callista

Great job! I got an A- in my methods course (stats) and an A in the applied medical anthro course, which I'm hoping to use as an elective in my subfield. Waiting to hear about another 2 core comm classes. For juggling 4 classes and an office job, I think I did OK. (I will NEVER do that again!!)

Hopefully most of us are done or close to done? Is anyone else obsessively refreshing the webpage where grades are posted? (I know grades don't matter as much but I really wanna know! It's that whole "am I really doing well enough" thing. So far, I guess I am, but I have 2 more grades coming in; they are due today.

Hi! I'm 41 and I just finished my first semester. I got my master's 15 years ago and grad school has changed a bit since then... for the better, I'd say (though I think I'm also a lot more capable and mature!) I'm the oldest in my cohort but not in the program. I have some comments to make about working with the younger students, but I think I want to process my thoughts more because while some of it was generation gap, some of it was working style and personality.

Don't you love these broad assignments?! OK, I'm one paper and one presentation down. Noise cancelling headphones are wonderful. (I initially typed "nose" instead of "noise"... that wouldn't be very nice, would it?) I'm gonna stop here.

Ugh, I'm having the same problem, too. We can do this!!

I have all these papers and projects and presentations to do. Spent a good portion of the long weekend catching up on sleep. So now I feel reasonably normal, but will be wrung out by Thursday. Lather, rinse, repeat...

Lucky you!!

This sounds like a very stressful situation. Does the DGS understand that you have all of this stuff going on and that you're overloaded- it's not just a personality thing?

I have 2 IRBs to do this month, too, and one of them has to be done by the 10th for part of a course grade. I will be reading about Qualtrics and Mechanical Turk this weekend.

Been wondering how things are going with this... hope they are better!

Absolutely! Fortunately, there is a lot of theory cross-pollination in my other classes, so that helps me a lot. And Mendeley has become an essential tool in a few short weeks... for stashing all those PDFs.

Hi Sconnie! I have no Comm background myself, so starting a (rather quantitative) PhD from an anthro background, I sometimes feel like I'd better catch the hell up in a hurry...

I have these stashed in my office at school: http://www.jivacubes.com/

Make an appointment with the DGS asap. Or email them. This seems like way too much to handle!!

I'm struggling with imposter syndrome in that I don't have any comm theory background. The program is very quantitative (which I knew, and I wanted,) and coming from an anthro/qualitative background/career, I have to rearrange my personal concepts of research. That said, I'm almost absurdly happy to be thinking about two research projects that will need IRB review very soon!

Hey there, It's Labor Day and I'm so grateful for the day off. Last week was the first week of classes at my university. Some thoughts: - I've been pleasantly surprised by how nice everyone has been. - I am walking way more than I have been in the last couple of years... this is a good thing. - I may need to experiment with different bags for schlepping my stuff, because what works for short distances doesn't necessarily cut it for cross-campus treks. (BIG campus!) - The Chromebook is working out beautifully so far. - Suddenly I am interested in everything.

Jumping in here because I have a related question... I'm entering this fall and have been trying to contact my advisor without success. I sent an email in early May and followed up with one in early June (at least a month later.) No answer. How stressed should I be about this? (I know, they are probably on vacation or something.)

I'm not going to be able to contribute to the housing discussion, as I'm going to be commuting from my home in East Hartford to Storrs and Farmington. But I wanted to say hello, and see if there are any other Communications students lurking!

I've got another laptop for all the other times. And I'll probably test the wifi on campus before buying one... I have the luxury of living close by already.

I'm actually considering one, because the university uses Google Apps and it seems like wifi will be everywhere I want to be. OK, and I like gadgets.

I just found this link for donations to the scholarship fund: https://www.bu.edu/alumni-forms/forms/lu-lingzi-fund/

I don't think it would be in bad taste at all - especially at this late date. Is there a director of graduate studies in the department?

Your scorpions are badass. Where will they go when you move?

<--- this is DC. Originally that stood for "dirty cat", but it can also be "diabetic cat" or "doofus cat". He's about 15. <3