toasterazzi

I don't know how each program works, but a lot of the ones I've looked at tend to advise somewhere around 25-35 credit hours of English study in undergrad, while also mentioning that they do make exceptions for qualified people who might have less than what they advise. As for holes in your education, as others have said, we all definitely have gaps. I'm almost at the end of the first year of my MA, and there's still all sorts of things I know I'm missing. I just had my first ever real theory class this semester, and I've never taken one of those classes that only focuses on ONE author for the entire semester.

Update: Apparently, this tumblr was inspired by a philosophy one: http://philosophershaming.tumblr.com/. Also, someone has made a general graduate student one: http://graduatestudentshaming.tumblr.com/.

Haha. I thoroughly enjoy this description.

I didn't try for a PhD program the first time around, but I was able to get into a funded MA program with a couple Cs on my transcript. My overall undergrad GPA was 3.51. Since yours is higher, I figure you should be fine. As for the PE discussion, my undergrad university required one semester of PE, which was like two or three days of the actual activity and one day of lecture (which was basically a Health class). I took rhythmic aerobics, but they also offered fitness walking, jogging, swimming, physical conditioning, and swimnastics. The school I'm at for my MA has a similar requirement for its undergrads.

Gentleman Jack.

Yeah definitely avoid private loans like the plague. I only have federal loans and it's so much easier to deal with than having Sallie Mae or somebody on your butt like some of my friends have to deal with. I'm currently in a funded MA program where the only thing I pay is fees for technology and recreation and such. I still took out some loans though because my stipend is fairly low, and I needed to be able to, ya know, pay rent and such.

LOL. It is pretty nervewracking. I wouldn't be surprised if alcohol sales peaked around application time.

Hi! I don't have much to add about most of your questions, but a site that I like for language practice is duolingo.com. They make learning into a game of sorts (leveling up and such) and it keeps me engaged.

Hahaha. That video is highly amusing.

Well, there's always Everclear...

I have caramel vodka and kahlua...I mean...just saying...

Haha and this is why you can never leave

Hi refinement! Welcome to the party! I don't know much about Comp Lit, but a site that I recommend for language practice is duolingo.com. I use it for Spanish and my fiancee uses it for French, and we both find it pretty useful. they also offer German, Italian and Portuguese study materials, and the site of kinda makes it like a game so it doesn't really feel like I'm doing work hehe.

The one about having so many books you've never read/probably never will read describes roughly one third to half of my bookcase...

So I dunno how many of you are familiar with the dog shaming site, but this is along the same vein. So much of this speaks to my soul lol: http://englishgradstudentshaming.tumblr.com/

Yar. I do like free things

Basically. That was one of the only things I remembered lol. I have a Barron's book, a Princeton Review book, a Gruber's book, and the downloads from the ets site. I'll definitely be watching videos as well because math works much better for me when I can see it worked out. That's the one I picked and it was right hehe, but it was a fairly lucky sort of thing because I wasn't sure I was doing it right. I haven't taken a math class since 2006, and I don't remember anything from that class. It just fulfilled the one math course requirement at my undergrad university. Proofs have words and are thus infinitely more awesome

Weirdo. In other news, this was the Kaplan question of the day that I got today: If , what is y in terms of x? And this was my general response to that question: ETA: I'm sure this is super easy for a lot of people, but math will absolutely never be easy for me. Except for proofs. I'm a boss at proofs

*sigh* So does anybody have a different topic they've been wanting to talk about?

Haha, I've lived in the Midwest my entire life, which I think makes me more biased toward the Midwest than anybody else. I welcome any and all hatred directed toward my state because it's totally warranted lol. I LOVE Tennessee. All of my grandparents are from Tennessee, and I have many relatives there. It's such a gorgeous state. I've never been to Nashville, but I've heard some great things about it .

*sigh* Ya know what? We could keep arguing about this point by point, but I have the strong inclination that neither of us will be able to convince the other. I think we'd better just agree to disagree because this is derailing the thread and we clearly aren't understanding each other. Ultimately, location is going to be a factor in my application choices. That's the long and short of it for me.

