UT-Austin

[cougarstigers!]

this really makes me want to go on the darned visit. ugggggggggggggh i love sandwiches!!!

[cougarstigers!]

someone remind me of what the teaching situation is like at austin? i'm now comparing a much better-funded offer

with a similarly high teaching load at rutgers, which has a comp. program -- same at austin? or teaching lit courses,

something else?

[ErnestPWorrell]

someone remind me of what the teaching situation is like at austin? i'm now comparing a much better-funded offer

with a similarly high teaching load at rutgers, which has a comp. program -- same at austin? or teaching lit courses,

something else?

 

This is what I've heard from both students and faculty: 

 

Fellowships are few and far between. Typically, students TA for their first 4 semesters, with two 25 student weekly discussion sections. After students earn an MA, they work two jobs for the department: (1) teaching a freshman comp class and (2) tutoring students at an undergrad writing center. After a few years of teaching comp, some student teach literature classes. I'm not totally sure how that works. As I've said elsewhere, several students work an additional job TA'ing or tutoring in another department for extra money. 

Edited March 6, 2013 by ErnestPWorrell

[dazedandbemused]

They did say in the award letter that all students get at least one semester on dissertation fellowship, and you can often apply for a second semester. Also, it seems like the graduate school has some pretty awesome dissertation fellowships, so I intend to find out whether English people are ever successful at getting those. Honestly, I don't find the teaching load to be that daunting because I know there are places that make you teach two classes a semester. Plus, I've been working in a writing center for four years, so that doesn't sound like it would take much more out of me. My only worry is when I would possibly have time to teach two discussion sections and attend the professor's lecture and meet with them regularly while simultaneously taking three classes. Obviously, it can be done since people are doing it, but it sounds like a LOT of structured time with little outside time for independent work.

[ErnestPWorrell]

They did say in the award letter that all students get at least one semester on dissertation fellowship, and you can often apply for a second semester. 

 

I did not know that. Thanks! 

 

As for TA'ing, I think it all depends on the professor you work for. It's a 20 hour appointment, but some professors only really require half that while others a little more. 

 

(I'm g-chatting about this with a friend/student right this second, so bare with me.) 

Edited March 6, 2013 by ErnestPWorrell

[dazedandbemused]

Sweet! I've chatted with a few people on here, but I always feel like I'm an incessant questioner and I'd get really tired of answering my own questions. If you get anything meaty, I'd love ti hear about it. It sounds like you've got some pretty good connections to the department already. I hope that waitlist converts for you!

[Fiona Thunderpaws]

I did not know that. Thanks! 

 

As for TA'ing, I think it all depends on the professor you work for. It's a 20 hour appointment, but some professors only really require half that while others a little more. 

 

(I'm g-chatting about this with a friend/student right this second, so bare with me.) 

 

 

Hi all!

 

Sorry, I was talking to a few of you then got sick and slammed with work, and forgot what was going on. But now it's three days until spring break and I seem to have hit a wall with this midterm paper so onto TGC it is!

 

As a current UT student and TA, I don't know anyone who spends 20 hours a week on their TA appointment consistently. I've only done that when I've been slammed with grading I would say under 10 is pretty consistent (3 hours for lecture, 2 for teaching, 3 for office hours very few students attend anyway). I tend to use lecture and office hours to formulate lesson plans. 

 

When is the visit weekend? I want to see you all attending at some point!

[Fiona Thunderpaws]

Also, it seems like the graduate school has some pretty awesome dissertation fellowships, so I intend to find out whether English people are ever successful at getting those. Honestly, I don't find the teaching load to be that daunting because I know there are places that make you teach two classes a semester. Plus, I've been working in a writing center for four years, so that doesn't sound like it would take much more out of me. My only worry is when I would possibly have time to teach two discussion sections and attend the professor's lecture and meet with them regularly while simultaneously taking three classes. Obviously, it can be done since people are doing it, but it sounds like a LOT of structured time with little outside time for independent work.

 

Yeah, English folks are pretty good at landing fellowships.

