Galoup11

I recall there not being a ton of current grad students on the forum (gradcafe alums, so to speak) when I was active last fall, and I pledged to at least do an open thread for questions if I got in.

I'm studying 20th-century/Contemporary American Literature and Film. I teach a freshmen Composition & Rhetoric course as well.

Feel free to ask if you have any questions whether it's about the application process or graduate school itself.

Good luck to the incoming '13 cohort.

Has anyone seen this before? It's my favorite spoof on cultural theory. "But it's empty." "But of course.":

FUCK GUYS THE JIG IS UP!!!!1

FUCK GUYS THE JIG IS UP!!!!1

FUCK GUYS THE JIG IS UP!!!!1

Early in the process I emailed a few schools pretty soon after getting rejected. 3 of 3 responded: 1 with constructive criticism about my SOP, 1 saying it was just truly a competitive year and there were no recognizable "flaws", and the 3rd went above-and-beyond by calling me and explaining how competitive it was and that I might have gotten in any other year, as well as that they were looking for more MAs than BAs for their grad program. My point being that I think you should certainly go for it as you have pretty much nothing to lose, and just don't necessarily expect a fast response. Especially in your case, where you might very well be re-applying next year, which will be good to mention as they'll recognize your genuine interest and probably be more willing to give feedback.

FUCK GUYS THE JIG IS UP!!!!1

Early in the process I emailed a few schools pretty soon after getting rejected. 3 of 3 responded: 1 with constructive criticism about my SOP, 1 saying it was just truly a competitive year and there were no recognizable "flaws", and the 3rd went above-and-beyond by calling me and explaining how competitive it was and that I might have gotten in any other year, as well as that they were looking for more MAs than BAs for their grad program. My point being that I think you should certainly go for it as you have pretty much nothing to lose, and just don't necessarily expect a fast response. Especially in your case, where you might very well be re-applying next year, which will be good to mention as they'll recognize your genuine interest and probably be more willing to give feedback.

Trying to continue to make the google docs link easy accessible from each page: https://docs.google....WHAxMkh4MldZMEE

Ahhhhhhhhhh I just got accepted. Total shock, didn't expect to hear back one way or the other until this weekend. 99% sure I'm headed there, good luck to others on wait list!

Ahhhhhhhhhh I just got accepted. Total shock, didn't expect to hear back one way or the other until this weekend. 99% sure I'm headed there, good luck to others on wait list!

If you do equally well at each school, I would suppose you'll be more successful on the job market graduating from UNC-Chapel Hill. It's impossible for anyone less informed to tell you one way or another, but I would weigh how much more you like Iowa versus the potential opportunities you'll get with a much more heralded school on your resume.

If you do equally well at each school, I would suppose you'll be more successful on the job market graduating from UNC-Chapel Hill. It's impossible for anyone less informed to tell you one way or another, but I would weigh how much more you like Iowa versus the potential opportunities you'll get with a much more heralded school on your resume.

If you do equally well at each school, I would suppose you'll be more successful on the job market graduating from UNC-Chapel Hill. It's impossible for anyone less informed to tell you one way or another, but I would weigh how much more you like Iowa versus the potential opportunities you'll get with a much more heralded school on your resume.

UW-Milwaukee

Good thinking; threw things in a spreadsheet really quickly, and gave permission to anyone to edit (hopefully my good faith won't prove to be naive). Link is here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Ahfz1Ku8EJp4dExDLWN4Z3N4dUtUWHAxMkh4MldZMEE

Congrats to everyone, glad this thread is getting some use as we're about three weeks from the deadline. I kind of took for granted that you could edit your initial post, but can't seem to find a way to do so? Any ideas?

As of now, I'll add the list into this post:

University of Arizona (Bandreac, Ph.D)
Arizona State University (eriksmegs)
University of Edinburgh (antecedant, Linguistics)
University of Miami, Ohio (perrykm2)
Purdue University (Jbarks)
University of West Virginia (jywayne, Ph.D)

Good thinking; threw things in a spreadsheet really quickly, and gave permission to anyone to edit (hopefully my good faith won't prove to be naive). Link is here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Ahfz1Ku8EJp4dExDLWN4Z3N4dUtUWHAxMkh4MldZMEE

Good thinking; threw things in a spreadsheet really quickly, and gave permission to anyone to edit (hopefully my good faith won't prove to be naive). Link is here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Ahfz1Ku8EJp4dExDLWN4Z3N4dUtUWHAxMkh4MldZMEE

Congrats to everyone, glad this thread is getting some use as we're about three weeks from the deadline. I kind of took for granted that you could edit your initial post, but can't seem to find a way to do so? Any ideas?

As of now, I'll add the list into this post:

University of Arizona (Bandreac, Ph.D)
Arizona State University (eriksmegs)
University of Edinburgh (antecedant, Linguistics)
University of Miami, Ohio (perrykm2)
Purdue University (Jbarks)
University of West Virginia (jywayne, Ph.D)

Just received a "short wait list" email, a rather pleasant surprise at this point. I wants literati visiting professorz, to touch the garment of Thiong'o, etc...

Anyone else hear back?

I've compared the schools I'm accepted or wait-listed at by the following metrics:
NRC Population Students Time to Degree Completion Rate Pub per Faculty Job/contract Still seeking Teaching Diversity Overall CoL Housing Air, Water Crime Rainfall Snowfall Precip Days Sunny Days Avg. Jul High Avg Jan Low Voting Female students Unemployment Taxes (Income + Sales) Recent job growth Future job growth Stipend

Yes, I am an obsessive spreadsheeter-you should see my personal movie and book consumption archive =P

But really, these are all things I'm using--obviously the ones pertaining to the actual schools carry more weight but weather and area are also important to me. I've been used phds.org for most of the school research and bestplaces.net for surrounding area research. Ultimately, time to degree, completion rate, stipend, NRC ranking, and cost of living are probably the big 5 when it comes to ranking schools, for me, so far. Still, I'm visiting at least 3 schools over the next 3 weeks and will surely throw all this out the window when I get some a posteriori research

Holy shit, I just got accepted. First time I've heard that all season. Excuse me while I celebrate!

If anyone's interested in densely referential, postmodern rap, Das Racist are incredible:



Chose their song that opens with a hilarious Angelou reference, for obvious reasons.

This. Oh, this.