bdon19

Wow...I'm feeling super overwhelmed, and I don't have nearly that much going on! Though, I suppose I may have just as much in different forms... I'm still finishing up my undergrad, so I'm taking three courses and working three jobs. Thankfully I convinced myself not to overload on classes this term, but I still feel that "madwoman look" happening every so often. Tonight I--surprisingly--finished work and meetings and realized I didn't have any homework left for tomorrow. Instead of breaking out the Princeton Review subject test guide I've been carrying around, I ended up going to the bar. I just couldn't bring myself to do it. I really, really hope I find some motivation between now and October 15.

I'm interested, too!

You're so lucky. 7 of my 11 schools require it. I'm not stressing too much, but sometimes it's hard not to. I started "studying" the summer before my junior year, and while I haven't retained a lot of that, by this point I've taken the only available practice tests so many times that I have half of the questions memorized and therefore have no way of gauging my progress. "Preparedness" can be a bad thing...

Same, same, same, same, same. Hahaha. I'm planning on just taking a little bit of time each day to do some studying. If you'd like me to send you a copy of my massive (164 page) study guide, pm me. It's basically a compilation of stuff from the Vade Mecum/Hapax Legomena/Princeton Review book, so I'm not sure if it would be super helpful, but what I'm doing now is turning all of that into flashcards. Thank goodness I had all of my major deadlines last week. I have a little bit of time to buckle down and do this. But then I think about how I have less than two weeks, and my soul shudders a little bit. Much company for your misery, Timshel.

My first conference presentation was yesterday! It went really, really well! I came out of it so happy and with much more enthusiasm for working on the longer version of this paper for my writing sample!!

VILLETTE! Hooray!

The questions that have the option of more than one answer have boxes next to the answer choices; the ones with only one answer have ovals.

I'm currently working on a self-designed independent study course in theory. A theory course is typically offered every other year at my school, but this time they skipped an extra year, so I wouldn't have a chance to take the course before graduating. The course that is usually offered is called "Contemporary Critical Theory," but for the independent study I have to create my own course title. I don't think I want to keep the same title (as my course won't be exactly the same), but I really have no idea what to call it. My professor told me it's all up to me. We're going to read a lot of the same works that he typically teaches in the course, but it will be a bit more designed towards me and my interests. I was thinking it might be best to go in the direction of a "Survey of Critical Theory" or something like that, but I'm not sure. Anyone have any ideas? I don't want it to be a necessarily "flashy" title or anything, but I just can't think of anything that sounds right. Calling it a "survey" sounds, to me, less impressive than it actually is. I don't want to keep the original course title but can't think of anything else. And I need to turn in a form like by the end of today so I'm officially registered for the course!! So any help would be appreciated.

I understand the reservations a lot of people have with hanging out in bars or drinking with professors. But you have to understand where I'm coming from. As I said before, we have a bar on campus. Last spring, I had a class in the same building that houses the bar (it's in the basement; classrooms and offices are upstairs). The class got out at 4:20, and the bar opened for Happy Hour on Fridays at 4:30. Everyone in our class was over 21, except for one student, who happened to bartend starting at 4:30. So, on Fridays our professor would invite us to come downstairs and grab a drink with him, his wife, and his two young kids. Happy Hour on Fridays is very family-oriented, as our state allows all ages into bars as long as they're accompanied by parents. So, every Friday the bar is filled with professors and their families, who enjoy socializing with students. Nobody's getting wasted, it's just a place to hang out and enjoy bonding. I don't see that being much different than going to a professor's house for dinner. Additionally, as I mentioned before, each department has an assigned night through the year where they "guest bartend." They encourage their older students to come and join them, and it's seen as a privilege students get to enjoy once they're older and, consequently, have forged deeper relationships with their professors. Maybe I forgot to mention that my school consists only of undergrads. Maybe that changes the dynamic between professors and undergrads a bit. They treat upperclassmen, essentially, the way grad students are treated at many (perhaps most) universities. I understand that it might be inappropriate at a big school where profs are teaching hundreds of undergrads a semester, but when they have 30 or 40 at most, and everyone's invited to a central place on campus that's just as accessible (for the over-21s, of course) as a coffeeshop, I don't really see the problem. Drinking doesn't have to mean partying. I don't really get why people can't see the difference. As far as my comment about "refusing to forge a personal relationship" goes, I guess what I meant was referring to Sigaba's refusal to call a professor by his first name, even after the professor "insisted" (s)he do so. While I feel uncomfortable calling a professor by anything but "Prof. X" until they've told me otherwise, if they outright tell me to use their first name, I'd be uncomfortable not using it.

