lyonessrampant

Hi! My husband and I adopted a rescue shelter dog. He was about 7 months old when we got him. He'd been abused and has had some serious attachment issues. However, he is the best dog in the whole wide world (in my opinion)! We got him while my husband was a 1L (law school) and I was finishing up my MA. It was pretty hard because he required a lot of attention and love. However, once the summer came, we went to doggie school (I'd really recommend that for ANYONE whether you buy a puppy from a breeder or adopt a dog) and the time, attention, and love we've invested in our little Sidney (named after Sir Philip Sidney one of my favorite writers) has made him into a wonderful dog. He travels very well (we've driven from Chicago to MOntana a couple times and from Montana to Kansas and back as well as lots of shorter trips). He does okay being left at home for a day at most, but does much better if he isn't alone for more than 4-6 hours. He is a big responsibility, but the rewards of having him far outweigh the costs. I'd recommend adopting before you start school so you can work on training and establishing a relationship before you have to be in class. Also, make sure to take time for your puppy. I find Sidney to be a relief/therapy when stressed, but when you're really busy, it can be easy to short your dog attention/exercise. Sidney is a terrier-poodle mix, so he has LOTS of energy and needs lots of love. If you get a beagle, you'll find that they're a bit more sedate than my boy (one of his best doggie friends is a beagle named Baxter) but they'll still need pretty regular exercise. Again, I firmly believe the dog is totally worth the cost, but be prepared for the time required, the difficulty at times of finding a place to live, and the extra responsibility. Good luck!

My now husband and I applied in 2007 to places where there were law school options for him and English Ph.D. options for me. I was accepted with a very generous stipend to Notre Dame, but he didn't get in there. The only place we matched up was Chicago, where he got into a law school and I got an MA offer after being rejected from the Ph.D. I got a scholarship and we decided to move. My man, however, is in the National Guard. We got engaged in mid-February (no, not Valentine's Day. . . the day after and were planning a May 2009 wedding date. Well, about two weeks after we got engaged, he learned he was being deployed to Afghanistan. That, obviously, complicates matters. I graduated with my MA in June 2008 and we moved back home to Montana so that I wouldn't be in a big city. . .dude, I love hiking, rock climbing, mountaineering, and rafting and Illinois is FLAT! Well, I decided to limit my apps this year to UC, Northwestern, UIUC, Princeton, and UMichigan, and things haven't been so awesome for me. I've been rejected from Northwestern, UC, Princeton, and UMichigan. My husband's deployment hasn't been terrible, but he's super stressed and overwhelmed. I feel like since he left for training one month after we got married late July 2008 and since he's been deployed (a terribly stressful situation) that I need to be with him at least next year. He has 2 years of law school left. My odds for UIUC are good. My subject score is 20 percentage points higher, my verbal score 10 percentage points higher, and my MA and UGPA higher as well. . . of course, given the crazy competitiveness of this year, that's no guarantee of course. However, I've been thinking (and people I love and trust have been advising) that even if I get an offer from UIUC, I should turn it down and apply next year since we'll have a year together and only have to do a year apart. One part of me definitely agrees because we've been through some really hard times and he is the most important thing in my life. However, part of me also recognizes that if I'd taken the Notre Dame offer, I'd be about 1/2 way through my Ph.D. by now at a good school. If I turn down another offer, what if no more come my way? It doesn't seem like next year is going to be any less competitive. . . Anyway, I'd love some advice/thoughts from people. I've always said I'd just go to law school. I score very highly on LSAT-type tests, have extensive debate experience, and would be very good at it, but now that I'm faced with that decision, I just don't want to go. I can be a very competitive, vindictive person in uber-competitive situations, and I don't like the person I am in those settings. So, should I go to law school to make my future with my husband viable? Should I apply to Ph.D. programs one more time and then give up? Should I apply to both Ph.D. programs and law schools next year? Does it make sense to give up another Ph.D. offer, especially from a top-20 school (assuming I get one)? AHHHH!!! I'm just confused, upset, stressed, and lonely. Any thoughts from anyone? Thanks in advance!

I swear Chicago has the WORST mail service in the country. One time, they lost an overnighted envelope! We NEVER got it. It also took way longer to get mail. Anyway, just wanted to commiserate on the sad state of Chicago mail.

