Mississippi

[thegirlintheafternoon]

Readwritenap,

You're right! I just mistyped that. It's still a lighter load than Kansas, though, which is 2-2 starting from the very first semester enrolled, which includes a guaranteed two-year composition assignment right out of the gate.

I see you do Cognitive Approaches to Literature! My boyfriend does Shakespeare and cognitive theory - it's such a fascinating field.

And I'm with you on it being the most difficult decision I've ever made. I keep going around in circles. Good luck with your decision!

[Datatape]

Ole Miss is a fantastic program if you're into Southern Lit/Southern Studies, Readwritenap. I met Kathryn McKee at a conference we both attended last year and she really got me interested in applying to Ole Miss. They don't have a huge stipend, but the cost of living in rural north Mississippi isn't that high, either. This was my number one choice in spite of the lower stipend.

[desaparecido]

Ole Miss is a fantastic program if you're into Southern Lit/Southern Studies, Readwritenap. I met Kathryn McKee at a conference we both attended last year and she really got me interested in applying to Ole Miss. They don't have a huge stipend, but the cost of living in rural north Mississippi isn't that high, either. This was my number one choice in spite of the lower stipend.

Ole Miss is a fantastic program, I totally agree. McKee, Bone, and especially Leigh Ann Duck are all super exciting folks (I've met them before). For a long while, it's been basically my dream program. In the last year or two, though, I've gotten very interested in cognitive psychology and the ways in which it's applied to narrative. I really want to do my doctoral work on cognitive approaches to postbellum Southern narratives, as I think the cognitive approach offers really interesting insights on works that don't tend to be studied much outside of the south (my BA and MA are from northern institutions, but I've presented at many conferences at Southern schools and I've been involved in Southern studies work for a while now).

This is where I'm torn: Ole Miss is my dream program for all things Southern lit. Stony Brook, however, has several people working in cognitive/affect studies and also affords the opportunity to take courses at Columbia and Rutgers, and even more cognitive/memory folks teach at those schools. The Southern programs don't offer much in terms of tutelage for the cognitive aspects of the work I want to do, and I'm afraid that, unable to study under folks working in the field, that those aspects of my future scholarship wouldn't get nourished enough, if that makes sense. I feel like it's far easier to absorb the literary texts while at an institution that doesn't exactly focus on Southern lit but far, far more difficult to engage in/expand on cognitive studies without being able to work closely with someone in the field.

I don't know. This is all horribly difficult. Heeeelp.

[Datatape]

This is where I'm torn: Ole Miss is my dream program for all things Southern lit. Stony Brook, however, has several people working in cognitive/affect studies and also affords the opportunity to take courses at Columbia and Rutgers, and even more cognitive/memory folks teach at those schools. The Southern programs don't offer much in terms of tutelage for the cognitive aspects of the work I want to do, and I'm afraid that, unable to study under folks working in the field, that those aspects of my future scholarship wouldn't get nourished enough, if that makes sense. I feel like it's far easier to absorb the literary texts while at an institution that doesn't exactly focus on Southern lit but far, far more difficult to engage in/expand on cognitive studies without being able to work closely with someone in the field.

No, no, that makes total sense. Me personally, if I were in your position, I'd think long and hard about which faculty at each school could help out with the weaker field, i.e. is there anyone at Stony Brook who's published in postbellum Southern lit and is there anyone at Ole Miss whose work has touched on cognitive approaches? If the answer to both is yes or the answer to both is no, then you probably need to think about what's more important to you: is it to have a really strong base of Southern postbellum studies that you can then apply some cognitive theory to or is it to really get a strong base of cognitive theory that you can then apply to Southern postbellum lit? I'm not much of a theory person, so I can't help you with weighing one or the other, but if it were me, I'd try to consider what the bigger picture is when envisioning my ultimate idea for a dissertation and doctoral work. I hope that helps.

[desaparecido]

No, no, that makes total sense. Me personally, if I were in your position, I'd think long and hard about which faculty at each school could help out with the weaker field, i.e. is there anyone at Stony Brook who's published in postbellum Southern lit and is there anyone at Ole Miss whose work has touched on cognitive approaches? If the answer to both is yes or the answer to both is no, then you probably need to think about what's more important to you: is it to have a really strong base of Southern postbellum studies that you can then apply some cognitive theory to or is it to really get a strong base of cognitive theory that you can then apply to Southern postbellum lit? I'm not much of a theory person, so I can't help you with weighing one or the other, but if it were me, I'd try to consider what the bigger picture is when envisioning my ultimate idea for a dissertation and doctoral work. I hope that helps.

