Talk:Medieval 2010

Statistics
Please add your information (and update it) about how you're doing on this year's job search. Information included is ABD/PhD/Current position type (Area): # of applications | # of requests for more materials | # of rejections | # of initial interviews (MLA or phone; you can specify which type if you'd like) | # of campus visits | # of offers

PhD TT


 * PhD TT (Old English): 6 applications | 2 requests for more materials | 0 rejections | 2 interview requests | 0 campus visits | 0 offers (updated Dec. 11)

Can I please have your current TT job if you go to Oregon or Wisconsin? -Sure thing. Especially because you said "please."


 * PhD TT (Middle English): 17 applications | 2 requests for more materials | 4 rejections | 3 interview requests | 0 campus visits | 0 offers (updated Dec. 15)

PhD non-TT

-That's the nature of this process. 97% of us feel like losers!
 * PhD non-TT (Middle English): 19 applications | 2 requests for more materials | 5 rejections (1 after request for more materials) | 0 interview requests | 0 campus visits | 0 offers (updated Dec. 15) (feeling like a supreme loser at the moment *sigh*)


 * PhD non-TT (Middle English): 16 applications | 8 requests for more materials (1 generalist) | 2 rejections | 3 interview requests | 0 campus visits | 0 offers (updated Dec. 15)


 * PhD non-TT (Late Medieval and Renaissance): 30-ish? applications (across both fields) | 3 requests for more materials | 5 rejections (1 after request or more materials)| 4 interview requests | 0 campus visits | 0 offers (updated Dec. 15)


 * PhD non-TT (Late Medieval/Middle English): 18 or so applications | 6 requests for more materials | 2 rejections | 6 interview requests | 0 campus visits | 0 offers (updated Dec. 15)

ABD


 * ABD (Old English): 4 applications | 0 requests for more materials | 1 rejection | 0 interview requests | 0 campus visits | 0 offers (updated Dec. 4)


 * ABD (Old English): 21 applications | 6 requests for more materials | 5 rejections | 3 interview requests | 0 campus visits | 0 offers (updated Dec. 8)


 * ABD (Middle English): 13 applications | 3 requests for more materials | 4 rejections | 0 interview requests | 0 Campus visits | 0 offers (updated Dec. 10)


 * ABD (Middle English): 7 applications | 2 requests for more materials  | 3 rejections | 1 interview request | 0 campus visits | 0 offers (updated Dec. 14)


 * ABD (Middle English): 16 applications | 2 requests for more materials  | 2 rejections | 0 interview requests | 0 campus visits | 0 offers (updated Dec. 2)


 * ABD (Middle English): 8 applications | 2 requests for more materials  | 2 rejections | 5 interview requests | 0 campus visits | 0 offers (updated Dec. 14)

Damn, that's a good percentage. What kind of institution you graduating from? JW

Yes, I feel lucky; graduating from an Ivy.

Pretty sure the Ivy part doesn't explain it; you must just be awesome.


 * ABD (Middle English): 11 applications | 2 requests for more materials  | 4 rejections | 0 interview requests | 0 campus visits | 0 offers (updated Dec. 15)


 * ABD (Middle English): 10 applications | 3 requests for more materials | 3 rejections | 2 interview requests | 0 campus visits | 0 offers (updated Dec. 14)


 * ABD (Middle English): 12 applications | 2 requests for more materials | 5 rejections | 0 interview requests | 0 campus visits | 0 offers (updated Dec. 14th)


 * ABD (Comparative): 9 applications | 2 requests for more materials | 2 rejections | 0 interview request | 0 campus visits | 0 offers (updated Dec. 10)

Comments on This Year's Job Search
What a great year, all things considered!

I'm predicting that since there are so few medieval jobs this year, most will be won by people already in TT jobs looking for better ones. ABDs will have the least chance, but PhDs a year or two in without TT jobs currently (unless they have multiple good pubs) will also come up short. But maybe I'm just pessimistic?
 * Just want to disagree about there being so few medieval jobs. There are many more this year than in the last couple of years as far as I can tell.
 * Last year there were 35 jobs (according to the wiki) but 7 were canceled. This year there are 21 jobs (I didn't count the medieval rhetoric or the Mediterranean ones), some of which may come to be canceled (although I hope not).
 * I stand corrected. I think more of the jobs seem like good ones than last year's batch, but that's subjective, of course. In any event, best of luck to us all.
 * I personally was more excited about more of last year's jobs than I am about this year's batch, but as you say, it's definitely subjective.

