Pick Leee's next school, win a dollar

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I know people who graduated with BAs from U. of C. who aren't humorless artifacts, but they got out of there right after graduation. I get the impression that the school has an evil way of sucking you into its sphere, though. When I first moved to Chicago, my girlfriend at the time moved into a Hyde Park apartment with some schlubby 40-year-old perpetual student.

jaymc (jaymc), Thursday, 8 April 2004 17:31 (twenty years ago) link

He was creepy and listened to opera.

jaymc (jaymc), Thursday, 8 April 2004 17:32 (twenty years ago) link

Bowling Green just has a more fun name.

anthony kyle monday (akmonday), Thursday, 8 April 2004 17:33 (twenty years ago) link

The university preschool is nice. (I lived there when I was 3.)

jaymc (jaymc), Thursday, 8 April 2004 17:34 (twenty years ago) link

I know some great people who went to U of C! Not philosophy people though.

"Spy Like Us: Alias and the Secret Identity of the New Television Superheroine"

Woohoo!

JuliaA (j_bdules), Thursday, 8 April 2004 17:34 (twenty years ago) link

Also, search: that cool playground across from the apartments on Juniper St.

jaymc (jaymc), Thursday, 8 April 2004 17:35 (twenty years ago) link

have you checked out the communications dep't of mcgill u leee?

s1ocki (slutsky), Thursday, 8 April 2004 17:43 (twenty years ago) link

A bit late to look into other master's (is McGill an MA?) programs, though if it's offered as a PhD, I'll look into it.

What I meant about "level of discourse" was an obfuscating way of saying "How smart are my would-be classmates." I sat in on one class for each school; at BGSU, they got stuck on a fundamental issue that shouldn't have been part of the debate; at U of C, there was waaay too much emphasis on psychoanalytic theory but in spite of which, the rest of the students were sharper.

I also asked about the college backgrounds of the incoming BG students, who were almost all from mid-west state schools. (One from UPenn and one from UCLA.)

But the real kicker in favor of U of C is that they're offering a graphic novel WORKSHOP next fall!

Leee O'Gaddy (Leee), Thursday, 8 April 2004 21:02 (twenty years ago) link

Is that so rare, though? Workshops are part and parcel of most curriculums (sp) these days (according to many of the Masters progs I've looked at), necessary to attract today's tech-savvy and creative student

Nichole Graham (Nichole Graham), Thursday, 8 April 2004 21:12 (twenty years ago) link

leee: yes they do! phd that is

s1ocki (slutsky), Thursday, 8 April 2004 21:14 (twenty years ago) link

I'm supposing it is.

A point in BG's favor though is that the head of the Pop cult dept. has the season 1 Alias DVD, and a fair collection of Batgirl comics.

xpost awesome s1ocki, I have a plan for the future!

Leee O'Gaddy (Leee), Thursday, 8 April 2004 21:15 (twenty years ago) link

The psychoanalytic thing could be because of the prof, depending on how it came up; unfortunately, it's hard to tell with that kind of thing. (Department curriculums might favor a particular school of theory, but I think it's less common for a student population to do so, except sometimes if it's a school where most of the graduate students did their undergrad there).

By the way! An important to consider. Critical, in my experience:

How many of the graduate classes -- not just the ones on the books, but the ones actually offered, as well as the ones which form the core required curriculum for the program -- are actually classes unto themselves, and not simply graduate sections of a larger undergraduate course? Most of the "graduate" classes I'm encouraged to take at IU are actually a section of 2-3 grad students in a 40-200 person undergraduate class, with extra papers and meetings added on for us; the level of discourse, in other words, is exceptionally poor. I've had to ditch those types of courses whenever possible and form my own curriculum, which is not making me popular with the administration.

Tep (ktepi), Thursday, 8 April 2004 21:21 (twenty years ago) link

(It's not always easy to tell if a graduate class is simply a section in another course; at IU, they often don't list them as such, and you have to scan the rest of the course offerings to make sure you don't see it noted in the description of the undergrad course.)

Tep (ktepi), Thursday, 8 April 2004 21:22 (twenty years ago) link

I def. sensed the psychoanal was part of the prof's spiel/background.

Second suggestion duly noted!

Leee O'Gaddy (Leee), Thursday, 8 April 2004 21:24 (twenty years ago) link

Whoa, shortening the word "psychoanalysis" that way...it's a bit open to misinterpretation when tired.

JuliaA (j_bdules), Thursday, 8 April 2004 22:15 (twenty years ago) link

Then my job is complete.

Leee O'Gaddy (Leee), Thursday, 8 April 2004 22:32 (twenty years ago) link

Garn, I was just about set on Chicago yesterday and even was drafting an apology email to BG, but today I feel pained about the classes I'd miss there! I hate my indecisiveness.

Leee O'Gaddy (Leee), Sunday, 11 April 2004 22:56 (twenty years ago) link

There's no denying that they're both good schools -- there's no ravenous snake-dog hiding behind either of these doors, I don't think. So much of grad school can depend on what you bring in, how you decide to approach it, that really I don't think there's a wrong decision here. And if worse came to absolute worst, you could always transfer, and be out nothing but the price of moving.

