envisioning the future me
Tonight was the open house at the doctoral program that wants me (so far, that is; I'm waiting on word from five schools).
The basic summary is: great program, very humane, high job placement rate and ... no money. They will matriculate 25-30 (it's a large program) and one of those will get a four year fellowship. In contrast, everyone who matriculates at Columbia gets at least a five year fellowship, sometimes six. Most doctoral programs offer funding similar to Columbia's, even if they are offered by public institutions.
If I went, I would be teaching undergrad in the fall. Composition. Me, probably my own syllabus, my own students. I'd be teaching specialized classes in my area of interest soon after that. Scary, huh? It sure frightens me!
They want me. They were very clear about that. Everyone I saw from the admissions committee remembered my application well. One of them even remembered my paper topic. (Eeek.)
And Eve Sedgwick (Epistemology of the Closet, a book that I found impressive but not always comprehensible) was there, surprisingly. I didn't think their big name folk would come out for recruitment. She gave a talk about how much she was looking forward to mentoring the incoming class. I know there's a lot of bullshit in the academic world, but that woman has presence. She seemed very sincere. My bullshit radar didn't go off.
I could see what I would be like there. This was very helpful. I have something a little more tangible with me now. And I like the Linds that would develop there. She would be a pretty grounded, concrete character, and an able (queer/feminist) scholar.
It's nice to be able to place myself in a potential future.
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I got another summer job. Web stuff. Go me!
~Linds
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Comments
Congatulations!
yay you!
-Luke
Sedgwick and money and stuff
I remember truly enjoying the bits of Eve Sedgwick that I read and the scarcer bits that I actually understood. What fun! Coming from a totally different direction, have you read bell hooks?
My boyfriend is a Ph.D. candidate in anthropology at UC Santa Cruz and is working very, very hard to get funding to do field work. Those grant proposals are draconic! They want to see things like a complete decription of your research methodology along with justification for an eighteen month trip - and it cannot exceed one page. I told him to simply remove the consonsants. It's really the only thing I could think of. One page!
Okay, that was totally off-topic.
So how would you handle money at CUNY? As a TA? Are the wages decent? Are the TAs unionized at CUNY?
Jeremy
money, CUNY, etc.
Would you believe I saw Eve S. getting onto the subway today? A weird moment. I have read a little bell hooks.... not much, and I don't remember what.
Money. My mentor at Barnard has committed herself to helping me find work, in order to make it happen. Tuition at CUNY is not bad, especially if I can prove in-state residency (voting and serving jury duty in NY, but having a permanent address and paying taxes in MN?). Still, I would have to pay for classes, and the other fees, and teaching (it's not being a TA, I'd be teaching undergrad composition myself right away) wouldn't make me more than about twenty-five hundred per class per semester to start, which is laughable. I'd have to have another job on top of this. Outstate fulltime tuition at CUNY is about four thousand per semester, and instate is about half that. But add living costs, etc... I won't be able to rent for less than seven hundred monthly and still be within commuting distance, for example.
My mentor says that it is do-able, but I'm doubtful.
I have been nominated for a big fellowship given by Barnard, and I hope I get it. Then I could do the first year at the very least.
I don't think that graduate students who teach at CUNY are unionized because the system's so huge -- 27 colleges, several of which offer graduate programs. The Graduate Center is the only school devoted solely to graduate study, but as teachers we can be placed anywhere within the system. So I don't think there has been much opportunity for organization.
Unionization in NYC in general is a tricky issue. There were huge problems at NYU, and now Columbia has refused to let ballots be counted in a "should we unionize" vote. (Walkouts, etc are planned for next week.)
I'm still waiting to hear from three places, so I'm not totally set on CUNY yet. (I have until the 15th of April.) But I wish I had another acceptance, because I want to have a choice between institutions.
~Linds
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Special Envoy to Tea-Drinking Nations for The Movement To Free Oompa Loompa Land From The Tyrannical Rule Of The Evil Capitalistic Despot Willy Wonka And Associates