TheWB

Living with some other incoming grad students, cause a one bedroom in D.C. on a grad stipend is not within the realm of possibility.

^Does American have shuttle service from any metros? If not, I would guess that you want to look along the red line out into Maryland so you can get in via Tenleytown station. Perhaps you can find something cheap somewhere in NW? I sure couldn't.

I've made the move, week into summer teaching duties now, buried in apartment hunting (I think I got one), HR paperwork sorting (finished!), and nervous class teaching (getting better). Oddly enough, what I have not thought of more than once so far this month is...actual graduate studies: courses, readings, or thesis. Not once. So come August when I go home for a week or two, I will be ready to panic.

^The one thing to keep in mind with the commute vs. price advice, beyond what gubida said, is that as grad students rather than undergrads, being on campus every day is likely not necessary. In fact, you might only need to commute 2 or 3 days a week. So you'll want to consider that as well when looking at calculations. I'm going with a cheaper apartment with a longer commute and planning to be on campus 3 days a week (and make those 3 days count).

Let me jump in even though I'm not (yet) pursuing a PhD. Here's why I'm pursuing an MA: When I was a kid literature kept me off the streets; it gave me enough perspective not to do the stupid crap everyone else did in high school, stay out of jail, and get a free ride at an Ivy. I truly believe literature has a specific ability to help the mind transcend its immediate environment, and that only by helping young people and young adults transcend their environment and see what's on the far side of the struggle can I ever change my community and communities like it for the better. So I want an MA to fight for a community college job or, more likely, something on the non-profit edges of education, but also to develop a more forceful version of this underlying theory, specifically in relation to protest literature. PhD though...hopefully I'll know in two years.

Truth. I've given up on finding a long-term apartment from here (I'm about 7,000 miles and a dozen times zones away) and just getting something for a month so I can search in person. Renting site-unseen is a bad enough idea as a renter, but I can't imagine anyone holding an apartment for me when all I can do is flash by tired eyelids at them from the other side of an ocean and promise to take the apartment in three weeks.

Yeah, I'm pretty stressed. Some aspects of my life changed quite suddenly and so now I'm looking for a roommate, in D.C., with something like $600 for rent, maybe $700. Not going to be easy, I imagine, and I won't be surprised if I spend the summer in a rooming house or something, since I'll be abroad until a week before I need to be on campus. But all will be well.

I only applied for MAs, so my experience may not be completely applicable, but I have had 3 years of work experience between AB and MA and that experience seems to have had no negative impact at all.

Hmm...I might have spoken too strongly by saying "write them off as idiots". Idiots is a bit too dismissive. Still, on a case-by-case basis, I do consider most people who think along those lines as idiots (and I won't deny having a boatload of cynicism, directed especially towards the socio-economic environment I come from).

Good for you, bfat. It's too easy to lose track of the rest of life, perhaps, when pursuing the tenure track (says someone who hasn't started pursuing it yet). From where I'm standing, a tenure-track position paying $48,000 a year at 45 sounds pretty amazing. Search committees aren't generally made up of 30-somethings, so I don't imagine getting a position would be significantly harder than at a younger age. The additional experience and the polish and confidence it generates - especially if that experience comes from outside the world of academe - might even make one a more attractive candidate, depending on the position.

I'm teaching English in Korea right now. I'll give you a quick list of positives/negatives, and if you have further questions, please PM me. In general, teaching in Korea usually means a) good money; a fairly easy, convenient, western-style life and; c) great opportunities to travel around. It also means d) you'll have to look really carefully at your job if you want to actually teach students rather than being a sort of expensive, foreign plaything. I teach at a small elementary school and actually teach, alone, am treated as a teacher, and teach as one, however I have friends who are little more than living tape recorders who assist a full-time teacher. It's been a great experience, though often frustrating, and I will miss Korea and my students greatly when I return to the U.S. It's a great way to save money and/or pay back loans for a year or two. Just do your research before you accept any position here.

If they think you're weird for reading books by choice...why exactly do you care what they think? As soon as anyone tells me something like "I never read a book, I can just look it up online" I mark them off as an idiot and disregard what they say unless it pertains to their specialty. I've been dealing with this in my community since undergrad, so I don't mess around now.

I've been checking out the area closest to Georgetown, and it's a bit beyond our means. Brightwood/along the railroad tracks in NE/NW seems the more likely area, but I'm crossing my fingers and hoping we find a last-minute bargain. If not, I'm have an hour-long commute now so I guess I'll manage well enough.

