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ThousandsHardships

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Everything posted by ThousandsHardships

  1. Hey guys! I'm popping back after years of inactivity after a Google search led me here. My current program is with Indiana University, though I've had other grad school experiences before that, so feel free to message me questions!
  2. As I mentioned, this is a completely normal part of the admissions process. There's no need to keep any of this secret. As long as you keep interactions professional, there's no reason for anyone on either side to hold anything against you.
  3. I think you should just be honest. Tell Program A that you're very excited about their program and would like to accept their offer, but that there's a chance that something may change in the event that you're accepted off the waitlist for another school that may be a better fit. Ask them what they would recommend. Some schools may offer you an extension on the decision deadline, or they might encourage you to accept and wait it out. These things happen all the time. It's a normal part of the admissions process. As long as you're upfront with it and polite in all your interactions, no one will get offended.
  4. I was 23 when I entered my first graduate program and 27 when I entered my second. I got in on the first try both application seasons, but with only one acceptance each time out of ten schools. Finances weren't an issue since I was funded both times. Sure, a grad student stipend isn't anything luxurious, but it's enough to pay the bills and live comfortably as long as you aren't a single parent or have exorbitant medical expenses. As far as knowing what you want to do, I think my first experience in grad school definitely helped concretize my goals a lot, even though that particular experience didn't go all that smoothly.
  5. Once you've been through a graduate program, it would look a little questionable if all of your letters came from your undergrad program (one is okay but definitely not three), so be sure to do well in your classes and get along with your professors. People switch programs for various reasons. As long as you don't make it seem like you have something personal against them, your professors will treat you professionally and it shouldn't impact the quality of your letters, if that's what you're trying to ask. And if you do use an undergrad professor, make sure to update them on what you've been up to since you last saw them.
  6. As people have said, it varies a lot from department to department. In most cases, you don't have to specifically apply to be considered for a TA'ship within your own department. They automatically consider you a candidate and the most they do is check in with you to make sure you're still interested and what specifically you're interested in teaching. In filling TA positions, first priority usually goes to PhD students with no outside funding, then master's students with no outside funding. They also consider students from outside programs whose research is closely affiliated with the program or whose research advisers are within the program. If they fill up all the slots available with these students, then that's it. If not, they will open up applications for unaffiliated graduate students and sometimes even advanced undergrads who've taken and aced the class in the past.
  7. Academically-speaking, I would go with Davis since you have a 5-year funding guarantee and have already been accepted to the PhD program. If later on you don't like the program or wish to apply to more prestigious ones, graduating with a master's and applying to new PhD programs is always a possibility. I was in a PhD program in food science at UC Davis and left with a master's after three years. It's really not all that uncommon. Davis also has a LOT of flexibility when it comes to course work. Regardless of which program you're in, you can always take classes in other fields as long as you have room in your schedule, so if working on your languages is a goal, there are a lot of ways that you can work that into your program plan. So now the only real issue comes down to how much you feel like you need to stay with your partner. It's hard to give you advice on that front. Some questions to consider might be: given the length of time and the nature of your relationship, how likely are you going to be able to handle long-distance? Is your partner fully settled in a full-time permanent job that he/she does not want to quit, or is there a possibility that he might be able to move to be with you after a semester or two? How much are you willing to invest in visiting each other as often as possible? Once you finish course work and reach dissertation phase, is there a possibility that you might be able to work away from campus or spend time as a visiting student/scholar at another university?
  8. Our department is the department of French AND Italian, so I got into this conversation with our department chair (who's Italian and speaks French): Him: "I just think of French as a dialect of Italian." Me: "That's funny. I think of Italian as a dialect of French."
  9. They won't be writing 10-15 different references. Likely they will write a single reference letter and use it for all of the schools, with small modifications as needed. And if there are supplementary questions, they will spend a few minutes answering those as well. Professors know that you'll be applying to multiple schools. It's part of their job to help you through the process. The best thing you can do for them is not to avoid asking them for letters, but to send out the official requests several months prior to the first deadline and all at the same time if possible. Also give them a list of the schools and deadlines. With all of this information laid out ahead of them, they will be able to work to their own schedule. In my experience, each of my recommenders submitted the majority of their recommendations within a half-hour time period (some within two minutes of each other). Clearly they weren't writing entirely new letters within that timespan or else they couldn't have submitted them one right after the other.
