lewin

I'm a master student in International Relations field. I still don't have a title for my thesis. I really interested to do a research about Israel-Palestine conflict. My lecturer said it was okay, but I need to find a focus about this issue, which mean I have to find a research title that never been done before. Can anyone suggest to me what title should I pick regarding to this Israel-Palestine conflict.

Thanks in advance.

It's great to be passionate about one's career, I'm driven by intrinsic interest too. Same boat as you!

But passion doesn't put food on one's plate. "Bad job prospects" is something people should be worried about and I think sometimes academics don't think about this enough. For example, a professor I know advised students that their priority should be to get the best grad training and post doc position possible, even if it means significant debt. When tenure-track jobs were relatively guaranteed (20-30 years ago) that strategy made sense. But now, who would take on $20 or $50 thousand in loans when they might not get a job afterwards? Much too risky.

If more people realistically considered their job prospects and decided not to attend graduate school it would be better for everybody. In the end, it's a hard truth that if you can't get paid for your work then you need to find something else to do. Otherwise that's a hobby, not a job.

I'm giving myself two years applying for academic jobs. If it doesn't happen in that time I'm going elsewhere. And I'd rather stab myself than be an adjunct instructor with a 3-2 teaching load and no job security making $25,000 a year.

(BTW it's good your flexible on location, that's almost mandatory nowadays.)

I know there are a lot of grad students who are struggling and/or in debt (I fall into the former category). But many of them seem to have been born with a silver spoon in their mouth. For instance, one student has seen lots of Broadway plays, worked with famous directors and playwrights, and traveled all over Europe. I've heard others talk about their summer trips to Japan or Kiev. I believe the one who went to Kiev was studying abroad. But she went to Skidmore College, which isn't cheap. Another pays to have her olive oil imported from Italy! So, do a lot of graduate students come from money?

I re-read my post and realized that I sounded kind of douchey on the GRE scores thing and for that I appologize. After talking to other people I realized that those scores were actually pretty good, I just saw a bunch of people posting here who had better scores and was worried because they sounded worried.

I am meeting with professors for Letters of Rec next week and was wondering if anyone had any advice on steps I should take, good ways to message professors at the university to see if they are taking in students that fall, things of that nature.

i was being facetious. i understand the significance of all aspects of an application. it was simply meant as a compliment to the poster's strong test scores.

It seems a little pompous to assume that historians appreciate good writing and STEM folks don't. I appreciate good writing as much as the next historian - but the problem is that most SOP authors are not good writers and so the SOP fails in both form and substance.

Sorry. I assumed a question mark (e.g. "?") would signal a question. But I am just one of those STEM guys.

That's why it's safer to just "get to the point" when you write to an academic audience. QED.

It's not okay. Move on, consider it a learning experience, and apply to more jobs.

It's great to be passionate about one's career, I'm driven by intrinsic interest too. Same boat as you!

But passion doesn't put food on one's plate. "Bad job prospects" is something people should be worried about and I think sometimes academics don't think about this enough. For example, a professor I know advised students that their priority should be to get the best grad training and post doc position possible, even if it means significant debt. When tenure-track jobs were relatively guaranteed (20-30 years ago) that strategy made sense. But now, who would take on $20 or $50 thousand in loans when they might not get a job afterwards? Much too risky.

If more people realistically considered their job prospects and decided not to attend graduate school it would be better for everybody. In the end, it's a hard truth that if you can't get paid for your work then you need to find something else to do. Otherwise that's a hobby, not a job.

I'm giving myself two years applying for academic jobs. If it doesn't happen in that time I'm going elsewhere. And I'd rather stab myself than be an adjunct instructor with a 3-2 teaching load and no job security making $25,000 a year.

(BTW it's good your flexible on location, that's almost mandatory nowadays.)

I have to say, I've heard mixed opinions about contacting POI's. These are a few:

1. It's probably okay to contact POI's via email to introduce yourself and draw attention to your application. Keep it simple: "Hi, I am so-and-so. I liked your work on X and am considering applying with you to graduate school beginning Y. Are you taking students? I am interested in working on Z." Study design sounds way too presumptuous.

2. Some profs dislike students contacting them because they think it's circumventing the application process.

3. I would discourage phone calls and in-person visits. Phone calls are intrusive and they'll invite people they want to visit. Email is a better way of initiating contact.

4. In all cases, if the prof has instructions on his/her website, follow those.


ETA: The person I ended up working with--he and I talked on the phone once, after he made the offer, to arrange a visit. Before that one email like point (1) above.

