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Alex Stinson

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    2013 Spring

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  1. Actually, it seems to me that most people get at least partial tuition scholarship, and many schools without PhD programs offer full funding through TAships. I got a full ride for my masters, and boy does that make it easier for me to commit to an adjunct-like position for a year, or a PhD program!
  2. I would ditto all of the other discussions above: summers are for reading and rereading stuff you enjoy. Maybe focus on texts that you will think can contribute to your research focus but won't get during the year (I enjoy reading ecocriticism and YA lit for example, both are of interest in my Food studies approach, but aren't a ready part of my current masters program of study). Don't worry about being as well read as everyone else: everyone has huge gaps with the size of the canon. Don't sacrifice the time where you aren't under obligation to doing things just because you think everyone else is doing it. The expansion of other bodies of knowledge within the field, like cultural studies and digital humanities, means that almost everyone can't speak to the whole field: instead, its important to have your focus criticism and literature firmly established in your mind, so that you can pull out what you want to practice during the semesters when you don't have enough time to do extra reading. One approach is to ask your POI or mentor from your current program for some "must read" texts in your subfield, if you find you aren't going to take classes around the field in the Fall (I read alot of ecocriticism and digital humanities because my program doesn't support it well), but otherwise do other branches you won't be taking coursework in. Why leave it for the summer, when you can take classes during the year in the Harry Potter series? I must be in an unusual graduate program: we have three profs who have written on the Harry Potter series, and regularly teach classes about it
  3. I think the academic things are up to your decision: run with the strongest topical support you can find. You are committing to an education that informs the rest of your careers fall-back teaching assignments (in theory, if you have taken a graduate class in it and its near your specialty area, you should be able to teach a lower division undergrad class in the topic). However, for moving across the country: for my masters I moved from the DC area to Kansas. Because the department facilitated a very welcoming and collegial environment amongst the grad students (no competition really), with a significant number of social events on top of the academic events, the friend making was almost too easy for me. That being said, my partner had a harder time making friends: she was working from home, and only getting out when I dragged her to events. Joining organizations that are non-academic also help to: I joined a home-brewing group and a Unitarian Universalist Fellowship to get to know the community. A mentor at my undergrad suggested talking to graduate students about these kinds of socialization issues, instead of relying the departmental contacts to guide you. Most people are adaptable enough, however, to find colleagues and communities to feel grounded, especially if your job meaningfully contributes to your socialization. Now if the MW school is Iowa: I am on the waitlist there, so, in a biased way, I am going to recommend you not going there Kidding aside, you should go where you feel you belong academically, and trust your colleagues to be sympathetic and enjoyable people (if that is how other grad students feel about the department).
  4. Amen to proflorax's points. I think one of the reasons that I got into the wait list for Minnesota, was because I actively reached out to several people there at conferences and whatnot. Academic research, good peer reviews and opportunities to be involved in collaborative projects all rely on knowing people in the fields that you are interested in. If someone is very much interested in your topic, then don't drop that connection. Moreover, some PhD programs allow 1 of the dissertation committee members to be out of university, which is something that helps bring someone deep in your research topic to defend your choices within critical fields. Also, when it gets to job applications, you might need recommendations from people outside your university (most people do).
  5. I know you aren't thinking midwest, but WashU has Melanie Micir who does Modern British Literature, Gender and Sexuality Studies, Queer Theory and Modernism. Also, the faculty is fairly dense in all the topics you describe: https://english.wustl.edu/browse
  6. Thanks! Thats good for me, then. Hopefully some more of us get notified soon
  7. Which topic area are you? Apparantly they list people by period of study.
  8. Anyone hear anything from Minnesota yet? Definitely seems a long time since that waitlist email.
  9. I am graduating in May from the program, so if you have any questions feel free to ping this thread. Definitely a very supportive program, and I feel much more well rounded then I did when entering.
  10. I would like to +1 the recommendation for Kansas States's MA program. A handful of us (3-5 of us), applied late in the season and still got fully funded, and the department is extremely supportive and cooperative, and pushing literary studies in a number of interesting directions via Cultural Studies and Children's literature (Where else can you take classes on Harry Potter, Dr. Suess, Downton Abbey, alongside major canonical works). Plus, most people who want to go on to PhDs do within a year or two of graduating coming out of the program.
  11. Though I did a direct transition from undergrad to my Masters at K-State, my peers who did take a break found themselves at something of an advantage in the way of time management, and confidence. Writing was something that, though they took a little while warming up to the work, they found came back pretty intuitively. I would only worry about getting a better definition of what you want to work on. One thing to think about: Masters projects and theses come up pretty quick in two year programs, and if you go in strategically taking coursework, reading criticism and researching term papers around something your really care about, it puts you at a huge advantage. This allows your writing process and original ideas to take longer to mature, thus be stronger (and more publishable). I walked in with a couple research agendas, and those took me to several conferences, and got most of a draft for my masters project before the end of my first year. This allowed me to spend my second year developing marketable skills, like Digital Humanities, a journal article, guest lecturing in Professor's courses, and writing PhD applications (which is like taking an extra class during the fall leading up to the semester when you have to have a full draft done of your project/thesis).
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