  10. At "that" level, you're judged for your thought and organization above all. Grammar, if it's an issue, can be easily corrected. No one cares if you make mistakes as long as they are easily correctable mistakes. If your English prevents you from performing to the best of your ability in terms of your analytical capacities (e.g. if they make your writing a mess and difficult to understand), then there may be a problem. But honestly, if they've accepted you, then likely you are capable of doing exactly what they expect. You may work more slowly, but chances are that you're harder on yourself than anyone else will be on you.
  11. Of course! It's your course work, grades, and research experience that matters the most (well, in addition to letters of recommendation and personal statements). As far as your degree goes, you just need a bachelor's level degree and relevant classes that demonstrate your background.
  12. 1. This depends on what "weak" means. I don't think it's necessary to be within the 90th percentile, but an abnormally weak verbal or writing score will not look good. A GRE score has more potential to hurt you if it's really weak than to help you if it's really strong. If your scores aren't abominable, chances are it won't make a difference. Everything else on your application (grades, statement of purpose, letters of recommendation, writing sample) will be more important. 2. Contact can help, if only to narrow down your choices. Do not contact faculty just for the purpose of contacting them, though, if you have nothing to say. It's really obvious when a prospective student tries to contact faculty just because they think they should. Make your conversations productive. Don't contact them to ask about logistic things that you can easily find on their website. Instead, express an interest in their research and a desire to get to know it better. If you've had specific research projects or certain research interests or want to inquire about field-specific opportunities to speak, publish, or present, let them know. If a professor of yours had recommended them or their program as a good fit, mention it. Name-dropping never hurts. These people tend to know each other. 3. Exactly what @echo449 said. If you've done an honors thesis or some research project/paper you're really proud of and want to summarize it as a means of introducing your research interests and the work that led up to the development of these interests, then it's very useful to incorporate some field-specific language to prove that you know your stuff. I don't think the admissions committee would even read your writing sample unless your statement has passed its inspection. So an impressive writing sample alone probably wouldn't help you if your application gets eliminated before the committee has gotten to that step. 4. Most humanities students don't have publications before grad school. Publications definitely give applicants an edge, but I'd say there are few enough of those people around that not having one shouldn't affect your chances if your other qualifications are good. If you have an honors thesis, though, that'll look real good, and a lot of applicants have those. If you don't, you can frame one of the research projects/papers you've done for class as part of your research experience and incorporate that into your statement. 5. No. Humanities programs do take teaching seriously, but they don't really expect you to have taught. They judge more on your potential to be a good teacher (for example, interpersonal skills as seen from your letters of recommendation) than your actual teaching experience.
  13. In my previous program, it was common for grad students to take relevant undergrad classes. It's also very common for grad students in all sorts of disciplines to take language classes (to gain a skill or to meet a language requirement), which are almost always taught by other grad students. So yes, it is indeed possible for someone in your cohort to be your TA. When I was doing my master's, I've TA'd classes with grad students in them, and I've taken classes led by grad students. I don't feel that it's awkward at all. In class, you are held to the same requirements as the other students, and you won't get any special treatment. But you'll get to know these people outside of class as well. You'll have common friends, go to common social events, etc. It's not the same type of relationship as you'd have with your TA if you're an undergrad. TA's are also not as wary of forming friendships with their students if said student is a grad student. I often also ended up TA'ing the same class with these people later on, and we got to know each other more as colleagues than as student and teacher. That said, if you're insistent on avoiding having a grad student as your teacher, simply don't take undergrad classes. Unless you have a specific reason for taking them (such as making up a prerequisite or enhancing some skill), most graduate programs would not require you to take them. Grad students generally don't teach graduate courses. I don't even know if they're allowed to. So if you're taking only graduate-level courses, you likely would never have a grad student as your instructor.
  14. I would say that my experience was somewhat similar to yours. I had multiple undergraduate degrees from a top university. I then started a PhD in a STEM field which ended up turning into a terminal master's. I did also get an MA in French as a secondary degree, but my decision to pursue a PhD in French was nevertheless a very unanticipated change in disciplines, and my MA program hadn't been preparing me, teaching-wise or research-wise, as they would have any other grad student, under the assumption that this wouldn't be my path. Things I discovered during my application season: If you have the qualifications and the correct motivation (and it looks like you do), the admissions committee generally doesn't care what other interests or pursuits you've had in the recent past. All the faculty I've talked to during my own application season were only curious about my future research interests and my experience within the field. No one ever questioned my dedication, intent, or ability to focus based on my scattered academic past. PhD programs typically do not require a master's and often actually hold those with a master's to higher standards when it comes to admissions. Statements of purpose are very, very important. Make sure to explain what attracted you to linguistics. Not some abstract idea, but what in your experiences, your research, your studies, etc. inspired you to pursue this field or your subfield. And how does it fit into your future goals?
