antecedent

...unless they're a bunch of misogynistic capitalists.

It just comes down to the fact that lit people often don't want to teach comp, and comp/rhet people find fulfillment in exactly that.

UW Madison just sent me an email about financial aid and my heart nearly lept out of my throat!

...it turns out they were just reminding me to fill out the FAFSA. Sigh.

I didn't read anywhere that there was a deadline for filling it out, cause it only just opened. I hope this won't be counted against me...

WHY does grad school turn me into such an irrational person?? Why must you play with my heart so, UW-Madison??

UW Madison just sent me an email about financial aid and my heart nearly lept out of my throat!

...it turns out they were just reminding me to fill out the FAFSA. Sigh.

I didn't read anywhere that there was a deadline for filling it out, cause it only just opened. I hope this won't be counted against me...

WHY does grad school turn me into such an irrational person?? Why must you play with my heart so, UW-Madison??

yes!

I lean and loafe and YAWP in support of this thread!!!

I like KU. They sent me an email to let me know all of my application information had been received. Yes, almost everything is submitted online, but I mailed hard copies of the LORs. I like the schools that say "hey, just fyi - we got all your stuff you spent a lot of time and money sending us and we'll have decisions by mid-February". Go Kansas for your consideration of the craziness and anxiety applicants have. Ward off the unnecessary phone calls by just letting us know everything is good to go for review. It is the little things that make so much sense to me

Though to be fair, it's just as difficult to apply to grad school while working a full-time non-academic job, particularly one where few are sympathetic to the compulsion towards higher education. It's a different challenge, to be sure, but a grueling one nonetheless. I guess it's fair to say that if applying to grad school is easy and or fun, you may very well be doing it wrong.

I prefer to think of it as an "open relationship" consisting of me, my boyfriend, and my grad apps.

I prefer to think of it as an "open relationship" consisting of me, my boyfriend, and my grad apps.

I prefer to think of it as an "open relationship" consisting of me, my boyfriend, and my grad apps.

I prefer to think of it as an "open relationship" consisting of me, my boyfriend, and my grad apps.

I prefer to think of it as an "open relationship" consisting of me, my boyfriend, and my grad apps.

I prefer to think of it as an "open relationship" consisting of me, my boyfriend, and my grad apps.

I prefer to think of it as an "open relationship" consisting of me, my boyfriend, and my grad apps.

That guy would fail the Milton grammar questions on the beloved GRE Literature in English Test.

This comment just kind of sums up my feelings on life right now.

I have to keep reminding myself of this. It continues to boggle my mind how little the numbers game actually works when it comes to grad school. It's like...this wacky factors cocktail that I can't figure out the ingredients to. All I know is it tastes lousy and feels like a punch in the back of the head, and leaves you with a wicked hope hangover.

But I'm glad to hear I'm not alone in this. I was freaking out to my dad about this the other day, and it got the point where I was wondering if I was actually becoming delusional. Glad to hear that if I am, it at least appears to be normal!

Hello folks

I've been through the British system to MA level, so perhaps I can offer some inside info.

Funding is extremely scarce at the master's level. Most people just suck it up and pay (I worked for a year and saved before my MA) because you cannot get a British PhD without a master's degree, and PhD funding is not quite so impossible to get, though still very difficult.

Be a bit cautious about Oxbridge MSt/MPhil degrees. I have not met a single person who had a positive intellectual experience on one of these courses. Of course there are huge compensations -- as an American coming to the UK for a year, you would have quite a magical time at Oxford or Cambridge, and meet some fascinating people (the people I know who did these courses loved Oxford/Cambridge, just hated the course/department). But the courses are often rather poorly run and master's students not treated extremely well. This is why I steered clear of Oxbridge for MSt/MPhil. But you need to think about what you want, and these universities certainly have a lot to offer in terms of resources, social life, eating every day in a Hogwarts-like hall ...

It's VERY different at the PhD/DPhil level, because it's all about your supervisor (although, bear in mind that at Oxford you don't get to choose your supervisor...) If you have a good relationship with him/her, then you'd have a very positive experience. This is the case at any UK university, where there is no coursework towards the PhD.

You're right to be concerned about employability after a UK PhD but please bear this in mind: you can circumvent the difficulties yourself by being extremely self-motivated. You won't have so much in the way of professional preparation so you really have to take the initiative yourself, which is wonderfully possible due to all that freedom you have. Make absolutely sure you keep track of calls for papers and get out there, go to conferences. You will get teaching experience if you push for it. I did a lot of "professional activity" on my MA but I was the only one who did -- it just didn't occur to many of my fellow students, even though they were very brilliant.

