Who created this blog? And Why?

On Wednesday, October 1st, 2008, Dr. Joshua Grasso (see the photo at right), Assistant Professor in the East Central University English and Languages Department, hosted a Graduate School Colloquium for ECU undergrads who might be interested in having an informal talk with the ECU English and Languages Faculty about the how's and why's of graduate school. The flyer Dr. Grasso sent out enticed students with the possibility that they could, as he put it:

• LEARN why graduate school is among the top five ways to indefinitely prolong your college education!


• EXPERIENCE the thrill of wading into the depths of postmodernist thought and Lacanian analysis!


• MARVEL at the sheer amount of authors you've never heard of and have to read by next week!


• GASP at the off-color language of your eccentric and misanthropic thesis/dissertation director!
  
• REJOICE at the day when you finally get to do what you love for a living--READ BOOKS!

The event was (not surprisingly, given this appetizing intro) well-attended. In addition to Josh Grasso, ECU English and Language faculty members Steve Benton (I'm the one writing this), Jeanne Dunbar-Green, Ken Hada, Eril Hughes, Robin Murphy, Trisha Yarborough and John Yozzo talked to the assembled undergraduate throng about their own graduate school experiences, offered advice and invited questions.

In the aftermath, it seemed like a good idea to set up a booth in this little corner of the internet where some of collective wisdom imparted at this colloquium would be available to a broader audience. ECU students can also come here if they would like to pose new questions that someone on the ECU English and Languages Faculty might be eager to respond to.

What do you want to know?

If you are an ECU undergrad who is interested in getting answers from the ECU English and Languages Faculty about some aspect of the graduate school experience, post your questions in the comments section of this post, and we'll see if we can drum up a reply or two.

How do I choose which grad school to apply to?

Jennifer McMahon: Obviously, various factors come into play when selecting graduate schools to which to apply. These include: quality and availability of desired degree programs, university ranking, location, availability of financial aid, likelihood of acceptance. All of these items should be considered, but individuals may rank some higher than others depending upon their personal situations.

Teresa Rothrock: This is a tough decision. After casual research and talking to everyone who would give me ten minutes, I had it narrowed down to 2, both of which worked around the working professional: (1) a comp/rhet program in Pennsylvania that required summer attendance and reading and writing during the academic year and (2) an English Education program in Oklahoma. Though my heart roots in comp/rhet, my decision was finally made on the future—if I were to leave ECU, I would still want to teach pedagogy courses, as well as comp and language courses, and at most universities, especially the bigger ones, the pedagogy courses were in the education departments. Ultimately, the English Education program won out, and I worked hard to keep my focus (or secondary area of study) in comp/rhet.

Steve Benton: The advice I followed when I was considering where to apply to Ph.D. programs was to find a current scholar I liked, find out where he or she was teaching, and apply to that school. The scholar I was interested in working with was then at the University of Chicago, a very difficult graduate school to get in. I ended up getting accepted into a one-year master’s degree program there that was run by the scholar I hoped to work with. After a semester at the University of Chicago, I applied to and was accepted by a number of Ph.D. programs, including the one at the U of C.

Josh Grasso: #1: Think about where you want to be geographically and in proximity to family/friends. You will be very busy and isolated for 2 years (MA) and even more for the Ph.D., so you want to be happy and comfortable if possible. Find a place that won't add stress to your life and you can adjust to relatively easily.

#2: Look at the program carefully. Is there someone you would like to study with in the faculty? Even if you don't know any names, look at what they teach and what they write books/articles on, or even what they teach. Make sure the program fits you. If you are interested in 19th century British literature, don't go to a school that never offers classes in it, or has no faculty members who specialize in it. Find a place you would benefit from.

#3: Make sure they offer Teaching/Graduate assistantships with competitive stipends (from my experience, most average from between $9-$15K). See what the teaching load is compared to the class load. Usually it's something like teach 2/take 2 a semester, or teach 1 take 2, etc. Make sure it's something you can live with. Also, be wary of accepting an offer from a program that does not offer you a TA or does not have it's own graduate program (some programs make graduate students take classes with undergraduates, but simply do more work--that's okay if you really need to be at this school, but you will miss out on a crucial graduate experience--taking classes with other graduate students, having the teacher devote time solely to you and your concerns, etc).

How important is the GRE?

Teresa Rothrock: It was required but was only a part of the whole picture. We had to put together a portfolio, and mine was already quite full with experience, so my GRE score wasn’t as crucial for me. My advisors told me that the score was more important for younger applicants with less experience and less fodder for their portfolios.

