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2018 Acceptances


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2 hours ago, Cotton Joe said:

Accepted to rhet/comp MA at NC State with teaching assistantship. 

This was one of top two choices for so many factors, but I am disappointed in the stipend amount they offer for MA, which is only $10,000. It's going to be a hard decision. NC State is the best match for my interests, has the most active faculty in my area, offers great support for the TA process, and Research Triangle is a great place for my SO to find work in her field. But the stipend is the lowest on my list. Any suggestions?

This is a pickle. There are threads on here of people, not so much negotiating as asking to be considered for opportunities that add into or top off their stipend. But I haven't seen anything at the MA level so I'm not sure if funding opportunities differ there. It might be worth asking them, though.

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2 hours ago, Cotton Joe said:

Accepted to rhet/comp MA at NC State with teaching assistantship. 

This was one of top two choices for so many factors, but I am disappointed in the stipend amount they offer for MA, which is only $10,000. It's going to be a hard decision. NC State is the best match for my interests, has the most active faculty in my area, offers great support for the TA process, and Research Triangle is a great place for my SO to find work in her field. But the stipend is the lowest on my list. Any suggestions?

First off congrats! I would maybe take a look at @bpilgrim89's post above yours because they really cover some good points to think about when you are weighing funding packages.

I think the most important thing to do when considering a funding package is to talk to current grad students (in your case current MA students in the program at NC State) and see how they go about living off that level of funding. I personally did my masters in a program that funded me similar to what you would receive at NC State and was able to make do because the cost of living in my area was relatively low and I was able to split living costs with my partner. Since you would also be there with your partner you may be able to make due on that stipend with her help but it is dependent on the COL in the area so definitely try to see how current MA students do it.

I will likely be considering two schools with potentially drastically different funding offers but both are enough to live off of as long as I have my partner to help with the costs. When I went to my master's advisor for some advice she told me that while funding is important it honestly isn't the most important thing at this stage in the game as long as you are getting enough to live off of. She told me as long as I make enough to not have to take out any loans she said money shouldn't be the deciding factor for me. Instead, my master's advisor pointed out that the most important things are the other things you mentioned: best match for your interests, active faculty in your area, good support for TA's, and the personal factors that are important to you (like employment options for your partner). Master's and Phd's should be a time for education and growth as an academic so the funding doesn't matter as long as you can subsist on it for the time of your degree. It honestly sounds like you will really get the experiences you are wanting during your master's at NC State so unless you just don't think you could make ends meet on that funding I think it sounds like a great option for you.

Ultimately, I just wanted to throw it out there that while funding is extremely important, as long as you are able to make due on your stipend the actual amount doesn't matter. If you are interested in actually making some money though during your degree then definitely factor funding in more heavily, but if a good education is what you are looking for the most then go for the place that will provide you the best opportunities and environment to grow in.

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2 hours ago, Cotton Joe said:

Accepted to rhet/comp MA at NC State with teaching assistantship. 

This was one of top two choices for so many factors, but I am disappointed in the stipend amount they offer for MA, which is only $10,000. It's going to be a hard decision. NC State is the best match for my interests, has the most active faculty in my area, offers great support for the TA process, and Research Triangle is a great place for my SO to find work in her field. But the stipend is the lowest on my list. Any suggestions?

I know several people who have come through the NC State English dept.'s MA program and they speak very highly of it, albeit, these are students in their Film Studies concentration.  I've never heard them report anything negative about how it was to live on the stipend (though I never asked).  For what its worth , among film studies folks, that English MA program is very well regarded.

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@Cotton JoeI’m currently in a TA position that doesn’t pay enough to cover debt and bills. I do content writing on the side. It’s flexible, doesn’t have a set office/times of work, pays decent, is a service that most places (especially law firms) need,  and doesn’t risk running into students (checking out groceries for a student is not a position I want to be in). Plus, you can build it into a nice side career to supplement you through not just grad school, but also all the underpaying lecturer and non-tenure professors jobs that await us (yay). 

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10 minutes ago, CulturalCriminal said:

@Cotton JoeI’m currently in a TA position that doesn’t pay enough to cover debt and bills. I do content writing on the side. It’s flexible, doesn’t have a set office/times of work, pays decent, is a service that most places (especially law firms) need,  and doesn’t risk running into students (checking out groceries for a student is not a position I want to be in). Plus, you can build it into a nice side career to supplement you through not just grad school, but also all the underpaying lecturer and non-tenure professors jobs that await us (yay). 

Could you provide a bit more info about content writing and how to find those kinds of gigs? Feel free to PM if you would prefer, but I would certainly appreciate some more discussion about this.

I currently have applications out being considered for writing gigs with NYT and a gaming blog called Goomba Stomp, but I don't expect much from those, and I also don't know if they are quite the same thing as what you're suggesting.