 

Far as independent work goes, I guess that depends what you're trying to do. My courses take up most of my time and I do very little extra reading outside of it, but I also get the feeling from the department they kind of want this to happen when we're in coursework so we exposed to as many professors and texts as we can be before they let us loose to pursue our own things. I never expected to have extra time in the early stages for other stuff, so I might not be the best person to confer with on this one.

[brigadierpudding]

Visit weekend is 3/28-3/30.  I hope I'll get to find out a lot more about the program then.  I'm especially interested in getting a sense of which courses will be offered the next 1-2 years, at least in my area of study.

Edited March 7, 2013 by brigadierpudding

[dazedandbemused]

If you don't mind me asking, brigadierpudding, how many schools are you considering? One of the thigns that I really liked about Austin is that they seem to really make an effort to offer a variety of classes. Just looking at this semester's listings, I saw a surprisingly large number that I could see matching with my interests. One problem that I have with Pitt is that my interests aren't really addressed in my current classes, so I have to find a way to make the courses work for me.

[brigadierpudding]

No problem.  I'm considering three:  UT Austin, Ohio State, and UI Urbana-Champaign.  Campus visits start next week.  I'm really excited! 

 

Yeah, the UT course listings for the past few semesters looked really good, and I hope that I'd be able to take similarly useful classes in the 3-4 semesters of coursework I have left.  I want to be sure that I have the opportunity to get the coursework that would benefit me the most, so it'd be really nice to find out about imminent and future classes.  It's probably going to be one of the most important factors in my decision.

[dazedandbemused]

Ooh, nice. I don't know why a tiny part of my head is still holding out hope for UIUC, but there you have it. It feels like torture to have nothing to do between now and the end of the month but waver back and forth between Pitt an UT. I just want to decide!

[brigadierpudding]

Thanks. 

 

It's too bad they had to delay recruitment weekend.  That is an excruciatingly long wait for Austin.  I guess they're waiting until then to make their sell to us, but it'd be nice if they provided more info sooner.  As it stands, I check the course listings multiple times per day, lol.

[Fiona Thunderpaws]

Thanks. 

 

It's too bad they had to delay recruitment weekend.  That is an excruciatingly long wait for Austin.  I guess they're waiting until then to make their sell to us, but it'd be nice if they provided more info sooner.  As it stands, I check the course listings multiple times per day, lol.

 

 

It's because of sxsw mostly. That stuff started this week, and goes through all of next week and then part of the week after. All the hotel prices are crazy until it's over. Not that that's particularly helpful for anyone waiting to decide or anything.

[m_pru]

So, I've been accepted to UT as well, but can't make the recruitment weekend because I have to give a massive presentation during class Friday...how dangerous is that?

I'm still waiting to hear from my #1 (just finished up a recruitment/interview weekend there), and one other school that I had ranked about the same as UT. And then I'm on a couple of waitlists. At this point, if I don't get into my #1, I was just going to accept UT's offer. Should I try and Skype with the director or some of the faculty in my specialization? Did any of the current students learn something earth-shattering at their recruitment weekend?

Waiting for all these responses is more distracting than filling out all those applications last semester! I can't wait for this process to be over! :-)

[dazedandbemused]

I guess it depends on how confident you feel about your probable decision. I think there were two or three people in last years Austin thread who hadn't really felt strongly about it before the visit, but were so impressed that they ended up attending. The atmosphere of a school is really important to me, so I'm relying heavily on the visit, but I know it's not the same for everyone.

[Armadilla]

It's because of sxsw mostly. That stuff started this week, and goes through all of next week and then part of the week after. All the hotel prices are crazy until it's over. Not that that's particularly helpful for anyone waiting to decide or anything.

it's also because the Grumpy Cat herself is gonna be in town for sxsw, so a lot of people are heading to austin and clogging the highways just to see the celebrity!

[cougarstigers!]

hello all!

 

just turned down my spot (sad, right?! sounds like the visits have been really incredible!) to do american studies-y things,

so hopefully someone out there will be hearing the good news, and can make the visit instead!

