sonofcioran

I really can't emphasize how few jobs there are out there in teaching right now in NYC - or most anything else, either - I may go back to bookkeeping (I still have a P/T gig from when I went to school F/T) until I finish enough credits on my second Master's in Special Ed (no hiring freeze in SpEd) to apply for independent evaluation in the Spring. Re: funding - You won't get much money out of either program. M.Ed. programs are typically unfunded. You may get something out of Columbia. I'm not trying to be dour, but if you currently have a job in MA and you don't have a job lined up in NYC, I think you'd be out of your mind to move, unless your SO is wealthy or can support you until hiring resumes. On the plus side, I doubt you should have any problems getting into Ed programs. Back on the downside, pay in private schools is awful, and it's tough to find jobs with them too. MA has a great school system, ELA job openings (listed publicly even for amazing places like Boston Latin), and you're already certified there. I hope your SO is very, very pretty, rich, or at least related to a superintendent. Otherwise, I'd consider an upgrade -or at least the purchase of a large life insurance policy on him or her..... FYI: Interstate Reciprocity - here read these. Scroll down to page 6 on the first one. http://schools.nyc.gov/NR/rdonlyres/187 ... 061109.pdf http://schools.nyc.gov/TeachNYC/require ... efault.htm http://eservices.nysed.gov/teach/certhe ... H&hidId=40 How many years experience do you have? What kind of certificate? You may have pathway deficits and may have to take add'l credits if you have less than a certain # of years experience. Most Master's programs are designed for residents or on the flip side there are those that more or less ignore licensure completely (there's a proscribed series of standard course types that are necessary for licensure). Columbia is notorious for the latter - they're all about theory and aren't even vaguely familiar with the licensure process. Not a very practical place. Heavy sociological bent. Read a book by Noguera. If you think 2 years of listening to that sounds good, by all means go for it. It has a good rep. Oh incidentally, you're probably going to have to go down to HR on 65 court street if you want to actually find out what that reciprocity means for you. Or call HR Connect (718) 935-4000. Fair warning, they don't care, you may be on hold for a while, and they're generally rude and often wrong. Anyway, HTH. Hope things work out for you. Pm with any ?'s I don't check the forums often. -Mike

Having done payroll for several hundred small businesses when I worked for a payroll co, I have no remorse for these small business owners. They routinely employ illegal immigrants, pay below minimum wage, cheat on overtime and pay employees like they're 1099s. I don't shop at Walmart, either, though. Not that I care about small businesses or staying local, but they censor everything. Not a fan of that.

I don't get why you want to go to an Ed program in NY. Why don't you just apply to Harvard, BU, UMass? If you want to work in NYC and are planning English Ed, you're out of your mind. There's a hiring freeze right now and NYC doesn't really have reciprocity (you're still going to have to take the CST, LAST, ATS-W) and you'll still have to apply for certification. Did you student teach in US or the Uk? There is NO PLACE to live cheaply in NYC. Housing will be an issue. If it's TC, you're looking at Morningside Heights. Astoria's commutable, too. Don't take my word for it, check the rents. No program "does" licensing. You apply for that yourself. PM me if you have any questions.

What interests you about Continental Philosophy and how does it relate to poli sci? I'm still missing it. I don't think you know either. You're planning on applying to the 10-12 "top" programs in each discipline. A) That's a lot (what are you thinking 50-60 apps total?). What are the "top" programs? Find a program reputable in your subfield, not with a USNWR ranking that appeals to your ego. If you want to study Kant, Berkeley, et al, you're in an Early Modern Philo Dep't, not a poli sci one even if you're interested in their political philo. If you're interested in Arendt, et al you're in a Modern Continental Dep't. Nietzsche is tricky, because it depends on your reading - Deleuzian, etc is more of a modern dep't, others may be in dep't that lean towards Aesthetics or even Post-Heideggerian Ontology. Ditto on Hegel. You won't find a Roycian Hegelian, but you'll find Marxist Hegelians, Utilitarian Hegelians, and about a half dozen other flavors. Hegel was a system philosopher, so you'll wind up learning how politics relate to all those nasty subjects you don't like (seriously - have you read Outlines of the Philosophy of Right?). I don't know how someone who despises metaphysics and ontology can like Hegel, especially when so much depends so heavily on phenomenology (Hegelian, not Husserlian) and the obviously metaphysical Absolute, the Notion, and the Spirit. I suppose you could if you were a Marxist Hegelian, but you'd still need to at least understand the metaphysics. Like I said, check citations of who wrote stuff that interests you in the journals - rankings are absolutely useless for the most part, esp. if faculty moved around. See who wrote what in journals, where they're out of, and how often they're cited. If you don't know what journals to look for, check Ulrichsweb or something similar. p.s. I know plenty of philo grad students. I do have an idea of this stuff. No clue on the poli sci side of things, though.