Absolutely, and I've been looking into just that. As of right now, I'm leaning towards desiring more tutelage with the theory-type stuff. I've been immersing myself in Southern lit for since undergrad, over the course of two NY-area universities. My MA thesis dealt with traumatic experience in two Southern novels, neither of which were ever taught in a class I took at my MA institution. I'm pretty comfortable exploring the Southern lit stuff on my own. At the same time, Faulkner and O'Connor and such are taught outside of Southern universities, be it in courses on modernism of American gothic or whatnot, so it can be done - I can always bring in the less-studied (in the North) Southern figures on my own. I'm fairly well-versed in theoretical-type stuff as is, but being that cognitive narratology is still very much a new field, I think it might be more beneficial being around folks involved in it to some extent, and I'm not sure anyone at Ole Miss is. Stony Brook has a few people involved in cognition and the arts, and also a very strong psych department that has people working on the cognitive science end of things. We'll see, I guess. A good thing about SB is they are open to letting me double up a teaching load one semester and giving me the next semester off, with pay, since I'd already have completed my teaching load for the year. I'm already looking into the possibility of heading down to Oxford and spending a semester just auditing courses or however one may do that. The dept. at SB made it seem like that sort of thing is easy enough to do.

Too many thoughts right now. Too many thoughts. I'm sorry for blabbering on!

[Datatape]

Too many thoughts right now. Too many thoughts. I'm sorry for blabbering on!

Haha, no worries. I only wish I had the options open to me that you did. Right now, I'd just settle for getting into a school.

[desaparecido]

Well I'll be turning down at least one your two wait-list schools, so I'll include in the notes re: why I'm declining, "Hey, send an acceptance to Datatape from GC. Thanks."

Thanks for listening to me vent! I can already see grey hair sprouting before 4/15.

[Datatape]

Well I'll be turning down at least one your two wait-list schools, so I'll include in the notes re: why I'm declining, "Hey, send an acceptance to Datatape from GC. Thanks."

Thanks for listening to me vent! I can already see grey hair sprouting before 4/15.

Would you? That'd be ducky. And as for the grey hairs, I think they're a prerequisite. Ain't nobody making it through this without resorting to Nice 'N Easy.

[thegirlintheafternoon]

Thought I'd update here - I officially declined my position to Ole Miss last week, so hopefully someone here will be hearing/has heard from Dr. Trefzer with some good news by now.

Good luck to all those still waiting!

[Datatape]

Thanks for the update, thegirlintheafternoon. Do you mind if I ask where you're thinking of going? I obviously didn't get news from Ole Miss, but if you're thinking Kansas, that might open up a 'Bama slot.

Edited April 2, 2012 by Datatape

[lolopixie]

I just realized today that I have not heard anything from Ole Miss. I guess I just assumed I was rejected because I haven't heard anything, but then I thought that last year they rejected me on March 23rd. Email sent - crossing fingers!!!

[Jbarks]

Good luck! My spot opened up, as well. I turned them down at the beginning of last week.

[lolopixie]

I accept your declined position!

[sobeobe]

Figured I would mention that I officially accepted the Ole Miss offer. If anyone else on here is planning on going, I look forward to seeing you in August.

[sobeobe]

Datatape or Lolopixie, any good news?

[Datatape]

Nothing here, but I'm not surprised. I was told my chances of getting off the waitlist with funding were slim; it's not a no, but it's as close to a no as I was going to get.

[flower303]

Declined my offer from Ole Miss today. I hope that that means good news for someone else!

[lolopixie]

Rejected. They actually sent my rejection email last week. Then sent me another one yesterday -- I guess they wanted to make sure I was clear on their decision.

[Datatape]

I got a rejection-off-the-waitlist letter last night where Dr. Trefzer said they had finalized their cohort.

[Datatape]

Yes. I inquired about the waitlist a couple of days ago and got an email stating that I was halfway down a fifty-person waitlist. There's not a shot in hell I'm making it in with that many people ahead of me.

[lolopixie]

I haven't heard anything yet. I emailed and left a vmail. No response. Hope is lost on LSU as well. I guess my final decision from LSU will be coming this week.

[TripWillis]

I haven't heard anything yet. I emailed and left a vmail. No response. Hope is lost on LSU as well. I guess my final decision from LSU will be coming this week.

Fuck all these fuckers who are not accepting lolopixie. Just sayin'.

[desaparecido]

the waitlist is 50 people?! that's mind boggling... i wonder if that includes the MFAs as well.

It's a huge wait-list, and it seems to be a regional trait. LSU traditionally has a large wait-list, and I was told that Tennessee had a 50-person wait-list this year as well. Hm.

[sobeobe]

I was always under the impression that your wait-list was supposed to be about one and a half - two times the size of your incoming class. So, if you had four coming in, there'd be roughly a wait list of eight. Though, I've seen this be even smaller; one year, I was wait listed at Texas Tech and I believe they had four incoming and three on the wait list (and even with three people, rather than 50, there still wasn't a chance for me). Anyway, I'm pretty sure none of the schools readwritenap mentioned had 20+ person phd cohorts. So, it must either be a regional thing or the wait list must encompass MA, MFA, and PhD. At least, that'd be my guess.

[lolopixie]

Fuck all these fuckers who are not accepting lolopixie. Just sayin'.

Agreed