Fie on it!
Aug. 27th, 2007 06:56 pmI fail at this picking grad schools to apply to thing. I'm about to the point of pinning the latest US News and World Report ranking to the wall and throwing darts. Blindfolded.
After getting some actual advice from Jesse, I've...gotten rid of most of what was on my list before. I'm keeping UC Santa Barbara, because...it's by the beach? Okay, that's just part of the reason.
UVA is apparently at the top of the list now. They look strong all over, but particularly in that large 18th-20th century British area I want to inhabit. I'm also thinking University of South Carolina (if not for their English program, then for their public history program, because part of me still wants to run a museum), maaaaybe FSU, and maaaaybe Penn State. (Penn State has lots of resources for my pet areas, and even offers a class on cyberpunk literature, but seems to be big on queer theory, feminist theory, afrocentrism, and other trendy topics. I'm more the type of person who's content to admit that the canon largely consists of dead white guys, and to analyze their writing in the context of having been written in a society controlled by old white men. Boring, I know, but I'll be over here contemplating Hardy's pastoral nostalgia as reaction to the massive industrialization of Britain if you need me.)
Although since all these programs seem so very similar, it's almost worthwhile to just apply to a large chunk of the upper end of the mid-ranked schools (and several at the lower end of that middle), and see who gives me the most money.
After getting some actual advice from Jesse, I've...gotten rid of most of what was on my list before. I'm keeping UC Santa Barbara, because...it's by the beach? Okay, that's just part of the reason.
UVA is apparently at the top of the list now. They look strong all over, but particularly in that large 18th-20th century British area I want to inhabit. I'm also thinking University of South Carolina (if not for their English program, then for their public history program, because part of me still wants to run a museum), maaaaybe FSU, and maaaaybe Penn State. (Penn State has lots of resources for my pet areas, and even offers a class on cyberpunk literature, but seems to be big on queer theory, feminist theory, afrocentrism, and other trendy topics. I'm more the type of person who's content to admit that the canon largely consists of dead white guys, and to analyze their writing in the context of having been written in a society controlled by old white men. Boring, I know, but I'll be over here contemplating Hardy's pastoral nostalgia as reaction to the massive industrialization of Britain if you need me.)
Although since all these programs seem so very similar, it's almost worthwhile to just apply to a large chunk of the upper end of the mid-ranked schools (and several at the lower end of that middle), and see who gives me the most money.
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