  15. READ. And watch talks in Korean on YouTube or something, ideally in your area of specialization. If your goal is to be able to perform research in Korean, then the only way you can do that is to read more, look up words that you don't understand, read layperson articles about that subject, etc.
  16. French Professor - not yet, still need to get my PhD (which I'll only be starting in the fall) Lecturer - maybe, but I wouldn't be a very competitive candidate High school teacher - not at public schools, but perhaps at private schools, also wouldn't be the most competitive candidate Academic adviser - it really depends, but again, I wouldn't be the most competitive of candidates So yeah, that's the gist of it!
  17. What's your field? In the social sciences and humanities, most dissertations get reworked and published as books (often after securing a tenure-track position), not articles. In the sciences, it's common to publish an article by eliminating extraneous information and focusing on the more pertinent parts. But in those cases, the dissertation wouldn't have been considered an official publication. If you just submitted it via something like ProQuest, I'm not sure that's considered an official publication either (you can double check with your advisers), so I don't think that recycling would be a huge deal. If you do have an official publication in the form of a book or an article in a legit journal, though, then you should definitely not self-plagiarize. You can, however, cite your previous work when you decide to draw upon it. Your article should still be something original, not a duplicate of what you had previously published in the event that your dissertation had been in fact officially published. Your previous work would just be considered a resource like any other.
  18. As a former PhD student in an excellent science program whose adviser was chair of the program, I can say that your stats and research experience look very strong. But your field tends to get a lot of applicants, and you will have a lot of competition. Therefore, it's extra crucial that you don't skimp on your statements and letters of recommendation. Get killer letters from tenured faculty who've seen your research, know where you stand academically, know the standards and conventions of writing a decent letter, and who are known in the field or at least are active and well-respected in the community. And make sure to bring attention to your research in your statement of purpose. Provided that you work hard on your application and check your statements over with professors who've been on admissions committees in the past, I don't think you'll be denied admission based on your qualifications alone. The main issue is how many slots they have and how many are applying. I'd even venture to say that you might stand a better chance of getting into a more prestigious but larger program than a less prestigious but smaller program. I think you've got a good list and a good mix there. Good luck on your application!
  19. Even if a program is not a standalone department, it doesn't mean that you'd be required to take classes in the subfields. I don't think Berkeley (my alma mater), for instance, requires the sociocultural people to take classes in the other subfields. Honestly, I felt like Berkeley's anthro department has a very different culture in each subfield. The biological sector struck me as highly dysfunctional. People don't get along and/or have horrible attitudes, renowned faculty keep leaving, and their politics really suck, and from what I've heard, that includes their treatment of grad students. The archaeology and sociocultural anthropology subfields, though, had highly motivated and high-achieving faculty and grad students who seem to get along just fine and who're awesome to talk to and interact with.
  20. Most people I know in sociocultural anthropology do possess skills in another language. As @cowgirlsdontcry pointed out, however, it varies widely according to the program. Some may require it, while others may not. It's also very common to require it as a program requirement but not as a prerequisite (i.e. you might not need it to get accepted, but you may need it by the time you graduate or by the time you start your fieldwork). Which also brings me to a point -- many programs are flexible. What you need can depend on your research and where you do your research. If you take your fieldwork to Colombia, for example, it would be hard to get by without Spanish. If you do it in Portugal, Portuguese would be natural. If you do it in Indonesia, learning Indonesian would be a worthwhile investment. For the record, though, I think it's only fair to not require any more for grad student admissions than what is required of a typical undergraduate major in that field. I have a B.A. in anthropology, and the only language requirement we had could have been satisfied with a third year high school class or a second semester college-level class. Any graduate admissions requirement above that would seem a bit unreasonable to me, though knowing another language at a high level might give you an edge, especially if it's going to be relevant to your research. Sometimes they also take individual circumstances into consideration. If they have a prerequisite but your undergraduate school does not provide the resources to meet that prerequisite, then sometimes they will accept you anyway if the other parts of your application are strong and they believe that you're able to quickly catch up.
