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shortstack51

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Everything posted by shortstack51

  1. I read on their website that they didn't want MAs to apply (so I didn't), so maybe that was a factor?
  2. This thread is so helpful. I'm waiting anxiously to hear from UW! I'm a Romanticist, and there were more than a couple faculty whom I thought fit my research interests well. However, I've been admitted to another school that I'm excited about and they want me to get back to them sooner rather than later (no harm if I don't, but they have a waiting list and they like to put people through ASAP). Do you have any sense of when UW'll be making offers? A few rejections already went out, and I noticed that last year they updated people's online applications around this time (I know I was completely blindsided when my current program started making offers, so I don't expect you to know this off the top of your head! just figured I'd try ). The funding crisis has me a bit concerned about my prospects, but I've also heard that FY (fiscal year) 2013-2014 has been a difficult year so far for most graduate programs financially, as was 2012-2013. Do you know what the average stipend tends to look like for incoming PhD students? I was able to find rough numbers for most programs, but I couldn't find any estimates/baseline offers on UW's page.
  3. I never said that agency was better than having to decide. "Get to" suggests a purely positive connotation. And while having options is certainly an opportunity, "get to" does not, in any way, convey the stress of having to juggle 80 different pros and cons at once. this thread was intended to help those who are having a hard time deciding between schools, and I'm not sure I should have to preface it with an acknowledgment that I'm lucky. I recognize that, but there was another thread about how there can be a sort of depression, even if you get into your top school. I don't see how this is different. This is my second time applying- last time, I only got into one unfunded MA program. I understand it stinks. Anyway, I come here for support, and this forum sometimes indicates to me that the internet will unfortunately be the internet no matter who's on it. I was willing to my presence in he thread die, but it's nice to know it was resurrected to nitpick its title.
  4. Love the love going around In other news, Udub is making me super unproductive. I have tons of papers to grade and a decently large project due Monday and I just keep checking my e-mail over and over
  5. That's actually true of my admits as well. Though they concurred with the POI I chose, there were always greater and more apropos connections between my work and the school than I previously recognized. They saw potential in my WS for their program that I didn't. Disclaimer: I haven't been admitted to a top school, just have a couple of offers from mid-level and a wait list at a top 25
  6. My admits have only remarked on my writing sample as well. Also nothing terribly specific, but they Said enough where they obviously read it and remembered. The DGS also forwarded to a professor in my area, who then contacted me. I was also told that they were "very impressed" by my "credentials" more than once, whatever that means. I guess my CV?
  7. First, having been in graduate school for two years, I can say that it is entirely possible to balance personal and graduate priorities. Might I be a better scholar if I did whatever the hell I wanted without regard to my SO or the fact that I would rather stay close to her? Maybe. I also don't have any delusions at getting a TT job at an R1 school, so I really don't feel the need to prioritize my career over my relationship when I can balance the two. I also find it somewhat presumptuous that you somehow drew that I thought of her as an indentured servant. We're both women. I don't have some kind of old school assumption that my decision is the ultimate arbiter of her future, if that's what you thought. But when you are two equal parts in a relationship, you can't make decisions without consuting each other or taking their well being into account. I also said that she agreed (of her own free will) that she would defer to my graduate placement (and I consulted with many others in the same situation and they said this is how they dealt with it too) because her programs are for MAs in a less competitive field. My post was more to express my own conflicted feelings about my decision and ask for advice. Thank you for providing some, but I was already aware that there are people who choose to split. Most people in these situations are both in academia. That is not our position--hers is a professional degree. We did the long distance thing and worked very hard to not have to do that anymore.
  8. One of my LORs was a week late, but that's a possibility (I haven't heard anything). Thanks for the update though!
  9. There go more U of Washington rejections. Puzzled as to why they were almost someone's safety, though. Maybe they applied mostly to top 20...Washington feels like a reach to me
  10. Thanks for the info! It could be? I'll keep a sharp eye on my e-mail anyway...cue stress!
  11. Same. The earliest they've changed it was march 2nd last year
  12. Since no one else has gotten anything, I'm wondering if they were in contact with Washington already. Last year they accepted people on the website (which I've been checking) and sent out e-mails a few days later. But maybe they switched it up this year? Who knows
  13. At least we aren't alone...I have a credit card payment to make, and to remind myself to do it, I leave the e-mail unread on my phone so I have the little red "1" symbol. But now I keep seeing it and freaking out over and over again about UW. Also, despejado, you are my hero for using "stress" so many times
  14. yes I just saw that as well! Nerve-wracking. Commence refreshing e-mail a billion times and checking my app status online...
