drivingthoughts

@inprogress Well, for one, I taught undergraduate while working on my M.Div and it totally helped my PhD applications, it was also really good experience and gave me a much better idea of how I like to manage a classroom - and I think that one class a semester isn't too heavy of a load for that. As such, I would say to go for it. It looks good on your resume, it builds experience, it contributes to your teaching portfolio, etc. In my opinion, of which ymmv, is that languages can wait and/or are always a work in progress. Many funded PhD programs expect you to come in with one language that is testable, and then pass the second language before your comps. It's also possible that since you're teaching, you can get a discount on summer language courses at your CC. Also, you could teach one semester, and if it's not working out with your study needs, then drop it. Your plan of doing a local M.Div then a better ThM (or similar) and then PhD is a good route, and indeed, the one that I took and I'm now in a fully-funded program. If you hunt, you can find funded ThM programs. On that note, I don't think that you want an Mdiv and an MTS - most folk see the MTS as an Mdiv that's lacking the pastoral work. I don't have time to do a long write up on my teaching experience at this point, but I have taught World Religions at two different institutions, so if you want to PM me with any specific questions, I can try to get back to you sooner than later. Either way, good job!

@Cat_Robutt In an effort to get myself back into some kind of shape resembling healthy human, I just signed up for my first 5k. I think it's a good start!

Not really a super-power, but I would love to get my hands on Hermione's time turner. That would make work-life balance so much easier...

@harrybond The comments offered above are quite good. Here are a couple of more considerations: I ruled out GWU and another DC based school (PhD in another field) due to the Cost of Living v. Stipend. So while it may appear to be slightly cheaper than Rutgers due to the fellowship, it probably isn't if you look at the whole financial picture. I also want to second what @emmm says about recommendations - if RU is a better fit for you, you're more likely to get good recommendations out of your professors, and in my opinion, having solid recommendations outweighs prestigious fellowship. Either way, good luck & both schools are good (again, I don't know about your field, so ymmv on that). DC is a fun, but crime-riddled place - there is lots to do but some of the more affordable neighborhoods really suck. The same can probably be said of Jersey, but at RU you're an hour(ish) of public transit from NYC, so that's a nice bonus.

@Bobsir Well, I took it 3 times total. Each time only marginally improved my grade, but the effort paid off and finally earned me a slot in the +91% club that you have to be in to clear the fence at many institutions. That said: ETS says that you can submit only the score you want, or all of your scores, or select scores - but no matter what you send, they do tell your institution how many times you've taken it (I don't see that being a problem unless you've taken it like 5 times or something). Also, a handful of apps that I completed let you pick your high score per field across your GREs (in such case, I used two sets of scores to get the highest in each category). Whatever your decision, I wish you the best.

I'll be able to keep this to 40 hours a week, just like I did at my "real" job - right? I'll have the summers off to do whatever I want, just like I did in undergrad! Having limited funds isn't that bad, I mean, we'll be fine if we have a good budget. I'll never be able to keep up with all of that reading! I'll stay fit, I mean, there's going to be a ton of time to exercise! Not drink as much coffee/booze as I did in undergrad (OK, so the ratio changed a bit) I'm smart, so this will be easy. (on all accounts, wrong)

@Neist When we lost the EITC we were very sad. for the whole year. I feel ya. At least it's just a season of life... right?

@Outmoded I agree with the above, having an actual professor write the recommendation is always better - but... As a graduate student and TA, I have written a couple of recommendations for people as part of their PhD application and both got in. In both cases, they were international students who didn't build strong repoire with their professors, and both of their applications required an insane 5 references, so I was just one spoke in a large wheel. It probably helps if they have some kind of professional title to add to their name, even if it's not "Dr." **You are correct in how important it is for folk to write directly about you and your experience, so make sure you pursue that no matter who writes for you. For everyone who wrote for me, I gave them a list of schools, with write ups of why I wanted to go to them, who my contacts were at each school, why I thought I was a good fit, my intended research, my academic record with each professor, etc. All so they could write me a solid 2-3 page letter. Best of luck!

