toasterazzi

I'll probably repeat some things that have already been said, but here goes...
Be thorough in researching schools. You never know what hidden gems you might find. I think I looked at nearly every PhD granting English program in the US at some point or another as I researched schools. A couple of the ones that I ended up applying to are not really at the top of most lists, but they were pretty great fits for me. To that end, I would say don't be constrained by the rankings. I know some people disagree about this, but I really do think there are great programs beyond the top 50 or 80 or whatever that can lead to amazing learning experiences and great opportunities in the future. My MA program is unranked, but it has been amazingly beneficial to me, and it has given me the tools I need to proceed in my studies. Don't spend thousands of dollars prepping for the GRE. I know some people will disagree with this as well, but I really just don't think it's worth it, especially when there are SO many free materials available. I downloaded apps, podcasts, free materials from ETS and so on in my preparation. While my math score was still fairly abysmal, my english score was just about where I wanted to be, so I can't complain very much To that end, there are so many examples of nearly everything you'll need from the SOP to the CV and so on available on the interwebs that can be useful. I kept stuff like that bookmarked so I could refer to it as I put my materials together. Be honest with yourself about why you're applying to the schools you're applying to. And really think about whether the schools you're applying to will really fit your needs in the long run before you pay that application fee. When I took my GRE in September, there were some schools that I listed that I ultimately didn't end up applying to because I determined that though the particular programs were well ranked and full of talented scholars, they didn't ultimately have the interests that I needed. This isn't the worst thing ever, but it did cost me a little extra cash that I could've used later. I will second or third (or whatever number it is by now) the point about using a sample that ties into your into your interests if at all possible. The two programs that I've been accepted to thus far both mentioned their interest in the subject matter of my sample. I would also suggest strongly emphasizing whatever you're interested in via your SOP. I had a few different versions of my SOP, depending on the needs of the program, but I always tried to make sure my interests were clear and connected. My introductory paragraph included a quote related to my interested, I had a section that discussed some of the scholarly work I've done thus far in my area of interest, I had a section about a course idea in my area of interest, I had a section about a dissertation idea in my area of interest, and I talked about how I saw myself fitting into the department as it related to my area of interest. Basically, I tried to make it clear that I have a good idea of what I want to study and that I've put in the work to make sure that I'll have a mutually beneficial relationship with the program. Read your SOP out loud. I didn't let anybody else read my SOP because I'm not especially into that sort of thing, but I did read it out loud to make sure it made sense and to check for errors. If you're in a relationship/you have a family, be realistic about what you can do. Early on in the research process, I considered schools all over the country. While it would be great to move out to the west coast as I eventually want to do, it's just not really a feasible option for my fiance and myself right now. We'll get there eventually Do something to make yourself feel good. I don't care if it's eating a fancy meal or buying yourself something nice or doing shots of Jack or whatever. Just find a way to keep your spirits up You probably won't have enough money for all the things, but try to save what you can. This is especially important if you plan to apply to like 10+ schools. I only applied to six and the fees were plenty high. Being independently wealthy would be useful though... Make sure you consider other things besides just the academics. I think it's important to not go to a place where you'll be miserable for half a decade. I know some people believe that you won't have time to worry about the other stuff because you should be so focused on the school work, but I don't think that's especially realistic.  Even if you give your recommenders a list with due dates and such, sending them reminders is still a good life choice. Inevitably, somebody will lose the list and/or simply forget about an upcoming deadline. Use GradCafe as a source of info and support, but try not to let it weigh you down (which may or may not be possible). Trust yourself. You know what you're capable of and you know what's right for you. Similarly, remember that what works for me, might not work for you and vice versa. So take everything with a grain of salt Edit: This is way longer than I thought it would be...*shrugs*...

I think that's a solid perspective, it just isn't one I subscribe to. Form and prose matter, but, to me, they are not all that matter and certainly not the ultimate gauge of literary merit.
 
