danieleWrites

I wasn't going to reply because your point is important and me sniping is counterproductive to the purpose of the thread. But I've been thinking about this for a few months and I'm at the tail end of a paper, which I am procrastinating hard on. My judgment isn't what it ought to be. Still, I think I do have something productive to add, rather than just being snotty for the sake of being snotty. I also feel that what I'm going to say is likely going to come across snotty, anyway. It is not at all my intention to start an argument, or continue an old argument, or whatever. It is my intention to draw attention (if anyone has any interest in this) to the rhetorical implications of the way the discussion played out. It's not what you said; it's how you said it. It's not what I said; it's the way I said it. Tone matters. I wasn't as invested in paying attention to your point as I was in reacting to your tone. I don't know why you chose to phrase yourself the way you did in your initial post, nor what you intended to have people do with your post. I do know what happened. Reaction, not deliberation. And this is why I think it's important enough to address, instead of letting sleeping dogs lie. With most of the writing we do, we have no idea who is on the other end and how they will take it. I'm not concerned with the rights, the wrongs, or the indifferents of the discussion itself. It is what it is. (That fact that all of the snotty barbs essentially expressed agreement on the basic claim is cake.) I am about the whole what can I learn from this cliche. And since this is a thread ostensibly about how to write something important, of a persuasive nature, I think the whole what can I learn from this cliche might be of use. The general point of this, and why I thought it important enough to risk stirring the pot all over again, is: a key part of the rhetorical art is phrasing oneself for a desired result on the part of the reader. Rhetoric is inherently manipulative (which is why politicians use it as a dirty word). Sometimes people make rhetorical choices deliberately and sometimes they don't. And, intentional or not, rhetorical choices exercise limited, um, control (for lack of a better word) over a reader's response. It's the reader's choice to think, react, be offended, laugh, or whatever. However, it's the writer's choice to consider probable reader responses when making writing choices. Writing is a social relationship, which means it's all about choices made by the writer and, if there are any, the reader. Hm. That'll cover it.

In the SOP spacing is immaterial, unless otherwise noted, because it isn't a sample of your scholarly writing. In your writing sample, spacing is material because it is a sample of your scholarly writing. It addition to showing off your scholarship, it also shows off your understanding of your field's conventions. Your writing sample should conform to your field's conventions. In English, I use MLA. In Anth, you should use AAA. If AAA tells you that it should be double spaced, then double space. Since your field has more than one, commonly used style, you can do a quick bit of research by looking at the published theses and dissertations of past students from the program you're applying to. That will tell you what style the program prefers. Yeah, the spacing thing is a minor detail, but it's of some importance because it's about expectations with regard to conventions. An anth paper turned in, in MLA is not going to be as well-received as one turned in, in AAA. Besides, professors always know when spacing is being used to manipulate a paper into fitting into length requirements. This is always blatantly obvious, even with 12.5pt Times New Roman with 1.1" margins.