  15. I thought I'd open up a thread so maybe we could start talking about and asking for advice about moving forward towards making a decision. I thought maybe this could be a smaller English version of the "Decisions, decisions..." forum. It's still early, but I know at least for me personally I'm only waiting on one more school and I've seen other people deliberating over different programs. There are so many factors to consider--fit, environment, living situations, placement, etc--that I figured we should have a place to hash out our lives. My situation: I got into two programs (well, sort of--accepted to 1, top of the wait list at 2 but told I was basically guaranteed admittance), waitlisted at a third. One of the programs I got into has been very welcoming and has been e-mailing me and doing kind of a reverse of the application process; rather than me trying to prove my "fit," they are trying to prove their fit to me. It's quite nice! Anyway, this school is mid-level and has an 80% placement rate out of their PhD program with a majority being TT positions. Their stipend is $21k with a 1-1 teaching schedule, medical and dental included. The other is a less-well ranked (below 70), $14k stipend (in a very cheap area), teaching 1-2 or 2-1 and with a pretty large course load on top of it, and a decent-to-okay placement record. Doesn't seem to be as good of a fit, so I am leaning towards program 1. The problem: I have a fiancee who is also applying to programs, but her applications have very late deadlines. We talked about how if places we got into didn't line up, my program would take priority and she would take the year off and try to find a job. Especially because she's applying to MA programs. However, she's applying to a program she has a good shot at that is not far from program 2 and ones she has a good shot near the program I've been wait listed at (program 3), which is ranked pretty highly. I like program 3, also a decent enough fit, but it's in NYC and I really don't feel like living here anymore (a realization I came to after spending an extra few months here after applying and getting into programs in much more "nature-y" areas). Also, the stipend would be $25k, which will be enough to sustain us, but at programs 1 and 2 we could literally rent an entire house for less rent than an apartment in the city. Program 3's placement is very good within the city, so-so outside of it. Basically, I am leaning towards program 1, but I feel really awful because I'm boxing my fiancee out of her education. Also, once she gets her MA, she'll actually be making a good amount of money, so we need her to enter the workforce so we can start preparing for student loan repayments, having a family, etc (of course, we have enough time where she can definitely afford to take a year off). She said she's fine with working for a year and is kind of excited about it, but she went through so much angst to apply and has been so disappointed by not getting into certain programs that I feel bad denying her possible admission and prioritizing my wants when I have multiple options. Program 1 also wants me to get back to them sooner rather than later. I still have a campus visit to complete to 1, so that may change things, who knows. I am also hoping to make a visit to program 3 once it gets further into "decision season." But sometimes I just feel like throwing myself at program 1 immediately. There is very little chance I'll be able to make it out to program 2 for a visit because it's so far. They've said they might be able to help with the cost, but there may just not be enough time in my schedule to do it. If all goes well, I may even have a program 4 to considering in the next week or two. So stressful! Anyone else already experiencing decision angst? Have to worry about an SO? Or is it way too early to be stressing out about decisions? Thanks for reading my drivel!
  16. I guess--I've never used one before in applications. It seems some people here have or at least have heard that others included it. I also just tried to focus on perfecting the required documents, and I hope not including a cover letter didn't hurt my chances at all. My school's adcomm certainly didn't say anything about it.
  17. A "cover letter" is something I've only used when applying to jobs, though I guess it's helpful when applying to PhD programs as well. When I've applied to jobs, the cover letter was basically a prose version of my CV--how have my experiences given me the skills necessary to fulfill the requirements for the position? How do they allow me to stand out from other applicants? Etc. I should have written a cover letter for programs. Drat.
  18. I'm a Romanticist with a secondary interest in Queer Theory. How about you? And sure- if you'd like, you can message me your e-mail and I can send you a housing guide some of us put together. Arthur Ave in the Bronx is usually a good bet (I've heard the italian mob kind of runs this section, so there aren't any gangs or anything)--Most people who live there are surprised by my experience. Personally, the Bronx just didn't make me feel safe (especially as a small woman), but some people have lived there for years and have no problem with it.