On my SOP I offered a very specific topic that interests me (the American protest novel), but nothing specific as to what I wanted to do with it. I believe I suggested that I wanted to explore the ways protest novels could be used to open dialogic space for protest in communities, as well as exploring the specific rhetoric of the protest novel. I believe. What I wrote seemed to be quite sufficient, as I got in with funding where I wanted to, so I don't imagine you need to stress being overly specific in your project; after all, most people pursuing MAs in English are doing them either to broaden their reading and general preparation for a PhD program, or are looking for extra reading/work before going into teaching, editing, administration or something else. Or looking for a pay bump. In none of these cases would it be reasonable to expect an especially specific SOP.

I'm taking that Yale open course on literary theory, because my theoretical background is in politics, not literature, and although I imagine my work will be drawing quite a bit on political texts, I'm determined to not start my program a step behind everyone else like I did for undergrad. Also getting health papers sorted out, trying to find a cheap flight, making financial arrangements, looking for an apartment, teaching classes, and writing a little. And trying to quit smoking. It's gonna be a long spring.

I imagine this might be mainly a humanities thing, but anyone else a bit....unusual about books/notebooks/pens/pencils, etc.? I'm taking an online course and the reader has wafer-thin pages and weighs five pounds, and I find I'm treating it like it's a Bible just because it looks like one (okay, I'm writing in it, but only with a dull-point pencil, so it's still pretty reverential). Also, I've always written notes in those tape-bound composition pads (the marble or the solid black, you know the ones), but my tiny town doesn't have them, so I've got a perfect-bound ledger instead, and because it's such a formal-looking notebook, I feel the need to use a nice fine-point pen, which in turn means I write my notes carefully. Mental disorder? Or English student thing?

Yeah for us. How're you finding the harrowing task of finding a place to live in D.C.? I feel like I've spent more time in google maps the last three weeks than teaching my students.

Woo! After endless worry about admissions, and then endless worry about funding, I'm going to Georgetown's MA program with funding! Now comes endless worry about my girlfriend finding a job and an apartment and getting my a$s back to the U.S.A. in time.

I think the $67,000 is somewhat realistic, but it depends on your lifestyle. A one bedroom apartment near Georgetown, for example, will easily cost you in excess of $1600 a month; even with a roommate, living near campus is likely to be in the $1000/month range. D.C. is a really expensive city.

A friend who completed his MA a couple years ago suggested Beginning Theory by Peter Barry as a good broad review which also lists suggested further explorations. I've just started it, and it's perfect. My friend's Irish, though, and it does seem Barry's work may be a tad bit more useful in the context of Anglo/Irish English programs than North American programs.

I would definitely suggest preparing as if you could only take it once. I told myself that and ended up with 99th V and 78th Q (78 was an amazing score for me, much better than I did on my SATs). If you go into it with the idea that you will need to take it twice, the first may become, psychologically, a practice exam.

Any current suggestions on an affordable neighborhood in D.C., or the immediate suburbs? I know this thread has quite a few suggestions, but D.C. seems to be gentrifying really rapidly, so what was affordable three years ago doesn't seem to be anymore. My girlfriend and I are both more or less from the hood, or at least poor/working class urban neighborhoods, so it doesn't have to be a beautiful place or murder-free, it just has to be reasonably safe (not Washington Highlands) and cheap ($1000-1200/month for a 1 bedroom). I'll be at Georgetown, so something within an hour's commute would be nice.

This is the best advice. You're probably slipping up on the passages because the style (or perhaps vocab) is not what you're used to, so you're trying to tease out and/or guess the meaning while standing on an uncertain foundation. Take it back to basics and underline and diagram some of these outside sources - find the thesis statement, underline it; find and circle each sentence of supporting evidence; look for words or cues to tone and bias, and box them; do this a lot. You will get better.

I'm excited for all the PhDs...I got into Delaware for a fully-funded MA a couple weeks while ago and found out after a hellish flight back from the States. Waiting on Georgetown. Good luck people.

Have you checked out Lynn? It doesn't have the best reputation, but then your view on that type of thing will depend on your background, past experiences, etc. It's a typical New England mill town, i.e. plenty of apartments and cheap rent, but it can be a bit on the dreary side and a shock if you're used to a more suburban/middle class area. $700 for a two bedroom will be tough anywhere near Boston, but in Lynn you'd stand a chance, especially looking at three decker apartment houses rather than complexes or large buildings. That said, it will be more convenient and affordable than most other options, and from Lynn to North Station is a pretty quick trip.