abolitionista
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Posts posted by abolitionista
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Thanks for all of these replies everyone, I think I will contact them this week to find out more information about the selectivity of the interview process in addition to contacting other programs to find out further information about their visiting weekends. I just don't want to sound pushy or presumptuous in so doing.
As to the odd titling of the event, I don't know what to make of it. The subject lines says Prospectives Weekend, the first word of the email is congratulations, but then it says that I've been named a finalist for admission to the program. After that some statement about me seeing if the program is a good fit and them finding out if my interests match with their offerings followed by a bunch of logistical details. Guess I'll have a few questions to ask the coordinator when I call.
Thanks again everyone, my partner flew out of town this morning and with no one around to share my excitement except my beagle, I'm glad to be able to come here and gush a bit.
And, I'd still be interested to know the others who have been invited and maybe chat a bit before going...
Major CONGRATS! The Duke program is awesome. Based on your paraphrasing of the email you received, I would be pushed to say that's actually an acceptance email and not an interview email. Especially considering that the weekend was framed as an opportunity for you to see if the program is the right fit for you as opposed to wording that would suggest they would like you to jump through more hoops for them. But who am I to say I haven't seen the email. Either way, congrats again.
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I will mourn by forgetting that I ever thought I was smart, become a socialite, and prance around LA looking for paparazzi! All this while dying inside...
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@abolitionista Thanks! But, I enjoyed the experience of being able to sit in on some of the classes in the AfAm/Comm Studies department there, the professor was dynamic and the students were very engaged. Several of my very close friends have received their PhD from Northwestern (either Comm studies and/or AfAm), and having interacted with them on many occasions, I have heard nothing but amazing things. Also, some of the graduate students who are still in the program have nothing but positive things to say about the program. It is important to note that each department has politics of which we all must or will have to negotiate. With that said, the overall consensus is that the graduate students enjoy the department.
The faculty I am interested in working with is cross-listed in the AfAm and Comm Studies program; I was able to be a strong relationship with him intellectually and personally--as I have invited him to my campus to speak/performance and have met him on several occasions at national conferences, NCA.
What are your research interests, if you don't mind me asking? You can PM if you'd prefer.
Sent you a PM :-)
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@Sichselbstoffenbaren I chose not to apply to Brown because I was weary of apply to a new program. Personally, I am hesitant to be one of the trailblazers in the first cohort because I have heard that role comes with some pros and many cons, as department tend to use the first cohort as test subjects to test the waters on many things. It can possibly make being a grad student slight more stressful to be in the predicament where there isn't any precedent when it comes to exams and other requirements. But of course this is just my opinion.
@Saluki88 Impressive list of schools. It seems like you may be set for admissions to Northwestern and UNC based off of the contacts you have been able to secure. That's always great. If you don't mind me asking, how were your experiences with coursework at Northwestern? Did the grad students seem to be happy with the program?
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Hi, good luck to you as well. I am more a political theory type of person but it appears that we applied to several of the same programs. I submitted to Brown/Africana, Berkeley/Af-Am, Cornell/Govt, Harvard/Af-Am, Northwestern/Af-Am and Yale/Af-Am and Poli Sci. I'm not sure about interviews at NU, I visited a bunch of professors at the places I applied back in October so not sure if that will have a positive effect.
Again, good luck!
Meeting professors during the application stage tends to work in your favor because if they're on the ad comm they can place a face with the name. Or if they are not on the ad comm and they are interested in your work they can tell others to watch out for your app. So there are some definite advantages.
If you don't mind me asking, how was your experience meeting professors in the Af-Am department at Northwestern? Their website doesn't post anything about the current grad student research interests, during your visit were you able to get any further info into what the grad students are doing there?
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Hey Everyone,
Are there any other African American Studies applicants lurking around the boards this year? I applied to a few Af-Am programs and a few interdisciplinary programs. I'm really anxious to hear back from Northwestern, it's my top choice. Would anyone happen to know if interviews are standard for Northwestern? I noticed on the results page that last year someone was called for an interview around this time in January. It seems as if other humanities/interdis programs at Northwestern host interview weekends of some sort.
What schools have you all applied to? What are your top choice schools? I wish everyone the best.
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Yes I agree with Cesada, we will definitely have to wait until April! I applied last year and we heard back in April.
I'm so excited that my supplemental information has finally been updated online to RECEIVED! I was so worried for awhile thinking that I would be out of the running after having accumulated 6 recs for my app!
Best of luck to everyone. Keep busy in the meantime and try not to stress :-)
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I'm tremendously worried about this because there is someone with my same name and she does deplorable things online like comment on Trya Banks' TV show blog using her real name. Who does that? She also has a twitter account where she post offensive things and so on. I hope they can see that she is not me! It would suck terribly to get knocked because I happen to have the same name as someone who obviously has no life :-(
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A total of $984 for 7 schools...
Application Fees: $635
Transcripts: $161
GRE Scores: $138
Mailing additional items: $50
Now if I'm accepted to at least one school it will all be worth it!
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I'm applying to the NYU American Studies PhD program. I'm super stressed about condensing my statement without cutting the important details. Does anyone know how strict NYU is about their 1-2 page double spaced limit on the SOP? NYU is a bizarre school as it seem that all application guidelines are set by the Grad division as opposed to by the individual departments/programs. While reviewing the Grad division's FAQs I noticed that it stated that SOPs should be concise limited to 1 - 2 pages double space. This is significantly shorter than other schools who allow up to 1500 words. I am struggling trying to reduce my SOP down. I would love to hear how other's are dealing with this.