Without having a single clue about your paper or what part of the paper's structure you're running with, I can't give you specific advice. I can't give specific advice about the history field. Research papers (in any field) have the same basic logic when structuring. First, they all have a central idea that the paper focuses on, often expressed in a thesis statement or in a purpose statement (the goal of this paper/research is....). This statement is never proven directly. I use the word proof in an argumentation manner, not a scientific manner, as in here is my claim and this is evidence to support it. Instead, the central idea is proven/supported by a series of main points (claims). What these points are and how they are presented in a paper is a convention dependent on the field. A paper about Shakespeare will not have a methodology section. Anyway, these main points are supported by evidence. Like prove, I'm using evidence in an argumentation manner, meaning that evidence is some form of support for the point being made, even if the point is that content analysis was used, and this is how it was done). In addition to evidence, analysis is used to support the main point (how the part relates to the whole) by explaining the whats, whys, and wherefores as necessary. From the previous example, Content analysis of op-eds were chosen because the.... Anyway, the main point, evidence, analysis, along with other stuff like transitions are all part of a section of thought (cool phrase, huh?) that is complete in and of itself. The introduction of a paper serves to provide a few things. First, the context (reviews of the literature are often part of the introduction) and/or background information the reader needs to know to understand the paper. Context with the thesis statement also adds what we English people call the "so what?" That's actually a technical term, so it's googleable. In other words, why should the reader care? The intro will also provide the reader with an idea of what to expect in the paper, and finally the central idea. Finally is kind of a misnomer, because not all thesis/purpose statements come at the end of the introduction. The conclusion is, in English shorthand, a tell-em-what-you-told-em thing. It sums up the basics of the paper and wraps it up. I can't get into any more detail because conventions on conclusions vary a lot more. So, what should you do (and why all of the composition hoo-ha)? I assume that your excerpt involves one or two sections of thought, but not the introduction or conclusion. The problem is that you now have one or two claims, supported and analyzed, hanging out without any context, let alone the point that they're trying to make. How do you bring that in? I would suggest that you rework your introduction enough to include it and then the section of the paper that you think will rock the socks off the adcomm. The reason why the intro is important is because it shows the breadth of your scholarship (it will bring in the context of the research, why its important, how it relates to other research in the field, what theories/perspectives you worked with, etc.) while the excerpt will show the depth of your scholarship (your critical engagement with the material, your ability to analyze, your ability to work with specifics, etc.). The final sentence of your excerpt is likely, already, conclusionary in feel, if not in fact. It ends your discussion on that section, right? If it doesn't, you can look for a conclusionary sentence (probably the first or second), in your conclusion, rework it so you can add it to the end of the excerpt. The logic of this comes back to a single thing: rhetorical situation. (Comp classes were years ago, right?) Purpose, audience, genre. Why does your adcomm want a writing sample in the first place? How will the adcomm use writing samples to evaluate applicant suitability for the program? Why does the adcomm want such a limited writing sample? Who are adcomm people, in general? Do you know anyone like them (you pay for the privilege of having them lecture you)? What do these people, that you know, that are adcomm-type people, look for in the writing you turn in for a grade? How is that similar to what the adcomm might be looking for? How can you present your excerpt to fit that genre (a really short writing sample)? Bear in mind that adcomms know that they're going to be getting excerpts and will overlook the fact that your excerpt is missing parts that the rest of the paper fills in. But, this is also where you have the chance to shine, because you can re-work your excerpt to give it a sense of unity that still implies that you have more depth of scholarship to offer. I read that over and while it makes sense to me, it seems a bit wonky. I really hope it makes sense to you, and that it offers you something useful.

My writing sample was a Brit lit paper. My research interests are American lit. I got into my preferred school. Other than that, I have nothing to say about how your adcomms would react to a sample that's in a different area of interest. Now, I could say a lot about how adcomms use writing samples, but I'll be brief. They want to see your abilities as a scholar. Can you develop an original argument and examine it critically using field-appropriate methods, language, and conventions? I'm far more handicapped in the writing sample area than having papers on subjects not related to my interests. I write papers better suited for sociology journals than a literature journal (literature-ists think theory exists to interpret literature, sociologists think literature exists to support theory). I gambled that my paper was literature-ist enough for the adcomm and that the PIs were as savvy with soc/theory as I'd hoped. Frankly, I didn't want in a program that couldn't work with this kind of interdisciplinary paper, and the only way I could find out if they could was to write the kind paper I want to write in my career and let them decide if my approach fit in with their program. Still, I got in.

Charles Darwin and Alfred Wallace could have this conversation. If you're worried about your research being stolen, why are you applying to that university in the first place? What would you gain from a program that you believe makes a practice of stealing research ideas? Yes, professors stealing student research ideas happens, and a lot more often than most of us want to acknowledge. It would be stupid to think that doesn't happen. However, you kind of have to trust the program with copies of your unpublished work at some point. You can't write a paper, get it published, and then turn it in, particularly if you have to discuss it with your professor first (submit a proposal or prospectus, or just have a conference). There's an old trick people used to do before sending their work off for publication. They'd print it off and mail the printed copy to themselves, then store it, un-opened, as proof of the originality of their work. If you're that concerned that your idea will be stolen and you won't have any means of proving that you were there first, sure, get it published (if you can) or make sure you have incontrovertible proof that you had the idea before someone else published it. You're not going to get as much academic satisfaction as you would by publishing first (on the off-chance that your research hasn't been stolen), but you would have some recourse.

