ComeBackZinc

^ You're completing your first year at MSU now? Or you're going to start this coming fall?

Email the DGS or grad assistant and thank them for the acceptance and that you gratefully decline. Just email them, it'll be fine.

It's that season again, so *bump*

So look, I know nothing about Texas A&M's program, and I have no vested interest in protecting that program, and maybe this poster is totally right. However, there's been a post or two like this about different programs in the last couple of years, and generally, there's some underlying story that comes out about why they're unhappy with their program. I think people should bear in mind that every program has people who are unhappy and feel underappreciated. That doesn't mean that this person is wrong, but it does mean that you should seek more opinions. Also: We are not allowed to make lesson plans or syllabi. The courses are all "canned" (made for us). This will severely affect your chances on the job market. While I'm lucky enough to teach in a writing program that gives us great leeway, I have to point out that "canned" courses are very much the norm in freshman and introductory writing nation-wide. Many, many programs simply hand you a syllabus and a textbook and a list of assignments. I obviously prefer the alternative of instructor freedom, but it's not the norm, and I don't know that it's true that this will hurt you on the job market.

I gave small, thoughtful books to all three of my recommendation writers. Books work well.

Is the certification important to you? One or two Cs or Ws are fine. Grades are super important, it's true, and somewhat under-discussed around here. But an otherwise sterling GPA will more than make up for one C.

If you felt good about the program you're choosing, then that's a gut reaction you should trust. I would never want to discount that. I just want to gently push people in the direction of phrasing interest as a matter of professional commitment rather than personal, that's all.

Yes, exactly. I don't want to discount the importance of people you might work with, not at all. I just mean that a) you have to recognize that there are limitations to how much you can know about your potential relationships now, and not to fully trust that the warmth you feel now will matter three years from now, b ) what you'll want to study will change, so who you'll want to work with may change as well, and c) there's a big difference between wanting to work with people and needing to feel wanted in some emotional sense. I say that from observing lots of grad school friends and acquaintences, at many different programs and in different fields. The people who are doing/have done the best, almost without exception, are people who have thought of grad school as a professional opportunity and not in emotional terms. Of course you need people you can work with. But the whole "advisor as best friend" thing can actually be a detriment to your career.

I don't mean to discourage you, but I'm really not sure that the response you get during the application season makes much of a difference for your eventual relationships in your program. For one thing, there's just too many layers of self-presentation and idealization involved in the application process. When you actually meet faculty, you'll be meeting each other as real, full-fledged human beings, and that's always a different relationship. They're courting you, and you're courting them. Take whatever information you can from the application process, but don't trust it. Not that I'm saying you've made the wrong decision; I'm sure you've made the right decision. I'm just saying, as a general principle-- too many people come to grad school needing to be loved. It's one of the strangest things I see around here, this constant invocation of wanting to feel desired. That has almost nothing to do with your actual professional relationships with people. Grad school isn't about family or love, it's about launching your professional career. And I worry that people who expect love in the application process are going to be emotionally unprepared for the inevitable reality of your actual progress through grad school. It's nice when you are close personally with faculty, but I've seen a lot of people who have gotten too invested in those relationships and mistaken them for something that will result in career success. One of the professors who has done the most for me, in terms of professional development, publication, and finding extra funding for me, is someone I don't have a particularly warm personal relationship with at all. But why would we?

Whatever you do, you need to make your new school aware of it. Do not, do not, do not break ties with the old program without making the new program aware of what you're doing. Grad school is the beginning of your professional career, and thus your professional relationship. I agree that you should pursue the option that seems best for you, given that it's still earlier than April 15th. But I find it remarkable that so many people writing here have such a breezy attitude about it. You should make every effort not to burn your bridges, for your own professional good, but more importantly, out of professional respect for the old program. You're going to be throwing a real wrench in their plans no matter what. Responding to that by saying "hey, I just gotta do me" is not a mature or reasonable thing to do.

Slow down. Is your old school a signatory of the April 15th resolution? https://www.cgsnet.org/april-15-resolution

I'm sorry to hear that you're still waiting. It's a matter of the program having to wait for others to decline before it can move forward, I'm sure. (I don't have any inside info, though.)

I mean, if nothing else, if your application to the PhD program reported that you are currently in an MA program, there's a reasonable expectation by the adcomm that you in fact intended to finish that program. Maybe it's not a requirement, although some programs require you finish an MA before you start the PhD, but even if it's not a requirement, it was almost certainly part of their decision-making process. So if you choose not to finish, you absolutely should contact your new program and make them aware of that. I would worry, were I you, about the message you might be sending to your new faculty in saying that you don't intend to finish what you started in your MA program.

I think you should finish your MA.

I have never really heard of an RAship in the humanities; typically an RA in the States is working in a lab, performing duties for the research of a tenured prof. I think you should feel free to email and ask. It's a perfectly appropriate question and you'll get much better information from doing that than from what anyone can share here.

Have you formally accepted the invitation to speak? This happens all the time-- they should be following up to see if you'll actually attend. If you haven't committed, just respond that you're sorry but you can't go. If you have already formally accepted, just write a polite email as soon as possible and explain that you'll be unable to go to the conference.

lol no

What exactly did the acceptance letter say? That is most certainly not common or normal.

You have a real talent for making sweeping claims for which you provide no evidence, exponentialdecay.

He is a visiting lecturer, which means his position is temporary and non-renewable.

If you didn't feel impostor syndrome, you'd be the first academic effort not to. It's perfectly normal and natural. But it's also perfectly natural, and very wise, to think this decision through very carefully. It's at least the next five years of your life, after all.

Ahoy there, if anybody is attending the 2014 Conference on College Composition and Communication in Indianapolis next week and would like to meet up, say so here or drop me a PM. Looking forward to it.

I'm not sure if it will help, but here is the actual April 15 Resolution from the Council of Graduate Schools, which includes a PDF with a list of the signatories. (Most competitive programs are signatories.) https://www.cgsnet.org/april-15-resolution

This is my experience as well-- it's not unheard of, but it's rare.