[Note Taking Strategies]

How do you guys take notes on an entire book that you need to summarize? People tell me to skim, which I can't bring myself to do. Lately I have been trying to summarize each page in a separate notebook and write down important quotes, but this is so time consuming. I can't being myself to quit w/ the excessive summarizing, but know my reading would go by so much more quickly if I just read the damn book and tried to go find quotes and summarize the main arguments later.

[Wait listing is NOT the end!]

I thought I had my decision made until I was waitlisted at Georgetown. Now, because I can't have it, I want nothing more than to get in. Quit playin' games with my heart, Georgetown.

Diddo. I got an email from the person sending waitlist letters that there is no chance of funding, nor are they disclosing what rank the people are on the waitlist. Of course, I have already considered how I will make it work if I do get admitted, e.g. selling one of my kidneys on the black market, investing my measly savings in the stock market, and so on. And now I can feel my sanity slipping. Glad to know I am not the only one (not saying you have had this extreme of a reaction)

[Georgetown]

I should also say today is visiting day

And the waitlisters weren't invited Is it sad that I am still ecstatic about my place on the waitlist? lol

[Georgetown]

I just got waitlisted as well. I am super-psyched, even though it's just a waitlist. I emailed the lady who sent the email to see if there is a possibility waitlisters will get funding. Their website says that some people get tuition wavers/ no assistanship... even if I got that I would accept the offer. Georgetown is my top choice.

[0% Confidence of Acceptance]

The sad reality is that most of us PhD-hopefuls (I'm one of them) will end up as adjuncts. I'm okay with that very real possibility; I love English enough to embrace such a fate. And while being paid less than $20,000 a year is terrible, to put it mildly, being paid $20,000 while trying to pay back $30,000 in loans is even worse.

I hope you heed my advice.

Thanks for the perspective. Fortunately I got wait listed for funding yesterday, so am feeling slightly more hopefully. The adjunct statistic is frightening, especially since I make more money than that working part time at the job I have now. But hey, follow your passion right? I am positive I would have a mental break down if faced with the prospect of working a monotonous corporate job for the rest of my life and no longer able to continue my studies. I know reading/ research/ writing is something that can technically be done solo, but doing it in a university seems much more exciting.

Have you thought of looking into a semi-funded MA degree at a smaller-not-big-name university? Like perhaps UNC-Charlotte? I'm sure this isn't the only one out there, but this department is ridiculously supportive for students who have the potential for a PhD and they have a lot of brilliant professors who are at the top of their field (esp. you, comp/rhet people!). They don't do tuition remission, but they give you a tiny bit of funding if they offer you a TA-ship, and that teaching experience is golden because you get to stay within the realm of English. You'd have to get another part-time job, but the tuition (in-state, at least, and out of state isn't heinous) isn't bad, so you'd probably come out with less than 10-15 grand in debt, which is half of the number being thrown out now. In-staters could live in slight poverty and pull through without debt, and I'm sure every state has at least one school like this.

The school I am considering this for is NC State, so probably the same tuition in-state? Sadly they don't offer partial funding though, and are offering only 6 TA-Ships out of 40 applicants (for lit MAs). I haven't even looked into UNC Charlotte - maybe next go around if that ends up happening

[0% Confidence of Acceptance]

Sorry to be a downer and bring this thread back when it seems that many of you are no longer in it (and congrats on your many acceptances!), but I am going absolutely nuts waiting to hear back from my last chance. I know it's going to be a rejection, but I still need that official confirmation so I can start planning the next year of my life. And I'm actually okay with the fact that I didn't get accepted into any PhD programs this year, because I was fortunate enough to be invited into an MA program--not THAT fortunate, as it's unfunded--so I at least have something productive to do that will hopefully help me enhance my application for PhD programs next season.

But then there's a host of other worries that open up, such as whether I should even bother applying again next season or if it would be better to wait until I finish the one-year MA program and actually have something valuable to add to my application. If I do wait, though, then I need to find some form of employment after finishing the MA, preferably something that will also strengthen my application. As you can see, I'm a huge worry wart that thinks through every possible outcome, and so I just wish I would have the one possible outcome of my last PhD program settled already. Don't get me wrong--if by some miracle I'm accepted I will be overjoyed. I'm a planner, though, and I can't plan effectively while I'm still waiting to hear what my options are. This whole process is just so unnerving.

I am so glad that someone else is posting about this topic and actually considering go through with the unfunded MA. I have been obsessively looking at posts about unfunded MAs, as I have one unfunded offer and one offer with pending funding (which is even more upsetting, b/c the DGS emailed me to go apply for a scholarship in case I don't get funding, which I don't qualify for thanks to my crap GPA). So now I am in depressing limbo debating on whether it is worth it to go in between $30,000 - $50,000 in debt for an unfunded MA at a state school ranked somewhere at 100 by the oh so lovely US College News foundation. From everything I have read, most people recommend against it highly; although, I really really just want to go to grad school. I am afraid if I don't go this year I won't have the balls to apply again next year. Yet, I am concerned that if I do attend, I will be looked down upon when it comes time to do PhD apps and have no teaching experience to brag of, not to mention ending up with almost $100K of debt by the time I finish and potentially have no future job prospects - hence being stuck in a nightmare of embarrassingly having failed at this intellectual dream crap. Sorry if this sounds dramatic. So those of you grappling over the same decision, what are your thoughts? Also, any unfunded MA success stories are wonderful [thank you TripWillis]

[Last resort MA]

Here is a new, unrelated question. In pursuit of the stepping stone/ inferior MA degree, I have yet to obtain funding. I have one offer w/o funding, which turns out to be from a school that I would really like to attend. While I am waiting to hear back on my remaining applications, I am wondering if anyone has any advice on soliciting a nonfunded offer for funding. Has anyone ever successfully finagled funding from an institution in the past? If so, how did you do it?

[0% Confidence of Acceptance]

In all seriousness, at the great majority of schools, fit is going to trump almost everything else.

I have very mediocre grades and very mediocre test scores; i submitted top notch recommendations, strong SOP (much stronger than my first go round), and a short, strong writing sample with NO trendy theory whatsoever - just a strong engagement with possibly the most over-analyzed text of all-time that demonstrates my unique approach to literature (and corresponds with the 'themes' of my CV and SOP).

Fit is so important. Seriously. I still have a lower GPA and than anyone else I've seen even attempt the process in Lit on here (Though I have a pretty valid reason, to be fair).

Sorry to pry, but how bad was your undergraduate GPA and your GRE scores? I have a 2.8 GPA (thanks to a rocky freshman and sophomore year), 540 Verbal, 5.5 ANW and wonder if I should just give up on pursuing life as an academic. I got into my super safety school for an MA in English, but doubt I will get in anywhere decent. With the knowledge that getting a job after a PHD requires attending a respectable university, I feel doomed. Did you get into a decent school w/ an awful GPA, or am I screwed?

[0% Confidence of Acceptance]

Kudos for all of you getting paid to read this forum. Ever since I found it this last weekend I haven't been able to tear myself away (hence have not done any school work or work-work). I got into my safety safety school and have yet to hear from any others. Is going to a school for an English M.A. ranked 212 out of desperation a horrible thing to do? It gives me comfort to know I got in somewhere at least...