ThousandsHardships

First of all, anxiety about your program is completely normal. Nothing to worry about, and certainly not a sign that you've chosen wrong. And second of all, as someone who did go to into a graduate program and later found that it was not my thing...it's not the end of the world. In fact, the moment you know that you want to give up is the moment you no longer care about giving it up. And if you won't worry about it when it comes, then why worry about it before it comes? Sometimes it takes a bit of self-discovery to figure out what you want to do, and even if that discovery comes later, it's better than nothing. Never think of self-discovery as a waste of time. It's merely one of many steps that you must take to reach your ultimate goal, whatever it may be. As far as work/life balance goes, it is what you make it out to be. Grad student stress is nothing new, but there are plenty of grad students with spouses and kids who are active in the campus and academic community. I think a part of life is that if you're serious about what you do, whatever it is (and pretty much all grad students are), you'll feel stressed at some point. But there's no need to make that stress debilitating. Take part in activities in your department. Spend time with your friends and family. Treat school like a 9-5 job. Work hard when you're there, but one crucial thing that we all need to learn as we transition from students to professionals is how to leave that work behind when we get home. Good luck!

Write a killer statement, get awesome recommendations and good GRE scores, and get in touch with the programs you apply to beforehand so they don't throw out your application before they've had a chance to look it over in more detail. I mean, obviously don't use that as the reason for contacting them. Contact them to find out more about the program and stuff, but do hint at the fact that you have a lower GPA but how you've gravitated toward your field and how serious you've become about your schooling and future direction during your time in the work force. The hard fact is that a lot of universities expect a 3.0 minimum and many programs use this as their initial screening protocol. If you can get past this hurdle, your application will be much more likely to be examined in detail, allowing bright spots to shine. Make sure that your application gets attention, and the only way I can think of to do so is to contact faculty before you apply.

I know many people who've gone back to school after a long hiatus or after changing career plans and intellectual interests. Some have gone back to school even after already obtaining a PhD. If I were you, I wouldn't worry too much about the relevance of the professors in the department you work with. The general rule of thumb is that the longer you've been away from school, the more you could afford to have your recommenders be less relevant (if that makes sense). If you've been out of school for ten years, it'd come as more of a surprise that you don't use a letter from a current or at least more recent supervisor/colleague than that you do use one. I would 100% go with one of the faculty you work with right now, and then one of the art history professors that you mentioned, and if you can't get a decent letter from your undergrad adviser, then go for the second art history professor. Has any of your work with the art historians been relevant to philosophy or demonstrated your background in philosophy? If so, then I'd forgo that undergrad adviser. If the only thing that person can say about you is the grades you've gotten in your classes, then you're better off not having that person write, even at the expense of relevance. Getting someone who can speak to your recent relevant work is best. And if you can't, I feel that in your particular case, you might be better off with the recent. Research and writing skills in the humanities is applicable across the fields. Whether it's philosophy or not in particular isn't as important. As for your papers, I would read through them and see if viewed through a new eye, they're still as good as you thought they were. There's nothing wrong with using old papers. The only issue with undergrad is that sometimes the papers you write are not always research papers and do not always show your ability to engage scholarly research and articulate your own research using a variety of primary and secondary sources. They can still be great papers, but if they're not as useful if they don't show the type of work expected of you in grad school. Of course, I'm speaking more generally. For all I care, you papers could have been excellent research papers, in which case I don't think it'd matter too much whether it's old or new. But if you do want to write a new paper or edit your existing ones to engage more recent literature in the field (and maybe even cite a couple of your potential faculty mentors), that certainly could not hurt. One other thing that I'd like to mention is that you should for sure get in touch with someone in your prospective departments (maybe a prospective research adviser) before you apply. A sub-3.0 GPA often puts students on the automatic reject list for graduate programs...unless the department has a reason to give your application a second glance, which would be the case if you're in touch with the department and are open about any difficulties you've faced such that they're willing to move your application onto the next step.

Only insofar as you make an effort to obtain relevant research experience and better know yourself and explore your research interests even if your master's is a non-thesis one that does not require a specialization. As far as your actual application goes, I agree with @fuzzylogician. There is no way I could have anticipated where my interests lie nor even what drew me to my discipline before the final year of my master's, and I certainly wouldn't have been a strong applicant to PhD programs if I had started as soon as I considered it. Once I started considering it, I made sure to tailor my research papers in my graduate courses to my potential research interest, but that's pretty much it. I didn't start preparing my application (or even admitting to my recommenders that I wished to apply) until late August, four months before my applications were due.

