shortstack51

I have to weigh in here.

A. Probably doesn’t need to be said but here it is – take all advice with a grain of salt.  Shotgun advice misses and hits.

B. The year off advice is regurgitated a lot. Good intentions there (exploring the world of possibilities / getting experience) but don’t fool yourself. I’m from a city with a deflated economy; my peers, as awesome as they are, struggle to get local jobs with their humanities degree. Not everyone can afford the social and economic risks associated with relocating.

A year off is a luxury. If you can, do it – enjoy yourself. Read. Work. Swim, whatever. But don’t fool yourself thinking that a year off is something you ought to struggle through.  And don’t fool yourself that you should consider it “time for yourself”.

As a matter of fact, I think we should all be developing coping strategies for the stress and work load that we will eventually face.

So that’s my advice. Figure out how much you can take. Figure out how to take more. Don’t burn out.

 

Take a list of questions with you.  There was a great thread on this back when I applied, and I took this and asked them of the DGS when meeting with her, grad students I met there, and some here with people at the schools I was considering.  Depending on where you go, you'll probably be put in contact with a current grad student.  These people are great resources, and most will answer your questions directly about both strengths and weaknesses of programs.
 
I just looked to see if I still had this list in an old folder, and here it is.
 
-PLACES TO STUDY AND WORK
-Where do most people do their writing and reading?
-What study spaces are available? Do students get a carrel? Do those who teach get or share an office?

-LIBRARY
-What is the library system like? Are the stacks open or closed?
-What are the library hours?
-Are there specialized archives/primary sources that would be useful to my research?
-Are there specialist librarians who can help me with my research?

-FACULTY
-Are the faculty members I want to work with accepting new students? Are any of those faculty members due for a sabbatical any time soon?
-Are professors willing to engage you on a personal level rather than just talking about your work?
-Are there any new professors the department is hiring in areas that align with my interests?
-Students’ relationships with their professors – are they primarily professional, or are they social as well?

-FUNDING
-Is funding competitive? If so, do students feel a distinction between those who have received more generous funding and those who haven’t?
-How does funding break down among the cohort? i.e., how many people receive fellowships?
-How, if you don’t have much savings, do you make enough money to live comfortably?
-Are there external fellowships one can apply to? If so, what is available? Does the program help you apply for these fellowships? How does receiving an external fellowship affect internal funding?
-If people need more than five/six years to finish, what funding resources are available? (For instance, Columbia can give you an additional 2-year teaching appointment.)
-Do you provide funding for conferences or research trips?
-How often is funding disbursed? (i.e., do you get paid monthly or do you have to stretch a sum over a longer period of time?)

-COHORT
-Do students get along with each other? Is the feeling of the program more collaborative than competitive?
-Do students in different years of the program collaborate with each other, or are individual cohorts cliquey?
-How many offers are given out, and what is the target number of members for an entering class?
-Ages/marital status of people in the cohort – do most people tend to be married with families? Are there younger people? Single people? What sense do you have of how the graduate students interact with each other socially?
-Do people seem happy? If they’re stressed, is it because they’re busy or is it because they’re anxious/depressed/cynical/disillusioned?
-Is the grad secretary/program administrator nice?
-What is the typical time to completion? What are the factors that slow down or speed up that time?
-I’ve read that there are two kinds of attrition: “good” attrition, in which people realize that the program, or graduate study, isn’t right for them and leave early on, and “bad” attrition, in which people don’t finish the dissertation. What can you tell me about the rates of each, and of the reasons why people have chosen to leave the program?

-JOB MARKET/PROFESSIONALIZATION
-What is the placement rate? How many of those jobs are tenure-track?
-What are examples of institutions in which people in my field have been placed?
-How does the department prepare you for the job search? Are there mock interviews and mock job talks?
-Are the people helping you navigate the job search people who have recently gone through the process themselves?
-If you don’t get placed, is there anything the department can do for you? (e.g., can you stay an extra year?)
-How does the department prepare you for and help you attain conference presentations and publications?

-SUMMER WORK
-What is encouraged/required?
-If there separate funding/is the year-round funding enough to live on during the summer?
-Do people find themselves needing to get outside work during the summer in order to have enough money?
-Am I expected to stay in town in the summer, and what happens if I don’t?

-LANGUAGE REQUIREMENT
-What is done to help people who don’t have language proficiency attain it? Does the university provide funding?
-What is the requirement, and by when do you have to meet it?
-Given my research interests, what languages should I study?
-When do you recommend doing the work necessary to fulfill the language requirement? (i.e., summer before first year, summer after first year, while taking classes, etc.)

-LOCATION REQUIREMENTS
-How long are students required to be in residence?
-How many students stay in the location for the duration of the program? (i.e., how many dissertate in residence?)
-How is funding affected if you don’t stay?

-Incompletes on papers at the end of the term: What is the policy, how many students take them, and how does this affect progress through the program?