Neither. I don't know what percentile a 3.0 is, but I have heard that the AW score really doesn't matter. If you want, send in a writing sample that you feel better reflects your writing abilities. Do not explain any of the things you mentioned, you are just planting ideas in their heads that they probably otherwise wouldn't even have. Also, as an aside, I like how you're discrediting the GRE in some ways (not being able to adjust to their style...?) for the AW and verbal, but seems to perfectly accept the ETS' (positive) assignment of your math skills.

It's great to be passionate about one's career, I'm driven by intrinsic interest too. Same boat as you!

But passion doesn't put food on one's plate. "Bad job prospects" is something people should be worried about and I think sometimes academics don't think about this enough. For example, a professor I know advised students that their priority should be to get the best grad training and post doc position possible, even if it means significant debt. When tenure-track jobs were relatively guaranteed (20-30 years ago) that strategy made sense. But now, who would take on $20 or $50 thousand in loans when they might not get a job afterwards? Much too risky.

If more people realistically considered their job prospects and decided not to attend graduate school it would be better for everybody. In the end, it's a hard truth that if you can't get paid for your work then you need to find something else to do. Otherwise that's a hobby, not a job.

I'm giving myself two years applying for academic jobs. If it doesn't happen in that time I'm going elsewhere. And I'd rather stab myself than be an adjunct instructor with a 3-2 teaching load and no job security making $25,000 a year.

(BTW it's good your flexible on location, that's almost mandatory nowadays.)

Once you have your PhD, come to Canada! We have lots of incentives to attract educated workers and gay rights are enshrined in law and in social norms. Shitty places that oppress other people can reap what they sow and become intellectual backwaters. Or stay and try and change the culture: Knowing somebody who is gay is the biggest thing that can change attitudes. (See "the contact hypothesis".)

And I have to say, I'm astounded that somebody could make a comment like that in an official meeting and people would laugh. I bet (hope) many people were privately horrified.

It's great to be passionate about one's career, I'm driven by intrinsic interest too. Same boat as you!

But passion doesn't put food on one's plate. "Bad job prospects" is something people should be worried about and I think sometimes academics don't think about this enough. For example, a professor I know advised students that their priority should be to get the best grad training and post doc position possible, even if it means significant debt. When tenure-track jobs were relatively guaranteed (20-30 years ago) that strategy made sense. But now, who would take on $20 or $50 thousand in loans when they might not get a job afterwards? Much too risky.

If more people realistically considered their job prospects and decided not to attend graduate school it would be better for everybody. In the end, it's a hard truth that if you can't get paid for your work then you need to find something else to do. Otherwise that's a hobby, not a job.

I'm giving myself two years applying for academic jobs. If it doesn't happen in that time I'm going elsewhere. And I'd rather stab myself than be an adjunct instructor with a 3-2 teaching load and no job security making $25,000 a year.

(BTW it's good your flexible on location, that's almost mandatory nowadays.)

Okay, so there have been discussions about the various pushes throughout 2012 for increased open access. Lately, editorial staff of prominent journals have been publishing their own reasons why there needs to be more open access, though they're doing this in subscription-only journals. The current editor-in-chief of American Anthropologist, Tom Boellstorff, published an editorial on this in the most recent issue of the journal. In it, he calls for "gold open access" for American Anthropologist once its current contract with Wiley-Blackwell ends. He summarizes his entire argument, in brief, at the beginning so, just read that if you've got the time. I've pulled out one quote that I find particularly interesting.

He writes,


This, I think, gets to the heart of some of the economic practices people find unsettling. Do you think his potential model involving payment is viable? Why or why not?


Here's the reference info so you can access the full article:
Boellstorff, T. (2012), Why the AAA Needs Gold Open Access. American Anthropologist, 114: 389–393. doi: 10.1111/j.1548-1433.2012.01440.x

The topic doesn't interest you? Or doing a PhD at all? The former is probably worse than the latter, in terms of getting out gracefully.

If you'll never do a PhD then something brief is probably fine, "I have some unfortunate news that I'm sorry to have to share. I have reconsidered my career choices and have decided not to pursue a PhD, therefore I will not be attending your program in September. I deeply apologize for the inconvenience that I know this will cause you, please know that it was not a decision that I made lightly." Don't go into details about family, girlfriend, etc

It's unfortunate but people change their minds and, if you're not going into academia, you don't need them to like you anyway. But be sure about the decision because you're definitely burning bridges and academia is a small community. And at this point you might owe them some tuition, that would depend on the university's policies.