I don't think that your job will affect you negatively at all. Assay research and data analytics sound incredibly relevant to chemistry, and it's looked very favorably upon to have experience working professionally, even if it's unrelated to your intended research direction. As far as your manager is concerned, I wouldn't stress too much about it. If he's any sort of a decent person, he would not use your move as an excuse to hold a grudge. He should understand and respect your goals. If he doesn't, he needs to make that clear from the very beginning and urge you to choose a different recommender. The best tip that I can give you with regards to your application is to get into contact with any potential PI's you might want to work with for your master's/PhD. Stronger students can often get into great programs without being in touch with any faculty members beforehand, but your GPA would not make the cut if you didn't have someone in the program explicitly pulling for you. Many programs put applications with a sub-3.0 GPA on their automatic reject pile without even looking at the rest of the application. This is because most schools I know of require a 3.0 GPA minimum. This isn't set in stone, and certainly many students get in without it, but it makes things complicated for the department/program, and they need a really good reason to put in that extra effort to convince the university to let you in or to risk the university rejecting you after they've already invested time and resources on your behalf. Other than that, you may want to mention the sources of your difficulties in your statements. Don't give excuses and don't make them the entire focus, but you may want to explain your difficulties and show how you've managed to work through them to get to where you are today and how they've shaped your interests for your field. Getting a few publications out certainly couldn't hurt either, and make sure you have very strong letters of recommendation. If you have the financial resources and really want to start your program as soon as you can, it doesn't hurt to apply this year. If all else fails, just apply again the following year. The worst that could happen is that you get rejected and have to apply again the next application season, which you'd have to do anyway if you don't apply this season. I was asking myself the same question last year. I didn't have a good relationship with the faculty in my M.A. program and was debating whether to let things mellow out for a few years before expressing the desire to apply to PhD programs in their field. I decided to give it a go anyway, and I got in. Sure, interpersonal relationships might have cost me some very good schools I could have gotten into otherwise, but I do get to start my PhD at a school I'd be happy with, with a very responsible and involved mentor, and I'm no longer stressing over whether this road would be closed. As for your master's vs. PhD question, maybe you can apply to PhD programs and indicate on your application that you'd like to be considered for the master's program in the event that you were not deemed to be a good fit for the PhD? I know some schools that do that. Check with the programs. Good luck!!

I have a B.A. in anthropology from Berkeley. For those working in biological anthropology who are faced with or potentially face a similar situation but are still interested in Berkeley, Tim White (integrative biology) and Katharine Milton (ESPM) are potential faculty members that you might be able to TA for and possibly even work with as faculty mentors, as their work is basically within the field anthropology even though they are no longer in the department. In fact, they both left the department because they didn't get along with the department and the other faculty members. Tim White actually specifically mentioned problems with grad student funding as one of the reasons he didn't like the anthro department. As an undergrad, I didn't have a lot of insight into the departmental politics. From what I saw, it definitely felt like the biological subfield was somewhat dysfunctional. The other subfields seemed a lot better off though.

It is possible, but I wouldn't count on it. If you accept the offer, the assumption is that you accepted it knowing that you are not going to be funded. Therefore, they are not likely to make any effort to fund you. They may if they need more TA's and you state your interest, but you can't count on it.

He could also consider switching departments/programs, if there's another program on campus that is close enough that they might be able to perform the same or similar types of research and use a lot of the same classes, he could resolve the situation without moving to another school and starting over completely anew. During my master's, I've known or heard of people who've transferred from French linguistics (in the French graduate program) to linguistics or to education, and their research focus basically remained the same but they got to work with an adviser that was a better fit and a department that didn't make them hate themselves. If your research touches on a specific subfield that's also present in another major field, then that's always a possibility. For instance, students in a neuroscience graduate program could switch to biochemistry, biopsychology, cognitive science, human physiology, just to name a few, and still keep the same focus. Similarly, students in a foreign literature or in an English graduate program could easily switch to comparative literature.

I'm not sure "fight" is the word I would use, and I didn't say it needs to be anyone's job. It's just that it's annoying the kinds of assumptions people make (I know that they don't always intend it and somehow that makes it even worse) and I wish they could just swallow a pill that could cure them of ignorance. If they're smart, telling them the truth should be enough to make them realize that what they've been assuming is wrong. It doesn't take any energy to say it, and it could help clear up any misunderstandings and make both parties feel better.

