So, I got accepted into graduate school.
Because such things are normally meant for public consumption, here is my pro/con list for attending the University of Nebraska, Lincoln in pursuit of a Ph.D. in poetry writing (highly useful) in the fall:
Pro:
1. I could leave Culpeper
2. I could leave teaching middle school
3. I could leave Culpeper (did I say that twice?)
4. I would be around actual smart people
5. I like corn
6. I would end up with a doctorate
7. I could work on my writing
8. I have friends in Denver and in Iowa I could harass
9. Jude says there are sweet pancake possibilities in Nebraska
Con:
1. I am currently and would likely be unfunded...again (and, no, I don't have a trust fund)
2. The professor I wrote to made it sound like it's extremely hard to get funding after the first year
3. My family is in Pennsylvania and North Carolina
4. I've never been to Nebraska
5. I hate being poor
It is the official Month of Internal Conflict in my life.
My thought right now is to defer my admission until next fall, and hold a lot of bake sales in the meantime. I feel confident that my constant companion, Radar the Dog, would rather be in a location with sidewalks and the potential for finding empty beer bottles by the roadside to lick, but he doesn't really get a vote.
I am wondering:
1. How does one beg for funding?
2. Do you know anyone who is independently wealthy and wants to support a nice girl who wants to be a writer?
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6 comments:
I'm unfunded and not likely to get funded any time soon. I'll be interning for Iowa Legal Aid this summer, which ain't exactly lucrative.
There worse things. Staying at a stable but soul-sucking middle class job is one of them. I left that for this (with "this" being sitting on a thrift-store couch while my son plays with a bicycle pump) and couldn't be happier
I should clarify--the pancake thing is not a possibility. It's a lock. It's a done deal. There are no finer pancakes in the western hemisphere than those offered by Dude's Steakhouse in Sidney, Nebraska. Just don't order the Rocky Mountain oysters. They're scary.
Is there truly a place called Dude's Steakhouse? You are either making this up, or Nebraska is the greatest place on earth.
It reminds me of a place I once ate at in Conneaut, Ohio: Beef and Beer.
I guess part of my hesitation in leaping into the PhD abyss is that I already amassed a lot of debt for the teaching certificate, and a PhD in creative writing qualifies one to, um, write. I'm not sure there's a return on investment, which one hopes would occur in law school.
Oh, but I want to go so badly.
It's very, very real:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/91141593@N00/2352696551/sizes/m/
It's in the same town as this classy establishment:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/91141593@N00/2353529492/
Have you considered the Iowa Writers' Workshop? It was good for Kurt Vonnegut.
Sanuvia - your Ph.D. in poetry would give you time to write (i.e., force you to write for your classes), which is a good thing.
Also, with the Ph.D. in poetry, you'd be qualified to teach not only creative writing, but also literature and composition courses, which increases your marketability.
The funding issue is tough, though. I don't have any insight into this at all. It seems, finally, to be a question of what you're willing to put up with to get what you want.
In the end, I say go for it. Try it out for at least a year. See what you think from inside the beast.
Oh, and CONGRATULATIONS!!!!
:-)
Hey, congrats on the acceptance. That must feel great!
Maybe find out from the students at Nebraska what it's like to be one of the 'unfundeds.' I remember what it was like at Pitt for those of us in the MFA program who were unfunded ... and it was a difference-in-status thing, an access-to-the-college-composition classroom thing. In short, being unfunded sucked.
And really, from all the job postings I've seen this year, if you want to teach creative writing in a tenure-track position, you need two books from known presses. PhD helpful but largely optional. If you want to teach composition or first-year literature, you need a PhD.
Or you can get your feet wet teaching comp, lit, and creative writing as a full-time faculty member at a community college ... and your dual master's degrees will put you up nicely into the pay scale at those places. You won't have as much time to write as you might in a PhD program, but you won't be dirt-poor, either.
It's a tough decision. (Didn't Naca go to Nebraska, by the way?)Good luck - whatever you choose!
Thanks for all the thoughts, kids.
What Cate is saying is probably my greatest fear about doing this. I don't want to go into another situation where I'm treated like I have a contagious disease just because I'm not funded.
I've actually looked at community colleges in VA, but they don't seem to be hiring except for an adjunct here and there. I know that's how one gets a start, but it's hard to do that and still eat sometimes, as my previous adjuncting taught me.
Naca did go to Nebraska. She has promised to deliver advice. So there is that.
My current thought is now: defer admission, move to Nebraska, get a job, and get in-state tuition next year, which is theoretically affordable.
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