Campus Visits

[bigrelief]

Question: do most schools that pay for hotels make you double up with someone you don't know? Because I am deeply uncomfortable with this but maybe I'm being a princess. 

 

Two of my visits paid for hotels, and both of them had us double-up in rooms (which I'm pretty uncomfortable with too, but turned out better than expected).  Neither program is known for being strapped for cash.  I hope you end up alone, but I'd be prepared for a roommate!

[1Q84]

Wow. I just did my first campus visit and had so much FUN! It was a really tremendous faculty and school that I was unsure about at first. It's definitely complicating my thoughts about potential decisions anytime soon. 

[kurayamino]

My visit to UCLA was wonderful. It really cemented them as a top choice for me without feeling pressured at all to pick them by any of the faculty or current grad students. I will say though I am still completely overwhelmed by all the information and feeling rather tired. I flew back yesterday and I must have slept about 13 hours.. haha.

[thepriorwalter]

Hey, everyone! In February, I made travel arrangements to visit my two top choices. After visiting department A, I am fairly certain it's not the place for me, and I think I am ready to accept department B's offer. Will department B still pay for the cost of my visit if I've formally accepted their offer already?

There isn't a real rush to accept, except that (1) turning down department A's offer might give the person they call off the wait list a chance to visit and (2) it would benefit me re: a specific housing opportunity to have formally accepted the department's offer.

Can't decide if this is a silly question but figured I'd ask. Thanks!

[CarolineNC]

My visit to UCLA was wonderful. It really cemented them as a top choice for me without feeling pressured at all to pick them by any of the faculty or current grad students. I will say though I am still completely overwhelmed by all the information and feeling rather tired. I flew back yesterday and I must have slept about 13 hours.. haha.

Have you visited Michigan yet? I hear Ann Arbor is super nice. 

[kurayamino]

Have you visited Michigan yet? I hear Ann Arbor is super nice. 

 

Not yet, but the open house is in two weeks and I'm really excited to check it out!

[allplaideverything]

My visit to Riverside complicated everything for me. The work that folks are doing there opens so many possibilities for radicalizing the humanities. I couldn't have been more impressed. I'm an emotional person generally, but at least three professors made me tear up when talking about their work and the profession. But, money, and location, and job placement. My visit to USC was brief--beautiful campus, impressive cohort, though the work there seemed generally mainstream, liberal, or even neoliberal (which owes, I'm told, to a monied and reactionary administration). I'm surprised to learn I love LA. Visiting Davis later this month.

[CarolineNC]

Allplaid, riverside sounds wonderful. three Kansas PhDs just got tenure track jobs! If they can do it from Ku...

Edited March 13, 2015 by CarolineKS

[InHacSpeVivo]

Hey, everyone! In February, I made travel arrangements to visit my two top choices. After visiting department A, I am fairly certain it's not the place for me, and I think I am ready to accept department B's offer. Will department B still pay for the cost of my visit if I've formally accepted their offer already?

There isn't a real rush to accept, except that (1) turning down department A's offer might give the person they call off the wait list a chance to visit and (2) it would benefit me re: a specific housing opportunity to have formally accepted the department's offer.

Can't decide if this is a silly question but figured I'd ask. Thanks!

It's not a silly question! I would say to hold off except for that housing offer. Have they put you in touch with any grad students you could ask about protocol? I don't think it would be terrible to phrase it as I want to accept to move the process along but I also need to visit to be 100% certain and can't afford to do so on my own.

Not a situation I've encountered so that might not be helpful, but let us know how it goes. Good luck! (And congrats on being close to a decision!)

[greenmt]

My visit to Riverside complicated everything for me. The work that folks are doing there opens so many possibilities for radicalizing the humanities. I couldn't have been more impressed. I'm an emotional person generally, but at least three professors made me tear up when talking about their work and the profession. But, money, and location, and job placement. My visit to USC was brief--beautiful campus, impressive cohort, though the work there seemed generally mainstream, liberal, or even neoliberal (which owes, I'm told, to a monied and reactionary administration). I'm surprised to learn I love LA. Visiting Davis later this month.

 

Riverside the place is kind of horrid, but I'd go with the program that feels right.  LA is not a terrible drive from there in the context of Southern California driving, and there's good, interesting stuff happening in and east of downtown LA.  Also, if this matters to you, east of Riverside has a lot of natural beauty on protected land, and the area around Palm Springs is fun.

