Wayne State or Queen's?

[obrera]

Hey guys,

 

I don't know much about American schools and programs, so I am looking for your input. I was accepted to the English Lit PhD programme at Wayne State (WSU). I want to work with radical labour poetry and song from 1910-1939, and WSU has most of the archival material that I would need to do so. I'm just wondering if anyone knows anything about WSU that they could offer me, or about living in Detroit. Would a PhD from WSU serve me better than a PhD from a highly ranked Canadian school, especially if I'm focusing on American poetry? Queen's is a high-ranked school with an excellent program. I would not get as much teaching experience at Queen's, but the teaching load at WSU is 2-1, and I've never taught my own course, so it seems like a lot of time and work while I should be writing a dissertation. Queen's is a good fit faculty wise, and I could drive to the archives at WSU without much trouble. I did my MA at Queen's, so I'm familiar with the city and the department. My experience here has been good. WSU is offering me more funding than Queen's, but again, the teaching load is way more. WSU seems really excited about my project, though. Not that Queen's isn't.

 

Anyway, feel free to ask me anything for the sake of clarification. Thanks in advance! Any input about the teaching load would be great too.

[courtc8891]

I talked to my honours supervisor and department chair about TAships recently and they both gave the same advice: teach, but do as little as possible. When applying for jobs your work and publications will be weighted more heavily than the amount you teach. The heavier workload at WSU might interfere with your research. If you can get by financially without having to teach much you'll be better off in the long run, according to both my profs.
 

Anyway, just their input in my specific situation, so you may or may not find it useful. Congratulations on your acceptances

[obrera]

I talked to my honours supervisor and department chair about TAships recently and they both gave the same advice: teach, but do as little as possible. When applying for jobs your work and publications will be weighted more heavily than the amount you teach. The heavier workload at WSU might interfere with your research. If you can get by financially without having to teach much you'll be better off in the long run, according to both my profs.

 

Anyway, just their input in my specific situation, so you may or may not find it useful. Congratulations on your acceptances

Good advice. Thank you. I think the teaching load is my main concern.