Thanks
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I just received an email reply from a MTL Committee in Charge faculty member. She apologized for the delayed response and gave me a lot of helpful info about Stanford resources for my project. This is the fourth response I have received from Stanford faculty members. Definitely a record. Even if I do not get into this program. I can say I've had a positive experience with this department. Best of luck to everyone.
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failure. i'm mad at myself, but i'm not going to make the deadline. i could, but i'm still not happy with my writing sample and the materials i need to get it where it needs to be are at the office. i wasn't much sold on the idea of california or the $125 fee anyway, but i'm sad to have to cut it off my list at the last minute like this. i guess that's how the cookie crumbles, but good luck to all of you who are applying, it's a great program -- i'll be excited to hear how the process ends up for each of you.
The first application is always the hardest to pump out. I'm afraid my writing sample was not as polished as it could have been because I made edits down to the last minute before submitting. Good luck with your other applications!
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I just realized I have been assuming the MLT application accepts letters of recommendation from a letter service. Is this the case? I know the Stanford English Dept. requires either the professor to submit online or a coversheet, but the MLT website doesn't seem to specify.
I'm not sure. Have you tried emailing or calling Monica Moore? She's really prompt and helpful
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you're submitting today! i'm jealous. i am going to be writing and re-writing parts of my sample until the very last minute. no sleep til wednesday! good luck!
Good luck! Impressive list of programs. I'm sure your application is of a high caliber :-)
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Hi! I'm applying to MTL too! Submitting my app today. I have not contacted any of the faculty, but would be willing to talk with you about the program and others!
Congrats on submitting your application today! I really wish I were at that stage but I am still tweaking my SOP and writing sample. I'm in the same boat as "outofredink" I'm so afraid something will not be right :-(
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Hey Everyone,
I'm applying to MTL at Stanford for the Fall of 2011. I was wondering if anyone else has reached out to faculty in the department. I ask because I have emailed a few faculty and have received responses from all that appear to be quite favorable. It just seems strange to me because at other institutions it has been extremely difficult to get responses from people. My question is, has anyone else had a similar experience w/ MTL? I'm starting to think it may be a department rule to respond to applicants. But of course I could also be very silly and should just take the kindness for what it is.
Thanks
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I don't think it will hurt you if you sent your CV along with the application. Perhaps you can ask the admissions people if you should send your CV as well.
Thanks! Good suggestion, I'll ask each department if it's okay.
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Hey Everyone,
I wanted to know do people send CVs with their applications even to programs that do not request one? Could doing so count against your application or will they just disregard it if it wasn't requested?
Thanks
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I have yet to receive responses from professors at more prestigious schools like Berkeley and Stanford. However I have received responses from many other professors at less prestigious schools but nonetheless really good schools. Has anyone else had a similar situation?
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Yes, I have. I just emailed the program directly (I used the email from the secretary who notified me that everything was complete). Within in a month, I received my feedback. They sent me several rating sheets they must have had their judges complete. Some of the judges even wrote comments. I would suggest that you do this.
Thanks! I emailed a general email account on the website and did not receive a response. I will try this now.
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Has anyone been successful getting application feedback from Ford?
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Thanks for the responses.
I am aware of what it would take to transfer and that it would entail starting over and a better excuse then my teaching load is too large. This post was started out of distress however it really isn't the only issue. Compound the teaching load, with the lack of funding, a very small department comprised of mostly junior faculty who a probably going to leave, and a department that is loosing funding and as result isn't offering courses to second years next year, so now I am forced to scramble for classes in other departments which is something I also had to do this year but not to the same extent. So no faculty and no classes makes me think why am I here just to work my butt off as a TA. Yes I do understand where you all are coming from and the issues you raised are definitely things I am thinking about at this time in terms of transferring.
And I am currently trying to coral some of the grad students in my department to take on the issue of our load with the union. We are calculating our hours and it is impossible to fit all we do in 20 hours a week. The correspondence with students alone takes up an enormous amount of time.
Thanks Again
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Thanks for your response fuzzylogician. Weekly I hold three discussion sections, each with 30 students, for one hour each. Also, I am required to attend lecture for the course which totals 3 hours each week. In addition I am the main contact person for 90 students who email me throughout the week with questions that I must answer. I also grade all of their assignments which typically include weekly writing response (ranging from 1-3 pages), midterm exams, papers typically 5 pages in length, and finals which are usually 5-7 pages. At the end of the day it definitely seems like too much!
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Hey Everyone,
As I'm preparing to grade a massive load of finals, I'm convinced that my teaching load is beyond excessive. Each quarter I hold discussion section and grade for a total of 90 students, which means I have a whopping 270 students each year. I'm a first year PhD student in a department that only offers funding in the form of TAships which really sucks. I know grad students do the work of the university but this just seems unreal. And these conditions are pushing me to want to transfer unless someone can convince me that 90 students is normal. Oh and by the way I am in the humanities at a UC.
How many students do you or others in your department have as teaching assistants?
Duke Literature
in Literature, and Rhetoric and Composition
Posted
O I see... Well good luck attempting to figure out the best way to mediate your interview situtation