I think you need to narrow down your interests. Waaaay too broad. Get a job or get a Master's. Then take another crack at this when you know what interests you and the field a bit better. I think you're also ignoring the prevalence of people you have no interest with (or haven't mentioned an interest at least) in American Political Philo e.g. Rawls, Nozick). You probably won't be reading Agamben (I imagine he's in the ballpark of the stuff that interests you?) in an American poli sci class. Someone like that is more commonly cited in lit crit (I see him cited a lot in the journals I read) and cultural anthro. Check the cites of his books and articles (or another current continental political type) on google scholar if you don't believe me. Here's what really puzzles me - you assert that you''re mildly interested in continental philosophy, but not in Phenomenology, Metaphysics or Epistemology? Granted many of us have a subfield or two they hate in their field, but the three major fields in Philosophy is a bit much. What are you interested in philosophy exactly, besides politics (Aesthetics, Ethics)? You've ruled out half of the major fields. That's kind of like saying, "I like Math, except for arithmetic." Best of luck, though. Hope things work out.

"but I was never offered a course " Not everything in life has an intro-level course. Some things are best learned through experience and best apprehended through intuition. That said, read Dale Carnegie's "How to Win Friends and Influence People". You'll thank me. Having worked in business before grad school, I can safely say that academics are the most socially maladjusted group of people on earth, besides engineers and morticians. A little bit goes a long way. I know the names of every member of the staff at my U library. They're nice folks. I say hi to them by name without any ulterior motive. Virtually no one else does that. Sometimes, that comes in handy. Remember names. Actually being friendly is a whole lot better than faking it. People can tell the difference. best, -M

Assuming the commute's the same and absent other factors, Hunter. They have many, many programs especially on the Special Ed side of things. No major differences in practice between the schools if you just want a garden variety elementary degree, but at Hunter you have more options and can pick up behavioral certificates, literacy, hard of hearing, etc - which I would strongly recommend doing to get a job. I will be brutally honest with you - elementary is hugely over-enrolled (especially for females) and there is currently a DoE hiring freeze. If you don't already have a job in a school or have a family member in higher administration, consider elementary Special Ed or you will probably be unemployed a year from now. Only Special Ed, charter schools and new schools are currently hiring. That might change in a year, but I think we're looking at cuts for at least another 2. FYI, all of CUNY has atrocious administrators, the worst I've ever encountered. Be prepared and don't get discouraged.

I can commiserate. I begged a prof to let me survey his class. Quick things: 1) It's too long. 2) Use college students and scantrons 3) label all Likert options - you only label the extremes. People will forget 3 = Neutral. Except there are 6 options? And 4 in another place? Kind of odd. Inconsistent, too. It makes correlating the various sections tougher for you, too when you plug and chug with SPSS or Excel. 4) Your directions are poor 5) I forgot the story the questions referred too by the time I finished. It's easier if you hand out a sheet with the story and a survey as a separate sheet or use separate prompts for each question 6) Use an f-scale or something - it's extremely easy to tick off the same answer for everything. 7) Are you measuring attitudes with the personal experiences part? 8. Ditto on the drawing, except for introducing SES skew. Not that it matters, since posting on here will introduce educational attainment skew. Oh, and yes, I took it too, of course. Grad student solidarity.

