JElliott

Uh, should I be trying to do that, too (sending it to Ryerson)? I haven't heard back anything either way.

Not sure this belongs here, but I wasn't sure where else exactly: Okay, so I was waitlisted to one of my two top choice schools, and told I was "very near the top of the list." They've corresponded very little with me since. Recently I was accepted to a conference that would be very relevant to my application there, though of course, they've already evaluated my application. I know some people let schools know of new achievements/external scholarships/etc. they've picked up while their application is still under evaluation, so I was wondering if any of you knew if it's relevant/useful to send the same kind of information to a school that has waitlisted you. Thoughts?

Pretty much, yeah. Coming-of-age narratives and feminism. Also interested in the interaction between media role models and young women. Thanks for the info re: Calgary! Maybe if I end up there, there will be some crossover between that and English/Creative Writing. Or at least, I can dream.

I applied to McMaster (Cultural Studies), Memorial (Folklore), and Calgary (Creative Writing) in addition to York's side of the program. Weird list, I know, but oddly all of the programs (minus Calgary) fit the research I proposed. So I don't know if that's helpful to you, honestly, but if you applied to look more at the cultural studies aspects, it might be. Again, heh, minus Calgary (though I know they have some sort of MA in the field; not sure about PhD).

Oh wow, the MOVES. My potential moves right now are only about 2000 miles (ha, ONLY), so I guess I can't complain (lucky I live in the middle of the country, I guess). Still, um. I am in the boat of: how the hell do I MOVE?

I know how you feel. Are you also in Ontario? Good luck! I hope they can work out something competitive for you.

I've heard all positive things about their English/Creative Writing/Folklore stuff from previous students (I applied for a Folklore PhD), although they don't have the greatest funding; I don't think they're the richest of schools. But cheap cost of living, and I agree with the pretty! I hope you hear back soon, although I doubt they'll be able to offer you more than Queen's, sadly.

Yep, Canadian person/school applier here, just got my first acceptance on Friday. Waitlisted somewhere else, so there's hope of item #2 working out for me since other Canadians accepted to that program may not have even heard anything from their other choices. I'm still waiting on two schools, and according to all resources I can find, no one else has heard anything, either. We like to drag things out up here, apparently.

Thanks for the info, everyone in this intensely specific thread. I applied to the PhD and it's a relief to think I'll hear back within the next couple of weeks!

I got accepted to Memorial University, which...is in Newfoundland, in Canada, so I have no idea if anyone here will have heard of it! Ha. But it was nice to hear back. I am waiting to hear from the maybe more recognizable York/Ryerson, McMaster, and Calgary (where I'm waitlisted). So I'm not sure where I'll be yet, but I am giddy at the prospect of being somewhere! That sounds like an amazing class and I am jealous.

Don't worry, spasticlitotes. I will never judge you for this. Also, hi. I get to join the party again, having finally received an acceptance! It's sad how excited I am to pick classes when I haven't even heard back from the majority of the schools I applied to, and thus have no idea what classes I'll be picking from -- YAY ANYWAY

Heard yesterday from Memorial's Folkore PhD program -- unofficial acceptance. Since my response from Calgary was a waitlisting, I'm still one down with three responses to go, ha. But it's a lot less scary with an acceptance on board!

It seems like many of you take offense to the idea of fun? (Though I parenthesized that it always comes hand-in-hand with stress. I guess "stress" isn't a strong enough term.) I don't mean to imply that I don't constantly get rejected from things I apply to that take days of work (I do). Nor do I mean to imply that I haven't nearly ruined my constitution with caffeine, alcohol, and lack of sleep combined (I have). And I can definitely relate to working seven days a week and maybe spending 40 minutes watching TV with my partner before exhaustedly going to bed (pretty much the status quo for my relationship whilst classes are in session). My thesis, and its subsequent defence, caused a lot of the most panicked hours of my life. But to me, conferences are fun. Discussing things I care about in seminar classes is fun, when I've managed to do/understand all of the reading. (I will fully admit there are times when I can't handle everything.) Whining in the hallways between grad offices about our collective lot has always been fun to me. I find it fun to work on my essays when I'm sketching out ideas, or when I'm finally through with the grind of getting appropriate references to bring together the argument I'm trying to make. Even working on my thesis was fun to me in the editing stages (I get that enjoying editing is maybe just a me thing). I don't think one has to find the notion of amusement offensive in order to go to graduate school. I get it; our work is really hard, underpaid, and serious business to all of us. And many of us are seeking something intellectually/emotionally/spiritually/financially fulfilling from it, whether we like to admit it or not. But is there something inherently wrong with the notion of trying to enjoy the moments that are (at least to some extent) lovely and amusing? Or are we contractually obligated to assume that what we're doing is definitively miserable because it's difficult, time-consuming, and we're not rich yet? It is maybe just my humble opinion, but that seems to me a lot more like "drinking the Kool-Aid" than anything else.

