dazedandbemused

Oh, so you're not actually losing all of that $1000? That's good I know.

If I were you, asleepawake, I'd say fuck the rankings and go to WVU. From what you've said they have great people and archives that you want to work with. Not to mention, they have a much better placement rate than Buffalo. Then again, I'm in the "I want a job" camp, not the "I want an important prestigious job" camp. YMMV.

Ha, good to know! I couldn't find it anywhere and after two application seasons of scouring English department websites, I've noticed that programs with good placement rates tend to have very comprehensive websites while the programs that aren't doing well tend to have very uninformative or nonexistent placement stats. I didn't know y'all had the same funding issues as us. At least it goes up after a couple of years though!

I'm just passing on what we were told during the visit, but I got the impression that they're really making a push to cut the tuition payments because its just not competitive compared to other fully-funded programs. I have no idea what the actual amount will be, though. Maybe one of the resident first years around here could weigh in?

Well, I think there have been a number of conversations on here about whether or not the rankings are bullshit. But even if one does choose to take it seriously, I have a hard time believing that there's a significant difference in prestige, if any at all, between schools that are so close in rankings.As for placements, UNC doesn't seem to have them listed on their website, which I find suspicious. The way I calculate placement record is to look at how many people are accepted per year, how many graduate, and how many have jobs. I've seen programs who graudate five people a year, two of who might get TT jobs, but they accept 15 a year; where did the other ten people go? UT's placement statistics are online, and they're surprisingly comprehensive: http://www.utexas.edu/cola/depts/english/graduate/placement/graduates-phd.php

Wow, $800 sounds high. Dr. Lesser told us that they're hoping to make it so that the department absorbs the extra tuition costs, but at worst it will probably be around $100 a semester.

Personally, I don't believe in ever paying for any part of a degree in the humanities. In fact, I know some people consider an acceptance without funding to be a rejection or a badly veiled attempt to use you as a cash cow. The opportunity costs are so high and the job guarantee is so low that there's simply no possibility of ever getting back the investment like you would if you were going to Medical school or getting an MBA. First of all, what are the job placement stats for the program? If they're asking you to pay them and they don't even give you good training and good job prospects, it's definitely not worth it. However, if you do decide to attend even without first year funding, you should really ascertain how much they'll guarantee in funding. If they only promise you the second year, without saying anything about the next three or four years, I would be very wary.

Those funding cuts are pretty much all for science programs; I don't see English being hit too hard. Besides, our funding is already quite rough as it is.

Gauche gives great advice. The only thing I would add is that, if you really want to get started a little sooner, I would perhaps take the year off and apply again this fall. I ended up in a post-bacc for the last year, since my first application season was extremely unsuccessful, and I honestly think that the process of applying is often more than enough to make you a better applicant. I applied to a mixture of MA and PhD programs this year, though it was mostly PhDs, and I did pretty well. You just have to make sure that you can make significant changes and improvements to your materials; I completely rewrote my SOP and I did a lot of work on my writing sample. Also, next time make sure to only apply to programs that fund everyone. I'm of the opinion that a program that doesn't fund everyone isn't really a good, or responsible, program. I'm particularly fond of programs that fund everyone equally; when there's no competition for funding, there will be much better camaraderie with your fellow students.

Wow, two acceptances at the buzzer. Congrats!

Honestly, the sense of community was one of the biggest things that convinced me to accept. I didn't feel like I was having the program sold to me at any point; all of the faculty were friendly, personable, and really funny. I had so many great and informal conversations with faculty in the two days I was down there. The grad students that I hung out with were super chill and all seemed to really know and like each other. I know super chill isn't everyone's cup of tea, but I'm a very laid-back person and I knew from the get-go that I wanted to be in a program where the students are friends as well as colleagues, and I really got that sense from them. Dr. Lesser even said that they like to pick people who are fun because they're trying to build a community. On the first night of our visit the current students "forced" us to go out and drink together so we could experience some cohort bonding; I don't think that's normal at many programs, but I loved it. In terms of the scholarly assets, there were just soo many resources I didn't know where to look. The Harry Ransom Center alone is staggering, but I particularly loved how interdisciplinary the program was; Dr. Lesser more or less said that you can take whatever classes you need to take for the career that you want; if that means half of them are in the Women and Gender studies program or Religious Studies or whatever, that's up to you. I thought that was amazing. I also thought the sheer size of the department was a huge plus because there were five or six people who I'm dying to work with whereas at other programs I had two, maybe three. I also really appreciated the emphasis on the idea that we've been accepted to the program, rather than to work with advisors. It makes me feel like the world is my oyster, on a certain level. And of course, their placement rate is nothing to shake a stick at. According to Dr. Lesser, and I have no reason to doubt him, UT has the best job placement record of any school in the top 20. Their attrition rate is so unbelievably low (which I think probably has a lot to do with their support system) that, considering how many students they turn out every year, their placement rate is seriously impressive. Honestly, I have no regrets that I turned down the money because the opportunities are worth so much more.

Awesome! Congrats on your decision!

That's amazing; congrats!!! It would have been nice to see you at UT (did we meet at visit weekend?), but it's awesome that you got the school that you really wanted.

