Purdue Vs. University of Alabama

[Scarlet A+]

I visited Alabama, and I thought to myself, I could really see myself making this work. The conference budget is huge, the gender and sexuality classes are interesting (if still in their early stages), and I have at least one big name, Trudier Harris, to make my mentor/recommendation letter, even though she studies something different (African American lit and southern lit). Best of all, my girlfriend got in. 

Then I got into Purdue. In the last two years all of their MA students got into top 20 PhD programs, there are 15+ well known faculty that teach my interests, and they have wonderful resources that help with publication. 

On paper, the choice seems obvious. I'd be happy with my girlfriend at UA, and they have the resources to help me make something of myself, if I'm hard-working and self-driven. But Purdue increases my odds in a very tangible, real way, of succeeding in a terrible job market. 

Can I afford to take the risk? And am I a horrible person for being angry that UA is perfect for my girlfriend's interests (southern studies), when it's so risky for mine? She doesn't even want to be a professor!! 

I felt so sure about UA, but Purdue seems so perfect, so tailor-made for me in ways I didn't anticipate. 

Can I really get into a great PhD program from UA? I hate myself for entertaining the possibility of risking my future career for a relationship. 

I need impossible guarantees. Fuck, I need for this to be over. Maybe this belonged on the vent page. I'll probably regret writing this, but I don't really have anyone to talk to, and I really need input. 

Tell me I'm an idiot for considering turning down Purdue. Or tell me UA has a good record or placing students in top PhD programs, outside of the south. Tell me something. 

Edited April 6, 2017 by Scarlet A+

[Dr. Old Bill]

2 minutes ago, Scarlet A+ said:

Tell me I'm an idiot for considering turning down UA. Or tell me UA has a good record or placing students in top PhD programs, outside of the south. Tell me something. 

You're not an idiot for considering turning down UA (hard decisions have to be made!), but as with your other post from a week or two ago, it still seems like UA is your best option. Also in that thread, @Ramus mentioned how he was accepted to OSU, UMD (and elsewhere, I believe) with an MA from UA, and that one of his peers got into Yale. Honestly, at the Master's level, your program is important, but doesn't seem to be as important as what you do within that program. UA isn't the University of Winesburg, Ohio, after all -- it's known, recognizable, and reasonably reputable. Again (again!!), rankings don't apply to M.A. programs, and when you're applying to Ph.D. programs in a couple of years, the program itself is going to be noticed, but isn't going to matter much when adcoms start reading your SOP, WS, LORs etc. 

But Purdue increases my odds in a very tangible, real way, of succeeding in a terrible job market.

Prove it. Seriously. Have you delved into UA's M.A.-to-Ph.D. placement numbers, or are you just wowed by what you've uncovered at Purdue?

Can I really get into a great PhD program from UA?

Yes.

I hate myself for entertaining the possibility of sacrificing my future career for a relationship.

At this point, I think you are denigrating UA far too much, making it sound like it's a dead-end institution with no future career prospects. That's really not the case! Purdue is great (though its recent reputation is based on its strength in rhet-comp), but if UA has great professors and great courses that fit your interests, that matters a heck of a lot. 

I can't speak to the career vs. relationship dynamic, because the ratio is different for everyone...but as was mentioned by myself and others in your earlier thread, don't underestimate the importance of a support system. Since your girlfriend is also in a similar boat in terms of academic pursuits, that kind of mutual empathy might be key. These things differ for everyone, of course, but don't discount the importance of a ready-made support system...

[Ramus]

With all due respect, haven't we discussed your situation at some length already? I'm not sure you've presented any new information that would lead posters to revise the advice they gave you in the earlier thread (which directly addressed many of the same issues you raise again here). 

 

[Scarlet A+]

21 minutes ago, Ramus said:

With all due respect, haven't we discussed your situation at some length already? I'm not sure you've presented any new information

 

Before, I thought that UA had my focus, but was lacking in rank. Now I know that Purdue has many more classes and high name professors in my interests, and specific resources for help with publication. All in all, I think that I've come to realize that Purdue is a better fit for my interests and has a more structured system in place for PhD application prep than UA, with or without the question of rank. I apologise if I seemed like a broken record by asking similar questions without presenting the new information directly enough. 

I guess I really need to be asking UA more questions, not GC. 

[Yanaka]

I think you could have used the same thread you had previously opened  

Maybe take your mind off the stuff for a few days and come back to it with a more relaxed mind?