Ok, let me just say this first. I am an educated human who is fully capable of reading and researching. I have visited several states in my life, interacted from people from all over the country and such. I don't especially appreciate the tone as though this is all brand new information or I'm incapable little girl or I'm just living life on some arbitrary stereotypes. No. Just no. I realize that at some point I might have to take a job in a less than desirable location. I've done that before for employment. However, that knowledge doesn't make me inclined to try to put myself in a less than desirable location for the PhD. And I'm not specifically anti-South. And I never said the voting issues were specifically in the South, nor did I indicate that any of the other issues I mentioned were specifically in the South. As it stands, the are only 10 or so states that provide protections against employment discrimination for gender identity/expression. Trust me, I'm well aware of how messed up most of the country can be. I've grown up in a conservative midwestern state for my entire life as a lower middle class racial minority with political beliefs that are divergent from most of the state's agenda. Are there great people here? Yes. Are the college towns fairly progressive? Yes. But the rest of the state is a damn mess and the people in charge are trying to push all sorts of legislation that gives me no interest in continuing to build a life here. To me, it's completely reasonable to want to exit this situation. I may apply to one school in this state that happens to be a great school, but the idea of being chained here for another five or six years makes me sick. The issues that I have with states or cities have nothing to do with the universities. I know the universities can still be great and be in ridiculous locations, but I still have to be able to live. I'm not just going to be wrapped up and protected in some university bubble. Yes, I do, in fact, know about Pennsylvania and Ohio. There are maybe two schools between those first two that I'm considering. As for Arizona, again, never said it was in the South. There's no way on Earth that I will ever, at any point, have any interest whatsoever in going to Arizona unless some radical shift in the political agenda there occurs. Arizona, to me, is the apex of pretty much everything I don't want in a state regardless of how good some of the schools are there. And let's not pretend that the existence of federal law's ability to override the state makes everything nice and cozy. For one thing, the federal government doesn't even have all the necessary laws and protections in place, and even when it does, it often doesn't come in as expected. If it did, a hell of a lot more people wouldn't get off so easily when they commit blatant hate crimes. And your state may never succeed in impeding on women's rights, but several states do. Every single day. It only takes a cursory glance through the news to find the legislation coming down in various states all over the country. And while some of it may/will eventually be overturned, that doesn't change the fact that those that vote in favor of those laws have made it clear to the women in their states that they have little to no value. Why would any woman, who has something of an option, want to live in a place that regards her in that manner? And finally, yes I am aware of advocacy groups in conservative states, which is why I noted their importance in the first place. One in my state helped my fiancee after he faced employment discrimination at work in our state which has no protections in place. However, they aren't existent in every state and they aren't always as strong or well-funded. And I know that because I've discussed this, at length, with the people in that organization and I've done research of my own. ^THIS, THIS, and THIS. Actually, we're not acting like that. In fact, I don't recall ever saying that the legislators in the states I'm not interested in had any control over or representation of the universities and their academics (though Mitch Daniels is in charge of Purdue now, which is terrible, but whatevs). I also didn't discount the fact that college towns are often enclaves within in state. In fact, I believe multiple people have noted that reality in this thread. But a great college town doesn't make a great state. A great college town doesn't provide the necessary legislative protections. A great college town doesn't mean rights won't be impeded upon. The issue of choosing where to move for half a decade is about much more than the metro area where the school is located. Frankly, location is a factor for me. I don't feel bad about that. Nor am I wiling to be made out to be some idealistic kid just because I'm not giving consideration to places that I know would not be adequate for me and my family. If location isn't/wasn't a factor for you and your applications, then awesome. That's great for you. It has nothing to do with me or anyone else who does consider that to be an issue of the utmost importance.

Haha I saw that. Who knew banana slugs were so scholarly? As for the location discussion, my fiancee is willing to go wherever I land, though he would prefer to avoid the South because he's anti heat, especially when there's humidity involved. That being said, he'd suck it up if I asked him to. And I do plan on applying to a few different segments of the country. However, there are some states that I will not be considering even though I'm sure they contain a fair amount of good people and awesome academics. For example, I'm not especially keen on going to a city and/or state that thinks it's reasonable to ban ethnic studies or one that's trying to get in my uterus or one that doesn't have protections in place people who might be discriminated against based on gender identity or expression or one that actively attempts to block certain groups of people from being able to vote. These issues, and various others, directly impact the quality of life for my family. Ultimately, stuff like rural vs. city or weather (though I am fairly anti-winter after nearly 26 years in the midwest) isn't make or break for me, but the laws and legislation, along with availability of advocacy groups if needed, are huge. I'm just not really willing to put my family in jeopardy for 5-6 years just to go to a certain school. I do think adequate research is key though. Like I said before in this thread I think, some places really can surprise you even when it seems like you already know everything about them. As it stands right now, my tentative list of schools to apply to has four west coast schools, four midwestern schools, one northeast school, one southern school, and two pacific northwest schools. That'll obviously fluctuate and change as I become more committed to my application decisions, but I feel pretty good about the spread at this point.

So I was looking through schools and I saw that UC Santa Cruz's mascot is a banana slug. That has to be one of the most unique mascots I've ever come across hehe.