ComeBackZinc

Brusque. But accurate, I'd say.

Well, even absent a stipend, that's a funded offer, or at least a partially funded one. Could you adjunct, possibly?

I'm just some nobody on the Internet, but absent extraordinary circumstances, I think taking on $35,000 in debt to get an MA in the humanities is a serious mistake.

I was just trying to set up a poll to see if I could answer your question. I thought I'd be able to delete it right after posting it.

Oh, and a prof not listed here might just not be teaching a grad class this fall. They may just be teaching undergrads.

Surely! I'll do my best. If I don't know the answers, I'm sure to know somebody who does.

Fall 2013 Courses below, minus various practicums and research hours, for those interested. Let me know if you need anything decoded. 50100-001-47946 Intro To Engl Studies MWF 01:30 PM-02:20 PM PR Schneider 50500-006-19701 Approaches/Creative Wr TR 03:00 PM-04:15 PM ML Leader/PG Shreve 50500-008-19703 Prof Writing Practicum TR 12:00 PM-01:15 PM MJ Salvo 50600-001-19704 Intro Engl & Gnrl Ling TR 04:30 PM-05:45 PM V Raskin 50900-001-63073 Fiction Writing TR 10:30 AM-11:45 AM Visiting Faculty 51200-001-38339 Engl Syntax Syntac Thy MWF 11:30 AM-12:20 PM JS Francis 51500-001-54571 Adv Professional Writ TR 01:30 PM-02:45 PM JL Bay 51600-001-19709 Engl Sec Lng/Theor Fnd TR 03:00 PM-04:15 PM AJ Silva 54100-001-63533 Stds In Chaucer's CT R 04:30 PM-07:20 PM RA Malo 54800-001-64246 Victorian Literature W 06:00 PM-08:50 PM DF Felluga 55300-001-63540 Col & Early Amer Lit TR 03:00 PM-04:15 PM 56300-001-62901 Historical Linguistics TR 12:00 PM-01:15 PM R Channon 56500-001-61331 Sociolinguistics MWF 01:30 PM-02:20 PM MS Berns 58600-001-61561 Theory Of Film W 03:30 PM-05:20 PM LA Duerfahrd 58600-LA1-61562 Theory Of Film M 06:30 PM-09:20 PM LA Duerfahrd 58900-001-19717 Directed Writing ARR HRS TS Conard-Salvo 58900-002-52291 Prospectus Writing ARR HRS PR Schneider 58900-003-63145 LAB-Field Methods M 06:30 PM-07:20 PM EE Benedicto 59100-001-46326 Int Composition Theory TR 12:00 PM-01:15 PM KM Leon 59400-001-63542 Contemporary Poetry TR 10:30 AM-11:45 AM WS Flory 59600-003-52497 Intro To Inquiry In SLS T 06:00 PM-08:50 PM AJ Ginther 59600-004-62839 Drama And Drama Theory TR 10:30 AM-11:45 AM BI Allert 59600-005-63077 Field Methods W 06:30 PM-09:20 PM EE Benedicto 60500-001-63373 Computers Lang & Rhet TR 03:00 PM-04:15 PM MJ Salvo 60600-001-19749 Sem In Poetry Writing M 11:30 AM-02:20 PM MJ Boruch 60900-001-19751 Sem In Fiction Writing W 11:30 AM-02:20 PM SD Solwitz 61100-001-63375 Old English Language MWF 12:30 PM-01:20 PM SF Hughes 61800-001-63008 Quantitative Research TR 01:30 PM-02:45 PM DJ Olson 62400-001-52237 Comp St: Modern F 11:30 AM-02:20 PM PA Sullivan 62700-001-63383 Semantics Of Humor R 06:30 PM-09:20 PM V Raskin 62900-001-53414 Writing For Publication In SLS TR 01:30 PM-02:45 PM AJ Ginther 63100-001-63385 World Englishes MWF 03:30 PM-04:20 PM MS Berns 63300-001-63408 Piers Plowman T 06:30 PM-09:20 PM MR Johnston 63300-002-63410 Renaissance Texts/Theory TR 10:30 AM-11:45 AM PW White 63500-001-63415 Restoration/18th Century Lit M 04:30 PM-07:20 PM M Powell 65700-001-57844 Social & Novel Early America R 06:00 PM-08:50 PM CJ Lukasik 66800-001-63151 Cultural Interpretation&Theory MW 04:30 PM-05:45 PM A Plotnitsky 67800-001-64247 Faulkner Seminar TR 10:30 AM-11:45 AM JN Duvall 67900-001-64248 Joyce Seminar T 04:30 PM-07:20 PM MT Linett 68000-001-63390 Digital Studio T 06:30 PM-09:20 PM NR Johnson 68000-002-63391 Assessment M 11:30 AM-02:20 PM RD Johnson-Sheehan 68000-003-63393 Institutional Rhetoric W 11:30 AM-02:20 PM PA Sullivan 69600-001-63061 Chicago Renaissance T 04:30 PM-07:20 PM BV Mullen 69600-002-63302 Women And Modernity W 04:30 PM-07:20 PM E Coda 69600-003-63350 Teacher In Fiction And Film T 04:30 PM-07:20 PM M Shoffner 69600-004-63424 Postmodern Blackness M 06:00 PM-08:50 PM MD David 69600-005-63528 Lang Complex Adap Sys TR 04:30 PM-05:45 PM JD Sundquist

