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SixandCounting

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  1. Hi all, so I was awarded a Fulbright-Hays and will be leaving the country soon. That said, I am getting all sorts of confusing and conflicting information regarding how funds work. I was always told you have to live a real life during fieldwork - have friends, have fun, while in the midst of this full-time work. However, the official guide for the Fulbright makes it sound like you should do nothing but fieldwork. What is the stipend for? I am receiving a lot compared with living costs (in my opinion) and extra for my husband/dependent. I know this is for rent, food, incidentals, etc. Are there regulations on this? My fulbright adviser said to keep receipts, but I'm not sure what to do with them later on.... Furthermore, what are the restrictions on my husband? If it really is only for research-only purposes, does that mean he can't use the funds to sign up for a martial arts class, or go out with friends, or otherwise live a normal-ish life? What happens if all the funds aren't spent? And most importantly - what about ongoing costs while you're gone? I have car payments that will continue but as I will not be having any income outside of my stipend....what am I supposed to do...? I'm so lost and my adviser doesn't seem to know any of the answers.
  2. I used to do 2-3 a year and then fell into a problem that my adviser and fellow colleagues warned me about: Do not be the scholar that attends conferences and publishes very little. Use your time and energy to get those conference papers published, if it is at all possible or applicable. In my case, I have banned myself from attending any more conferences (even in awesome locations with funding -eek!) until I publish the papers I presented last year.
  3. When I came to grad school 6 years ago, I was told that we would just be the best of friends with our cohort, and that they would be our support group and colleagues forever and ever. And they were really lame. No offense, all great people, but really lame by my standards. They were all competitive, negative, cynical, and they all seemed so unhappy. I have always been a positive and non-competitive person, and I just could no connect with them in the least. After I shook the desire to bond with them (which led to 2 straight years of loneliness), I realized I needed to search out friends outside of my department. I did just that - joined clubs around campus and made friends with undergrads and grads alike. Don't feel too bad if you don't bond with your cohort or other colleagues. Feel free to make friends outside of your department, or outside of grad school entirely! Sometimes we need friends who aren't as stressed out as we are on a daily basis.
  4. Wow, so sorry to hear about your situation. My adviser was fired in my 4th year. It took quite some time to adjust, but it turned out to be a great chance to find someone better and more experienced and attentive to my work. I hope you have similar luck!
  5. This is actually really comforting to read. I am studying for my comps now, and just the process of sharing my work with my committee members back and forth and receiving their critiques has become a very difficult process emotionally. I will formulate a reading list and arguments and one committee member will praise them and love them and a day later I will find another committee member saying they are lacking in every way. Some days I am a master of anthropology, other days I am a reject, an impostor, and never going to pass comps. I am awful at oral exams. I can barely formulate answers to questions at conferences. The presentation I will have down, but the questions following leave me a stuttering pile of confusion. I expect my oral exam will be very similar. Glad to hear it is somewhat normal. Also - congrats to those who passed!!
  6. I have used Zotero to organize all my work for my comprehensive exam lists. It makes capturing and using citations so simple and fast. There is an area for writing notes, and you can attach pdfs and other documents to the citations. I love it and highly recommend it.
