What would you do differently?

[Porridge]

Thoughts on leaving a 55k per year corporate gig for an english PhD?

Well I kind of did this (except for the corporate bit. But I was getting good money. Gave it up and. Do. Not. Regret. It.

 

ETA: My SOP was so narrow it was sharp. I got positive results everywhere bar one place.

Edited March 22, 2013 by Porridge

[midnight]

Thoughts on leaving a 55k per year corporate gig for an english PhD?

 

My thoughts: Would you have gone through this crucible if you didn't want it? I really doubt it.

[Taco Superior]

 one of the schools I got into is the #1 school in the country for ecocriticism, so I cannot complain about that.

 

is it nevada or GS?

 

Thoughts on leaving a 55k per year corporate gig for an english PhD?

 

I don't have kids or any such major responsibilities. If the only life you're gambling with is your own (and POSSIBLY even if that's not the case), f--k yeah! As Rick Roderick says, "Do you want the story of your life to be, 'He was the best tire salesman in Tacoma,' or do you want to make of your time something that might possibly be used in the same sentence with the word 'destiny'?" (Apologies to the posthumanists for this juvenile reversion to notions of self-creation etc; nauseating I know.)

[Datatape]

is it nevada or GS?

 

Nevada.  Cheryll Glotfelty is one of the founding scholars of ecocriticism and she's the DGS at Nevada.

[Taco Superior]

Nevada.  Cheryll Glotfelty is one of the founding scholars of ecocriticism and she's the DGS at Nevada.

 

"Glotfelty": the name alone is so handsome, so persuasive.

[squire_western]

In reply to the OP, I would contact a POI from each school I applied to and would at least try to make a trip to programs in driving/cheap flying distance. I was accepted to a couple of great programs and rejected from many more-- and I was accepted to every program where I personally contacted (and in one case, met) a POI. Perhaps my charming personality made up for my totally average GRE scores? Hard to say.

[zielschmerz]

What would I do differently? I would use the writing sample that I used in every application that got me an acceptance in all my applications. However, the take-away from this for someone applying might be the opposite: don't put all your eggs in one basket. But if you do: pick the best piece of writing. Go with quality and ambition over length-adherence and specialty-relevance.

 

Also, be super organized! I got lucky, but had some close calls. Triple check deadlines (I got it into my head JHU's was the 9th; it was the 6th.) Do a spreadsheet of who wants GRE subject scores, who accepts electronic transcripts, etc. etc. Get an early start on sending everything, because you never know what problems you'll encounter, and circa December, a lot of offices start closing for the holidays. I don't remember details, but I know I wasted money messing up sending subject test scores unnecessarily/to the school not the dept. etc., paying for expedited shipping on writing samples/transcripts--stuff like that.

 

Finally, after a computer disaster this month, I would underscore the importance of external hard drives/Dropbox/Box.com/et al. Back up everything. Constantly.

[guinevere29]

Things I would have done different

• I'll echo a lot of other comments on this thread in saying I wish I would have done more work to determine my own "fit" for a program before I went ahead and applied. I could have, in some cases, narrowed down my list and in others, broadened it.
• I wish I would have contacted POIs from the schools I was most interested in before I applied.
• My SOPs could have been improved upon. I thought it would be easy to throw something together at the last minute for that and I was wrong.
• I should have looked more into funding opportunities at schools. I'm pleased with the PhD program I will be attending in a month and feel it is an excellent fit, but I can't help but feel I could have had leverage to ask for a better funding offer if I would have gotten even better funding from other schools.

This I would NOT have done differently

• Studied more for the Subject GRE. I didn't crack open a single practice book or read about test strategies and my score was crap. However, less than half my schools required it and the one that gave me the best offer did require it. So go figure.
• Scratch and rewrite my writing sample a couple weeks before my first application deadline. While this lead to a lot of stress and panic, I do believe I came up with a much better sample by finally letting go of my old paper. 
• Apply to a "back-up" MA program. I resisted doing this in spite of the advice of a professor, because I was convince my list comprised of only top-20 schools were the only schools I was willing to attend. I ended up deciding to apply, and it was the first acceptance call I recieved. It was a breath of fresh air amidst the stress of recieving rejections that honestly wouldn't have been a bad choice in the end if it was the only place I got into.

Edited July 29, 2013 by guinevere29

[Two Espressos]

The best part of rereading this thread is seeing people like Girl Who Wears Glasses who thought she'd have to do things differently next round...and then didn't need a next round.  It makes me happy.  

