Gameplan Advice/Feedback

[elaleph]

Here is an example of the arrogance that I unfairly applied to you, GoodGuy:

Take a look at this current thread from that bastion of bitterness and entitlement, the Chronicle forums:

http://chronicle.com/forums/index.php/t ... 736.0.html

glorified high school teachers

Now that's insulting to professors and high school teachers.

I am becoming increasingly suspicious of the quality of the education given in doctoral programs in the humanities (in places other than Yale, Harvard, or Berkeley)

you're pretty much screwed because the professors are too busy to read your papers well, or give good feedback.

Now I am sure that there are many really awful grad programs out there. But the ironic thing is that the complaint the OP has about the lack of guidance from professors at "lesser" programs is a complaint I have previously only heard directed at top-ranked programs. In fact, hasn't one of the programs that he mentions (Berkeley) had this reputuation for awhile? I know people have complained (on the CHE forums, no less) that they have received a lackluster education at a lustrous PhD program because their brilliant, genius advisor cared about nothing but her own research.

[lotf629]

Very best of luck, OP.

Your Didion essay, as well as some of the other posts on this thread, made me think of J.K. Rowling's Harvard commencement speech: definitely worth a read/listen if you haven't already.

http://harvardmagazine.com/commencement ... magination

[hadunc]

I read your post and couldn't help but feel how eerily all of your concerns coincide with my own. Although our situations aren't quite identical, I went through a very similar experience of basically being praised all the way through college and told how awesome I am, only to be rejected by 6 schools and wait listed and then rejected by the seventh. I've been feeling like I am clearly not as great as everyone has always told me I am. But now that I'm starting to pick myself up out of the post-rejection slump, I've been looking over my application materials and I think I made the exact same mistakes as you did. I applied only to schools that were ranked highly (with one exception), I didn't spend nearly enough time on my statement of purpose, I didn't make contacts, and my writing sample didn't show a very advanced grasp of the theory which I was trying to apply. I plan to work really hard on improving all of these areas this time around. I'm also looking into programs I normally would have dismissed because of their rank, and also considering some programs that fit my interests in cultural studies but aren't part of an English department.

Honestly, I think if I had discovered this site BEFORE my applications were due instead of after, I'd have done much better. As an undergrad, it's really hard to be completely aware of all the things ad coms are looking for, unless you have a prof who has gone through the experience recently enough to be helpful. Undergrad programs, even at prestigious schools, often aren't geared toward people like us who want to pursue professional scholarship. I know at my school that even the literature major is catered to people who want to go into professional writing fields, which has left me feeling way behind and kind of shafted. It's frustrating, but I'm trying to look at this as a learning experience. And on the bright side, putting myself through all this crap has made me realize how much I want this and has also allowed me some time to realize exactly what area of scholarship that I want to pursue.

Anyway, this post is starting to ramble on, but I think the key here is to try to get as much advice as possible from everyone you can, then try to piece together a plan. If you want, you can pm me, and maybe we could compare strategies as the 2010 application season starts to get underway. Since we are going into somewhat similar fields, it might be helpful for both of us.

[Minnesotan]

I'll never understand people's hang-ups regarding location: Manhattan is the same as Montana in my book. I'm pretty sure I'm in the minority regarding this however.

Seriously? Montana is so many worlds better than Manhattan, it's unfathomable. First, you might actually make enough money to survive on a TAship in Montana. I don't know what kind of background the rest of you come from, but my parents didn't invent Velcro, and my last name certainly isn't Kennedy. I don't know how someone lives on an assistant professor's salary in NYC, let alone a grad stipend.

Moreover, as much as I love visiting Manhattan, there is no escape from it. In Montana (I'm assuming you meant Missoula), you have access to big city amenities, yet nature is only a fifteen minute drive away. Central Park might be nice, but it is not nature.

The only real benefit to living in NYC is the proximity to other libraries, musea, etc.

[latetothegame]

Musea? Sorry, but that just jumped out at me as being a little precious. I already roll my eyes when people say things like colloquia and fora just because we're in academia.

[a cup of coffee]

I have to say "musea" made my day (according to the OED: "archaic, rare").

[Minnesotan]

Sorry - a few too many years of Latin makes me overcompensate for the stupidity of contemporary speakers. It drives me apeshit when people say "curriculums!" We won't even talk about the misuse of "phenomenon/a," "begging the question," or "disinterested."

Pedantic Man rides again! =)

[sonofcioran]

Sorry - a few too many years of Latin makes me overcompensate for the stupidity of contemporary speakers. It drives me apeshit when people say "curriculums!" We won't even talk about the misuse of "phenomenon/a," "begging the question," or "disinterested."

Pedantic Man rides again! =)

I'm not a Latin guy, so I'll probably wind up on the offending end of Latin plurals as much as the other idiots, but if you like that stuff - did you read the new Strunk & White? It has commonly misused words and phrases from the internet age e.g. "irregardless", "for all intensive purposes", etc. Did you read Eats, Chutes & Leaves? That'd be really up your alley. It's grammar porn.

I bought a copy for one of my friends (he writes like a German thanks to reading waaaay too much German Idealism). Then I bought another copy, photocopied it, and taught it to my kids in mini-lessons. Plus, I'm even learning stuff from it, too. I have it on the back of my can.

My pet peeve is "peruse". The word is so commonly misused, common usage will probably become denotation inside of the decade.

[Jack Cade]

An anecdotal tidbit. In looking over my app material, I have realized that the best offer I received was from a school in which the third sentence of my SOP was a fragment. It was an early application and I was in the middle of writing seminar papers, but I not only got accepted to this school, R1 competitive middle of the pack, but also was nominated for a fellowship.

The reason given for the acceptance and nomination was my sample (which was far from perfect) and fit for their department.

One of the other admittance offers I received from another R1, competitive had a horrible sample, but a finalized SOP that was in 'good' shape, but I also fit in there as well.

Just an FYI.