rising_star

Full scholarship that covered tuition, room, and board plus a part-time job on the side. So I didn't have to worry about meals because they weren't a separate expense for me unless I chose to eat out or off campus. I also had/have a generous BFF that would order a pizza for us to split and not make me pay for half. And I didn't have or need a car as an undergrad. Now, I have to live off a stipend that I use for all my living expenses, have a car that I need, and have other, additional expenses that I just didn't have 10+ years ago.

If you get really desperate, this might help: http://thepeacefulmom.com/2012/07/11/reader-question-how-can-i-eat-for-20-25-a-week/

I think you need to be really concrete and probably come in with a spreadsheet and budget, just as you would if applying for a grant. And make it crystal clear that i your advisor doesn't support you, it will ultimately delay your degree progress because it will delay your work on your research. Good luck! Let us know how it goes!

Honestly, it can be done and has been done. I considered it because of a late notification about an external fellowship that could only be used at certain schools. If you frame it as making the best decision for you and your career most people will understand. I doubt you will be blacklisted as FunCookie suggested. You would need to ask school A (the safe school) to release you from your agreement with them before you accept the other school's offer.

Do the easy course. You'll have to teach intro later on in your career if you become faculty, so it's good to get a handle on it now.

A B+ is nothing to explain! Just go ahead and apply to the schools you're interested in. One B+ in a course is not going to be the difference between getting in and getting rejected.

Yea, that definitely seems like a lot to me. A credit check only costs them about $30 so there's no reason they should be charging $240 just to apply for a place.

Most grad students with TAs or RAs are contracted to 16-20 hours per week. The two 10-hour week positions would be 20 hours so you should be fine, provided you log your hours and keep careful track of whether one job or the other is causing you to do extra hours.

This has been my experience as well. My department has an almost weekly happy hour frequented by grad students and faculty. Some people talk about random things (sports, news, etc.), others talk about teaching, others about research. I've found that in some of these small conversations I've gotten great ideas or insights into my research that I hadn't gotten otherwise. Sometimes just being asked to give the 30 second version of your research can force you into thinking about it in a different way or allow someone else to say something you hadn't thought of. Without those conversations, my work would definitely suffer. And yea, I'm one of those people who can't work all the time. Back when I did my comprehensive exams (which were multiple questions over like 10 days), I remember people in my department (mostly those not yet at the exams stage) being surprised that I was still attending the class I was TAing (I was mostly grading but went to every single lecture), working out, and even watching an episode or two of a TV show online. But you know what? You can't work for 16 hours a day for the 10 days without a break. And really, since I was limited to like 25 pages double-spaced per answer, I would've ended up writing way more than I needed if I'd worked that long. Instead, I rode my bike to the gym, worked out with friends (including some who had PhDs and thus totally understood what comps were and why you might need a break), cooked myself real food, etc. It's about knowing what you need to work efficiently and be productive and taking the time to do whatever that is. Back to the original question though: - Be open and willing to learn. - If you're in the humanities or social sciences, take the time to just browse the library shelves in your general field and in your intended research area to get an idea of what's been published and what research resources are available to you. (Even better, meet with a librarian early on to make sure you know what your school has and the support s/he can give you.) - Skim through recent journal issues in your field to get a sense of what topics are current and which are becoming dated. Pay attention to book reviews if there are any and use those to help you find relevant books for your discipline and research area. - Learn to use reference management software (EndNote, Zotero, Mendeley, etc.) and start keeping track of your references that way. - Figure out an easy to use system for staying abreast of current/new research in both books and journals that may be of interest. - Read your graduate handbook (and TA handbook if needed) so you know what is expected of you. Ask questions if expectations are unclear. - Start figuring out what, if any, courses outside the department you might want to take, how often they're offered, how difficult they are, etc. - If you're going to need research methods training, figure out how to get that ASAP. In the social sciences, this often means taking courses in qualitative methods, statistics, and/or GIS and seats in those classes can fill because they're attracting students from an array of disciplines. Getting your methods coursework done means you can start collecting data sooner. - Get to know whomever helps oversee grant apps (NIH, NSF, SSRC, Fulbright, IAF, etc.) at your institution and ask them what you can do beginning now to prepare to apply in the future, when you should be applying, what you'll need to be competitive, etc. And, while you're there, get them to help you set up some alerts for grant announcements. There's probably more you could do, especially related to conferences and networking, but I don't want to overload anyone with suggestions.

I keep in touch with the professors from my MA program fairly regularly because I see them all once a year at the major conference. My MA advisor and I talked on Facebook the day after my defense where she congratulated me on my success, for example. I've actually talked to my MA advisor more than my PhD advisor in the last year or so, to be quite honest. I have less contact with my undergrad advisors, but that's partially because I've changed fields and so have no professional contact or relationship with them anymore. I will probably always keep in contact with some of the professors from my MA and PhD program because we work in the same subfield and because I know they'll be happy to hear about my successes.