Since you've specifically asked not to discuss the general idea-- there's unfunded, and then there's unfunded. I went to my MA without a teaching assistantship, and I did take out some loans. But I went to the director and asked to adjunct, and I got a couple classes for each semester, and then I went looking for scholarships and other funding opportunities. On bigger campuses, there is a lot of funding out there, odd-job style quarter- or half-time graduate assistant positions you can find. But they're a crapshoot, so you'll want to hustle, hustle, hustle. It isn't easy. As far as loans go, you will be eligible for federal loans in an amount determined by the school, based on their estimated cost of attendance. You can take, I believe, $20,500 a year in Stafford unsubsidized graduate loans, without a cosigner. Unfortunately, subsidized loans died a couple of years back. On top of that, you can take Graduate PLUS loans up to the difference between your current funding and the cost of attendance, which tends to be fairly generous. Grad PLUS loans have a higher interest rate than Stafford and require a cosigner if you don't have good credit. You'll fill out a FAFSA, and they'll give you your loan potential, usually through some sort of online system. The financial aid people can lay it all out for you. Please, don't take out private loans. It's just not worth it.

Here's a NYTimes blog post that concerns that very issue: http://parenting.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/03/04/pregnant-without-a-policy-in-graduate-school/

Like so many other things, time-to-graduate has to be filtered through the conditions of the program at the whole. If your program is well-funded enough that you aren't going deeper into debt while you're in it, and if you have a reasonably strong chance of getting hired when you're done, there's no shame in taking a year or even two longer than you had planned. But those two conditions are more and more rare in English and in the humanities in general.

*whoops double post*

With the usual caveat that I have only my limited experience to go on, I think Datatape has it right. It's less a factor of structured program length and more a matter of whether the department has systems in place within to get people graduated on time, and whether individual faculty work hard to push you out the door on time. I know that, here in our rhet/comp program, it's a huge priority, with our average time to graduate at 5.4 years. A lot of that has to do with faculty being adamant with students that less time is better. We tend to graduate one person or so from each cohort in 4 years, but almost without exception, those people hold a fellowship; it's much less realistic if you've had to teach your first two years. As I understand it, you pretty much have to finish your core, secondary area(s), AND your prospectus by the first semester of your third year, which is pretty crazy. I think the overall English PhD time to graduate nation-wide is over 7 years now, which seems quite unfortunate. Then again, part of that is a delaying tactic, I guess; some people know they won't get TT jobs and don't see a need to graduate into a less secure situation any sooner than they have to.

Over to the right, there's a button that says "manage topic poll." Once you've drawn that up, you'll have some options. There will be a space to write your poll question, then underneath that room to list answers. You add more answers by clicking the little plus button. Below that, on the left, is an option to add additional questions. To the right, there is a "Finish" button that lets you finalize the poll. After writing your poll, add a little verbiage into the regular post box below, and you should be able to hit "Post." Hope that helps.

testing testing

That's another reason why time to graduate is a really important stat to look for.

Please don't stress. It's graduate school in the humanities; it's a hive for freaks, geeks, and weirdos. (Like me.) I do think, though, that you'll need a few go-to outfits for interviews, conferences, and similar events. I'm also someone who thinks that how you present yourself to your students does have a lot to do with how seriously they take you, depending on your level of experience and comfort with teaching. I would echo the Salvation Army or Goodwill. Don't look at this as a reason to freak out and worry. Look at it as an opportunity to put together a rotation of semi-semi-formal outfits that you can feel comfortable and confident in. A few pieces can be mixed and matched in ways that give you a versatile wardrobe. And on days when you don't teach or have anything to dress for, you can wear jeans and a hoodie with full confidence.

(Of course, I dig the fact that academics is one of those rare places where you can generally be you, so take this as somewhat tongue-in-cheek. And my father was well known for teaching class barefoot.)

For the gentlemen: clothes come in sizes. Know yours. Wear them. Not two sizes too big for everything. All of those blousy dress shirts that hang off of you like a tent are not a hot look. Your pants should have very little break, your shirts should cling to your torso. If you easily clasp your fingers around the cuff of your dress shirts, they're too long. If you're constantly stepping on the hem of your pants, they're too long. If you can easily reach over your head in a suit jacket or blazer, its too loose. Fit everything. You'll look much, much better. And that's true if you're a bigger guy, despite what some people assume.

(actually Lafayette is full of cannibals)

Hahaha HUMANE meat.

On the Trader Joes/Whole Food tip, we don't have any of those here in Lafayette, but we do have a wonderful, twice-weekly farmers market in downtown Lafayette and over the bridge on campus. Runs April-October. Tons of local produce, organic dairy, and human meat, as well as breads, soaps, etc. I hardly shop anywhere else during the season.

I would rather be overdressed than underdressed, but then I wear a tie almost every day and a jacket more often than not. I do think that there's very little danger of people getting offended at your clothes. It's more a matter of how seriously you take your personal style and how you'd like to look for a first impression. Plan, but don't stress.

Sorry to hear about that, profolax. But good on Ohio State to be so forthcoming.

Well, not by law, but by resolution. Here (PDF) is the list of signatories to the CGS resolution. If you're school is on here, you might mention that, although you'd obviously have to be very delicate about it.

Unless the program specifies rolling deadlines, I truly doubt it.