Program Specific Questions - Fall 2013

[asleepawake]

"Five years ago 33 percent of graduates in the humanities had no employment or postdoctoral commitments upon completion; that number rose to 43 percent in 2011."

http://chronicle.com/article/Doctoral-Degrees-Rose-in-2011/136133/

That's 43% of EVERYONE WHO GRADUATED FROM EVERYWHERE. What schools do you think the bulk of those unemployed graduates came from? Harvard? Yale? Stanford? Just make a wild guess. I'm betting they came from the schools we can't name off the top of our heads.

Actually, a lot of graduates from those programs do struggle to find jobs. You can't just look at the overall job placement rate. You need to look at the rates at individual schools.

I've heard rumors about that a lot of lower-ranked schools do not always want to hire graduates from Ivies because they are more likely to view the job as temporary, and then to leave when something better comes along. When someone retires or leaves, departments don't necessarily just get to hire someone new. Departments want good people who will get tenure and stay.

This website is a bit outdated, but here is a ranking by "student outcomes" ("The program supports a high fraction of students, students graduate quickly and get jobs, and the program tracks student placements") of English PhDs: http://graduate-scho...______________U

As you see, the Ivies do well, but so do a lot of unexpected schools. If you view the schools individually, you can see some of the data on jobs, time to degree, % of students who graduate, etc.

Edited December 7, 2012 by asleepawake

[Datatape]

Thank you for that, asleepawake. That's really helpful; I haven't seen that before. I'm out of upvotes today, so have a gif of a bunny.

[asleepawake]

Thank you for that, asleepawake. That's really helpful; I haven't seen that before. I'm out of upvotes today, so have a gif of a bunny.

Yay! I think after this thread's brief foray into darkness, a lot of us used up all of our up votes. We will have to just overdose on gifs in the meantime.

The website is actually kind of awesome--you can rank schools according to all kinds of factors. Again, some of the info is old, outdated, or possibility just wrong... but I obsess over it anyway!

Edited December 7, 2012 by asleepawake

[wreckofthehope]

I can't believe any of you are considering applying to Duke or Chicago; I mean they're not even in the top twenty on the student outcomes ranking. Are you just planning to do this Ph.D for the shits and giggles? I'm genuinely interested to know, I just can't grasp the mindset of someone who would do that.

[practical cat]

On 12/6/2012 at 8:12 PM, Two Espressos said:

This made me laugh. And I feel the same way. Plus I want to be able to say that I did all that despite coming from humble--to put it mildly-- origins. It's an absurd dream, but fuck it, I'm going for it anyways.

I. Feel. That.

Do you want to form an alliance with me?

[Two Espressos]

I. Feel. That.

Do you want to form an alliance with me?

Hahaha

Yes, I think an alliance is a necessity at this point.

[DontHate]

I can't believe any of you are considering applying to Duke or Chicago; I mean they're not even in the top twenty on the student outcomes ranking. Are you just planning to do this Ph.D for the shits and giggles? I'm genuinely interested to know, I just can't grasp the mindset of someone who would do that.

You still butthurt, little guy?

[wreckofthehope]

little guy?

possibly the first time someone's called me that. Just poking a little fun; nothing to get upset about.

[DontHate]

I like to use diminutives whenever possible, even though it doesn't make as much sense in english.

[NowMoreSerious]

My main goals are to eat, breath, have sex (sometimes even with other people), and read books. I am arranging my life accordingly. Getting a tenure track job is only one way to fulfill my goal, and may not even be the best way. Regardless, tenure track jobs are already becoming mostly a thing of the past, and it will probably get worse. But I am not applying to Ph.D. programs in order to eventually get a job. A Ph.D program for me IS a type of job, and if I get in and finish I'll then reassess and adapt, period. Long-term careers themselves are already going the way of the typewriter.

[t1racyjacks]

lots of chicken counting here, and we don't even know if our eggs will hatch. well, at least, I don't know if mine will. I am just isolating what I want to work on and finding the best fit. Nevermind the schools. We'll see what happens. No point playing Tiresias at this point.

[downtherabbithole]

Question about Rutgers app--we don't have to send anything via mail, right? It's all online?

