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Everything posted by rising_star
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When I was a high schooler, I used to buy those old editions from the local public library, who was selling them as part of the Friends of the Library sales they had. I used them as reference materials for my AP classes. I imagine you could do something like that and people would find it useful. Or you could see about donating them directly to a local high school, particularly if there are more impoverished schools in your city.
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For applications, I think it makes sense. But, only list the relevant ones. And, if the course titles themselves aren't clear on your transcript, include something that gives the full title. I did the latter for my applications and I think it helped.
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How many credits should I take?
rising_star replied to Mia_7's topic in Coursework, Advising, and Exams
One course seems way too light for a semester! In my MA department, the expectation was that grad students would take 3 grad courses a semester. In my PhD department, the expectation is 2 grad courses a semester. -
I use the online thing for grading and don't keep a paper grade book. Instead, I record all grades in a spreadsheet on my computer then upload that to the OLS (in my case Desire2Learn). So, a student could change their grade but, I'd be changing it back each time I upload the spreadsheet since it imports all the columns that I've inputted data into. TBH, I'd never heard of students trying to hack the OLS to change their grade. That seems beyond desperate to me.
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Okay ... SoP done... but I have a question!!!!!!
rising_star replied to NavyMom's topic in Letters of Recommendation
Regular paper is fine. -
taking five classes in a semester?
rising_star replied to sidneysamson's topic in Coursework, Advising, and Exams
I've done 4 in a semester and managed it. Could you audit the undergrad refresher courses rather than taking them for credit? That would lighten your load at the end of the semester considerably. -
If you're applying for East Asian lit, you'll want to emphasize any experience you have teaching in Japanese (or another language) if you can as that's likely how many students are funded. My sections are similar to Eigen's but differ a little. They are: education (so degrees, thesis titles [though not for my BA thesis and no, I can't explain why], dates, minors), research grants/fellowships, other funding (so travel grants for conferences and that sort of thing), teaching (courses taught, courses TA'd), publications, conference presentations, service, other skills (so for me, language skills). I change the order of the categories around depending on what I'm using my CV for. If I were you and using my structure, I would move presentations and language skills way up as they will be important to people looking at your stuff, especially when you're relatively junior.
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Depending on your field, also a preliminary trip to the archives to scout out available material and make sure your project is viable (and/or help identify a project!). Definitely language work if needed. Working on grant applications to pay for your research if you'll need that.
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If the wines I like came in mini bottles, that would be an option. Unfortunately, around here, if you get mini bottles then you're getting Sutter Home, which is just not what I prefer to drink.
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biotechie, I know Mendeley is free. I tried it out once before but didn't like how it handled books. Actually, it handled them like EndNote, which meant it was a pain. One of the things I love about Zotero is how easy it is to add a book, journal article, web page, newspaper article, etc. to my library without any fuss or extra steps. As someone that references a lot of physical and e-books, it's important to me to have an easy way to do that. And, at least several years ago when I tried Mendeley, it took longer than it did while using Zotero, which is why I switched to Zotero. FWIW, I think everyone should investigate if their university has any free options and, if so, what those are. At my MA institution, all graduate students could download a personal copy of EndNote free of charge. At my PhD university, students can download RefWorks free of charge. In cases like that, it's highly likely that your professors (at least those on campus) will be using whichever is free, so that might be the one you should use too.
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Interdisciplinary is where it's at. My work is interdisciplinary, though I describe myself as a social scientist. I've spent time in the classroom and now reading the journals of various life sciences type fields. It really is a false divide, in many ways, especially for someone like me. And, in thinking about it, the reason I didn't like MAME5150's characterization is because I do know how much time people spend in lab since friends of mine (in my discipline) do lab-based work. They don't spend any more time working than I do, from up close and personal experience.
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That much is obvious. I'm bored and used to care about comparative literature so I googled around a bit. repentwalpurgis, you might try doing such a search but, here are some links: http://englishcomplit.unc.edu/english/job-placement-record (yes, the divide it between English and Comp Lit when listing placement. Also, note that they only list academic placements, and not other types of employment their graduates have which is kinda lame) http://complit.as.nyu.edu/object/complit.grad.job http://complit.la.psu.edu/grad-prosp.shtml (scroll to the bottom of the page) http://cscl.umn.edu/grad/clPositions.html http://www.complit.northwestern.edu/graduate/placement.html http://www.humanities.uci.edu/complit/graduate/Placement.php Those are from the first two pages of the search result. Surely, you could and should do better if you're actually considering a graduate degree in these areas.
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First publication, political theory
rising_star replied to jeudepaume's topic in Political Science Forum
I can't answer your actual question. I just wanted to say that you can change your username once every 30 days if you want. -
I use Zotero now and used EndNote during my MA and early years of my PhD. I'll probably switch back to EndNote once I can find someone else (aka, an employer) to get the license for me, in all honesty.