Just because I'm so excited to finally be back in school, I felt the need to post here. Hahaha. I'm officially taking the Bildungsroman class, though it ended up being my fallback class after Early American Lit was postponed until next term. It's actually a Topics in Human Rights course, and it is really, really way more awesome than I was expecting it to be. I'm not typically super into postcolonial lit, which is what the prof. specializes in, but I was flipping through my main text last night and realizes that the author writes a lot about the relation of human rights discourse to the eighteenth-century novel, which will be sweeeeeeeet (and make a potentially great paper topic!). I've also spent all morning doing my first assignment for my independent study in theory, and I'm getting that feeling again that this is exactly what I should be doing. I'd gotten so caught up in the application stuff over the summer that I'd kinda forgotten just how much I really love doing this--reading theory and novels and thinking about the two things in conjunction with one another. Ahhhhhh, it's good to be back!

Sigaba, I think we must agree to disagree. I know not every place will follow the same principles that my school does, just as I know that not every student will. However, I think we have very different opinions regarding the world of academia. If a professor insists that I use his or her first name, there's no reason why I shouldn't. In the professional world, very rarely do people call their bosses "Mr. So-and-So" anymore, so why should we? Not everyone needs a constant reminder that they have a higher degree than you. In fact, that's why a lot of my professors encourage students to use their first names; they want us to be on an even playing field. Of course they are, at the end of the day, the ones with the degree and with the power to determine our grades, but in the classroom they want to emphasize that our ideas can be just as valuable as theirs, and so they give us the benefit of putting us on that even playing field. And if my professors and their co-workers are hanging out at the same bar that the students frequent, why shouldn't they interact with us? It's not like we're all going to frat parties together. We're socializing in an adult way. We may be undergrads, but they give us the freedom to show that we are just as responsible as they are. What we choose to do with that freedom is up to us, but most of us do keep it responsible while the professors are around. "Professional deference" is one thing, but refusing to forge personal relationships with professors is totally another, imho.

I was wondering the same thing. When I took the general test, I didn't check off sending the subject scores because I freaked out and didn't know if I could choose that option not having taken the subject test yet. I also hadn't prepared myself with a list of which schools required it. When I registered for the subject test, though, I checked both options, and just selected schools I hadn't yet chosen to send general scores to which also required the subject test (of course, most of the required ones I'd already sent my general scores to!). I'm assuming I'm (we're) safe, but I can't be positive!

I think it's just part of the culture here. I go to a small school, in the Midwest, with a bar on campus. Professors will often schedule meetings during happy hour with their older students. It's accepted practice here, and nobody seems to have a problem with it. If students aren't comfortable with it, it's fine, but most are. Each department rotates as "guest bartenders" throughout the year, and it ends up a sort of coming-of-age privilege to enjoy that. I wouldn't say it's a "bad idea" (though of course there are exceptions to that). I would totally understand it being inappropriate in a lot of places, though. We just have a very unique sort of culture here in Cheeseville, USA.

