if I learned one thing from having to transfer undergrad, it's to look for a program, not a place.
I wouldn't completely discount place, though; if you HATEHATEHATE winter, you're going to be miserable in Montana even with the greatest program ever, you know? A good program can make up for a host of sins, but if it's the only good thing about life for those years, that would suck.
Thank the baby Jesus. One of the big reasons I decided not to pursue English any further - despite my enormous love for it - was the concentration on British literature. Specifically, pre-modernism British literature. I literally cannot stand it. I had visceral reactions to those classes, and my college - I graduated from Smith, so you'd *think* they'd be a little progressive, right? wrong. - focused nearly exclusively on British lit in all the reqs for the English major. I'm a 20th-century American lit buff. Harlem Renaissance all the way, baby.
That is so strange! I went to Kenyon, and our requirements allows us to do practically anything we wanted, as long as we covered roughly two centuries somehow and didn't stay entirely in Brit or American lit. I didn't take any medieval lit or Victorian BritLit, for example. (I was a creative writing concentrator, but that only affected my electives, not the requirements.) That's too bad that they made you take a bunch of classes you weren't interested in.
Grad school, for what it's worth, is entirely different. There aren't any period requirements, or there weren't at UT, anyway; we had a certain number of classes we had to take, and that was it. You took the courses that were relevant to your interests. The five-page reading list for my oral exam covered a broad swath from Beowulf to Song of Solomon, but seemed relatively balanced between eras and nationalities.
Teaching: I could actually do lecturing okay. Teaching composition, though, requires discussion-leading skills (or at least I think it does if you want to make it worthwhile), and I sooo don't have them. Plus grading got to be a real drag.
Yeah, I wasn't totally sure at the end of undergrad if I could. But after having had so much free time since, I really can't wait to get back to it. I need to have my free time filled, otherwise I just bore the crap out of myself.
It will definitely fill up your free time. :)
I am, actually, quite curious. What I learn about people's opinions of grad school, I tend to find in dribs and drabs. It's rare I get so much at once!
Glad to be of service! I don't think I've written anything else quite that extensive, but you might find something helpful on my voluminous "grad school" and "thesis" tags. There's also a book that I've seen good reviews of, but haven't yet read myself, called Surviving Your Stupid, Stupid Decision to Go to Grad School.
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2010-05-31 05:50 pm (UTC)I wouldn't completely discount place, though; if you HATEHATEHATE winter, you're going to be miserable in Montana even with the greatest program ever, you know? A good program can make up for a host of sins, but if it's the only good thing about life for those years, that would suck.
Thank the baby Jesus. One of the big reasons I decided not to pursue English any further - despite my enormous love for it - was the concentration on British literature. Specifically, pre-modernism British literature. I literally cannot stand it. I had visceral reactions to those classes, and my college - I graduated from Smith, so you'd *think* they'd be a little progressive, right? wrong. - focused nearly exclusively on British lit in all the reqs for the English major. I'm a 20th-century American lit buff. Harlem Renaissance all the way, baby.
That is so strange! I went to Kenyon, and our requirements allows us to do practically anything we wanted, as long as we covered roughly two centuries somehow and didn't stay entirely in Brit or American lit. I didn't take any medieval lit or Victorian BritLit, for example. (I was a creative writing concentrator, but that only affected my electives, not the requirements.) That's too bad that they made you take a bunch of classes you weren't interested in.
Grad school, for what it's worth, is entirely different. There aren't any period requirements, or there weren't at UT, anyway; we had a certain number of classes we had to take, and that was it. You took the courses that were relevant to your interests. The five-page reading list for my oral exam covered a broad swath from Beowulf to Song of Solomon, but seemed relatively balanced between eras and nationalities.
Teaching: I could actually do lecturing okay. Teaching composition, though, requires discussion-leading skills (or at least I think it does if you want to make it worthwhile), and I sooo don't have them. Plus grading got to be a real drag.
Yeah, I wasn't totally sure at the end of undergrad if I could. But after having had so much free time since, I really can't wait to get back to it. I need to have my free time filled, otherwise I just bore the crap out of myself.
It will definitely fill up your free time. :)
I am, actually, quite curious. What I learn about people's opinions of grad school, I tend to find in dribs and drabs. It's rare I get so much at once!
Glad to be of service! I don't think I've written anything else quite that extensive, but you might find something helpful on my voluminous "grad school" and "thesis" tags. There's also a book that I've seen good reviews of, but haven't yet read myself, called Surviving Your Stupid, Stupid Decision to Go to Grad School.