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Not in psychology but, my advisor has tended to let in 2 students at a time so students are staggered in the program. I've never sensed any competition between myself and the other student that started when I did but, that may be because our research is really different even if it all falls under the same umbrella (theoretically and methodologically). I think the level of competition depends partially on your department's funding structure. In ours, everyone has the same funding for the same amount of time so there's no competition there. There is for external funding but, there's no sense worrying about how one internal colleague is going to affect that unless you have the exact same materials, qualifications, etc. In my case, because our research is pretty different, there was no way we'd be confused even when we applied to the same funding sources. Upsides include that you'll be going through coursework, adjustment to the new place, adjustment to the lab, etc at the same time and have someone to talk with about these things.
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I'm not even going to respond to the rest because whether or not your work hours reflect your smartness is really field specific. I will say that we must be in different social sciences because in addition to doing research and teaching and taking classes, I also write grants, IRBs for research, and publish both book reviews and manuscripts. So, how is that less work than someone in the physical sciences? I'm asking in all seriousness. We all have to do the same tasks to be successful, as you've already pointed out. So why is that you believe that someone in the social sciences can get those tasks done in less time than someone in the physical sciences? Is it because sometimes work in the physical/lab sciences doesn't work the first time? Well, same thing happens in the social sciences. Ask anyone that's ever come up with a questionnaire that's flopped, had trouble recruiting enough participants for a sample, or run into the countless other roadblocks that can affect research and its progress in the social sciences. It's not like I just sit at the computer and make up data. I go out into the "real world", ("waste" loads of time trying to schedule appointments, help people with transports, etc.), ask questions, get answers, transcribe and code those data, revise the questions and my thinking, and then repeat the whole thing over and over and over and over. Oh, and unlike my colleagues in the physical/lab sciences, I do it while teaching my own course (from scratch; they don't hand us syllabi here) AND for less money than they make. Like I said, I work hard. I'm being defensive because I hate being told that somehow my work isn't as meaningful because I don't spend hours upon hours and days upon days locked in a lab. Maybe I would if my research could be done that way but it can't. My "lab" is a community in the real world and, especially if you do participant observation as I did, you end up spending several months literally living in the lab. I doubt anyone in the physical sciences actually does that and certainly not for months on end. To me, this hits the mark. My advisor is a workaholic but I'm not. I don't feel pressured to work as much as I can (unless there's a grant due or a manuscript deadline) but, I do work when I want and how I want. For me, that means working smartly and not wasting time on stuff. I don't have the "downtime" of cleaning equipment, waiting for an experiment to run, etc. All of my work involves me and my brain and being on task, whether that's reading, writing a lit review, writing a grant app, creating an assignment for students, making a lesson plan for class, writing a manuscript or dissertation chapter, etc. When I work, I work. I don't check facebook, read email, chat/Skype people, etc. I put in dedicated hours of work (50 min work, 10 min break for food, drink, bathroom, email each hour). And when I'm done, I'm done. Now, I can't work this way for 12 hours a day without experiencing declines in productivity. When I start seeing those declines, I take a break, do something else, and then come back to it if I still have energy, but not always. If I've already put in 8-9 concentrated hours of work, I don't necessarily feel pressured to go back to it at 10pm for another hour just because I still could (in theory). There's no sense in spending 2 hours at night doing what I could do in 30 minutes during the day when my focus is there. Gotta go! Break time is up!
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I'm not a coffee drinker. I do drink tea, but mostly the noncaffeinated stuff. I've been like this since the first year of my MA and it's fine. I think it's because I tend not to drink any non-alcoholic beverages other than water unless it's to treat myself. If you don't want to drink coffee, then don't. You can do a PhD just fine without it.
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Applying to doctoral during first year of masters
rising_star replied to mewtoo's topic in Officially Grads
1) Yes, things will be weird. Everyone will know that you tried to jump ship and failed. 2) It will look weird to be in a master's program and not have a letter that addresses your potential to do graduate level work from someone that has interacted with you at that level. In other words, if you're basically just going to be applying with the same credentials as you did this year, then what's the point of even going to the master's program? -
I would think it would make more sense to reach out to the professors in your master's program for help with applying for fellowships.
