SOS - Rutgers PhD or Chicago MAPH?

[Stately Plump]

May I just take this moment to say that I love the versatility of the sunglasses emoticon. We've all used it to express everything from apprehension to contentment to unbridled fear.

[marlowe]

May I just take this moment to say that I love the versatility of the sunglasses emoticon. We've all used it to express everything from apprehension to contentment to unbridled fear.

Any idea where you are heading next year, cquin?

[ecritdansleau]

It may not seem like it at face-value, but as far as I understand it, Rutgers' fully funded PhD program is a much more prestigious admit than Chicago's MAPH (if prestige is something with which you're concerned?), not only because funding essentially equals prestige in academia, but also because Rutgers is such a highly ranked English PhD program.

It's kind of interesting this question has come up because when I was researching programs, I began to become convinced that Rutgers is basically an ivy without the official title. Along with other Ivies (HPY, etc) Rutgers is one of the nine colonial colleges (originally called "Queen's College"!), one of the oldest universities in the US, and was actually a private university until after WWII. If you look carefully at funding packages from different universities, you'll also notice that Rutgers funding package is practically equivalent to Ivies: you get a full fellowship the first year, and afterwards teach ONE COURSE a semester. One course a semester is a major luxury for a PhD student, at least according to the TAs at my undergrad university's PhD program; they typically taught 2/2 (which seemed to grate on them a bit).

Other thoughts: Rutgers is about halfway between NYC. And Philadelphia. This is good. For academic--and cultural--reasons! And also, I too am a Lit/philosophy person and this was part of the reason I was very interested in Rutgers program. Basically, NYU/Princeton/Rutgers are the Harvard/Princeton/Yale of philosophy--so, similarly to what girlmostlikely mentioned about the northeast being a great center for Victorian studies, I perceive Rutgers/Princeton/NYU as the magic triangle of philosophy studies in the US.

[Two Espressos]

Other thoughts: Rutgers is about halfway between NYC. And Philadelphia. This is good. For academic--and cultural--reasons! And also, I too am a Lit/philosophy person and this was part of the reason I was very interested in Rutgers program. Basically, NYU/Princeton/Rutgers are the Harvard/Princeton/Yale of philosophy--so, similarly to what girlmostlikely mentioned about the northeast being a great center for Victorian studies, I perceive Rutgers/Princeton/NYU as the magic triangle of philosophy studies in the US.

Perfectly put. Lots of great philosophers in the area!

[id quid]

Um. Wow, ecritdansleu. Now I've added Rutgers to my list for this fall.

[jma310]

I second the Rutgers/Princeton/NYU thing. I spoke with the chair of philosophy at a quite good university this past weekend and she basically concurred. Said NYU is absolute tops though.

[Stately Plump]

I second the Rutgers/Princeton/NYU thing. I spoke with the chair of philosophy at a quite good university this past weekend and she basically concurred. Said NYU is absolute tops though.

NYU has reigned supreme in Philosophy for a number of years now. They consistently attract the most influential philosophers to speak and have a top-notch faculty.

[vosemdesyatvosem]

Coming from Rutgers, you may also have a fairly strong chance of attaining placement at an Ivy League school. I'm thinking specifically of Matthew Kaiser, one of the most popular professors at Harvard right now, who took his PhD at Rutgers a few years ago.

[Moon and Sixpence]

Thank you everyone for taking the time out to reply; it has really been very helpful to read through your posts. I guess it will probably be Rutgers, because of the funding, with due apologies to certain members. Coming from the other side of the pond, I really appreciate the warmth and the willingness to share in this forum, and many others. I wish everyone the best of luck for the future, and thanks a lot again for your replies,

Warm regards,

M & S

[cquin]

I hope it works out for you, M&S!

Any idea where you are heading next year, cquin?

It's not official yet, but I'm going to go with UF's fully funded MA program

[ecritdansleau]

I guess it's in my nature to play both sides of an argument, but I feel as if I should admit one thing: when I visited my top choice school on the admit visit, I thought to myself that...it would have been worth it to have applied multiple cycles to go to what is basically my dream school. If--knowing what you know--you really feel that Rutgers is not right for you, it is not likely that your feelings will change. If you really do believe that Chicago might be a better launching pad for a PhD, I wouldn't completely write it off. You are making a huge commitment if you enter a PhD program as opposed to a MA program, and you shouldn't make that commitment if you feel uneasy about it. Further, the half tuition makes makes Chicago's offer somewhat more feasible. No one is going to tell you not to take Rutgers offer, but don't waste your time living someone else's life. And, if you end up trying to transfer out of Rutgers, this could burn a lot of bridges, a risk that you wouldn't run at Chicago.

This is what I recommend: contact the professors at Chicago that you would like to develop a working relationship with if you were to attend Chicago. Will they be on campus next year? Do they seem willing to help you? Do they like your project? If the answers are positive ones, then...it may be riskier path, but the right one for you.

[ecritdansleau]

I basically paraphrased this, which has stuck in my head when I heard clips of it on the radio:

"Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary." from Steve Jobs' Commencement speech at Stanford

http://news.stanford.edu/news/2005/june15/jobs-061505.html

[ComeBackZinc]

It's not official yet, but I'm going to go with UF's fully funded MA program

Even if you're not interested in rhet/comp, see if you can take a class with Sid Dobrin. Brilliant, interesting guy, and his work has a lot of relevance to people interested in critical theory or ecocriticism/environmental writing.