asleepawake

I think everyone has to love As I Lay Dying. Right?

We had a lot to talk about it, it seems. I can't remember saying anything worthwhile, though. Didn't I just post a bunch of gifs?

Seinfeld is pretty snide!

Oh, my gosh, yes, Heart of Darkness. I think I was assigned it twice in undergrad and twice in my MA. I hope to never see it again.

I have a tumultuous but ultimately wonderful relationship with Hemingway. If bullfighting or fishing/boating plays a major part in the work, I probably despise it, so much so that I cannot stand to read or discuss it. If it's another of his works, I just might appreciate it quite a bit - For Whom the Bell Tolls is fantastic and I have much to say! I don't think there is any writer/thinker that I really hate completely; I prefer these confusing relationships.

Yeah, I see I missed some obvious reference to that in you last post. I do think these letters hurt students, even if only by virtue of "not helping." Anything that doesn't help is a hinderance. However, you have to write a letter that you're comfortable writing, and it is on of students to figure out who can write their best letters. Coming out of undergrad, I probably only had one very strong letter and two that might have been more ~meh~. I wasn't that close to many professor, but aha! I managed.

I guess. Maybe I just don't get the bragging/boasting about one's work attitude at ALL,not just in LORs. When people say they have a "killer writing sample," for example, I immediately think: What makes you say that? You have no idea what other writing samples look like, so even if you know you turned in good work, it just seems arrogant/delusional/etc to declare anything ~~amazing~~ if it doesn't have a percentile attached.

I think it's different for a student applying to grad school, though. Presumably you teach comp and wrote letters for things like RA jobs and undergrad transfers, yes? I've written a number of these, even one for a student who came up to me after class with the letter form and said "Fill this out by thursday." I think these letters are less serious than letters for grad school, where the people on the adcom know that they or their collogues will be working very closely with you for a long time. I'm always skeptical when people brag about their "amazing letters" because, uh, unless you read them, you really don't know what they say. I always prefer to err on the side of IDFK. I think these people like me but AHHHH what if they harbor secret reservations? Edit: I fail at reading comprehension today.

The earliest thing to happen last year was an interview call from Emory on the 17th. There could be a tiny peep this week, even!

Go! Make me laugh.

No, you guys! I think I might be the tragic Eponine-figure. The hero has to be Two Expressos, I think, because he has been in the prequels.

It is possible to try to be funny and end up actually being funny instead of just a jerk/Daniel Tosh wannabe.

Anybody apply to Lehigh? My online application still says "No official transcripts have been received yet" but they had asked for uploads... I'll call next week, but I sure hope I wasn't supposed to send hard copies. The website and application led me to believe that wasn't necessary.

3.24 > 3.2 !?!?!!? Apply!

I like to think we are all co-authoring an elaborate piece of e-writing just for the fall 2014 applicants to enjoy next year when they are impatiently reading these posts.

Yeah, hopefully with all those applications you can get a funded offer. Definitely the best option! If you do get funded, you will be extra-likely to end up getting sucked in, because you'll experience teaching college students, and all the freedom and lack of test-prep that comes with it, and might end up wanting to stick with it. Just a warning! I still have high school English teacher as a backup, but gosh, the curriculum requirements, sheer number of classes, and the pandering to standardized testing is terrifying.

Percentiles change ridiculously. When I took the GRE in 2009, I scored 50th percentile in math. That is now 39th percentile - clearly, it is being compared to takers of the new test, which includes a calculator and different question types. This would annoy me endlessly, but I'm an applicant in English, didn't study a lick, and I retook it in '12 anyway (and got a better score that regardless dropped 8 points since June, of course). I've got to let certain things go, and my quantitate score will have to be one of those things. The schools I sent free reports to in June got my June scores, and scores I sent later in the year showed the new, mostly lower, numbers. So if you sent early, you're safe, but adcoms know the numbers change and probably look at your overall score, too.

I have now gotten 3 total e-mails titled "Important information about your Duke Application!!!!!!!!!" Ok, there are no exclamation points, but that is how I read it anyway.

It is either completely neutral or good. I'd read it as neutral.

Prepare to be sucked in. If you don't mind my asking (I'm just curious), what are your reasons for pursuing the MA?

is the e-mail from the department, the graduate college, or the University?

Oh, bluecheese, how I share your application philosophy! I also applied to MFA programs a few years back and my decisions this time around where shaped by that. They are also shaped by my interest in rudimentary statistics, crapshoots, and gambles. I think things like: "What would happen if I applied to every PhD program in the country?" and "What if all the schools I took off my list would have accepted me and I only kept the schools that will reject me?" This has lead me to the world of 17 applications, and I just might do another 1 or 2 last minute... I have a variety of interests and there are good faculty members all over the place, so I have certainly not compromised fit in any of my applications.

Please don't diagnose your LOR writer and speak for his health to adcoms. This is a really, really bad idea. Can you ask somebody else?

There were rumors around when I was applying to MFA programs a few years back that the current students at the Iowa's Writers' Workshop would be the first to look over the 1100 or so applications, and that they staged drunken dramatic readings of the worst of the lot. Horrifying!

Well, this wasn't an emergency at all.