Fall 2014 applicants??

[SleepyOldMan]

John Shoptaw, who teaches at Berkeley, wrote On the Outside Looking Out: John Ashbery's Poetry, which has blurbs from Harold Bloom and Charles Bernstein (who probably would disagree on everything else) identifying it as the foundational text for its subject. 

 

Charles Altieri, also at Berkeley, has written a number of articles on Ashbery. The only other critics I've read on Ashbery are Bloom (Yale), Helen Vendler (Harvard), and Stephen Burt (Harvard) but I'm sure there are more people writing on him.

 

Nice to find someone else interested in Ashbery—who else do you like to read?

 

Many thanks for the references.  Other than Ashbery, really no one "exotic."  Faves include Shakespeare, Wordsworth, Stevens; James and Joyce (outside the genre); Flaubert and Proust (outside the language); Plato and Kant (outside the discipline); most anything on artificial intelligence (outside the humanities).

[Smokydog]

Hello guys!

 

Up until now I have been a silent presence in the forum. I have also been waiting for decisions. Today I received an email from Brown's programme in Spanish. The DGS invited me for an interview! I am very nervous and would appreciate any kind of advice on the subject. Could someone perhaps share some wisdom on the matter? This is the first time I have an interview with a professor from a US university. Cheers,

[jaymarais]

Hopefully that means someone will be calling you to tell you that you're in instead! I believe in you!

 

Thank you!! I hope so!

[igetstuffdunn]

Congrats to the person who made it into UMass' MA program. I'm dying to hear from them. Let us know if they gave you any anxiety-relieving info for the rest of us.

[Horb]

My friend got into the program there. Idk if it is MA or MA/PhD. Exciting though!

[Graditude]

Hello guys!

 

Up until now I have been a silent presence in the forum. I have also been waiting for decisions. Today I received an email from Brown's programme in Spanish. The DGS invited me for an interview! I am very nervous and would appreciate any kind of advice on the subject. Could someone perhaps share some wisdom on the matter? This is the first time I have an interview with a professor from a US university. Cheers,

 

Pues antes que nada, te felicito! Me temo que Brown está fuera de mi liga, así que no te puedo aconsejar sobre el programa. Pero, hombre, es todo un logro. En cuanto a la entrevista, creo que los consejos son siempre iguales: hay que ser natural, demostrar que estás al tanto del departamento (publicaciones, enfoques de investigación, etc.) pero sin exagerar. En EEUU choca un poco que los profes te digan de inmediato "Call me Bob" pues no sabes si lo dicen en serio. Mejor seguir tratándole de Professor Fulano un par de veces más hasta que no insista. Yo que tu, imprimiría el plan de estudios para preguntarle un poco sobre los plazos para entregar los trabajos, etc. A ver, qué mas... Que si te pueden llevar a conocer la biblioteca, que si existe algún club de X para que vean que tienes otros intereses más allá de leer. Quizá algo sobre el alojamiento. Una vez más enhorabuena!

[Smokydog]

Pues antes que nada, te felicito! Me temo que Brown está fuera de mi liga, así que no te puedo aconsejar sobre el programa. Pero, hombre, es todo un logro. En cuanto a la entrevista, creo que los consejos son siempre iguales: hay que ser natural, demostrar que estás al tanto del departamento (publicaciones, enfoques de investigación, etc.) pero sin exagerar. En EEUU choca un poco que los profes te digan de inmediato "Call me Bob" pues no sabes si lo dicen en serio. Mejor seguir tratándole de Professor Fulano un par de veces más hasta que no insista. Yo que tu, imprimiría el plan de estudios para preguntarle un poco sobre los plazos para entregar los trabajos, etc. A ver, qué mas... Que si te pueden llevar a conocer la biblioteca, que si existe algún club de X para que vean que tienes otros intereses más allá de leer. Quizá algo sobre el alojamiento. Una vez más enhorabuena!

