theoneand

I'm only moving 4 hours away (tomorrow!) and still feeling nervous. I am renting a truck so luckily there was no need to condense my book collection. I am surprised at the sheer amount of stuff I possess though, now that I'm looking at it all laid out on my parents' living room floor. This past year I've been working odd jobs around the country with whatever would fit into my car, but now I'm home and my past acquisitions have come back to haunt me. At least the new pad wont look too empty!

See if you can defer for a year. If not, consider re-applying. If you are feeling burnt out in school now I doubt it'll resolve itself over a summer. It's also good to get some perspective of what life is like outside of academia before committing yourself to grad school. If you spend next year applying to jobs/volunteering/waitressing/whatever, you'll get a good idea of what you can and cannot do with the degree you currently hold. Grad school's a big decision, and if you're a traditional student finishing up undergrad right now you are still young and shouldn't be in any hurry. You said you are interested in travelling/volunteering; DO IT! Early twenties is the time for that kind of thing, and it will enable you to grow in ways that grad school simply cannot facilitate. /2 cents from someone finishing up their own post-undergrad "gap year" now.

I'm still waiting on a decision from my number 1. Blah!

I find that feeling anxious is often unrelated to the object of the anxiety. Applying to grad school is obviously an extremely nerve-wracking process, and I think it is natural for the anxiety it produces to attach itself to all sorts of other things, even after the initial wave of relief experienced after acceptances. So just hang in there and try to chill out. Everything will be ok

Can anyone here speak to the type of teaching opportunities they were able to find after completing a funded MA with TA-ship?

I got into some funded MA programs at state unis and I was not a stellar undergrad so I bet you'll get in somewhere. I took a year off after getting my BA and worked on a couple of different organic farms. Jobs are easy to come by, it's a great way to see different parts of the country, and it has been really nice to get my head out of the clouds/books and spend some time outside working with my body. Compensation, predictably, is not stellar, but it is more than enough to live on since most farms will give you room and board. Something to think about.

i have used and contributed to RMP throughout my undergrad years. i've found the reviews to be generally very enlightening, helpful, and positive, though that might be a reflection of my rather unique, small alma mater. i imagine that they might get pretty nasty and irrelevant with university profs.

I am having trouble deciding between two very similar programs. One is close to home, family, friends, etc, which would be very nice, but I feel an indescribable pull to the region in which the second school is situated. I'm halfway hoping my visit to the first school next week wont go well so I won't have to explain to my mom that I'm moving halfway across the country just because "it feels right."

I've actually heard that interdisciplinary programs often make it harder to find employment? Though I'm no authority. I'm making a similar decision, as in, school A is close to home and very convienent while school B is halfway across the country but has more to offer both academically and culturally. Personally I think I'm going to have to just go with my gut in the end after visiting. Good luck!

I've been accepted to two MA programs with the hope of afterwards landing a teaching position at a CC. The problem is that my first choice is halfway across the country and the other is fairly close to where I am from and hope to settle down (neither is terribly prestigious; both are big state unis). Do you think an MA from such a school would be less valuable (especially to CCs) outside of the region? I'm thinking that community colleges are, well, community-focused, and might look more favorably at a degree earned closer to home. I was also told point-blank by the DGS at the first choice that it is nearly impossible to land tenure-track positions at 4-year colleges and unis outside of the region, though I'm aiming significantly lower. I post this here rather than the jobs board because I was hoping for more English-centric replies. Hope that's okay! Thanks!