teaganc

I completely agree with the periscope idea, but right now I'm a little busy hemming a pair of sweat pants (priorities, people: fashion first, protecting brains second) to construct a spycam. Perhaps I should just go the easy route and attach a web cam to my dog, and send him over to explore. I don't think zombies or fiends eat dogs, and Ol' Mr. McKnight will quiver with fear that he will be unmasked by a canine-led crime fighting team.

Well, I was hoping it was old-school zombies, because I'm on the second floor and they usually have a hell of a time with stairs; fiends, however, would be tragic. Unless it was really just old Mr. McKnight in a mask, trying to scare away business so that he can buy the whole complex cheap. That would also be acceptable.

All morning, I have heard a serious of loud bumps coming from the apartment below me, and someone just made a loud, "oahhhhhhh" noise a la old zombie movies. I think they might be coming for my brains.

Well, in that case, if you just want to consider some scenarios assuming you are funded at all three places, I would say, no, a fellowship is not worth it. It's nice to have a first year to adjust before you start teaching, but it's not worth it unless you feel absolutely the same level of excitement about all three programs. Go where there is funding, but don't pick a school with a fellowship over a school you would rather be at.

I think that a lot of programs are, to an extent, what you make of them. If you aren't accepted at a big-name school, be the superstar in the program you are accepted in. Be the person to go to every conference, to publish in their first year, etc. etc. I think that the name of a school or program certainly does something for you as a job applicant, but you always have the opportunity to let your work speak for itself. If a program is a bad fit, or you think it will be negative in some way other than not being your top choice or not being a big name, don't accept the offer. You'll probably regret it. But if prestige is the only thing holding you back, and you think that you should have gotten into a big, prestigious program... prove it. Do everything right at the program you accept. Go above and beyond. I think that, unless it's the difference between a program no one has every heard of and Yale, (and honestly, if you thought you would get into Yale, you're probably "settling" for a decent, mid-range program, not a total backwoods no name place), you can overcome the difference in prestige by being a great scholar.

For schools B and C, are you unsure whether you will be funded at all, or are you sure you will be funded, but unsure whether it will involve a TAships? If you will be funded for all three, I would take money out of the equation and go wherever you want (School C, it seems like). But I would not turn down funding at School A to pay full price for a marginally higher ranked program, even if it is an Ivy.

You can't know if you'll regret the decision until you get there, and even then... maybe you won't know until you are ready to write a dissertation, or on the job market, or whatever. It's stressful to make a decision if you have a number of options precisely because you can't know. If I were you, I wouldn't go looking for horror stories/whatever from other people who made the wrong decision; the only thing that does is put more pressure on you to make the right one. If you think you know which school is right for you, and it's just fear of making a mistake that is stopping you from deciding, well, that's never going to go away. Make the decision, take a deep breath, and relax for a few months.

Definitely Harvard. Having other students who are interested in similar things is really helpful, because they will be the people you spend your time bouncing ideas off of. Also, what if one of the two "perfect fit" professors at Cornell left? What if (as other people have suggested) your interests change, even slightly? Having a large group of people to work with at Harvard not only protects you against those possibilities, but gives you room to expand and develop your ideas. And sometimes having a "perfect fit" advisor traps you into doing exactly what the advisor is doing, or wants you to do, instead of forging your own path; having several people who fit 80% can give you more freedom. Plus, even though you may not spend a lot of time out of the classroom/library, you will notice if you hate the location of the school. You will want to take a day or a weekend or even spring break off from doing work, and you will be stuck in a place where you are unhappy. Even just ordering out food when you've had a rough day can be difficult in a smaller town setting. I was much less happy during my MA because I hated the location (and was unable to get good Chinese food, which was upsetting), and that really contributed to me stopping after my MA and applying to other programs. Because I haven't received another funded offer, I probably will not get a PhD--partially because of how unhappy I was in that location. So it makes a difference, I think.

It's only a bad idea if you want to start school this year and don't want to put it off for another year. And as far as your chances for reapplication, I would talk to the department directly, tell them what you are considering, and see if they think you would be a stronger candidate after the Fulbright. Personally, though, if it were a funded offer, I would take it rather than go through another round of applications, put off being in school another year, etc. I place a higher value on the security of the current offer and the ability to start my career than on the Fulbright opportunity. But if your priorities are different, go with the Fulbright.

Depends on the school. Depends on the program. There is really no way of knowing, though I suspect it's a rejection. Honestly, though, there is no reason you can't weigh your options before you get that letter, and make a decision within 5 days. Would you take this school over your other offers? What if the funding were better? What if the funding were worse? What school would you go to if this school rejected you? Those are really the only possibilities, so if you know the answer to those four questions, you don't need to deliberate any further.