 

 

YAYYYYY!!!,

 

 

cougars!

[m_pru]

For any waitlisted Medievalists: I have decided to reject my offer tomorrow. I hope it goes to someone who really wants to be at UT! I know it's a wonderful program, but it was love at first sight when I visited SMU last week (which was a surprise), so just this once, I'm going to indulge myself and go with a gut reaction (I'm one of those type A, list makers). Good luck to you all!

[marlowe]

Not even going to give us a chance to woo you?  Send me a pm if you want the medieval low-down on UT.

[m_pru]

Haha! I think the problem is this marroon bias that's followed me around since my undergrad! There are so many people, that for them, UT was their top choice, and they're on the waitlist--it was my 9 of 10. It just doesn't seem fair to take it if I have an offer from a school that I ranked higher. And I legitimately can't miss class that week. So... I do appreciate your tenacity--we, I'm assuming, medievalists have to stick together!

[marlowe]

Haha! I think the problem is this marroon bias that's followed me around since my undergrad! There are so many people, that for them, UT was their top choice, and they're on the waitlist--it was my 9 of 10. It just doesn't seem fair to take it if I have an offer from a school that I ranked higher. And I legitimately can't miss class that week. So... I do appreciate your tenacity--we, I'm assuming, medievalists have to stick together!

 

Not sure what you mean by a 'marroon bias' -- are you thinking of A&M?

 

I'm also not sure I buy your logic.  Several of us turned down offers from better ranked and better funded schools to come here (for a variety of reasons).  But I am all for you going with your gut reaction: follow your heart!

[dazedandbemused]

So, has anyone here been in contact with relevant professors at Austin? I know their system is more about the students as members of the department as a whole, rather than students being accepted to work with POIs, but I've been wondering whether it would be weird to make contact with the one's who I'm particularly interested in working with. I'm guessing we all got the email with the schedule and it mentioned making appointments to meet with professors; would it be strange to make first contact ahead of time? Anyone else have plans for the visit? Also, I'll be arriving early on Thursday afternoon, so I was thinking about exploring the campus; if anyone wants to join me, I'd love to meet my fellow internet peeps.

[Sursie]

I've been in touch with a couple profs; one contacted me, the other I emailed. I definitely think that if there's someone you're interested in working with, you should contact her/him. I was able to confirm a couple of specific times for us to meet, and we chatted a bit about my thesis project.

 

As far as other plans for the visit, I'll be arriving in Austin around 9:30am Thursday and leaving late Saturday afternoon. I wanted to give myself some time to explore campus and some of the neighborhoods around it. I've been spoiled at my current institution because I live only a couple blocks from campus. I love it, so I want to see what it'd be like to try to commute on foot/bike/bus in Austin.

 

I would definitely be down to meet up with you or anyone else arriving early on Thursday. PM me and we can exchange digits.

[brigadierpudding]

So, has anyone here been in contact with relevant professors at Austin? I know their system is more about the students as members of the department as a whole, rather than students being accepted to work with POIs, but I've been wondering whether it would be weird to make contact with the one's who I'm particularly interested in working with. I'm guessing we all got the email with the schedule and it mentioned making appointments to meet with professors; would it be strange to make first contact ahead of time? Anyone else have plans for the visit? Also, I'll be arriving early on Thursday afternoon, so I was thinking about exploring the campus; if anyone wants to join me, I'd love to meet my fellow internet peeps.

 

I really don't if it's strange or not, but remember, at this point, UT is trying to recruit you.  Making first contact with a professor, after weeks of radio silence from the school, does not sound impertinent to me.  Personally, I'm going to let UT do its thing under the assumption that they have some sort of grand design.

My plane arrives at 3 on Thursday.  I figured I would check in to the hotel at 4 and then, depending on what's happening (it seems like we're free until 7), walk to campus.  PM me if you want to join up in the afternoon.

I look forward to meeting everyone. 

Edited March 16, 2013 by brigadierpudding