-TEACHING
-What sort of training is provided?
-What types of courses do people teach?
-Does teaching entail serving as a grader? Serving as a TA? Developing and teaching a section of comp?
-How are students placed as TAs? Is there choice about what classes you teach and which professors you work with? Do classes correspond to your field?
-How many courses do you teach per semester/year?
-How many students are in your classes?
-How does the school see teaching as fitting in with the other responsibilities/requirements of graduate study?
-How do students balance teaching with their own work?
-Is the department more concerned with training you as a teacher/professor or with having cheap labor to teach their classes?
-How, if at all, does the economic downturn affect teaching load/class sizes?
-What are the students like? Can I sit in on a course a TA teaches to get a sense of them?

-METHODOLOGY
-Is a theory course required?
-What methodology do most people use?
-Where, methodologically, do you see the department – and the discipline – heading?
-Is interdisciplinarity encouraged, and what sorts of collaboration have students undertaken?

-Typical graduate class and seminar sizes

-What should I do to prepare over the summer?

-Ask people I know: What are the questions – both about the program itself and about the location – I should ask that will most help me get a feel for whether this is the right program for me?

-Ask people I know: What do you wish you knew or wish you had asked before choosing a program?

-Is the school on the semester or the quarter system, and how does that affect classes/teaching/requirements?

-What is the course load for each semester, and how many courses are required?

-What kind of support is provided while writing the dissertation? I worry about the isolation and anxiety of writing such a big project. What does the program do to help you break the dissertation down into manageable pieces, and to make the experience less isolating?

-What do writing assignments look like in classes? Do they differ based on the type/level of class and/or based on whether you intend to specialize in the field?

-Ask professors: what have you been working on lately?

-Ask professors: What is your approach to mentoring and advising graduate students?

-How long are class meetings?

-How often do professors teach graduate courses?

-Are course schedules available for future semesters (10-11, etc.)?

-Can I see the grad student handbook? Are there any other departmental documents – such as reports on the program prepared for accreditation – that I can see?


-QUALITY OF LIFE
-Prices – how does the cost of gas, milk, cereal, etc. compare to other places I've lived in?
-Cost and quality of typical one-bedroom apartment.
-What does the university do to provide you with or help you find housing?
-When (i.e., what month) do people start looking for an apartment for the fall, and where do they look?
-Is it easy to find a summer subletter?
-How close to campus can—and should—one live?
-What grocery stores are there in town?
-How late are cafes, bookstores, malls, restaurants typically open?
-What do people do to make extra money?
-Does the town have more of a driving or a walking culture? What is parking like near campus (availability, ease, cost)?
-Where do most English grad students live? Most other grad students? Most professors? Where is the student ghetto? Do most students live near each other, or are they spread out far and wide?
-How far does the stipend go in this location?

Madison is one of the most LGBT-friendly cities in the midwest (I have family in the midwest). I haven't been there personally, but a quick google search shows a lot of LGBT centers/clubs and that there is also an LGBT center at UW-Madison. Apparently it has a generally high LGBT population. If you're interested, here's a yahoo thread about it: http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20090321225805AAJvwY1
 
As for specifically lesbian life there, I'm not certain, but I imagine there will be a decent amount to draw from.

My fiancée and I are actually moving this weekend because our current lease is up and we found a place we like. After that we are staying with a friend for the last 2 weeks of class. Other than that it is trying to find work (it looks like I'll be freelancing) and getting set up. We also have to start looking at wedding venues...!

Thankfully, the school I ended up at is actually in the state we were planning to get married in in the first place, so there's not too much extra work for us (plus we are getting married in 2015). Kudos to you, though, toasterazzi! I think I'd explode if I was getting married and moving at the same time.

My fiancée and I are actually moving this weekend because our current lease is up and we found a place we like. After that we are staying with a friend for the last 2 weeks of class. Other than that it is trying to find work (it looks like I'll be freelancing) and getting set up. We also have to start looking at wedding venues...!

Woo! Yes, join the dark side! feel free to pm me to exchange Facebook contacts

Congrats, BookGeek! Feel free to hit me up with your contact info too! I'll also be at UCONN come the end of August! 

Woo! Yes, join the dark side! feel free to pm me to exchange Facebook contacts

What are the job placement rates at each? I have a lot of debt so that was a big consideration for me.

Also, even if there's only a few professors at each who do work you're interested in, are there any who, even if they're not in your area, would be interested in your work? What I mean is this: I have a very specific interest that isn't always represented even in my sub fields/time period. So I went with a department that had people in my sub fields who were interested in what I was doing and taking that journey with me and one faculty member who explicitly does work I'm interested in/would like to do. Does that make sense? Basically, is the faculty willing to meet you halfway in terms of interests

What are the job placement rates at each? I have a lot of debt so that was a big consideration for me.

Also, even if there's only a few professors at each who do work you're interested in, are there any who, even if they're not in your area, would be interested in your work? What I mean is this: I have a very specific interest that isn't always represented even in my sub fields/time period. So I went with a department that had people in my sub fields who were interested in what I was doing and taking that journey with me and one faculty member who explicitly does work I'm interested in/would like to do. Does that make sense? Basically, is the faculty willing to meet you halfway in terms of interests

YESS!! That's so exciting Is it ok if I PM you with my facebook info? Or is that weird? (PS--anyone else going to UCONN who wants to connect, feel free to PM me so we can add each other)

Hey, shortstack--we are officially members of the same cohort! I accepted UConn's offer! 