I've gotten to the point where I no longer trust my awesome excel spreadsheet and am convinced that the information on these program websites changes on a daily basis...

Thanks!

[practical cat]

I am confused about Rutgers as well. I think all the supplemental materials are available to upload once you submit the app (though that's not yet true for me) but I'm kind of wondering about letters. They're electronic too,right?

[wreckofthehope]

I am confused about Rutgers as well. I think all the supplemental materials are available to upload once you submit the app (though that's not yet true for me) but I'm kind of wondering about letters. They're electronic too,right?

I think that's how it worked when I applied - the app is fairly perfunctory; then, when you've submitted, you get your RU-ID and can upload everything else. At least that's how I remember it....

(this was from a few years ago, though)

Edited December 8, 2012 by wreckofthehope

[downtherabbithole]

Yup--that seems to be the case this year as well! And letters are online.

And they're a program that doesn't need official transcripts unless they offer admission, right? Because this is showing up on my status:

Unofficial Transcript received; Official Transcript has not been received for School

This is what drives me around the bend. The wording is so ambiguous.

[practical cat]

It's hard for me to remember and I'm not near my notes but I seem to recall mailing transcripts to Rutgers. But I could very easily be wrong.

[JeremiahParadise]

Last-minute question on UW-Madison's "Reasons for Graduate Study" or SOP -- they ask for 300-500 words. Do you think they'll read 900?

Edited December 8, 2012 by JeremiahParadise

[DontHate]

NO. They can only read strings of 500 words at a time. That's why the word limits exist. If they even attempt to read 900 words in a row, their minds will overheat and they will DIE. IS THAT WHAT YOU WANT? DO YOU WANT TO KILL THE ADMISSIONS COMMITTEE?

For shame.

[downtherabbithole]

Last-minute question on UW-Madison's "Reasons for Graduate Study" or SOP -- they ask for 300-500 words. Do you think they'll read 900?

DGS strongly encouraged me to keep it to 500 when I spoke with her.

[JeremiahParadise]

NO. They can only read strings of 500 words at a time. That's why the word limits exist. If they even attempt to read 900 words in a row, their minds will overheat and they will DIE. IS THAT WHAT YOU WANT? DO YOU WANT TO KILL THE ADMISSIONS COMMITTEE?

For shame.

Thanks for the luls

DGS strongly encouraged me to keep it to 500 when I spoke with her.

Thanks for the tip. I've already got a shorter version; I'm just anxious about how it stacks up against my full version, which is going to other programs.

Much appreciated!

[DontHate]

In most cases, I think you'll be fine even if your essays go a bit long. As long as it's not 3 solid pages over the limit, an extra paragraph or two can't hurt.

[sebastiansteddy]

I have a question about UC Irvine's application: on the online portion, you can submit your SOP and personal history. They ask for you to e-mail your writing sample. The LORs are online as well. But then it says to send a packet to the department - what do they need in the packet? Do they want you to mail everything in addition to online/e-mail submission?

[sebastiansteddy]

Never mind! The website does say to mail the paper in addition to e-mail submission. I can read, I swear...

[DontHate]

Hey s_s_s, why are you applying to 16 schools? Are you sure they all "fit" you? Seems like a lot of "fitting" must be going on. You know what they say about locks that fit every key...

[sebastiansteddy]

Well, first off, from what I gathered from previous posts you have made, you and I might have slightly different reasons for applying to PhD programs and that might have something to do with it. More to the point of your question though, everyone in my MA cohort was told that 15-20 is a good range. That seemed like a lot to me, but every PhD student I talked to in my program advised from their experience to apply to as many schools I can that are good fits. After an extensive search, finding out where the scholars that have been influential to my work are, and discussions with my advisor, I had a list of 16 schools, all which are a great match. Of those 16, 2 of them happen to be in locations that, to put it lightly, do not excite me. Those 2 happen to be 2 of the lower ranked ones on my list, and I am still debating whether to apply to them. While I don't want to live there, they are a good match and I am concerned with casting a wide enough net.

Edited December 9, 2012 by sebastiansteddy