  19. I usually go back to the program's information page on applying. Sometimes, they list a person or e-mail to contact with questions. Sometimes they don't list one, but might have a link to a general GSAS admissions page, which normally has a contact for the admissions office. Hope that helps! Basically, if the dept doesn't list someone to contact on their application page, I assume they don't want to be contacted directly with questions.
  20. I was in Sigma tau delta as an undergrad 3 years ago. That conference was a good experience
  21. I would guess not. My Experience says that families will mostly take the anti-establishment, "well they're so dumb" path of thinking and kind of assume that grad programs exist to make you miserable and don't actually cultivate scholarship. Not sure if that's any better because they think you're crazy the second time around... No matter how many times I've told my parents how competitive it is, they never really understood and assumed I'd get in because I was smart. First time all I got was an unfunded MA, so at least I had good news for them this time around.
  22. We just became BFFs. I have an unnatural obsession with peppermint tea
  23. Yes, exactly. I still find quite a bit of inspiration in the Romantics' depiction and description of the imagination, but it's I find it really enjoyable to explore other ways of examining their poetry. It's also interesting to note the close link between deconstruction and Romanticism--notable deconstructionists (such as Barbara Johnson) spent a good deal of time writing about Romantic poetry. It would be interesting to explore what precisely about Romantic poetry lends itself to such deconstructionist critiques (although I suppose there may be nothing "precise" about it). For myself, I enjoy looking at how nature as "object" is conflated with the subject. Deconstruction certainly provides a good starting point, though of late, I am moving into Queer Theory (which, of course, is itself pretty much borne of deconstruction). I also wrote about indeterminate selfhood in Keats' letters (with an emphasis on the poetry in his letters), though that paper examined how the natural description of his location changed his subjectivity. The letters and other "supplemental" primary texts are a whole other avenue opening up in Romantic criticism. When you wrote about the transportation of affect and the ability/capacity of the body to register emotional experience, did you do so with anatomical specificity? IE, did you write about how the anatomy was understood in the 19th century and what parts of the anatomy were affected? Like I said, since I just came out of a course tangentially related, I'm quite interested! If I may ask, where did you do/are you doing your BA? I did my BA at a very small catholic school with a somewhat limited English department (we had one Romanticist who never taught a course while I was there and only one person who really did theory in-depth), so I've had to play "catch up" during my tenure as an MA--I had never even heard of Bakhtin before coming here. I'm looking forward to being able to delve into the field and into theory on a much deeper level in my PhD program.
  24. Represent! I see we've both been wait listed at CUNY as well. Congrats on your Brown acceptance! Your research really interests me--I took a course called "Neuro-Literature" last semester, which involved a lot of the history of neuroscience and the science of the brain. We read some historical scientific texts alongside Romanticists (well, it was also from the Renaissance forward). I'm a Romanticist, but I'm also into poetics in general. My research generally focuses on the relationship between subject/object, how their roles/voices get complicated and conflated, and how this complexity affects what work the poem is doing. My writing sample uses Derrida to compare Wordsworth and Stevens, and I am currently working on what will hopefully be a journal article about a Renaissance poet (Katherine Philips) using Queer Theorists' perspectives on subject and object. My ultimate tool is close-reading, which is the best thing about reading poetry for me--so much opportunity to close-read! I actually haven't encountered a lot of secondary criticism outside of professors I've worked with thanks to a limited number of Romanticists in my current department. I'm excited because I've been accepted at UCONN, and I'm currently discussing how well my work fits with their faculty and resources with a professor there. We'll see what my work evolves into as I move forward. I took a course titled Keats & Company that discussed the sociability of Romantic poets. In that class, we discussed how the sort of "new frontier" in Romantic poetry is moving beyond "traditional" theory (the importance of imagination, emotion recollected in tranquility, etc) and towards new social and theoretical ventures. It seems both of us represent this trend.
  25. I do have to say that a quick search of apts near tufts shows rent is higher there. But maybe I just want to persuade you into possibly joining me at uconn
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