Izulde's Grad School Quest: An RL Dynasty

[st.cronin]

Nicholas Sparks has a lot of money. I suppose there are worse fates.

[Izulde]

Originally Posted by st.cronin

Nicholas Sparks has a lot of money. I suppose there are worse fates.

True. It's the old writing dilemma though: Critical acclaim and immortality vs popular success.

[Izulde]

I've been low on inspiration lately, but I just woke up from a stunning dream with tears in my eyes.

I immediately dashed downstairs and wrote down the most important fragments that still lingered in my mind.

I believe I can make a story out of them, perhaps even a novella, possibly even a novel. I'll start work on it tonight.

[Barkeep49]

This is why I could never be a writer. I just don't have that kind of inspiration.

[Izulde]

Originally Posted by Barkeep49

This is why I could never be a writer. I just don't have that kind of inspiration.

It comes and goes, I'll be the first one to admit.

Oddly enough, my greatest inspirations tend to come from dreams that I've had.

[Izulde]

I've started a private online forum for a small writers' coterie. There isn't really a group I can get going where I live, so I figured it'd be a good idea to set something up online.

And frankly a writers' group will help me crystallize my own projects and help me to decide which of the three or four rough draft blurbs I've started for the grad school sample to pursue further.

If anyone would like the URL, they can PM me.

[Izulde]

Writing is going quite well. Just about finished with the first draft of one short story.

Also re-visited grad schools after finding the US News & World Report rankings on UC-Santa Barbara's website and going through the different schools again.

Virginia and Florida are probably my top two choices, with Arizona and New Mexico State in the second tier. Western Michigan is an outside possibility as I really like the program, even though it's not a warm climate. I also sent for more information from Syracuse as I had trouble finding information on their website.

[st.cronin]

New Mexico STATE? Really?

[Izulde]

Originally Posted by st.cronin

New Mexico STATE? Really?

Yep!

I know it's been a while since I've updated this, but I honestly haven't had much to report till now.

I got an email offer from Stanford explicitly inviting me to apply to their MBA program as a result of my GRE scores and the like.

There's an information session in Madrid on the 17th, interestingly enough.

I'm sorely tempted to investigate the opportunity. It's something worth thinking about at any rate.

[Izulde]

Writing is not going as well as I'd hoped, but I'm still plugging away at it.

DePaul sent an email and I've received information at home from a few grad schools, but they're mostly small schools that don't hold any interest for me, as I miss Division I school life.

I've no interest in DePaul. #1, it's in the Midwest. #2, it has the typical American and British Literature bias common to this region and #3, it doesn't have an MFA in Creative Writing.

[Izulde]

Michigan came calling today, more specifically their School of Information, which is interesting from the reading I'm doing.

I have to admit, the idea of becoming a Policy Analyst is certainly an intriguing one, because it plays to my strengths in writing and, most importantly, I'd feel like I was having some type of positive effect and contribution to the world.

I've decided not to pursue Stanford's MBA as a fallback option because, yeah, I could see myself doing damn well in business and all that, but I also see myself being one of those guys who gets frustrated with the emptiness of it all and changing careers at 40 to something much more fulfilling and meaningful, like teaching. (Of course, they also usually end up being some of the best teachers I've had, which is an interesting phenomenon).

But I don't want to change careers mid-stream in life. I want to feel like I'm doing something meaningful or working towards something meaningful from the beginning.

Something that will leave an effect on the world, a worthwhile effect, no matter how small the ripple.

[Izulde]

This is just a note to myself to pick up Death and the Sun: A Matador's Season in the Heart of Spain, to use for research in a short story I plan on writing about a young matador's first fight.

[Izulde]

Sorry to be posting in this thread so much and sounding rather scatterbrained, but I've been obsessed with this for the past week or so...

I've been working on manuscripts for MFA in Creative Writing application, but I'm starting to have second thoughts.

I look at the statistics and see the low rates of acceptance and I feel the pressure, the need to perform. My writing doesn't flow as easily and carefree as it does when I write for leisure or for myself. The quality, too, seems to suffer.

The spectre of poverty also looms over my head. MFA's frequently have horrible salaries and long hours of pay.

I know there's been numerous published, well-respected authors who don't have an MFA. A good friend of mine who is one such individual. (Though he does regret not getting the MFA, as he'd love to have been able to teach in college.)