[t67]

Also, to reiterate what most have said: the Purdue MA cohorts were likely great individual candidates. Going to a school with good mentorship is important, but guarantees nothing. As has already been stated: somebody got in to Yale from Alabama. This is precisely because where you got your MA doesn't really matter. You as an individual candidate is what matters. Rank doesn't matter. Go where you can be reasonably well-supported and happy (it sounds like you would be happy at Alabama or Purdue, but you would have a support system at Alabama, which is not an insignificant consideration), and don't worry about how many students got in to what programs, because ultimately it will be up to you to craft a compelling WS, SOP, and CV and (more importantly) pick the right schools to fit your interests. These are things that schools can't and won't do for you, and they affect where you end up more than anything else. 

[urbanfarmer]

It sounds like you want to go to Purdue. But are you going to be totally miserable if you break up with your girlfriend? In which case, all the pros of Purdue don't matter. 

If your relationship isn't the biggest consideration, however, then I'd just say go with Purdue so you don't feel regret later. I don't think either is a bad choice by any means, but being somewhere you're excited about is important. 

[dumbunny]

If you were worried about the state of your relationship, why did you apply to Purdue in the first place? Might this be an unconscious sign that you're ready to move on?

[Scarlet A+]

4 hours ago, dumbunny said:

If you were worried about the state of your relationship, why did you apply to Purdue in the first place? Might this be an unconscious sign that you're ready to move on?

We applied to the same programs, but she didn't get accepted at Purdue. We both got into UA. 

 

[Yanaka]

If your career and your relationship right now are at the same level--as in, you don't know which one to choose and (clearly) put an emphasis on Purdue's TT placement, I have the feeling you should choose your career.

[dumbunny]

1 hour ago, Yanaka said:

If your career and your relationship right now are at the same level--as in, you don't know which one to choose and (clearly) put an emphasis on Purdue's TT placement, I have the feeling you should choose your career.

Agreed. Relationships don't work out.

[Yanaka]

4 minutes ago, dumbunny said:

Agreed. Relationships don't work out.

That's not exactly what I was trying to say, it's just a feeling I have through the OP's posts  

 

[Warelin]

On 4/7/2017 at 10:34 AM, dumbunny said:

Agreed. Relationships don't work out.

Relationships can work out depending on the individuals involved.

MA rankings (which don't exist) don't matter. Placement numbers into PHDs don't tell much. We know where they may have gotten their MA from but we don't know where they got their BA from, GRE scores, SOP, Writing Sample, Letters of Recommendations, their publication history, their conference history, their teaching experience, or their research experiences. Nor do we know what their research interests are.  We also don't know whether or not they accepted an offer to be closer to family or if there was a family emergency that influenced their choice. We don't know whether or not they would have been accepted into a Ph.D. program the following year because that particular spot was already filled by someone else that the university accepted.

[dumbunny]

10 minutes ago, Yanaka said:

That's not exactly what I was trying to say, it's just a feeling I have through the OP's posts  

 

I don't intend to put words in your mouth. My intent was to provide my rationale for agreeing with you. As a general life observation, relationships tend not to work out.

[ThousandsHardships]

1 hour ago, dumbunny said:

I don't intend to put words in your mouth. My intent was to provide my rationale for agreeing with you. As a general life observation, relationships tend not to work out.

That's quite a generalization. Sure, many relationships don't work out, but many do. Everyone in my family (and by that I mean extended family) married the first person they've been in a relationship with, and all but one stayed married many decades into the game and are still either married or widowed today.

Obviously everyone is different, and I'm not in a position to judge whether OP's relationship is at a point where he's comfortable prioritizing his girlfriend above his career goals, but there is no shame in prioritizing a relationship. I was always told that family is more important than career. If your future boss and/or future schools believe that you need to sacrifice your personal life for your studies and career, then they're not worth your time and commitment.

But more practically speaking, I really don't think there's going to be that much of a difference in these two schools. I tend to agree with one of the comments above that you need to look at UA's placement numbers and not just go off of the one from Purdue. You can get into a very good PhD program from either of these, and they have no way of knowing why you chose the school you did anyway. For all they care, you could have turned down Princeton and Oxford.

Edited April 7, 2017 by ThousandsHardships

[kirbs005]

1 hour ago, ThousandsHardships said:

That's quite a generalization. Sure, many relationships don't work out, but many do. Everyone in my family (and by that I mean extended family) married the first person they've been in a relationship with, and all but one stayed married many decades into the game and are still either married or widowed today.

