pears

Not quite an acronym, but my alma mater, Tufts, was quite good at poking fun at itself, either for its apparent lack of fight songs (academics took precedence over sportsing our sportsiest) or the ridiculous ones that it had. The chant I heard/sang most often, typically under the influence of adult beverages: "T is for the T in Tuuu-uuufts, U is for the U in Tuuu-uuufts…" I always get the UC acronyms confused! I thought "UCR" was a school in the UK that I was just unaware of until I realized people were using it interchangeably with Riverside. Derp.

I agree. My grad program is at a big football school, but the team's golden years are in the rearview, and the players are notorious for their.. questionable interpersonal behavior. In the same week that we received campus-wide emails about how enrollment is down which means that strategic plans are being implemented to reduce spending (no mention of cutting the salaries of overpaid higher-ups, of course), the school celebrated newly-committed high school football players who will likely be receiving scholarships to attend. Our TAs are among the lowest paid in the entire nation, yet we can somehow afford to pay dozens of students $10/hr or more to be "mentors" and "tutors" for student-athletes. I find it disgusting how much these students are coddled and treated with special consideration, even the ones charged with very serious crimes, while teaching students are barely paid enough to scrape by — if they even receive any of the competitive funding! — and academic posts are left abandoned. I grew up watching and loving college and professional football, and I still do, but this school's priorities are all in the wrong places. Anyway, personal bitter rant aside, it bothers me that athletes are expected to attend a university, if only for one year, in order to advance their athletic career. I'd rather see them save time and money for all parties involved and immediately go into the draft. Obviously, it's beneficial to have relatively young athletes play with and against potential future competitors and teammates, especially when they're all consolidated into college teams that play each other on a regular basis... but it would also be beneficial to test your mettle against seasoned professionals, and immerse yourself in the most skilled level of play ASAP. Plus, if you do end up actually caring about school and really wanting to pursue a degree, you have an enormous salary to make use of for tuition in the future. I mostly think of college athletics as a money maker for respective institutions, but a toxic one, in that the revenue is rarely used to actually enhance anything besides athletic programs and higher-ups' salaries.

Khannnn pretty much hit the nail on the head: it's possible; you just need to be smart about it. I did my undergrad at a school in Boston, but not downtown proper. My neighborhood was close to my school; I probably paid $800-$850/month after utilities, but that was for a house that was a P.O.S. and comically overpriced. I never needed a car; I had in-house laundry, free meals when I worked in the cafeteria, and could easily reach a big supermarket on the T without having to haul groceries very far. Skipping the car-gas-parking trifecta of misery left me with some extra fun money, which is key! Boston has epic food and music and events and sports all. The. Time. !!!.

Ugh, I had a coworker like once. Unfortunately, they were my supervisor. I wouldn't wish the misery of a wildly incompetent person on anyone. I'm sorry you have to deal with that. I'm sad to say I need to use this thread to rant again. One of my housemates has been driving me up a damn wall. He's a self-employed freelancer & has been out of school for a while, so he has a lot of free time & little to no memory of how stressful school can be. He takes up a ton of space/chairs in our living room in front of our fireplace to dry his ski gear every day, even though it's a nice place that everyone could use together to read, work, eat, etc. He plays his music — often, untzuntzuntz or emo— over the floor-wide speaker systems, both on the main floor and his lower floor of the house, even when my other housemate who is also a student and I are clearly doing work. (Apparently asking him to turn it down every other day or walking off to our rooms in a huff when he puts on music in an otherwise-silent room full of people reading & typing isn't enough of a hint.) He'll start boiling water, forget about it, mill around the house smoking an unnamed illicit substance (wouldn't bother me if we didn't have a "no smoking" clause in our lease), and just leave it boiling there for an hour... but if you forget to put your plate in the dishwasher 15 minutes after you finish a meal, he'll huffily wash it by hand or take it away when you're still at the table. Not worth getting into too much detail, but I think the combination of being a girl, not smoking/drinking/going out very often, & being a student has worked against me. I recently learned that my S.O., who uses the same amount of space & energy as I do in the house, doesn't even pay half as much as I do monthly in rent, which is overseen by that housemate. When I confronted my housemate about it, his excuse was that he talked to my S.O. (he did not), & then decided that, since my S.O. isn't on the lease & is only living here a few months, the arbitrary amount — 1/2 rent monthly, no utilities — was fair. Seems unfair at best, & borderline — or wholly? — illegal at worst. He'll chat his mouth off to all our male housemates, & introduce his visitors (always male) to them, but won't introduce me, even if I'm in the room; I don't think "you're working & I don't want to bother you" is a valid excuse, seeing as he interrupts my work every g-dang day. TL;DR: my housemate is extremely disrespectful towards me & plays favorites (I am clearly not a favorite), & I want to hate-barf on him the way seagulls throw up on things that make them angry. ARGH!