So I'm considering getting my Masters in Education instead and teaching high school, writing and coaching high school sports in my free time. I have a gift for inspiring enthusiam in others and for teaching... and while college professorship would allow me to engage in higher-level instruction, the path to a PhD is long, grueling, and I would suspect, ultimately unrewarding for someone who finds, in high-level research and scholarship of literature to neither be difference-making or immortalizing.

But then I ask myself, will I always look back and wonder what might have been? Will I continue to wonder if the talent's really there?

[Izulde]

After talking things over with a few people, I've elected to go for the M.A. in Literature and then weigh my career options from there.

One buzzsaw I've run into is that quite a few schools I'd consider require the GRE Subject Test, which I would in no way be able to take in time to meet application deadlines.

So after doing some extensive research today, I've narrowed down the list to 4, possibly 5 schools.

The four I will be applying to for certain are, in no particular order:

Arizona State
Florida
LSU
Arkansas

Clemson is a fifth possiblity, if I can access their English department website to look at their admission requirements, program info, and faculty specializations.

[Izulde]

Clemson is indeed a 5th possibility, after further review.

Two of the schools on my list, Arizona State and LSU, have Delta Sigma Phi chapters, for what it's worth.

If I had to rank the schools right now, I'd have to say that Arkansas is the clear-cut #1 for matching of my research interests pretty closely in most areas (I have a wide variety of literary interests), with the other four less certain as to their settling.

[Izulde]

After further, further, further review, some things are clearing up.

First, Clemson's out. They're heavily rhetoric-based, which is contrary to my interests in research and analysis.

Second, Arizona State's on the bubble of being tossed out as well. Phoenix is too spread out a city for my tastes. As a traveler by foot and bus when necessary, I like things more compact.

What this means is there's one, possibly two spots open, as I intend on applying to five schools, that being the general rule of thumb.

And of the three schools remaining, things have shaken out to a clear-cut 1,2,3 for the time being.

1. Arkansas
2. Florida
3. LSU

I wrote up a very rough draft of a personal statement today and sent it off to one of my professors back home for a review. It needs work, I know, but at least it's a start.

Also, the capstone paper I wrote, which would be an excellent choice for the critical writing sample (or so I think)... I only have a rough draft copy of in my email for some reason. So I emailed the prof for that course to see if she still has the portfolio.

If not, I'm not sure what I'll do.

[Izulde]

Currently slogging through UT-Austin's graduate school application process for Advertising.

Why advertising? It leads to a career in advertising, which matches well with my literature and marketing background academically and my retail background as far as work experience goes.

I'd work for an advertising agency as a copywriter, though. Something where I'd have a variety of different things to work on and not get tired of working with the same stuff all the time.

I'll still be applying to Arkansas and LSU for their MA in Literature programs.

Florida, however, presents a problem.

Not only are they the only other D-I university I've been able to find that offers a creative component to their master's in Advertising, but they're also one of my candidates for the MA in Literature and I don't know that you can apply to two different degree programs there.

Oh yeah, the prof got back to me and they have my final portfolio from my capstone course last semester, so I'll be picking that up when I go home.

[Izulde]

So I've got it broken down into the following schools and applications thus far:

Arkanasas - Literature
Texas - Advertising
Florida International - Tourism Management

I'll be applying to two more schools though just which two those will be and which of the three areas they'll be, I'm not certain yet.

Is this odd that I'm applying to three different areas? Probably, but I've always been a little offbeat that way.

[Izulde]

The slate's wiped clean, my destiny decided.

M.A. in Literature, leading to community college teaching, allowing me to concentrate on teaching and using my free time to write.

The schools being applied to:
University of Florida
University of Arkansas
Oregon State University

Florida's a real crunch time, with a deadline of January 15th. Oregon State and Arkansas have much more breathing room, at February 1st and March 1st respectively.

Wish me luck!

[Cap Ologist]

You'll always remember this as the day you avoided a serious mistake since you aren't enrolling at tu-A.

[Barkeep49]

Congrats on this career path. Community Colleges do some excellent teaching and I'm guessing you'd find that alone quite satisfying above and beyond the chance to do your writing.

[st.cronin]

I've been watching this, just popping in to add that UF is on a very long "short list" I have going for my own grad school experience.

[RPI-Fan]

Originally Posted by Cap Ologist

You'll always remember this as the day you avoided a serious mistake since you aren't enrolling at tu-A.

tu-A?

