Jump to content

Andean Pat

Retired
  • Posts

    347
  • Joined

  • Last visited

Everything posted by Andean Pat

  1. From a second year, congrats to those admitted, and those who are still waiting, you'll get that bloody e-mail! You will! :)

    1. GeoDUDE!

      GeoDUDE!

      statistically those waiting will not get that bloody email.

    2. attackonthedoctor
  2. @CandyCrushSaga solve issue in level 713 liquirice swirl inmieu striped candy?
  3. I'm really sorry to read this! I second both responses: your health comes first. Do not quit counselling, remember it is a process and it needs time. You need to think about several things and you need someone to guide you in doing that and not lose it. From what you've said, you have to answer big questions and make big decisions, like what do you want? Do you want to stay? Then switch advisors. do you want to leave? Then, what type of work do you want? You have gone through these questions because you applied to grad school and you wrote a SOP. So go back to that and re read it. Do you still want it? Grad school is not about abuses and horrible life. Life is about being happy and doing what you love. It turns my stomach when I read in these forums that people and miserable and "well, this is what I signed up for". NO!!!! You did not signed up for being mistreated. If a professor does not want to teach you, then bye bye, pick another one. You cannot sustain this mental situation for five years. No one can, and no one should. All my strength from here, hope you get better and you can solve these problems, honestly! Mwaaaa
  4. I remember I had a little notepad to write down questions and then choose when to ask. I don't remember all of them but I do recall asking what happens next, which is enlightening. My interview was VERY intellectual, they asked about how I thought the work of X had influence my work, or how I understood Y since I mentioned it several times in my writing sample. After being asked those kinds of questions, I was exhausted! What I can say is the following: do not ask questions you can find in the website, in the handbook, or which another grad student can answer. I cannot stress this enough. All the best for everyone!!! AP
  5. I am an international student and missed the weekends. Although schools paid for pretty much everything (though it was not enough for my air ticket), I could not skip work. They are called "weekends" but they generally take up Thursday and Friday two. Being far away, meant I had to arrive on Wednesday to the States. These weekends are an opportunity for you to make a better informed decision, but you are already in . From my experience, I've made the decision without the weekends and I am happy with it. As an alternative, I got in touch with grad students. Two of them were doing research in my country so I went out with them and asked everything, and they also told me things I had never thought of asking.
  6. Hey everyone! Hope you had a good break! I feel you!! My workload is heavier but I think it will be fun. I take one workshop, for which I have to produce rather than only read, a regular seminar, an independent study (lots of reading), and a language class (which I already almost hate, sigh). I am really glad to be back, it is still hard to wake up in the morning, but I am happy that I have something to do in this cold! Are you applying for summer grants?
  7. To everyone worried about interviews: I had several pre-admission phone/skype interviews and only one "real" admission interview via skype with three professors. At the time of the interview, my mother was having an emergency surgery. At exactly the same time. I succeeded, and got an offer for that school. If I could survive that stress, anyone can do it!!!! In short: all the best to you! Be yourselves, and everything will just flow.
  8. What do you mean 'difference'? Probably they offer a skype interview because you are far away from them. Difference in question? I don't think so. I've had pre- and post-submission interviews and I can say that post-submission are definitely more formal than the pre- ones. Consider them as part of the application process. Be prepared to answer questions about your interests that you haven't said in the SoP and have some good questions ready.
  9. First of all good luck to you!! You shouldn't be nervous because the part that depended on you is over. What follows is beyond your control so it is simply not worth to waste time and energy thinking about it. You will be anxious, and you will check your e-mail A MILLION times, believe me. So, if I can give you some "tips", here they are: * Most departments will be on winter break and will not resume work until January, probably around the 7th. Until then, your application hasn't even been seen by your POI. So, like them, just relax and enjoy the holidays. * My two-month wait was hectic in many ways, but something that kept me "on track" was doing sports and reading for fun. If you don't like either of these, you can try holding on to a hobby or keeping yourself as busy as possible. * Another "trick" is to avoid talking about applications unless someone asks you. I didn't do this but I know people that apply this to things they don't want to be anxious about. Now that I read them, they are not very smart tips, but maybe you find them useful in some way. About the 75 pages... Yeah, I don't think they will read the whole bunch. But I really don't know. I thought POIs read some pages only until the other day when my advisor made a reference to my writing sample. WTF? You've read it like a year ago! So, who knows? All the best!!! AP
  10. I had this problem when I taught in High Schools. They probably don't mean to be rude. I would call their attention to way they address you in a polite manner, and teach them how to do it or at least explain them what you expect when being contacted by e-mail. There is no harm in making expectations clear.
  11. Good luck! If anything, keep yourself entertained. The waiting is terrible. I was on holidays through feb 20th, more or less, so it was a loooooooong wait. Where did you apply? (if you don't want to say, it's OK )
  12. Like the OP I am not funded in the summer so I understand your concern. By no means is this too early to ask. Actually, I am applying for funding to do field research and the deadlines are between January and April. So, yeah, I basically have a plan of what to do, I am only missing the money!
  13. Well--- I thought this thread needed some update. For the football fans out there (real football, the one you play with your feet) Who has watched the draw yesterday? (it was my "break" from work...). Wanna make some predictions?
  14. I complete agree that is personal, unique, and like a fingerprint. However, I understand your concern because I had the same one. I needed to actually see a SOP in order to mentally understand what to write in mine. A grad student shared this resource with me. It is a SOP from someone admitted to Berkeley commented by a professor so that you understand why it is a good SOP (and, hence, how you can make yours equally successful). Hope it helps! AP
  15. Errrr..... I don't see this as stupid nor anything of the sort. On the contrary: from what you have described, you have learned more about yourself in the last year than most people! Sometimes we need to try out things to actually know that we don't like them. It happened to me with smoking, although obviously it is not the same thing! You already know that literature is not what you like. Have you thought of what you do? You are responsible for your own happiness/unhappiness, and it is great that you can see that and act consequently. I would talk to my advisor but before that I thini you should clarify (to yourself) what you are going to do so as to give him/her a clear, confident decision (which, by the way, it seems you have already made). Sometimes we are a little afraid not to do what everybody else is doing. At one point what other people thought was more "convincing" to you than you gut. I completely understand you because I am a "gut person" but when it comes to "big" decisions, I try to de-gut them so as to be more rational. In the end, the rational explanations emerge. You don't want to be in this PhD program. What is more clear than that? I think it is amazing how honest you are being to yourself. Not everyone is like this. Thus, I suggest you assess then what you want to do, talk to your advisor, and go for it! All the best of lucks!
  16. I went to grad school directly from undergrad. But in the mean time, I had this "life experience" everybody talks about (worked for ten years in teaching, for example). What it stroke me about your comment is that you would feel "relieved". If that is the case, I would reconsider my reasons for applying. If you are not THAT serious about it, bear in mind the costs in time and money, not only your own. However, if you are just a little scared, like the rest of us were (because, actually, you are taking a risk here), then you are fine. I agree, though, with this tendency that younger applicants are often "less" prepared in terms of intellectual maturity. Nevertheless, I know people that went into a PhD program with a Master's and STILL have no idea what to do. Thus, I have concluded that this "life experience", "intellectual maturity" or whatever does not develop necessarily in grad school and/or "real" life. It depends on each of us. I was only ready to apply to grad school when I was 28, so there is that maturity hahahaha I think your professor gave you great advice. The point of your SOP is to show the adcomm that the best decision they are going to make is to offer you a place (with money). So, show them. Part of who you are now is your past, you should know this as a historian so, show them!
  17. This is the first weekend I am not going out, the first one I came to the library to work. The first one I am working. Two tough weeks and then Fall Break!!! Woo Hoo!

