Medieval Literature—and a California query

[Historiogaffe]

Hi everyone,

I'll be applying to grad schools this year, and am hoping I might run some schools and questions by you folks. I'm interested in medieval insular literature and historiography, Anglo-Latin and vernacular; the history of rhetoric (and vice versa); and plagiarism/citation in contemporary and pre-modern literary theory.

Here's what I have:

UCLA

Berkeley

Columbia

WashU

UT-Austin

Cornell

Penn

And considering, for Masters applications: Toronto, Oxford, York, St Andrews. Does anywhere else come to mind?

There are a couple of profs in that mix who look really, really wonderful, or "fitting," and are assistant professors. Is an assistant professor is safely tenure-track? Or does their youthful vivacity mark them as newbies?

The programs at UCLA and Berkeley each look fantastic. As well as great faculty, they both have interdisciplinary medieval studies support, as well as the UC Late Antiquity group. But the budget. A friend told me that a person or two in her cohort had received stipend/fellowship offers from Berkeley only to have them withdrawn. Is it that bad? Is the California system as a whole something one should steer clear of these days?

Motley questions—I'd be grateful for answers to one or more. Thank you!

Edited for ramble.

[Phil Sparrow]

Well, I'm no expert on the UC budget situation, so I'll just say what I think I know. You'd do well to be wary of public CA universities, but don't fully write them off, especially UCLA and Cal. Just do your homework/research about them and ask lots of questions. This isn't two years ago, and I've been hearing less about the UC financial crisis lately (though that could always be because I stopped listening as closely).

Re: stipend/fellowship withdrawal. That is shocking. Are you sure your friend's friends weren't just nominated for, rather than awarded, a fellowship that didn't come to pass? That's fairly common, to have the department say something like, "Hey, we've nominated you for a grad school-wide fellowship!" and then not to receive it. A nomination is never guaranteed. Sometimes, too, numbers can change. Last year when I was accepted to a UC school, they guaranteed me five years of funding, but couldn't guarantee how much I would be getting--they could only give me an estimation, and subject to change. But they were up front about it. If your friend's friends actually had a firm *offer* that was withdrawn...well, that's a different story and it is Not Good.

Edited June 9, 2011 by Phil Sparrow

[Historiogaffe]

Are you sure your friend's friends weren't just nominated for, rather than awarded, a fellowship that didn't come to pass? That's fairly common, to have the department say something like, "Hey, we've nominated you for a grad school-wide fellowship!" and then not to receive it. A nomination is never guaranteed. Sometimes, too, numbers can change. Last year when I was accepted to a UC school, they guaranteed me five years of funding, but couldn't guarantee how much I would be getting--they could only give me an estimation, and subject to change. But they were up front about it. If your friend's friends actually had a firm *offer* that was withdrawn...well, that's a different story and it is Not Good.

I'm not sure what the exact funding situation was. Apparently they've been giving "money" and then taking it away, but as you guess, I don't know what kind of funding that might be. Because it was a second-degree story by the time it reached me, I don't know if the person had been nominated for a fellowship, didn't get it, couldn't afford to go, and then was semi-disappointed/bitter at this other place (which, you know, okay...), or if it really was something as crazy as UCB outright reneging.

Thanks for the advice—the two UC's really impress me, so I think I'll give it a shot. And ask some select questions!

[chaussettes]

Regarding withdrawn funding, I suspect the problem is the difference between an unofficial "offer" and an official one. Many departments will send unofficial correspondence regarding admissions and funding so that admits will not have to wait for the paperwork to go through the university's bureaucracy in order to find out such things. However, once an official offer is made, I do not think that it can be withdrawn or reduced unless there are exceptional circumstances. The way one professor explained it to me is that the offer letter is like a contract--they absolutely cannot give you a smaller stipend than what is specified in their official offer. That obligation would not apply, however, if someone from the department had just emailed and said, "We're going to give you x amount of money."

[Historiogaffe]

Regarding withdrawn funding, I suspect the problem is the difference between an unofficial "offer" and an official one. Many departments will send unofficial correspondence regarding admissions and funding so that admits will not have to wait for the paperwork to go through the university's bureaucracy in order to find out such things. However, once an official offer is made, I do not think that it can be withdrawn or reduced unless there are exceptional circumstances. The way one professor explained it to me is that the offer letter is like a contract--they absolutely cannot give you a smaller stipend than what is specified in their official offer. That obligation would not apply, however, if someone from the department had just emailed and said, "We're going to give you x amount of money."

