are also some cute vineyards not too far from K-zoo in southwest Michigan. Good luck with your decision!

It's been quite some time since I lived there, but Oxford is definitely a college town. There is little there that doesn't revolve around Miami. It's a cute town with tons of coffee shops, bars, and locally owned stores. It reminds me of a smaller Ann Arbor (although much more conservative). There is also a little bit of friction between the "townies" and the college students, although I suspect this is directed more at undergrads. The undergraduates are mostly white and upper-middle class, although there is more diversity amongst graduate students and faculty. Fraternity and sorority culture is huge, as are sporting events. However, academics are also valued. There is a wide range of course offerings, which probably doesn't interest you as much as a grad student, but you can take credit classes in wine tasting, horseback riding, yoga etc. There is also an ice skating rink and a huge fitness center. Miami brings in a ton of guest speakers from all different backgrounds. I saw Colin Powell and Henry Rollins within a couple of months of each other. For such a small town, there really is a lot to do. As far as part-time jobs, you'll need to be prepared to drive 45 minutes or so to Cincinnati, or at least the 25 minutes to Hamilton. As I mentioned, there really is very little in Oxford that doesn't revolve around the campus. Hope this helps.

I accepted Bowling Green's offer and removed myself from the waitlists at Michigan State and Purdue (comp/rhet).

Any other Rhet/Comp people waiting to hear? I contacted the graduate secretary and she said my application was still under consideration, which I'm guessing means "We'll get your rejection out to you, eventually."

I am waiting on Michigan State and Purdue. I'm wondering when MSU will notify; usually, they notify early. I've seen some acceptance for their English program, but not Rhetoric and Writing. Hmm.

Great quote! Thanks for posting.

TC3- I believe he is still updating the response times, even though the blog has been discontinued.

No help regarding admissions info, but have you checked Poets and Writers message boards and the Suburban Ecstasies MFA/PhD response times? These seem to have the most up to date info regarding creative PhD's. Good luck!

Wow, that's surprising, since they already drastically cut the number of students admitted last year as well. Yikes. Oh, and also, they make decisions for the creative PhD separately from the lit PhD so decisions may not come out at the same time. FYI.

In past years, UIC has notified of acceptances via letter (although I'm sure the phone call is legit as this is right around the time that UIC makes decisions.) Rejections are first posted via the application website, and then a follow-up letter is sent a week or two later. Accepted students web status's never change from "Pending." Hope this helps a bit.

Just wondering if anyone has heard back from MSU yet. They met about a week and a half ago to make decisions; they typically notify very early... (I know, it feels way too early to start the nail-biting and yet here I am.)