So, there are a couple email acceptances on the results page. I emailed the department secretary to ask if they did email or postal notification. She said they'll be sending out letters this week. I think that may mean that if you don't get an email, you didn't get in. . . another one bites the dust. . . dun, dun, dun. . .

Ranger, I'm sure you could sell that list, but you'd have to have your math checked and verified (sort of like a peer-review process) but if you were into it, you could also probably write a short paper describing your methodology, results, trends, and conclusions and get it published in a non-lit journal (stats or maybe even sociology or definitely the Chronicle of Higher Ed type of journal). Anyway, interesting stuff. Thanks again for sharing!

Wow Ranger, that's fascinating. Thanks for the information.

That's a good point, but UWisconsin-Madison is a GREAT program, which is ranked pretty highly isn't it? A lot of it, I think, has to do with what people in the field know about a school. I've only heard people say good things about UWisconsin-Madison for example, but if you attend an unranked school that no one really knows about, that's probably not going to do you any favors when you're looking for a job. So the ranking does and doesn't matter in my opinion. It is an arbitrarily assigned number that doesn't directly correlate to a job, a great education, or student happiness, but it is something of a weathervane for what to expect. I think this whole field (the admissions game and also job seeking) has A LOT to do with who you know, what they know about you and where you came from, and shady deals conducted in smoking rooms. . . or something like that, and in that case, rank or prestige does have an impact, but it is only one of many variables, I think.

See other thread about me being sorry for venting/ranting and that posting while slightly inebriated may be a bad idea. . . Anyway, if any of you have sensitive eyes, I'll try to restrain from vulgar language henceforth

"Perchance to dream. . . " I'd agree that it is better to aim high. Thanks

Sorry to vent/rant guys. . . had a bit too much to drink and decided to get on here. For future reference, just like it can be a bad idea to text in a slightly inebriated state, it is a bad idea to post

DAMS UChicago! Seems I'm just waiting to go home and check my mail to get the official reject. Fuckers. I've got something of a lie from some profs there, but I'm sure that they made those promises before the economic hardship, so the people they accepted must be deserving. I'm trying my hardest not to be bitter, so good luck to those accepted and waitlisted. I mean it. I think this whole app process can make those of us left out of what we accept/hope for douchebags, so I'm watching my beloved scifi and hoping the best for everyone else.

I may be a bit of a romantic, but I read the voicedness of Stella in the songs of Astrophil and Stella (granted a more liminal selection of that poetic sequence) and that of Lady Elizabeth Boyle in Amoretti as an assertion of agency. I read that article, but it feels like much the assertion of New Historicism to me. I may be relying too much on Jack Daniels in the absence of the real acceptances I desire, but I feel like the address of the poetic situation without attention to the option of futurity (I mean really did Lord Sidney and Lady Penelope REALLY have any options?) means that there is something in the sociological context we ave to look to. However, bottom line is that I just love these sonnet sequences from Sidney and Spenser (my MA thesis topic) or Lady Mary Wroth or later Drayton too. All in all, I think they're awesome

FUCK! Something messed up and deleted my response! Anyway, there's more to life than just being in. I'm going to turn down another offer (from a top 20 school nonetheless) so that I can hopefully be at a dream school, but next year I'm applying to like 15 schools and have a choice. I'm tired of all this bullshit. Until we have a guarantee of admittance, there's no reason to do much of anything. So good luck to those of you that seemed to fit. Goddamn high scores and what I've been told are awesome SoPs and writing samples because apparantly I don't seem to fit. I don't quite know what the hell that means, but oh well! Good luck to those of you that got in. My "safety" school rejected me first, though I grant that it wasn't a safety. It was just a school where I had as high if not higher scores and averages on tests etc, but fuck, I can't even type a coherent post without my typewriter skipping so apparantly I'm as messed up as my apps. Good luck to everyone else and I hope next year works out better for me.

