commcrazy

I got a puppy my first year of grad school, and holy moly was pottytraining during my first semester a gigantic mistake. Your strategy sounds way smarter. Buuuut I was in a relationship at the time, SO was unemployed, so it worked out okay. And my dog licked the tears off my face, so that was pretty great. The whole "having a dog" part is wonderful--it's great to come home after a terrible day and have the dog stoked to see me. Unfortunately, there are also a few issues I didn't think of when I got the dog. Depending on how you can schedule things, having a dog in grad school can be great. I've been able to go home around lunchtime, and my roommate takes him out if something happens and I get stuck on campus for 12+ hours. Not knowing your schedule right now (teaching and seminars), I'd be cautious if you live alone and can't get someone to take the dog out. Scheduling conflicts that you can't control will come up, and it's pretty terrible to leave a dog by themselves for that long. I will also say: it's way harder to find pet-friendly apartments in university towns, and they usually rip you off with a huge deposit or extra fee per month for the pet. (in addition to other vet/food/etc costs you'll incur). I don't mean to sound so negative Nancy here--but if you're single/living alone with a dog your first year in a new place with the stress of a new program, things might be dicey.

I'm at Uiowa right now in the Comm Studies program--specifically Rhetoric & Public Advocacy. PM me if you have any questions. (also, cough, the journalism and mass comm program isn't as reputable and is in constant danger of losing its accreditation.)

Ok, I doubt anyone will actually see this reply, but just in case... I did this. I presented at NCA as a senior in undergrad and skipped right to a Ph.D program. There are both benefits and downsides to doing this. Benefit: You never have to do the application process again (and you get to stay in the same place longer--could also be a problem, depending.) You'll also have a lot of time to form relationships with your advisor and committee members as well as your cohort. (realized this also saves a lot of $ and time--no more application fees, writing additional SOPs or requesting LORs.) Benefit: You're usually out in less time (five instead of six years), and you probably won't have to write an MA thesis. Downside: You won't have anyone forcing you to write an MA thesis, which usually gets a lot of play on the conference circuit. Benefit/Downside: You're with people who know their shit already--for example, I'm one of two people in my cohort of 10 who doesn't already have a masters degree. Discussions are awesome. The downside part to this--you feel stupid. Often. Downside: You're also competing directly with these human beings who have more education/teaching experience than you--for summer jobs, department awards, etc. Benefit: It will look rad on your CV, and you'll generally be younger than everyone else once you get on the job market and eventually get tenured. (which is nice if you're into reproducing or anything before you're 40) Downside: You will be expected to figure out most things on your own--ie conference applications, listservs, how to write seminar papers and juggle 900 pages of reading a week; no one will hold your hand. Benefit: The 3rd years and above are great resources for the above things--and you'll see exactly what the comps/dissertation process looks like. Downside: You're expected to know much more concretely what you expect to do in the coming years--the MA programs are generally more flexible and general, letting you take time to figure that stuff out. Wow. That was a way longer post than I intended. Generally, shoot for the stars, but try for a combination. There are a ton of great masters programs that will fund for the two years--of course, don't go anywhere they won't fund you--but I'm 22 and doing fine in a PhD program.

This. Definitely. And don't be afraid to use your resources in your current program! Generally, your profs will have friends or connections in other programs that will, at the very least, give schools to rule out. They might recommend schools that you'd never considered. I'd also like to add using conferences to actually meet POIs in person--big conferences, like NCA, will have both grad fairs and receptions, and if you have a narrowed-down list by then, you can go to panel presentations and actually see what people are doing right now. One of the faults with looking through publications is that they might be dated (since the time from writing the article to seeing it in published form can be quite long) and the POI might have turned a 360 in the meantime. Conferences are nice, too, because you can talk to current grad students about their experiences and get a real feel for what research is actually happening in the department.

I got a great Kenneth Cole leather messenger bag from Amazon for $96 (http://www.amazon.com/Kenneth-Cole-Reaction-Business-Messenger/dp/B000UN267C/ref=sr_1_1?s=apparel&ie=UTF8&qid=1344527710&sr=1-1&keywords=kenneth+cole+risky+business+messenger+bag) and I love it so far! Amazon has some pretty sweet deals on boots, too--I got a pair of Clarks leather boots for $90ish. Comparison shop!

Luckily my boyfriend moved with me, and we had a really short move, so my moving costs weren't crazy extravagant (but still, deposit, 1st month's rent), my family came up for my graduation from undergrad to move me an hour north before the ceremony with my dad's truck, and we've purchased our major furniture from craigslist right before all of the students' leases were up here. But things like Target trips to buy the necessities have really piled up, and I have no savings after paying for grad apps/GRE/etc. I'm definitely in austerity mode.

My general opinion on pre-departure anxiety--we're all too smart and worry about every possible thing that could go wrong. The first year/semester might be rough, but give it a chance. It might also be the greatest journey you've ever embarked upon. My $0.02!

This time last year, I was finishing up research for an undergrad thesis, funded by a fellowship, and generally getting drunk and hanging out with my friends with few cares in the world. I had started researching graduate schools, but only really had a few ideas of where I wanted to go and what I wanted to do. I was fretting about taking the new GRE and desperately trolling Gradcafe. Now, I've been moved into my new apartment for two months and am planning my course for the fall semester with two weeks to go until orientation. My boyfriend and I have been hanging out, basically just waiting for the next part of our lives to begin.

Aaaaah, I'd love to think Northwestern's going to accept me, but I'm a realist, and it's just not going to happen. Some grad programs thus far have definitely had rhetoricians or not--some are much more mass comm oriented, some interpersonal, etc. It's kind of a grab bag right now, with not a ton of professors doing what I'm doing, or if they are, there's only 1 person at a school (and I had always been told to look for multiple people). Hmm. I don't know, I'm just a little lost. Thanks, strangefox!

I know there's a rhetoric listed in the English writing section, but I'm all Comm, with a focus in rhetorical criticism. This is the right forum, right? As an addendum, I'm freaking out trying to find (more) advisors that fit with my research interests (currently looking at how identity is constructed, specifically looking through a queer lens); does anyone have recommendations? Thanks!