runonsentence

Thanks! Now, no one let my advisor see.

Conferences are really valuable experiences. That said, I've always had funding to go. If you don't have funding right now, can you find some closer (or cheaper) conferences to start out with? Student conferences often have low (or free) registration fees.

1. I don't think the name of your major wlll be a hinderance per se; I know that some of my colleagues in my MA program came from non-lit backgrounds. It probably all depends on how compelling a narrative you can build that shows how your background will ground, influence, and shape your future course of study. My guess would be that it would be best if you can not only talk up the lit courses you did take, but also establish a connection between your creative writing and your interest in literature. 2. I found an MA incredibly helpful in strengthening my preparation for the PhD and solidifying my research interests. I was able to find a funded program, which not only meant I could afford to go, but was also able to get some teaching experience as well (which is probably the only reason I was offered an assistantship with one of my acceptances). That said, if you already have a very clear idea of what you want, then go straight to the PhD (or consider throwing in just one or two MA programs as back-ups). PhD adcoms will be looking for a stronger sense of scholarly identity and more specifically articulated research interests than an MA adcom. You don't need to have a dissertation proposal, but you should have a much narrower proposed area of interest than if you were just applying for an MA.

That sounds so cool, Strong Flat White. Seminars: I'm taking a comp topics course on voice (it will be AWESOME) and WGS couse, Foundations of Feminist Theory. I'm also in a year-long required course that meets semi-regularly for guest lectures and discussion. Pretty pumped. This year's theme is digital humanities, and one of our guest lecturers is Kathleen Hayles (!!).

Are you teaching? That can jump start some good assessment ideas. Anything that you're teaching that's very specific? For instance, I just saw a conference presentation (well, roundtable) on developing rubrics for assessing multimodal projects. What about your grading practices? I've seen papers and presentations on student-developed rubrics, or on private vs. public feedback.

anyone have experience with the Kobo? my local liquidating Borders has them for half price. since Kobo is run by a company independent of Borders, there shouldn't be compatibility issues once Borders goes under.

Have you checked out the teaching forum yet? There's already some threads there to help you (even one just on first day icebreakers, and another on teaching freshman comp).

It's probably a bit early to be panicking about this, especially since it's an online form (and therefore arrives instantaneously). A polite reminder after a month would be the way to go, I think. (Remember also that, for your professors, the first week of school at many universities is now and is incredibly busy.) Just let them know that you're reminding them about the form, thank them for their time, and gently give them a deadline ("I plan to submit my application by XXX, so I'd be grateful if you could have the form completed by XXX").

Well, again, this is the ideal. After all, you want to show your committees what kind of work you're capable of in your proposed field and method of study. But if something else in your subfield that lies outside your stated interests and methods is what best shows your writing skills—or in this case, is all you have—then use that.

It's not a disaster to submit a stock template with just the names changed (many people do this), but it will be a much stronger SoP if you can tailor a paragraph or two to speak specifically to your fit with that institution, as the previous poster mentioned. The strongest SoPs not only detail your research interests and illustrate your scholarly identity, but also demonstrate why this school. Why must you do your degree at X university, and not at another one? I'm not going to sugarcoat it, it's a pain in the ass to customize each SoP (especially when you have 10 of them, like I did last season). But it gives you the best chance of admission.

Even the community colleges?

The general philosophy on writing samples is that you should submit your best piece of writing. It's ideal to have a writing sample that also speaks to your research interests, of course, but I think that it can be a bit more important that it's your best writing. That said, you don't want to submit something that's out in left field, content-wise. Since your sample is in your subfield, I think it's fine that it doesn't exactly speak to your proposed research interests. Does it at least demonstrate your methodology or style in some way?

It seems to me that an MBA program would prize your working experience and responsibilities over an 11-year-old GPA. I think you have a shot, especially if you take some non-credit courses meanwhile and do well in them. (Yes, you heard correctly, it can be helpful to take some courses before you apply, especially for someone who's been out of school for so long.)

Assuming you have your acceptance in hand for the 2012-13 AY, I doubt you'd have library access set up earlier than the summer of 2012, if not autumn. Other things to try: see if your current university offers alumni library access (my alma mater does). Also look into community access at public institutions and community colleges; many such schools offer limited community access to library resources and databases.

Plenty of graduate students do a master's degree for the sorts of reasons you describe (develop research interests, beef up one's background to better prepare for the PhD, gain more research experience). It's also worth noting that students who do both degrees at the same school are (in most fields) the exception, rather than the rule. It's possible that MA + PhD is less common in economics, but I know that in English the master's degree does hold much value for many applicants because of the preparation it offers for the PhD. Try poking around the economics forum here on the board; folks there might be able to point you toward some terminal master's programs. I know my own university has one: http://gradapps.uc.edu/graduateprogramfinder/default.aspx

I agree with this generally, but since the OP is planning very far ahead (at least a year?), writing a new paper may in fact be the best option.

This sounds worthy of an email or phone call to the grad secretary.

I've seen a little bit of discussion about low-residency and online schools on the WPA-L (writing program administrators listserv), mostly because they're still enough of a rarity that they're difficult to find. Your probably have more of a chance of finding a low-residency program than something entirely online—and really, this goes for any grad program in the humanities that isn't just a cash cow. Names I saw thrown out: IUP has a summer-only residency (10 weeks) PhD program in composition and TESOL. The Bread Loaf School is a low-res program (summer only) with rhet comp coursework, and some big names seem to teach. Texas Tech has a low-res PhD programs in rhetoric and tech comm. Old Dominion has a PhD in rhet and textual studies that's taught via hybrid courses and summer residency

FYI, there's a new GradHacker post on reading strategies that's pretty useful: http://www.gradhacker.org/2011/08/29/how-to-read-a-book/

These threads from the English forum might be of use: I also like this blog review: http://www.fluentin3months.com/rosetta-stone-review/

It's standard to single-space an SoP. Generally you can take personal statement and SoP to mean virtually the same thing (and most schools outline what they're looking for in the statement on their website, anyway). The only instances in which I've observed an important difference is when applying to a professional program (e.g., MPH, medical school) that asks you to submit one of each.

This.

The most important thing is that your recommenders know you well. Sure, it's nice to have someone who's well-known in the field, but the strongest letters will come from those who are familiar with your work and can speak to your capacity for graduate study. This is a long way of saying that my advice is to use the three who know you and your work best.

Some departments will allow you to submit two writing samples that have a total page count in the range they're looking for, but it would really be best if you were able to submit one and show that you're capable of the kind of sustained writing a grad program requires. (Also, this probably isn't true of every program.) Are you still in contact with the professor for whom you wrote the paper? (Or, would you feel comfortable getting back in contact?) S/he might have some suggestions on expanding it.

Yes, yes, excellent point—editorial assistant is the most appropriate contact.