[Izulde]

Cap Ologist:

Barkeep49: Thanks It's funny, when I was a kid, the running family joke was that I didn't want to screw up in school or I'd end up at the local community college. Lo and behold, in 2002, after getting kicked out of two universities for academics, guess where I ended up? Yep, the community college.

And it turned out to be just the thing I needed. I got my head straightened out there, kicked some serious ass, and I've been doing well ever since. What amazed me was just how good quite a few of the instructors were and while my fellow students weren't as book-smart as you'd find at a university, many of them were older and had wisdom that your typical late-teens/early-20s undergrad doesn't have the life experience to possess yet. They also had a much stronger desire to learn and were willing to work a lot harder.

My family gained a whole new respect for the community college setup as a result of my experiences there and I'd like to someday be in the position to help somebody like me along the way, someone who's capable of advanced scholarship but got lost along the way and is working their way back up.

Even if that situation never occurs, I'd like to teach the students I do have, if not to discover a love for reading and literature, at least to appreciate its value and what it can add to their lives. This in addition to the business writing courses I'd imagine would be part and parcel of it as well, and which I'd be presumably qualified for given my own associate's in Marketing

st. cronin: Yeah, UF is a seriously good school, in my opinion. I'm trying to beat the Jan. 15th deadline, which isn't going to be easy, and admittedly, my chances of getting in may not be the best, but I'm going to try anyway. I'd be happy to get into any of the three schools, to be honest.

RPI-Fan: UT-Austin.

[Cap Ologist]

Originally Posted by RPI-Fan

tu-A?

Just a way that non-longhorns refer to UT, texas university at Austin.

[Izulde]

Due to the situation with my grandmother for one and not hearing back from profs I've asked for rec letters, as they're likely on vacation, Florida is now out of the picture. I simply won't make it in time.

On the other side of things, Oregon State and Arkansas I can still manage, though the former is cutting it quite close now. I've tenatively added Southern Mississippi as a backup option and I'm searching other schools with a February or March deadline as well.

[RPI-Fan]

not hearing back from profs I've asked for rec letters

You don't ask, you tell.

Plus, those deadlines are wicked soft. Don't make any more excuses and get'er done!!!

[Izulde]

Originally Posted by RPI-Fan

You don't ask, you tell.

Plus, those deadlines are wicked soft. Don't make any more excuses and get'er done!!!

Thanks

Will do!

[Izulde]

Final Final Final List

Arkansas
Oregon State
San Diego State
San Jose State

Southern Miss as trailer poss.

[Izulde]

School doesn't start back up until the 29th, which is making it impossible for me to get a hold of my letter writers... and the more I'm thinking about it, the more I'm considering delaying a year so I can apply to all the schools I want to and not be restricted by deadlines.

My only concern is that my student loans would kick in during the year... unless I can get a deferrment of some kind.

[Izulde]

dola,

That'd also give me the opportunity to take the GRE Subject test in Literature for those schools that require it.

[Izulde]

Transcripts have been sent out from all schools to all three universities.

The Spain transcripts are going to be the biggest hassle, as they're going to take a while to get there, but I've already informed the Oregon State English Department of it and they said it wasn't too great a concern.

So here's the updated applications listing:

Oregon State
-Application completed
-Transcripts sent
-Personal Statement written
-Critical Sample selected

San Jose State
-Transcripts sent

Arkansas
-Application completed
-Transcripts sent
-Critical Sample selected

For all three schools, I've got my rec letter writers picked out and sent them my Oregon State personal statement to work off of.

I still need to do the following:

-Write a CV for one of my rec letter writers
-Write personal statements for SJSU and Arkansas
-Edit the critical samples
-Complete online application to SJSU
-Get GRE scores sent to SJSU and Arkansas

I'm in the process of putting together the CV for the writer who requested it. It's very bare bones, because I don't really know what I'm doing with it, having never written one, but it should provide them the information they need.

February is going to be a very, very busy month.

Then March is going to be a month of me smoking heavily and nervously until I start hearing back.

[Izulde]

CV written and sent, critical sample for OSU edited and sent.

GRE scores will get sent out tonight and the SJSU application will be completed.

I'm hoping to have the personal statements for SJSU and Arkansas written by the end of this week.

