hermia11
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Posts posted by hermia11
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Best of luck! If the funding doesn't pan out, it's still a PhD program, and getting into one of those is super tough and totally cool when it happens.
Thanks for the words of confidence, tripwillis! I'm pretty happy to be in ANYWHERE, funding or no funding. (Says the dumb, wide-eyed grad student headed for bankruptcy.) And a congrats to you, too, on your awesome string of acceptances.
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I got my M.A. in 2010, which I've paid off (miracle of miracles!), and which means a bit less time/money spent toward the PhD. I also qualify for regional tuition (shoutout to New England), which is $18,000 - not awesome, but not $25,000 either.
I'm tempted to go anyway. But, I still have schools I'm waiting to hear from, so that may just make my decision for me!
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Thanks all for the advice, tripwillis, comebackzinc, rainy_day, julianne! And congrats to you, ribeth.
I've heard generally good things about the department (while I'm not rhet/comp, happy to hear it was such a positive experience for you, comebackzinc!). I'm calling them tomorrow to ask whether not hearing about funding = no funding.
Worst case scenario here, if there is indeed no funding - would I be an idiot to go anyway? I'd obviously search aggressively for other outside sources of financial support, but... with no school support, is it worthwhile?
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Dear Rochester,
I braved blizzard conditions and trekked through snow a foot deep to get to my mailbox today. And found nothing. Looking forward to you playing mind games with me for another week.
XO,
Fragile applicant
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I've seen a few acceptances go up for URI. I just got accepted there today and while I'm super happy about it (first news from anywhere I applied to), I'm also wondering if anyone's heard about funding. I got no notification about TAships or scholarships, etc. I've been told funding is notoriously scarce for URI. Any info would be appreciated!!
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I called there today and they said that they were still working on applications and it's taking them longer than they thought it would... a lot of applications this year. I'm still very curious as well.
You're a hero for calling! That news makes me feel a bit better, and less like I'm fruitlessly waiting for a rejection letter that won't come til April. So counterintuitive that waitlists have come in before acceptances!
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Still nothing here, inbox or mailbox.
ekant - Thanks! Midsummer is awesome and completely underrated among the comedies. Just spreading the word via username.
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Ditto. Could use some good news right now. Or ANY news. I'm not picky.
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Anyone have an idea how many spots there are?
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No need to frantically remember how to conjugate the subjunctive mood in foreign languages you haven't spoken since college!
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I'm actually loving that this "glass half full" thread has turned into "restaurants I know and love"...
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Ouch, sorry to hear that. Also sorry to hear that we're in the same MA boat - I got mine in 2010 and was told that it was a horrible decision to get a stand-alone MA. Now they tell me.
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Hi hermia (my phone keeps changing that to hernia... Which is what this process causes). I agree, this is a bizarre one! My field is 19c British and American, feminist theory specifically issues of womens body image/self-starvation, with a dash of food studies.
Awesome - that's some fascinating and important stuff. I've also been interested in feminist theory (and am kicking myself for not trying for Brandeis), primarily androgyny and the imagination in 20th c. literature. (Full disclosure: I have an unabashed girl crush on Cixous.)
Oh, and this twisted waiting game? A hernia indeed.
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This notification process seems so random... Some rejections and some waitlisters, but no (posted) acceptances. Gah!
jma - what's your area?
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Love this thread.
My favorite is a student's unfortunate misquote from Mrs. Dalloway in an essay - "What a lark! What a plunger!" Still laughing, and this was a year ago.
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Just show up to BC on the start date with your mailbox and inbox exploding, assuming full funding. Maybe they'd feel so bad for us that they'd accept us even if we had been rejected.
(The weird face is for Valentine's Day).Here's hoping! I caved today and got it - nothing there. A relief and not a relief simultaneously!
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I didn't even go get the mail today. If I don't get the mail, I don't get a rejection. Win.
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I hoped it was a mistake too, Grunty DaGnome. But now there's another one posted. Let the "I Love Lucy"-style WAHHHHHHHHHs commence...