  18. "OMG this is so frustrating! Every school has accepted me! I want to kill myself! What would you do????"
  19. All right... It's been three weeks since I got here, classes only started last Tuesday. However, I had had orientations of at least three kinds, four dinner parties (with people in my department and people outside of it) and a huge party-party with people I've met at these other parties. I also have a pool and have been there a couple of times to read. So, I have enjoyed my time off before starting. Now... oh, dear. It's not the amount of reading what is stressing me. We have to read everything. It's impossible not to do so because we have written assignments/oral presentations for every week. Call me nerd, but I love it. I do enjoy the readings and if I am going to read, I am going to read with a purpose: respond in some kind of format (usually it's a very short essay). Fortunately, classes are not read-and-tell: professors are very creative and foster our creativity as well. They are a great fit for me, the challenge our ability to work collaboratively and that just rocks. In short, I have been enjoying this pretty much and I am intellectually motivated. My cohort is very diverse, which also adds to the intellectual thrive. We get along very well and can surely learn from each other. Moreover, one girl is my next door neighbour!!! My roommates are also awesome. Simply the best I could have ever asked for. Nonetheless, I do miss home. And kissing people for saying "hello" and "goodbye". Yeah, I miss kissing people. Do you have a car?
  20. For the time being managed to watch some rugby games online.
  21. Hi there! I've read the previous post and I remembered that I felt very sorry for you thus I am glad you could defend your MA thesis! However, when reading this post, and answer began to appear in my head, and I am glad Fuzzy said for me because it would have been really hard to write it. I have taught in primary and secondary schools. Believe me, there comes a point that as a teacher you NEED to be as clear as possible so that the student gets your message. The same as the rest, I don't know if your advisor was right about your work or if his assessment is totally unfounded. However, I am only inviting you to see this from another perspective. MAybe he thought that with all his criticism he was telling you to quit the topic. Maybe when you didn't, he let you continue your work, defend the thesis, and THEN be clear about your abilities (again, I am not saying he was right, I am just proposing an alternative explanation). I once had a terrible experience at work when I had to make a presentation for parents and for different reasons it was ready only a week before the due date. My headmistress looked at it over the weekend (the presentation was on a Monday) and late that Sunday night she sent me an e-mail two pages long on how disappointed she was on my work and that she could not believe I was presenting THAT. Of course, the presentation was a complete disaster. I complained to her of why she would tell me such awful things the night before: "I thought I might motivate you". See? In her head, she thought she was helping when in fact I was so stressed and bummed that made a fool of myself. So, as Fuzzy said, I would try to see this assessment as that, an assessment from people that have worked with you and have read your work. It's funny you mentioned this. All the philosophers I know do not work in academia. (Of course, the once I know do not live or studied in the US). I do hope that you can see these 3 years as a process of learning (because it is obvious that you have learned a lot from your field, your work and yourself) and that you can let the waters settle so that you can decide on your next move. I am sure that you will find your path, be this a PhD program or something else...
  22. Hi there! I am not nervous at all. This could be because I haven't done anything for a month, so I am eager to start doing something. I haven't even met my cohort yet. However, I don't have to TA this year, so I a little more relieved than you. TAing can never be easy. Let me comfort you by saying that usually people find it easier to manage time when they have a lot of things to do than when they don't. I am sure you'll be great! About the dissertation, I am with you in this one. I don't know what other people think, but having a clear aim in mind (the dissertation) works for me. Furthermore, I intend to do at least one poster presentation this year and do research in the summer. From where I see it, having the dissertation in mind may help you plan your road ahead better. However, I would ask your advisor about this. All the best of lucks!!!!
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

This website uses cookies to ensure you get the best experience on our website. See our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use