If it's just the topic that you don't like then use "I have reconsidered my decision to attend graduate school at this time, therefore I will not be attending...." in place of the second sentence. Honestly in this case it's probably impossible to avoid looking like a flake, but rip that band aid off and move on. You can be impeccably polite but you're still leaving them in a shitty situation. But do what's right for you!

Go for it.

"Dear Dr. So-and-so. I am starting as a graduate student in the fall and I am interested in possibly taking your course. If you have a course outline already, would you mind please sending it to me? I am curious about what material might be covered. Best regards, raise cain."

Hi there,

I just wanted to collect more facts that there is unjust treatment when a PhD student is being recommended by his department to withdraw even before he writes his first comprehensive exams due to low GPAs or other reasons.

I would like to encourage your reply in this thread if you have heard any cases like this in a Canadian or American graduate program.

Haha, are you serious? I happen to research discrimination, so I have the home field advantage here. I could provide a hundred research citations that sexism still occurs in academia but two easy examples are: At my university last year they hired about 70 new faculty and at least 65 were men. Second, recently the Canadian government initiated a new academic research chair program. Nineteen research grants, every single one went to men. I didn't say that engineering etc were sexist because they're male dominated. I said they're male dominated and more sexist, on average. Though a causal connection seems likely.

And my "dig" at (some parts of) the U.S. was not supposed to be subtle. Not at progressive Americans, but at the ones attending chick fil a appreciation day, certainly.

I'm a little incredulous at anyone who is minimizing the OP's claims because he won't name is specific department. What difference does it make? Engineering, physics, computer science, mathematics -- these are all male-dominated and also (relative to other fields) more sexist; they're probably more homophobic too. If "every field" is receptive to gay people where do all the homophobes come from?!

I will spell it out: The chick fil a supporters are bigots. Lots of smart people are gay and don't want to live where their neighbours are actively trying to take away their rights. Those people will leave and move to tolerant places. And there are other, non-gay smart people who won't want to live surrounded by bigots either, so they'll stay away too.

And a competition that produces 19 awards to men and none to women is plainly sexist (see "disparate impact"). Even the minister in charge admitted things had gone wrong somewhere.

What you are describing is your own program's policy. Policies change from institution to institution and even from program to program within the same institution. You need to consult with someone in your program (e.g. an administrator, an older student, the DGS, or your advisor) to get an answer to your question. There is absolutely no way for us to know.

I said outright that I do not know how it feels to be a minority and/or the pressures that come along with it. My point is that I think most- if not all - grad students feel they have to live up to above standard expectations, and they are always striving to impress and prove that they are qualified and competent enough to be where they are. Whether or not these are in comparison to what the OP and/or students of minorities are feeling I do not know...but I do believe that regardless of race, sex, income, age, sexuality, , weight, single parents, physicially and/or mentally impaired... grad students are prone to feeling they need to prove themselves- regardless of the 'stereotypes [that] have been foisted' on them.

Also, I would like to point out that I think every grad student should "find a good balance between your own expectations and goals for yourself and what may be forced upon you by your environment"..

I enjoyed reading a book relevant to this issue recently: _Whistling Vivaldi_ by Claude Steele is about the performance of black Americans in college. It's aimed for more of the popular science sector, although Steele is an academic and the chapters are more or less summaries of scientific studies he had been involved in. Unsurprisingly, stereotype threat significantly effects academic performance in lots of ways, but it's surprising subtlies are often quite unexpected; a lot of has to do with the subect's self-perception of his or her own identity, and how sometimes the striving and the pushing in an effort to fight the stereotype threat and to overachieve actually backfires, resulting in perpetuating the original threat. It's quite interesting to read about, and not to mention just how even the tiniest amounts of self identity when associated with stereotype threats can have a very disproportionately large influence.

Hi there,

I have not been in a situation where I have felt like a minority, so I can comment on that...but I can say that 99% of graduate students feel that they have to work harder than the next person to re-enforce that they are a competent student. I think graduate students always feel they have to meet some unknown bar that is set especially high just for them, and that they have the responsibility to themselves, their department and advisor to meet an unrealistic goal. I think that's just who we are.

I hope others can offer more advice to your specific question about being a minority...but I think you should feel a bit comforted that these feelings you have might be due to the fact that you're just a grad student, and we all have those feelings.