Julianne Pigoon

Yay! Congratulations! The people in this department seem nicer and prompter than most I've yet dealt with. It looks like the three PhD LCS slots have been filled. I have no idea how many they take for the MA in the same. Here's hoping.

I applied to the MA. It looks like last year they got back to the MAs the same time as the PhD. We will see. Also, whoever it was that got the PhD acceptance, fess up, brocifer!

I already got my tattoo and this is not even over. My BFF and I are planning a gigantic dance party in her mostly empty pretty little ritzy East Side apartment. Booze, Sleigh Bells, annoying the fuck out of the snooty neighbors and their dogs with all the graduating literature majors. wooooo my head hurts

Your point about CCRI is well taken. No one should ever be allowed to create a concrete ship and call it a college campus. This prison thing does not surprise me. I'm interested to know if he has designed any of them to look like airplanes or jetskis or a Microbus. Seriously, who approved that project? Just how hard were they chilling that day? I have been to UMass Dartmouth, but only briefly. It sounds like a place of many agonies. P.S. Apologies to OP and other people actually interesting in URI for co-opting this thread.

Oh, wow! I may know them peripherally. Yes, one of my profs has been trying sneakily to get me to stay for the MA. RIC has an absolutely fantastic faculty and, in my experience, a superior undergraduate program to URI because of the teaching focus. I considered it for that reason, but I really need to get out of RI. Also, RIC has a terrible reputation in this region, and I'm not entirely sure how that translates to everyone else in the country. Some of my professors say the rap doesn't carry, but others are convinced it's looked down upon. In any case, RIC has the worst campus in the history of campuses, I'm pretty sure. Unless you're really into American Brutalist architecture and concrete quads. It was a shock after basically living at URI for 12 years.

Unfortunately URI has privatized their tuition in the past 4 years. Even for instate students, it's very, very expensive. It's the biggest reason, aside from program, that I transfered to the generally shittier but far cheaper Rhode Island College. Not that I suggest anyone go to RIC for graduate study, uh, just gon't go to URI unfunded, ever.

Me?

URI is my backyard. I grew up in South Kingstown, and I went to the school for a year. It's beautiful, but boring as hell, just so all y'all know. Good luck to those waiting!

I'm sorry. I'm really sorry. I'm just losing it on this one x_x

Sweet Jesus this wait is killing me.

Most of my favorite quotes are from my favorite author, Alasdair Gray. “Who did the council fight?” “It split in two and fought itself.” “That’s suicide!” “No, ordinary behaviour. The efficient half eats the less efficient half and grows stronger. War is just a violent way of doing what the people do calmly in peacetime: using the other half for food, heat, machinery and sexual pleasure. Man is the pie that bakes and eats himself, and the recipe is separation.” "I'm afraid you'll have to take up art. Art is the only work open to people who can't get along with others and still want to be special." "Which proves," said Lanark, who was eating a salad, "that the world's great stories are mostly a pack of lies."

Go to the beach about 1,000 times before we pick up and move somewhere without one. I'll have to wait on applications still to see where that'll be, but most likely there will not be an ocean. Spend time with my partner and children not feeling like there must be SOMETHING I should be doing. Read for pleasure and interest. Bake, sew, draw, bicycle. Birthday month of reckoning (me--3rd of August, son--4th of August, stepdaughter--9th of August).

Midnight is ungodly. How strange. Congrats, though, that's awesome news at whatever hour.

If they fund you, go, regardless of their "name" in the field. Some PhD programs will turn their nose up at an MA from anywhere, and other schools will take into consideration that you've gained more experience in your field every which way--TAships, GAships, thesis, coursework, better GRE scores, et cetera. It just depends on where you see yourself for PhD. I personally have no time of day for snooty programs and any school that doesn't choose their students holistically and by brilliance. You might feel differently. I still say, however, go where the funding is.