I know plenty of people who get pregnant in grad school. In fact, I've known several who entered grad school single and graduated married with two kids. It's doable. Honestly, I don't see much reason to hold off until after you graduate if it's only because kids can take up a lot of time. I mean, after all, are they going to take up less of your time if you have kids later? Are you going to be less busy working than you are in school? Chances are no. Sure, you're busy as a grad student. Academics and professionals are all busy too. How much time are you going to have when you get your first tenure-track position and suddenly find yourself teaching three classes on your own, sitting on ten different committees, applying for several grants, and still trying to pump out publications like nobody's business? Point being, you won't have any more time in your schedule after you graduate. It's all a matter of priorities, whether you're a student, professor, or some sort of professional in the industry. If you want kids in grad school, the first thing you need to do is be able to treat school like a 9-5 job that you leave when you leave, and not like the entire focus of your life. Other than that, it's an adjustment, like it will always be.

Personally, I've got nothing against reviving old threads. Old topics can still be relevant, and people are constantly searching these forums for existing threads that respond to their questions and/or concerns. Anyway, I hope the original poster and anyone who encounters the aforementioned issue has managed to make it understood that English is your native and/or best language. As a 1.5 generation kid myself (with an American accent but still), I can imagine how frustrating it must be to have your English questioned! People do, however, make these mistakes due to pure ignorance and a misinformed attempt to be culturally sensitive. So don't ignore them assuming they know what they're doing and are just being a**holes on purpose. Tell them that you find these comments unnecessary, that English is your best language, and that they are basing their judgments off of hurtful and untrue assumptions that they derived from your appearance alone. Offer to find a solution together if they didn't intend any harm, if you might still work together in the future, or if you just want to end on not-too-bad terms. You don't have to deal with them again if you don't want to, but I'd like these people to have learned from the experience. They should know that it's not okay to make these assumptions and that these comments can be debilitatingly oppressive to their recipient. And then if they decide that they don't want to correct themselves, then too bad for them.

It's completely normal! The faculty and staff have been so busy with you new admits' stuff in the previous few months that they have loads of stuff that they now need to catch up on before summer hits. Unless you have specific questions, there's also just not much that they could tell you at this point in time, apart from telling you the orientation date.

Hey! I just got home from seven months of teaching English in France. It's really not as bad as it seems. Stay away from political activity, don't live in a sketchy neighborhood, don't act like you don't know where you're going, and stay away from big cities if possible. The political and social climate might seem bad based on what you see in the news, but the chances of something actually happening is still quite minimal (especially if you're not living in a major political center). But also, attacks have not just been happening in France; they've been happening everywhere. It makes absolutely no sense to think that France is worse off. Paris had a shooting hours after I took off from CDG airport, but ever since I returned, there've been at least two shootings in my home state as well. Those who make life decisions out of fear will have no life. I'm a scaredy-cat by all standards and will prioritize self-preservation above anything, but France isn't a war zone.

I already have two master's degrees, but I'm entering into my PhD program (and opting for an MA in the process because it gives me more years of guaranteed funding) at age 27. I know people who are beginning their programs at all ages, from 22 to the late fifties. In my last master's program, we had a classmate whose CHILD was my age.

Congrats!

My friend (a medievalist PhD student at NYU) audited Latin 1 at Berkeley over the summer. Did all the assignments and everything. Auditing is not too commonly allowed in language classes, but for some reason she was able to do it. Maybe you ought to try something like that. She also audited other classes in Latin and in related medieval languages when teaching abroad during her gap year. She wrote all this in her statements so the schools were aware of it.

I never got anything from my university after being recommended for admission, and I've confirmed with several people within and outside of my department that I'm not supposed to. While it's an odd way to do things and definitely not the norm, it does happen. However, I did have a funding offer from my department (a signed letter on departmental letterhead sent to me in pdf format), the response to which was considered our official response to the offer. If you were offered a TA'ship I think that should be good enough. I did have an amount in writing, but as long as the position itself is guaranteed in writing as well as the benefits and approximately salary thereof, then I would say that that's good enough.

I've definitely heard of this happening. I can't imagine a school not releasing a student from an offer when the reason is a late acceptance from a different school (not the student's fault). I don't think they'll want to force a student to be there. However, I think if there's a potential of this happening, it'll make it more pleasant on both ends if you let them know beforehand that you're accepting provisionally but that there is a possibility that you may wish to go to another waitlisted school instead.