@ThePeon Your GPA will probably be fine, as folk have said. However, you may have to take a terminal master's in-between your undergrad and phd. I had a shockingly low GPA (2.55!), and even though I had high major GPAs and +90% GRE scores, it still disqualified me from any direct-entry phd program. So... I now have two master's degrees (3.7 & 3.9) and am in a fully-funded PhD program. Just added 4 years to my track, that's all...

@Deadwing0608 Your mileage may vary with this but... I'm a first gen student too and I had the opposite problem - I think very quickly on my feet and unintentionally railroad folk on a regular basis. I'm an ENFP, loud, and opinionated = not everyone's favorite person in seminars. One well-tuned advisor of mine suggested I check out something called "assertiveness training/counseling". I talked to one of the school's psychologists (not my department) and she recommended a therapist to me who dealt in such things. It was a fun time, about 5 group sessions; I was the only "assertive" person in the group, and as I learned how to shut up, listen and appropriately engage, the other folk learned to express what they were feeling and thinking. @St Andrews Lynx's comment about imposter syndrome is quite possible too; on that note, and related to what I said above, therapy is never a bad idea. Self-care comes before dealing with others, and many schools cover such visits for their grad students!

In my case, my undergrad GPA was abysmal. As in, I was really good at billiards and had a lot of fun, but grades, not so much. When I got serious, my major GPA was solid, and I did get into a master's program - but they admitted me on academic probation status, and I had to earn a 3.3 average in my first semester to remain in the program (which I did). So, I'd apply a few places, make sure the professors you want to work with actually get to know you and know that your GPA is not representative of your standard of work, and throw everything you've got (like your ginourmous scholarship) into your statement of purpose. I also made sure that folk writing my letters of recommendation addressed this issue - they all effectively said "Kid had a rough start in school, but I'm really impressed with him and he's done quite well in his field".

I was a TA as a master's student. The school didn't do it normally, but I asked my advisor (who I TA'd for), the registrar, and the dean - together they approved it and I got to be a TA (money+experience+CV cred). I got to co-teach an entry-level graduate course in my field and teach an undergrad course in a tangental field. I know this was a positive contribution to my PhD applications (I was told this by a couple of interviewers).

@Fallen In my experience/opinion, having done both, I recommend going with the option of setting your office up in your spare room. If you can work with occasional distraction, I think that would be fine. My reasoning: a) it's important for work-life balance to keep your bed and your computer as far from each other as possible - your bedroom should be a place of rest, sanctuary, and fun; having it mentally associated with projects and deadlines is unhealthy. b) having your computer in another room, in a formal office-space, helps to professionalize your work by disassociating it with other activities - i.e. this is the place I work, here I get get work done, i don't sleep here, I don't eat here, I don't surf the internet here, I work here. YMMV.

