OnceAndFutureGrad

Just wondering if anyone has heard back from the PMA yet. I interviewed in February and it looks like their last interviews were on March 20. I take it as a good sign that I haven't heard from them yet (presumably I'm waiting on department placement) but as my interviewer warned me that my particular interests may not have a place this year, I'm quite anxious for a reply. Anyone else have news?

Two of the professors leading orientation when I began my MA program were intensely athletic: a wiry martial artist and a lean boxer. They both mentioned that the mental break and physical relief from exercise was utterly integral to their success. I still clearly remember one of them saying how every time he skipped a morning workout to have more time to study or write, he actually got less done because his mind was less sharp. I took their advice and had an intense regimen, more weight lifting in the first year and more cardio in the second year, and I look forward to having access to a university gym/fitness center again. Do it!! Don't give up exercise if you do it already, and get used to it if you don't have a routine. An hour or half-hour a day or a few hours a week will more than pay for themselves in terms of making your time worthwhile.

I pray that's a typo, because I'm training for a 10K and it seems like forever. My running didn't really improve until I began running with a group. Just having a pack to keep up with cut my time drastically. Talking and taking in the sights was a really good distraction from my usual attempts to match the beat of what's playing on my iPod and I found myself effortlessly doing <9-minute miles when I normally struggle for 10-minute miles. See if you have any runner's clubs or organizations locally.

I'm pleased to announce that I found a great little house in Fishtown. I'm renting one bedroom and the other, which is actually two rooms, is also for rent. The house faces the back of an elementary school and it's right in the heart of the 19125, which I fell in love with years ago whilst visiting my friends on Firth St. I've been searching for months and this was my third trip into the city for real estate. It's a huge load off of my mind - Padmapper has been my homepage for weeks. I wish everyone else success in their search for safe, affordable housing in north Philly - and if you're looking for a room in Fishtown, let me know!

2009: 17% (5 outright rejections, counting the consolation MA as a success). 2010: 0%. 2011: 50% (1 rejection, 1 PhD acceptance with fellowship). Not including the MA, all three years put together equals 6.67%. And more GRE and app fees than I'll ever let myself calculate

Yes, yes there is. Are you going to feel like shit for at least a couple of months, and want to burn down your house/apartment/car/the local Starbucks because it was where you opened your rejection letter/e-mail? Definitely. Will kindly platitudes like "there's always next year" and "never give up!" make you grit your teeth on the good days and want to choke Cheerful Charlie on the bad days? You betcha. But you're still alive. You're already thinking about the next year and you're already writing a second writing sample with input from a trusted professor. You have plans for the next year. And you're consulting Grad Cafe and doubtless other sources of information/advice to figure out a new and better strategy for the next time 'round. At the risk of teeth-gritting, I'll quote Mary Pickford: "You may have a fresh start any moment you choose, for this thing we call 'failure' is not the falling down, but the staying down.” That was what kept me going after the shut-out last year. Maybe you'll find another line that refreshes you, or maybe an image or anecdote will work (hang in there cat?), or perhaps your own sense of purpose will serve. Find something, though. Recover, regroup, repair, prepare. Self-pity won't help, but it will feel good for at least another few weeks, so ride it as long as it doesn't interfere with your life. It's okay to feel terrible. Shit happens, and this shit is personal. You put your self - your aspirations, your future, your abilities - on the line, and it was denied. That rescinded informal acceptance sounds particularly brutal. This is the time to take stock of who you are and what you are doing. Some people may say that you should only do things with which you are successful - the more immediately, the better. Some people may say that the rejection is a sign to stop and branch out into another direction. Fuck that. None of this "when the door closes, a window opens" nonsense. Try knocking again, or turning the goddamn handle. You do need to think of the long view, however. Are you doing this because you want to be a curator, professor, conservator, consultant, author, critic, etc? Or are you doing this because you are pretty good at writing essays and you enjoy art history and you're staying in school for as long as possible waiting for an opportunity to open up? I know that sounds like accusing someone of avoiding the "real world", the most inflammatory thing that can be lobbed at a grad student, but it is something to ask yourself over and over again until the question doesn't seem personally insulting. When you have an answer, a long-range goal that doesn't depend on other people throwing money at you for showing up, that definitely requires the academic runaround, then you'll have the core desire to persevere despite short-term setbacks. Getting into graduate school is passing the first of a dozen culls that await the academic. I presume you've applied for a PhD. There's the cull for funding, the cull for presenting, the cull for publishing, the cull for post docs, the cull for jobs, the cull for tenure-track positions, the cull for tenure. At every level there are more applicants than positions and for the most part it's a new body of people at every stage. Imagine trying to climb the corporate ladder but every time you want to get anything done you have to introduce yourself to an entirely different company. It sucks. Charisma and intelligence are vital for success, but you need just as much grit, stamina, and ability to absorb defeat and move on. Think about how you feel getting defeated by an application season now. Can you deal with that disappointment in five years when you lose a post doc? In ten years when you still aren't on a tenure track? If the answer is yes, well, you know what to do - and if you don't, there are plenty of people on here who can give you re-application advice. If the answer is no or maybe, well, you've got a couple months before the next year's applications are due. Are there other things in your life that you can focus on and thereby have a place to rest yourself when faced with defeat? Are your friendships and family relationships well-maintained? Do you have extracurricular hobbies or alternative skills that you can cultivate? Is there any way to volunteer or intern with people who do what you think you want to do? Despair is natural in the face of defeat, but it's up to you whether you want this defeat to be temporary or permanent. I want to give you anecdotal evidence, but every person is different and no one can or ought to follow in someone else's foot steps. Is there hope? Yes, if you want there to be.

