nicholysseus

If we're talking theoretical desserts, I'd go for Deleuze and Guattari's Mille G

We're ALL racist. Saying something like "I'm not racist" simply demonstrates one's ignorance of a fundamental fact of human (and especially American) life. You can't grow up in a culture like ours and not absorb its racial biases--those of your family, your town, your state, the country as a whole. These settle into your brain from childhood, and you can't just pick them out because you want to feel good about yourself in college by making some friends of different races (btw: "I've dated black, asian, latin men" = "my best friend is black." not ok.). So the question becomes not whether one is racist or not (the answer is always YES), but rather whether one is proactive about confronting the racism that inevitably bubbles to the surface. If you have a conversation about it, realize what has been said, done, etc. and do your best to remedy it, then one can come as close to being not racist as humanly possible. This is why "I REFUSSSEEEE to accept I was wrong" is so disturbing.

tequila running swiftly over the orange juice "Here's your sunrise, sir."

For the record, the Writing Center at Madison is AWESOME and I know several grad students who love working there--it's their favorite part of being a grad student, no lie. I did my undergraduate there (Madison, that is, not the Writing Center), and I worked fairly closely with the guy in charge of the WC, Brad Hughes (former Rhodes Scholar, nicest man you can ever meet, so you can't even hate him a little for being so amazing). So, while 8 hours may sound like a lot of work, it promises to be enjoyable from everything I've heard. You'll actually be helping people, so if you are going into academia in part to teach, it's a great place to be. Hope this helps! Best of luck to you all.

hey hey, three wait lists of fourteen applications! awesome. Here's to another month of waiting.

Hey Isotope, I'd agree with a lot of the prior posts-- Willy St. area is the place to be for grad students. It's quiet and quirky, with cool houses and a few neat bars close by. It's a bit remote, but my ex boyfriend lived there and he never had any problem getting to campus. Buses are free for students, and he biked through the entire year (not everyone is that hardcore, but it's totally doable, as long as you're careful in the winter and don't mind getting a bit wet sometimes). Willy St. is closer to the Capitol than to campus, which is convenient for the social scene--the Capitol bars are traditionally the grad student bars--quieter, more character, fewer belligerent undergrads. Rents quoted above seem accurate--600 for a studio, 750 for one-bedroom, on up from there. Madison is MAJORLY bike-friendly, so if you are into cycling at all, you can get around no problem. There are bike trails through the whole city, so you can get from one end of downtown to the other without even going on a road. State St. is a pedestrian mall that only allow bicycles and government vehicles, so it's super easy to get around if you're of the two-wheeled persuasion. Bike racks abound, everywhere, as do conveniently-located trees and poles. A few recommendations: my fave lunch place is Cafe Soleil, which is the less-expensive sister restaurant of L'etoile, the top-25 restaurant that's AMAZING and prohibitively expensive. Cafe Soleil does breakfast and lunch, you can probably get a meal for $10-15, and it'll be incredible, hands down. Try the homemade raspberry lemonade. L'etoile (dinner only) will run maybe $100 for two if you do it right. Anyway, they use all local ingredients (taking advantage of the farmers market) and the menu changes seasonally (sometimes weekly, daily, you get the idea. never the same thing twice). Amazing. Favorite bar: Nat Spil, near the capitol. Go for the High Tea--lemongrass vodka, green tea liqueur, sparkling lemonade. Cool neo-Chinese decor. Favorite coffee shop: Barrique's, on the capitol (there are several locations). Hip atmosphere, lots of table space, lots of good people watching, and GREAT food. Closer to Willy St. than a lot of other coffee shops. Feel free to PM me if you have any specific questions. I love this city, so I'm glad to talk more about it.

So, I'm on three wait lists, and it seems as though at least one of them currently is under an acceptance freeze because of the budget crisis--they can't proceed with their second-round acceptances (i.e. we wait-listers) until April, and they have to get each one approved individually by the graduate office. Awesome.

I think the above advice--to disregard the GREs--is a bit disingenuous. Sure, some schools may not value the GRE very highly, but for each school that overlooks low scores there's another school that uses a benchmark. I don't have specific evidence of this, but I would expect this to be especially true at the Ivy level when you have a bloc of 700 applicants. Where might you start? Weed out the few hundred below a certain point on the GRE. It makes sense from a procedural standpoint, even if it might not be pretty. That said, engguy's right about the SOP and sample. Regardless of whether or not a school values the GRE, they're certain to value the SOP and sample far more.

The things is, it seems as though most schools break their wait list down by concentration. So, guenevere's decision only matters if you're a medievalist on the wait list for Rutgers or UT (I'm assuming that's where you stand, guenevere, what with the medieval studies application).

Right. They should plaster a big sticker on the front of their envelope reading "Do not get your hopes up!" It's a compliment, I guess, but still hurts like a punch to the crotch. I'll have to turn it down too, of course, especially because it's in NYC. No way to live in NYC without funding.

Hey, I feel your pain, everyone. I'm currently on three waitlists right now, any of which I would choose over my one solid offer. (I also have an unfunded MA offer, which is flattering but not very helpful.) So, I'm just loafing about until late March rolls around and I can run to the arms of my indifferent courters. Does anyone know how long wait lists typically are? It seems as though each school does things differently.

Did anyone else get accepted to NYU's Masters when you applied to their Ph.D.?* *It was awful and misleading. I got a huge envelope in the mail, and, brimming with hope and joy, opened it to find an unfunded MA acceptance. Damn you NYU! Why must you lead me on like that?

I know that my waitlist notification (for Ph.D.) was made a week ago via post. Having said that, I'm not sure if they would notify in waves etc.

Thanks! And good luck to you, I hope things turn out well!

Hey, I applied with Crit Theory emphasis and was accepted last week. The DGS called my home. They're planning a visit weekend for early April, so my guess would be, if they haven't made all notifications by now, it will definitely be soon.