This is something I am CONSTANTLY dealing with as an undergrad. Most of my professors sign their e-mails with their initials, so I never know how to address them. Some I would never think of addressing as anything but "Professor X," but others are in a greyer area. I have two professors who I regularly get coffee with, go to bars with, am friends with on Facebook, and have an overall good relationship with. However, I still don't know how to address them in e-mails. I actually had a (somewhat tipsy) conversation with one about this very issue, and she told me she didn't care what I called her, as long as I didn't send e-mails addressed to "Professor" (she will respond with "Hello, Student"). After that, I started using her first name (though it took some getting used to). Thank goodness I had that conversation in the first place, because I would often just not send her e-mails because addressing them stressed me out so much! The other professor still signs his e-mails with his initials. In person, I don't have an issue with what to call him, because students just use his last name, but I would never send him an e-mail like that. So I just do the "Hi, Prof. Y" thing, even if it feels WAY too formal with him. I think I'll, therefore, be sympathetic once I have to encounter this with students of my own. I don't know WHAT I'd do if I'd had to deal with grad student TAs as an undergrad!

I've erred on the side of caution regarding e-mailing POIs. In fact, at this point I haven't e-mailed any and am starting to feel like I simply won't. I don't think there's anything wrong with e-mailing a professor who's inspired you in some way, especially if it's not someone you're interested in working with. If it had been someone in a program you're applying to, they might have considered it as simply brown-nosing, particularly due to your timing in the application season. Really, I think the "purposeless" e-mails are those sent out to random POIs with no real agenda except to let them remember your name. Personally, I'm not going to e-mail any professors unless I have a really significant question that I couldn't get answered from anyone else. And even in those situations, I think I'd go through other avenues, such as current students, before e-mailing the professors. I know how ridiculously busy my professors are, and they're only teaching two courses a term with roughly 15 to 20 students in each. Your e-mail, on the other hand, was not "purposeless," as you felt inspired enough by her work that you felt compelled to reach out to her and let her know. Sure, it's a little fan-girl/boy-ish, but that's not a bad thing. Better than, in my opinion, e-mailing POIs to very obviously get your name out there. P.S. I've had "If She Wants Me" stuck in my head since I read your post earlier this morning.

Two Espressos, same here! I'm presenting for the first time October 1st. I'll be presenting a short version of my writing sample, which is...well...still in an adjustment phase. I need to give myself a serious ass-kicking in the next few weeks!!

Saaaaaaaame here. On the one hand I'm super glad I still have about three months to prepare everything (oh god, oh god, less in some cases!), but part of me wishes I could just start the waiting game now. It's bad enough now, when I tend to approach the anticipation as if all my apps have already been submitted!

Something like that. Hasn't he been in like five or six programs total? Do I even want to know how many? I'd love to see him in a classroom setting, to understand (or not understand) how he manages that. I still begrudge him for attending Yale, if only in the same way that I begrudged Rory Gilmore for it when I was in high school--and then chickened out of even applying. I don't even know if I've ever actually seen any of his movies. Maybe I shouldn't judge. Though the fact that I have no desire to see most of what he's in might speak to the quality of such films. Yep. "Shadow-colored." But then again, there were some really great moments, so I hate to discount him for some moments of sloppy writing. It's worth checking out. I snatched it for 4 bucks off the shelf of my depressing, nearly-empty local Borders. Haha, I did the exact same thing with my literary magazine! I joined the staff because a friend was running it and they were in major trouble--for a while they lost all university funding--but the quality of work was just so terrible, it wasn't worth going to the two meetings per term. At least my creative writing classes tend to have a few gems; very few of these gems, of course, would submit to the literary magazine. (The good writers have tended to be the ones who are less confident in their writing!) I think I read two stories that were worth publishing: one by my friend who's now in a top MFA program, and one by a kid who at least did a creative honors thesis. Now I'm taking an intro creative writing class again (we have sequences that proceed from intro to advanced). It's nonfiction, which I prefer, but I have no idea who will be in my class. It should be an interesting term... Though I get to go on a weekend excursion with a pretty well-known nonfiction writer and have a manuscript consultation with her, which will be nervewracking but fun!