Nice, thanks. I'll pick them up. Re: Avicenna and Al-Farabi. I'm mildly familiar with both. I'm not especially familiar with the stuff ("read it once" territory) and have never read it in the original language, but since I looooooove Aristotle (I have a copy of Aristotle's basic writings on my end table), one of my friends who's a big middle east guy (he served in Iraq, has some Arabic proficiency, etc) and went to SUNY-Oneonta for Philosophy is always handing me Professor Parviz Morewedge's books. I'm generally in a little over my head with the stuff (like I said, I get Aristotle, but I'm not very familiar with Islamic culture). A tad dense (I had to refer to Aristotle's Metaphysics on more than one occassion) and more than a little dry, but good reading, if you get the chance. The guy's a hell of a scholar. Very culturally sensitive and none of that post-colonial nonsense or jargon. Really gave me an interesting perspective on Islamic Philosophy, which I'd always considered ancillary to the Western tradition. Morewedge points out, quite justifiably, that it's anything but that. I'm sure I missed most of the finer points, but he got into those too, of course. I'm also mildly familar, but rather interested in Sufism, but mainly on a theoretical/theological level versus other mystic traditions like Eckhart's Neoplatonic Catholic mysticism, Suzuki's Zen Buddhism, and the Russian Orthodox Mystic tradition i.e. Soloviev, Berdyaev, Tikhon, et al.

Interesting area. The Shariah and banking stuff never ceases to amaze me. I think the Chasidim are the only other group of people who insist so stubbornly holding on to customs that are completely impractical while living in the modern world. They, too, do complicated ethical endruns (worthy of vintage Jesuits). You know any good books on Shariah funds (academic or otherwise, both are fine)? I'm familiar with Accounting and somewhat familiar with finance. I'm largely ignorant of the Qu'uran (read it once, read an introduction on it, read some Aristotelian Islamic Philosophy). Oh and OP, I second finding a job. Try to find the best job you can, I'm sure your interests will shine through. Maybe you'll pick up some new interests, too. The other poster's shariah fund work is a great example. Interesting field. Really worked out for him or her no? I have a less awesome, though no less relevant story. I did my undergrad in literature. I got a job as a bookkeeper, which was pretty much my last choice since I hated math. Turns out I was great at accounting. As fate would have it, there's no geometry, calculus, or any of the other parts of math I failed in actual accounting work. Who knew? Having strong quantitative research skills (which is basically what accounting is, plus some statistics) has really helped me on my thesis, plus I file my own taxes every year.

TC has really great placement in the NYC metro area. I know lots of TC grads. Apply. Also, hate to break this to you, it's Ed, not rocket science (I'm in Ed, so this isn't a knock on the discipline, just the reality - it's more laid back). You can get away with working at least P/T (unlike PhD programs at some U's in the hard sciences and psych, where you're essentially grad slave labor) if your funding is shoddy. EdD's (and PhD's in Ed) are often in the ballpark with PsyD's - often unfunded. This isn't way out in left field, but I don't know Columbia's general situation with funding in TC. I second the recommendation to talk to the dep't secretary. IME, they generally know more about this stuff than the dep't chairs. Best of Luck!

You tell me to be careful about making blanket assertions on anecdotal evidence, yet your rebuttal is that you know people who've gone on to great success. We're both dealing in anecdotes. I just have a few more of them and a more detached viewpoint. Try to remember the difference between possible and probable. PhD acceptance rates are very, very low so the vast majority of PhD applicants will not get accepted. Going for an unfunded MA at a private U to prepare for a PhD is a risky gamble. You'd be better off hedging your bets in a cheaper unfunded Master's program if a funded one isn't feasible for reasons I've already mentioned. FYI, it's not just UC. Plenty of other schools - like NYU's Gallatin and some of Columbia's programs do the same thing and often have inferior faculty and access. Also, all the extension programs. If I didn't care, I'd just tell everyone "go for your dream". Unfortunately, for many people this isn't fiscally viable and I think the academy spreads a lot of predatory half-truths like "If you're good enough, you'll get into a PhD program/hired/etc". The thing is, statistically, that's just not the case. PhDs and PhD applicants are both massively oversupplied. 80-100k in debt, a graduate degree in English that you could have gotten from a public U at 1/10 the cost, and a job as a barista at Starbucks sounds like a losing gameplan for life to me (unless you have money or a trust fund to burn) for a chance at a degree that gives you a minimal chance at employment.

