Applying for PhD while in a 1 year MA

[godardbardotlang]

I am going to take a cross institution course at PITT ( a school I plan on applying to for Phd, so I assume this can only help as I'll have a chance to meet one of the professors I want to work under.) My main plan is to retake my GRE's and focus my SOP. I received a lot of notes last year on schools I was accepted and waitlisted from about my emphasis on film studies, so this year I am widening my search to more non traditional english and culture studies programs:

University of Chicago

PITT

UCI (Visual Culture)

UC Santa Cruz History of Consciousness

UC Davis Culture Studies

I will be taking four courses in the fall as well as working 30 hrs (non-school related).

Any suggestions?

[katanianQ]

I will be taking four courses in the fall as well as working 30 hrs (non-school related).

Any suggestions?

good luck with that. seriously. i worked my way through my m.phil while the majority of the other students were free to spend those 30 hrs a week in the library and it was really difficult to keep up with them. as in, i couldn't really bc there weren't enough hours in the day. it sucks but we do what we have to do. and it certainly can be done.

my suggestion to you would be to try and get your applications essays (and a definitive list of the schools you want to apply to) finished this summer before you begin the masters.. cause come fall, you probably won't find yourself with too much , if any, free time.

although ideally, I guess it would be nice to have the ma before applying to the phd programs, I don't see why you should wait an extra year of your life cause someone on this board says its a good idea. if you have the money to spend on applications, apply and worst case scenario, you can apply again next year. and you know what? this isn't necessarily a bad thing either. i took 3 years off in between and i've been teaching college during that time, and you know what? i feel MUCH more prepared to enter a phd program now due to the jillions (no lie) of papers i have read and graded and cried buckets of tears over. some stuff you just can't learn in school.. so my point is that even if it doesn't go your way, this might be a good thing.

I think its an esp good idea that youre taking the class at pitt to try and get to know professors though. that might just give you the extra edge if you make a great impression on em.

good luck! if you want it bad enough.. theres a way to do it.

[Minnesotan]

Four courses in one term? That's lunacy!

[Phedre]

I took five courses each term this year-- it wasn't terribly hard, but I did feel really busy!

Other depts you might consider:

Brown Theatre Arts and Performance Studies

WashU Theater and Performance Studies

Cornell Theatre, Film and Dance Ph.D

UC Berkeley Performance Studies
 

[Minnesotan]

You must not be teaching, otherwise our universities probably define the term "course" differently.