What should an International Student pursuing a Master's in English know?

[pocoslughorn]

I'm going to be starting an MA in English this fall and even though I am no where near getting a visa in hand, my major concern is still preparing myself for no regrets. 

It should be no surprise that a large chunk of students across the world adore the US Education system. A South Asian myself, seeing my undergraduate department fail miserably in handling the pandemic, I have jotted down multiple reasons to be happy about embarking on this journey even though the university I'd be joining isn't a prestigious one. 

However, I've seen multiple international students struggle to understand the politics of academia in the US. I, myself, would have to take up RA, TA and writing center work which still makes me yearn for anxiety meds in the middle of the night.

In this thread, I hope other English Literature grad students or better yet, international students can drop in the things they learnt or observed when it comes to academic culture. For instance (not an exhaustive list):

1) How formal and frequent should the relationship with your Graduate advisor be?

2) How should you prepare for graduate seminars?

3) How can you improve your academic writing?

4) Who should you contact for summer job and internship opportunities?

5) How exactly does writing center consulting works?

As a student interested in Postcolonial Theory, I've promised myself not to be apologetic for not knowing. I can only hope this thread would help other international students as well. Thank you!

 

[WomanOfLetters]

I finished my MA in English in the U.S. last year. Maybe I could share a bit of my experience with you.

1) I only met my advisor - assuming that you were referring to your academic advisor and not thesis advisor - once in the entire year for academic advising. I think we met for like 5 minutes? (because he had 10+ students waiting for him outside) But then again he was the instructor of one of my graduate seminars, so I often took the opportunity to speak to him after class. If you were thinking about building relationships with professors, it might be a better idea to do so with your course instructors.

2) Firstly, be prepared to talk a lot in the seminars. In my experience, the seminars were a lot of work. I had to spend all my free time (aside from housework, traveling to and from school, getting groceries, etc.) on reading and writing. Initially I had thought that I was the only one (since English was not my first language) who struggled with studies, but it turned out many of the American students felt the same. I would suggest simply do your best, and you will be fine!

3) If you can, go to as many writing workshops/writing consultation sessions as possible. It's always a good idea to have a second pair of eyes to look at your writings.

4) Your university's career center should be able to give you good advice on job hunting. International students can also seek help from the international students office. I didn't take up any part-time job or internship, so I couldn't share much information with you on this.

5) I suspect that different universities offer different writing consulting services, so attend a session by yourself and you'll find out! 

I hope this helps. If you have more questions, feel free to leave them here or DM me!

[coffeelyf]

Hi! These are all great questions that I wish I asked before starting my MA in English in the US. Hope these would be helpful to you:

1) How formal and frequent should the relationship with your Graduate advisor be? 

If it is before you decide on your thesis and have a thesis advisor, your advisor may be another professor (in my case, our DGS was the advisor for all first-year MAs) and our relationship was limited to one meeting a semester before registering for classes just to catch up and talk about my plans, etc. It was not very close but certainly quite comfortable - though this of course depends on the personalities and dynamics involved and in the department as a whole. I would agree that you should build stronger relationships with your course instructor, who could later advise you on your thesis project, be on your committee, or just be a mentor for you.

2) How should you prepare for graduate seminars?

Do the readings, annotate, and make sure that you have a question or two to raise about the text as a whole. The question(s) should come from something that you noticed or a close-reading that you did with the text. Graduate seminar readings usually combine primary texts with theoretical ones, so an easy way to raise questions is to connect the theoretical ideas with the novel/poem to see how they align or don't align, and why. 

3) How can you improve your academic writing?

I find that this kind of naturally develops as you read and write more in an academic mode. As you read - especially the academic/theoretical readings, note the styles and wording and thought patterns that appeal to you, that you think make sense in presenting an idea. This has helped me improve my way of using words and stating my points. Of course, diversify your vocab, use strong verbs, lessen use of crazy long-winded nominalization, etc.

4) Who should you contact for summer job and internship opportunities?

Your professors could be a good resource, especially those that work in the realms related to public humanities or writing pedagogy. Some may help you connect to their former students. Your university's career resource center. Your upperclassmen, who could also connect you with alums (I know people from my program who even found full-time jobs through this kind of "recommendation process"). For international students, as CPT and OPT are complicated processes, I recommend that you work for a program in your university over the summer if that is available and possible, as you wouldn't have to deal with CPT that way.

5) How exactly does writing center consulting works?

Each Writing Center has a different philosophy, but my sense is that many writing centers in the US are moving towards a non-directive approach, meaning the writing tutor would assist the student by reading through the assignment, asking questions, explaining and working through their ideas and issues with them, rather than just editing their essay as the student sits there. This was how it was at my undergrad (where I worked as a tutor) and also at the university of my MA (where I visited the writing center as a student and the tutor was one of my MA classmates). The sessions can take half an hour or an hour. I enjoyed working as a writing center tutor and it really helped me with my own writing as well as teaching skills. Before you start work at the writing center, they should provide some training, which would help you know somewhat about the work, but it is also something you get better at with experience and reflection. So don't worry; if you have been accepted and offered the job, they believe that you could do it. 

Good luck!