You are like a one-person UMass cheering team! BTW, I don't know what your living situation is, but we just looked online at an apartment that was in a pretty nice place, and for a decent price, but too small for us. If you want, I can send you the info.

I called one of my schools and got an unofficial answer over a month ago, and I still haven't been officially notified, so for me, calling was a good decision.

I'm almost certainly moving to Amherst this fall--my partner has already accepted a spot in the school of education's REMP program, and since none of my programs want to offer me funding, I will most likely be tagging along. The thing is, I am terrified of the idea of living in Western Massachusetts. I mean, come on. It's like 2 hours from an airport, surrounded by woods. They make horror films which start off less isolated than that. And sure, it's supposedly pretty and liberal and everyone is friendly there, but we live outside of LA now. Am I going to die from boredom? Or hypothermia? Or forced contact with ::shudder:: nature?

I live in the area (slightly south of SB) and go to the beach every weekend in the summer. My partner surfs, I stay on the beach and read, we both put our feet in the ocean, etc. In the not-summer, we usually go to the pool, not the beach, and yeah, you probably have to throw a t-shirt over your bathing suit in the not-summer, but even then, it's beautiful. It definitely gets in the 80s and higher mid-day, and regardless of the temperature, it's often perfect beach weather. Worse comes to worse, drive an hour or so south to Santa Monica, where it gets 100+ sometimes in the summer.

???? What are you even talking about?! Papaya and coconut would both be exceedingly delicious with whipped cream. Come on. Coconut cream pie? That's just coconut and whipped cream. And papaya is not as sweet as it could be, which would really be balanced out by the whipped cream. Now I'm hungry.

The article mentions the job market, and cautions against extrapolating any information now that might be applicable to your job search in 4-6 years. There is no way of knowing if schools will cut undergrad enrollment the way they are cutting grad enrollment (in fact, some schools are already doing just that); smaller undergraduate classes means fewer jobs for professors. Additionally, many people search for a tenure track job (or even a full time job) for several years after they graduate, so you will be competing not only against your smaller cohort but also the larger cohorts of the year or two before you.

I actually had a discussion last night that started with how I don't think of tomatoes as fruit and ended with my personal definition of fruit: If you can't eat it with whipped cream, it's not a fruit.

True, except that I don't have a funded PhD offer. And paying for 4-6 years of tuition for an English PhD will leave me in about as much debt as 3 years of a JD.

Unless you didn't get an offer; then, the life of a supremely unsuccessful academic isn't going to be fun for you. I think it's a lot easier for people who don't actually have to go through another round of applications, or who have chosen to do so to get a better offer rather than forced to do so because they weren't offered a spot at all, to say how much they enjoyed the process. No one likes working incredibly hard, staying up late at night, spending hundreds if not thousands of dollars, only to have door after door slammed in their face. No one likes to waste their time.

Well, I respectfully disagree. You've gotten an answer for your application fees: three schools would be happy to have you in their program, but not as happy as the people they straight-out accepted, and one school wants you more than their waitlisted people. That's an answer. Maybe it's not an accepted or rejected, but that decision is coming from the people who were offered spots, not from the committee, and you didn't pay those people any application fees. They don't owe you any more than you owe other people on your waitlists. Maybe you decide that what you owe them (and what they owe you) is nothing, and that's your decision. Personally, I think we all owe each other, as academics, courtesy. My definition of courtesy is not taking a place in a program or on a wait list when I am certain that I do not want that space, or agreeing to matriculate and then subsequently withdrawing for anything but an emergency. I think that's bad karma. Then again, I wouldn't take a space in a program that I liked so little that I was only willing to accept their offer if I also stayed on three other waitlists, since that would seem to be a sign that I shouldn't be in that program at all.

Rather than look at rankings, I would contact both departments and ask what their placement rates are for TT and where they are placing graduates.

I found a lot of the books I needed were available in the library, so I just emailed professors before classes began to get the syllabus, checked out the appropriate books, and spent breaks reading ahead. Occasionally I had to actually buy book (thank you, amazon.com) but I saved a ton of money by checking the library first. I also got a fair amount of books in e-book format, which was slightly cheaper, involved no shipping, and didn't take up space in my tiny apartment.

I've definitely thought of reapplying to law school instead of PhD programs; I had considered law school instead of my MA when I was in undergrad, and decided to try the English route instead. Based on my miserable application season, maybe I would have done better in law school. Also, people tell me that the job market for lawyers is terrible, and I just laugh because the job market for English PhDs is so much worse.

Honestly, Philly is definitely scary when it comes to parking and school districts and crime, but I would give ANYTHING to be moving back there right now. I love, love LOVE Philadelphia more than any other city in the world, and I have lived in a lot of cities. It's an amazing place with tons of different people, great food (including some awesome vegan places, and I'm not even vegan), and of course, it's the best sports town in America.

http://www.septa.org/