Questions/Comments about the Wiki
A position for a Professor of Rhetoric just went up at Arizona State. They specifically ask for a person in the History of Rhetoric that does Classical/Medieval Rhetoric...I'm going to post it on the main page unless someone objects.

Is there any interest in including a category for requests for more information, or are we tacitly agreeing that's tmi this year?
 * I think that would be a good thing to add. More info is better!
 * Absolutely! I'm the one who set up the page and completely forgot to include a line for requests for more info. It's an important part of the process, so I'd definitely like to see it.

I saw this posting today (link). Should we put it up on the page or is it too general?
 * I would think it would fit more in the British Open wiki page.

Hi Folks--In the spirit of cyber community, can we all please add new jobs to the list when we see them? I've seen jobs on here that I completely missed elsewhere. I for one would be most grateful for this! Thanks and good luck to all! [moved from main page to discussion page]
 * Well, since new jobs have been updated on these pages, I think that people are indeed doing that. However, all of the jobs listed have been posted on either the MLA Job Information List, the Chronicle of Higher Education, or HigherEdJobs. If you haven't at least been checking those three sites frequently, you really should be.

It seems that many of us are interested in whether the requests for additional information are by email or snail mail. (I figured they'd all be via email, but then Albion sent their requests via post.) Can we be as specific as possible when we add information to the 'additional materials' column!?

I just looked at the Renaissance Wiki and they've put up a neat chart for tracking interviews. Anyone object to doing the same thing here?
 * I think it's fine (we had something similar last year) but I'd rather see it on this page, so I'm going to take the lead and add a section to this page. I'll format it like we did here last year since that includes more information than what the Ren page is doing.
 * Awesome -- it looks great!

Hey all - this posting just came up for British and History of English Language. Although it's not specifically medieval, I figure many of us have the expertise in HEL so I wanted to bring it to people's attention.

And here's another posting that we might want to move to the main page -- a Mellon post-doc in medieval studies at Notre Dame.

Questions about Specific Schools
Anyone heard anything from Loyola Marymount? I'm surprised they haven't sent out calls for dossiers yet.
 * The two-year VAP? Quite a few people have received requests for more materials (dossiers) already.
 * Apologies, I meant to say Marymount!

Early Medieval vs. Late Medieval
I'm curious if anyone wants to share any thoughts about whether you think your chances are netter or worse based on if you study Old English or Middle English. When not specified otherwise, I always assume a school will take a later person (to teach Chaucer, maybe Arthur, maybe women's medieval literature). Agree or disagree? Any other relevant thoughts? I just wish ads would specify so we don't waste our time applying one way or the other.

My anecdotally-informed (as in, thoroughly unsupported by research or data beyond experience) impression is that if the announcement does not specify, then usually Middle English people have better chances because they are perceived as having more relevance to the wider field of English studies and a broader range of teaching capabilities. This year there are a couple of prominent schools looking for an Old English specialist, but this is not often the case. If you do Old English and are applying anywhere other than to an R1 school specifying an OE person, I suggest not advertising your expertise in a single class of strong-verb inflection in some dialects of (possibly) Mercian that are represented in a set of manuscripts thought to derive from Hand A of Bunglebrook Abbey. Hypothetically. Or maybe Exeter.

Statistics about how many job seekers are posting to this wiki
'''In the interests of further data collection about the current state of the job market (and also to determine what percentage of job seekers are using this wiki), I have an idea. What if we list all of the jobs here so that wiki-users can indicate which ones they've applied to; this way we can get a count of how many applications there were per school from wiki-users. Then, if anyone hears any definitive information regarding the total number of applications that a particular school received (in a rejection letter, search update, etc.), we can post that number so as to get a better sense of the percentages. Does this make sense?'''

Albion College (# of wiki-user applicants: 8 - total # of applications known to have been submitted: ?)

Amherst College (# of wiki-user applicants: 14 - total # of applications known to have been submitted: 150+)

Arizona State University (# of wiki-user applicants: 0 - total # of applications known to have been submitted: ?)

Bard College (# of wiki-user applicants: 12 - total # of applications known to have been submitted: ?)

Bemidji State University (# of wiki-user applicants: 4 - total # of applications known to have been submitted: ?)

Indiana University Northwest (# of wiki-user applicants: 2 - total # of applications known to have been submitted: ?)

