longforit

Thanks! I‘ve heard different versions of the issue on "exceeding the maximum workload" though: some (most) said it's a serious problem and would even cause troubles to the program, but some others said it's pretty normal.. Not sure which one is the norm. I'm now still working over the assigned hours, but since it's the last but two weeks, I think I can hold on through it. The professor's opinion is that I can do a good job on teaching, so I should teach and there is no need to prepare the class for such a long time. She's actively providing me with help/support now (pre-class materials, etc., though only shortly before the class), which is quite good. And I could tell it's better for the students to let me teach in class rather than her teaching remotely; and the students seem to like my teaching style better (bc it's less confusing and right on the points). But this does not mean I'm obliged to teach since this is really NOT MY JOB. I have mixed feeling about teaching the class now--I like the students and think my teaching would be better for them, but I'm feeling really stressful/anxious/depressed about not being able to focus on my own thing and being forced to teach the class. Wellllll. I'm just complaining and venting. I could walk through it eventually.

Thanks Gubidal! I think I'll still stick to my current program/advisor and try to work things out. It's only three months left (hopefully!!!). Plus I do get very positive feedback from my students (they sent me a Thank-you card and a flower a few days ago. So sweet!) which makes me feel it's worth it. After all, what doesn't kill me makes me stronger

Have a wonderful time in Yale!!

hmmm.. that's the fourth version I've heard..

Surprised by Toronto's email saying "Since the deadline for accepting our offer was yesterday and I haven’t heard from you, I will assume that you have declined our offer". I always thought the deadline is 12:00am 4.16 (means I can accept an offer on 4.15)! Luckily I did accept another offer two days ago, otherwise I'll be doomed.. And hope that I was not considered rude to not respond to an offer before the deadline...

I have turned down one offer via email days ago but heard nothing from the department.. writing again to make sure if they received the previous email seems a dull idea. How can I know if they were notified or not?

Is there such an option?! I wish I could know it earlier! I think I have several participants came just for fun and may do without the money if I ask (they didn't even remember there was compensation) and some of my friends/students might join voluntarily too. But I didn't add this box on my consent form so I can't have people participate without compensation (my advisor called having volunteers as "shortcut". Not sure it means I cannot have volunteers in this specific study or can't do it at all). But I will definitely try it next time

Congratulations! Great to hear you've made the final decision!

It's an experimental-psychology-like study and takes an hour.. I guess even if there are volunteers there won't be enough (and I need people with specific characteristics, which makes it even harder..) Plus my IRB application specifies the compensation, which means volunteers are not allowed..

Better more than less

I know extra credit/mandatory credit works well ! Also things like Mechanical turk is much cheaper than having participants actually come to your lab.. My current study can't be done in either ways though. I need people with particular cognitive styles and I even need a screening test to rule out 75% of the people who took this screening.. I shall be very careful in designing the participant selection part in my future study!

I'm working on my thesis project which involves human subjects and costs about several hundreds of dollars. I was only able to get funds from our program and it can only cover the compensation for 20-25 participants (and divided into two groups) -- which are much less than I expected and I suspect the power for statistic analysis would be rather low. But my advisor shows no worry about the lack of money and lack of participants and insists that I should carry on the research and data analysis with such a small participant pool (she don't want to fund me from her lab I guess). And my colleagues suggested me that limited funding is pretty normal in doing research. So my question is: Is it always the case that researchers don't have enough funding for their research? Or it's just more likely for graduate students/M.A. students? I know many people apply for external fundings or things like that, but it's hard for an M.A. student to secure such fundings since application for external fundings always takes a long time which a M.A student doesn't have (less than 1 year to do a project), and their proposals are usually less competitive than those who have been doing research for several years (PhD & faculty). But if they can't get enough funding, the study carried out might be less reliable and hard to support a hypothesis. If it's true that MA/graduate students always got underfunded, how can they strike a balance between limited funding and a good-quality paper? Or they're not expected to produce a high-quality at the first place? I guess I just got frustrated by the situation. I really want to FIND something, but with very limited participants, the chances aren't big. And I really hope I could get rid of this "poverty" in my later stage of doing research. Can anyone share his/her experience/opinions on this issue?

Thanks! It gives me strength even though neither the director nor the professor has replied my emails expressing this concerns.. But I know I'm on the right side now!

Hey! Thanks for bringing up the PhD study might be harder and it actually makes me better (I won't quit my current program at least ). I'm ok with stress but I guess I have problems with being treated unfairly. I got the feeling that what I'm facing now are not common in others' graduate study and perhaps not "right" in a graduate program (maybe I'm wrong. But if they ARE quite common in graduates' life, I will feel relief again...). It gets worse when all of them pile up, making me feel why it's always me who encounter all the bad things (my friends here seem to be doing pretty good). And most importantly I couldn't get help from anywhere--there are some things that are not appropriate to talk to others, and for those I can actually find somebody in charge, there is no reply. I feel a little stupid in mentioning my "depression". I think I can hold on for most of time and it's just this recent TA thing broke me down. To me this is irresponsible and unfair to the students and to me and I think this is simply wrong. I made contact with the professor and to the director but again, no reply. I'm still waiting to see if it can work out. For other times, I have my ups and downs and I think I can make through this. If downs come, I might just come here to throw one or two complaints

Ok, now it's my turn to talk about quitting the graduate program--but only for my current master study. I have been accepted to a much better PhD program and the offer is not conditional--I don't need to get a MA degree before I enter the program. So I'm asking for suggestions: is it possible/ok to quit my current master study/ give up the MA degree and enter the PhD program directly? I'm now just thinking about this possibility, but not plan to put it into effect. But things are just getting worse and worse and worse -- every time I thought maybe it's improved or there might be a way out, the reality just threw me into a deeper hell. I don't know what is the last straw. So I just want to know the possibility of doing such things. The problem I faced are multidimensional: incompatible advisor, ridiculous additional work for my TA job, no enough funding for my thesis project, and little support from anywhere. For the TA job for example, I'm asked to take over the professor's classes for several weeks, with no supporting materials, no outlines, even no a-week-ahead notice. The professor is rather spontaneous and I doubt she has ever prepared for her class, and she expects me to do the same thing--she informed me to teach a class the night before the actual class (for several times)! If I do the preparation work, the working time is twice as what I was assigned for. This plus my on-going thesis project (8 hours a day just for the experiments), it didn't kill me, but it does make me depressed and I'm hurting myself to drive away the depression (and I DO NOT have time to consult a psychiatrist and I shut down to my friends and parents about this because it's just too complicated). I'm seeking help from our director but there seems to be little hope--we have a small program (not even department) and professors are cross-appointed and no one seems to have the time to take care of this. And the TA problem is not even the worst thing. It might be my problem that I can't handle stress well, and I'm afraid deep inside that dropping-out might be an indication that I cannot succeed in my graduate study and everything coming after it; and afraid my current professors and my prospective professors would think the same way. But on the hand, I do love academics and I do have confidence in my intelligence/perseverance and do know my future program is much much more well-organized and supportive than my current one, and my future advisors are super nice and helpful and I know I could get excited even talking to them. So perhaps I will not face what I'm facing now in my future study. I know it's only a few months of dark time before the dawn, but I'm just afraid I'll break down, both mentally and physically. I need some advice. Help!