Jennifer McMahon: GRE is but one factor that admissions committees review when it comes to graduate admission. There are three main things that are considered: GRE scores, undergraduate performance (GPA—particularly in the major, and evidence of scholarly activity—conference presentations), and letters of recommendation. Ideally, one should be strong in all areas; however, exemplary performance in one can compensate for weakness in another. For example, say you goofed off freshman and sophomore year but got it together as an upper classman. However, your GPA still bears the scars of those early years. Letters from professors that attest to your aptitude and work ethic can help contextualize a less than stellar GPA for an admissions committee, particularly if that assessment is reinforced by things like strong GRE scores.

Steve Benton: I got some bad advice about the GRE Lit test. My undergraduate advisor told me that as long as you know that carpe diem doesn’t mean “ten fish” you'll do fine. I then went out and bombed the test. The story has a good ending, though. I spent the next five years working through a personally designed “Great Books” program intended to familiarize me with the great works of Western literature, especially English-language literature published prior to 1950. When I took the test again, I did very well. I am not convinced that my study helped me all that much in graduate school, but I didn’t go in feeling like I wasn’t well-read.

I would add one other item to Dr. McMahon’s list of factors committees review when it comes to graduate admission: academic writing sample. When I was at the University of Chicago, I was told that this was actually the most important factor of them all and all of us who were applying to Ph.D. programs were given coaching about how to produce an impressive writing sample.

Josh Grasso: It depends on where you apply. Most mid-range schools only seem to use it as a weeding out factor (for example, if there are many good students). Some disregard it altogether (my PhD program was moving to disregard it). However, some schools, and especially ivy league schools, use it is a benchmark: don't even apply if you don't have near perfect scores (above 650) in every category. Take it seriously, by all means, but don't let it destroy you.

For Penn State English professor Michael Berube's take on the GRE (which he recently retook), click here.

Click here to visit the GRE's official website.

How can I pay for it?

Jennifer McMahon: Try to avoid paying if at all possible. Graduate school is not cheap and professional salaries are not in the six-digits. In short, it isn’t easy to pay back student debt as an assistant professor. Actively pursue graduate/teaching assistantships. Remember, in the graduate sector, financial aid is not typically needs based. Instead, it is merit based. Know too that you can reapply on an annual basis for funding. Not everyone who gets in gets money; however, often some people with graduate assistantships quit along the way. This leaves financial lines open for the taking. Thus, if you don’t get money in the first year, you should consider that year a period in which you can prove to the department that you deserve an assistantship. This means you have to ace your classes and be a responsible departmental citizen (e.g., go to lectures, help faculty, volunteer to tutor). This approach will almost be mandated for students with marginal academic records because the university is taking a risk to just admit you. They are unlikely to give you money right away.

Teresa Rothrock: When I started my master’s in comp/rhet at OU, I had a graduate assistantship. Thereafter, I was a working professional, which made it harder, if not nigh-impossible, to qualify for other scholarships and fellowships. Many of my cohorts in graduate school, however, paid for or supplemented their expenses through large and small scholarships and grants, but I just couldn’t juggle the paperwork to apply nor the regimen to comply, if accepted—not with a full time job that was a commute away from my graduate school. So, I paid for most of mine, directly or with student loans. I figured the raise I got for completing my degree makes up for (barely) the expense of paying back the loans. Most importantly, it affords me a professional lifestyle that suits me.

Steve Benton: I went into debt to complete a one-year master’s degree program at the University of Chicago on a half-scholarship and that opened the door for me to be admitted to several Ph.D. programs that offered me free tuition, fellowships (which pay you to attend class full-time) and teaching assistantships. Even the best fellowships and teaching assistantships are still extremely low-paying gigs, however. It is only because my wife had a good, full-time job through my graduate school years that I was able to graduate without debt and we were ably to live in relative comfort while I was in the mine.

Josh Grasso: Get a teaching assistantship or graduate asstantship. As long as you have decent grades (over 3.2 GPA), get strong recommendation letters, submit strong writing samples, and have reasonable expectations (don't apply only to ivy league schools), you have a great chance of getting one. They take care of your tuition AND give you a stipend to boot. Again, if a program doesn't offer you a TA but lets you in anyway, be careful: they will often give you a year to prove yourself, but still won't guarantee a TA (this happened to a friend of mine--they never offered her one). You can easily go broke this way. Unless you HAVE to go to this school, try someplace else. You don't need more debt, and there are plenty of good schools out there.

