pears

i have two seagates that i love: one is an older "desktop" one (has to be plugged into a power source to work), & the other is a new slim 500gb portable one. i mostly use the desktop one as a backup for music & photos, maybe on a monthly basis, but the slim is quite small & easy to tote around. you can buy it in a mac-specific version that makes it & time machine work together seamlessly. good stuff.

Yes, contact B as soon as possible! I actually ran into this problem & it probably shaved a year off my life. I spent my semester abroad in Australia, & as much as I loved my school there, they're ridicuously bureaucratic; the only gave out "official transcripts" by snail mail. Turns out one of the programs I applied to wanted that hard copy. I had a scanned version that my study abroad program sent me, but when I asked their admissions folks, I got a different answer every time about whether that would be sufficient. Long story short, I had to pay a good chunk of change to have it sent quickly because they couldn't make up their minds. I wish I'd just ordered the hard copy original directly from the school way sooner; would've cost less money & sanity.

Although I haven't had a study group yet — except the review session I led today for the class I'm TAing — I did have to meet up with a small group to give a presentation together for a similar class. My experience was very similar to what fuzzy described: no "freeloading"; just good, informal back-&-forths about our thoughts on the material. Again, as fuzzy said, everyone is in grad school for a reason, so slacking can't result in any personal or group benefit, short or long term. I, too, have always hated working in small groups, but it seems that most or all of my program's fellow grad students are likeminded, in that nobody wants to be "that person"/"the freeloader" anymore. It's just not par for the course, y'know? But that might vary from program to program. I would say it's worth going just to get a sense of what your cohort's all about.

wedding cake

dream weaver

Also agreed. I'm very lucky, in that both my undergrad and current grad schools offered RefWorks for free, and tutorials for how to use it. A good place to start might be asking your library whether they offer any "how-to" type tutorials for bibliography tools; even if they can't necessarily give it out fo' free, they might be able to find you discounts, or you can get good enough at one specific biblio tool to make it worth paying for.

I came in with serious self-doubt & fears of imposter syndrome setting in, because I'd been out of school for a bit; many of my fellow dirtnerds seemed much older & more experienced, but the more I'm getting back in the "reading ALL of the pages" grind, the more confident I'm feeling. I took a leap of faith with a somewhat important task my first week for a seminar class, & my professor & I both were pleased with the results. I'm really enjoying my classes, especially my seminar, which is giving me a strong background in all the theory-&-method stuff that my undergrad work was severely lacking. My professors, so far, are awesome, & TAing has been going smoothly (save for the occasional "are the tests hard?" types of students). My advisor is on sebattical for the semester, but he's still in town; meeting with him put me at ease with my temporary-lack-of-thesis worries. He seems to think I've got my head in the right place, & he's very supportive of my personal goals, including getting out of here in 2 years with a solid thesis in hand. I'm loving my new city, too! My housemates are wonderful, & it's easy to get around without a car. Lots of outdoorsy people, organic & local foods, fun things to do on the weekends, & so on. Also, we have rabbits, including some 2 week old bunnies. So, there's that. It's very strange to be investing in decorations & furniture that I will have to eventually U-Haul along with my S.O.'s stuff; I've been living mostly out of suitcases for the last 5 years of my life, so, really, the only "bad" feelings I have are uneasiness about "settling" or "permanence." Not such bad "problems" to have

Washoe: just wanted to say I love your username & profile picture! Imaya: if UCD doesn't end up being a good fit, check out CSU Chico. They're M.A.-only, & some of their professors & students are doing some seriously cool work; they collaborate with UCD folks as well.

I took a few undergrad/grad classes when I was an undergrad, & I'll have one this semester, too. What I found at my smaller, New England private school is the same as what I'm finding here at my new, bigger Montana public school: grad students are simply expected to do more legwork, & course syllabi spell that out explicitly. For example, in my class this semester, I'm expected to give two presentations, & my papers need to be 20 pages, whereas undergrads give one presentation & write 10-page papers. When I was an undergrad, I often saw that grad student had 50-100 more pages of reading per week in my 50/50 classes (they were already very reading intensive, but that's the nature of the anthropology beast for ya). I know that at my undergrad school, grad students were generally expected to engage more with the content of readings, i.e., essentially lead discussions, think more critically, & have a wider working knowledge base to draw comparisons from. Of course, that wasn't ever outlined in a syllabus, but I think it's reasonable to assume that most professors will expect their class's grad students to be operating on a different level of intensity, since they're typically taking fewer classes, more focused on research & critical thought in their own work, & are in that program for a very specific reason.

hold steady

My department furnishes its TAs with textbooks, & although I bought a used copy of it ahead of time to leaf through during the summer (early bird gets the "it's way easier to write exams when the content is old news!" worm), they still gave me their copy to have or keep in the office. I also have to give back the copy they supplied me with at the end of the semester, so it's nice to have my own copy that I can mark up.

