AnxiousEnglish

I'm going there for my M.A./Ph.D. in English and concentrating in Victorian lit. Who else is joining me?

I took a year off. I know what you mean about the feeling slightly stupid now. Since I've been out of the academic environment for quite a while, I worry too that I'll be a little rusty when I get back. I've been working close to full-time, so I've been pretty busy with that. I also feel like I spent tons of time working on my applications. However, this year I committed to spend tons of time reading all those novels that were harder to read in my free time during undergrad. Since I'm an aspiring Victorianist, I've been reading lots of giant Victorian novels this year, as well as a few critical books. I think the habit of reading is important to keep up, even if you aren't necessarily writing papers about the books you read. Sometimes reading through a novel once helps you to be more detailed and attentive the second time through. I've also taken my undergrad thesis and made a pretty detailed outline of how I want to expand it and improve it. I'm also planning on reading a lot of theory this summer, just to refamiliarize myself with it and also to think of possible teaching angles. The other thing I want to do is look at various journals and see which ones I would like to be published in, so that when I write papers, I have an idea of direction. I sound really overachievey, but I guess all this time out of academia has allowed me to accomplish things I couldn't have done while still in school. I'm not getting stressed about it, though. If I don't get everything done, I'm not going to worry about it. I know that time off will help me to be able to dive in when school starts. I'll have energy, I won't be burnt out anymore, and regardless of how much I have prepped in my time off, I know that I'll still have the research and writing experience to get started. And who said that we have to be experts the moment we arrive for orientation?

My online status still hasn't changed, so I have no clue what the deal is. I'm not really concerned anymore, and frankly I'm very glad that I'm not going to Purdue in the fall since they haven't shown me their best side. Also, if funding has been seriously cut as you say, even better that I'm not going there. This isn't to cut on anyone who is attending, but I'm very happy with the program I accepted. Does anyone think that Purdue has done harm to its program/potential attendees because they have waited this long? Just a thought.

Does anyone have anything to say about these two programs? I wouldn't mind going to either one, which is making my decision harder. I feel like Ohio State might have a better program structure, but I haven't had the chance to visit. I've been emailing some professors, but that's about it. On the other hand, I visited Michigan State and really liked it. Does anyone have insight as to which program I should pick?

I broke down and emailed Jill today. She said that the admissions committee just finished their decisions. "While your application was well received by the committee, it did not make the top tier of our rankings. Because we only admit applicants with funding; we will not know if a teaching assistantship will be available for a couple more weeks." So does that mean rejection or wait list? I'm not sure why she's talking about assistantships if I'm not going to get in anyway. Does top tier mean the people they accept or the top 10 or something else? Goodness. I'm not sure if this really helps.

Alas, no.

Has anyone heard anything positive from Penn State for the Masters Program yet? I'm still waiting to hear from them.

I got my funding package via email on 3/18.

I haven't heard anything yet either. I was thinking about emailing them today, but since I saw this I might hold off a little longer.