Kent State University (# of wiki-user applicants: 4 - total # of applications known to have been submitted: ?)

Loyola College (# of wiki-user applicants: 8 - total # of applications known to have been submitted: ?)

Marymount University (# of wiki-user applicants: 8 - total # of applications known to have been submitted: ?)

McGill University (# of wiki-user applicants: 7 - total # of applications known to have been submitted: ?)

Miami University (# of wiki-user applicants: 3 - total # of applications known to have been submitted: ?)

Middle Tennessee State University (# of wiki-user applicants: 8 - total # of applications known to have been submitted: ?)

Mount St. Mary's University (# of wiki-user applicants: 5- total # of applications known to have been submitted: ?)

New York University, Gallatin School (# of wiki-user applicants: 10 - total # of applications known to have been submitted: ?)

Reed College (# of wiki-user applicants: 12 - total # of applications known to have been submitted: ?)

University of Arkansas (# of wiki-user applicants: 7 - total # of applications known to have been submitted: ?)

University of California, LA (# of wiki-user applicants: 0 - total # of applications known to have been submitted: ?)

University of Hartford (# of wiki-user applicants: 10 - total # of applications known to have been submitted: ?)

University of Michigan (# of wiki-user applicants: 9 - total # of applications known to have been submitted: ?)

University of Oregon (# of wiki-user applicants: 5 - total # of applications known to have been submitted: ?)

University of Pittsburgh (# of wiki-user applicants: 12 - total # of applications known to have been submitted: ?)

University of Texas-Pan American (# of wiki-user applicants: 6 - total # of applications known to have been submitted: ?)

Victoria University of Wellington (# of wiki-user applicants: 5 - total # of applications known to have been submitted: ?)

University of Wisconsin-Madison (# of wiki-user applicants: 3 - total # of applications known to have been submitted: ?)

Westmont College (# of wiki-user applicants: 1 - total # of applications known to have been submitted: ?)

Keeping Track
This is what, the third year of the Wiki? I wonder if anyone else besides me might be interested in compiling a comparative list of jobs and job ads compared to recipients of the jobs and their CVs at time of hire. That might provide useful information. I've read the MLA's interview results, but the MLA depends on Search Committee responses: that is to say, what the committee members who responded say in a survey may or may not be related to what the committee actually does. I'm interested in the actual process and what that might tell us.
 * I think the stress of the job market is really starting to get to people. This is way too much analysis and would take too much time. Focus on getting more research done (and articles published), especially if you have a dissertation to finish. Getting from ABD to PhD and getting publications (and teaching experience) will benefit you a LOT more in the job search than trying to find the "magic combination" that successful applicants have. (Which is probably publications, teaching experience, and fit into the department's need.)

It might also be interesting if people are willing to share their successful application letters-with names blacked out or removed-so that those not getting interviews can see what a real successful letter looks like.
 * There are lots of places online where you can find samples of application letters. You could also ask around at your PhD-granting institution if previous graduates made examples available. (Heck, if you don't already have a program that does that at your university, then maybe you could start one and get files of sample letters from students at your university.) I, for one, would not be comfortable with sharing my letter, even with names blacked out, on this wiki. (Besides, even with names blacked out, we'd be easily identifiable based upon our discussion of our research.)

Many people aren't on the wiki, of course, but I do notice a huge disparity between number of interview requests got by people here and the total number of interviews there must be (say, 20 places x several candidates). But I agree the above idea would require too much anatomization. And I think people here, as honest as they are, still keep a lot to themselves--not sure why, but I believe so.

I think it is appropriate that they do so (keep some to themselves). For the most part, I think the decorum and the amount of information, restricted to what is of any real, immediate use in terms of the searches currently running, is nearly optimal. For instance, one post goes over the line in my opinion on the Amherst section, listing the "distinguished" committee members by name. No one but those with interviews needs that information, and it is provided to candidates when they ask at the time of their interview invitation. That is an instance of unseemly tmi, imho. I do not want to see the site, for which I am so grateful, devolve into a paranoid info-crunching machine. I'd also say that I am really impressed by my colleagues' generosity and candor on this site.
 * I completely agree. And I'm going to take it upon myself to remove the info from the Amherst section. If the majority object to the removal, then it can be added back. But I really think that is information that only the people with interviews need to know. (By the way, we should always remember that this is a public forum, and search committees might be lurking. I think we've been professional for the most part but we definitely want to keep it that way.)-excellent. I support this move.