Gelpfrat the Bold

I've had crushes on lots of people I felt I shouldn't have thought about that way. By chance (perhaps owing to gender trends in my subfield) most of my influential teachers/professors have been men and I've developed sort of inappropriate feelings for a couple of them. But it's never manifested itself into a real crush where I hope something happens between us. In fact, in both cases I can think of, the thought of actually having sexual contact with these men repulses me. I think it's just something that happens when I spend time around men I respect - part of my head gets confused and starts thinking of them in ways I'd think about a potential partner. For whatever reason, I tend develop unexpected crushes on nerdy guys who are confident in their abilities but humble in public settings. I never admit these crushes I get to my friends because often they involve some of the least attractive men around, the sort of people whose sex lives others joke about. Also because I don't actually have the desire to act on them. Maybe it's a confused sort of desire for friendship. In any case, if you're worried about your feelings materializing into something, I'd suggest telling a friend or two about the situation so that if they see you entering dangerous waters in a social situation, they can pull you out of it and prevent you from doing or saying something you'd regret.

Make a list of all the authors whose work you've read that has anything to do with your field of interest. Go through your old essays and hunt through the bibliographies for names you may have forgotten. Google the authors and find out if they're still teaching and where they work. You can also try looking into universities whose presses tend to publish a lot in your field. Otherwise, go to the websites of every university you can think of and painstakingly search through their faculty lists. Good way to waste time.

No.

Pardon my ignorance, but is Late Antiquity actually classified as its own subfield anywhere? Like, can you get a degree in Late Antique History the way you can in Ancient, Medieval or Modern?

There seem to be a few different definitions of exactly what constitutes Late Antiquity. Where do you see the divide? When stuck between ancient and medieval history, I think someone interested in Late Antiquity would be better served in the medieval field, as there are lots of [early] medievalists with very early medieval training (particularly in the UK) but not so many ancient historians with early medieval training.

I don't know how the two would compare in time or difficulty, but one reason to do a thesis would be that you'd have a bit more control over the outcome. Exams are scary because you don't know what you'll be asked, whereas when you write your own piece to hand in, you are in full control of how good or bad it is. I can't tell you much about how much time/work goes into a thesis because my program's requirements and dates are a bit wonky in comparison to other places, but I will say that I'd go the thesis route because it's a great opportunity to focus on something that really interests you, while getting invaluable research and writing experience. You're [presumably] paying good money to pursue your MA, so you may as well take up the unique opportunity of going the thesis route.

I keep a traditional planner and scribble everything in there. At the beginning of each semester I write all my due dates (in order) on one sheet of paper and tack it up above my desk, so I have a good idea of what my semester will look like. It's surprisingly easy to forget about due dates, or for them to be buried in such weird places in the syllabus that it's a pain to have to look them up multiple times. Also, then you get to cross off each due date once you've handed things in, so when the end-of-semester crunch hits you you have a visible list of things to feel accomplished and confident about. Anyways, when it comes down to how I spend time within each individual day, I'm terrible about staying on track. I'm really bad at setting specific times for working and not working, and sticking to them. I'm "working" on a paper right now, but clearly I am not very focused at the present moment. I'm hoping taking time out of academia and working in a more normal setting will help me fix this tendency of mine!

I drank instant coffee for a long time, so I'm probably not qualified to post here. But anyways, I switched to actual coffee somewhat recently, mostly just out of shame. I use a stovetop percolator because the store I went to had no french presses and I didn't want to spend lots of money on something fancy I'd never use. The percolator's a bit funky and of course the coffee comes out a bit strong, but I drink it with a little milk to it's not really an issue for me. And I like it because it's pretty simple to clean, doesn't take up space on my counter, and doesn't require filters. And I feel like I'm camping every day.

Thanks for the response. My reason for going for it was that it's $50 and every other non-child bike available right now around here is at least $150. I figured if I go have a look at it and everything seems fine aside from the brakes, it might be cheaper to just pay someone to fix or replace them than it would be to buy another bike. I gather the person selling it just doesn't use it often enough to bother fixing it, but maybe I'm over-psychologizing the ad. I grew up in a bigger city than where I am now, where my parents found all our bikes by dumpsters in the alley. So I'm familiar with crappy bikes and detecting if something's wrong - just not with how to fix it myself!

If you don't have space for a filing cabinet or can't find an affordable one, you can always just put your files in a crate or box. I got a rectangular box that's kind of like a basket, rattan with a metal frame. Anyways, I just keep that on my desk and the extra wide manila files fit perfectly inside of it. I don't know what the proper name for these baskets is, but you'll see them at a lot of home furnishing stores and they're usually between 10 and 20 bucks. A laser printer is a great idea, and I wish I'd bought one this year because the library printing facilities are very expensive. Instead I've just adjusted to reading articles on the computer and only printing things that I'll be handing in. But of course, having a printer would be great because printing an assignment off in a hurry right before it's due is very stressful when you are relying on public printers! That ergonomic chair is also a great idea! You should be a personal shopper, Hejduk. I bought cheapo fold-up chairs for my apartment and they're impossible to work in. I do all my work on the couch, often slouching, and it's terrible for staying on task. I'd probably get my work done much more efficiently if I had a proper chair. Something I'm looking for lately is a small library cart to keep in my living room, where I do my reading. I do most of my reading at home, so I always have lots of stacks of books all over the place, in separate piles for books I need to return, books I need to read for this project, books for that project, etc. And I tend to make these piles on the floor next to the abovementioned couch, so it looks as though a crazy person lives in my home. It would be great if I could get a small library cart and just get cardboard dividers to separate my books for various projects. Unfortunately, my online searching has only found me incredibly expensive carts - they're all over a thousand dollars, it seems. I know I can probably just make one out of wood, and probably will do so, but I prefer the metal ones for their library charm. I guess I will have to go in search for a closing library. But I'm getting off topic! Mugs. I tend to use lots of mugs when I'm cramming for some project. There will often be 4 or 5 empty mugs scattered among the book piles next to my couch. Having lots of mugs means not having to do dishes quite as many times throughout the day or evening. It's also good to have some of those travel mugs with lids, so you can take your tea or coffee with you when you're running late for class, instead of scalding your throat by trying to chug it on your way out the door (what I do). If you're a lady or just someone who prefers to carry a handbag, get a special, sturdy tote just for library books. Most days, my usual handbag works fine for the 1 or 2 books I'll be carrying around, but on those days when I go to stock up on books for a paper, or once I'm done with the paper, return them en masse, it's better to have a sturdy bag that you don't mind getting a bit worn. Repeated use of favorite bags for transporting library books will wear out your bags quickly, and since you're a grad student you probably won't be able to afford replacing them with anything nice

