Master's Programs, Summer Research (So Many Questions...)

[kaiphi]

Hi all,

I have been bouncing back and forth between what I want to do after graduation and recently settled on academia as a serious long-term career.

My CV is great but my GPA is "eh" because my undergrad career has been spotty thanks to some mental health issues this past year (ironically related to my little crisis of "what the hell am I going to do with my life!!!") and I have to take a gap semester/year in order to pay off the rest of my tuition bill that was normally covered by a grant that I'm no longer a priority for since my parents now make too much money.

In short, 2016 has been a rough ride. 

Anywho, I'm a bit glad to take this time away from school because I've been feeling very down and lost lately since last year I traveled at full speed academically/professionally trying to excel and get everything done in four years. It'll be a nice time to explore and travel and work a full-time job that I was offered at a local news station to pay for this tuition gap.

And the dean is being very helpful in allowing me to get my transcripts so I can apply for a summer research program that'd (hopefully) send me to Columbia in 2017.

But I do have some questions about where to go from here:

First, if I'm taking a gap year, what should I do to remain on-track for my CV? Such as publishing something, going somewhere, doing something? Right now I'm considering taking private French lessons because I want to be able to read and write fluently in the language. I also want a sort of small back-up plan in case I don't get into the summer research program, which is likely thanks to this darn GPA.

I'm currently writing a paper on American modernist literature that I'm going to submit to my school's undergraduate journal, but I also want to submit it elsewhere. 

Basically while I'm out I want to do things. Any suggestions?

 

Also, I've decided where I want to earn my PhD (Columbia's my dream school, but I have a list of others as well) but I'm stuck on my Master's. Location is very important to me (for a lot of reasons) so I want to study in New York after undergrad, but I also don't know how to find The School I want to work in. My professors and academic friends said I could look at schools publishing exciting work in my field, but I also don't know how to seek that out. The only scholar I can think of right now that I want to study under is Toni Morrison, but Princeton only has a PhD program and I'm not prepared to apply for that. (I'm also not very keen on Princeton.)

How did you all find your Master's programs? 

[Warelin]

I'm going to say a lot of things in this post. You may not like a lot of the things I have to say, but I hope you will find them useful.

A lot of times we all think we have great CVs. But what drives you? Why should the area of interest you're interested in matter to research and why should we care? If you have a topic in mind, find articles (in top journals) on who is publishing on that topic. Look them up. Where do they teach? More often than not, you'll realize that they aren't at an ivy league school.

Some of the ivy league schools are great in very specific areas but they're awful in other specific areas. Take time to look carefully at faculty bios and publications. Some publications you might find yourself enjoying. On some publications, you'll probably want to vomit in disgust.

You might want to be wary of the 'professor emiritus/emerita' title. Sometimes, it means the professor still does teach. Often, it means that they are fully retired. And sometimes, it even means that the professor has gone elsewhere to teach full-time. Unfortunately, this means you'll have to inquire from within the department to find out the specifics.

While I'd advise against choosing a college based on one city, NYC certainly has a fair amount of colleges to choose from:
NYU, CUNY, Fordham, Columbia, St. John's University, The City College of New York, Mercy College, Long Island University. I'm sure there are some I've missed.

Keep in mind, that applying to PHD programs is a very, very, competitive process. I think if I remember correctly, most applicants don't get in on their first round. Columbia receives 700 applications for 16 spots. That's less than 3 percent of applicants being accepted.
According to their website "Similarly, we have no fixed minimum GRE score, but successful applicants trained in the U.S. will almost always have a GRE verbal score in the 95^th percentile or better. International applicants must have a minimum TOEFL score of 600 on the paper test, or 100 on the internet test." That's roughly a 165V.

Also from their website " As we admit fewer than 5% of applicants, all aspects of the application need to be strong. We have no fixed cut-off on grades, but given our numbers, applicants are unlikely to be admitted unless they have an undergraduate GPA of 3.7 or higher (in the U.S. system based on a 4.0 scale), or its equivalent."

This post isn't meant to discourage you; but rather to put things into perspective.

On a side note, some publications won't accept a piece if it's published elsewhere.

[kaiphi]

Hey @Warelin,

I understand all of this, and perhaps I should have specified what it is I'm looking for:

Columbia is where I eventually want to get my PhD, but I want to earn my Master's at a different school to build my CV, specify my research interests, and generally get situated in the graduate school M.O. before embarking on it for life. 
Columbia was also not a particularly light or frivolous choice; there are many reasons why I've aimed for this school in particular.
At the moment I'm trying to figure out which NYC school (that's not Columbia) would be best for me, and am unsure of how to figure that out because NYU, for example, doesn't offer much in the way of course catalogs and Brooklyn College doesn't seem as challenging as I'd like my education to be.
(One of my criterion for choosing a program is based on how challenging it is; I've taken a couple of graduate courses in the past and they weren't very challenging to the point where I felt as though I were going through the motions at one point.)

I'm looking for a school that challenges me, is based in NY (doesn't necessarily have to be NYC), offers Master's programs in English/Comparative Literature and is preferably funded to some extent, and I was unsure of how to seek this school out.

That being said, thank you! I'm now checking faculty bios to see if they'll point me in the right direction.

[Bumblebea]

First of all, I see you're interested in Rhet/Comp, and from what I know (though others might jump in to correct me if I'm wrong), Columbia doesn't do rhet/comp. 

Second of all, Columbia and programs like Columbia tend to prefer candidates who are coming straight from their BA. Obviously this rule doesn't hold true for everyone. But it's something to keep in mind. 

Third of all, I would recommend looking only at MA programs that have funding. Since you're bound to New York, this could be tricky. But UConn has a funded MA. Rutgers-Camden also has a funded MA program. I'm coming up blank for other ideas of funded MA programs in the general NY area. 

[kaiphi]

@Bumblebea I'm actually looking at their Comparative Literature MA/PhD program right now in order to tie American Modernism and the Caribbean diaspora/Cultural studies together somehow. Rhet/Comp and Lit Theory are just two other categories I'm eyeballing atm. I'm not applying for another year, but I'm working on my statement of purpose now in order to apply for a couple of research/scholarship programs.

Also, I talked to my professor who specializes in American Modernism today, and he advised that I go ahead and apply to Columbia's PhD program among others straight out of undergrad.

(Well, not straight out, but since I'm taking a gap year to work as a journalist, maybe I will go ahead and apply after, give it a go.)

He also said that applying for an MA/PhD program may make me eligible for funding, so I'm going to look into schools with that as well. I have a friend who went to NYU's PhD and received funding, but ended up transferring to Hopkins after about a year. 

I also want to get a Fulbright at one point, and am trying to decide if I want to apply before or during grad school. Maybe before? I am studying French independently now, and it'd definitely help for my grad studies?

This is all shaping up as I type lol