 

Graditude, te estoy muy agradecido por los consejos. La verdad es que son muy buenas ideas y tendré todo lo que me has dicho en cuenta a la hora de la entrevista. No creo que sea cierto lo que dices sobre que no es tu liga, jeje. Estoy seguro que al final hay muchos factores de por medio. En mi caso, soy de un país bastante poco conocido (El Salvador), aunque he vivido muchos años en España. Puede que eso haya contribuido a la hora de buscar graduate diversity. En cualquier caso, si te parece te mantendré al tanto de cómo acaba todo. ¡Mucha suerte con tus solicitudes! Un saludo muy cordial.

[Graditude]

Graduate diversity es mi lema. Por eso me visto de Kylie con mi voz baritono ja ja. Es que mola mucho a la hora de una entrevista. Sí, quedo a la espera del informe completo. Este sitio ya me está poniendo los pelos de punta. A la mitad de los posters habría que mandarlos a Neuróticos Anónimos... Suerte!

[shortstack51]

With UMass: People are logging on to spire. For funding, you need an interview with the writing center people (generally). So people are finding out they've been accepted without funding but with the potential.

Thanks for the clarification! Congrats to all who are getting in! One of my professors in undergrad did her PhD at UMass--great school. My fiancée also applied to umass and we were looking forward to potentially moving to mass (where we can rent a house for what we pay for our current apartment), so it's a bit of a blow moreso than usual that it seems I won't be getting in. That's the way the game goes, I guess! I shouldn't daydream so much! I still have 7 schools left (3 reach schools in that bunch), so hopefully I will hear good news eventually.

[Horb]

Depending on where you leave, housing can be very expensive here. Plus, we are called Taxachusetts for a reason. But I love it here! It is a great state and UMass is in a wonderful area. 

[despejado]

Congratulations x 1,000 to the Texas admit! You lucky bastard.

[mikers86]

2 UT Austin acceptances. Congrats!

[Katia_chan]

Can anyone weigh in with more info? Time of Email, etc?

Edited February 13, 2014 by Katia_chan

[skgarcia]

Hi everyone

 

I've only applied to University of Chicago (MAPH - Humanities MA) and University of Illinois at Chicago (English MA).  Seems like there's a much smaller amount of MA'ers on these forums in comparison to PhD applicants.

 

I kind of rose a stink in the GRE section of this forum; I scored a whopping 130 on my Quant section of the GRE.  If I get accepted to either school I'd be surprised.  3.78 GPA, 160V, 6.0 writing.

 

Good luck to all

Edited February 13, 2014 by skgarcia

[Tweedledumb]

This is just a question to get my mind off the UT-Austin acceptances, but did anyone fill out that box on your applications that asked what other programs you were applying to? Or the one that asked if you could afford graduate study without a fellowship/assistantship? Just curious how everyone else answered; the questions made me feel weird. 

 

Edit: grammar

Edited February 13, 2014 by Tweedledumb

[skgarcia]

Tweed, I did not fill out the section inquiring as to my other applications.  In my opinion, filling that out would only possibly harm you; if they want to admit you, leaving this field blank won't deter them.  However, filling this out with information regarding your applications at much higher-level programs could possibly deter them from offering you funding.

 

I did, however, mention honestly that my parents will be paying for my graduate school.  This is a portion of the application I felt could only be win/win for me--win for the college by making money, and win for me by the acceptance.

[despejado]

Has anyone else noticed that Nova's Masters deadline is way later than normal? They usually report by this time of year, and their website shows MA apps not even being DUE until March 1st. Not complaining, just weird.

[Kamisha]

Congrats to all the acceptances on the boards today! It’s great to see. I hope that they keep coming (for all of us)! 

[Katia_chan]

Also distracting myself...

 

I didn't fill out the list of other schools.  I don't necessarily believe it would hurt me; as someone said on here, they're not trying to trick you into getting yourself rejected; there are plenty of legit reasons to chuck any one of us.  But IMO, it's... none of their business.  If they explained why they wanted to know, I'd probably fill it in.  But as is, I can't see the purpose, so I'm not touching it.

