Datatape

Oh, yes. Very much so. Last year, I made the mistake of not doing my research early (would that I had found GradCafe before I sent out applications) and of the seven schools I applied to, really only four of them worked as far as my interests went. There was nothing wrong at all with the other three schools, they just weren't good picks for me. My advice to you is BE YE NOT SO STUPID and make sure you know exactly what you're getting into and which professors you want to work with. There's nothing wrong at all with having stretch schools (I've got a few of them this year, myself), but you're going to really have to hit the sweet spot with those programs to get in on your first run. It can be done, but there's no guarantee.

Adding one on: Sense of Place and Sense of Planet, Ursula Heise

Lolo, this is our year. LET'S DO THIS.

That makes me feel better about UVa overall, but I don't think I'll be applying there. Virginia was always going to be a stretch school and I've got a couple of those on my list anyway. It would have been amazing if I got in, but I think I'll cast my lot somewhere that's at least a bit less obviously tumultuous. This is my current list and I don't see things changing much from here. I may drop a school or swap one in, but this should be pretty close to the schools I'm applying to this fall: Alabama Delaware Georgia Georgia State Kansas Kentucky Louisiana State Nebraska (Lincoln) Nevada (Reno) Notre Dame Oregon Rhode Island South Carolina Tennessee (Knoxville) Texas (Austin) Washington University (WashU/WUSTL)

I'm applying to eighteen schools, ranging from top-20 to top-120. I already have an M.A. and am solely applying to Ph.D. programs. I've been saving up money and socking it away every month - my savings account looks pretty impressive, but it's almost all going to be gone by December. I applied to very few schools (almost all of which were top-20 or top-40) last year and didn't get in anywhere, though I did get three waitlists. I feel like I have a much better idea of what to expect this year and started planning for this application season almost as soon as I got the last rejection letter from LSU in April. I have to budget for eighteen school application fees, eighteen sets of transcripts from the community college I attended, eighteen sets of transcripts from my undergrad, and eighteen sets from my Masters institution. I made the decision early on that I was going to apply to as many schools as humanly possible without going into further debt to do so, and that's what I'm going to do.

When I was talking about that with the Graduate Director of my Master's program, he gave me very good advice: "As long as you can put together a committee of three or four professors to cover everything, you're golden." I'm doing such a specific area myself that there's very, very few professors who would line up with me perfectly, but you can bet there are a ton of departments out there that have enough professors doing either Ecocriticism or Southern Lit that I'll be able to form a dissertation panel. The point of listing professors you want to work with is to show how much you've done your research and know the faculty of the program you're applying to. There's almost never going to be That Perfect Professor (and even if there is, you can bet he or she is going to be on sabbatical the semester you're starting), so the best thing to do is just get as close as you can and be willing to bend and flex a bit. By the time you finish writing your dissertation, you're going to be the person in the room who knows the most about your topic anyway, so don't fret about it too much.

I'd... be careful not to get too caught up in it. If there's something that really did speak to you or sparked an interest, then by all means, talk to the professor about it. But you don't want to get in the trap of trying to read the most recent thing by every professor you're trying to work with. That way to madness lies. Better to find something that really is in tune with what you want to work on than just try to show that you've read the most recent thing. I'll give an example: one of my dream professors to work with is Cheryll Glotfelty, the grande dame of ecocriticism, who works out at the University of Nevada, Reno (and is also the DGS, but that's a story for another time). Rather than try to find the most recent work of hers, I'm going to mention to her when I email her a rather small, not oft-cited article she wrote that really helped the concept of ecocriticism click for me and showed me how to bridge the existing studies into what I want to do, studying Southern lit.

There's also the fact to consider that Assistant Professors, particularly those who have been in the program for some time, may be promoted to Associate Professors in the time that you are progressing to your degree, and therefore would be able to serve on your committee. I would imagine that there are exceptions to every rule: one of my fellow M.A. students had the only Assistant Professor in the department serve as her thesis director because he was the best fit for what she was studying, while the other two members of her committee were full-ranked Professors.

Testament of Youth by Vera Brittain. The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas by Gertrude Stein. Both required reading for courses and the only two books I have ever thrown against a wall.