The schools I applied to (and subsequently was rejected from) are below, but my interests are early modern poetry, particularly sonnet sequences from the 1590s. I am also interested in the lives of English saints and mystics in the late medieval period. The construction of the self in relation to the other in love poetry as well as the navigation of religious expectation are two of my most recent projects that I'd like to continue working on. I am familiar with MLA, Chicago, and APA, and I feel like they all are just collections of (sometimes esoteric) rules, but I'm most familiar with MLA. However, the MLA handbook is definitely far less user friendly than APA in my opinion.

I'd buy it! I just am baffled by this whole process. . .

Hi! Nice to "see" a new face I have had a very similar experience this year. My MA profs didn't even suggest applying to any schools below Northwestern. . . and that was my first rejection! When I asked them if I could get into these schools, they assured me I'd have my pick. Well, the combination of the economy and the fickle whims of the mysterious adcom have conspired against me this year. What I considered a pretty certain shot (Northwestern) was the first reject and no good news yet. I have learned my lesson about "safety" schools for sure and will apply to, like, 15 schools next year and all over the place. Frickin' fit. . . what does that mean?!

I think Dartmouth does too. . . not sure of app deadline though.

If I was you (and got a guaranteed approval for the deferral) I'd do the Fulbright and then Ph.D. work. It sounds like the type of experience that may not be replicable and would add a lot to your scholarly aptitude. Besides, it is an opportunity that might not come again. Also, while you'll likely be able to get funding for summer research or something to go to Germany to build an archive, you might not have the same funding and/or research opportunities. Also, just a thought, but if your heart was set on a school you didn't get into or eventually learn you didn't get into, then applying again with a Fulbright under your belt might get you where you want to be. Good luck either way!

I don't know specifically about comp lit, but I know that all of the English programs I've looked at directly say they won't allow deferrals. However, perhaps the programs you've been accepted to will make an exception for you since your reasons for not going next year are both noble and exceptional. I admire your choice to put your family first. I hope everything works out. I guess if I was you, I would contact each of the programs you've been accepted to and explain the situation. If possible, I'd speak first to the professor who contacted you about admission to try and get an advocate in the department who might side with you when you have to approach the DGS. Good luck!

I hope you're right hadunc. I've heard and at times believe the same thing. I have an eclectic background that includes a lot of poli sci and econ, and there is indeed a potential for the stimulus package to help with higher education, as there are specifically earmarked funds for it. However, on the flip side, most of if not all of that money will be directed toward the sciences, particularly alternative energy tech and R&D. Yet, some more money into those areas might mean transfer of funds back to the humanities, and if the economy as a whole picks up, then donations and philanthropy will likely increase as well. Anyway, this year sucks, and I'm just hoping/praying to the Ph.D. admit god (what shall we call this cult?) that next year will be better.

LOL Yellow5. Apparantly, you're more than capable of taking care of yourself. Still, good luck on UVa or other places you're waiting on.

Good luck on UVa! I hope you get in. Gees immersion, you may have gotten into some great schools, but as for "fit" on here, you seem like a jerk sometimes. . . and don't spell check your entries at all. . .

I think you're dead on that the current economic climate is having dramatic consequences on this year's applicants. I've heard and friends of mine have been told that they'd have been admitted last year, but the school is cutting the cohort and funding, so sorry! A prof I know at UC (who has cut their admissions by 1/2 this year) said that the economic situation is simultaneously spiking the number of applications and forcing programs to cut the number of slots. For many people who would have gotten in previously, this now means waitlists or no offer at all. I think I'm going to try one more time. One thing this prof pointed out is that if the economy recovers in a few years, there may be a dirth of qualified people to fill positions at universities because this year, last year to some extent, and at least next year too there will be fewer people admitted (therefore fewer people graduated later). All of this means that for those who get in over the next few years, it may be easier to get a job upon completion at the Ph.D. and maybe even at a really great institution. Of course, he also said that universities may just learn how to subsist with tightened purse strings. . . but I like to hope for the first option

Took them long enough. I don't get why they couldn't notify us rejects promptly? I mean, I think schools could look to the example of Princeton. I heard (by email. . . my preferred method for sure) that I didn't get accepted within a couple days of admits and waitlist notification. Sigh. This application cycle basically sucks for me. Hope it is better for all of you!

That is the most awesome thing I've seen in weeks. Seriously. I'm sending it out to all my friends who are applying and not on this site.