If you're referring to Hunter, I received an email on March 21st last year, with "Your Decision is Available Online Now." I believe there was a big purple button that led to an acceptance letter somewhere on my online application profile, towards the top. If you mean the consortium, though, I'm not sure. :/ It seems most SUNY schools have decisions out by 2/15 or so, whereas CUNY had a bit of lag, & the consortium was all over the place.

If you're in or near a city, try googling "(city's name)" + "makerspace": makerspaces are wonderful! They provide software, "hardware" (tools), a workspace, & knowledgeable staff that can help you from the initial design steps through the finishing touches of a project. My local one apparently offers a 3D printer, a lathe, a laser scanner, a vinyl cutter… among many other things. Your projects will be limited by what they can offer, but joining a makerspace is well worth the money. I've mostly managed to get myself into situations where I either have to learn how to make something, or I'm surrounded by people who are super knowledgeable & friendly. So, besides makerspaces... work for the Forest Service or as an outdoor trip guide?

I agree with the post-doc & adjunct theory there. Also, part of why I'm getting a terminal MA is because an MA absolutely shatters the glass ceiling in CRM & federal archaeology. I'm talking "instantly doubles your salary & provides you job security with some benefits pretty quickly" ceiling-shattering; with a BA only, it's very difficult to make more than $11-$16/hr with no benefits & constant travel. Even if you've got great references & an endless skill set, it can take 5+ years just to get to that $16/hr point. So, getting an MA basically pays itself off very quickly, despite loans. Also, you don't always need a PhD to get to a managerial position in CRM; many excellent project managers got an MA for the boost, but worked their butts off for the skills & respect. The same applies to federal archaeology, although to a lesser degree.

Bumming a la undergrad: nope. Nope. A thousand times nope. My program & field of work (archaeology) are both extremely casual; we're not known for our high fashion, seeing as we mostly frolic in the dirt or end up elbow deep in dead &/or old stuff. Professors wear khakis, modest skirts or dresses, boots (western or snow) or flats, sweaters/cardigans, etc. That seems to be about par for the course for PhD students & candidates who teach, too. MA & non-teaching students wear jeans (dark navy, black, charcoal) & corduroys, & t-shirts that fall on the nicer end of the design & material spectrum. In general, archaeology is very casual, as is my department. That said, the only time I ever wore sweats to class was because I had to run across campus from the gym to be on time; I'd rather be in sweats than late. I think MoJingly did a nice job of covering the key point: don't wear anything you wouldn't wear in front of an important person. Also, I think dressing in a business casual manner is a sign of respect: grad school is either effectively or quite literally a job for everyone who's there, so wearing proper "office"-type attire is the most basic means of showing your respect for your cohort, your professors, & yourself. Beyond that, you just have to suss out what the norm is in your program, & incorporate that into what you would feel is appropriate for a workspace.