  21. I can't speak for your field, but I've been through two graduate programs and will be starting a third, so I'll just talk about what my experiences have been. For me, I feel that the stress is rarely due to the classes themselves. One key thing I've found is that in order to succeed, what you do in the program needs to match your goals for going into the program. What I mean by that is, those who start grad school to improve the world may be discouraged to find that the chances of truly making a difference are minimal. Those who want a PhD just to teach may suffer when they discover that research isn't their calling. Those who start a program with a tenure-track faculty position as their only goal may stress when they find colleagues struggle in the job market. Most of us know how to write papers and take tests, and sometimes we think we know what we want because we've read about it somewhere or talked to someone. But book learning doesn't always transfer as we get more in-depth into the field. As we begin to experience the uncertainty and the not-so-fun parts of grad school, we sometimes begin to question what we're really in it for and whether it's worth it to keep going, whether our goals really match the reality of the program. The hard fact is that very rarely do we get exposed to the types of work we're required to do as a grad student, and for those who've never been through grad school before, we end up discovering more about us and our discipline than we'd care to know, things that really don't come up on our radars until we're actually in it. Grad students can also get sucked up into departmental politics. You can no longer avoid the professors that didn't like you. They will know exactly who you are, and they will talk to their colleagues about you, and if you don't have someone who's got your back in the event of a conflict, one person's opinion can spread through the entire department and they can make your life hell. Many grad students are also at that point when they are starting a family. Imagine taking three classes, spending 20 hours a week on teaching duties, and trying to prioritize research and attend conferences. If you add on a toddler and a nursing infant to the mix, all while getting paid less than $1500 a month, no wonder these people are stressed out! Some students also say that they don't feel that their advisers support their goals, so that's another source of stress sometimes.
  22. The one trick I've learned (mostly through analyzing why I respect some professors despite being subject to their scathing criticism) is to be honest and confident and deal with the behavior like a boss, but to never judge or make assumptions about the student's personality, motivation, or abilities. Instructors who get the best results: Might tell the student that his/her behavior comes off as [insert negative thing here], but will never say that the student is A or B or that they think the student is A or B. Might say why they took points off and where the problems are in a certain paper or assignment, but will never generalize the performance on that single assignment to make negative assumptions about the student's performance overall or question the student's effort or abilities. Keep personal feelings out of it. Treat each situation as something separate - once a conversation is over, let it be over. Don't let your attitude cloud your other interactions with said student or with other students. If they don't bring up the topic of a past unpleasant interaction with you, you don't bring it up first. You smile and treat it as if nothing happened after the fact. Also, it's okay to clue in the instructor of record if it gets too absurd. As a TA, one of the worst interactions I've had with a student involved that student being aggravated by a not-so-great grade on her essay and was trying to get points that I couldn't give her. She yelled at me during office hours, refusing to believe that her answers weren't correct and telling me that she didn't think I understood how much money and effort she put into her education, that I didn't care because I wasn't paying nearly as much as her, and that I wasn't qualified to teach and probably didn't even read the textbook. I ignored any attacks on me. I told her first of all that I didn't question her ability or effort - there were specific things we were looking for and she didn't have it; it didn't mean she was a bad student or that I graded on a whim. I also explained the answers to the questions and the reasons her answers didn't express them adequately. I then told her that she was welcome to go to the instructor for a second opinion (which she was going to do anyway). After she left, I followed up with an email recapping what I'd said, BCC'ing the instructor, and I met with the instructor later that day to talk more about the incident. When the student sent in the essay for that second opinion, the instructor and I went through it together, and the fact that the instructor was on my side about the grading helped the student come to terms with her grade, and she ended up apologizing for her attitude. Honestly, I have to really thank this student. She gave me a killer answer to a really common and hard-to-answer interview question!
  23. I agree with the above poster. In the end, they could just as easily find another well-qualified student to take on that position. And even if they can't, they're at no great loss. The only person that staying vs. leaving really affects is you, and you need to listen to your heart. I left my previous PhD program as well, for very similar reasons. In my experience, it's incredibly difficult to apply yourself when you've come to loathe the work. If you keep going and being miserable, there's a good chance that you'll end up leaving anyway. Might as well do it early on, keep your good relationship with your department, and move onto something you do enjoy.
  24. Will message you shortly about my own experience and some of the things I've heard from friends. I don't want to expose too much in these forums.
  25. Hahaha! I agree with @TakeruK. Time for a revenge prank!! On a side note, that explains why said scammer knew what location/organization would make sense for your research interests.
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