Yes, the ideas in the books could have been presented in another form, but they weren't. They were presented in a novel. Rowling chose to present them to a broad audience (and to a young audience) in the form of fiction and that choice makes 
 
Novels are used as vehicles for ideas and to discuss the Novel while stripping it of that function is strange to me, especially when novels are one of the most effective means of delivering ideas because of the exercise in empathy that they present to the reader. To me, a discussion of literature is not complete without taking all of literature's functions into consideration. Transmission of ideas is still one of the main reasons why writers write and readers read and is, to me, every bit as important as form and art for the sake of itself.
 
"IMO specifically literary merit, value and interest lies in the way a writer uses words and raises ideas in a way that simultaneously explores and questions the possibility of the form of writing itself."
 
See, but, to me, Rowling does do this. She loves playing with the limitations of the form. One of the most obvious examples I can think of her choice to stick with a single third person perspective (Harry) throughout nearly the entire duration of a series filled with hundreds of characters. The limitations of Harry's perspective (and thus our perspective as readers) work to her advantage when it comes to plotting, but, more importantly, play a major role in the text and often serve to reinforce many of themes threaded through the series.    Example: one of the messages in the series that I noted above is "the are dangers inherent in keeping children ignorant in order to protect them". Many adults in the series lie to Harry and/or keep him uninformed of the danger unfolding around him in order to protect him. Because we, the reader, know only what Harry knows, we are also kept in the dark. When Harry's ignorance has disastrous consequences, it's a gut punch for the reader because chances are we, given our limited perspective, have jumped to many of the same conclusions that Harry has. We make the same mistakes. When Harry realizes he's been lied to, the reader feels equally betrayed because we have also been lied to - not just by the characters, but by the form of the novel itself. The limited third person perspective gives the message about lying to children much more impact because it provokes an emotional response out of us. It makes us live through that injustice and hypocrisy ourselves, even if only in a small way.    The same applies for many of the other themes of the work. The way the series handles prejudice is especially tied up in the limited perspective. The series deals with prejudice both explicitly and implicitly. We see the world through Harry's sometimes prejudiced perspective and, more often than not, discover in the end that he was wrong, forcing the reader to 1) face up to their own prejudices and expectations (because, again, readers often finds themselves siding with Harry), 2) points out the insufficiency of any one single perspective on any situation, which 3) points out the limitations of a single perspective in a work of fiction, and 4) reinforces the series' explicit messages about prejudice.    And when you take into consideration that one of the most major themes of the work is the encouragement of children's skepticism, the fact that characters/the text regularly withhold crucial information from Harry/the reader only to reveal it later is pretty damn smart.   If Rowling had chosen an omniscient narrator or alternating POVs, not only would the structure of the series be very different, but many of its themes would not be as impactful. Rowling choice of a limited third person POV is ostensibly a simple one, but it is a literary one.    And I could literally rant and ramble about all the ways form and content do mesh in these books, but that's just going to end up being unpleasant for everyone involved because I just.have.so.many.feelings.

If I were to ever get a tattoo, it would be a lightening bolt scar on my forehead. No joke. 

Thanks for the info on apartments! I decided to accept the offer from Ball State. It's official. The great apartment-hunt begins now.

Thank you all very much for your advice! You have all given me different perspectives about going into a funded MA vs unfunded MA. I am now also leaning towards the funded MA. And congratulations Toasterazzi! I'm glad it all worked out for you!

To throw my two cents into the ring, when we studied Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban at Michigan, we explored and/or deconstucted:
 
- the trope of the Boy Hero
- the duality of good and evil
- the banality of evil
- Neo-Medievalism and Neo-Victorianism
- Dickensian influence on Rowling's work
- parallels to true life examples of genocide and racial hatred
- questions about children's autonomy
- questions about what defines humanity and monstrosity
- the dangers of inefficient bureaucracy
- the dangers of a Draconian and biased justice system
- the dangers inherent in believing everything you read/everything adults tell you
- the dangers inherent in keeping children uninformed in order to protect them
- The Sorting and tribalism
- the nature of forgiveness
- gender
- queer narratives
- disability narratives and ableist prejudice (Remus Lupin)
- child soldier narratives
- animal symbolism
- Jungian archetypes
- Biblical symbolism
- censorship, both within the world of text itself and the real-life drama surrounding the publication of Rowling's work
- the reemergence of children's lit and YA as a powerful commercial force
- adaptation and simulacrum
- the history of children's publishing since the Edwardian period
 
I can go on and on and on and that was only for one book out of a series of seven. At this point I'm convinced that if you find nothing worth discussing when it comes to Harry Potter, you either have only seen the films (or just trailers for the films) or you're being the worst kind of canonical fanatic or both. 
 
