georgestrait1982

I am also surprised that this thread took the turns it has--application fees are just the tip of the iceberg. The field is so cutthroat that completing a PhD successfully enough to find a TT job requires a lot of free time, and free time requires a lot of money, which very few stipends provide. It's SO much harder to do good writing and teaching while also having to a) work another job, stress out about money, and c) forego leisure/stress-relieving activities for lack of funds. As a result, those that are able to do work good enough to land those coveted TT jobs tend to hail from higher socio-economic backgrounds, and the content of their research reflects the "white upper-class bubble" referenced earlier in the thread. Student loans make it appear like we've got a more level playing field, but the game's just as fixed as it was mid-century. In many ways, loans actually INCREASE inequality. But that's a seperate (though related) topic. /2cents.

Hi all, Quick question. I have been given this advice over and over again: conferences aren't nearly as important on a CV as publications, and really only "major" conferences count for anything at all. But which are the "major" conferences? MLA, obviously. But what about SAMLA, RMMLA, etc? Are these still "major" or "just" "regional"? I suppose the "big" one in a particular field carries more weight--for example ASLE for ecocritics. Any thoughts? Which would you consider the "big ones?"

Funding tends to beget funding. I would not do an unfunded MA. Money can be spent much better elsewhere.

I would not do an unfunded MA for two reasons: -the prospect of getting a well paid job with a graduate degree in English is relatively low -funding begets funding. i would recommend against doing any MA (even a funded one) that doesn't give you teaching experience. If you were unable to get into a well-ranked PhD right out of undergrad, your chances of landing a job at a research university or ivy or whatever are not good, and you're going to have to rely on teaching experience to get work after your degree. $.02

Hello from DC native! Salvadorian food is indeed sublime--at some point, make the trek up to Pollo Rico in Wheaton... it is so, so worth it. Grab a papusa to go from Los Chorros while you're there.

I admit I'm making sweeping generalizations, but so are you--"capitalism is intrinsically selfish and self serving," for starters. As BowTies noted, you're applying moral values to an abstract system, a system which is pretty much intrinsic to "development"--you're not going to find any sort of economic system that is not essentially "capitalist" unless you look at rural, subsistence economies. My larger point is that the common "capitalism=inherently bad" mindset that you are displaying can be both simplistic and counterproductive. Seeking social change by acting "against" capitalism in some place like the academy or government (as if even state schools are not businesses or the gvt does not exist primarily to protect and facilitate the generation of private wealth) is perhaps not always as effective as working WITHIN the system to create business models that do a better job of distribution. If you cannot think of an example of a business that works for social change, I think you are probably not looking hard enough.

good call. making statements as general as the ones I was making is always problematic. let me rephrase: i think a lot of liberals (those in and outside of academia) tend to have a "business/capitalism=bad" mindset and avoid it, favoring instead to support governmental reforms, rather than seeing business/capitalism as a potential vehicle FOR social change.

I love watching everyone get all pissy as the implied rejections start filtering in. One outside-of-academia job that doesn't get mentioned a lot, but that I think an advanced English degree can prepare one pretty well for, is starting a small business. Critical thinking skills are a must, as the entire job, from inception to operation, consists of continually assessing, reassessing, responding, and altering responses to complex situational networks. Strong communication skills are also a must, and the PhD lifestyle prepares one well for the sort of "work is never really done" reality of small business ownership. Of course, I know a lot of English profs and grad students who are a bit too "head in the clouds" for the practical, day-to-day operation stuff (meaning no offense of course; it takes all kinds) but I think it is a career path that academics too often write off as too remote from their studies to be practical. I worked construction for a guy one summer during college--he had no college degree, but was extremely well read and a true intellectual... the first thing he said to me referenced Walden. Anyway, I talked to him a few times about applying to graduate school and he said that "young people nowadays" are more interested in diagnosing problems than actually fixing them. He encouraged me, instead of studying environmental issues in literature, to build an environmental construction business. As I implied before, I realize that it takes people of both stripes to enact change, but I do think that the general liberal tendency to shy away from the business world leaves it for the taking of people more interested in making money for themselves than making things better for others. /2cents

My most important question is always "can you tell me a bit about the culture of the department?" Keep it open ended and see what they say. And, of course, placement records.

I am fairly certain I will not get into one of the schools I applied to... while writing the "fit" section of my SoP I kept thinking "man, this really is not a good fit," but I'd already paid to have everything sent over there. I think I've got a fair shot at each of the other three. Official projection: 1/4

My advice is to relax and enjoy your undergraduate experience. The first time I even remotely considered going to grad school was the afternoon after I presented my senior thesis. I took a year off, spent a couple of months compiling application materials, and everything worked out. Looking at forums like this gives you a skewed perception of the population of people applying to graduate school, catering more to the obssessive, worrying sort (no offense intended; I count myself among this number!). If you are working in your writing center, I think you're right on track. I would take proflorax's advice about fostering relationships between your professors not only for letters of rec, but because my most meaningful intellectual experiences as an undergrad took place one-on-one in my proefssors' offices. Good luck!

I think this also has to do with teaching experience, which is much more important to a lot of less prestigious unis/CCs than research. At a lower tier state uni, a MA student might teach a 2/2 load, while a PhD candidate at an Ivy might not teach at all for a year or two.

Yeah. The 20-pager I've already got is really in-depth... I couldn't really condense it into the 9 pages I needed to present it at a conference without adding copious notes, which I suppose I'd include in the writing sample. I think I'd also add an introductory note explaining the situation, maybe offering to send them the longer version of the first one if they're interested. Thanks for the replies, and I'd be interested to hear any more perspectives as well!

That's what I'm thinking. Unfortunately I have a feeling each member of an admissions committe would have a different answer...

Hi all, I'm appying to a few PhD programs that want 20-25 page writing samples. How would y'all feel about submitting, instead of one article-length paper, two conference-length papers? My best paper, in terms of just generally being a well-written piece of scholarship, is an article-lengther, but it doesn't do much with the theory that I want to pursue further at the PhD level. I do, however, have another conference-length paper that pushes the theory in exactly the direction I want to further explore. I suppose the obvious answer would be to either work the theory into the first one, or extend the second, but I don't think I have the time or energy to get that done before the deadlines. Do you think submitting a conference-length version of the first paper, along with the second dealing with theory, would be acceptable? How might admission committees receive such a sample, do you think? Thanks!