Well, millions of people do this kind of thing every year. Married people in the military (pretty much any military in the world) are told where they will live, usually without much input from them, and they can either leave their family behind or take the family with. Most bring the family along. Now, the military does help with moving expenses, and there's enough income from one salary for frugal people to do fine with (or more, depending on rank), so the problems the OP will face with family are different, at least economically. There are some social issues that you may or may not have problems with. He gets all of these looks whenever he talks about how we moved here for me to get my PhD. Sure, he's proud of me (his buttons are busting), but people find it very weird that a man will just give up everything and follow a wife's ambitions. They always ask him what he does. She's getting a Phd, what does he do? The men I know that drag their wives along to grad programs, post-docs, or professorships? Their women don't have this. He's getting a Phd, but what does she do? The moving with the SO thing is problematic, no matter who follows who or why anyone moves. Moving is stressful. Jobs, schools, daily life: all stressful. The key is to make sure the relationship stays healthy. I could tell you what my guy and I do to maintain a healthy relationship, but we're not the same people. Making time for each other, communicating clearly when there are issues, actually listening (thinking about what the other person is saying empathetically, rather than planning what to say), and so on are the obvious things. But what works for you? You know. It can be done, and it can be done well with satisfaction for everyone in the relationship.

If you talk to your adviser or the professor, this is the part they're going to hone in on. Crappy TA experiences aside, there has to be a balance between your scholarship and your teaching. It is your duty to provide a good opportunity for students to avail themselves of, but it is not your duty to do so at the expense of your own studies. Whether your drop the course or not, I would suggest that you free up a bit of time to consider what you're doing as a TA that you should either not do or you should delegate. I'm not in informatics, but as a composition instructor, the two sections I teach could consume my life, if I let it, so that I could provide a great TA experience, rather than a crappy one. The problem is that what I think is necessary for "great" only applies to a few, not to everyone. I take the time to comment on rough drafts so students have a solid guide for revision, so that they can learn something from revision, and so that they can earn a better grade. Most students? The hours and hours I spent doing that, at the cost of my own studies, were pretty much wasted. Some students found it some of the most helpful composition instruction they've ever had. Most of them glanced over the comments and ignored most of it. Information overload. More importantly, what I thought was helpful was actually detrimental in the long run. They came to expect me to tell them what I wanted to see in a paper in order for them to get an A, not to learn to evaluate their own writing and figure out what they need to do in order to write effectively. I changed my strategy (with some research in pedagogy) to offer a few suggestions and asking questions. Conferences during office hours and referals to the writing center taught them to look to themselves for basic help first. Yeah, this comes across as lazy teaching to some. Why should they go to the writing center to get the help they think they should get from the teacher? Simple fact: only in the English department will they be likely to have a professor that will comment on a rough draft with the thoroughness a tutor will. Most profs, even in the English department, will have a few comments for a rough draft, if they will even comment on the draft at all. They'll talk about the big picture stuff, how to focus the research, what order the work should be presented in the paper, and so on, but all of the stuff composition TAs spend way too much time pointing out? Not gonna happen. Here I go, talking about myself. Ugh. It's basically making sure that all of that above and beyond effort you're putting into TAing really is worth it. Your adviser and your professors and your department chair will tell you that your scholarship should have a higher priority than your teaching responsibilities. Now, a number of TAs take that to mean that they don't have to do much in the way of teaching (meaning they're prioritizing themselves over their teaching responsibilities). The reasoning behind this prioritization thing is simple: TAs don't graduate if they don't prioritize their responsibilities adequately. You also have a strong responsibility to the department. All of the money you earn (tuition assistance, salary, etc.) as a TA is paid by the department. That tuition you're not paying? For classes you're having problems with? Your department paid that for you. You have a responsibility to do your best. Which leads you to where you're at now. How to do your best as both student and TA. Should you drop? Is your TA/student balance appropriate? Or are you over-TAing and under-studenting? If withdraw is the best way for you to fulfill your student and teaching responsibilities, speak with your adviser about the consequences, good and bad, of withdrawing, before you speak with your professor. Before you withdraw, make sure it's a course that can be replaced by a different course, should this one not be offered regularly. If it's one you need to have, but it's only offered every two years, you probably oughtn't drop it. If it's an elective, but it's relevant to your research interests, you probably ought to think hard about dropping it. Finally, make sure you have some reasoning about why TAing is taking up so much of your time, so that way you won't be simply told to TA less and student more.

