poeteer Posted February 22, 2012 Share Posted February 22, 2012 AUUUUUUUUUGH this wait. It's awful. Why is this happening to us. That's it. I'm getting my hair done this afternoon. I don't care if it's expensive. If I can't be accepted today, at least I can lose the split ends. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
myriadways Posted February 22, 2012 Share Posted February 22, 2012 Haha! Exactly. My fiance is getting his PhD in molecular and cell biology. He wants to cure AIDS, like you do. What is it with science and literature peeps getting together? I hear it a lot. I'm totally counting on him to make the bulk of our subsistence, which is completely in contrast with my feminist self and the fact that my mother and aunts have always drilled into me how important it is to have your own money. Alas, I don't expect to make much as an English professor. If I ever even get to become one. Mine's in engineering. Once upon a time, looong long ago, in a land (head-space and level of determination) far far away, it was ME who was going to be the bread winner, with lofty Med school goals. Alas, alack, all I can do, apparently, is read. I don't care anymore. I embrace the fact that if I hit the job market and come up 0, I will at least be able to eat/feed my children/live in an actual home. I have tricked myself into thinking that my feminist impulse is alive and kicking because I chose to be potentially supported by an awesome guy who is very tolerant of my spending habits involving Frye boots. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
perrykm2 Posted February 22, 2012 Share Posted February 22, 2012 (edited) AUUUUUUUUUGH this wait. It's awful. Why is this happening to us. That's it. I'm getting my hair done this afternoon. I don't care if it's expensive. If I can't be accepted today, at least I can lose the split ends. I haven't gotten my hair cut in so long. It's toeing the fine line between slightly-ragged mermaid hair and "just wandered off the Amish farm" chic. Edited February 22, 2012 by perrykm2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
antecedent Posted February 22, 2012 Share Posted February 22, 2012 I haven't gotten my hair cut in so long. It's toeing the fine line between slightly-ragged mermaid hair and "just wandered off the Amish farm" chic. My treat to myself for working full time since June was finally chopping all my hair off. I've been rocking some variation of a Bieber/shaggy mohawk for 6 months now, and I'm really gonna miss it once I'm back in school. By the time I complete my MA I'll be back to crazy long hair after two years of self-imposed hair austerity measures. Hopefully I'll be living somewhere sunny so at least I'll go back to being blonde... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andsoitgoes161 Posted February 22, 2012 Share Posted February 22, 2012 Why haven't any programs contacted meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee???? I'm going insane. Sorry this has nothing to do with hair. Just some general grumbling. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
antecedent Posted February 22, 2012 Share Posted February 22, 2012 Why haven't any programs contacted meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee???? I'm going insane. Sorry this has nothing to do with hair. Just some general grumbling. I'm pulling for you andsoitgoes! I wish the feeling that I'm going crazy would go away and I could just FOCUS. Alas, I don't forsee that happening until I hear back from everywhere Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JayJay329 Posted February 23, 2012 Share Posted February 23, 2012 In all seriousness, at the great majority of schools, fit is going to trump almost everything else. I have very mediocre grades and very mediocre test scores; i submitted top notch recommendations, strong SOP (much stronger than my first go round), and a short, strong writing sample with NO trendy theory whatsoever - just a strong engagement with possibly the most over-analyzed text of all-time that demonstrates my unique approach to literature (and corresponds with the 'themes' of my CV and SOP). Fit is so important. Seriously. I still have a lower GPA and than anyone else I've seen even attempt the process in Lit on here (Though I have a pretty valid reason, to be fair). Sorry to pry, but how bad was your undergraduate GPA and your GRE scores? I have a 2.8 GPA (thanks to a rocky freshman and sophomore year), 540 Verbal, 5.5 ANW and wonder if I should just give up on pursuing life as an academic. I got into my super safety school for an MA in English, but doubt I will get in anywhere decent. With the knowledge that getting a job after a PHD requires attending a respectable university, I feel doomed. Did you get into a decent school w/ an awful GPA, or am I screwed? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thestage Posted February 23, 2012 Share Posted February 23, 2012 (edited) bro (or, uhh, broette), if you want to "pursue life as a academic" you are already doomed, so you might as well just file that part of your life away in the Suffer Unto Truth folder and stare the thing in the face. your "super safety MA" is better than "absolutely nothing," which is what a large amount of us have to say for the years of undergrad we completed. the MA exists specifically to repair the damage wrought by the foibles of youth, and that is specifically what you are after--so you, specifically, should attend if you are as serious about the academic life as you want to think you are (which is not an insult, but a truth: we all must learn to decouple the romantic notions of applying to schools from the dirty work involved in actually doing something). Edited February 23, 2012 by thestage Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
perrykm2 Posted February 23, 2012 Share Posted February 23, 2012 Why haven't any programs contacted meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee???? I'm going insane. Sorry this has nothing to do with hair. Just some general grumbling. Get out! This thread is for hair only!!! But, I totally feel the same way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
perrykm2 Posted February 23, 2012 Share Posted February 23, 2012 Sorry to pry, but how bad was your undergraduate GPA and your GRE scores? I have a 2.8 GPA (thanks to a rocky freshman and sophomore year), 540 Verbal, 5.5 ANW and wonder if I should just give up on pursuing life as an academic. I got into my super safety school for an MA in English, but doubt I will get in anywhere decent. With the knowledge that getting a job after a PHD requires attending a respectable university, I feel doomed. Did you get into a decent school w/ an awful GPA, or am I screwed? You can always get an MA at an okay school and move onto a bigger fish PHD program. Your situation doesn't seem that bleak to me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
perrykm2 Posted February 23, 2012 Share Posted February 23, 2012 I started freshman year as a microbiology major, and I'm still on their email list. I keep getting emails that are like, "get your MA in Zoology working at the Cincinnati Zoo." I'm applying for the wrong programs. I could probably be nursing a baby rhino right now if I had stayed the course. lyonessrampant, rainy_day and transcendental 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TripWillis Posted February 23, 2012 Author Share Posted February 23, 2012 You can always get an MA at an okay school and move onto a bigger fish PHD program. Your situation doesn't seem that bleak to me. Agreed. I mean, I did very well in undergrad, but it was at a really, REALLY non-prestigious school and I didn't really study literature, so it didn't matter anyway; I was a creative writing concentration. I applied to MFA programs, got rejected and diverted into an MA, and then went w/o really having any clue what the hell I was doing. Within one semester I was met with the epiphany that I had really missed studying literature, and that I loved doing it so much that I might want to pursue a career in it. So, I spoke with the graduate deputy and we mulled over the idea of my pursuing a PhD program. He warned me that it was a total shitstorm from the app process to job placement. 18 months later (and after a LOT of sweat, weight gain, and hours in the library), here I am. I definitely had to bust my balls harder than I ever have, but I feel like I turned it around. So you can too. But, of course, let that first semester in the MA tell you if this is what you really want. Because it is incredibly hard. When I was in January limbo and questioning my self-worth as a human being (with the weight of my MFA rejections from two years prior still nagging me constantly), I started to wonder if I even wanted to be accepted (which, of course, totally turned around once I actually got my first acceptance). It's soul crushing in a lot of ways, and then wildly, beautifully, magically rewarding in so many others. It matches well with my polar lifestyle; I have no emotional middle-ground, which is why I'm drawn to this stuff. P.S.: I pretty much gave up the "creative" writing. I have a novel half finished. I usually don't give up on things in my life, but I had to look that one square in the face and admit that I was never going to pleased with my work, and neither was anyone else. It just wasn't fulfilling me anymore. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bdon19 Posted February 23, 2012 Share Posted February 23, 2012 P.S.: I pretty much gave up the "creative" writing. I have a novel half finished. I usually don't give up on things in my life, but I had to look that one square in the face and admit that I was never going to pleased with my work, and neither was anyone else. It just wasn't fulfilling me anymore. My school doesn't have a creative writing major, but I'm currently in my fifth creative writing class. I had my final essay due yesterday, and I had to ask my professor for an extension. All of a sudden, I don't want to write anymore. This is the first term during my undergrad career that I haven't been in an English lit class, and I feel empty inside. As in, so empty that I can't even write this essay that's now due tomorrow. Blah. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TripWillis Posted February 23, 2012 Author Share Posted February 23, 2012 bro (or, uhh, broette), if you want to "pursue life as a academic" you are already doomed, so you might as well just file that part of your life away in the Suffer Unto Truth folder and stare the thing in the face. your "super safety MA" is better than "absolutely nothing," which is what a large amount of us have to say for the years of undergrad we completed. the MA exists specifically to repair the damage wrought by the foibles of youth, and that is specifically what you are after--so you, specifically, should attend if you are as serious about the academic life as you want to think you are (which is not an insult, but a truth: we all must learn to decouple the romantic notions of applying to schools from the dirty work involved in actually doing something). deebee, coffeeplease and poeteer 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thestage Posted February 23, 2012 Share Posted February 23, 2012 Guys, I was/am also a creative writing concentration! But then again I used every elective possible on literature classes (on top of the lit requirements), including finagling my way into classes barred to non lit concentration people. Then I split my apps between MFA and lit PhD programs, thus absolutely ensuring I'll end up at neither. So basically if you are not an idiot you are ahead of me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
user_name Posted February 23, 2012 Share Posted February 23, 2012 I majored in English but concentrated in creative writing, hence a lack of papers/knowledge/etc. Now I'm starting to see the results. At least I have plenty of MA programs to hear back from. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Enzian Posted February 23, 2012 Share Posted February 23, 2012 (edited) Whoa, what? I also had a creative writing concentration. Let's blow off this grad shit and start a writers' colony! Edited February 23, 2012 by Enzian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ekant Posted February 23, 2012 Share Posted February 23, 2012 I feel all of you people. Let's just start our own graduate program. You're all accepted. Literature, Philosophy, Creative Writing PhD. Done. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cquin Posted February 23, 2012 Share Posted February 23, 2012 I have a CERTIFICATE in creative writing. One more thing my mom gets to hang up on her wall. I seriously considered MFA programs but decided that a Literature PhD would provide a little more job security (I use that term loosely). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pynchonette Posted February 23, 2012 Share Posted February 23, 2012 (edited) So... after five rejections and only the big H, S & Y left, I guess it's about time to call it a day, right? What are people who aren't trying to get into Grad school doing with their time anyway? Edited February 23, 2012 by Pynchonette Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thestage Posted February 23, 2012 Share Posted February 23, 2012 They're probably being productive, which is absolutely something I cannot bring myself to even approximate these days. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hope. Feathers. Insanity. Posted February 23, 2012 Share Posted February 23, 2012 Once I said to my boyfriend, "when you become a super rich physicist, will you take me to Iceland?" And then he asked, "what if you're the one who becomes super rich?" And then we laughed. I recently married a physicist. He keeps reminding me that my future sans-fully-funded grad school will not involve living in a box and eating cheetos out of the trash. I keep reminding him that it will if I want it to. Since he's finishing his PhD this spring... even a fully-funded school may involve box-living. Two Espressos 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tinoply Posted February 23, 2012 Share Posted February 23, 2012 Blargh. UConn has started notifying, and I feel I'm going to get another rejection. My confidence has been shot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jbarks Posted February 23, 2012 Share Posted February 23, 2012 Me,too, Tinoply. I'm feeling pretty despondent right now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tinoply Posted February 23, 2012 Share Posted February 23, 2012 I'm pulling for the both of us, Jbarks. We need some good luck about now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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