It is fantastic, what I've read so far, anyway. I've never been much of a theory person, but I'm really enjoying it. I especially appreciate that Glotfelty and Fromm made a concerted effort to not include anything terribly dense while at the same time hitting on the major aspects of the field.

Not going to be a Ph.D. student in the fall (boo), but I'm making my way through two big volumes right now so as to prepare a better writing sample: The Ecocriticism Reader, eds. Cheryll Glotfelty & Harold Fromm The Complete Stories, Flannery O'Connor

Wow. That's really disconcerting. I'm going to have to seriously reevaluate whether to send an application into UVa now - it was always going to be a longshot, but if that's the future of where the school's going, I think my time and money will best be spent applying elsewhere.

Wait, wait. What's going on with the UVa president, now?

It is early, but this is how my lists look so far: Definitely applying: Auburn Georgia State Kentucky Louisiana State Nevada (Reno) North Carolina - Chapel Hill Rhode Island South Carolina Tennessee at Knoxville Texas Tech Virginia Considering applying: Arizona Chicago Delaware Denver Georgia Kansas Missouri Nebraska (Lincoln) New Mexico Texas (Austin) West Virginia My main research interest is the Literature of the American South. Specifically, I want to analyze postbellum Southern lit through an ecocritical lens. It's a pretty specific focus, so I'm casting a wide net on both institutions that have a strong background in Southern Lit and institutions that have at least a few professors who have some background in ecocriticism. I'm reapplying to my top two schools from last year, LSU and UNC-Chapel Hill; I was waitlisted at LSU and rejected outright at Chapel Hill. Obviously, I'm looking at applying to way, way more schools than the seven I did this year, so I've had to really get on top of things this summer and plan it out.

I'm counting it as literature because the book it was based on won the Pulitzer Prize - The Hours is one of my all-time favorite movies.

I applied to Maryland, but didn't get in. I can say that I was more impressed with them than any other school I applied to: they were always extremely prompt in getting back to me and it was clear they had a very well-run program. Congrats on getting in - it's a terrific school.

Okay, now I'm officially done for the season. LSU just confirmed that they will not be able to offer me a slot. And, oddly, I think I'm okay with that. I have a much better idea of what to expect for the next go-round and can now start working on getting a list of schools together to start exploring for the 2013 application cycle. For now, though, I think I'm going to get a well-deserved night's sleep.

Oh, this is just evil. I got the official denial email from the graduate school, which was a brief note about how I had not been recommended for admission, a formal letter will be forthcoming in the mail, etc. The title of the email was "Graduate Admissions Notification." Come on, Ole Miss.

Fingers crossed. They're definitely running behind this year - I'm hoping they fact that they're so late in finalizing their cohort will work in our favor: with any luck, everybody else will have committed elsewhere.

My goodness, what a self-satisfied little sparrowfart.

Thanks, guys. I've been in complete shock ever since last night; I'd already started forming my plans for the fall with adjuncting and getting another round of applications together. I don't know how I moved without warning from being "somewhere in the middle" of a fifty-person wait list to "not very far down" it, but if I get in, I'm not going to be asking any questions.

Oh, dear God. Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in. I just got this email from the LSU DGS: "Dear [Applicant], There are still two spots in the PhD program that are in play. It’s hard to say if we will be able to offer you a place, but you are not very far down the list. I wish I could give more concrete information, but it’s all very much in flux right now. Please let me know if your status changes, and please feel free to ask more questions." ARRRRGH. I had just gotten used to the thought that I wasn't getting in anywhere.

For those preparing to take the GRE, I took the general test today just as a bellweather to see how I did, with no studying. I got a 159 Verbal (84th percentile), 156 Quant (74th percentile) and feel good about my Writing. It's definitely a very different test than when I took it three years ago to get into my Masters' program, but I can say that the Verbal test is really not that bad at all - reading comprehension and synonyms carry the day, so as long as you're not hungover or suffering from some kind of plague, you should do fine.

Yes. I inquired about the waitlist a couple of days ago and got an email stating that I was halfway down a fifty-person waitlist. There's not a shot in hell I'm making it in with that many people ahead of me.