You can't trust the estimated dates that they give if your offer depends on someone else's decision. Your program has no control over when the person is going to decide. They might do an estimate based on the average of previous years, but everyone is different. When I was first informed that I had been nominated for a fellowship, I was told I'd know around mid-February. By the end of February, I asked about it and was told that I was ranked second for this fellowship with only one recipient (i.e. first on the waitlist). From then on, they kept telling me "maybe two more weeks." Well, you know what? My lucky day was April 10th. It wasn't in two more weeks, it wasn't even four more weeks, but I got it nevertheless. That said, it's getting late in the timeline. The 15th is a Saturday, so you should call them today to find out what the situation is and if they plan to send out any offers after the 15th.

I'm not sure about your field, but in general, Princeton is a school that's so prestigious that going there can really be a huge advantage when it comes to finding a job in the dwindling job market for academics. Honestly, the only reasons I would ever consider turning down Princeton is if funding was an issue or if I know for some reason that it would make me absolutely miserable. In your case, it actually seems like you'd be quite happy in Princeton. You get the funding and the family and the prestige and you even seem to get the impression that it may be a better fit. I'm not sure what you mean when you say Boulder is "exciting." If you have that tightly knit group of colleagues, I'm sure you'll find places to hang out. Princeton isn't a dead place.

If you're interviewing for a job, you will be in a suit or a blazer. You will not be showing any of your tattoos unless you have one that's literally on your face. And if some shows despite a suit, then so be it. For the most part, the reason that tattoos are not looked favorably upon in the job market is not because of the tattoos in general, but because showing them visibly in an interview setting knowing that they might be frowned upon tends invite questions as to whether you're taking the job seriously. But as long as you prove yourself willing to follow interview norms and portray yourself as a dedicated professional, then the interviewer could really care less whether you're covered in tattoos. Once you're actually on the job, it also doesn't matter as much.

A good amount of TA's are working at 50%, meaning they are expected to spend 20 hours per week on their teaching, in addition to other commitments if they feel like it. If you're not teaching, then I think 13-25 hours of extracurriculars are doable. They'd basically be replacing the time you'd be using to teach if you weren't funded by a scholarship or fellowship. When you're funded by a fellowship, they're generally under the assumption that it'll help give you a jumpstart on your degree by giving you more time to spend on research. If you don't want to use it like that, then that's completely your choice.

No one seems to have started a thread for this year's IU folks yet, so let me be the one! I'll be starting my PhD in French/Francophone Studies this fall. I haven't actually visited the IU campus and have never even been to the midwest before. I've been living in California since I was ten and did both my undergrad and my master's less than two hours from home. Before that, I lived in Hawaii. Needless to say, the whole concept of having seasons is a bit foreign to me... Anyway, any other IU-bound people here? Which programs are you in, where are you guys from, and where are you guys planning to live in Bloomington? What makes you the most excited, and what makes you the most nervous about starting?

Sounds like my old host mom from my study-abroad program...who made it a point to correct me when I announced I was going to leave, claiming she was the one who didn't want me. Because of course I should be begging to stay in the house of the ex-daughter-in-law of some famous person I haven't heard of and the mother of a twenty-two-year-old PhD student who is such a genius that the only reason she doesn't need sunglasses to hide herself from fame is because she was raised by a humble mother who taught her daughter to be humble so no one would know she's important (she literally said this).

I think you could be a strong candidate, and your record clearly shows a positive trend and achievements within your field. In other words, I don't think your GPA will be a red flag. However, just because you're a decent candidate doesn't mean that you'll come out on top among the other applicants. Here's where your statements and recommendations come in. Make sure that you recommenders see your statements and give you feedback. Then follow that advice even if it means completely overhauling your statements five times. One advice I've gotten is to be not too specific but also not too general. Committees want to know that you will learn from their program, not that you already know everything. They also want you to be well-rounded, not just an expert on a specific topic. However, they do also want you to have a direction, something that you're interested in, a question that you're curious to explore, and an idea of what you want to do. It's a delicate balance. I think one good way to go about doing that in your statements is to use a past research project as a starting point. Talk about what you did and how it led to your interest and preparation in both your specialization and in the field as a whole. It's important to identify prospective mentors, but it's equally important to show that you're willing to learn from scholars outside of your existing expertise. That said, if you do see someone with an exact match, mention it in your statement! I got rejected outright by some schools with over a 50% acceptance rate. But I did get an interview and a top-of-the-waitlist position from an Ivy League school (not HPY but still) that seemed to have the lowest acceptance rate of all the schools I applied to. I'm convinced that the fact I had extensively cited one of the professors in my writing sample and mentioned this in my statement might have had something to do with it. And for the school I will be attending, the professor I intend to work with had taught the works I wrote about in his class and a lot of stuff matched his interests perfectly. It might not be the key to an acceptance, but it'll definitely make the person's eyes light up in recognition when they see your statement and your work.