@conflictedA First off, congratulations! Second, I'm a dude, so take this with a grain of salt: I think you might want to defer for a year and/or go to a school near one of your personal support networks (i.e. your, or your husband's, family). This might by tl;dr, but here it is... I'm the father of 2 beautiful, and I think, well-adjusted little girls - both of whom were born during my 3-year, full-time masters. I was a full-time student, part-time worker, and new dad. My wife has an executive level career and works 50+ hours a week - and was stuck with America's horrible maternity leave policies. The only way I think that this could have possibly worked out is because one of the schools I wanted to go to was in my wife's hometown - since we knew we were going to have a baby, we went with that offer of admission. I can't imagine doing what we did without grandparents & friends helping us out. Even so, 4 years and a second little girl in to this, we're just beginning to get into a regular pattern of sleep (may yours sleep more consistently, I pray). I don't know how speech pathology maps onto theology, but trying to parse Hebrew at 8 in the morning after having not slept for a few nights is challenging at the least, and I wasn't even the one feeding the little angels (at least until they learned how bottles work)! That said - if your heart is set on the school, I think you can do it, it just a little harder. Some thoughts: Can you do the program part-time, or 3/4 time? I have friends w/ kids and no local support network who did this & everything worked out just fine. Many programs will also let you take an extended family/medical leave - so you could do the first semester, take the second one off, and return in the fall. Do you qualify for WIC (high income limit)? That can take a huge financial load off, and might line you up for childcare assistance (lower income limit). Have you priced full-time childcare in the neighborhood you'd be moving to? It can be prohibitively expensive, like $200-$400 a week depending on where you are / the level of care. And sadly, you really get what you pay for. We had our girls in full-time care, but as a student, I had summers off, so I could just stay home and play with them all summer and save a few thousand - which is more than I would have made working a 3 month job and a lot more fun. I know a number of people who found other parents of young kids in their neighborhood and basically started a co-op of childcare, that freed up lots of time. Are you prepared for the guilt of doing homework when you could be playing with your new bundle of joy? Personally, this killed me as a new grad. student until I learned to manage my time better. Being a graduate student is a full-time job in itself, can you keep it contained in the 40 hours of daycare-time? (I couldn't) To save $$ on full-time childcare w/ two kids (prohibitively expensive to the grad-school budget), I watched the girls on the days I didn't have class. This makes for a killer work load and you have to be super-disciplined. Bonus of being far from grandparents - no over the shoulder "parenting" advice. I've got wonderful in-laws, so this wasn't an issue, but I know some folk who really wished they had an excuse to move a few states away. Religious or not, churches are a great place to find mom-related support and get plugged into the neighborhood's parenting world. Some schools have built-in early childhood development centers - does yours? They sometimes provide a hefty discount to students. Can you afford a nanny? That might be an option is you have a good source of income. How about someone to clean your house? That last one might seem excessive, but it's not. A bi-monthly visit by a maid service isn't prohibitively expensive and will make you feel worlds better. Are there any other parents in your cohort? They might be good sources. PM me if you want more, or have specific questions that I might be able to answer. Graduate school is tough, expensive, stressful - having little ones around sure is a good way to keep oneself grounded and focused on what matters.

In my experience, no, it is not unheard of. In my ThM comps (about 1500 pages), almost all of my bibliography was primary source. That said, probably depends on your topic/question. As a bonus, this was pretty awesome because I could pretty much cut and paste my written exam into my thesis.

Now that all is done and the lease is signed, etc., it looks like we're moving to Shorewood. It's a small suburb immediately north of UWM, only about 1.5 square miles. But what's nice is: lots of good restaurants, walking distance to 3 grocery stores, less than a mile to the Oak Leaf Trail or Lake Michigan, very low crime, best public school system in eastern Wisconsin. So, the rent is a tad higher than elsewhere in the MKE area, but not terrible - about $1 a square foot /mo. We decided that would be fair because in Shorewood our kids can go to the public schools and we don't have to pay $$$ for the private ones (the MKE school district is abysmal, and their better schools have huge waiting lists). That said, if you're considering Shorewood, make sure you get a place with parking because it's apparently illegal to park in the street overnight in most of the city. For those still looking, we spent 4 long weekends in Milwaukee, toured two dozen houses and drove by a lot others in almost all the neighborhoods, attended a couple different church services, and visited several elementary schools - I'll answer any questions I can.

@econstudent18 So, in my case (and I've needed to do this a couple of times), I've done a few things things: after all decisions are made, I sent a personal e-mail to each of them thanking them for everything they've done for me and telling them where I decided to go, what program, etc. They can do the math from there. These I sent using my personal e-mail address, not my school one. I also offered to meet with each of them before I left town (some took me up on this, and we had fun conversations about life and their grad. days). When I arrived in my new town, I sent each of them a postcard from my new school, telling them how the summer went, thanking them again for their help, and inviting them to stay in touch. My advisor got a bottle of wine and I took him out to dinner. As to cultural questions, these were all North American professors in US schools, so your mileage may vary.

For other folk wondering (in future years at this point). It was a good month+ between one of my phone calls and the official acceptance from the U.

Bump. Surely more than one person has decided to come to Marquette this year!

@Cat_Robutt @fencergirl My sister-in-law is a professional chef = spends all day on her feet and has to look nice for customers. She swears by Dansko shoes. My wife is an executive in the non-profit world and often wears Keen's dressier shoes & boots to work. For the guys out there, I wear Aston Grey dress shoes and like them for my EE feet (and they're comparatively inexpensive), casually I wear all varieties of Chaco (sandals and boots).

@Neist Thanks! They sell some cool stuff at a good price. I like some of the ideas and just might make them myself.

I'm headed to Marquette, which is the best fit for me out of the places I applied. Have fun out in Boston!