I have ADHD. I made it through two BAs with honors before I was diagnosed. I was not diagnosed until I was an adult and my kid got the diagnosis. Your undergrad counselor was sticking to the letter of the DSM methodology of diagnosing disorders. According the DSM, having the traits/symptoms of a disorder is not enough. The traits/symptoms must impair daily life. A person with a high GPA is not obviously impaired by ADHD, or so your counselor thought. Your counselor is quite obviously not an ADHD specialist. Get re-evaluated by someone that specializes in ADHD, or barring that, learning disorders. The problem with adults that weren't diagnosed as children is that with maturity comes coping strategies that mask the problem. For a lot of people, that's actually all they need in order to deal with ADHD in their lives. For people in grad school, where second chances aren't easily obtained, coping strategies may not evolve enough on their own. To compound all of this, most people who have ADHD without knowing that this is the thing causing their problems, won't know what to tell the doctor/counselor about how it impairs their daily lives. An ADHD diagnosis is problematic in more ways than just figuring out if it's ADHD or some other problem, such as stress, lack of sleep, or proper nutrition. ADHD has been over-diagnosed to the point where "everyone knows" that if a kid doesn't sit perfectly still, teachers and parents want to shove pills down their throat to control them, rather than let a kid be a kid. Adults, particularly younger ones, have the added problem that "everyone knows" that they're just looking to score legal methamphetamines. Undiagnosed adults with ADHD are usually confronted with the things that your counselor told you, simply because ADHD is our cultural bad guy. So. Find someone that specializes in learning disorders and get evaluated. If you are evaluated with ADHD, medication is the least part of the treatment. Behavior modification is the important part. ADHD coaches/counselors teach people coping strategies, and more importantly, how to modify their behavior to use those coping strategies daily. If you aren't diagnosed with ADHD, or the evaluator thinks your ADHD is too mild for much in terms of treatment, you can still find the tips and tricks ADHD people use. It's pretty much about organizing, routines, habits, and creating an environment. For example, a person with ADHD would set aside a space that is used solely for study. No other activities allowed in that space. This helps to eliminate distractions that are internal, as well as external. ADHD has a strong impulse control problem, not just an inattentive and restless problem. If there's a space that a person, by habit and routine, has ingrained into a single-use place, it's easier to control the impulse. I don't write papers in the same place I surf the web, because otherwise, I'll find myself surfing the web when I should be writing, even when I don't have writer's block problems. The strategies that help a person get a handle on their ADHD can help anyone. You can google ADHD tips or ADHD tricks and get a ton of tips on how to manage daily life. University libraries will have books aimed at people who want to enter the learning disabilities field in some fashion, so they'll also have books on how ADHD counselors/doctors/coaches can help people with ADHD manage their lives. Too many people think that all they need is an ADHD diagnoses and a prescription, then magically, the ADHD goes away. As if. The meds make it possible for me to read all of the words in a text in one sitting, from front to finish. They don't make it possible for me to understand it any easier, or to not be distracted when I'm reading, or to get my work done when I'd rather be doing something else, or to sit still completely when I'm doing it, or any number of things. Meds don't make me add stuff to my calendar so I don't forget to do it. They do make it possible for me to hit a golf ball consistently, or to drive with the radio on (when I get to drive). They make a huge difference, but they aren't a cure. That's where behavior modification comes in. And that's where, even if you never get diagnosed with it, you can do something for yourself anyway.

