Wow

I was thinking about this offer all evening so far. When I went to get my hair cut and my eyebrows waxed, I was thinking of that. When I went to Nature’s Harvest to pick up some licorice tea and St. John’s Wort capsules, and to the liquor store to pick up some cheap white wines and a case of hard lemonades, it was all I was thinking about. When I passed by Sarah at the Bank of Montreal ATM in the Charlottetown Mall and talked to her, it was all I was thinking about. When I was waiting in the energetic cold for the taxi and listening to a teenage girl try to get me to buy her and her friends liquor, it was all I was thinking about.

I’m definitely happy.

Queen’s versus WLU?

So, should I try to play the one against the other? Or should I just take what I’m being offered and run?

Cogitations on School

I really, really, like having this sort of dilemma.

To resume the graduate school situation to date to date:
I’ve applied for McGill, Queen’s, WLU, Western Ontario, Dalhousie, and Memorial (in descending order of preference).

• I have heard back from WLU, of course, with the offer of a one-year Master’s (two 4100 dollar teachers assistantships, one 2500 dollar scholarship).
• I have heard back from Queen’s, as below.
• I have heard back from WLU:

We are very close to having our final list. I shall get back to you tomorrow or (at the very latest) first thing on Monday.

• I have heard back from McGill:

I am afraid that our MA deliberations haven’t begun yet so the Graduate Administration Committee won’t be able to tell you anything for a few weeks. Even then you should know that we rarely offer our MA students any funding — sometimes we are able to give one or two TAships and/or a small fellowship (again, only to one or two incoming MAs). I hope this information is of use to you.

• I have heard back from Memorial:

Yes, the Graduate Committee met yesterday, and decided to accept you into the M.A. Program; but we are unable, at this time, to offer you any funding.

• I have not heard back from Dalhousie.

McGill and Memorial have excluded themselves. Dalhousie hasn’t responded yet, but whatever it does likely won’t be enough–I want out of the Maritimes, dammit! Western Ontario may yet redeem themselves, though I’m also skeptical. I want to be in central Canada, not on the fringes!

McGill, Queen’s, and Wilfrid Laurier were (I believe) my top choices, three of the Old Four. So, Queen’s and Wilfrid Laurier are running neck-in-neck.

I have applied, in all cases, for straight English Master’s degrees.

I’ve gotten the package from WLU, and they–so far as I can tell–are offering only eight courses. Queen’s, though, judging by the 2002-2003 course listing, is rather different.

I like theory.

Queen’s is lower-pressure, as you could tell from Dr. Straznicky’s approach versus WLU’s more authoritarian contract-driven nature. Never mind the monetary difference.

And I like theory very much.

So. Queen’s, so far, is looking good.

I’m tempted, provisionally, to agree with my friend James:

“I’d pick Queens over WLU just on the basis that it, as a university, generally has a higher prestige level – can’t speak to the program specifically. Queens also has, or did, a fanatically loyal student body which makes for a pretty rich social life in Kingston, which is itself a nice little city. If I had to guess, they’d have a more active LGBT community at Queens. You’re also, as you point out, closer to Montreal, and would be on a direct train line to Toronto.”

Thoughts?

Early Feedback

From Queen’s University, today:

We won’t be sending out formal offers until the middle of March, but having reviewed your application I can say that you will definitely be accepted. The offer will come with a scholarship of $8,000 (plus $3,500 for a Teaching Assistantship, which in our program involves only marking work). There’s a good chance, though, that you will win an additional internal grant of $1,000, but I can’t make any guarantees on that at this point. I hope this information helps you sort out your options. I also hope you’ll wait until you get ALL of your offers before making a decision–ours, for example, will come with a list and description of the courses we will be offering next year, which I can say right off are the most exciting and innovative courses we’ve ever mounted. Unless you have all the information on the respective programs (including what you’ll actually be studying), you should try to hold off making a final decision. Don’t let anyone bully you into making a premature decision on
something as important as your graduate studies!

A new friend

I’d like to introduce everyone to Orlando’s new livejournal!

Academic Notes

• I got an E-mail last night from Dr. Srebrnik, in regards to a paper on Poland and its eastern hinterland that I’d written for my globalization seminar last year. He thought it was “excellent.” Hopefully I’ll be able to get some tips for repackaging it for formal presentation, as a conference paper, say.
• I got approval from Dr. Magrath for a paper topic in the ENG 493 seminar. It’s supposed to be on literature in/and the world; I’ve chosen to study fan fiction as an indicator of fan attachment to a given literary/pop-cultural universe, and as a sign of interactivity.

LJ code

I need a livejournal start-up code for a friend. Does anyone have one I could give?

I liked Linus

Which Peanuts Character Are You Quiz

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[HONOURS] MacLennan’s Barometer Rising

Here’s the next-to-final draft for the MacLennan segment of my Honours English esaay.

Comments, criticism?