  7. Thank you all so much for your replies - they have been phenomenally helpful. I have been considering the reasons behind wanting a PhD, and much of it has to do with the desire to be "officially" an expert in my field and to further the goals of my area of study. My focus, whether pursued in an applied or a purely academic-orientated career is one of the smaller, new waves of research in social sciences. I care about it deeply and want to participate in furthering the aims and goals of the area. On the other hand, it is still rather new and interdisciplinary and this may be one of the key reasons for the lack of funding available. I am also extremely stubborn, and this may be a key reason as to why I will not give up the pursuit of the PhD. I work very closely with the Fulbright Adviser on campus (we've actually become very close friends), and have taken a course dedicated exactly to grants. My advisers provide feedback - though they're pretty new to my areas of study and my project as they only recently joined my committee when my previous members left the university, so I often feel as though it is the blind leading the student. Moreso, the interdisciplinary nature of my work has more or less cut me off from other anthropologists. It was great to know that there are others 5-8 years in and still working towards their goal. I am pretty sure that I truly only wish to be applied. However, every once in a while I'll lecture a course as a guest or run a workshop and realize how wonderful it feels to reach people so directly and for a week or so I'll want to be an academic. Nonetheless, I created an organization on my campus that has a motto of, "linking learning to life" and the results of running this organization and applying the coursework in real life, community settings has felt better than anything before. My department does not emphasize applied careers and seem to have a goal of preparing us all for a career in academia (even though stats show most wont end up there, grumble grumble). Departmental funding is based on how many publications we have, etc. My advisers want me to become the academic representative of my region (East Asia) for my area of study, as there is a near complete lack thus far. I've told them about my desires to work applied, but I'm not so sure they understand that it is completely applied - not applied within academia or some weird hybrid. I will look into other options for funding - I have heard that it is possible to fund oneself in the field via teaching English or the like. I should have noted that I was awarded 6 months funding for my research through my department and my committee expects me to go this summer. However, they have confirmed that I absolutely must have 12 months research, which I agree with fully but nonetheless wish otherwise. Perhaps during my 6 mos (if I go) I can find a way to continue along....that was what the Fulbright was for, as well as another grant still out there. I clearly still have a lot to consider. Considering not whether or not I want the PhD, but why it depresses me so much to be in the position I'm at now has helped. I am embarrassed it has taken this long, ashamed, and somewhat angry in the areas in which the university has failed me. Half the time I am fine with how long I've been in grad school - what's in a year? I've enjoyed myself very much these past few years. These have been the best years of my life, honestly. Why rush? I am one of the youngest in my program. I still might make my goal of a PhD before 30. It's the other half the time, when I am ashamed, that get to me. My first 3 years I was basically lost, confused, and floundering about without a clue. The last 3 years, however, have been truly ideal. I found my niche, I found a support group, and everything has shined bright for me since. I have considered, if the first 3 years were me pursing an MA at another college, would I be so upset about how long I've been in grad school? Is it the number of years that truly counts? So many of my colleagues spent 3 years in an MA program prior to joining the doctoral program, where I just jumped straight into it. I applied for my non-thesis MA my third year, and now I wish I could just shun those years off as my MA years. And yet, I am about to continue work on my comprehensives and I instantly go back to freak out mode. This is such an emotional roller coaster. Thanks again for the advice, it is much appreciated.
  8. Not recommended. This was my third try. The first try, I was recommended and then chosen as an alternate. Second try and now third try, nothing. Grarg. Congrats to those who made it!
  9. Hi all, I am new here and am entering at a rather poor stage in my grad career. I was just rejected for a third time for the Fulbright IIE. My work is overseas. Without a grant, I am stuck. There's one more grant out there, but the results are usually similar. I am in my 6th year and due to a variety of departmental (most of my committee left the university in the past 2 years) and personal issues, am just now getting to comprehensive exams. I love school, love the people, love my new committee, love the idea of grad school, love the jobs I am working on, love the projects I'm involved with, love the organizations I run, etc. However, I am just gosh awful at the stuff I should have as my priority. I no longer so much care about the project I developed 3 years ago, especially after three grant seasons. I have the hardest time focusing on comprehensive exam work. I would rather do work with my community, and make a difference directly among my people. I do not care about teaching. I do not care about publishing (Writing does not make much of a difference in the real world). I came into grad school to change the world, in some small part, and it is becoming increasingly apparent that I am not on the right path. I thought having a PhD after my name would cause people to listen. I doubt the people I want to reach would ever read my published works, nor care about my title. But how can I leave after 6 years? I am completely entangled in so many projects, so many positive things. I don't want to leave that...I just want to change my project to be local, and useful, and practical. Everyone thinks I'm doing so well - colleagues, professors, family, friends, etc. This is going to be one of the hardest decisions I'll ever make.
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