Hi,
It is wonderful to see this forum. Congratulations to those of you who made it and all the best to those who are applying soon.
I am currently doing a brief editorial stint and after much deliberation have decided to apply for a PhD. One of the things that kept me back was the dismal academic job market and, to be honest, some things that I encountered in graduate school. Moreover, as an international student, coming from an education system with little emphasis on writing, it was an enormous struggle to adjust to writing for a graduate audience.
However, at the end of the day I am not too disappointed with the way things turned out. In my second year MA, I changed my advisor (no run-in with my previous advisor
) -a faculty member who had been just hired and he is supremely confident in my abilities. Besides, I loved teaching freshman composition, and cultivated a wonderful rapport with some of my students. My present job affords a comfortable lifestyle, but I don't feel sufficiently challenged. I'll probably hang on for a year more, but I know I have to get back to grad. school. And for those of us wondering what to do in the present academic job market, rest assured that there is a lot out there for English majors.
I am not kidding!
In my second year of MA, I gravitated towards postcolonial fiction and narrative theory. I retook my general GRE's last summer and did quite well. I plan to take the subject test in April 2007. Norton here I come! I hope I'll be able to pull off a good writing sample. Good luck and feel free to vent!