I love this thread so much, but I never had anything to add earlier since my family is, by and large, cool with the idea of me going to grad school. However, now that I've made my decision I've had quite a few good ones come my way. MY dad wanted me to attend Pitt, which is in super easy distance of home, and he kept giving me ridiculous reasons not to go to UT Austin. "Pitt is offering you a fantastic opportunity!" (Whereas Austin is offering me chopped liver?) "You already know people in the department at Pitt! You'll have to start over again at Austin!" (because knowing people is the hallmark of research fit and program compatibility). "You can never tell about people in the south." (I don't even...) "There's the chance that some of your professor's might be racist; you don't want to go into that environment" (you know, because everyone in Texas is racist. Notwithstanding the fact that most of the faculty got their degrees in, and are probably from, the north!). And from the family friends: "You're moving to Texas? Is your father going to let you?" (because it's not like I'm a grown adult who has lived almost entirely away from home for eight years now!)

That's awesome! It looks like you've got lots of great choices though; were you leaning toward Austin?

I was wondering how I got on there! I tried to put myself in the doc a few days ago and it wouldn't load; when I went back later, I was already listed. I was mildly creeped out, but that's reassuring.

Dude, I know those feels. None of my other choices had anything close to the research fit that UT has (seriously, I think that program was built just for me), and I still felt intense discomfort turning Pitt down. It was nice meeting you though; good luck! ErnestP, I really hope you get in.

Aw, that's too bad. I guess Ohio State really pulled you in, huh?

I think those long completion numbers often occur at schools where students are basically abandoned after they begin writing their dissertation. There are also a lot of programs that require so much work from their students for barely a pittance that I'm not surprised there are people being forced to take out loans. I, for one, have no intention of doing so and I don't think any student should take an offer that would require them to do so. That might go a long way to cutting down the number of un- or underemployed PhDs.

As an aspiring Lit PhD myself (though in English, not German) I can say that I found this piece ridiculous for a variety of reasons. For one thing, it does nothing useful; it doesn't begin a conversation about the issues of the Lit job market nor does it advice the hopeful Lit PhD student about the problems that will inevitably arise for them. It just reads like a bitter screed wherein the writer proclaims to have known what she was getting into, yet still feels justified in being angry at her failure. She also makes the mistake that a lot of these articles do in that they make it sound as though all Lit PhDs are created equal and thus are all bound to fail. I'm sorry, but I refuse to believe that a person with a PhD in English from University of Nebraska and a PhD in English from Columbia University are remotely equal in terms of future prospects. Yes, there are great students everywhere, but the student in Nebraska probably has far fewer opportunities to meet influential people than the one at Columbia; that's just reality. If we seriously want jobs, we have to learn to stack the deck in our favor, and part of that means only going to a program that will do the best it can to get you in one side and out the other with no debt and, hopefully, a job. She also completely glosses over the ways that many forward-thinking departments have begun to make a conscious effort to help their students find jobs outside of academia when they're done; the idea that non-academic jobs are frowned upon is no longer alive or relevant at some schools, and I think it will become much more widespread as the market continues to stagnate. I agree with the earlier posters that it is extremely important for people to be aware of their chances for success, but her methods make it very difficult to take her seriously. I disagree with ZacharyObama's belief that you would be better served talking to your professors because many of them have no idea what the job market looks like now and as a result, they are counseling countless students across the country to enter PhD programs that pay very little, require far too much work, and have nothing to offer them once they've reached the other end of the tunnel, but they believe that being in the profession is all that matters. That kind of idealism needs to die, but I don't think this article is doing the job very well.

I wish I could help you guys out, but we weren't really told anything about the waitlist. It really does depend on your subfield though, since from what I understand the waitlist isn't ranked, so all you can hope is that the Victorianist, or whatever you study, that was accepted turns it down.. I've heard that a significant number of people got in off the waitlist last year, but a lot of the people that I talked to during the visit weekend seemed like they were leaning pretty strongly toward UT Austin. Then again, I know there were a few who were still seriously considering other choices, and there were others who I didn't really get to talk to much at all. I think part of the reason that so many people might be accepting is that there were definitely three or four who were pulled from the waitlist before visit weekend so they probably were already strongly in favor of UT. Have you tried getting in contact with Dr. Lesser? I've heard he isn't the best at keeping in contact with waitlisters, but it might be worth a try. Since our visit weekend was earlier than last year's, you hopefully won't have to wait as long to hear back!

Congrats, tie! It seems to have been a great year for English folk around here. Was it your first acceptance?

So now that we're officially students, would it be weird to ask professors if they have any recommended reading? I've been trying to find some readings on Transatlantic women writers, but I don't really know where to start, and I have no idea how to go about asking. Have any of y'all had extended interaction with anyone other than Dr. Lesser?

Holy shit, dude!!!! Congrats! It feels like one of Oprah's Giveaways in here, man. "You get a PhD! And you get a PhD! Everyone's getting a PhD!!!" Oh, and as promised earlier, A gif of John Green doing the happy dance. Because that's totes how I felt when I just read that

I found a place while I was visiting this past weekend. It's a teeny little studio, but I like cozy spaces and I'm really not into living with other people. I was told I would never find a studio in Hyde Park for under $700, so I'm pretty glad to have proved them wrong. If you're like me and really want a place of your own, regardless of the size, I would recommend using an apartment locater. I called a lot of places (and got a lot of rude responses), but I ended up using apartment finders service. The woman I worked with was really friendly and she didn't try to force me to look at places outside of my budget.