I'd be happy to discuss this over PM if that helps anyone. And I hope I didn't give too negative an impression of Oxbridge/Britain in general -- the system is wonderful if you are well-prepared and self-motivated, with a clear idea of your research direction and the initiative to pursue it independently. It really is a case of getting out what you put in.

I did just that--did a one-year Master's in the UK and am planning to go back to the US for a PhD. You cannot get full funding as an international student except in Scotland and there you are competing for that limited funding with all of the disciplines--my thought is an English PhD next to one in the sciences has little chance, but maybe that's pessimistic. They also let pretty much anyone in (I'm speaking outside of Cambridge and Oxford--I don't know the situation there)--good if you didn't do as well as you wanted in your undergrad or have had a lot of time out, but means that the prestige the school's name offers is offset by the fact that it is so easy to get in that it doesn't say much for your potential that you did. I had ten years out between my BA and my MA, audited a few English classes in Germany and used those teachers as my recommenders, wrote a pretty middling, though well-written writing sample (actually better use of language than I use now--something about free play of words when you have less research? I don't know) and a frankly awful SOP and I got into Manchester, which is in the Russell Group and very strong theoretically, and Edinburgh.

But, as long as you're aware of this downside, I think it's an amazing experience. Your interaction with your lecturers is very much what you put into it. There are weekly papers given by faculty within and outside the university and big name guest speakers and conferences and going along to them is a great way of both meeting people and showing your interest. The British universities, from what I've heard since it's been so long since I've been in an American, are much less hierarchical. The lecturers are also on the whole younger--good and bad because you are less likely to be working with an academic rock star, but more likely to be working with people that know how much work is needed to get where they want to be and can share that information with you. I had only positive experiences with visiting in office hours, etc. And I still go to university events now even though I finished my MA in 2010, something that's been encouraged. I've found all of the lecturers to be warm and welcoming, their research is theoretical (I chose Manchester and, as I said, it's known over here for being quite theoretical) yet tied to historical and materialist links more than I see with a lot of US scholarship.

As for the PhD, teaching is involved, but there is no opportunity to create your own course or anything like that that you sometimes see in the US and you teach much less, maybe one or two discussion sections a semester after your first year. I also think the PhD might be less valued in the States again because of the fact that anyone can get in--the good (or lucky, depending on who you talk to) students are the ones getting full or partial funding. And there is just more of a glut of students with PhDs when you finish, making it harder to get a job because you have even more competition. I mean, some of these kids finish with their PhDs at 25!

I'm rambling a bit now...if you have any more specific questions, let me know.

I have to keep reminding myself of this. It continues to boggle my mind how little the numbers game actually works when it comes to grad school. It's like...this wacky factors cocktail that I can't figure out the ingredients to. All I know is it tastes lousy and feels like a punch in the back of the head, and leaves you with a wicked hope hangover.

But I'm glad to hear I'm not alone in this. I was freaking out to my dad about this the other day, and it got the point where I was wondering if I was actually becoming delusional. Glad to hear that if I am, it at least appears to be normal!

Hahaha I had a similar reaction upon first graduating from my undergrad and before I was 100% committed to grad school, and my Dad's response was "Don't waste your time. Just join the circus and get it over with."

Thanks for the unwavering support, Dad!

I deal with this by finding encouragement in meaningless places.

Ex: "Oh, the UW Madison English department secretary is so friendly! She clearly wants me to go there." and "Look, the UT Austin application checklist is so well organized, how nice. This must mean I'll get in!"

I'm clearly delusional, and like many of you, borderline hysterical, but what can we do? If we get in, this is only the beginning.

We should have a drink of choice thread. I will put forth a nice cold wheat beer, to go with this already wine-soaked thread.

I deal with this by finding encouragement in meaningless places.

Ex: "Oh, the UW Madison English department secretary is so friendly! She clearly wants me to go there." and "Look, the UT Austin application checklist is so well organized, how nice. This must mean I'll get in!"

I'm clearly delusional, and like many of you, borderline hysterical, but what can we do? If we get in, this is only the beginning.

We should have a drink of choice thread. I will put forth a nice cold wheat beer, to go with this already wine-soaked thread.