From personal experience, if you don't have to have a job, don't have a job. What constitutes the criteria for "have to" depends entirely on individual circumstances. I know someone who "had to" have a part time job in high school because he "had to" have more access to the Gap than his allowance permitted. Back then, I judged harshly. These days? Who am I to pass judgment on anyone's necessities, beyond the universal ones. The only things I need are food, water, and shelter. Everything else is "want". I'm tangenting unnecessarily. Anyway. I recommend against a job simply because they take away hours that can be otherwise engaged in scholarship. Employers (aside from GTA employers) think that everything else in your life is secondary to the job. For those of us who TA, our departments usually tell us that our own education comes first, and our teaching responsibilities second. TAs have a habit of sacrificing their time for students. Employers don't expect people to focus on their work outside of work hours, but when there's a work-school conflict? Or a choice between sleeping and fulfilling an obligation? Employers don't think you can call in sick when you've been up doing school work for two days. They expect you to put the school stuff aside and get rest. It comes down to this, in my opinion, there are only 24 hours in a day. The more of those hours you can free up to do your scholarship, the greater the quality of scholarship. I consider a solid 12 hour chunk of that 24 hours to be un-freeable, in general. 8 hours of sleep, commute time, personal care and other chores, personal time (it's important to give one's self time to do leisure, even if that's just watching re-runs on Netflix). That means the other 12 hours are free for school and work. Time is a commodity that has to be factored into any cost-benefit analysis. The feasibility of working (not assistanceships, to be clear) comes right down to a cost-benefit analysis and nothing else. What will it cost you to work? What benefits will you have from it? Are those benefits worth the cost? And one question, because it's school, if your cost-benefit analysis makes it clear that work would be beneficial, but you discover, after trying to work a job and do school, that you actually can't do it, what would happen if you couldn't have that income?

The prompt defined the word "good" for you when it comes to selecting a topic. A good topic for you is one that 1) interests you, and 2) you can engage critically. Good is one of those ridiculous words, like original, in topic/subject selection. Good or original or any of those qualifiers gets stuck in the brain as a topic/subject that will impress others (selection committees, scholarship committees, dissertation/thesis committees, journal editors, conference committees, and so on and so forth). Here's the key (and I speak of this with all of the authority of someone who has read hundreds of essays by the same kind of person looking for the same kind of outcome: an A) to "good". It's not the topic. It's how you engage with the topic. The fact that a student knows about a topic of interest to me, or to academia, or to whatever, is not impressive. Even if they've accumulated a surreal amount of knowledge. The fact that a student can take a topic (even a topic that they think others will think is banal) and apply critical thinking and the use of outside theories, perspectives, sources, and whatnot impresses me. Isaac Newton (heard of him?) took the most banal of all topics in the 18th century (gravity, boooooring, you drop something, it falls, what else is there to know?) and critically engaged with it. So. What are your basic interests and how can you turn that interest into a critical, thoughtful discussion of the topic? I like comic books, and Batman has always been one of my faves. This was interesting: http://werecyclemovies.com/2013/08/31/gotham-city-and-the-metropolis-of-tomorrow/ Note: critical engagement with a comic book and its film adaptations. It doesn't cure cancer. It doesn't take inspiration from a falling apple to write some of our basic laws of physics. But it's still a good topic for that writer. Whether your scholarship committee would agree with me about that Batman thing is a whole 'nother story. You cannot know what biases they have. If the Batman thing were a scholarship essay, but the people on the scholarship committee were raging Marvel fans? You lose. You can't try to find "safe" topics that would appeal to them because you don't really know where they stand on an issue, if you even know who they are in the first place, so can look them up. Besides, most people can spot pandering from people who want something. King Lear is the exception, not the rule. So, do what the prompt suggests. Pick of topic of interest to you and show the scholarship people how you can engage with the academic way (with critical thinking). (Huh. Apparently a lower case a and a close parenthesis makes an emoticon face.)

Ask questions.

I admire your intelligent and rational approach to problem solving, Penny. I sincerely hope that your leave brings you the best result for you. Though I doubt it, hopefully the program you're critiquing will reconsider their Full Metal Jacket approach to pedagogy.

Send him to the writing center, if your campus has one. They should have tutors that specialize in ESL. If he's not equipped to produce work that will get him passing grades, the writing center directors will know how to deal with the problem and get him the help he needs, or whatnot. You can also send him to the international student office so they can direct him to tutors, as well.