My S.O. & I go shooting when it's warmer out. I like to experiment in the kitchen, hike, enjoy adult beverages (hooray, MT! We've got breweries!) & explore public lands around me. Time, weather, & money permitting, whitewater kayaking, snowboarding, & fishing are on the list, too. I'm hoping to get a student hunting & fishing license for next year so I can get better at flyfishing & hunting, including filleting, dressing, butchering, & smoking meat. I worked on a farm for a while, so once I'm living a more settled life, I'd like to have a few animals & crops. I like to build stuff, but I don't have to time or money to join a makerspace.. I'm not sure what I'd make anyhow! I move too much to invest in welding or carpentry. In general, I'm really interested in backwoodsy stuff & self sufficiency. Also, I'm always expanding my collection of medical oddities, bones (only animals, for now; taxidermy & humans one day!), & art (lots of tattoos-to-be & skulls). I have a soft spot for the slightly macabre, especially art that incorporates elements of life & conventional beauty with elements of death. It comes with the mortuary archaeology territory, I suppose.

FWIW, regarding time frames: my department is currently processing the "graduate self assessments," which are effectively the means for determining who gets funded TAships, scholarships, and fellowships; selections are made separately between subfields and tracks. Incoming students may apply for funding consideration if they wish, and their application materials are used as a proxy for the statement of "please fund me" purpose. Last year, I received my acceptance on 2/20. This year, the forms were due 1/31, and I heard that funding decisions take — you guessed it — "2 or 3 weeks." In other words, decisions for incoming students are made in a time frame that suits our funding decisions time frame. Also, for our grad school in general, a lot of applications for competitive, university-wide funding opportunities are due between 2/1 and 2/15. If you're still looking for a time frame for anywhere, you might want to click around the department's site to see if they have any similar application processes for within- or between-department funding or distinctions, and compare any findings to last year's results postings. It might help you get a better sense of what's going on with the higher-ups who are making all of these decisions in the same two or three week span.

If you're klutzy, like to drink coffee/water/etc. near your laptop, or both, don't get a MacBook Pro. I learned the hard way that they are extremely sensitive to water damage, i.e., I paid $409 (initially quoted at $884) because I spilled about a tablespoon's worth of water on mine. Even though I immediately shut it off, flipped it upside down, wiped it up, opened up the jewel case, and let it dry in front of a warm fire, everything except my HD — thank goodness for that, though — was fried. Also, they're pretty limited in terms of software if you run a Mac OS. I don't mind working on ESRI/ArcGIS stuff in a lab, but it does wear thin after a while.

Protip: there are public lands in OR & CA that actually have yurts available in lieu of a normal campsite...

I had a bunch of results pour in after the 15th of February last year. Keep an eye out.

Can't emphasize this enough. I've been dealing with severe, crippling depression and moderate anxiety for the last 10 years or so. It took a long time to find the right mixture of medications to relieve my symptoms without side effects. Some of my medications made my symptoms worse — dangerously so — and some just didn't do anything. Turns out I needed an NRI, not an SSRI or MAOI, and at-night anxiety relief; figuring it out took months. Yes, months. Lots of gnarly side effects at times. But, if you have a good therapist and psychiatrist, they'll respond to all your needs ASAP and help you the whole way through. Although my Rx co-pays and the cost of therapy have all added up over the years, they've saved my life in many ways and more than once. We have a tendency (in the US, at least) to treat mental health problems completely differently from physical health problems. You wouldn't skip out on physical therapy that would allow you to walk without pain, or medications that keep your liver up and running — so why skip out on therapy and medication that allow you to live a healthy life without struggle? Also, Is this true in the US, too, undergrad and grad programs alike? If so, holy whoa, that would've saved me a lot of grief and terrible grades as an undergrad...

Alma mater: 3.38 Current university's undergraduates: 2.83 My alma mater has a much more selective, academically rigorous undergrad program than the one at my current university. Although the former suffers from some grade inflation (hooray, entitlement!), I would argue that my current university's undergrad program suffers from a different sort of grade inflation, i.e., professors have lower expectations, more extra credit opportunities, a lighter workload, and more lenient grading policies. I'm sure the numbers vary immensely, depending on program and such, but, in general, I think my alma mater had substantially smarter and harder-working undergrads than my current university's undergrads. Meanwhile, I feel like a big ol' dummy half the time in my classes -- hah!

