Subject: Re: Salinger and Kabbalah [was Re: Cheever and Salinger]
From: Jim Rovira (jrovira@drew.edu)
Date: Sun Jun 23 2002 - 09:37:33 EDT
I tend to agree with your statements about JDS and the Kabbalah -- it's
hardly an obvious influence, and if it were there, it'd probably be at
least as obvious as the Eastern and NT influences.
Man, that'd be cool, LR, if you decided to come over this way :).
You need to take the GRE and I recommend the subject test in your area.
Test books and courses help unless, of course, you're naturally a
genius. Most schools only look at the quantitative reasoning and verbal
section scores, but it doesn't hurt to do well on the qualitative
reasoning section too.
Most schools require that you pass proficiency tests in at least one
foreign language, usually two. Good old humanities institutions
generally like German and French.
Most degree programs require coursework (seminars), language proficiency
tests, exams, a dissertation prospectus, and your dissertation.
You'll see trade offs between coursework and exams. The University of
Dallas, for example, requires 4 years of coursework (2 years of required
courses), but the exams are really just edited seminar papers. My
university only requires 2 years of coursework, but the 5 exams I have
to take each require far more reading than any course -- studying for 5
exams here is like taking two years of coursework. And then, to take
the exams, I have to sit behind a computer and just type off the top of
my head for three or four hours per each exam. At UD you have to orally
defend three seminar papers, I think.
Some of the good schools -- say, Notre Dame and Emory -- give a free
ride plus a teaching fellowship to all students accepted into the
program. These fellowships pay almost nothing -- $9000 a year usually,
unless they've been getting better lately, and sometimes up to $15,000
per year (these are more rare). You can almost survive if you get
other part time work and you're single. But institutions with these
kind of programs only accept ten students per program per year, and are
very competitive.
The other model is something like the model my university uses, where
you're given a scholarship based upon the merit of your app, and aren't
usually allowed to teach until after you've had a year of coursework,
and then you have to apply and be interviewed as you would for any other
job. So, like elsewhere, the good students get a free ride or an almost
free ride.
Some schools only allow the majority of students to enter an MA program,
then translate into a PhD program after a year of coursework. If they
translate, then they don't have to write their MA thesis.
Those are the basics :). Check out school websites...many schools have
their catalogs online.
Jim
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