I know a few people aren't getting to UConn until next week, and some people have started declining offers. I don't know how the wait list works, but I just visited and really liked everyone I met and I felt really comfortable there. They also have a women, gender, and sexuality studies certificate you can get concurrently with your PhD, which is great to me. I met a bunch of people in WGSS or queer theory and they were great. Also, they're in the process of in ionizing and funding is for 5 years, not 4, and it's 1-1. If anyone has any more questions, feel free to ask Charles Mahoney- he's very friendly. The whole program is really supportive. Also, feel free to ask me if you want- I visited for a while recently.

There are definitely options for commuting to New Haven and Branford; I would suggest not living in New Haven because it's really not a great city (one of the most dangerous in the country as far as I remember), so any affordable housing is likely not in a good place. You can check out Wallingford for affordable housing that's in between New Haven and your route to UCONN (but closer to New Haven than Branford). Meriden's a bit farther for your SO but there are always a lot of options there.

I totally know what you mean about commuting- I commute about an hour one way right now by train, and I'm looking forward to the 30-40 minute commute I'll have next year!

Housing is definitely really cheap. My fiancée and I saw like 10-15 places; there's an off campus uconn housing website that you can use. We're actually probably moving a little farther away, which is a longer commute for me (30-45 mins depending on traffic) but a better one for her. It's also a nice mix between residential and downtown-trendy, which will be nice for us coming out of the city (PM me if you'd like to know the town). It's a bit pricier than Storrs-Mansfield or Willimantic, but there's also a lot more to do. When you visit, you can ask them for a packet they have about housing in the area (the town we're moving to isn't on it because they included towns within a half hour). My fiancée and I used craigslist, haha (I would say to avoid Hartford and East Hartford--not great areas). And don't worry! You only get the cow smell around campus.

There are some decent restaurants on campus and outside of it (there are some new cafés directly across from campus that are nice along with a burrito/taco place), but most people in the grad program go to Willimantic (10-15 mins away) for food and drinks. There is an Applebee's about 10 minutes south of campus.

Your research is interesting! UCONN has some classes on the docket for next year that I think would match up with your interests nicely.

Their offer is very generous--the DGS is also working on possibly getting one semester fellowships included as well. I am pretty excited

I'm so excited for you! I'm sure they will set up a visit for you- they are extremely generous. The faculty is very supportive. From what I understood during my visit, they actually have a whole committee whose job it is to assist you in the job market (they start out as being your comps committee). They are also top 5 in the country for job placement, which really appeals to me because of my massive loan debt from my MA.

The atmosphere of the department is amazing. Everyone takes the time to go over your writing sample and your interests and they will tell you about all the opportunities they have for expanding your interests. I have been in contact with several professors over the last couple of months who all wanted to express interest in my research and to talk about opportunities there.

Of course they are trying to recruit you during all this, but I know a number of people who did their PhDs there (having gone to undergrad in CT) and they all emphatically said that the department is always this supportive.

I am also drawn to the women, gender, and sexuality studies certificate that English PhD students can complete concurrently. I met a bunch of WGSS students and they were great.

The area is certainly in the middle of nowhere, but it is pretty and there are a lot of places to eat in the area (including insomnia cookies--you have to go there when you visit). You may smell cow poo on the breeze once in a while though, LOL. Also, don't be too deterred by crazy undergrads on campus if you happen to visit on game day for basketball...uconn takes its basketball very seriously! I have it on good authority that they are not usually this nuts.

I've already picked out a course or two I'd like to take I'm very excited! Refresh my memory--what's your area again?

I hope we end up there together! I recall that your SO was also looking to teach in the area, right?

My family is very close so I can understand (though I have never been guilt tripped thankfully). I can honestly say that 2 hours is really not that far. I'm still able to visit at least one weekend out of the month and have my folks out to my place once in a while too. I'm sorry that they are putting emotional pressure on you when you should be able to be excited about your decision. My fiancee's mother threw a fit when she moved even an hour away because her mother had never left the hometown and couldn't understand wanting to. But she got used to it eventually and realized that it was for the best for my fiancee's education (even though she thinks we'll move there eventually...). This is all to say---if you decide to go to the farther school, it might suck with your folks for the short term, but eventually they will see how happy you are with your decision and come around. Or at minimum get used to it. If you are unhappy at the place closer by, that will probably create more strain in the end than going to the school you like more

YES!!! Will you be accepting? I just accepted my offer

YES!!! Will you be accepting? I just accepted my offer

About to accept my offer from uconn

About to accept my offer from uconn

I have to grade ~60 freshman business students' papers by Monday evening....

I have nooo idea what my schedule will be because they haven't given me one? Though I'm planning on arriving around 10 am and staying for a couple of hours, that's all I know for right now. And thank you! 

In my program, it was actually more likely that you'd read Foucault or Zizek than Gubar. Every course included some kind of critical theory, some almost exclusively.