Two bits of bad news:

1) Oregon State's Graduate Admissions Office is behind on processing transcripts, so none of my transcripts are registered as being entered in. This makes me *very* nervous, considering the Friday deadline.

2) I moronically had the SJSU transcripts sent to the Office of Admissions, not realizing there was a separate Graduate Studies Admissions office. So I'm trying to get that one straightened out.

The good news is, everything's in at Arkansas transcript-wise, so there's a lot less to worry about there and despite the Oregon State transcript anxieties, that application is complete.

[Izulde]

Still working on my personal statements for SJSU and Arkansas, though I now have the rankings determined prior to visiting any of the schools.

Pre-Visit Rankings
1. Arkansas
2. San Jose State
3. Oregon State

I'm going to try and visit San Jose State for Spring Break, because they want their teaching assistants there in May to receive training. Plus, it has the added benefit of being somewhere warm for the break.

Oregon State, I'm not sure when I'll get a chance to go out and visit. Though, honestly, the only way I see myself going there is if they offer me a teaching assistantship and the other schools don't.

Arkansas I'll visit either during Spring Break or right after graduation in May.

So really, I think what the visits are going to decide is what the shift in rankings is between Arkansas and San Jose State, if there is in fact one.

I gave very strong consideration to Villanova after hearing from them and there being certain aspects of the college and program I really liked, but then I took a closer look at the faculty research interests and the courses offered... and quite frankly, it'd be a terrible match in terms of my own interest areas, so they were removed from contention.

[Izulde]

Things are now down to the following:

1) Write letter of application for teaching assistantship for SJSU and send it to my rec letter writers.

2) Write personal statement for Arkansas and send it to my rec letter writers.

This really has me sweating, especially the Arkansas one. I still remember staring at the rejection letter for transfer to UC-Santa Cruz and how damned much that hurt.

I don't want to have to look at three more rejection letters. It's got me somewhat paralyzed and terrified.

Oh and an update on Oregon State: All my transcripts are officially listed as received, except for my most recent college, which is the most important. Considering the due date was Feb. 1st, it doesn't make me very happy, though all the transcripts other than that one are listed as having come in well before the deadline (mid Jan), so maybe it's when they're listed as getting in that's important.

With regards to my own foul-up concerning SJSU, I still haven't gotten an email from them, so I'll call them Wednesday if I hadn't heard back by tomorrow, since my Tuesdays are all full from 9:30 am to 8:15 pm with classes with just enough time in between them to eat.

[Izulde]

Letter of application for TA position at SJSU is done and e-mailed to my rec letter writers.

I'm still having major problems writing my personal statement for Arkansas, precisely because it's my #1 choice of schools right now.

Oh yeah, I also have to go through my writing sample for Arkansas and SJSU (I'm using the same one) and do some editing before I send it off. Although I got an A on it for my capstone course, it's still rough to me.

March and April are going to be very, very critical months in determing my future for the next year, maybe for forever after.

[Izulde]

Personal statement for Arkansas is done!!! :woohoo:

I think it's safe to say that it's the best of the three personal statements I've written so far.

The next task is editing the critical writing sample, as I noted in the previous post, as well as filling out the fairly extensive application cover for Arkansas.

If all goes well, I should have everything mailed out by this weekend and then it turns to a case of sitting and waiting. Everything will, I imagine, be all sorted out by mid-April at the extreme latest.

Oregon State still isn't listed as having processed my current university's transcripts, by the way. I'll shoot the Graduate Director an e-mail to see if they've got them yet or not.

[Izulde]

Bad news.

Because of the slow as hell admissions office at Oregon State, the English Department *still* hasn't gotten my current school's transcripts. The department indicated that they would simply go ahead and evaluate my application as is, and if I'm accepted into the program, they'll ask for the transcript then.

So yeah, it's sounding like because OSU's admissions office is so damned slow about processing transcripts, I may well have lost my shot at getting accepted there.

[Izulde]

I just received word from Arkansas that I've been accepted into the Graduate School.... which means the first hurdle's been cleared.... now I have to be accepted into the English Department.

But that's half the battle won.

I'll be sending in the rest of the application materials for Arkansas and San Jose State out this week.

[Izulde]

Finally settled on a critical paper after discussing it with one of my rec letter writers, who felt it was quite good and not in need of tweaking, save for the conclusion, which they agreed with me was weak.

So I'll edit the conclusion tonight and send all the materials to SJSU and Arkansas tomorrow morning.