wild fire

fairy floss

i've been doing some school-related reading (textbook for the class i'm TAing) and it's made me start to feel the same giddiness, too! only downside is i won't be moving until a week before my classes start.. but at least i'm having flight-of-fancy daydreams about what my new home city will be like.

help desk

top of my list is a tie between the book for the class i'm TAing ( ) and a river runs through it, since i'm moving to missoula, and i'm a total sucker for all things modern american lit.

yup, that's what I did- I kind of narrowed down my interests through each position, too. I have pretty specific interests that are hard to cater to with just internships, but I made a point of learning along the way, e.g., going to a NAGPRA seminar and reading larsen's bioarchaeology book when i was working on a colonial/historic stuff in VA (barely related to my interests). it's hard to be choosy for short term jobs and internships, so you have to work with what you've got and make the most of it for your needs – and your employers' – while you're there. better to be working and learning on a project that's not quite what you're 100% set on researchers than to be doing nothing while twiddling your thumbs waiting to do exactly what you want.

hey there! i took a year off before applying to M.A. programs in archaeology (funky interests make me the ultimate anthro fence-sitter, but archaeo is the closest subfield), so i think i'm in a good spot to give you my two cents on this. i don't think i ever went more than 3 weeks without doing some kind of work. most of it has been unpaid or on a really small stipend, which has been pretty difficult, but i've made it work; i don't have a car, i don't eat meat, i have money saved up from part-time jobs during school, and i do a lot of focus groups when i can. anyway, i had a few of my POIs say they were impressed with the work experience i had on my resume/cv. there is so much you don't — and can't — learn in an undergrad classroom setting that is seriously important in archaeology. for example, i never really knew what section 106 was until i got my first job after graduating, even though i wanted to go into federal/public archaeology. it was never mentioned in a single class. i had to go out of my way at my job to learn about it, but it was worth the effort, and i got some good field and lab experience along the way. basically, work. as much as you can. don't be picky; it's a really hard year for paid fieldwork. apply for everything, and don't stop applying until you have an offer in hand. try to not go more than, say, a couple of weeks without working (besides holidays, of course). work is great for field and lab experience, but it also teaches you a lot about thinking critically, working cooperatively (from direct co-workers to consulting parties) and independently (read: being a self-starter), being a great communicator, and so on. plus, you can make connections with mentors (possible LoR writers, and general beacons of awesomeness) and friends who you'll probably bump into down the road. also, go to as many training seminars and annual group meetings (e.g., SAAs, AAAs) as you can, even if you're not presenting a talk or poster. as a student, you can usually do so for free, or close to it. apply for scholarships through the group running the event, and you probably won't have to foot much of a bill. it's a nice way to network for jobs, make face time with POIs, and find new topics you're interested in. considering you're an undergrad who's publishing and presenting, i suspect you'll be totally fine. just keep working, and go to cool places with good pay if that's an option!

oh boy here we go edit: blergh, i shouldn't even bother, but i feel the need to not be a total butt and fail to respond altogether beyond my initial snark. i didn't say that it didn't fit OP's requirements; it's just not the right choice for me. i know a few people who like their airs just fine, but it's not for me. i use my personal laptop frequently for work, and there are a few things that i can do on my (not so) "pro" that i'm guessing would be impossible — or, more likely, a big hassle that i just don't have time for — on an air. although i purchased my laptop when i was making the undergrad-to-work transition, i had work in mind when i bought it. regarding price, telkanuru and ANDS! summed it up pretty well. price comparison is a very real thing, even when you're sitting on enough of a nest of cash to afford a new laptop. just because i'm fortunate enough to be able to purchase a laptop doesn't mean i'm willing to spend every single cent i have set aside for that purchase on it if i don't have to. when i mentioned the "money-grubbing changes," what i had in mind, admittedly, was related to phones. this is mostly me being completely human and shaking my fist at inevitable changes that are going to keep happening at smaller intervals, such as the new iphone 5 chargers. really, it's a minor inconvenience, but i can't help but feel that part of the push for all the new do-dads is a means of nudging people into buying what they think is the "latest and greatest" and making the more affordable, older options harder to access and hang onto.

coffee mug

as someone with an abiding interest in bioarchaeology who's pursuing a terminal MA (for now), one of my absolute biggest regrets is that i didn't apply to durham. they've got a great reputation, and i've heard lots of wonderful things about their program, namely from a mentor and LoR writer of mine whose degrees are all from UK schools, and whose background is in bioarchaeo, paleopatho, etc. he really wanted me to apply, and i convinced myself not to because… well, i didn't really have any good reason. i just decided i didn't feel like leaving the states right now. i wish i had at least applied! anyway, in short, paleopatho is durham's schtick; they already have a good reputation, as far as i know, and it seems to only be improving. for me, it would come down to money and which program's structure suited my goals and needs the best. i suspect it'd be the same or similar for you. hope that helps

rat race