I've been scouring Craigslist for a cheap road bike, partly to save money and also partly because I'm concerned that if I had a nicer bike, it would just get stolen! Anyways, I have no experience fixing bikes, so what are the most important things to look out for when buying a fixer-upper? What are the easiest or most difficult, cheapest or most expensive parts to fix and replace? I'm looking at one in particular whose breaks aren't functioning - how easy/expensive is it to fix that?

Personally, I don't think explaining how you first came to love your field of interest really adds much to a SOP. Unless the story is unusually remarkable. I prefer just getting right into what your interests are and why you think you'd fit in at the university, because it shows a more professional instead of naive attitude. I don't mean to call you naive, I just think that wistful opening lines often come off sounding that way - and I know because I've written my fair share of them myself! I sort of wonder whether the first sentence or two is really as important as people chalk it up to be - maybe what professors really mean when they say you should have a strong first couple sentences is that you should not shoot yourself in the foot by opening with cliches. I'm not sure what to suggest for your opening sentence because I don't know what follows it, but I think something like "I have been interested in [x element of political science] since I audited an introductory-level political science course as a high school student." Don't use the word passion - it sounds forced and cheesy. You should illustrate your passion by how you explain your research interests, not by simply stating that you have passion. Also, I'd leave out the part about how you were in your junior year of high school because it's unnecessarily detailed and it kind of sounds like you're bragging. Make it more subtle. Have you tried reading through your SOP without these introductory sentences? You may be surprised to find that it makes perfect sense without them, and that they're just cluttering up the beginning of your SOP with unnecessary info. As Fuzzylogician said, it's obvious already from the fact that you're filling out this application that you have a passion for political science. Devoting a couple sentences to explaining that fact can just take up precious space in such a short document!

Emailing to ask is probably a good idea. I've had some helpful email exchanges about language issues in the past, definitely got me much more informed than if I'd just gone off the information available on the department websites. As for MA programs, there are a couple that offer the possibility of funding. Off the top of my head the only one I can think of is Villanova, but there are definitely at least a couple others that would be worth looking into.

I also just want to second what ticklemepink said. Being outside of academia for a year won't kill you. As an undergraduate, I never intended to take any time between college and graduate school, and I was determined to avoid having to do a terminal MA if I could. Whereas most of my friends applied to MA programs because they weren't sure about committing to the PhD route, I knew for sure that I wanted to pursue a doctorate and didn't want to "waste" time in an MA program. I ended up having to do a terminal MA because I didn't get in to the PhD programs I applied to. And I have to say, I think that my relative lack of language experience is probably what killed my PhD applications - although I'm in a subfield that has extremely high language requirements, so I do not mean to suggest that you would never be accepted. Anyways, I didn't go straight to the PhD, and now I'm taking time out of academia to find work, save up money, and rest my brain a little bit before I apply again. I've added another language to my repertoire over the course of my MA, and I hope to begin learning another in the free time I'll have when I'm working as a waitress or barista or whatever. Strangely enough, I'm pretty glad that I didn't get in to a PhD program straight out of college, because I think it would have been too stressful to work so hard for so long without any break, especially since I'd have been trying to improve my language skills at the same time. When you're desperately trying to get in to a program against all odds (I sure was), it's easy to forget that there is a valid reason for these requirements to be there in the first place. They want you to have language experience upon entering because otherwise you could be screwed trying to satisfy all your language requirements while keeping up on all your other work. Taking time to really get to know a language relevant to your field will not only help your applications, it will also add to a better understanding of your subject. It doesn't really matter if you're working with primarily English documents. What if your research leads you in a direction where you have to familiarize yourself with German models of thought? What if there's a group of historians in France working on related themes? I don't know anything about your field so I don't know which languages would be useful, but there has to be at least one that would allow you to widen the scope of your reading. Ask your professors about this, they should be able to help point you in the right direction. Anyways, my new mantra is "my education is not a race." I think that's an important thing to keep in mind. Especially with the current state of things. I'm not going to be able to find a job whenever I do finish a doctorate, so why should I be rushing to get into a doctoral program? We may as well take our time and make sure we do it right.

Take the Latin. It's indispensable for any kind of medieval studies (well, European) and you can never have too much preparation in it. If you want to try both, audit the Old English and focus more on the Latin. As Lyones mentioned, having a firm footing in Latin will really help you learn other languages down the road. And it's great to work on your Latin independently, but having formal lessons will a) be an important part of your transcript for applications and allow you to pick up the basics more quickly so that you get a lot more out of the time you spend studying Latin on your own. Good luck! Also, for what it's worth, in my experience graduate programs generally seem to place much more importance on medievalist's Latin than any other language, whatever your particular sub-field might be. So having experience with Old English will help you, but it won't get you anywhere if you don't have Latin as well.