Green Junkie Living » grad school

grad school plans: school and reading lists

Olivia — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 07:08:34 +0000

So far, I’m on track with my grad school plans: I’ve got a list of schools I plan on applying to, and I’ve begun to compile a reading list. Right now, the list is still a little on the long side, with a dozen schools, but I think it shows a nice range. Eleven are one-year programs, and one is a two-year, and they are pretty evenly split between the States (7) and the UK (5). Post-colonial literature is the primary draw, but there are a handful of Victorian literature programs as well. The good news is, I might be able to get away with only one piece of sample scholarship (about 12-20 pages) in the area of post-colonial literature. Which is something I find fascinating (of course), so I’m hoping it won’t be a miserable experience!

In no particular order, here are the schools I am currently considering. If you have any knowledge/feedback about the schools, particularly the English grad programs, please let me know!

University of Edinburgh
Oxford University
University of Pennsylvania
Yale University
University of Sussex
Kings College, London
University of Washington
University of California, Santa Cruz
Columbia University
NYU
University of Maryland
University of Leeds

My huge honkin’ spreadsheet with requirements for each is still a little…untamed, shall we say, but it does give me a general sense of what I’ll need to do to prepare. In addition to the research paper, the two things I’m most worried about are getting my letters of recommendation and demonstrating proficiency in a second language. The recommendations concern me not because I didn’t do well in school, but because I was an art history major and failed to really nurture most of my relationships with my English professors. Also, because I transferred after my freshman year, I really loaded up on English credits at my first school, and then lost touch with those teachers. As for the second language, my Italian is OK, but rusty to say the least. I think it will take a pretty big commitment on my part to get it up to speed. On the one hand, it’s nice to have that incentive, but on the other hand, not the easiest thing to do from Seoul perhaps. Any ideas, wise readers?

For those of you book lovers, I thought I’d also share my anticipated reading list, which has been compiled with great help from my dear friend Alison, and my mentor here in Seoul. This will, of course, shift with time, but it’s good to have a starting point to help me feel exactly what I’m going to work on. The anticipated topic is the choice of language by writers in post-colonial societies. In other words–have they decided to use the colonial language even after the restrictions are lifted? Or have they decided to use their own original language? What led to these choices, and how does it affect their work? I may or may not choose to look at one culture for this, but for now I am leaving my options open.

Home and Exile, Chinua Achebe
The Education of a British-Protected Child, Chinua Achebe
A Small Place, Jamaica Kincaid
An Ordinary Person’s Guide to Empire, Arundhati Roy
Clear Light of Day, Anita Desai
Cultural Imperialism and the Indo-English Novel, Fawzia Afzal-Khan
Anil’s Ghost, Michael Ondaatje
The Empire Writes Back: Theory and Practice in Post-Colonial Literatures, Bill Ashcroft
Midnight’s Children, Salman Rushdie
The Mystic Masseur, V.S. Naipaul

There you have it. Now I’ve officially updated and made myself accountable, and renewed excitement for this project. With so many things I’m working towards right now, it can be easy to allow myself to be paralyzed into inaction. I think this is a nice little kick in the butt to get going again. Any advice regarding any of the above would, of course, be greatly welcomed.

goal overdrive

Olivia — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 10:06:16 +0000

I like goals. They give me something definitive to work towards, and I have a sense of satisfaction when I’ve accomplished them. But I’m beginning to wonder if I haven’t gone into goal overdrive lately. I take this as a good sign because I finally have the energy to establish–and think about meeting–goals again. For now, I’m leaving them all on the table, even though I know I will soon need to do some serious prioritizing if I want to see any real progress. These goals stretch across many parts of my life, and some are short term, and some have no end in sight. Here is my very, very random list:

Finish reading all the books I’m “currently reading.” If it weren’t for GoodReads, I don’t know how I’d even keep track.
Do yoga five days a week for 6 months. “Doing yoga” can mean as little as 15 minutes of quality time with my mat. It’s habit and practice that count most. If I do this, then I can start actually thinking about looking into teacher training programs, something that’s interested me for a very long time.
Stay off sugar, and give up the friggin’ dairy already. I had cheese today. Delicious, creamy Brie cheese that is almost impossible to find in Korea. As a consequence, I have had a nasty headache and grumpy stomach for the past few hours.
Spend time every day with poems. This can mean thoughtfully reading one author (or one theme), or, ideally, spending time on some work of my own.
Get cracking on my grad school time line. I have my list of schools. I need to draft my personal statement and develop a reading list for my sample scholarship.
Learn more about how to live a high vegan lifestyle. Clearly, the cheese is a struggle, but I’m also just not ready to give up sushi and shrimp. I’ve made so many big changes to my diet for the better in the last year, I’m content to hang out in this funny pescatarian stage for quite a while, but the closer to vegan I can get, the better. Any tips from my vegan readers about how to break the cheese habit?

There you have it. As always, I’d love any advice on how to make these goals a reality, and would be curious to hear what you’re working to these days.

goal numero uno

Olivia — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 15:48:36 +0000

Since we’ve been talking goals, I might as well share my big fat scary awesome goal with y’all. If all goes according to plan, I will earn a masters in literature during the 2011-12 school year. My current job has made it readily apparent how much I love working with bright teenagers and words, so I’m trying to position myself well for a position to do just that when we move back to the States.

I have a year to put together my applications, which is a good thing as they’re proving to be rather involved. To help make sure procrastination doesn’t get the best of me, I’ve put my Type A skills to the test and come up with a tentative time line. I would great appreciate any feed back from you folks who’ve been through this before. This is just a list of what I anticipate I will need to accomplish, but I know enough to know I am probably missing a thing or two. Here goes:

January: finalize likely list of schools and intended area(s) of focus

February: draft personal statement; select sample scholarship essay topics and compile anticipated reading lists

March: begin reading for sample scholarship; purchase GRE prep book

April: continue reading for sample scholarship; prep min. 2 hours/weekend (continue until GRE)

May: finish reading for sample scholarship; outline essays

Jun: begin draft of essay 1

July/August: peak season at work, so GRE prep only

September: take GRE; finish draft of essay 1; request letters of recommendation

October: draft essay 2

November: revise essays

December: do final edits of all materials and submit applications

This list is assuming I will have to produce two separate works of sample scholarship, approximately 20 pages each. Once I have finalized my list of schools and compiled the application requirements, I will like refine this part of the time line–I just hope not to add more!