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I nearly fainted looking at that - it's one of my top choices and hadn't expected to hear anything just yet. I had searched the results board and it seems in past years BC notifications have been much, much later... I'M SO NERVOUS.
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Thanks all! I do have the heading already with my name, program, etc., so adding "personal statement" in there somewhere seems the logical choice. Sometimes I just need someone to remind me what common sense looks like.
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I know personal statements have been discussed to death here, but a formatting question for you all.
Are you including a title or heading of some sort on your personal statement? (Mine's required to be sent as a hard copy to most of my schools.) I originally had "Personal Statement" at the top of the page, with a header (with my name, program, page numbers, etc.). But now it's 2-1/4 pages and can only be 2 pages. So - out goes the self-explanatory title. Is this bizarre? It'll be a sheet of text with a header, and that's all. I'm not concerned so much about it being pretty as I am about clarity and making sure it ends up with the right application materials.
(I realize this is incredibly petty and neurotic, but I think I'm among friends here when it comes to neurotic questions about apps. Right? Right...?)
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I think the two most important factors are an awareness of recent scholarship and an original argument. Whichever paper balances those two things is probably the best choice. In that way, it sounds like #2 would be a good choice, but you might want think about it carefully if it has a "shaky and contestable" point of view.
Many thanks, ecritdansleau! And lolopixie and timshel - TWO samples actually sounds like a blessing at this point. Then you could pick one that demonstrates the most concise, solid writing, and another that has the most original ideas and/or recent scholarship; or one in your primary field and the other in your secondary. I think that's how I'd approach it. I'd seriously love to have that option.
Good luck!
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Ok, then a question for you all - say you have 3 potential essays to submit as writing samples.
#1: Uses current sources (2000s to present), is well-written and concise (12 pages), but is primarily analysis of one text (a Shakespeare play through the lens of critical/performance theory and psychoanalytic theory).
#2: Uses older sources (1960s-80s), is more long-winded and complex in style (15 pages), and addresses a primary text in the scope of a wider, speculative, theoretical lens (ok ok, it's poststructuralist/Lacanian study of Joyce, to clarify).
#3: Uses a mix of current and older sources (1960s-2000s), is broadly speculative, experimental, and somewhat complex in style (also 15 pages), and addresses a large scope of texts by one author using a wide theoretical lens (psychoanalysis. linguistics, and gender/identity performance) and is in my opinion, a somewhat shaky and contestable point of view.
Which would you choose? The one that uses mostly current scholarship but is less theoretical/experimental/original than the other two? Or one of the more experimental ones that use a wide range of theory, but risk this being dated theory? (If it helps, I have my MA so I feel demonstrating solid grasp of theoretical conversations is necessary, and topic doesn't matter much since I'm split between two subjects and I'd rather use whatever is strongest. And for anyone concerned about the reception of these, my past professors have graded all of these equally.)
Thanks in advance for any answers to my shameless plea for help!!!
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I had a similar confusion. My older scores were from 2006. I didn't know exactly when the 5 years went into effect or whether the scores would be fine for December deadlined apps, but not for January. I took them again just to be safe, but the old scores still appear on my reporting sheet, so I assume they're valid.
Same here. I took the test December 2006 and didn't know if the official expiration was based on 5 years exactly from the test date, or by the application deadline for the schools you're applying to (December 2011/January 2012) the anticipated time of enrollment (fall 2012), or what. While I understand score expiration if you've been out of academia for, say 10 years, and you've "lost" a lot of knowledge in between, it seems ridiculous for them to be invalid after just 5 (just over the time it takes to go through a MA program).
And the bloody scores still show up even if we retake it? What kind of definition of "expired" is ETS working from?
URI, anybody?
in Literature, and Rhetoric and Composition
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Thanks for the info! Yikes... not looking promising. I'll definitely post when I hear something from the department, but I'm betting it's the same story as Nebraska.