ComeBackZinc

The first time I applied, I didn't have an MA, and was pretty clueless about everything. Getting my MA made all the difference. I developed better understanding of the field, of my interests, of where I wanted to study, of what being an academic really meant, of how to signal to other academics.... But I didn't get funded my first year, and I will be paying down the debt from that for a long time, and that's something to seriously consider. Consider the option carefully and think about applying to schools like Uconn where English MAs can get funding. Also, if your numbers are seriously deficient, you should try to improve them. It's 100% true that fit, writing samples, SOPs, and recommendations get you into programs. But bad numbers can keep you out. Some schools have arbitrary cutoffs, the applications below which grad committees don't even see. Often, the selection process involves sorting through dozens of immensely qualified applicants. In such a situation, even if you're the perfect fit, you might lose out to someone with an equally perfect fit who doesn't have an obvious flaw in the numbers. If you have bad GREs, as much as they are laughed off as unimportant, you might consider working on them. If your GPA isn't very good, see if you can take a continuing ed course in your field and get an A. Not as important as the other stuff, for sure, but not as irrelevant as people sometimes act. Finally, understand the fact that there is no competitive human endeavor where networking and connections don't matter. That's not nefarious. Unqualified people aren't getting rushed through the door of elite programs or anything. But the most competitive programs get hundreds of brilliant, dedicated applicants, with great stats, SOPs, and writing samples. In that environment, a letter of rec from a friendly and respected prof means a great deal. I'm not in lit myself, but I have friends in very prominent lit departments who will say matter-of-factly that a particular prof's help made a big difference in their app. So talk to your professors and recommenders and ask where they think you should apply and where you'll have the best shot. Often they'll speak very candidly about your chances. Good luck. It was very rough getting rejected everywhere the first time, but in the long run, things worked out the best for me.

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Yeah, Pat Sullivan's on sabbatical.

I mean, the reason I posted that was just because the way I experienced all of this was not what I expected, and I was disappointed I didn't feel the way I expected, and worse I felt guilty for not feeling more appreciative or grateful. I just wanted to say that you should just feel however you're feeling. In my experience real gratitude and thankfulness comes after you've settled in at school and the craziness is all passed. This process is like a twisted experiment and naturally produces conflicted emotions.

Depends. Before April 15th? You're probably alright. Afterwards? If you think people haven't been penalized for withdrawing late, you're engaging in wishful thinking. Don't take my word for it. Ask around.

Someone from Purdue has been notified and offered one of the fellowships. I can tell you that applications are still being reviewed and will be for awhile. In my cohort, acceptances were spread out between February and April.

I'm sure your chances depend a great deal on the individual school, and especially on whether it's public or private. Public schools might be able to offer you a fellowship or GA for more funding, but I imagine at many public U programs, TA stipends are fixed by policy. Obviously, be discrete and respectful when asking. Since you have a sympathetic faculty member at your current school, you could probably ask him for help with the specific wording.

When I got into my dream program, I thought that would mean rejections from other schools wouldn't hurt. But they still did. Then I got these weird, post-acceptances blues or blahs. I just felt kind of empty about everything. And I would ask myself, what is wrong with me? I got into the program I wanted the most. How dare I not be ecstatic? I thought it was just me, but I later learned that many people go through it. It's a combination of things, I think. The biggest thing is that you just have this crazy period of tons of work, expense, and effort completing your apps. And then you have a period of crazy stress and anxiety and waiting, waiting, waiting. I mean, you guys are pretty manic now. I say that with affection! That's exactly how I was. And then when you figure it all out and you know where you're going next year, it's like all the air goes out of the balloon. All that energy and excitement and dread and panic is just gone. The comedown is crazy. Also, no one program, no matter how perfect, can be as good as all the possibility of all the programs. When you know, you know, and you're happy, but to an extent, your future just got smaller. I don't know, it's weird, and probably not what you guys want to be thinking about right now. I'm just saying that you should let yourself feel however your feeling and don't put emotional expectations on yourself. And, you know. Now I'm here, and I feel like the luckiest guy alive.

Uh, formats. Not formatsli.

http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2012/01/09/mla-considers-radical-changes-dissertation This isn't relevant to me, in either the research focus or time to graduate sense, but it will be for many of the people who browse and post here. I think reducing time to graduate is a very important priority, and I'm glad the MLA is looking into options.

Syracuse is a great program, congrats.

Department rep over school rep. If you're applying to a PhD, the programs you apply to will know very well which program is better. Go with the better, non-Ivy school. Choosing an Ivy for an Ivy's sake impresses your family but doesn't help you professionally.

Be very, very careful. Academia is a small world, and many departments will look at your withdrawing an acceptance after you've committed quite poorly. I'm not saying it will happen every time. But it's certainly not unheard of for a department to pull an offer if they find out that one of their admits accepted another offer and dropped it late. Seek advice for faculty you trust.

Do you know if 8 years is out of the ordinary for Berkeley?

Do you have an MA? If you do, try to adjunct somewhere. Teaching experience can be very valuable.

It's a small, very tight-knit community. I miss many of the people there. If you're interested, the courses I took while there: A two semester, 1.5 credit a semester introduction to professionalization class. I believe rhet/compers are no longer required to take it. A teaching practicum. Public writing and deliberative democracy. Lots of Habermas, publics formation, de Tocqueville, and public engagement. History and Theory of Rhetoric Seminar in Research Methodologies Critical Theory Seminar in Ecocriticism and Environmental Rhetoric History and Theory of Composition Studies and a independent study I set up in composition pedagogy research. I also took a couple lit classes.

Just checked with a friend who was in a previous applicant pool-- she received an acceptance to ASU in late February as well. Have to stress that this was from a previous year, but certainly you should keep hope.

Then you'll get the post-decision blahs after you decide which school to attend, even if it's your dream school. But everyone does, and it doesn't last.

When I applied last year, I heard (in the negative) from University of Illinois-Chicago quite early. That wasn't a surprise. I had a long conversation with Ralph Cintron (which was a thrill) and it became clear I wasn't what the department was looking for. Urbana-Champaign replied in mid-March, I believe. And, if you can believe it, Purdue (my dream program and where I currently attend) didn't let me know until April 7th. (Although the chair of my MA department knew before then.) To the person applying to Rhode Island above, if you go I think you'll really like it. I got my MA there. It's a small department, but the university is very invested in it, and they'll be switching to a new building before too long. It's got a great group of dedicated faculty, They have a nice broad range of interests and of ages/places in their career, which is important.

In the first year, we only teach a 1/1 here, but Intro to Comp here is a 5 day a week class. I find teaching two sections of the same class to be much easier than teaching two different classes, so that makes a big difference too.

Holy moly, 3/3? I was about to pipe in to say that you'll all love teaching, but that's crazy for a grad student.

Totally agree. It's degree creep-- well, if an MFA is good, how about a doctorate.... Plus, in the academy, you can't ignore recognition/status/reputation because they have such obvious effect on promotion and tenure.

Exactly.

My friend, who is in the big, crimson program, applied and didn't get in. Then applied and was the first on the wait-list-- and none of the admits turned their offers down, so he didn't get in. And almost gave up. But the third time, boom.

Had a really interesting conversation with a creative writing prof the other day. She talked a lot about the growth of the MFA and creative writing as a respected field. She was talking about how, in some departments and traditions, creative writing was seen as a women's field, and treated with the usual lack of respect for fields so considered. It's very similar with rhet/comp; when the field was fighting fierce battles for disciplinary autonomy, the undercurrent was often that writing instruction was merely the grunt work, and specifically women's work. This was in part because many of the discipline's progenitors, such as Janice Lauer, were women.