toasterazzi

Beyonce. Seriously, her newest album has been about 90% of what I've listened to since December lol. The other 10% is all over the place from Zendaya to Katy Perry to Pharrell to Imagine Dragons to Kendrick Lamar to Aloe Blacc to Bastille to The Neighbourhood to Florence + The Machine to Ed Sheeran and so on. Plus, all of my old music that's in regular rotation. For example, as I write this I'm shamelessly cranking C'est La Vie by B*witched

I'll be there. I'm hoping it actually warms up a bit here in the midwest by then

That's awesome! Take all the pictures!

I think I understand where you're coming from. I've pretty much always known that I wanted to teach. I got my BA in English Education in 2010. That being said, by the time I got to the end of my program, I also felt extremely compelled to stay in school. I. Love. Learning. I really do. But ultimately, because of all the horror stories about note being hired with higher degrees, I decided to go the job route first. Perhaps unsurprisingly, I didn't land an actual teaching job, beyond subbing, my first year out despite probably at least 50 applications. However, I did get a teaching job the next year. For one solid school year, I taught middle school. My prior experience had mostly been with high school students, but my license was for grades 7-12, so I got in anyway. I loved teaching and my colleagues and my students, but I learned fairly quickly that 12-14 years olds were not the right age group for me despite how hard I tried to make it work. I did stick it out and try my best throughout the rest of the year, but I can't see myself ever going for a middle school job again. About halfway through that year of teaching, I started getting the urge to be back in school. I knew I wanted to spend more time on the topics that especially interested me as opposed to the more generalized material I got during undergrad. I also had a feeling I'd be better suited to work with college students. That being said, we'd moved for that job and grad school would mean moving again. I could've waited, but...I've watched my mom start and stop school at least a handful of times in the last 15 years or so. She always means to go ahead and get to the next level, but she's never been able to follow through. And due to her experience, she's always advised me to go forward in academia sooner rather than later because she doesn't want to see me in the same type of position. So I applied to an MA program in a place where I knew we could get set up fairly easily and that I believed would help me focus my academic interests. I got in. And here we are, almost two years later with me wrapping my MA (thesis willing) and potentially heading off to a PhD program in the fall. All of this being said, I don't really have any solid advice for you. It sounds like you could take either path and still be happy, at least for a while. Sometimes you just have to choose the option that feels most right to you.

Yeah I also think is probably pretty key. The two programs that I have acceptances from so far are the two that seemed to be most open to my pop culture/television studies interests, and the sample I submitted was directly in line with those interests. Both programs specifically mentioned my sample as an especially significant part of their interest in me. On the other hand, the two programs I've been rejected from so far both are strong in some of my other interests, but I don't think the sample I provided them was quite as strong or connected.

Thanks! It's not going to be a giant extravaganza, but we're pretty excited about it

Yeah one of my acceptances is from OSU, and I've already started to feel a bias against Michigan...

I haven't gone to my visit day yet, but they did send us a tentative schedule that includes a time slot for campus tours. So I definitely intend to look nice (business/casual-ish), but with comfortable shoes and clothes I can move/breathe in.

Thanks for the update. I've been waiting to hear from them. I was expecting rejection since I saw acceptances go up almost two weeks, but now I'm gonna have to compulsively check the mail...

I'll be working, getting married and moving...mostly in that order lol.

Too much.

Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there! $2500 for six months definitely sounds like a lot to me, but I don't know what your various particulars are where you live. My insurance is less than $100 a month though.

I would say it varies depending on your monetary needs, where you end up, and your life situation. I lived with roommates for my last two years of undergrad and my first year after undergrad because it was cheaper. I've lived with my fiance for roughly the last 3 years because we're committed to each other, it makes sense to just have one place since we were always at each other's place anyway, and it's cheaper. That being said, here in the midwest where I'm at, I could very well live by myself and get by monetarily in most places. But in a lot of the major cities, that wouldn't be the case.

I went to California twice last year, and the good Mexican food was probably my top (or very near top) reason for loving it there. On one of the trips, I was in San Diego for about five days and I ate almost literally nothing but Mexican food. It was delightful

I've tried various types, but I typically stick with Jack Daniel's, especially Gentleman Jack. I should also mention that hot wings are my life force. Also bacon.

Yeah I mentioned last night I believe that I was getting searched again. LinkedIn tells me it was a grad student, which I think is pretty interesting.

Whiskey.

I believe in picking your battles, and cell phones are not the (losing) battle I want to take up. Participation is 10% of the grade in my class, so they automatically lose their participation points if I see their phones. No warnings or anything along those lines. They just lose the points and it wreaks a bit of havoc on their grade eventually. Some of them learn and some of them don't, but the policy is in the syllabus so they have no excuses. I also have some colleagues who automatically mark them absent if they the phones. Honestly though, unless the phone is ringing, which has only happened a couple of times since I started TAing in 2012, I don't personally care that much if they're screwing around on the phone because I feel like they have to be held accountable for making themselves pay attention at some point. And if they miss info because they're compulsively playing Candy Crush, then that's on them.

I've used Mendeley, Endnote and Zotero, and I've found that Mendeley works best for me.

Academia.edu just told me that someone was searching my name in Columbus, OH. OSU was my first acceptance, so I'm not entirely surprised, but it is slightly nervewracking lol

Say, did anybody else here apply to/hear from Mizzou? I saw a few acceptances go up on the board like last week, but I haven't seen or heard anything since then...

This seems really early, but it looks like the 2014 thread started at the beginning of March, so I guess it's not ridiculously early hehe.

I would say if it's too difficult monetarily to visit and it really feels like the right fit to you, then go ahead and accept it. Even as someone who is here in the states, I wouldn't be able to visit the schools I've applied to unless they provide funding. Perhaps you can get in contact with some of the grad students who are currently there and pick their brains? Also, a lot of schools will have video tours and/or pictures of their campuses online. There may also be videos of the school on youtube. For what it's worth, I never visited my undergrad university before attending, but I had a feeling that it was ultimately the right place for me based on my research into the school and what I could determine from the website. And it ended up being the absolute best place for me ETA: I will say that if you think there's a good chance that some of your wait lists might convert to acceptances, you might want to hold out a bit longer before making a decision...just in case.

First, shout out to my first generation peeps, especially those from troubled areas! Technically, my mom made it as far as community college, but she did go for a standard degree. She went to get her nursing license. My dad only got through high school. My grandpa never even got to high school. My hometown is known mostly for crime and poverty, so I feel the pressure to succeed. But I'm pretty confident that we can all do the damn thing! The midwest is huge depending on whose map you use so there's differences in different places. I've lived in Indiana for almost my entire life minus one year in Illinois. I kind of hate most of Indiana for a lot of reasons that mostly have to do with politics and oppression, but that's just my own experience. There are some great and welcoming people here though, and Chicago is one of my favorite cities. The weather is extremely questionable though. Like wearing a heavy coat and flip flops in the same might be a totally reasonable thing that happens around here hehe. ETA: It's been way more cold and snowy here than usual this winter. The polar vortex is a pain.

Yeah I didn't apply to IU, but as a lifetime resident of Indiana, I can second the fact that the campus is beautiful, especially in the spring and fall. I used to go to camp there back in the day and I loved it