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4 hours ago, punctilious said:

Praying that we are off the waitlist by the time the prospective students day rolls around! But husband was invited so he will likely attend!

Best of luck! I met several people last year who were waitlisted, and most were accepted later. So don't give up hope! When I applied for my master's, I was waitlisted at three universities and then accepted to one in April. So it's definitely stressful, but getting off the waitlist happens!

He could probably gauge whether he'll get off the waitlist if he speaks to the person who was accepted in his field at the open house, as most schools' waitlists are categorized by fields like Renaissance, Victorian, African-American studies, etc. So if the person who was accepted in his field declines, then the person next on the waitlist will very likely be accepted. And I assume the waitlist isn't very long since everyone I met at the prospective students day last year had been interviewed. Sorry if I just mansplained how a waitlist works, but my cohort is relatively diverse based on our literary interests, so I'm fairly confident they didn't choose more than one person for each sub-field of literature. 

Let me know if there are any questions that I could answer from my end. 

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13 minutes ago, TeaOverCoffee said:

Best of luck! I met several people last year who were waitlisted, and most were accepted later. So don't give up hope! When I applied for my master's, I was waitlisted at three universities and then accepted to one in April. So it's definitely stressful, but getting off the waitlist happens!

He could probably gauge whether he'll get off the waitlist if he speaks to the person who was accepted in his field at the open house, as most schools' waitlists are categorized by fields like Renaissance, Victorian, African-American studies, etc. So if the person who was accepted in his field declines, then the person next on the waitlist will very likely be accepted. And I assume the waitlist isn't very long since everyone I met at the prospective students day last year had been interviewed. Sorry if I just mansplained how a waitlist works, but my cohort is relatively diverse based on our literary interests, so I'm fairly confident they didn't choose more than one person for each sub-field of literature. 

Let me know if there are any questions that I could answer from my end. 

Thank you SO MUCH for all of this information! It makes me feel a lot better knowing that people do get in off the waitlist--so it isn't impossible that he could still be accepted! Maryland is the only school on our list that would allow us to stay where we live currently, so my landlord and coworkers are all 100% rooting for a Maryland acceptance!

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5 hours ago, Cotton Joe said:

Accepted to rhet/comp MA at NC State with teaching assistantship. 

This was one of top two choices for so many factors, but I am disappointed in the stipend amount they offer for MA, which is only $10,000. It's going to be a hard decision. NC State is the best match for my interests, has the most active faculty in my area, offers great support for the TA process, and Research Triangle is a great place for my SO to find work in her field. But the stipend is the lowest on my list. Any suggestions?

Congrats!! I applied to State’s literature MA & haven’t heard back yet. I’m from near Raleigh, and it’s an awesome area.

The COL here is fairly low, so you might be able to make the stipend work if you’re living with your partner.

Edited by sarahchristine
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21 hours ago, Melville said:

Congratulations on Delaware, a very pretty state! Its great that your fiance is so supportive!! You have a stick-to-it-iveness which obviously paid off this year! That is terrific!

This is my first year applying to PhD programs, and probably my only year doing so because I am older than your average bear. I have a Masters of Liberal Arts and so for most of my phd apps I indicated that I would not want the Masters; now, I am rethinking whether that was a good idea because the programs are so competitive. Sweating it out here bigtime. I have heard that you cannot get an MA in English one place and then a 2nd MA in English somewhere else, so maybe if I don't get in to the PhD my lib arts degree won't count against me and I can try for the MA. Thinking, always thinking (too much)

Thank you! 

Hmmmm I think it depends on the program in terms of the Masters. I know for some programs they are picky about having an MA in Lit before the PhD.

Fingers hugely crossed for you!

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On 2/7/2018 at 6:26 PM, Wabbajack said:

Holy crap I missed a lot of good news!! Let's see if I can do this...

HUGE CONGRATULATIONS TO

@Elle Coronaria @punctilious @a_sort_of_fractious_angel @FishNerd @LibraryLivingJT @D13charlie @evanmarie @Yanaka @unicornsarereal @more.truly.more.strange and anyone else I may have missed!!!

Also, I got accepted into University of Wisconsin Milwaukee! Wooo!

HUGE CONGRATS TO EVERYONE!!!

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21 minutes ago, colin_cloute said:

Got into NYU!! 

Yeww, congrats! That's where I got my master's (english & creative) so let me know if you have questions! (Does your username indicate you're a Spenser fan? Taking The Faerie Queene with Susanne Wofford was one of the best....classes....ever! :P )

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1 hour ago, maengret said:

Over the moon! Accepted at Iowa State's RCPC masters! Unofficial -- email says formal acceptance with TA offer is coming soon. 

 

56 minutes ago, mk-8 said:

Congrats @maengret! I was accepted to Iowa State's RPC PhD!

Congrats, y’all! I got the acceptance email for Iowa State’s RPC PhD program, too!

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