Obviously everyone is different, and I'm not in a position to judge whether OP's relationship is at a point where he's comfortable prioritizing his girlfriend above his career goals, but there is no shame in prioritizing a relationship. I was always told that family is more important than career. If your future boss and/or future schools believe that you need to sacrifice your personal life for your studies and career, then they're not worth your time and commitment.

But more practically speaking, I really don't think there's going to be that much of a difference in these two schools. I tend to agree with one of the comments above that you need to look at UA's placement numbers and not just go off of the one from Purdue. You can get into a very good PhD program from either of these, and they have no way of knowing why you chose the school you did anyway. For all they care, you could have turned down Princeton and Oxford.

I cannot echo this enough. Don't be afraid of making choices about how you feel right now. Trying to plan crazy far in the future is hard because you don't have all of the data that you will have as you will later on. It doesn't make you any less smart, or any less qualified for academia.

Also -- as much as everyone can give you advice anonymously in a forum, you ultimately are the only person who can make this choice. 

[Yanaka]

10 minutes ago, kirbs005 said:

Also -- as much as everyone can give you advice anonymously in a forum, you ultimately are the only person who can make this choice. 

Yup.

i think you should try the coin trick, flip it and then see how you react!

[Bumblebea]

OP:

Forgive me if this question is out of bounds, but why is your girlfriend so dead set against making it work with you if you go to Purdue and she goes to UA? I mean, I understand that long-distance relationships are never ideal, but certainly you both must have known that this would be a possibility at the end of admissions season. Academics often have to make LDRs work because they often can't end up at the same schools for jobs or fellowships. And not to be a Debbie Downer, but what are you going to do if you're in the same position two years from now? What if your partner wants to stay in Alabama and you get a PhD spot at NYU or something? Two years flies much faster than you might think. And then there's the job market ... I guess I'm trying to say that going to Alabama might be delaying the inevitable in that you are going to have to come to Jesus at some point in the near future. 

Having said that, this is an instance where the stakes are very low. If you choose to go to Alabama for your MA, you aren't throwing your future away or anything like that. But yes, being at an MA program where you feel supported to do your best work may put you in a better position for getting into a good PhD program. But it's a pretty big may, as there are no guarantees as far as PhD admissions go. You could go to Purdue and strike out for a PhD. You could go to Alabama and strike out for a PhD. Or you could get into Penn from either program, who knows. It really always comes down to a weird combination of luck and hard work and other circumstances completely outside your control. 

Additionally, I'm not sure it's absolutely essential to attend a program that has *exactly* what you want to do, especially at the master's level. I went into my MA program a devoted postcolonialist and came out an 18th centuryist. I know a person who, during his MA program, discovered a passion for graphic narrative and, because no one at his MA institution did graphic narratives, he got his PhD at a different program. My point is that he was still able to get into that other program, even though no one at his MA institution was there to really guide him. As far as the MA goes, you usually spend those two years filling distribution requirements and passing an exam--not writing a dissertation. So having the exact advisers in place is really not necessary. And moreover--the mentor you want to work with at either program will probably have more of their eggs in their PhD advisees' baskets because those are the people who are going to carry their name into the job market and beyond. They typically don't invest as much in their MA students' success because they don't have that kind of unlimited time and energy. That's not to say you won't benefit from their tutelage, but you're not going to be there long enough to create the kind of relationships that will translate into tangible gains. 

[cowgirlsdontcry]

I was a Ph.D. candidate this season and was accepted at UA where I will be attending this fall. I am receiving my M.A. at a Tier 1 South Regional University (10,000 students) and attended here because I own a house in Louisiana. My interests lie in contemporary American Literature, and Southern Lit, as a sub-genre. UA has a large number of Americanists among its faculty, and from what I have read that's where some of your interests lie. As a non-traditional older student, I can tell you that you should go where your heart tells you to go. From the dealings I have had with the English Department at UA thus far, they are open and friendly. They let me know how much they liked and appreciated my application. I already feel comfortable with them and believe I will build a good rapport with my professors, whom I will be able to talk to openly about various research projects I have going on.

When I was an undergrad I did an exchange for a year at UMass. The number of classes amazed me, but I can honestly say the professors at my home school were just as good. In fact, although the department at my home school is not large, our professors are very involved with the grad students. I was one of 4 GAs in the department (not a large department). Three of us applied to Ph.D. programs and all of us were accepted into programs.

I say all this and come back to my early point--go where your heart tells you to go.