Bukharan

Mine is boring. I was obsessively checking my gmail.

A new e-mail arrived. My heart stopped. I opened the e-mail. The heart started beating again.

OMG, I love you for asking this. I thought I was the only one who was wondering this.

Here in the UKm in both my undergraduate and Master's institutions, there is quite a number of over-50 Ph.D.s. For bizarre reasons, all of those whom I know do theology/religious studies/mediaeval studies. But, yeah, people definitely do it!


If it is your dream, it is never never late to pursue it! All the best to you!

OMG, I love you for asking this. I thought I was the only one who was wondering this.

OMG, I love you for asking this. I thought I was the only one who was wondering this.

1. I want to teach at college level. In order to do that I need a Ph.D.

2. I want to do research in my field. I really want to publish something new, have a book or two. A Ph.D. is a very first humble step towards this.

3. I am politically and socially liberal as hell. University campus is one of few places where I will feel comfortable and fulfilled.

That's the idea. That's also super-naive, I know that.

OMG, I love you for asking this. I thought I was the only one who was wondering this.

Please, don't pick on a poor bloke. He only said what most Europeans think anyway, with the exception that he put it as politically correctly as he only could and then also apologised a couple of times ... for his personal experiences.

I think there is a fairly big academic Romani project going on at the University of Manchester but I am not sure whether they published much yet.

OMG, I love you for asking this. I thought I was the only one who was wondering this.

Mine is boring. I was obsessively checking my gmail.

A new e-mail arrived. My heart stopped. I opened the e-mail. The heart started beating again.

That's incredibly exciting Bukharan! You will love it there in the Bay.

The answer is too obvious to spell out.

... NO?

Why would you? Ask your best friend(s) to read your SOP. Or someone you know already in the Ph.D. programme or in academia. For free!

Average accepted GPA to Harvard - 3.74.

Average rejected GPA in Harvard - 3.78.

Oh dear oh dear...

This thread is truly inspiring. There are so many great tips here, and it's heartening to know I'm not alone. Sometimes it feels like the stress of worrying about funding is eating away at me, and I get frustrated because I just want to focus all my attention to my studies. That being said, I'm better funded this year than I have ever been. I'm entering the second yr of my MA with a SSHRC, a top-up award, and a TAship, plus some summer savings. I almost didn't work when I heard I got the SSHRC, but now I'm so glad I did, even if it's just a contract job. The only difficulty is that I still owe $5000 in tuition from the previous year, and along with paying tuition for this remaining year, I should have about $13000 the school year, and from reading this forum this seems quite feasible to live on. I would like to spend as little as possible so that come May, I still have a few grand in the bank to travel or to subsist on while I take a breather.

My rent is only $500 a month and I live with roommates. We don't cook communally but someone always makes homemade treats which adds variety. Like some of you here I do get bored with eating the same thing more than 2-3 meals; I get around this by freezing what I don't eat, or making two big batches of food and mixing it up, or adding fresh veggies. There is also a neighborhood corner store I've dubbed "the place where veggies go to die", seriously, it's like they get all the fruit and vegetables that have somehow fallen off a truck or just about to go bad. When I've been really tight with money, I've bought up baskets of tomatoes and eggplant, etc that are just a little bruised, grilled them or made sauce, and had enough for pasta or sandwiches or salads for a week. So good!

Other tips I have is not to live in a neighborhood with a lot of trendy stores; out of sight is out of mind. How many clothes can one person have? I love clothing so this is a weak point, I have convinced myself that marketers target women in order to brainwash us so that we won't care about social issues. This may not be necessarily true but it has helped stave the shopping cravings. Also, growing up my family also had quite a tight budget and I learnt to sew and knit from my mom, totally invaluable tools. It is really satisfying thing to do, particularly as a writing/reading break to make your own clothes or accessories. Lots of websites such as craftster give instructions for simple projects.

Also, start a garden, even a small container garden. Or sign up for a fresh food box, this can save time and ensure that you eat enough veggies in the winter months. Also, my roommate and I made some homebrew wine; we went to a "U-Brew" type of facility and for less than $30 each we got 25 bottles of decent red wine which we take to bbq's, or make sangria with. Corks, bottles and other supplies may initially set you back about $30, or you can collect bottles or borrow a friends' corker.

Coffee, like many of you, is a habit- I buy the best quality beans I can for about $10 a pound, and with little grinder and a bodum I've learnt to make an amazing cup of brew. Or carry around your own travel mug and most coffeeshops do give a discount. Ask for giftcards to your favourite cafes or grocery stores for christmas and save them for when you are really broke.

I'll be thinking of all of you as I embark on a new school year! living on such a tight budget may hurt at first, but the plus side is that we are learning financial skills which some people never do, and we appreciate every small luxury we have!

Not a grad student yet, but something I've learned from living as a poor senior undergrad:

At the beginning of each week, calculate how much you expect to spend on food, entertainment, etc. Withdraw that amount of cash from your account and keep it in your wallet. (You can even split it up by what it's supposed to be spent on using colored rubber bands or different sections in your wallet, if you like.) It helps you know just how much money you're spending on things, and if you've sectioned it off, you can make a more informed decision about whether or not you truly want to use extra money allotted for food or entertainment to buy that pair of too-expensive shoes.