Also, it's worth noting that when we studied Potter, everyone in the class had read it before. Everyone. In fact, during many of my classes at Michigan, Potter was often used as a touchstone to better explain themes and theories because, again, 9 out of every 10 students had read it. Explain to me how exploring the themes of one of the most widespread literary phenomena ever is not worthwhile or at least of some interest to us folks who plan on studying literature for a living.
 
Stop assuming everything popular is inferior. Stop assuming works written for younger audiences are inferior. You want to bash Twilight? Fine. But don't do it because it's a YA novel. Do it because it's an irredeemably bad YA novel.

Well, this was definitely an interesting thread to read through . My first answer to this question will always be The Scarlet Letter. Hawthorne's writing style makes me want to throw my books across the room.

Was finally, THANKFULLY (mercifully) accepted to a funded PhD. Will be turning down MA in Humanities at Chicago with full tuition scholarship. hopefully that turns into good funding news for someone else who is considering that program!

I grew up with and have a healthy appreciation for Dunkin. However, I had Tim Hortons for the first time last year and fell in love with it. Maybe that's why I applied to two schools in Ohio...

I heard from University of Missouri. Waitlisted .
 
The letter was postmarked on February 20th though. I have no idea why it took so long to get here.

I heard from University of Missouri. Waitlisted .
 
The letter was postmarked on February 20th though. I have no idea why it took so long to get here.

I'm going tomorrow! I'm super excited, cannot wait!

AC-- Did you ever go to the red carpet Divergent premiere?! Inquiring minds (mainly me) want to know! 

I'm not a beer snob or a hipster. When I drink PBR, it's because PBR is extremely cheap (and the taste isn't as offensive as some other cheap beers). That's about it. I do think I've developed a certain appreciation for the taste of PBR over the years, but it's not like the best thing I've ever had

Forget Starbucks. I know a food truck that is looking for a dancing avocado mascot.

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

I'm presenting in the Fairytales area at PCA and a bunch of other people from my uni are presenting in the sci fi/fantasy area. It's gonna be a good time

I'm not a beer snob or a hipster. When I drink PBR, it's because PBR is extremely cheap (and the taste isn't as offensive as some other cheap beers). That's about it. I do think I've developed a certain appreciation for the taste of PBR over the years, but it's not like the best thing I've ever had

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

In at Boston University! I just had the most pleasant phone call with the DGS. They're accepting 5, fully-funded candidates this year. Wait list notifications will be sent out within the next few days. 

Pointless but exciting (to me) post: 
 
I just won two tickets to the red carpet premiere of Divergent. Feeling pretty awesome right now. 

I totally get this. I definitely received two rejections on and after April 15, and was perturbed. But before you send out any email demands, just remember that that DGS or graduate coordinator could very well be sitting on a hiring committee for your dream job in five years time.
 
Still, it does suck that we hold so little power in this whole process. 
 

Did anyone else read Graduate Admissions Essays by Donald Asher? It’s definitely got its strengths and weaknesses, but one thing that really helped me was his idea of 3-3-3 (that’s my name for it, but I don’t remember what he calls it):
3 shoot for the stars schools 3 schools where you feel like you have a decent shot  3 schools that you feel pretty damn confident you can get into (bearing in mind that there really is no such thing as a safety school) My mentor broke it down for me like this:
3 top-tier schools (though I ended up applying to 14 schools total and top-loading them with about 8 top-tier schools) 3 schools ranked between 25-75 3 schools ranked below 76 In trying to structure my applicants this way, I learned something I’d never expected: there are a lot of wonderful schools with big-name faculty and incredible placement statistics that fall well below Top 50. Two of my schools that fall in that last category (ranked 82 and 121, respectively) have better funding, shorter completion times, and higher placement statistics than many of the first-tier schools I applied to. 
 
