rising_star

If you're really passionate about social work, perhaps you could get a job for a year or two that lets you gain experience in the field. That will make you a stronger candidate and help show admissions committees that you have what it takes to excel and won't fail (for whatever reason) another field placement.

Maybe you could contact the Director of Graduate Studies for the department/program and say that you'd like more information on what you can do to get accepted in the future. Phrasing your inquiry that way is much more likely to result in a positive response (as in, a response that yields you the information you desire). If you go into it talking about lawyers, it is unlikely that anyone will give you the direct answers you seem to desire.

You'll be fine. There's really no reason to sweat a mistake as small as that one. Good luck!

They'll either call you again or send you an email. Until then, just wait.

This is one of the times where the results survey can really help you. People do record how they learned of admission or rejection there.

CV. For academic positions, send a CV.

I wouldn't worry too much about trigonometry, unless you're planning to go into modeling or game theory or something like that. Definitely focus on statistics and doing well in those classes. Usually polisci programs have a required year-long quantitative methods sequence, so you'll want to be decently equipped for that. Trig won't usually help, though it does matter for the GRE. Given your interests, you might want to consider sociology programs in addition to political science programs...

Some definitely do call. I had people call to tell me I was admitted and to offer funding for me to visit the program. At the same time, I've gotten acceptances via email. If you do leave your phone in airplane mode, you may want to change your voicemail message to notify people that you can be reached immediately via email or another phone number, just in case.

People do care, somewhat, about where your degree came from. You don't want people thinking you went to a degree mill where you fork over money and they give you a diploma. Because of that, you'll want to choose a school with solid name recognition (so Penn State not SNHU), which probably means a school with regional accreditation. It's not so much that people know who the accrediting agency is but that they tend to favor schools they recognize and don't have a negative opinion of.

You'll be fine. I've gotten job interviews at places where I had typos in the cover letter that I only found when prepping for the interview. This is one small thing you shouldn't sweat.

I'm not going to say that C&C or anyone else shouldn't vent on this site. But, when I read the original post, all I could think was how annoyed I would be if a student came to me with those complaints and/or sent an email questioning my grading and saying I was purposefully trying to mess with them. It just strikes me as a sense of entitlement and very, very similar to stuff undergrads at the Big State U use to beg for grades late in the semester. I would think (incorrectly perhaps) that graduate students would know not to do that or, at a minimum, would find a polite way to request a higher grade that doesn't read like grade-grubbing. C&C, I'll just add this specifically for you. Unless you have proof that the professor waited until the last minute to grade things as part of a guise, I would never level this accusation at anyone. You honestly have zero clue what was going on in this professor's life and why the grading was delayed. Having taught before, I'll say that all sorts of things have delayed my grading including, but definitely not limited to, getting sick, having to take care of a seriously ill parent, and having pressing work (grant deadlines, manuscript deadlines) that must be met. I would never tell students those things because it's none of their damn business. Some of them have probably thought similarly to you but, in all honesty, that rarely plays a role. Why? Because in most classes, and especially in grad school where participation is a big part of your grade, there are plenty of ways to affect a student's grade without simply waiting to return work. In my own classes (I teach undergrads only), participation is 12-20% of the final grade. That gives one plenty of wiggle room if one so desires and is far easier to adjust than it is to hold on to work and try to do complicated math with paper assignments. And, having read this thread the whole time, I'll just say that if this constitutes "piling on" then a whole lot of threads (past and future) will have to be shut down. People are far crueler than this in threads that are currently active and certain posters (one MSW student comes to mind) get attacked almost every single time they post. Nothing here is a clear violation of the community standards we have set and uphold.

I would probably not tell them. If you're having trouble with your work, ask for an extension without specifying why unless you get pressed. But, I'm of the belief that you don't discuss personal matters with your advisor unless absolutely necessary.

So, my department is split between people who go far away for fieldwork and writing and those who don't. I was in the former group. What did I do? I stayed in touch with people via phone and Skype so that I felt connected. I went to conferences. I applied for and received funding for my work and then kept in touch with others with that funding (a different kind of networking). wildviolet, if you have the opportunity and it would be good for your research, you should at least try to do it. Yes, moving sucks. But, realistically, you'll have to move at the end of your PhD anyway. In terms of logistics, moving for a full year can sometimes be easier due to leases and whatnot. Also, when you get into the full year territory then dissertation support funding (both for research and/or for writing up) becomes available. There's a wiki page for Dissertation Fellowships that you can check out if you're interested in ideas of what might be possible. Pursuing one of these might give you more funding, make the move easier, and also not leave you dependent on your advisor for funding. Good luck! If there's anything specific you want to know, send me a PM.

Why do you view them as "ignorant morons"? What have they said or done to give you that opinion? And, perhaps more importantly, is it possible that you haven't realized yet that you can or are learning from them in these discussions? My guess is that the discussions are not mindless to the others in class or they wouldn't be occurring. I'd also guess that you might be missing something and not learning as much as you could be because you've closed yourself off to these discussions by labeling them mindless and your classmates morons... That's really inappropriate for you to do. If you're really that concerned with it, discuss your concerns with your advisor or with the professor for the class.