I know more than a few people flim-flammed by the UC consolation prize and a few other programs with idealistic hopes that it helps get one a Doctorate - it doesn't. It just leaves you with debt. Any program is fundamentally dishonest if it preys on people at their low point to help fund their department. It's despicable, to be frank. Yet, I know several schools that do this. Don't listen to me, just look at the stats. People need to be VERY careful with unfunded programs at some U's and be mindful of the rumors.

No, you're absolutely right - about goals. If your goal is to flush large amounts of your overly rich parents money or your trust fund down the toilet, an unfunded Master's Degree from a private college, especially from a consolation prize master's program (which is solely designed to profit from your bruised ego), is a great fit. In that case I'd whole-heartedly recommend it. In all other instances, involving people who plan on working for a living, the same thing stands. An unfunded master's degree in the liberal arts from a private U is silly - academics scoff at them, and it won't help you in hiring for any regular job. Look at the statistics. Read that article. There's another related one if you search the site. Zero positive impact on earnings.

A degree in Lit is a necessary, but not a sufficient condition for employment in many of the fields you listed. Fields like journalism are very competitive (and generally low-paying) fields. LOL, I used to work in HR. I interviewed lots and lots of people. No one cares where you got your Master's Degree in Liberal Arts from. Most laypeople think Penn and Chicago are state U's. Your life is missing something if the name on your (non-doctoral/non-professional) degree matters that much to you. There is not a single Master's Degree in any of the Liberal Arts that is financially viable, unless you already have a job as a teacher or Fed'l government and you get a schedule step increase for it. Surprisingly, knowledge of Proust, as much as I adore him and relish him as one of the greatest geniuses of all time, doesn't readily translate into any life skills. But don't take my word for it..... http://chronicle.com/jobs/news/2009/01/2009013001c.htm Also, academics look down upon unfunded Master's. A program like Chicago's or Columbia's is a lose-lose. The name isn't worth anything for that degree, and you'll be out a ton of money.

Good for you! Yeah, it's cheap, right? I'm done with one Masters' in May and I'm more than halfway through 2 others for <15k. The administration is terrible, but eh. Can't complain. Price is right. I'll probably finish up the other two Masters' next year. I needed two of them for work, but the other one is mostly just for fun (even though it significantly overlapped with Master's A&. Buy two Master's, get one free. They should advertise that.

I don't think they're very good with funding. Anecdotal, but probably true. Read the newspapers lately? Do a google search. Trouble at NSSR. Visit the place. It's like the bizarro world version of NYU. You know what's going on there, right? If you're not extremely far to the left, you won't be happy there. The school is mostly Marxists. I don't mean that euphemistically or hyperbolically. I voted for Obama in the last election. For that, an alum called me a fascist. The school is really just mostly Marxists. Seriously, visit it. You'll love it or hate it. No in-between In general, NSSR is not that prestigious and you'd be crazy to pay for a Master's there (though if you're funded, and it suits your interests, you could do worse). They have such a narrowly Critical Theory/Neo-Marxist bent that I think their students generally come off as crackpots or trustafarians unable to deal with the world, at least outside Social Work and other fields that are extremely liberal. Also, it probably wouldn't be very useful since so few other philo dep't's have similar orientations. In fairness, their philosophy department has some strong Continental types. Critchley teaches there (philosophy chair) but most of the school has a Neo-Marxist, rather than a French post-structuralist or Heideggerrian bent (which is what reigns in many Modern Continental oriented schools). Their clinical psych PhD isn't bad either. They also have some well respected soc programs (and some relatively unknown ones). In general, MA in Liberal Arts are cash cows. Get a Masters' in something specific. If you don't get funding, and really want a Masters' strictly for personal edification, you may as well just go someplace cheaper .

I'm not a Latin guy, so I'll probably wind up on the offending end of Latin plurals as much as the other idiots, but if you like that stuff - did you read the new Strunk & White? It has commonly misused words and phrases from the internet age e.g. "irregardless", "for all intensive purposes", etc. Did you read Eats, Chutes & Leaves? That'd be really up your alley. It's grammar porn. I bought a copy for one of my friends (he writes like a German thanks to reading waaaay too much German Idealism). Then I bought another copy, photocopied it, and taught it to my kids in mini-lessons. Plus, I'm even learning stuff from it, too. I have it on the back of my can. My pet peeve is "peruse". The word is so commonly misused, common usage will probably become denotation inside of the decade.