Tep (ktepi), Sunday, 11 April 2004 23:06 (twenty years ago) link

That's very true. Go where you feel you'll grow most, where what you hold to be important is held as important, too. If you feel like you're going to be frustrated by the catching-up students at BG have to do, go to UC. If the theory-heavy-ness of UC is going to frustrate you, go to BG. I agree with Tep that neither of these choices is really bad. The question at this point might be whether or not you'd regret not going to one rather than the other.
(But that graphic novel workshop does sound really cool... If that's part of the curriculum, then maybe it's not so single-minded as you might fear.)

Prude (Prude), Monday, 12 April 2004 02:49 (twenty years ago) link

<LI>I get to head my own section w/in a year, then get my own class

That sounds key to me if your goal is still to teach.

miloauckerman (miloauckerman), Monday, 12 April 2004 02:59 (twenty years ago) link

one year passes...
I turned my thesis in today.

I still have two papers left, but I don't know when one of them is due. I'm ready to sleep for 20 hours.

L (Leee), Tuesday, 24 May 2005 03:37 (eighteen years ago) link

wow. congrats. go sleep now.

mouse (mouse), Tuesday, 24 May 2005 04:10 (eighteen years ago) link

Yay sleep! Yay thesis and yay Leee! :-)

Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 24 May 2005 04:13 (eighteen years ago) link

woo!

jaymc (jaymc), Tuesday, 24 May 2005 05:24 (eighteen years ago) link

oh hell yeah

MindInRewind (Barry Bruner), Tuesday, 24 May 2005 05:26 (eighteen years ago) link

five months pass...
So it's time for my semi-annual applying to higher education travails, this time for a PhD in funology (i.e. pop culture/tv). My prospective schools, in relative order of preference, descending: Duke, UCLA, Northwestern, Berkeley, Wisconsin-Madison.

But, getting an idea of the very finite financial resources for which I'd be competing with other students who, I'd assume, are smarter/more driven than I am, and perhaps for the first time, I'm very very scared. Then again, I've already committed $45 to the letter of recommendation service, so there's no point in throwing that money away! Still, if you can offer assurances, that'd be appreciated; I do think that grad school/academia is something that's right for me, despite the Fears I have.

Wolfcastleee (Leee), Monday, 7 November 2005 05:31 (eighteen years ago) link

did you ever pay the winner of this thread?

s1ocki (slutsky), Monday, 7 November 2005 05:37 (eighteen years ago) link

Or should I forget about my obsession with narrative theory for more professional degrees, like public policy or Nutrition(!)?

xpost - shhh!

Wolfcastleee (Leee), Monday, 7 November 2005 05:37 (eighteen years ago) link

here's where i'm applying (master's in urban planning/land use): cal poly san luis obispo, nyu, rutgers, u of wisconsin (milwaukee), u of michigan, ucla. cal poly slo is in the lead -- i've heard great things about their program, mostly that it's very hands-on (not just hippie-dippie theory) and their grads GET JOBS. the others are in no particular order.

bird-person-person (Jody Beth Rosen), Monday, 7 November 2005 05:40 (eighteen years ago) link

what's a letter of recommendation service?

bird-person-person (Jody Beth Rosen), Monday, 7 November 2005 05:43 (eighteen years ago) link

I.e. a service that stores and sends out letters of rec. and sundry supplemental material for you so that everything looks official, which I was told looks quite a lot better than sending them out yourself.

Wolfcastleee (Leee), Monday, 7 November 2005 05:46 (eighteen years ago) link

I thought you went to Chicago?

kyle (akmonday), Monday, 7 November 2005 07:01 (eighteen years ago) link

Please tell me they really call it "funology" and not something boring like "media culture sociology".

MindInRewind (Barry Bruner), Monday, 7 November 2005 07:18 (eighteen years ago) link

Chicago was a 1 year program.

Alas, "funology" is my neologism.

Wolfcastleee (Leee), Monday, 7 November 2005 18:30 (eighteen years ago) link

Do you feel like the MAPH was useful for you, Lee? I know someone who just started that program this fall.

jaymc (jaymc), Monday, 7 November 2005 18:44 (eighteen years ago) link

Absolutely! It was like eating my vegebobbles -- I complained and whined and pulled faces for 8 months, but in the end, I wrote a smooth and shiny thesis, and I also think genuinely that it made me smarter/better read.

I highly recommended taking the Academic/Professional Writing course. Improved my writing tenfold, and possibly it taught me finally how to read non-fiction prose.

Not that you'd suspect any improvement from that last sentence.

Wolfcastleee (Leee), Monday, 7 November 2005 20:35 (eighteen years ago) link

Should I forget it all, go back to undergrad to do something more analytic like math?

Wolfcastleee (Leee), Tuesday, 8 November 2005 03:11 (eighteen years ago) link

Get a real job, hippie.

Are You Nomar? (miloaukerman), Tuesday, 8 November 2005 03:24 (eighteen years ago) link

Math = analytic = REAL JOB.

Wolfcastleee (Leee), Tuesday, 8 November 2005 04:16 (eighteen years ago) link

you could join one of the big math firms!

s1ocki (slutsky), Tuesday, 8 November 2005 04:25 (eighteen years ago) link

you could grade tests for ETS!

bird-person-person (Jody Beth Rosen), Tuesday, 8 November 2005 04:29 (eighteen years ago) link

You mean like Google?

Wolfcastleee (Leee), Tuesday, 8 November 2005 04:30 (eighteen years ago) link

two months pass...
Duke: no
UCLA: no

I have the phear that I will have the dreaded giant-sized sombrero and go 0 for 7.

c(''c) (Leee), Friday, 3 February 2006 20:20 (eighteen years ago) link


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