It depends entirely on your campus and situation. When I did my masters I was able to live in a 1-bedroom apartment 30 minutes off the rural campus with a 10-hour part time job on top of my graduate stipend. I wasn't the only one - I'm not sure how they did it without an additional job, but perhaps I was not as wise with my money. Now, going to a PhD in a city, I will need apartment- or housemates to stay within my stricter fellowship budget, but I will never have roommates. If you are moving to the very center of a metropolis you may need a roommate, but apart from that extreme circumstance you should be able to find a bedroom for yourself among grad students. Unless your campus is in high demand for property or your stipend is truly paltry, you should also be able to find a studio or 1-bedroom apartment for $100-200 more than you would pay to rent a room. I would say that the money is worth it depending on your personal preference; it sounds as if $200/month to have your own place would pay off in avoiding co-habitation stress.

When I went to my MA program, I moved out of my parents' house and intended to stay for the PhD so I rented a one-bedroom apartment 25 minutes from campus. It was pure coincidence that someone from the same program lived in the building and I once ran into a colleague at the supermarket, but otherwise I didn't run across any university people and I greatly preferred it that way. It was nice to drive into and out of campus; it helped to turn my brain on to academic stuff at the beginning of the day, and turn it off towards the end. It was nice that my now-fiancé could drive in and always find parking, and that I wouldn't hear or see partying undergrads. In your situation, I would recommend having more buying power with your rental money and staying far off campus, particularly with your non-student partner. It will do your mind good to come home at the end of a long day, have trails to hike on the weekend, and so on.

I did my UG in History and Medieval Studies with a Cert in Irish Studies, got an MA in Medieval Studies, and will begin a PhD in Art History in the fall. Ah, but not medieval art - medievalism in art. I got so involved in medieval art that the great void between public perception and historical fact became more of a pressing issue than iconography or any other art historical concern.

I'll be at Temple, with Elizabeth Bolman as my adviser. Already picked my courses, whee!

Who got the PhD admit today? Congrats!

Hi EllieOfAquitaine. It sounds like we have some things in common. Forgive me for making this anecdotal, but I promise to explain. I got my BA in history and medieval studies with a cert in Irish studies (year abroad), and then my MA in medieval studies with an art history major. While I've done a lot of difficult work I've actually only taken 5 undergrad and 4 grad courses in art history, 3 of which were not medieval. Nonetheless, I'm beginning a PhD on a four-year university fellowship this fall. I did not pay for my masters - the medieval studies department was an offshoot of English, so we all had plenty of work teaching first-year comp, whatever our major. But it made every difference in distinguishing me from other applicants, I believe, and certainly got my feet very wet in graduate-level work. Learning the lingo, presenting at conferences, seeing up-to-the-minute trends in scholarship, and enjoying graduate-level interaction with professors all greatly improved my ability to convey myself in person and on paper to my potential schools. I was able to acknowledge my risks (poor foundation knowledge) and balance them with my benefits (graduate-level work experience, broader background than most, interdisciplinary knowledge, etc.). I think it is very wise that you want to use your masters to establish your base in art history, and having the opportunity to do so - even at a cost - is far better than going two steps backwards and taking undergraduate courses to sort of throw on another major post-graduation (if such a thing is even possible). It's about the trajectory of your studies rather than the solidity of your coursework, and if my experience is anything to show, having an atypical path may be a benefit - at worst, it's not uncommon. A student who has cast their net wide and come down onto a discipline after several years of work in other fields is going to be more sure of it, in my opinion, than most students who graduated high school with a major in mind.

Hi there. The acceptance in February was me. It was a bit wonderful and alarming. I won a university fellowship on top of it so I've accepted. I've actually already gotten my feet wet with course selection and housing inquiries. Dr. Bolman is my adviser. I've been lurking on the PhD thread and I feel terrible that so few other people are hearing from Temple. Maybe communication was poor because they were off this last week? I hope everyone gets good results soon.