What kind of person succeeds in grad school?

Teresa Rothrock: I am glad I was not aware of the completion statistics while I was working on my degrees! Besides naivete J, from my experience and my awareness, here are the qualities I see as most useful during grad school: tenacity, resourcefulness, intelligence-mixed-with-creative-thinking, self-reliance, and enough social and political awareness to navigate the program in which one works.

I will add that I call myself the second-chance candidate. On all of my degrees, which I accomplished while working full time and raising a family in a town at least ½ to 1 hour’s commute away, I started a program, had to stop for a semester or more, and then returned to finish. It required discipline and an advanced knowledge of the system. I joke that my minor is in bureaucracy!

Jennifer McMahon: Self-starters make it in graduate school. People in graduate school love their discipline. That’s why they are there. The students that make it though are self-motivated and can work independently. Generally speaking, graduate faculty are not going to hold your hand. They aren’t going to send emails reminding you that assignments are due. Graduate school is not grade school. Faculty are not there to inspire or cajole you into doing your work. If you have trouble getting into your classes or getting your work done at the undergraduate level, the forecast is not good for graduate school. If you love your discipline, graduate school is awesome. You are with a bunch of other people who love learning as much as you do and are as excited about talking about your discipline as you are. Malaise and boredom with academia are the exception in graduate school, not the rule.

Steve Benton: According to a study published in December 2007, only about 52% of those admitted to Ph.D. programs in English end up graduating within ten years. Having a healthy working relationship with a dissertation advisor who is focused on helping you finish is crucial. It can also help to have other strong faculty advocates in the program, so I recommend cultivating those relationships as soon as you get in. Show your professors that you take your work—and their work—seriously and that you are a reliable, diligent student. It is also a good idea to keep the end game in mind. Think about how each class you take might contribute to your dissertation or your portfolio and think about what you are doing to make yourself attractive for the job market that awaits you.

Josh Grasso: You have to have passion and be willing to work hard. I've known brilliant people who never finished their MA or PhD, and the reason was simple: they couldn't do the work. You have to motivate yourself to do the reading, write the papers, and be willing to go the extra mile. In graduate school, everything you do benefits you on your comprehensive exam or dissertation, so NOTHING is wasted. The less time and energy you put into a graduate degree, the less likely you can cross the finish line. If you don't absolutely LOVE the idea of studying, don't do it. Graduate school is honestly all about studying and learning. I think that's cool, personally. But if you don't, no big deal, just do something else you do love.

What will I be able to do after I graduate?

Jennifer McMahon: Obviously, for most the goal is to acquire a collegiate or university teaching position; however, to the extent the market is extraordinarily competitive, it in unwise to assume that such a position is guaranteed. One should go to graduate school on the assumption that the experience itself and the education gained will be worth it. Hopefully, an academic position will be too. At the very least, the experience will leave you more credentialed and therefore more marketable to employers in other sectors (e.g, media, communications, social services) if an academic position is not.

Teresa Rothrock: I was completely blown away after I finished my master’s to see what all doors that advanced degree opened up for me. The same goes for the ph. d. Besides academia, which is my chosen area, I see ads and opportunities all the time. People with advanced degrees, especially in English, as well as a few years in teaching are often called golden hires in the business world because they can do it all. The advanced thinking and language skills indicative of our major are rare and needed outside academia, and time served as a teacher is the ultimate in ethical midmanagement (barring those rare cases that make the news). My daughter-in-law who works for Dell in Austin taunts me with the possibility of earning six figures if I took my education and experience to the corporate world.

Besides the shortage of teachers, which opens the way for traditional and alternatively certified teachers, the business world wants us, too. I have many friends with English bachelors’ and few with masters’ degrees who have executive positions for utility companies, oil companies, banks, and other businesses besides the usual teaching and publishing fields.

Steve Benton: I wanted to find a tenure-track teaching job after I got my Ph.D. I never gave much thought to the market until I was going on it and was somewhat dismayed by the small number of positions that were available and the large number of applicants (two-hundred in some cases) for each.

Josh Grasso: Mostly, you want to end up in academia either teaching or in some other capacity. However, with an MA alone you can go to any number of jobs, and indeed, many jobs require an MA to get promotions and certain job titles. In general, I would say do it because you want to--and if you want to, you will find a way to apply it to your life. But teaching is the #1 reason to pursue a higher degree in English, whether at the high school or college level. If you love reading and discussing literature, it's a pretty good gig.