Datatape

Yeah, I had to send out that awkward email the other night to one of my recommenders. It surprised me, because she was normally the one of my three who was most on top of things, but I was only missing her letter for a school that had a Dec. 15 deadline. Turns out the notification email was sorted into her spam folder and she didn't see it when it came in. Ah, this time of year.

I'd... be inclined to say just leave the title of the journal as is. But I don't have any particular reason for saying that, i.e. no particular rule I can point to. I would assume that since it's supposed to be in italics, just leave it as it would be as though you had access to italics - capitalize the words that need capitalizing and leave the rest as is.

It's six of one, half-dozen of the other. That's why most programs list it as "Resume/CV."

I did last year, when I pretty much did all of mine in one continous forward motion. This year, I did what I could to stagger them, only working on them on the weekends so I didn't get too fatigued. If they aren't due until after your vacation, then I would advise you to just get your ducks in a row as far as making sure your materials are all ready to be uploaded, go on vacation and recharge your batteries, then come back and get the last five uploaded. It's important to take some time for yourself in this process, because it can completely wipe you out.

I did have a lovely bit of distraction today sitting in my office and watching as my students kept sprinting across the quad toward my building, trying to beat the deadline to hand in their final portfolios.

It's certainly much easier to get into an M.A. than a Ph.D., and the fact that you're thinking this far ahead is a good thing. The best thing for you to do would be to contact the graduate director at OSU and ask him/her the same thing you've asked us. That being said, your credentials certainly seem in line with someone who would be accepted into a Master's program in English, even if you don't have an actual B.A. in English. In the year leading up to your applications, I'd advise you do some research to determine exactly what track you'd like to be on - focusing on either Rhetoric or Literature would significantly determine what Ph.D. programs you'd ultimately be a stronger candidate for, if you plan to continue your education beyond the M.A. That will allow you to make sure your writing sample is complementary to which track you'd ultimately want to study, which will increase your chances for admission.

The biggest mistake I made was in being too generic. I had a horribly generic SOP and a writing sample that, while it wasn't bad, wasn't representative of my best work and didn't line up with what I said I wanted to study. I didn't know how to present myself as a scholar and a potential colleague of the professors who I was hoping to work with and really had to fine tune that this year - I pretty much trashed my SOP and wrote a new one from scratch, which went through about seven drafts before I was satisfied with it. I also did what I could to position myself as someone with an awareness of theory, by listing theorists who influenced my work and referencing theory outside of my field that was complementary with what I wanted to study.

Oh, man. I've already submitted all my applications that are due through December 17, and of my remaining five, two are due December 31, two are due January 15, and my last deadline is January 25.

Thank you.

Kind of feels like this, doesn't it?

I run hot and cold on SK. Some of his work I just can't get into at all while others I can't put down. By far my favorite is Dolores Claiborne; it's one of his shortest but most intense novels, pretty much a master class on character development.

It is, unfortunately, and there's really nothing you can do about it but try to keep yourself as busy as possible so you don't think about it. The waiting period is a really good time to take up something you've been putting off, whether that's a long novel or series you've been meaning to read, a video game you've never gotten around to playing, a hobby you've been meaning to try or something else. You've been taking up so much time applying that the waiting can drive you bonkers if you don't do something to soak up all that excess time that's now staring you in the face.

Blue Bell makes them. Here's a link to what the box looks like: http://www.bluebell.com/love-ice-cream. And they are pretty astonishing. The best part is they're only 70 calories each and it takes a while to eat them, so it keeps me distracted for a while and I don't end up huge if I go through a few during a particularly long stretch of grading or lesson planning.

I will be listening to George Winston on endless repeat, continuing to work at my office job, and wondering when helicopter parents are going to stop emailing me about their precious darling sugar booger.

There are far worse ways to go about it. My go to stress-food: sour apple ice pops.

I wouldn't do it verbatim, personally, but I can't possibly imagine that anybody's going to remember, word-for-word, what a student emailed to them, particularly if they're on the adcom and have over 150 SOPs to read.

Ah, okay. I think I checked the box that said "GTF" or the equivalent, but I may be confusing it with another application. Sorry, between these applications and finishing up the semester with my class, my brain feels a bit like butterscotch pudding right now.

I... believe so. I did five applications this weekend, so they're all running together a bit, but I'm pretty sure I did. Why?

I didn't list a single prof in my SOPs last year and got waitlisted at three out of seven, none of which converted. This year, I'm mentioning profs in each SOP. No idea how it's going to pan out, but everybody I've spoken to at my school has told me that when in doubt, you should show you've done your research by listing the profs who line up with your research interests and who you'd like to work with. It's a gamble, yes, if you're inadvertantly listing the black sheep of the department or somebody who just got denied tenure, but I think the potential reward far outweighs any of the risk.

I revised my SOP and writing sample to the point where my notoriously-difficult-to-please advisor (who's also chair of the department) emailed me and said, "This was worth coming into work early on a Monday for." I finished teaching my first class ever and got great feedback from my students (final conferences are tomorrow with their portfolios due Thursday). Several of them have told me it was their favorite class of the semester and the vast majority said it really helped with their writing. I've finished eight out of thirteen applications, with the remaining five not due until the end of December/early January. I am organized enough to just need to upload the documents and fill out the applications when I have the time to sit down and do so. I took and survived the subject test, getting a score I can live with. I guess I got a lot more done than it feels like. This process seems designed to suck every last ounce of self-worth out of you, so it's helpful to sit down and list all the things you did right. Oh, and even though it's not important in the slightest, I got a chili pepper on RMP. My face when I saw that:

Yeah. It's certainly nowhere near as bad as I feared my score might be, it's just disappointing that it isn't higher, especially with all those practice tests and all the cramming I went through. All this is making me a bit of a cranky pants.

Hmph. Not the end of the world, no. Probably not keeping me out of anywhere, no. Still less than I had hoped after I felt so good having just taken the exam.

Most of the American programs will automatically consider you for funding or, if you need to do a specific part of the application to apply for funding, their website will inform you what to do (for example, one program that I applied to required me to enter very specific language and check specific boxes to indicate to them that I wanted funding). Each program is different, so you should look specifically on the "Admissions" page of each program's website to determine if anything special needs be done. I can't speak as to the Canadian or UK universities, but I hope that helps.

Oh, jeez, it is tomorrow, isn't it? I think I'm going back to bed.

Thank you for that, asleepawake. That's really helpful; I haven't seen that before. I'm out of upvotes today, so have a gif of a bunny.