Well. Here is my weird account. I don't want to be a professor, so maybe I'm the odd duck around here. Bluntly: I don't have and never had a lot of money, and I have had shit luck my entire life with jobs. What I've always been good at and lucky with (to some extent -- external scholarships often ignore me like my applications smell funny) is school. My MA was funded, I got a job there working on a magazine and got some freelance editing work (working in publishing is my dream job), and we had funding available for conference-going. For someone with crap luck in this economy, an MA worked out very well. And I had a hell of a lot of fun (along with the stress, of course) while I was doing it. The PhD, in my mind, is another possible four years that I could have a steady income, a roof over my head, work in a field I love, and get to go to places and meet cool people. Do I intend to write articles and research and get job experience and do meaningful academic things? Of course, I love doing that stuff. Will I be upset if that still ends up with me working outside academia, for not so much money? Nah! It'd be awesome to end up editing somewhere, academic or otherwise, but if not, I think the journey to me will have been worth it. So yeah. I've read a million articles (and had some fairly cynical profs) that tell me that, especially in my field, getting a PhD will not be worth it. But I feel like they present that in a context where they assume that I'm looking for higher education in order to have a means towards a higher income (particularly as a professor), which is really not the case for me. I like academia because it allows me to have an income AT ALL while doing something I love. When I get to the end of that trail, I'd love for it to continue -- but if not, I don't intend to be pissed off or surprised. I intend to be educated and to have made the best of several years of my life.

Sorry for the double post -- I missed this, but yeah. Even the most unknown schools can have stellar certain programs, with decent funding, too. I loved my school's English program and they treated me very well. I definitely missed Queen's on my list, but I've only heard people brag about Waterloo if they're in computer science/related field or McMaster if it's engineering. Of course I'm from U Windsor, so I'm obligated to think everyone at Western is stuck up, but that's more school rivalry than anything.

I wish. I would say at least McGill, if not also UBC. Those seem to be the names people throw around when they're bragging, I find! Ha. Ha! There are just as many pretentious/arrogant types here -- they just can't announce it by name-dropping schools most of the time, is all. And they have to apologize when someone walks into them.

I honestly have no idea re: comparison (Calgary's on my list, but for Creative Writing), but I've heard good things about the York/Ryerson ComCult PhD program. At the time I applied, I talked to a friend who's in it and she said she was enjoying it, decently funded, had a lot of choice as to people to work with, etc. I don't know if it's my perfect fit, but it sounds good.

I get a lot of the why do you need more school, don't worry you'll get in everywhere, etc. But here are some other gems I love: Old Supervisor: "How do you think you're going to pay for that? Certainly not by working HERE." (Actually, they'll pay me to go. But thanks for the lay-off.) Almost everyone: "So what is cultural studies, anyway?" Me: "The study of culture, pretty much." Them: *blank face* "And what will you do with that? Teach?" Me: "Actually, I'm not really into teaching. I like writing articles, and I'm thinking of getting into academic publishing." Them: *blank face again* Many people: "You already taught college. What do you need a PhD for?" Thankfully, I've explained the process to my mother thoroughly enough that she doesn't do this to me (anymore). I learned to make pre-emptive strikes re: career paths in undergrad. My dad's family is pretty hick, so to him it's simple enough that school and jobs of any kind are good and he is so far from having a clue how the process works that he just asks me to let him know when something happens. Talking to him is like a vacation at this point.

I applied to York/Ryerson's Communication & Culture program, if that counts. I think it'll be one of the later ones I hear back from, though, because of the joint program thing. Anyone hearing back from McMaster's English program, by chance?

I'm posting my accepts/rejects/whatever as I go. There's only four. My close friends, family, and people I know at programs I'm applying to seem interested enough in knowing where I'll go, and they all know I'm applying, so I don't see any harm in it. Like people before have said, I hear about their new jobs/houses/cars/babies/marriages/etc. all the time, and I'm happy for them about that, so if they can't be happy for me about this, then off they go. It's also maybe different for me: I'm Canadian, I'm applying in Canada, and I don't think we really have an Ivy League. There are some bigger names in schools, but I'm not applying to any of them, because none of them had a program that worked for me. In any case, because of that, it really doesn't come off to me as bragging, especially if I'm not saying "I GOT SOO MUCH FUNDING AND IT'S BECAUSE OF MY HIGH GPA GUYZ" I have a few friends going through the same process, but in maybe two cases did we apply to similar programs, and where we did, they posted about it first, so I figured it was fine (and we've all been supportive of one another, since...we came from the same very friendly department).

I love both of these. If I hadn't been doing my MA, I would've applied for my dream job when it came up: copyediting at a company that publishes roleplaying games. Nerd alert. But yeah, one of my dreams probably after and even during my PhD is to work in publishing, write lots of things, and find some kind of menial yet satisfying work to do. Maybe coffee-slinging. I actually like coffee-slinging.

Again, I wanted to thank you for this advice; there wasn't much at my extremely poor school on this front for grad students (though I'm beginning to realize I was pretty lucky to get a funded MA/other perks) but it is really good advice for people going into new programs, and a very good reminder to me as to what to research as I (hopefully) decide between schools.

I applied to all Canadian schools, so I have a lot of waiting to do. I did hear back from one place early -- only to be put on a waitlist, so you know. And one of my top choices teased me with an automated e-mail that claimed the decision would take 3 - 4 weeks (after the January 15th application); nothing yet, of course. I am thus a slave to this website, pretty much 24/7.

Thanks for the advice! Now if I can just get off the waiting list -- or get an acceptance from somewhere else, from that matter. How many of you have gotten to go through with your plans? Seems like Canadian schools are slower on average than American ones in this process.

Yeah, would've been a deal-breaker for me, too. I took an MA in Creative Writing/English and most of our students had their tuition paid for plus TA jobs/other positions that paid about $5000 a semester. I went to UWindsor, so it's not exactly the richest, most prestigious spot, either.