[lyonessrampant]

I think that the program will still probably pay for you to visit even if you've accepted.  At my program for the last three years when I've been involved with recruitment, we have several people who have already accepted the offer but still come to the Recruitment Event and we still pay for the same amount of expenses as people who come and have not yet accepted.  I think it's worth asking a grad student if you're in contact with one.

[hypervodka]

But, money, and location, and job placement.

 

Is it that UC-R isn't giving you a livable stipend (in which case, don't go there, please), or that they're not giving you as much as other programs? I know USC's package in particular for creative writing students is, um, distracting. If it's the latter, personally, I've come to terms with the fact that short-term financial difficulties are a small price to pay for long-term academic happiness (but, at the same time, my long-term academic happiness involves some certitude in job placement). I'm really just echoing greenmt here, but go where you'll be happiest.

 

Location was important when I was even choosing the programs to apply to, because I knew that it's somewhere I'd be living for five or six years. I've just visited LA as well, and, for whatever reason, I loved it too. I do think that should be factor, but only as an extension of the happiness question. Go with your gut: could you stay in Riverside for five years? To me, Riverside isn't that bad, but that really is just me.

 

I will say that I exclusively applied to very traditional English programs, but a POI at one of these programs has always been an aggressive outlier, which was the reason I approached her in the first place. She started working at the department in the god-awful 1990s, when it was an extremely academically conservative working environment, but she's still, you know, her. It is possible to do interesting work in a relatively uninteresting environment. There are some schools where your dissertation is pretty plainly dictated by the members of your committee, and there are some schools where graduate students actually have intellectual flexibility. I get the sense that USC was fairly flexible, though everyone seems to take the same classes and work with the same professors, which can get insular. I didn't realize that Riverside had bad placement, and of course USC's is far better for creative writers. 

 

Also, aren't Riverside and USC in the west coast equivalent of a consortium? There is a lot of intellectual exchange between Irvine, Riverside, USC, and UCLA, as well as Claremont and Pomona. Not to mention all of the people who aren't affiliated with universities at all. Even if you may not be able to take classes at Riverside officially (though you should ask because I know USC and UCLA students switch around a lot) if you attended USC, you'd still have access to that intellectual sphere. It's an hour and half to get between LA and Riverside. There is a lot to do in Los Angeles that doesn't involve USC directly so there is going to be a lot of opportunity to develop your interests independently.

[Dr. Old Bill]

I just received the itinerary for the UMD open house, and they have scheduled me for meetings with three faculty members. Much to my surprise (but not disappointment), all three are firmly Renaissance scholars, as opposed to poetry / poetics faculty. I'm trying not to read into this too much, but I'm guessing this reflects their interest in me as an early modernist (generally), as opposed to a prosodist specifically.

 

I don't think I'm going to go against any particular "flow" to reorient myself firmly as a prosodist in the program, though I wonder how much leeway one has in this regard. I'm certain I would be happy doing work that is less focused on transhistorical poetics and more focused on Renaissance literature, yet it wasn't exactly what I was expecting. Does anyone have any thoughts on this matter?

Edited March 13, 2015 by Wyatt's Torch

[margeryhemp]

I just received the itinerary for the UMD open house, and they have scheduled me for meetings with three faculty members. Much to my surprise (but not disappointment), all three are firmly Renaissance scholars, as opposed to poetry / poetics faculty. I'm trying not to read into this too much, but I'm guessing this reflects their interest in me as an early modernist (generally), as opposed to a prosodist specifically.

 

I don't think I'm going to go against any particular "flow" to reorient myself firmly as a prosodist in the program, though I wonder how much leeway one has in this regard. I'm certain I would be happy doing work that is less focused on transhistorical poetics and more focused on Renaissance literature, yet it wasn't exactly what I was expecting. Does anyone have any thoughts on this matter?

 

I would say if you have prosodist POIs at Maryland you'd like to speak with, reach out to the grad assistant and ask if that's possible. There were history faculty at the schools I've visited that I wanted to meet and scheduling time with them was no issue, plus I felt like it helped me see all the interdisciplinary options available to me. Plus, by asking to meet with those professors explicitly, you're signaling your diverse interest and opening the door for further work in this field at UMD.

