Commitment

[tracker7]

Yesterday was a good day. Dad wanted to go to some sort of antique car parts swap meet, and I went along, as it was in Louisville, and I've meant to get up there and screw around for a while now.

Dropped Mom&Dad off at the Fair & Expo Center, and set out to revisit some places in the city that were/are important to me. Hit most of them - The Louisville Game Shop was first on the list of course, and I got in a good hour or so of shooting the breeze with Colin (and bought a couple of books), then out to UofL's campus, to just walk around for a bit. Drove through downtown, just taking turns more or less at random.

So, Louisville definitely stays on the "Yeah, I could move there" list. There are plenty of factors left to determine what happens to me in the next year or so - new job? Grad school? A second Bachelors, instead? - but now, at least, there's a door remaining open.

Comments

[tragical-mirth.livejournal.com]

I'd recommend a second bachelors over grad school. In fact, pretty much anything in the humanities is fucked (mainly because department chairs have no idea how to communicate with the MBAs being hired as provosts and presidents who are trying to turn universities into profit centers).

That said, if you do opt for a professional graduate degree, remember that 'profit center' bit. Look to see that it's actually a degree being requested in employee searches before you buy it.

[tracker7.livejournal.com]

The MA/PhD would be going after a dream I deferred and just about forgot a decade or so ago - my plan while at UK was to push on to the doctorate and teach lit somewhere. I know demand's limited, but, y'know, dreams...

The second bachelors is really more reasonable. More grist for the mill, because I don't have enough going on in my head as it is.

[tragical-mirth.livejournal.com]

I'm going to re-recommend the second bachelor's. If teaching is really what you want to do, you should look toward Education (MAT) instead of an advanced degree in English.

If you do jump into this fool's pit, however, I recommend going to someplace a little unconventional (EKU? WKY?). Gurney recommended EKU to me a long time ago, and I didn't listen. He knew what he was talking about.

Avoid anything proudly touting itself as a 'research institution (i.e. UK, UMD, all the big schools).' It's a hornet's nest of horse shit and a game of competing personalities and ego stroking with very little actual scholarship. In theory this is more likely to get you a job. In reality, it's all about who you know, and plenty of big school grads are floating in the unemployment pool now.

I'll try to summarize some horror scenarios that I've seen and that I think are pretty common just in the hopes of arming you and making you more picky before committing the next 8 years of your life to something that is not going to get you where you want to be (and hopefully keep you from making some of my missteps).

I know a little about you and the sorts of things you think are important. None of these things have any value to the sort of people you'd be working with.

Also, do not mention on your statement of purpose that you have any interest in teaching. It is telling that that will pretty much shut you out of most places. You will not even get accepted. They don't want that.

Also, it takes about 8 years to get a PhD. Don't plan on having any time for even a part time job until you get to the dissertation stage (and maybe not then depending on how fast you want to finish it).

I knew all this, which is why I chose a foreign language instead of literature. What I didn't realize (and they don't promote it this way, not really) is that it's still literature. In the promotional material, they talk about how you'll be able to work in linguistics and translation and SLA, but what they really mean is you get one class in all that, and the rest is hard core literary criticism.

Also, "cultural studies," despite being touted at the university level, is a very, very dirty word, and you'll basically be chased out of most programs if you try to do anything but a pure textual analysis of literature.

Also also, even though it's still really hard to get in, some programs take in more students than they have space or need for, use them long enough to cover teaching the intro level classes that the real professors don't want to teach, and then shake off the dead weight when they don't need anybody else.

In the application process, your recommendation letters mean *everything.* They have to come from actual, full professors, and to have the best chance, they have to come from more accomplished professors who have published a lot and who will tailor their letter to you and the school you're applying to.

That said, EKU has a nifty creative writing program with some respected writers where you can get an MFA and be done with it. Then you'd be qualified to teach creative writing.

You might also look at something a little more interdisciplinary like American Studies where you'll be able to branch out more in what you write and teach. It's supposedly harder to get a job with this degree, but I don't think there's anything harder to get a job in than English, and UMD has a good program in it that attracts a lot of people, so it can't be all awful.

You might also look at programs in rhetoric writing. Personally I think it's a crock and a cash cow for some universities, but an English-y friend in a program elsewhere (that he's paying out of pocket for) tells me there's a big demand for people with it. I don't believe it, though, so do your research.

[tracker7.livejournal.com]

*sighs* If this was '97, it wouldn't be a question - Gurney and Jon Allison were both behind me for graduate work. Like a dumbass, though, I decided to wait ... and waited more. And kept waiting. 'Cause, y'know, two of us in graduate work would have been murderous.

I'm 37. I know, realistically, the PhD is a longshot - and, frankly, I'm willing to bet that I'd say fuck-all long before I had it anywhere close to at hand. A second bachelors would be quicker, and honestly, I think it'd avoid the law of diminishing returns.

Thanks for the advice, hon. It's something more for me to think about - I'll keep you (and others) posted on what happens with me.

[tragical-mirth.livejournal.com]

Don't underestimate what a different degree could do for you. If I could start over again in 2002 knowing what I know now, I'd have gone for the 2-yr associates in dental hygeine and run with it. ;)

[spoe.livejournal.com]

Were I to go back, I'd probably ignore my mostly complete CS, Physics and Math BSs and pick something like History. 'course, that's just me.