Something else that a grad student I know does (that I don't necessarily do myself) is break all of his large bills into ones, then pay with one dollar bills every time. He says it teaches him the value of money, and asking people to break bills for him helps him meet new people. He's a bit strange, though, so take it or leave it.

I see a lot of people on this thread saying that they don't have time to cook...

People, there's this thing called a freezer. Make huge batches of stuff on the weekend, then freeze it. I make breakfast burritos, quiche, stew, etc...

Also, I'm terrible about remembering to bring lunch to school. So I keep a big box of whole-grain crackers (from Costco) in my office, along with toppings: usually peanut butter or almond butter, plus occasional pouches of tuna or salmon. Not the cheapest lunches to bring, but considerably cheaper than eating out every day. (I figure I spend less than $15/month on lunch stuff this way.)

Honestly, I can't live on my grad assistantship alone. But that's because I can't have roommates due to my family situation, and I'm feeding/clothing/supporting more than just myself (3 kids half-time).

jblsmith---If they DO end up revoking your funding due to a misreading of your application, be sure that you post your obsessive rant in a different font so we don't get you mixed up with the loser that keeps posting on this site.

Just an update: I DID decide to go to UH for my Ph. D. in economics. I recently visited the campus and met with professors, administrators, and students and everything seems to be legit. This could all be a facade, however, and they are all really conspiring to wait until I move down there before they revoke my funding. Only time will tell. I will keep you all posted.

OP must have died or something shortly after typing this whirlwind of a message.

Oh well, the world has enough economists already.

DamianD, you just got accepted to Rice and you never heard of UH??? and you're interested only in brand names?? wow, I'm just amazed at how people judge schools nowadays. Now, believe me that if you attend Rice, you will be seeing a lot of UH too....

Maybe you should refrain from making those kind of comments then. There are thousands of universities in the United States, and many of them are very specialized and prestigious in certain fields and unknown for others. It doesn't mean that they are not worth going to just because you haven't heard of them and because you don't know what their strengths are, especially when your knowledge is limited to so few US institutions in the first place. Your comment is unnecessary and irrelevant, and just comes across as ignorant and elitist.

I'm not from the us and only know like top unis by name :-)

Dude I've never even heard of that university so why do you wanna go there anyway? Given that you studied at Hopkins why go there, I say HOAX

Hi everyone,

I am doing my PhD at a university that has a rather small PhD student population overall. My department itself has less than 10 PhD students, most of whom are not in my subfield (so we take mostly different courses, attend different talks because of our divergent interests, etc). And we are also outnumbered by a relatively larger MA program (most of whom do not end up writing theses, but doing an internship option which allows them to get internships in the government).

As a result, there are very very few opportunities for me to socialize with PhD students in my field (and the same goes for socializing with PhD students in other fields -- since there are very few inter-departmental events, etc.). I've often had to hang out with MA students. But lately, I've been feeling that I'm kinda "above" that crowd. There's been a lot of drama among the MA students, and I have had strained relations with a few of them myself. I feel that they are, in general, rather immature and childish, and that we really don't get along all too well. Most of them are still in that childish / undergradish partying/gossiping/badmouthing phase (actually, one of the PhD students still is, too), which really is not my kinda scene (I prefer hanging out with friends and having discussions and debates over beer, etc).

Do you hang out with MA students in your program? Should I avoid them in general? Do you feel like a PhD student who hangs out with MA students in general, gives the wrong impression to faculty, etc.? I mean, I don't mind hanging out with serious MA students. There are 2 MA students who have told me they don't like hanging out with their MA peers because they're immature, and prefer hanging out with the more mature/serious PhD crowd. What are your thoughts on hanging out with MA students? Also, what are your thoughts on getting involved in the department's graduate student association? Is that something that MA students usually do and PhD students don't? I'm kinda involved in that, but I'm wondering if I should withdraw from it? Do you think PhD students should distance themselves from MA students, and act more formal with them?

I'm aware that it varies by the kind of university one is attending, the nature of the program and the size of the department, etc. My department is fairly small (not counting the undergrads, of course) compared to other departments. My university is in a big city, located downtown, so yes, there are opportunities for socializing outside the university, but I'm interested in socializing with the university crowd.

Anyhow, your thoughts are appreciated.

Hello,

I am an African-American male and recent graduate from a well-respected school and I am applying this fall to History PhD programs! I majored in History related fields, completed theses on historical topics, took a few history courses, but I did not formally major in History. I have over a 3.8 in my majors and over a 3.6 overall GPA. I recently took the GRE and received a 620V and 670Q. I really want to attend either Harvard, Yale, Columbia or Princeton to study 19th U.S. history, more specifically during the Civil War era. I am interested in the way the Civil War impacted the African American woman's citizenship rights.

At Princeton, I really want to work with Tera Hunter. At Harvard, I really want to work with Annette Gordon-Reed/Higginbotham, At Yale, Edward Rugemer. At Columbia, Eric Foner.

Please give me some feedback!!!! Thanks