echo449

The first round of offers has until April 15th, so you should expect everything to have been made by (at latest) the third week of April, assuming someone declined on the 15th and the paperwork for your offer took a day or two to come together.

YC, you seem like an incredibly motivated person, who also would benefit from being out of school for a second from your comments in this in other threads. If your dedication is even half of what you exhibit on these forums, you will be able to come back after a year better than ever, and ready to take great programs by storm. Also, you can look into classes as an unmatriculated student if you are concerned that you would need letter writers; even this would be much cheaper than an unfunded MA.

You have until April 15h, yes, so don't worry!

I turned down my Austin wait list, though I was not in that area, so I hope that helps! Also, I'm at the top of the list for my area at the other school to wait list me, which is more than a little anxiety inducing, I gotta say.

Some schools have grad fairs, and it's not uncommon for a representative of, say, the graduate school of XYZ to be in attendance.

To be sure, that admission officer probably has no connection to the english admissions committee, and a bag of salt should be carried around with whatever advice they gave you.

Okay, within the context of this convo, then, we are def on the same page. (It would be interesting if grad cafe attracted more alt ac types--I wonder what their experiences are across the spectrum)

Eh, I half agree, but I think in nascent fields or specialized like digital humanities, it is equally the case that a person coming from a top 20 who specialized in DH research with a famous DH person will have just as good a shot at the spot as yr hypothetical top 5er. In my view, if you are in at a top 10 or top 5, fit matters less in terms of the later job market because of the prestige of the department. However, you can still (please note that I'm not attributing necessity to this; i don't want to be caught up in whatever the hell the privilege conversation is) have an exceptionally (perhaps even top 20 tenure) career if you go to a top 20 or 30 school, but that school has to be one of THE places for your area. And, unfortunately, coming from one of THE places in your area just means you are now on a more even playing field with the Harvard candidate.

Do you know what your fields in comp lit will be? If one of those areas is going to be american lit, then Donald Pease is an amazing scholar, and def. a name that carries weight.

http://gawker.com/happy-national-adjunct-walkout-day-1687939328 Just wanted to post this and remind people to get involved in organizing if possible! Even if tenure-track jobs are truly unattainable for many of us, there's no reason that adjunct faculty HAVE to live like they currently do on poverty level wages.

I think this is as good a time as any to helpfully point out that it's possible to use your academic training in writing in order to get into writing in more mainstream, well-paying outlets, even if that means leaving academia. Right now there are former PhD students using their academic training in gigs at the AV Club and Buzzfeed (from Irvine and Austin, respectively), and probably making more money then other members of their cohort who are still in the lecturing circuit. To this end, it's useful to remember that the PhD does equip you with skills and does, if you organize your priorities right and you have a certain kind of funding package, allow you the time to pursue those skills and write in such a way that the broader intellectual community can find you. We are in a wonderful period of little literary magazines, once again, so there are outlets to begin to build a portfolio with. This is not to say, ABANDON THE IVORY TOWER, and this may indeed need to be a shadow CV cuz that's the way the market works in academia, but activism and research need not end in your advisers office, and can be extended actively out into the world as you pursue a PhD. I realize this doesn't abate many of the fears voiced in this thread; nor do i think being a writer is an easier career than being an academic, but I still think that the presence outside of the academy of intellectual life that is stimulated by us future disaffected PhDs is worth mentioning. And here's a good recent article with a pretty interesting point about how graduate students (and unemployed PhDs) can occasionally be better communicators than their tenure track counterparts. http://chronicle.com/article/Whats-Wrong-With-Public/189921/

Ehhh, original post sounded negative. Edit to say: I find it perversely reassuring that everyone has it bad.

It's also worth considering enrolling as a non-degree candidate! You can do this at a lot of top programs, and while you won't get a new degree, you will set yourself up with new connections and papers that you could take advantage of come next year. Also, ditto. I have very little (basically no) teaching experience coming out of undergrad. I think you could swing teaching as a plus, especially in programs that teach a lot in large state institutions, but I don't think you are punished for not having it in a lot of cases.

This isn't mentioned often when those rankings come up around this forum, but the NRC rankings floating around are over five years old at this point. Please keep that in mind when referring to them. Many professors have since retired/ moved on to greener/warmer pastures.

I have been told that the English department is sheltered from funding cuts because of a private endowment. Not to say that this isn't frightening, or that the tenor of education in Wisconsin couldn't change, but we're safe for the time being.

V briefly, because it's late and I think over pm might be a bit better, but the reason capitalism is blamed is because the current, highly deregulated model we have been following allows for and emphasizes capital accumulation over public good. I don't think this is even that Marxist (and I work with a Marxist emphasis)--it's even the point of Pickety's recent book. But this is why the forum (and the humanities broadly) complain A LOT about capitalism, in very broad and rough strokes.

I'm an admit with a BA; I think there is a bunch of us, so I wouldn't worry about that. The preponderance of MA acceptances probably has more to do with the kind of people who populate this website than anything else!

I have been asked for paperwork to verify for the program I'm negotiating with. If you are asked for verification, and you cannot provide it, you are in a very awkward position.

*instant rejection*

I've never heard of anyone doing it, but I imagine that it won't cause any problems so long as you phrase it graciously and orient yr query around practical concerns (e.g., timing visits, promptly responding to other offers, etc.) and not, "Yale let me in, so what does that mean to you, PRINCETON?!?!?!?!?!"

I mean, you're giving up a lot of income and are providing labor, in most places, for well below the rate of pay for a normal instructor. It may feel crass, but remember that politeness and a good working environment depend upon a liveable wage.

If you cannot avoid this deadline (and the school is just ignoring the April 15th agreement), then I would say the end of this month is a fair time to request more info, letting the person you are talking to know that you would not be doing so if not for this deadline's urgency.

:/ It might be worth contacting the DGS, explaining your situation, and asking if they can, if not give you a figure, tell you where you are in the funding pile so that you can plan accordingly.

Unfortunately, pannpann, it can be pretty random. For all we know (and I speak as a fellow CUNY hopeful), all the acceptances have gone out, or none have. And it can change from year to year, despite the authority those dates seem to have on the website here.

Gratz blue!