I'm really hoping that Carnegie Mellon will admit me for their MA, and so Pittsburgh has been on my radar for the past week in anticipation of an answer. It's still a possibility even if I don't get in, so I have a few questions that may or may not receive an answer on a site such as this. My partner and I are moving with an almost 10-year-old and an almost 3-year-old. My partner's 10-year-old is public-schooled, and I intend to either home-school or alternative-school my two-year-old. We both personally love living in an urban environment, but for the purposes of cost and school district, we're considering living in a suburb. Does anyone have any anecdotal information on safe, kid-friendly, maybe even hipper, quirkier or younger suburbs (as opposed to those populated mostly by the elderly or middle-aged folks)? We're young and artsy. We don't want to feel too out of place, but we want to live somewhere our kids will be relatively free to explore and have a yard and neighborhood with other kids and somesuch. Does anyone know anything about the more urban neighborhoods (such as Squirrel Hill or Shadyside) and what their school districts are like? I've looked this information up, but demographics and school ratings don't interest me as they don't provide the kind of information I'm looking for. I do know Pittsburgh has a decent magnet program, and we may consider a charter school for middle school. Anecdotal information on charter schools is welcome, too. On the off chance that anyone has kids, or just happens to know anything helpful--it'd be really appreciated!

Thank you, yes, it seems like it would be a dream-come-true sort of program. I'd miss the ocean, but Pittsburgh seems pretty cool for a Rust Belt city. It is also cheaper than living in the NE corridor.

I'm not sure which state you're from, but I know that misdemeanors can be/are usually expunged in 6 or 7 years. You probably already know the timeline for this, but if it's something you haven't considered, for whatever the reason, maybe you'd be able to have it off your record by the time you apply for your visa. Worst case scenario is that you have to defer your admission until the record is expunged. I don't know how feasible life-wise that would be for you, but most universities have some sort of deferral policy. If you haven't already, you should also probably check the law specific to your visa-granting province. Congratulations on your admit, and good luck no matter what happens!

Last year they began rejecting mid Feb and accepting/waitlisting early March. I don't even know if I want to do PhD right now, and this school of all schools is likely my best fit. I've pretty much given up on UOregon, and the sound of a funded year long MA sounds enticing. I'm actually even a little bit excited at the possibility of moving to Pittsburgh. Anyone else for CMU?

Bahahaha. Chemistry Cat is my favorite meme ever. Gets me every time. I go to Rhode Island College. Around here it's pretty much like saying "I graduated from preschool." I don't regret a minute of it, though, because it's cheap as hell and the English department is phenomenal. If schools don't want me because of my lack of academic pedigree, the contempt is mutual.

"we hope" sounds like bullshit to me.

Last year they sent out a bunch of rejections on Feb 25, then a bunch of acceptances early to middle March. I think they're just hard-chillin' broskis. West Coast is Best Coast, man.

I almost did that so many times. My SoP was way too vague in regard to schools. I was way to frazzled to tailor every single one I sent out, so I just changed the school name. Reading that others were very specific even with faculty makes me think that my vagueness is more of a faux pas than accidentally copying in the wrong name. I think you'll be okay, shit like that happens.

Aw no, Dorinda, I was talking about dokkeynot's comment. Part of the reason I like it here is because people tend to be respectful and accommodating. I equate high levels of intelligence with high levels of compassion and consideration, so it pains me to see anyone in this community being nasty.

Oh hey, guys. I just wanted to let you know that I am not advocate for the "canon," nor do I altogether hate YA lit. I fully advocate for the study of any text in any academic/intellectual setting. What bothers me about O. Butler is that her terrible writing is taught alongside amazing authors like Junot Diaz. Man, if someone taught a class on Harry Potter, I would be all about that shit. I took a class on Disney last semester and it was life and career changing. I also happen to love much of what resides in the "canon." I think it's all worthy of study, and those arbitrary boundaries don't worry me. The only arbitrary boundaries that edify what I read and study are my own taste and interest. I also think it's an absolute dick move to hurl petty insults on an opinion thread.