 

I also said no to having funding outside of assistantships.  I can't/won't pay for a 6 year program, so didn't feel like I should even imply that I might.  If it was an MA, done in two years, I'd consider it.  But not for a PHD program.

[CommPhD20]

Whether or not a given person has the money available, it's honestly a terrible investment. There is no PhD in any field worth the many hundreds of thousands of debt nor is there an MA that should cost at least 6 figures, especially after you factor in your living expenses. If you have the money, it might make sense to eat a short-term cost (maybe in-state tuition to get an MA) but to do something like the MAPH completely out of pocket is lunacy IMO. I believe there is no better use of your time than learning, but there are better ways to do it when you could buy several houses with the same expenditure. Why not just pay yourself to hang out at home or work some enjoyable, but low-paying job if you're going to drop that much money? 

[Tweedledumb]

I also didn't fill out the other schools I applied to because I couldn't see a reason to tell them. And I said no to the funding question bc I really can't afford it and won't consider paying for it, but I thought both questions were somehow a trap. Im paranoid. I know.

Edited February 13, 2014 by Tweedledumb

[skgarcia]

Whether or not a given person has the money available, it's honestly a terrible investment. There is no PhD in any field worth the many hundreds of thousands of debt nor is there an MA that should cost at least 6 figures, especially after you factor in your living expenses. If you have the money, it might make sense to eat a short-term cost (maybe in-state tuition to get an MA) but to do something like the MAPH completely out of pocket is lunacy IMO. I believe there is no better use of your time than learning, but there are better ways to do it when you could buy several houses with the same expenditure. Why not just pay yourself to hang out at home or work some enjoyable, but low-paying job if you're going to drop that much money? 

 

I find your response somewhat hurtful?  No one should judge what the best use of a person's time is other than that person.  Students who have parents capable of paying their tuition can look at a large variety of programs without anything holding them back--if money were an issue, why would their parents offer to pay for it?  If their parents are willing, and capable of, paying whatever amount for whatever degree, why bash them?  I may be incorrect for feeling this way, but I'm interpreting your response quite hurtfully.  In your opinion, I should stay home and pay myself to do nothing rather than attend a program I'm highly interested in because it's an unfunded MA?

[skgarcia]

"Several houses" is quite an exaggeration.  Several houses.. where?  Mississippi? A trailor park?  MAPH is somewhere around 50-60k, before taxes, if I'm remembering correctly.  That won't buy you much of a house in any state.  Even if you multiplied that times four, to include cost of living, it wouldn't buy more than one home.  Why use such comparisons hurtfully?  You're obviously stretching the truth--why?  Don't judge or belittle what other people want to spend their money on.

[despejado]

I find your response somewhat hurtful?  No one should judge what the best use of a person's time is other than that person.  Students who have parents capable of paying their tuition can look at a large variety of programs without anything holding them back--if money were an issue, why would their parents offer to pay for it?  If their parents are willing, and capable of, paying whatever amount for whatever degree, why bash them?  I may be incorrect for feeling this way, but I'm interpreting your response quite hurtfully.  In your opinion, I should stay home and pay myself to do nothing rather than attend a program I'm highly interested in because it's an unfunded MA?

 

I hear this. I don't think anyone was trying to be hurtful, but if an unfunded MA is what makes me a successful PhD candidate in the future, that's what I'm going after. And if it STILL doesn't get me into a PhD program, it will get me a job adjuncting, or in administration, or SOMETHING. It'll make me money someday, which is really very necessary whether I get into a PhD program or not. It's a matter of situations.

[skgarcia]

I don't think they were purposefully trying to be hurtful, I just know their response was directed towards me and it was hurtful when I read it.  I do want to be a competitive PhD applicant in the future, and I feel Chicago's MAPH program is a great stepping stone to that goal.  Like you said, desp, I'll do whatever I need to do in order to get there.  I'm only somewhat different from the norm in that my parents are capable of supporting me and I'm an only child.  We aren't rich, but they're willing to do anything they can to help.