I feel very blessed two be sitting at a couple of acceptances right now, but am still debating on reapplying in the Fall and, should I do so, I guess what I’m saying is that, I’ve decided to focus a good deal more not only on “fit,” but also on location, and--most importantly for me--student outcomes. What I care about at the end of this is that I have a remote shot at finding a faculty position somewhere and while university reputation definitely plays a roll in all of it, it isn’t my preeminent concern anymore. Caveat: I want to end up at a teaching university rather than an R1-type of school, so my perspective might be a little different than others. 
 
  Best of luck to everyone on the boards today. We should realistically only have a couple more weeks of this painful waiting, right?   Edit: clarification on numbers

I agree with the others that say to pick your battles and I don't think it's worth fighting about cell phone usage in class. Many of our classes here involve taking your laptop with you and doing stuff on it while the class is going on, and it's pretty much impossible to police what students are actually doing on their computers. Also, I don't think it's always a bad thing if a student wants to just check their email in conjunction with whatever else they are supposed to be doing with the class.
 
I've also taken classes where the professor/instructor will look something up on their phone if we are discussing something but no one knows the answer to something simple but important. e.g. How large is the eccentricity of Jupiter's orbit? Or the prof will ask someone to look it up when we're stuck. Smartphones are a useful tool to have and there's no point not using them.
 
I would personally not choose to have a policy like docking participation points if I see them on the phone. I feel like anytime you have to document something happened, it provides a way for a student to argue with you and make it into a power struggle. I personally would choose to avoid power struggles because even if you win the battle, you're still hurting yourself in the long run.
 
I think cell phones (or laptop use, etc.) should only be a problem if it becomes an actual disruption to the class. I don't believe in arbitrary banning of laptops because students should have the choice of taking notes in whatever format they want. And if I set a rule that you cannot be on email when in class, that means I have to constantly walk behind the students and check up on them, which is not possible or the students can easily know when I'm not behind them, they can use email and the other students can see, and everyone will see that my rule is not effective at all, which is even less ideal in my opinion. 
 
I think what I do with cell phones usage really depends on the situation.
 
If I am leading a recitation/tutorial session where I am explaining something at the front of the class and someone is not paying attention, it's not a big deal to me. If they already know whatever I'm explaining, then it's their right to go look up something else more interesting on their laptop.
 
If I am in a lab session, then most students will have their laptops and phones out anyways to look up stuff like the lab procedures, or properties of the materials they are working with etc. If they are obviously doing something off-task, I take the time to go up to that group and start asking about their progress. Usually this compels them to get back on task. I don't usually directly mention their goofing off but instead just ask them what they have accomplished so far, why do they think certain things happened the way they did in the experiment, etc. If they actually knew what they were doing and finished early and wanted to take a break before the next phase, then that's fine with me. Ultimately, they only have so many hours to finish their work and if they run out of time because they worked too slowly then that's their own fault and it will be reflected when I grade their incomplete work.
 
When I lead discussion groups, I expect my students to participate in the discussion, so if they are playing on their phone, it would be a big deal. In this case, I would go with rising_star's advice and ask students to take their phone conversation (whether it's texts or whatever) outside and not participate. But usually this is a "rule" I would go over with the class at the beginning / first meeting and have everyone agree on what responsibilities and expectations we should all have of each other in order to generate a positive discussion atmosphere (along with other important things like respect for each other's opinions etc.). You can also directly ask questions towards students who are not participating enough. Even in discussion based classes, I would not want to have points awarded for participation, because I don't think the goal is to reward students for participating and punish those who do not. Instead, I think the point is to get everyone to exchange ideas and feel comfortable speaking up. I would not want to make a rule where you got a point for saying a thing and you needed to meet some quota. I would rather spend my energy finding ways to get all of my students more comfortable sharing their opinions! 

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