Late to the party but, I'll add a few things. Depending on the SLAC, you may not be "stuck" teaching intro courses. I have colleagues that teach mostly upper level courses each year because they get a choose and choose to do what they're best at. I also have colleagues at a SLAC who teach almost exclusively intro courses even after being there for 20+ years because that's what they want. There's also some other schools in the middle. There are state institutions where professors teach 4/4, 3/3, and 2/2, depending on the required amount of research. For example, two of my friends teach in a history department at a directional state university. They teach a 3/3 and their department has a master's program, so they also get a chance to work with and teach some graduate students. About half the MA students are there to advance to a PhD program and the other half are seeking a credential they need for work (usually, 6-12 social studies teachers who want the pay bump). For teaching, their 3/3 is split into 2-3 intro sections per year, 1-2 grad courses, and then 1-2 upper-division undergraduate courses. In that sense, about 2/3rds of their teaching is actually in their area and at a more advanced level. The complete opposite is a friend at a large RU/VH (R1) that negotiated a reduction to a 1/1 course load for the first three years. With that comes big research expectations though (also the 1 course is a 100-150 person intro level lecture course), which can be nerve-wracking in the time of NSF, NIH, NEH, etc. budget cuts. So, there's a lot of variation. I know what kind of tenure-track job I want and, as such, going on the market is easier because there are a lot of schools I just won't apply to. That said, if you want a more teaching-oriented position, you need to position yourself now. Teach different courses as a grad student so that you have a portfolio of courses to draw on in your first year (you know, the year where you'll be teaching 3-5 courses that might otherwise be new to you). Make sure your teaching evaluations are as good as possible. In fact, pursue educational opportunities through the teaching center at your school if you can (a teaching certificate is even better!). And, when you apply to jobs, make sure you tout your interest in and experience with teaching.

Totally depends on field. Entomologists wear jeans and hiking boots to present, anthropologists tend towards more business casual clothes. Talk to senior grad students in your field that have gone to the conference before and seek their advice.

My PhD isn't in Public Policy but what actually could happen is similar to that situation. Let's say that my department was Public Policy but I did science & technology while other people focused on education, ethics, or lobbying. We all technically have the same degree. At least in my field, we would all list "Public Policy" (or our equivalent) on our CV and then specify what we did as needed. But, I've been in a huge interdisciplinary field for several years now and we are proud of our breadth (apples, oranges, bananas, and walnuts are all welcome).

Ask for an extension. That might tell you know but they might not.. I would ask in person if possible.

Ohio State, Arizona, Washington, Rutgers, Toronto, UC-Berkeley, UCLA, and Oregon, depending on your specific interests.

Whether or not it would be valuable depends largely on what you see yourself doing after graduating. If you are interested in teaching at a liberal arts college, community college, or regional state university, they will be looking to see that you have good experience teaching and are able to teach an array of classes right off the bat. In those kinds of institutions, you will be required to teach several different courses at any given time, so they want to know that you have experience teaching different things and will be able to do that if they hire you since you'll be starting with a 3/3 or higher. If you are seeking employment at R1s (research-intensive institutions), then being able to teach several different courses immediately is less important and your research and publications are more important. In anthropology, that probably means how quickly you can turn the diss into a book and get that published, as well as your ability to acquire NSF, NIH, or other major grants to continue your research and pay graduate students. If the R1s are where you want to be, then don't TA this methods course. If you envision yourself teaching anywhere else, then TAing this methods course could help you in the future.

As someone that has studied Spanish both in the USA and in Spain, I can tell you that learning Mexican/Latin American Spanish won't put you at a huge disadvantage for being able to speak Spanish in Spain. There are some differences in word usage and you'd have to learn vosotros but otherwise the two are quite similar and mutually intelligible. All of which is to say that you shouldn't be underestimating what you're learning in your undergrad courses. If you really want to improve your language skills more rapidly, focus on getting into courses that emphasize conversation, find a language partner who you can practice with, and regularly read and write in Spanish. If you don't yet have the skills for those things, then I'd say that perhaps you're gaining more from the undergrad class than you wish. I can't help with funding as funding to go to Spain is fairly scarce and largely dependent on having at least intermediate language skills. If you can get over your hang-up about Mexican/Latin American Spanish, you'll find that there are numerous programs in the Western Hemisphere where you can have Spanish immersion that also cost less than equivalent programs in Spain. Particularly well known destinations for Spanish immersion are Guadalajara and Veracruz in Mexico, Chile, and Argentina.

Yea, it stops being fun really quickly. Between the travel, meeting loads of new people, and trying to prepare good, unique presentations, you can get burnt out. I think 4/year is probably the max anyone should ever do.

One semester really isn't enough time to decide anything. If the faculty feel like you don't need more specific training in French cooking, it would be to your benefit to find out why that is. They may know more about what you need to learn than you do, especially at this point.

In my PhD program, we were required to take courses outside of our department that complemented our interest areas. I'm not sure what your interests are but, I'll give a few examples in case they might be helpful. If your research focuses on sociology of health, you may want to take courses on public health offered in that department, on health care policy in the political science department, or on health care economics in the economics department. You might also want to take courses where you learn more about the history and politics of a particular region, depending on your focus. So, if your research takes place outside the US (or even within it) like in Southeast Asia, you may want to take a course on the history, geography, politics, economics, etc. of the region, which could be in an area studies department or in the discipline-specific departments. While those courses wouldn't be focused on sociology, they would broaden your perspective on your research topic and possibly help by introducing you to potential committee members. If your advisor thinks it's a good idea and you're in a funded program, you should definitely look into it. Browse through the course offerings in other departments and see if anything catches your eye.

Let it be. If the other grad student wants or needs your help again, they know where to find you. By the silence, you can assume this isn't going to turn into a more formal mentor/mentee relationship.