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lotuspetal7

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    Saya no Nakayama
  • Application Season
    2014 Fall
  • Program
    East Asian Languages and Literature

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  1. I think you're right, that's really probably best. I just couldn't think how to begin and end it, but that sounds pretty good. Thanks so much for the help!
  2. Thanks for the reply! I know he's taking new students though so I don't really need to ask that.
  3. Hello all, thank you in advance for your help. I put in my first graduate school applications two years ago, mostly to master's programs. I visited First-Choice School and spoke with Professor POI. I asked him whether I should apply to the PhD program at that time as my interest was very serious but my experience was somewhat limited. He told me that I might as well go ahead and put in an application but with my limited experience would likely only be admitted to the (unfunded and very expensive) MA program, and might need to go get a master's from a less expensive school and apply to the PhD program again later. He was very positive in the general tone of his interaction with me--he told me after talking to me for ten minutes that the MA program accepts about 10% of applicants but that he thought I would get in; and when I met some current students of his later on and asked them whether they thought I really should apply now if he said I probably wouldn't get into the PhD program at this time, their eyes opened and wide and they said "If he told you you should apply, then you should apply!" So I did apply, and just as he said I was accepted only into the unfunded MA program, thus I basically applied for the mere purpose of showing my seriousness when I should reapply a couple years later. I got a few different good MA offers and was utterly stuck between the two best, so I contacted Professor POI to ask him which program he recommended as preparation for reapplying to First-Choice School in a couple of years. He answered my email within a few minutes, with a substantial response considering my particular needs and interests and recommending one school over the other for me and my particular circumstances. I thanked him and went to the school he recommended, and that was the last contact we have had since spring 2012. So now I am finishing up my MA and putting in my re-application, the real one this time, and I would like to contact Professor POI to say hello and remind him of myself. I thought about asking to meet in person again to discuss my interests as they've developed while I was in my master's program, but I won't have the time or money to travel there in the next couple of months and I hate talking on the phone, so email it is. I really just want to say hello and let him know I am back. Should I manufacture a question (I remember all his answers to my questions back two years ago and don't really have any new ones), discuss my interests (starting to chatter out of the blue with no real question to ask seems weird), or just leave off extraneous emails and trust that he will remember me when he receives my application? Thank you for your help!
  4. OK thanks, that makes sense. I appreciate it.
  5. Thank you for the response MsDarjeeling. As far as "those who didn't provide you with their email," though, even a student who might want the possibility of staying in touch with me in the future (to get a letter or whatever) wouldn't have felt the need to exchange email addresses with me because we already have each others' emails; I used to send them emails all the time about class stuff. But to use it now would be weird, I guess... What about an email to the whole group of my regulars, who all knew each other? Is that still weird? What a good idea about the list thing--I should try that in the future.
  6. Is it too weird to contact past students just to ask how they're doing? I had a few students who stayed with me the whole academic year, who were my little fan club and got to feel almost like friends at the time. A couple of them friended me on Facebook later, but I have no way to keep up with the others. They were all lovely people and I miss them and care about how they are doing, but I should have no reason to run into them again. They took my class to satisfy a general requirement unrelated to their majors, so I won't be running into them in the department. I suppose I should not do any Facebook friending myself. (until maybe years later when one or both of us is no longer at this school?) Can I send them an email? Or is that just weird? I knew this part of TA-ing would be hard for me I used to teach little kids and it would break my heart to realize that in a couple of years they wouldn't remember I had ever existed...
  7. Just wanted to say thank you so much for these later suggestions. I forgot to check this forum for a couple weeks, sorry. This stuff will really help me a lot!
  8. Marquisbey, thanks for the advice! I'll send you a PM. What about a paper I wrote right when I got in and presented to a good reaction from my advisor, but still I now realize the paper was immature and I wouldn't want to show it to an admissions committee? I suppose I should list only papers I am prepared to show should they ask about me? Would they actually call me up and ask to see random older papers I have written? I suppose I could just list it as a colloquium presentation, not as a paper, and if they ask about it say that I don't have a fully fleshed-out version of the paper to show (actually true of my other colloquium presentation, and kind of true of this one too insofar that the version I have is one I can no longer sign off on), and offer to show other papers. Does that sound like a good idea? Eigen, I just saw your reply--thanks. I have looked at some faculty CVs, but they usually have lots of publications and stuff to list. Not sure where to find a CV for a person who's at the same stage in the game that I am!