This depends almost entirely on where you're applying. I say this as someone that has very recently been on the academic market, btw. If you're applying to research-intensive universities, then no, they won't ask or care much about your teaching skills. My advice about how some job apps will ask for a portfolio, evals, or evidence of effectiveness/excellence is taken directly from job applications I completed this year. These apps included those to R1, R2, SLAC, and regional/directional state universities. For example, American University asks for evidence of teaching effectiveness with your application for a tenure-track position in some fields. I assume that when people ask for materials, it's because they intend to consider them when reviewing applications and because they view those materials (and the qualifications upon which they are based) as important, though I could be wrong of course. It's just been my experience that if people do ask, it's because they do care. The more research-oriented schools (for example, I interviewed for a research intensive TT job with a standard 2/1 teaching load) have not even asked for teaching materials because teaching isn't something they prioritize. Also, I'm curious to know what you mean by fields that are "less research orientated". It'd be great if you could explain that one because I'm not sure at all what you're saying there.

You may want to look into the possibility of co-chairs (if that's done in the sciences). Because your advisor's track record with grad students doesn't seem that great right now which is a bit worrying. You also should be doing more reading to help yourself find solutions to your questions (just guessing on this part).

They get the grade they earn. I've been teaching for several semesters and have something similar to this every single semester. This semester, it was a student that needed a certain grade for the course to graduate but also didn't turn in a bunch of the easy homework assignments (similar to your quizzes). It hurt the student's grade and I basically wrote back saying that there's nothing to be done at this point except to pay more attention to instructions in the future. You should do something similar. I would NOT under any circumstances intimate/suggest/hint that the student might need disability accommodations in my correspondence because that is overstepping your bounds and could get you in trouble for discrimination. Better safe than sorry in that regard. I also wouldn't reopen the quizzes or do anything special for this student. I've had several students over the years with perfect attendance who got a C- or worse in the course because they didn't turn in the work, didn't study for exams, or for other reasons unknown/unclear to me. Your student's failure to follow instructions leads to a certain grade. If you change the standards for those grades or the instructions now, you're basically rewarding the student for not paying attention. Is that really the system you want in your classroom? If it is, so be it. But, it's definitely not the system I want. I usually make analogies about real world work situations to help students. Say, for example, your student is a fast food restaurant cook. Student/cook missed some crucial instructions about food temperatures or storage or how to cook a certain item. Does the manager or supervisor reward that student/cook with a promotion? No, they probably get fired for their inability to follow directions.

Bluetooth or other wireless headphones will solve the cord problem.

A few more things now that I've thought about this more. Grading: - It will take time to find your groove. But, you also need to be efficient with your time. See how long the first 2-3 papers/exams/assignments take you then use that to set an approximate average per paper. Use this average time to set a timer. When the timer goes off, you should be done reading, grading, and commenting upon the assignment. The timer will keep you from getting bogged down in a bad paper, writing too many comments, or just slowing down. - Set regular intervals where you take a break from grading. Grading is hard work and you can't just plow through 30 papers at once most of the time. - Re: collecting papers electronically. This really depends on you. I've done both paper and electronic grading and, for whatever reason, I am slower when I grade on the computer screen. I also find it easier to get distracted while grading, which may contribute to the slowness. The upside of electronic grading is that you can cut and paste comments, use online grading tools (Turnitin has a whole set of grading remarks you can just drag and drop into a paper, for example), and record the grade immediately. And still I prefer paper. - Keep meticulous records of grades. I post student grades online but also keep them in an Excel spreadsheet on my computer. There are rare cases where the LMS loses grades so it helps to keep a backup. - If you find someone that has plagiarized, absolutely follow whatever your university's procedures are and document, document, document. Yes, it's a pain and more paperwork than just failing them for the assignment or course. But what I've learned is that most of the students I've had this problem with are repeat offenders, rather than those doing it for the first time. They don't realize what they are doing is wrong so they do it in multiple courses. Take the time to teach them why it's wrong, to report them appropriately, etc. Essays/Papers: - If you are teaching for the first time, be prepared to work with students at ALL stages of the writing process. You'll probably want them to turn in thesis statements, outlines, annotated bibliographies, or other preliminary steps if you're requiring a research paper. - Refer students to the writing center on campus for the line edits, especially if you're seeing earlier stages of the paper. Pass off that work to other people whenever you can. For first year students, you may want to give them a small bit of extra credit (1/3 of a letter grade was common at my PhD institution) to incentivize them to go. Plus, if they build that habit early on, you're helping them. - Peer review workshops can be incredibly helpful for students, even when you're not teaching freshman comp. Sometimes seeing the problems with someone else's paper helps them realize what problems their paper has. Use this to your advantage! Course Organization: - Developing a syllabus is hard. Make sure you have clear learning objectives so you and the students know what they should be learning the course, why, and how. - When deciding on content, make a list of everything you want to cover. That list will be too long. Delete 1/3 of it, approximately. (This does not apply if you have been handed a syllabus for the course.) It sounds insane but, the first time I did this, the course ran much, much smoother. - Be willing to adapt the readings/topics to fit your students, especially later in the semester. They appreciate it.

