thedhalia

That's hilarious. I agree that it was good advice, though! I can't imagine being in a program that was almost totally male or female... I'm visiting this weekend! I couldn't get the time off of work and I'm also trying to be sneaky about the whole leaving-to-go-to-grad-school thing, but some professors have offered to meet with me on Saturday anyway. I'm glad to hear good things about it.

My mother got a coworker of hers on the phone with me who went to Pensacola State (not UF, where I was accepted) and lived in DC for a year or so (and did not attend Georgetown). "Hi, nice to meet you. You HAVE to go to Georgetown; Florida is a backwards place and DC has shopping and cute boys." "Thanks for your advice. It's truly invaluable." I live in SoCal and the analogies never end. GU is to downtown LA as UF is to Bakersfield, CA...

I may as well go ahead and name the schools: School 1 is Georgetown, and School 2 is University of Florida. Everyone I know and their dog likes to tell me about how fabulous Georgetown is and how much more exciting living in DC would be than Gainesville, FL- but that is not of course why I'm going to graduate school. The input from people within academia is priceless, which is why I came here, so thank you! (Still, GU does resemble Hogwarts... )

This is what I needed to hear. The allure that School #1 has for me is in the name and not much else (neat architecture aside). So what I'm gathering from all of you is that what matters more for graduate school is not so much where you went as what you did when you went there and who you did it with. I'm still visiting both schools before the 15th and I'm sure that meeting professors will be a huge help. Thank you all for your advice!

No, the funding at School #2 is still good for the two years regardless of the program being dropped. Both schools' funding packages are for two years provided satisfactory academic progress, and if I get into the PhD program at School #2 I am guaranteed continued funding. Both programs have a thesis option, but School #1 has the option of doing a "capstone project" instead (the details of which I'm a bit fuzzy on, and although it sounds like I could get creative with it I would probably end up doing the thesis). I am just now running off for a few hours so I won't be able to reply to anyone until I get back, but please continue to post any questions/input you have!

Thanks for your input! School #1 does not have an English PhD program. School #2 does, and their policy is to evaluate you at the end of the two years and based on that potentially offer admission into the PhD program. It is also worth noting that this is the last year that it will be offering a terminal MA program, which is probably due to budget cuts.

Hi all, I've been accepted to two great programs for a MA in English. The one university's name carries some weight, but the second seems to have more faculty whose research interests intersect my own. They are both offering comparable funding packages with full tuition coverage, but the cost of living is drastically different. I seem to go back and forth every day and would love any input you have! School #1: School #1 is a small (~15,000 students), private university in a big city. Its name carries some weight: it's a top 20 in the US News rankings and most people are familiar with it, but I believe that it's mostly for its law and undergrad programs. In addition to the tuition support, it is offering a $7,000 stipend per term in the first year and an hourly wage for the second (it works out to be about the same amount). Instead of teaching, I would be working for a center it has for teaching with technology doing mainly editorial work and possibly some light research. I've visited this city a couple of times before and would absolutely love to live in it. However, the cost of living is quite high; a one-bedroom in a decent area will cost me around $1500/month, so I would be scraping by even with a roommate. The program itself looks great overall, but I haven't yet found any faculty whose interests overlap mine (digital humanities). It also doesn't seem to have any real DH community at large. The one English class I could find for Fall 2013 with any sort of New Media focus is an undergraduate course (but which I could take for graduate credit). There is the option of taking classes at universities in the area for no cost, and a couple of these unis have renowned digital humanities centers. However, I do not know if I can do anything beyond taking classes. School #2: School #2 is a large "public Ivy" with about 50,000 students. It's a respectable university but not nearly as well known for its "prestige" as the former. Initially I was offered a ~$9,700 stipend per year, but upon learning about School #1's package they offered me a fellowship worth an additional $4,000 a year. I would be teaching 1-2 general ed writing classes per semester for the two years with the possibility of teaching a six-week course over summer, worth $3,100. Even though the funding is about even for the two schools, the cost of living is much lower at School #2: $500/month could land me a large one-bedroom, and $1,200 could give me an unnecessary-but-awesome four-bedroompalooza. The city itself is a college town with about 100,000 residents. It doesn't look like a bad place to live in but doesn't really stack up to School #1's city. As for the program: there is a bustling digital humanities community at School #2. In addition to having a good number of course offerings I would jump on, there are several faculty with whom I could work (and one in particular looks like he might fit the bill). There are DH-related groups and a great DH library, too. My family loves to say that School #1 will open all kinds of doors for me simply because of its name--and it's in a fantastic location to boot--but I'm skeptical of their advice. How much weight does the name itself actually carry in academia? I went for a masters in lieu of a doctorate because I wasn't sure about jumping straight into a PhD track, but it's still a big possibility. Should I even care that School #2 has all of these DH-goodies if I later end up going to a PhD program in the digital humanities anyway? The workload might also be easier at School #1 without having to teach, and they're certainly flexible enough to allow me to do my thesis/capstone on something DH-related anyway. It's just that School #2 might have better support for it. Thoughts?

Hi all, I've been accepted to two different programs for a MA in English and both are offering comparable funding. The main difference between the two is that one university's name carries some prestige, whereas the other seems to have more faculty whose research interests intersect mine. Here are the programs in a nutshell: School #1: School #1 is a small, private university in DC (~15,000 students). Its name carries some weight, but I think mostly for its law and undergrad programs. The funding offer covers tuition for the two years leading up to the MA and provides a $7,000 stipend per semester for the first year, but the cost of living in DC is rather high: $1500/month is about the cheapest I could find for a one-bedroom in a decent area (I remain vigilant). During the second year I would get an hourly wage in lieu of the stipend. I do however really like DC and would love to live there. Instead of teaching, I would be working ~15 hours per week at a center devoted to teaching with technology where I would be doing mainly editorial work (and perhaps some research?) for some of its projects, which sounds well and good. The program looks great overall, but I haven't yet found any faculty whose research interests overlap mine (digital humanities), and to my knowledge there isn't really a community for it. I did toss around the idea of trying to start some sort of network there but I don't know how realistic that is. I can take classes at other DC-area universities (which would be covered by the assistantship), but I think that would be the extent of how much cross-pollination I could do. At least two of the unis in the area have great digital humanities centers but I don't know how much I could participate in them. School #2: School #2 is a large "public ivy" with about 50,000 students. The funding offer was initially $9,760 per year on top of tuition coverage, but after letting them know about my other offer I received a fellowship worth an additional $4,000 per year. I would be teaching 1-2 classes per semester and they would be general ed writing courses. There is also the possibility of teaching summer classes which would provide extra money. The cost of living is much lower ($500/month could land me a large one-bedroom, and $1100 would nab me an unnecessary-but-awesome four-bedroompalooza), so even though the funding is about even for both schools I could afford a much higher standard of living in school #2's city. The city itself is a college town with about 100,000 people. It doesn't look like a bad place to live in, but I don't think it stacks up to DC. Now, as for the program: there is a bustling digital humanities community at this school and there are a few faculty who I could work with, and one in particular looks great. I would definitely be getting involved in some groups on campus that are centered around DH-related topics. i should also mention that at the end of the two years I would be evaluated based on my academic progress and potentially receive an offer of admission into their PhD program. At the end of the day it looks like School #1's biggest bragging point is its location and name, whereas School #2 has an established community of what I ultimately want to pursue. As my family loves to point out, putting School #1 on a resume would look great, but how much does that really matter in academia? I chose to pursue the MA because I was uncertain about going for the PhD, but it's still a big possibility. Thoughts?