1. I have the same professor for two of my classes, and she seems to be in the habit of seriously last minute updates to our workload, e.g., dumping 146 pages on us of (dry and redundant) background reading we're expected to be familiar enough with to discuss at length... less than 24 hours after she made the readings available to us. This week, she added 46 "surprise!" pages of stuff to read yesterday morning... for this morning. :| How in the heck do you write a syllabus without having all the readings ready to go & available for students to read?! 2. At the start of December, I applied to join 2 committees that are supposed to act as a sort of "task force" for issues within the professional group my interests are most related to; I wanted to be more active in something beyond coursework, meet new people, learn useful life skills, etc. My applications were in by 12/5 or so, and we were supposed to hear back "by the end of January." At the end of January, I inquired about an update (since I wanted to know what to write on my self assessment's accomplishments & service sections for within-department funding), and was told that only 30% of the committees had submitted decisions. It's making me second guess the efficacy and efficiency of the groups, and at this point, I just want a dang answer... kind of lost the enthusiasm that made me apply in the first place. :| people y u no function

I feel like if Paranoid Parrot and Socially Awkward Penguin had a weird lovechild, then Insanity Wolf and Clueless College Freshman had an even weirder lovechild, the byproduct of those lovechildren producing a meme-baby would be the most accurate depiction of GradCafe forum users.

#10: self-medicate with Japanese curry, long bike rides, and tasty adult beverages. - Dr. Pears

Can we be internet friends? Actually, to heck with it. Can I be internet friends with everyone who's responded? So much awesome going on.

Zotero! I know it's available for FF, so I'm guessing it's available for Chrome, too. It's an easy peasy bib tool, which is a godsend for those of us who are in the habit of making 40+ source bibliographies for every dang paper...

lolwut. We are very different 23 year olds, and definitely have different social circles...

Certainly! You are given funding information after acceptance, typically, but you may want to contact POIs or peruse program & departmental websites sooner rather than later to seek applications for internal funding, be it within-department fellowships & TAships/RAships, or university-wide opportunities that tend to come with mo' moolah & "prestige." If nothing else, it may impress your admissions committees for being proactive, and, wherever you end up, you can't get extra funding if you don't apply for it.. better to have a safety net everywhere, because you never know where you'll end up and what kind of $ package you'll get.

Mr. Bugle about hit the nail on the head, hah! I obtained the nickname "Professor Periwinkle" at a very early age. I've always been a nerd. I'm an archaeologist (mortuary, mostly), but when I was an undergrad, I was almost a Cognitive Studies double (neuropsychology, human/robot interaction), but ended up being an Environmental Studies (focus on human ecology) double and then an Art History triple. I grew up spending a lot of time traveling, and my parents were supportive of my nerditude, so we hit up all the zoos and museums. It left me something of an art history buff, and a lover all things natural science. Also, it's not that much of a deviation, but I love the forensic sciences and emergency medicine. Almost became an M.E., and I would like to (a) continue working with human remains and ( become a W-EMT and/or a paramedic (preferably backcountry). Once I'm between MA & PhD time and slightly more financially and locationally stable, I may start getting my certs with NOLS et al; archaeologist by spring and summer, W-EMT/W-Medic by fall and winter. Badass 24/7/365.

I'm full-time, but I know some part-time grad students; they're mostly people who've lived in the area for a while and/or are working outside of school as well. The tricky thing with being part-time is that, although your tuition and fees are lower, you may not qualify for a lot of funding (TAships, fellowships, scholarships often have a 9 c. minimum, or a minimum number of credits completed to-date that's hard to achieve without being full-time), student memberships to professional organizations, and so on. I imagine it just depends a lot on slogging through a program's paperwork to see what benefits require full-time status.