In my experience, it's definitely more acceptable to do your dissertation remotely than it is to try to do coursework remotely. I say this because I moved away to collect data for my research and again for part of the time I was analyzing and writing the dissertation. So while it will still depend on your committee, it's probably also much more acceptable.

Juillet, we should talk websites sometime! I need to create one this summer too...

Depends on the task. When doing a lot of data analysis, I listened to the same songs that played a lot when I was in the field, either from my computer or via a Pandora station I created with that in mind. When editing text, I tend to prefer either music without lyrics (jazz) or music where I've heard the lyrics a zillion times (so older things on my computer). I do stream stations from Accuradio a fair bit because they have a lot of options to give you decent variety. If you've never checked out the site, you should.

This is definitely field-specific and also depends on where you're seeking employment. A number of TT jobs I applied for this year asked for a teaching portfolio, evidence of teaching excellence or effectiveness, or copies of teaching evaluations along with my application, before or after a phone interview, and prior to a campus interview. While it may not help a great deal, it can definitely hurt an applicant, especially if the evals you get aren't very good and there are other applicants with better evals you're being compared to. As for actual advice, I'll start with the following: - Figure out what resources are available to you as a TA or instructor in your department, in your college, and through the university's teaching center. And then take advantage of them. My PhD university's teaching center flat-out told me that I was one of three grad students from my department (90 grad students) they had ever met with or assisted. Now part of this was due to my department's culture where consulting the teaching center was seen as an admission of failure but that's BS and you should ignore that if people are saying it. - When in doubt, consult the internet. By which I mean, if you have to create a syllabus, google around to see syllabi others have created for that course or a similar course. If you're looking for appropriate wording for a policy, again you can consult the internet (though you may want to consult your peers and department first because some stuff is university-specific and/or university mandated). Looking for an assignment idea? Google it. Sample rubric? Google for one. There's really no reason to reinvent the wheel. - Accept that it will take you a while to gain your footing in the classroom. Be willing to change midway through the term and to do different things for different sections because not all students are the same. - Take advantage of any courses/workshops/tutorials that will help you become a better teacher. Again, the teaching center will probably offer workshops or brownbags. These are awesome as a grad student because most of the attendees will be TT faculty so you can see what they're struggling with or what they're doing that works and use it in your teaching. Doing that early on will make you more effective in the long run, leading to better evals. - Devise and administer a midterm evaluation of your students that's for you. Take their feedback seriously and incorporate it into the course. It almost always leads to improved semester evals, even if you don't change very much. - Have someone else (an experienced teacher) observe your teaching. It will be painful and awkward and difficult. But, it will help you improve. It will also give you more material for your future teaching portfolio. - Take the time to identify excellent teachers on campus (whether or not they're in your field) and observe them. You may need to ask them first, of course. If you're having trouble finding someone, ask the teaching center. Watching other people who are awesome, especially those who do it in totally different ways (like observing a lecture for 400 students vs a seminar for 30 students), will help you understand the variety of what works and identify some techniques that will work for you. - Oh, and take the time to learn your students' names whenever possible. They appreciate it. Okay, that was a lot of advice and probably more than you can do all in one semester. But, I hope it helps someone!

I would definitely asked! And I'm impressed that you already have your apartment!

Vistaprint and your local office chain store are two other inexpensive options for business cards.

I think you'll find that there are lots of anthropologists and geographers in both the US and the UK that are interested in those topics and taking the approaches you're interested in. For example, at the University of Kentucky where you can also get a graduate certificate in Social Theory.

No, the funding wouldn't cover the tuition for your first year if you don't receive it until your second year.

wildviolet, I think that's a great approach. There was this dog I really wanted at one point but I also didn't have the lease with me. And then, I called and they said she was available but a friend had an emergency so I didn't go that day. The next day, she was gone. I have a different dog now and it's all worked out, though I did really love that dog.

Once you reach a certain stage, lists like this one are helpful. Your best bet is to talk to your graduate school and/or use their website plus your fellow grad students.