  9. Hello all, I'm a current master's student getting started thinking about some Ph.D. applications I'll be turning in this winter for fall 2014. I'm thinking about how to write my CV and wondered if I could get some opinions on organization. I'm TAing my way through this master's program, so I have the academic stuff and the TA stuff to write about. Before that, I have four years of work experience outside an academic environment, and before that my undergraduate stuff which I will summarize just briefly. So, should I do education (M.A., undergrad) and professional (TA, 2 jobs in between undergrad and grad school)? Or chronological? Also, I'm not sure what to write about in the part about the M.A. degree I'm currently getting. In undergrad I had a bunch of flowery things like phi beta kappa and honors program, and in my jobs outside of school I did a bunch of special projects and whatnot. But for my grad program I'm not sure what I'm supposed to put on there. I've only been in this program for just over a year and have spent most of the time working on getting the basic sort of background I need since my undergrad program was in something unrelated. I'm writing a thesis which will be in the refining stages by the time I turn in my applications. I've read papers at a couple of small colloquia and will be looking for any more chances I may get in the fall. That's not much to put on my CV though...I haven't published anything, though for my field (Japanese literature) at my level that seems not to be a problem. It would be nice to be able to take a paper to a bigger conference before turning in my applications, but I don't think there's going to be one in the next six months. (My field within the U.S. is very small and I'm aware of just two major graduate student conferences, both in February, and one major professional conference which accepts mostly pre-arranged panels). I have lots to say in my SOP about my research interests, and I should have a great writing sample, probably a cut-down version of my thesis. I spoke to all my POIs a couple of years back when I was doing my M.A. applications, and I think a couple of them should remember me and be anticipating my application. So I'm confident in general but not sure what to write about the year I've spent in graduate school so far. I'd really appreciate any advice. Thank you!
  10. Thanks a ton TakeruK! That does indeed give me a much better idea! I guess my common sense might be an okay guide after all because I guessed correctly for all the examples you posited. Really appreciate the thorough explanation!
  11. I'm a new TA with questions too--for undergrad I went to an undergrad-only school so I had no idea what a grad TA's role was. I started both as a student and as a TA this summer quarter, so I had no orientation or anything. There will be an orientation before fall classes, so I guess I can ask then any questions I still have, and there is a TA handbook, but I feel like there are some things I don't know. For example, I saw on some forum, can't remember whether it was this or another one, that one TA said he/she didn't recommend becoming Facebook friends with students. When I asked an experienced TA here about that she said oh no, you shouldn't do that. Not a written rule per se, but ethically prohibited. That's the kind of thing I just wouldn't have known if I hadn't happened to run into it--I used to become Facebook friends with profs back when I was an undergrad 5 years ago in the days when Facebook was a little different. And there are other things I feel like I don't know as well. Is all light socializing outside of class taboo? The other day I thought a student was about to follow me to lunch after class--would that have been a bad idea, for example? I have no idea...
  12. I have just started this summer quarter as a TA teaching an intensive course in introductory Japanese. Somehow I had the idea that I would be doing mostly a bunch of grading and office hours, but the week before classes began they up and told me "so, you'll be teaching solo 10 hours a week," and I felt a little freaked out. I also had no orientation or training whatsoever because it's summer, they just threw me right at it. But my first week has gone okay as the lesson plans were all filed away just waiting to be printed out. The students have a 2-hour lecture with the prof where he explains the grammatical structure in English, and then a 2-hour session with me mostly for doing a bunch of exercises practicing what they've learned. I'm supposed to basically speak only Japanese to them, though in reality it's okay for me to give the more complex classroom instructions in English, preferably saying it in Japanese first for more immersion effect and for the students who already have some background and will understand. They probably won't ask you to do anything impossible. Ask whether the lesson plans are already prepared, and ask if you can get in touch with a current TA to ask questions. Maybe ask the current TA whether you can occasionally use English or at least write it on the board if the students really don't understand what it is they're supposed to do. But in general I think it's unnecessary to freak out about teaching Spanish in Spanish. You can just teach them classroom commands on the first day--write them on the board and practice giving them and making students respond until they have them down. My students absorbed the basic classroom commands (listen, look, say, read, write) within a few minutes on the first day and with no English explanation, only gestures. You can tell them, for example, to turn to page whatever of the textbook by saying it in Spanish, holding up the textbook, and writing the page number on the board--trust me, they will get the idea. It's no big deal. It should be even easier for students of Spanish than of Japanese because it's a language related to English and they will recognize some of the word roots--even if they don't already know a few words of Spanish, which many of them will. Students who understand will whisper help to their puzzled neighbors, etc...these things work themselves out. The immersion part is the least of your worries. I'd be more concerned if there were no lesson plans available for you to use, but if you ask you may find there are or at least that more experienced TAs can help you make your first few weeks of lesson plans.
  13. thank you SO much for the help everyone. very good points, especially ailinna and poeteer. I sure don't want to end up doing a second master's, so I suppose the UW situation will be better for me all round. I just declined Yale's offer feeling much better about my decision. Thanks a ton all!
  14. OK, I guess that makes me feel better. though I still decided to send Yale an email asking for a day or two to think. A couple of professor friends I asked advised me that I won't make enemies by bowing out of an offer for an M.A. program, so I'm still considering. One of them advised me to ask again the professor I hope to work with in the future, the one who advised me to go to UW over Harvard. I wonder if I should bother him again. If Yale gives me a day to think, I could. But I worry he would think badly of me for even considering turning down a school I have committed to. Is that over-worrying? Should I ask him tomorrow?
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