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Applying to doctoral during first year of masters
rising_star replied to mewtoo's topic in Officially Grads
Two things that popped into my head: 1) Who would you get your recommendation letters from? Your undergraduate professors in all likelihood. Will those letters be able to make up the difference between not getting in and getting in? Doubtful, since they'll say the same thing they did before. 2) If you do get interviews, how will you handle that along with your master's coursework? Will you be honest and tell them you've applied elsewhere and that's why you'll be missing class? And, if you do that, how will you handle it if you don't get in a second time (this is common, btw) and have to return for a second year in that program? -
I got a Windows 7 ultrabook last year and I really like it. It has a 14" screen, 4gb ram, and a core i5 processor. You probably won't need an external cd/dvd drive since most come with those. Mine did. I didn't go with SSD but I kinda wish I had in hindsight. Windows 8 only makes sense, imo, if it comes with a touchscreen. You can definitely find an ultrabook for $800 or less.
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I found the whole NPR story very interesting. My guess is that wine and beer are similar in that people develop more of a palate over time. Like, when I started drinking beer, I couldn't stand dark beers because I felt like they were too heavy. Now I adore them and drink them all the time. I have never invested time in learning about wine though. I think I'd drink more wine if I didn't live alone but it sometimes seems like a lot of fuss to open a bottle, pour a glass, and then try to finish the bottle before the air spoils it. For whites, I prefer Sauvignon blanc and pinot grigio. I will drink riesling or chardonnay sometimes, but they're definitely not my first choice. For reds, I like tempranillo, carmenere, shiraz/syrah, and merlot. Oh, and some pinot noirs. I'm not into cabs at all. I do find it odd that one particular wine has become so associated with a cultural niche and I kinda wonder how long that will last. Will moscato and hip-hop be going together in five years? Doubtful. So, if wine growers are growing extra moscato, they may end up with a product they can't really sell. The only time I drink moscato is in lieu of something like ice wine as a dessert wine. It's too sweet the rest of the time, though maybe it could be tolerable in a white wine spritzer. Anyway, I'm totally curious as to how these cultural whims affect production and what happens in five or ten years. Will moscato be over produced and thus super affordable in the near future? Or, will its popularity lead to better quality and/or rising prices? I know way too little about the wine industry I'm now realizing. (P.S. It's entirely possible I've misspelled everything since Firefox has underlined every wine I listed except chardonnay. So, apologies for the spelling issues.)
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I'm in the social sciences. Just because I don't spend loads of time in a lab doesn't mean that I spend less time working than my friends who do work in labs. I work from home or coffee shops for 40 hours a week every week, with additional hours in the evening and on the weekend as needed. So, yes, what you just said is a gross generalization. It's also completely unfair to students in the social sciences to say that we don't spend all of our time in labs so we therefore work less. In many cases the opposite may be true. Since I often work at home, it's easy to let the work bleed throughout the day and night and to work ridiculously long hours. If I were in a lab, there'd be a much more obvious time to shut down and head home for the night.
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Easy or Hard Major for Grad School Applications?
rising_star replied to rubicon89's topic in Applications
I should stop replying because, to be honest, it doesn't really seem like you're listening/reading attentively. So, this will probably be my last time commenting on this. Three things stand out to me in your latest post. 1) You continue to speculate about how graduate admissions work. They do NOT work the same as law school or med school admissions and, as someone pursuing graduate work, you should know this. I think you're not understanding how graduate admissions works. It isn't like they say we're going to let in 5 students from Princeton, 6 from Harvard, and one from ECU. They look at the applicants and their qualifications. While there is some attention to the name of the school, much more emphasis is placed on experience, writing sample, SOP, and recommendation letters than on where you earned your degree. If you want to go to Penn State because *you* feel like the name is important, then do that. But don't do it thinking that it somehow increases your odds of getting into grad school. If you're really that concerned, then reach out to the admissions departments at programs you're interested in and ask them. Maybe then you can get over some of this kinda ridiculous speculation. 2) While your work recommendation will matter, your recommendation letter from a professor you worked with eons ago will not be taken very seriously by the admissions committee, especially since you will have done more recent work that is presumably more reflective of your current abilities. In your situation, your application would probably be stronger with two professors from your more recent work since they will be able to assess your abilities to do work at the graduate level more accurately than someone you last took a class with more than 5 years ago. (Also, if you contact admissions anywhere, they will probably tell you this.) 3) While your degree may not say it's online, it's very likely that whomever you get to write a rec letter for you from Penn State will mention this in their letter. They pretty much always say something about how well they know the applicant and, to be perfectly honest, they will know you less well than a student that's on campus because you can't just have a chat after class, go grab a coffee, walk in when you see the door open, etc. And not having that interaction means you'll probably get a bland letter. One glowing work letter + one bland letter + one really old letter is not the best recipe for success. Here's some information you may find helpful courtesy of Emory's School of Public Health: "RSPH prefers references from an undergraduate/graduate advisor, faculty in the major field of study and/or a recent employer. Professional colleagues are acceptable as a third reference, although those listed above are preferred." I'm sure you can find more info like that if you google around or read the webpages of various programs.