I've had a lot of conversations with people the last few days about my graduate school choices and I'm getting a much stronger sense of where I'm most likely to go if I get accepted at all three schools, or even at that one school in particular.

March is going to be a long, long month, as I wait for April and word of acceptance or rejection.

Though my guess is I'll hear back from Oregon State sometime in March.

[Izulde]

...and I'm having trouble working on the conclusion... still too upset over my Children's pick in the Lit Draft... it's gonna bother me all week.

[Izulde]

Got the conclusion re-written. I still don't know if it's all that great, but it's much, much better than what I had before, though I emailed it to the prof I was talking to, to see what they think of it.

Everything gets mailed out tomorrow, no matter what the response.

Time to try and get some sleep. I've slept 7 hours, if that, over the last 2 nights and 3.5 hours of sleep a night, combined with the stress of trying to get everything done, isn't exactly the best for my health right now. :P

Expect me to update again once I have replies back from the schools. Oregon State I imagine will be in a couple weeks at the very latest. San Jose State and Arkansas won't be until sometime in April.

[Izulde]

And now the waiting begins.

[Izulde]

So, after a much more intense review of the programs, Oregon State's creeped back up into 2nd place. Their TA program is especially hard to ignore, with the promises of actual sections to teach and a rich benefits package.

I just hope the Grad School Admissions didn't screw me over by being extremely late in processing my last transcript. They finally processed it about a week ago, so it's been sitting there for over a month before they finally ran it through.

Yeah, I'm seriously ticked about that.

San Jose State, on the other hand, is seeing its stock rapidly falling.

Arkansas's still the clear-cut #1.

I'm hoping to find out by the time Spring Break rolls around whether or not I made it into Oregon State and got the TAship. If I did on both counts and I get into Arkansas, either with or without a TAship, it's going to be a difficult decision to make...

[Barkeep49]

Waiting is the hardest part.

[Izulde]

Originally Posted by Barkeep49

Waiting is the hardest part.

You ain't kidding!

[Izulde]

So, San Jose State sent me an email.... and they only just now referred the application to the English Department.

I hope this doesn't affect the TAship chances there, even given that SJSU is a distant third on the list.

If there's one thing I'm learning from this, it's to get stuff in at least two months before the due date if at all possible, because the graduate admissions offices are so slow, it takes them a month to get anything done.

But the good news is, this means I've passed Phase One of the SJSU admissions process, which is apparently dual admission required like Arkansas.

Still nothing from Oregon State and I e-mailed two weeks ago to find out a ballpark estimate of when I should be hearing back on an admissions decision and have gotten no answer.

So it's still more waiting.

But I've decided if I don't get into any schools this go-round, I won't give up. I'll just try again next year with an expanded list of schools in hand, now that I won't be facing crunch times because of study abroad.

[Izulde]

March 31st was a big, big day.

According to the Arkansas website, that's the day when the priority list for teaching assistantships is finalized. Those with the highest scores will receive notification of their acceptance and their assistantship "shortly after that date". Also shortly after that date will be notified those who are admitted, but didn't ask for a teaching assistantship (which most certainly is -not- me) and those who have been rejected for admission.

Those who don't get an assistantship right away get put on an essential waiting list and given notifications of assistantships as they become available, some as late as mid-summer.

So, whether that means they'll notify everyone of admittance or rejection relatively soon and then let those who are on the waiting list for assistantships know of their awards as the months progress, or whether those who are admitted, but still waiting on an assistantship won't be notified until the assistantship becomes available, I'm not sure. And to be honest, I'm a little gunshy about e-mailing, since Oregon State is -still- silent on the e-mail I sent them asking about when applicants could expect to hear back, since I couldn't find that info on the website at all.

All I know is, if I -do- hear from Arkansas soon, I hope it's not a rejection, because I'd be seriously crushed if that happened. I'll be honest, this last semester has been the roughest I've had since probably that first, dark year of college, for a variety of reasons.

But I just keep telling myself that I should hear -something- from at least one school by the end of the month, if not more and that I've got 6 weeks to go to graduation.

[Barkeep49]

I can tell you that my last semester of college was by far my roughest, but it's a great reward when done.

[Cap Ologist]

Cowboy up, Izulde. You aint' going through anything compared to Nick and Melody. Shameless hint for an update.

Hang in there, it will all work out in the end.