I feel like I have to hate him, if only because he got into Yale and, well, there's a (very good) chance I won't. Then again, I'm not even applying to Yale anymore. But still, it's a principle thing. I just finished it on my commute to work this morning. Believe me, there's nothing worse than trying to read Franco over two high schoolers complaining about how they have bad counselors and so won't get into Penn. Basically, my final assessment is that some of the stories are pretty good, but some are exactly the opposite. He uses the phrase "ketchup randomness" to describe blood. What?? The biggest problem I had with most of the stories were the endings. I understand the technique he's going for with the end of the stories, but I don't think it works for him. The longest stories were the best, even if their endings were still a bit unfortunate. If you're curious, I think it's worth the read. It's the only reason I read it. You can get through it really quickly, so it ends up not being a waste of time. And I felt like it was on par with a lot of what I tend to call "MFA fiction"--exactly the type of stuff you tend to see coming right out of the workshops. That isn't to say that it's bad, I just don't typically find that kind of writing particularly fun to read, even if it is fast. Though I still keep taking creative writing classes, so that has to say something, right? Maybe it's just that I like reading bad fiction written by my classmates.

H24, I'm with you there. I've already gotten permission to write an op-ed on this for the first issue of my school's paper!

My latest venture: Palo Alto by dear James Franco. I'm having trouble articulating my thoughts on this one. It's no worse than a lot of the short stories I read in my fiction writing classes. I actually liked some of the stories. But then I remember it's James Franco, and I feel like I have to hate him, on principle...

Two Espressos, while it might be frustrating to have to deal with students like this in your classes, perhaps you should give your classmates a bit more credit. Maybe they'd actually be interested in Marxist theory if they had the correct terminology to know what they're trying to talk about. You mention that one student read the text as a satire of capitalism; I'm sure (s)he would definitely be interested in what you (and Marx!) have to say. One of my required classes in Restoration comedy was full of theater majors who knew nothing about lit and didn't know how to approach the texts we read. Our prof gave us tiny snippets of theory--Judith Butler, Engels, etc--to apply to the text. Often we'd just read them at the beginning of class and then discuss them. That seemed to work very well and got even the most unaware students something to hold onto. If you're talking to your professors outside of class, maybe you could suggest that they introduce just a tiny bit of theory into the classes. As asleepawake suggests, it's possible that many of your classmates don't even know that such theory exists, and if they do, it probably exists for them only as some vague term that they will never have to use themselves. I've found that such students find theory welcoming, as long as it's given to them in small enough pieces that they can handle it. It gives them something concrete to hold onto, which often mirrors some of their own ideas about a text! Also, I can't believe that MA students would brag about not doing readings, let alone not do the readings in the first place. After spending a year not doing readings (and consequently not doing well in my classes) I made a resolve that if I was going to be an English major I'd better be willing to read. I guess it's hard for me to relate to posts like these and like that of Two Espressos because the quality of discussions at my school is so high. Sure we have a few oddballs who can't get beyond a surface level reading of the text (if they do any reading at all), but that's the exception, and they stick out. A lot. Like the girl who insisted on talking about Little House on the Prarie instead of My Antonia in our advanced seminar on Gender and Modernism. Like you, TwoEspressos, I go to an undergrad-only institution, and don't have an opportunity to take grad-level seminars at my school. What I might suggest--which, of course, may not be the same at your school as at mine--is to take as many small courses as you possibly can. Even though my upper-level courses never surpass 25, or 30 at the most, in enrollment, anything over 20 can be a bit overwhelming at times, even if some of the smartest people in your class are in such courses. Smaller enrollments lend themselves to higher quality discussions, even if some lesser "qualified" people are in them. My Modernism seminar consisted of three English majors and about five Gender Studies majors who needed to fill a requirement prior to graduation. Some of them had never taken an English course, but the mix of perspectives made for fruitful discussions. It was a fabulous class, and gave me space to ramble on and word vomit for up to ten minutes in some cases, leading me to some lines of thought I never would have reached had the class been larger and my time quota that much smaller.