Depends on the school district. With a master's, I should start at 52k in the Fall if the school I'm at picks me up permanently. Major urban school district (NYC). About average for urban school districts, too. Hardly the suburbs.

How about working?

Sounds like Chicago's infamous consolation prize Master's. If you're in NY, and you want to get an unfunded Master's in something useless that you really love, you may as well get it at CUNY or SUNY for 1/10th the price.

You seem to write English quite well for an Asian language speaker (no offense to Asians, that just a tough transition). Have you considered e-mailing the professors in English and Chinese? Also, if you're bilingual, mention that to them. Hell, you even got the slang like newbie right. Color me impressed.

Well, I think that's more practical. Still, I think you're overestimating your abilities. TOEFL does not show a comprehensive knowledge of English. It shows a minimal working knowledge for foreign speakers. It's always an accomplishment when you learn to speak another language. I think learning another language is wonderful (and I commend you for that), but when you apply to a Literature program, you need to have more than a working knowledge. You are competing against people who have spoken English their entire life. You have a bit of difficulty using prepositions. Additionally, you use pronouns without clear antecedents. Sometimes, it's difficult to understand what you're talking about because of unusual diction, too (dossier?). When you, as a candidate, are compared to candidates who speak English as a first language, these errors sudenly become glaring errors. In America, children are generally fairly proficient with pronouns and prepositions by the end of elementary school. If you're really dead set on this and really think I'm completely wrong (and your professor is wrong, and marshmallow is wrong)- take the GRE subtest in the area. See how that goes. Your knowledge of English is, like I said, probably fine for day to day living. It would be more than adequate for the study of Engineering, Computer Science, or Economics. It's terrible for someone who is studying the English language, which has a much higher standard. I know plenty of grad students from Russia, China (give or take the liquids), Poland, and India (especially India) who speak fluent English. Many students from India probably speak English better than I do. They're effectively bilingual. You will be competing against them. Also, like another user said, why not politely e-mail back the professor and ask her for more advice? The advice she gave was good and very polite, you just didn't like it. Who has more experience with universities? The professor - or you? Why would you doubt that advice? She has no reason to lie to you. Rather than debating whether or not she's right (she is, by the way), why not ask her how you can become a better candidate? Ask her what specific classes might she recommend. Also, buy a copy of Strunk & White's Elements of Style: 4th Edition. Very informative book.

Thanks so much! I just inter-library loan requested it now (my U didn't have a copy).

I'm sorry if this is overly blunt, but because of the language barrier, you don't seem to be understanding what you were told by an administrator and other people on this board. Maybe there's some confusion. The administrator was 100% right. I know sometimes the idioms and customs of other cultures are very difficult to understand. Other languages can be tough. I've been trying to learn Japanese and I speak a bit of Russian. I'm constantly baffled amongst native speakers. Oh, and then there's my French. I can read it fine, but I can't speak it without getting laughed at by native speakers. I have a very noticeable Brooklyn accent. I mispronounce some words and they mean other things. I sound silly in French. Really silly, from what I've been told. Here's the thing - most students are much more qualified than you are. That includes most international students (who make up a large portion of grad students at most schools). Schools have over 100 candidates for every PhD application. American schools can select the best students. Your GPA is low (as far as I know Turkish GPAs are x/4), your written English is very bad for a Literature PhD candidate, you've done no research, and you majored in the wrong area.You want to study Comparative Literature, yet you have major problems with written English. I counted 5 major grammatical errors that interfere with comprehension in your posts. 1 of those errors on any written material will likely result in a rejection. If you want to study Literature in America, you will have to learn the English language at a much higher level than you communicate now. You do not have advanced knowledge of English. Whether or not you have an intermediate knowledge of English is debatable. I'm sorry if this sounds overly harsh, but I think it's healthy to have realistic goals. That way, you won't waste your money applying to schools that will take your application fee, then throw out your application. Your English language skills may be acceptable for day-to-day living, but they're just not good enough at the PhD level in a Literature program. Still, if you're serious about this, take literature classes instead of economics classes. I really think you should consider other options, though. Good Luck!