One thing you can do right now is sit down with your finances in mind and figure out whether or not you're willing to go to grad school on your own dime, with the hope that you might pick up an assistanceship at some point in the future, or enough scholarships or fellowships. If you are willing to go to the school unfunded, what kind of income must you make every month in order to go, and that means checking on the job situation available locally (community colleges need part time teachers!), how many hours of work on a job can you reasonably do with the number of courses you'll be required to take, and amount of lab time/research time you'll be required to do, and so on. How much debt do you have and how much are you willing to take on for this? The financial aid website should have a cost estimator tool for you. It's not horrifically accurate, but it's a better idea than figuring out cost of living based on your current situation. You might find this tool helpful: http://collegecost.ed.gov/ if not, there are other resources on that site. I strongly suggest that you decide the money thing before you get a funding offer or rejection. It's really hard to try to figure out whether or not to give up on the program after they've said they don't have an assisstanceship with tuition waiver now, but perhaps in the future, when can you come in for advising? It's hard to be realistic when they're saying here's the key to your dreams, you just have to pay for it when most of your cohort won't. Hopefully, this will all be moot because they'll offer you an assistanceship, but preparation is best.

I did my MA and then spent a year and a half off doing some adjuncting without any real studying (other than to read stuff written by faculty and grad students in the programs I was interested in for application purposes, rather than learning). Now I'm in a program and found that there's a lot to love and a lot to hate and everything in the middle. If I had to pick the one thing I hate most is the time compression of research (I'm reading pretty much Herbert Blumer's entire intellectual lineage and some important relatives in order to write a paper) and how that compression changes the way I speak with my non-grad friends and family. I keep dropping all of these words without thinking first, into every day conversations. The fam is full of brilliant people, some that are always interested in learning new things, but defining things like symbolic interactionism in a sentence or two? I'm an introvert and suck at conversation already. Add in the short sleep and over-thinking. I want to go back to the normal conversations I had with the fam when I adjuncted. Where I'd say compromise instead of dialectic and we all contributed to the conversation, rather than me dropping in these stupid words and shutting everyone up. And hurt feelings are had by all. *sigh*

I hadn't responded earlier because everyone else had said wonderful things. Then I read this again and remembered the phrase: short-timer's disease. It gets to all of us. Hang in there! Word around the platoon was always to stay focused on the now, and only on the necessary planning and actions required until separation, incorporating after-separation plans that required immediate action (job-hunting, getting records in order, networking, and so on) while ignoring the time until it was over and the I'm-FREEEEE! party. Though, I did always find the combat boots hanging from wires around the company area from their tied together laces rather myopic even if I totally get the sentiment. They're really useful for things like shoveling snow.

Were you admitted or accepted? When they sent you an acceptance letter, it should have mentioned funding in some fashion, such as whether or not you were offered an assistanceship or how to contact their financial aid office. You should contact the financial aid office ASAP. They have things like fellowships and scholarships you can apply for, and the sooner you know of these, the sooner can avoid passing deadlines. Call the department secretary and find out the name of the person in charge of assistanceships, it should be the DGS. If nothing else, contact the DGS/person who signed your acceptance letter, and directly ask about what funding package, if any, you are being offered. Funding for assistanceships depends on how much the department has to spend on them. Who gets the assistanceships varies by department and discipline. English gets a lot because TAs teach classes that every undergrad has to take. Other fields get research assistanceships based on what professor needs help in the lab, and that means if you specialize in puppies and the profs that need lab assistants specialize in kittens, the person with kittens on the resume will get picked, even if they come from podunk. Some departments only take as many students as they have assistanceships for.

Yes, they were wrong. You own an equal share of that research and the final product. You were denied the opportunity to add your input, to vet the final product, and to do your fair share of the work. They were juvenile, unprofessional, and unethical. I would confront them, either individually or in a group. How that confrontation occurs would depend on your personality, your circumstances, and what outcomes you want from this experience. Since this isn't an isolated incident of an outsider getting ignored by an group of close friends, it sounds as if you haven't fit into the general culture of your cohort. For whatever reason. I don't know what your program is, where you are in your program, what your field is, or what purpose the research your group just completed might have for your future. As this is grad school, ownership of a research paper is important. There are conferences and publication opportunities involved. Since you can't trust your group's professional ethics, you should decide if you need to take steps to protect your professional interests in your project. They cannot ethically present or publish the work without your approval or name on it. Doesn't mean this doesn't happen. Research is stolen all of the time. The important thing, though, is that you figure out what you want to happen with your cohort, not just your group. If the research is unusable for your future and you don't have to do group work again with these people, letting it go in favor of cultivating other relationships might be your best option. If it's best for you to do something about this, keep in mind that not only will your discussions with the group have an impact on your relationships with the group, but also with your cohort and the faculty, depending on how the gossip mill runs. You want to be considered a trustworthy, ethical, and professional person by those involved in the program. So treat your dealings with your group in that fashion. Faculty don't like playing babysitter to group problems (grown ups should be able to solve these things by themselves), but that doesn't mean that they won't do it or will think less of students that require some faculty mediation. Personally, I wouldn't let it go no matter what. That's my personality and isn't going to cause problems in my field. I would speak with each person individually. My purpose would be to express disappointment that I could no longer trust in their professionalism and then try to fix it. Since it's clear that they know what they did was wrong (the inability to meet your eyes is kind of a give away). I'd probably start the conversation off by saying that we apparently have a problem, and what that problem might be and how they suggest we go about fixing it.

