dr. t

So one of my MA advisers just friended me on Facebook. There is no God.

I noticed you're in philosophy. I am another one of those rare humanities-ish types that uses LaTeX. I think it's actually fine to use it if you're the only one around who does. All you really need to do most papers is: \documentclass[12pt]{article} \usepackage[utf8]{inputenc} \usepackage{setspace} \begin{document} \paragraph{}Your paper goes here. \end{document} Which isn't too bad. If you deal with other languages, I'd also suggest you take a gander at the ednotes package, which typesets critical editions. Do be sure to get the stand-alone program pandoc to convert .tex to .docx, etc.

You shouldn't change your opinion or omit "facts" because they offended (ps: they didn't). You should change your opinion and reconsider your interpretation of facts because your analysis makes you look like a first year undergraduate. Wovon man nicht sprechen kann, darüber muss man schweigen.

Reading admissions files is (apparently) tedious business, so that one might have helped you, actually

http://pervocracy.blogspot.com/2012/06/missing-stair.html ?

If I read your original post correctly, the student had a B+, and was unable to raise it because of the group project grade. If that's actually the case, I struggle to have any sympathy.

I use a Nikon D3200 camera, but I am interested in codicology, and some of my texts are palimpsests, so image quality is very important to me. I have seen some people (art historians, mainly) use iPads in their work, but none regularly. Although if you're interested in just the word on the page, and the word is in a modern typefont, you might check the DPI suggestions for ABBYY FineReader (probably the best OCR software a grad student can afford), and make a decision off that.

Truth. "Fixing" that, however, is often a long-term project with little chance of success. If you need to undertake it, proceed with caution.

Since you've come to these conclusions already and have rejected Eigen's attempt to put your problems in perspective, what, exactly, do you want help with? There's a thread for rants.

If you could see the holes in the field now, why would you bother going to grad school?

http://33.media.tumblr.com/8cf8c2e96aceecc63dd30dc4b1dee213/tumblr_inline_nwwb6r4xSz1scnohf_500.gif

Sorry, I should have been more clear. There are many possibilities as to why the adviser is not dealing with Nigel appropriately, but the fact that (s)he hasn't provides the information you need to act. Or in this case, not act, because confronting Nigel in front of your professor (particularly since the professor is the adviser) clearly carries way too many professional risks. The only safe way forward I see here is to recruit an intermediary, preferably a white male from another department who just happens to be in your class, because power dynamics are like that. Yeah, it's a (literally) white knight. But with a power dynamic as lopsided as this, CYA is the name of the game.

I think the fact that the adviser hasn't shut it down tells you everything you need to know.

As much as I like this article for a variety of reasons, I would not in good conscience advise three of the first four strategies. Down with the patriarchy, yes, but this is a really tricky power dynamic, and if the professor running the class is important in the dept., using some of this advice may have long term impacts.

I mean, journal articles don't tend to list your rank at times of publication, so I'm not sure how anyone would find this information out without looking for it. Name recognition certainly matters.

Finish your finals, DO NOT LOOK AT YOUR SUBMITTED DOCUMENTS EVER AGAIN, and drink until February.

Last time I checked, BU's funding was absolute crap.

I mean, what style guide are you following? It looks to me from your example like Chicago; have you checked the online CMoS guide to see how to deal with these sources?

Lorax, you're pitching this like it's a new problem; the job market has been absolutely crap since the 1970s. Yes, the current climate is even worse, but it's been a bad decision to go to any non-funded program for over forty years. In 2015, institutions that do not offer full funding, including a livable stipend, are, frankly, predatory, on par with the worst of the for-profits in effect if not in intent. They exist to enable their students to trap themselves in cages of the students' own devising, and recruit (as we see in this very thread) by pitching the possibility of (extremely limited) success as the likelihood of the same. CGU clearly falls into this category, and it is right that it should come under attack. To the OP: a doctorate is a professional apprenticeship. It is, in other words, a job. Do not work for free.

Oh? http://www.apu.edu/theology/faculty/sparise/ "Stephen Parise, Ph.D. Adjunct Professor, Department of Philosophy" Yes, yes you did.

What citation format are you using?

A placement rate is a percentage, i.e. the number of graduates who have secured tenure-track or permanent NTT jobs in academia over the total number of graduates. Adjunct positions (and several of the people on your list are adjuncts, others are ambiguous) are not counted as "placements", and for good reason. I have $40k in debt, personally. To live comfortably, the federal government informed me in my exit paperwork that I should be looking for a job with a salary of around $70k per year. I shudder to think of what they would "recommend" if I had to pay just my living expenses for the duration of my PhD.

I mean, everything's taken into consideration. I just wouldn't expect that sort of form answer to matter much.

I've never been to Williamstown, but I have been to North Adams a bunch. If you like nature, the area's great; the Long Trail and AT are right at your doorstep. However, it is absolutely a small town, and it's 2.5 hours in the car to anything of interest.