[cloudofunknowing]

If one of them is Theresa Coletti, you're in for a real treat. She's fantastic! (A medievalist who works in early modern, too)

[Dr. Old Bill]

If one of them is Theresa Coletti, you're in for a real treat. She's fantastic! (A medievalist who works in early modern, too)

 

One of them is indeed! Very glad to hear she's fantastic!

 

Honestly, since I made my last post, I've been talking with a good friend who is a recent grad student, and I'm coming to realize that it might be best if I go down the early modern road regardless. There are some good reasons for it -- too complex to get into here -- but I'm getting the distinct feeling that everything is working out for the best.

[Appppplication]

UC Riverside has some amazing stuff going on.

If you have a car there are many places you can live other than riverside that aren't too far. You can commute from claremont, upland, redlands, even palm springs or L.A. if you are adventurous.

I was very impressed with the campus, the upcoming growth of some of the humanities programs, and many of the faculty.

[1Q84]

Also, aren't Riverside and USC in the west coast equivalent of a consortium? There is a lot of intellectual exchange between Irvine, Riverside, USC, and UCLA, as well as Claremont and Pomona. Not to mention all of the people who aren't affiliated with universities at all. Even if you may not be able to take classes at Riverside officially (though you should ask because I know USC and UCLA students switch around a lot) if you attended USC, you'd still have access to that intellectual sphere. It's an hour and half to get between LA and Riverside. There is a lot to do in Los Angeles that doesn't involve USC directly so there is going to be a lot of opportunity to develop your interests independently.

 

On this note, I was pleasantly surprised to hear that many events run by the Huntington Early Modern Studies Institute are organized in part by one of my POIs at Riverside and one of my POIs at USC! That was nice. So I think the informal consortium is in place. It's also nice to know that I'd be able to work with all of the great faculty from both schools regardless of which of the two schools I end up through the Huntington EMSI.

 

What do you mean USC and UCLA students switch around a lot, though?

Edited March 14, 2015 by 1Q84

[hypervodka]

What do you mean USC and UCLA students switch around a lot, though?

 

Oh, I just meant that several USC students I've spoken have taken courses at UCLA and vice versa. The process for becoming a visiting student at those schools is smooth and really straightforward (despite the fact that USC is on the semester system and UCLA is on the quarter system). I wouldn't be surprised if Riverside and USC had a similar relationship.

[1Q84]

Oh, I just meant that several USC students I've spoken have taken courses at UCLA and vice versa. The process for becoming a visiting student at those schools is smooth and really straightforward (despite the fact that USC is on the semester system and UCLA is on the quarter system). I wouldn't be surprised if Riverside and USC had a similar relationship.

 

That's kind of amazing. I'm sad I didn't know about this kind of SoCal university consortium beforehand (I only knew of the UC-wide one). It's making me feel pretty excited about the academic community in this area.

[allplaideverything]

I appreciate the advice and information, hypervodka & others! I still have a lot to learn and weigh, but y'all are being so helpful and easing my anxiety!

[windrainfireandbooks]

Off to my campus visit! Nervous, anxious, excited, looking forward to a few days out of town, and hoping that this helps answer some questions for me in my decision-making process.

[windrainfireandbooks]

Had my campus visit today and I am feeling a little bit heartbroken. The program is fantastic, with reputable scholars and hard-working, driven, accomplished students. I really was ready to embrace it, and on paper it seems such a good fit - but (keeping in mind, of course, that it is hard to get the feel of a school in just one day), after my visit, I am not sure it is really that good of a fit anymore. Need some time away from thinking about it though - will give myself some distance, then come back and see how I feel in a few days.

Edited March 21, 2015 by windrainfireandbooks

[allplaideverything]

Ah, Wind, what happened at the visit?

[windrainfireandbooks]

The visit was great in many ways - the staff was incredibly welcoming and friendly, everything was well-organized, and overall I had a lot of fun and met some great people. However, despite all of that, I also feel that the program is not the best fit for me. That being said, it sounds like an absolutely stimulating, fantastic program and place to study. It is all still too fresh for me to fully articulate and, as I said, I need some time and distance before I can really say how I feel - but, without being able to fully articulate at this point, I couldn't help but feel by the end of the day that, despite how impressive the program is, it is not the best one for me.

 

Sorry, I realize I am rambling - my head is kind of full now. Hopefully what I typed sort of makes sense.