Never happened to me. I did know someone in an MA program that had this advice from an adviser. It went down like this: the adviser scheduled an appointment with my friend-quaintance after mid-terms and before advising, on a Friday afternoon, and during this meeting suggested that he might not be suited to the graduate program and had he considered what he could do with his current degree, or what he might do with a bachelor's in an information science field in addition to his current BA. According to him, the adviser was an evil biscuit who got off on harassing the men in the program because she was a rabid feminazi man-hater. After he fail!bombed the next semester, she helped him get into a BS program in another university. He makes apps now. And a lot more money than the feminazi does. I bring this up because of the devil's advocate thing. Not everyone is suited to a graduate program, or the work people who actually graduate do, or the field they've chosen, or whatever. Just because an adviser is mean, sadistic, and jerkish doesn't mean they're wrong any more than an adviser being supportive, compassionate, and helpful means they're right. I don't know if my sorta-buddy would have failed if he didn't have the adviser's "you can't do this" stuck in his head. I don't know if he would have succeeded. By bringing it up to him, we'll never know, really. There are tons of people who fail/quit grad school without faculty intervention. There are tons of people who wish they had quit, or that their adviser had spoken up years ago, before they'd invested that much time and money. Considering my app-making pal's situation, I would likely advise the grad student to visit the campus counseling center to get their emotional equilibrium back, inasmuch as possible. Nothing can take your feet out from under you quite like an adviser or mentor turning on you. Once there's some emotional stability, I'd likely turn to a faculty member familiar with my work and solicit some criticism (what are my weaknesses? strengths?). Then I'd make a rational decision about my future based on evidence. Ah, who am I kidding. I'd laugh in my adviser's doubting face and likely critique their work. What can I say? I'm old and I over-value my own opinion.

Crate training is a must for any dog that will live inside. People tend to think of it as cruel (doggie jail!), but dogs like dens. We covered the dog crate with a blanket, stuck a pillow in it, and pretty much couldn't keep the dogs out of it. The crate thing helps when you have to let repair-people in, or you're dealing with behavior issues or potty training issues, and a variety of things. Make sure that you learn the laws of the town. Some people like to chain the dog up in the yard while they're away and a significant number of places call that illegal. No dogs on chains without supervision. Make sure that you have the money to spend on quality food, various accessories (good leashes, etc.), licensing, and vet care. IMOM does great work providing grants for vet bills, but they've only got so much money. Dogs are expensive when they get sick. Even if you get a dog that's been well trained, go through an obedience class with it. Obedience classes are more about training owners than training the dog. AKC runs several really good programs, like basic obedience and canine good citizen. A well trained dog is a joy. A dog that trains you, instead? Not so much. Finally, you can't take muttly to conferences. Pre-plan pet sitting. You can check into doggy day care businesses, as well. Every semester I seem to have one day where I can't come home for about 14 hours. Dunno why, but it always works out that way. If I had a dog and no guy to be my doggy-daddy (that sounds weird), I'd take used a doggy day care for my long day. Or some other dog sitter. Large cities have dog walkers. The best business ever has been the yard cleaning industry. Once a week (or more often, depending on yard and dog needs) they clean the mess. Heaven! And not cheap. I have snakes. I keep them in natural vivs, so I have to spend more of my energy taking care of their plants and soil than I do caring for them. I feed them two or three times a month (depending on season), and spend an aggravating couple of hours every month or so unwinding several feet of shed skin from plants, branches, and whatnot. But, I can leave the house for a few weeks without doing anything more than letting my non-phobic neighbor have a key and instructions on how to use the propane heater should the electricity fail for more than a day during the winter. I have a terrestrial, temperate species, so they spend most of their time snoozing in the dirt. And snake really are cuddly. They're just not the warm kind of cuddly.