 

What would I have done differently?  I would have paid much closer attention to fit and funding, applying to a different set of schools.  Oddly enough--or maybe not?--  the one program on my list that ended up being an excellent fit for the direction my research interests were going is the one I'm attending this fall.

[practical cat]

The best part of rereading this thread is seeing people like Girl Who Wears Glasses who thought she'd have to do things differently next round...and then didn't need a next round.  It makes me happy.  

Love.

I stand by what I said in that despair. My writing sample needed another month of really solid work because I think that was the major difference between outright acceptance/waitlist in all three cases. I would've applied to fewer schools -- 7, I still have the list I made when I made my original post in this thread -- but they all would've been better fits.

[rhetoricus aesalon]

Thoughts on leaving a 55k per year corporate gig for an english PhD?

 

I'll echo that I left a comfy corporate job when I went back to school for my MA, and I have never regretted the decision once. Think about what you want from your degree, though. I once heard a good friend who was completing an MFA in poetry say, "An MFA is the gift I'm giving myself. I'm not getting it for anyone else or expecting anything else from it. If I become able to support myself by writing, that's great! But that is not why I want this degree."

[ComeBackZinc]

Yeah. I plan on getting a job. This isn't a degree I'm getting just for fun. But when I read so many people talking about how stupid it is to get a PhD, I really don't think they bother to consider quality of life, or to trust people who say they enjoy this. The last several years have been among the most fulfilled and happy of my life. I cannot tell you how much enjoyment I have in my day-to-day existence. I'm being practical and strategic in my grand plan; because I'm funded, I've been frugal, and I've search for additional money and side jobs, I have no more debt today than when I started the program. But I'm also being a romantic because I'm living a life I love right now. That'll be true even if I don't get a job.

[Swagato]

...Oddly enough--or maybe not?--  the one program on my list that ended up being an excellent fit for the direction my research interests were going is the one I'm attending this fall.

 

This is the case for me as well. Well, almost. The only other really magnificent fit was always Chicago, and...well. Word on the grapevine is that it's quite a bit harder to get in for the PhD if you already hold an MA there, but I'm sure they had their reasons beside that. I'm just slightly peeved/amused, though, because Chicago recently made a bunch of star hires in my field and now has the unchallenged #1 department in Film Studies. x) Just had to happen now, of course.

 

But with that said, I can't help being pleased at the ridiculously good fit I keep reaffirming at Yale's departments. What I take away from this cycle is this: the adcomms sure as hell know what they're doing. 

[ComeBackZinc]

This is the case for me as well. Well, almost. The only other really magnificent fit was always Chicago, and...well. Word on the grapevine is that it's quite a bit harder to get in for the PhD if you already hold an MA there, but I'm sure they had their reasons beside that. I'm just slightly peeved/amused, though, because Chicago recently made a bunch of star hires in my field and now has the unchallenged #1 department in Film Studies. x) Just had to happen now, of course.

 

But with that said, I can't help being pleased at the ridiculously good fit I keep reaffirming at Yale's departments. What I take away from this cycle is this: the adcomms sure as hell know what they're doing. 

 

I would say that they know what they are doing, but face resource and time constraints that make their choices necessarily subject to some fickleness. I always think of the Harvard undergraduate admissions chief who admitted that 90% of Harvard's applicants are perfectly capable of excelling at Harvard. From the adcomm's perspective, there's little to fear because genuinely unqualified applicants can be eliminated easily and early, and there are many perfectly qualified applicants trying to get the same spots. For the applicants, it's a little less comforting.

Edited July 30, 2013 by ComeBackZinc

[guinevere29]

Yeah. I plan on getting a job. This isn't a degree I'm getting just for fun. But when I read so many people talking about how stupid it is to get a PhD, I really don't think they bother to consider quality of life, or to trust people who say they enjoy this. The last several years have been among the most fulfilled and happy of my life. I cannot tell you how much enjoyment I have in my day-to-day existence. I'm being practical and strategic in my grand plan; because I'm funded, I've been frugal, and I've search for additional money and side jobs, I have no more debt today than when I started the program. But I'm also being a romantic because I'm living a life I love right now. That'll be true even if I don't get a job.

 

I feel the same way. I was offered a full time job and when I broke the news to them that I got into grad school after all, they decided to keep me for the summer anyways. I like the company, I like the people I work with, and yet I'm just not happy with the lifestyle. Every job has its ups and downs, but the corporate world just isn't for me. There's something I simply enjoy about my classes and the fufillment of the research and writing I do at school that I haven't been able to find in the business world. I know it does sound romantic but I know exactly what you mean!