Do I have to love postmodernism?

ECU student Jeff Harrison asks: "What if you don't relish the idea of postmodern thought and instead loathe it? In your experiences, are most grad schools immersed in this line of reasoning? Would only an institution with religious leanings somewhat steer clear of this?" (Click on the comments button below to read some answers to these questions.)

Berube on the GRE

Penn State English professor Michael Berube just published an article in the Chronicle Review describing his experience retaking the GRE 25 years after he entered graduate school at the University of Virginia.

Berube suspects that "the verbal test on the GRE general exam is a better measure of applicants than the subject test" and argues that "graduate fellowhips should be awarded on the basis of the verbal GRE, together with faculty evaluations of applicants' writing samples. "

Click here to read the article.

Grad School Fair on April First

Mark your calendar:

Event: ECU Spring Career, Education, Internship and Grad School Fair

Companies, Organizations and Schools Attending: TBA

Time: 9:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.

Location: Ballroom, Memorial Student Union

Description: Plan to attend the Grad School Fair to meet school representatives from across the nation, from a wide variety of disciplines, who provide admission requirements and information.

Do I need to be talked out of this?

Click here for Debbie Downer's take on seeking a graduate degree in the humanities.

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).