What Lynx said. You're not the first to drop out of a program and you won't be the last! While they'll be sorry to see you go, they won't be shocked and appalled that someone doesn't want to complete the program. Until you get in a program, you don't really know what it's like to have the job, so how can you make that determination without experiencing it? I'd advise talking in person simply because you have good relationships with the people there. Let them know as soon as possible so they can make plans for next fall. They're already planning on the spot you're supposed to have, so if they know you're not returning after the term, they might decide to offer it to someone applying this season.

I spent time moving with the military, meaning a new city every couple of years (his tour was weird). In the end, our buying/renting decision came down to a single thing: pets. We bought in places we weren't going to stay for long because we had big dogs and we didn't want to lose them. Home ownership can be a for serious hassle. It's nice that we can do whatever we liked with the house (air conditioner? No probls. New stove? Sure! Repaint cabinets? Why not?) But that's not as easy peasy with homeowner associations that have rules about renovations and such. Sure, you can paint the kitchen, but can you stick in a window a/c if you want one? While there is money to be saved with purchasing, there are also some serious cons. Imagine that your pipes burst in the bathroom. You may get your insurance company to pay for it, but you may find out that drives the cost of your insurance up. They may not cover the damage caused to neighboring condos. And so on. Will you be able to off-load the property when you want to leave? If you can't, or if it takes time, can you afford to pay the mortgage and the upkeep for a home you're not living in while paying for the place you are living in? Sometimes the market is hot and a place goes in a day, but these days? Not so much.

I think you should read the original research. The report says that a condom is considered to be in typical use because the woman thinks she's using that method. More importantly, a woman is typically fertile 6 days, usually about 5, out of every 28 days. Knock off seven of those days for, let's call it hygiene reasons, and slightly more than half of the time people have sex she wouldn't get pregnant anyway, no matter what. Add to those numbers the odds of an an egg getting fertilized per cycle in the first place (30%) and the odds of a fertilized egg implanting--a requirement in order to become pregnant (22%), then pregnancy at any point of the cycle, even with no birth control, isn't a sure thing. This is not to say that pregnancy is a difficult state to achieve with a normal, unprotected sex life (it's not). However, pregnancy isn't a simple conditional. Not a true statement: If woman's internal reproductive organs exposed to sperm, then will definitely get pregnant.

I figured it out a while ago when I figured out that good papers are written after reading a significant amount of discussion on the subject, not by figuring out the paper and then looking for sources. It was undergrad, a paper about the anti-Walmart movement. Good times. Originality is one of those ridiculous words that means something different every where you go. Novel is just as ridiculous. Think of it less as "wowza, you cured cancer and solved for world peace!" and more as "what am I adding to the field?" Isaac Newton said it best, and I paraphrase, he didn't consider his "discovery" of gravity and its laws as something novel or original. Instead, he thought of himself as standing on the shoulders of giants. We have an airline industry because of him, and we all think of him as this gigantic, original thinker. He saw himself as a person who was so familiar with the conversation in his field, that when the proverbial apple bonked him on his proverbial head, he was able to take what he already knew (from what others have done) and add his own voice to it. So, nah, it's not finding a novel approach that's never been done before. It's finding your footing on the shoulders of the giants in your field.

I think it depends on your field and what you hope to gain from it. Every poem I've published is on my CV. Every reading I've been party to is on my CV, though readings aren't usually on CVs. The novel I've been typing at for the past three years is on my CV. The one time one of my poems was totally ripped and published as part of a larger op-ed "lifestyle" piece in the local newspaper is on my CV. The classes I've substitute taught in are on my CV. When my first name is Doctor, I will take them off my CV because, yeah, who cares if I subbed in a gen lit class half a decade ago, right?