So less unheard-of and more a slight faux-pas? That makes sense. Good to know UCs aren't quite in contract-breaking straits—thanks!

[runonsentence]

I unfortunately don't have any specific schools to recommend you add to your list, but I do have a bit of unsolicted advice!&nbsp;&nbsp;I recommend, as you continue adding to your list, that you ensure your schools represent a wider range of tiers/competitiveness (UT-Austin, for instance, is one of the most competitive rhet theory schools in the country).&nbsp;Of course, this would be far more helpful if I had suggestions for you. <div><br></div><div>Assistant profs: hard to say. One of my mentors here is really knowledgable, already well-known in his subfield (heard his name thrown around like candy at a recent conference), and is doing a crazy amount of research. But it's also possible you could end up with someone who seems really "green." &nbsp;Best advice is to try to visit schools when/if possible. (This strategy may be best once acceptances come in, next spring.)&nbsp;</div>

Edited June 9, 2011 by runonsentence

[Historiogaffe]

I unfortunately don't have any specific schools to recommend you add to your list, but I do have a bit of unsolicted advice!&nbsp;&nbsp;I recommend, as you continue adding to your list, that you ensure your schools represent a wider range of tiers/competitiveness (UT-Austin, for instance, is one of the most competitive rhet theory schools in the country).&nbsp;Of course, this would be far more helpful if I had suggestions for you. <div><br></div><div>Assistant profs: hard to say. One of my mentors here is really knowledgable, already well-known in his subfield (heard his name thrown around like candy at a recent conference), and is doing a crazy amount of research. But it's also possible you could end up with someone who seems really "green." &nbsp;Best advice is to try to visit schools when/if possible. (This strategy may be best once acceptances come in, next spring.)&nbsp;</div>

Yes! That they're all very competitive has me a little worried. I've been following other recc's as far as "good medieval lit faculty"—which tends to be this intimidating combination of high-tier and also high competitiveness for medieval, presumably, since they've come recommended. I'm thinking on York, Ohio State, Penn State, W Mich, and UBC but what they lack (or don't) in tier they make up for with general appeal to medievalists. Which is, I won't lie, pretty much what I'm looking for—strong medieval programs. Also thinking on NYU, Wisconsin-Madison, Notre Dame, and McGill... which doesn't help at all.

That's why I'm hoping to narrow it down a LOT, eventually — making a couple of reaches seems fine, but half a dozen plus seems just plain presumptuous.

(Edit: All this to say, I appreciate your unsolicited advice!)

Edited June 9, 2011 by speakwrite_

[runonsentence]

Yes! That they're all very competitive has me a little worried. I've been following other recc's as far as "good medieval lit faculty"—which tends to be this intimidating combination of high-tier and also high competitiveness for medieval, presumably, since they've come recommended. I'm thinking on York, Ohio State, Penn State, W Mich, and UBC but what they lack (or don't) in tier they make up for with general appeal to medievalists. Which is, I won't lie, pretty much what I'm looking for—strong medieval programs. Also thinking on NYU, Wisconsin-Madison, Notre Dame, and McGill... which doesn't help at all.

That's why I'm hoping to narrow it down a LOT, eventually — making a couple of reaches seems fine, but half a dozen plus seems just plain presumptuous.

(Edit: All this to say, I appreciate your unsolicited advice!)

It's definitely not time for narrowing yet, so you're still in a good place. Hopefully you'll get more suggestions!

Also, wasn't quite sure if I understood what you were saying: but Ohio State and Penn State are definitely either high Tier II or Tier I schools as well. They were on my reach list last time around, though it could be somewhat less competitive in their lit programs, perhaps.

[chester12]

On 6/10/2011 at 2:38 PM, runonsentence said:

It's definitely not time for narrowing yet, so you're still in a good place. Hopefully you'll get more suggestions!

Also, wasn't quite sure if I understood what you were saying: but Ohio State and Penn State are definitely either high Tier II or Tier I schools as well. They were on my reach list last time around, though it could be somewhat less competitive in their lit programs, perhaps.

Look for schools with $$ for Medieval Scholars; also look in-state. I suspect that a number of public universities will be accepting fewer out of state applicants, as tuition remission can become a real problem even for that first year, during which you cannot expect a student to achieve resident status.