rising_star

Yes, definitely leave both of those off an abbreviated CV.

You could put it on your CV under something like "Outreach" because, at least to some people, that kind of thing is important. And, if you were selected for the interview because of your research, then it is basically a professional activity.

Three things: 1) The school ranking and your GPA aren't going to matter much if your rec letters suck. I'm completely serious about that. It's not like people at Yale are going to view an online degree that seriously, even if it's from Penn State. 2) Why are you trying to avoid 50 page papers? You know you're going to have to write those in grad school, right? Why not get the practice as an undergraduate? 3) You're overthinking this. You're trying to game the system. It's probably going to backfire.

Honestly, I doubt that it's that big of a deal. For example, the moniker "J.K. Gibson-Graham" was used by two authors for many years and they published books and articles with it, though it's an amalgamation of their two names and not the proper name of either. My guess is that it's less of a hassle than you might think, in part because it's something they likely deal with frequently. Sometimes there's even a space when submitting a manuscript to list your real name (for the contract) and the author's names for the publication (as in, the names that will be published) separately. So, I wouldn't let a potentially nonexistent headache swing my decision one way or the other.

Cliff's Notes: 1) For a MPH program, your experience (work or volunteer or internship) is going to be key. 2) Pick the major that lets you take classes that will further your interests. If you don't want to take advanced econometrics, maybe you shouldn't pick economics. If you don't want to take a course on the US courts or political theory, then maybe you shouldn't pick political science. 3) Go with the cheaper in-state school. It'll be very difficult for you to get good recommendation letters (which you will need!!) from an online degree. 3.5) Penn State isn't really a public Ivy.

Not in the hard sciences and still agree that PLoS One is totally credible and legit. It's harder to get into than quite a few other journals, it's peer-reviewed, etc.

GIS probably won't help you for grad school but it will help you on the job market, especially if you want to take some time off between grad and undergrad. The use of it will really depend on how much time you spend actually using ArcGIS and learning its nuances, rather than just being given cookbook like assignments to do in ArcGIS.

My reading strategy varies depending on what type of journal I'm reading and why I'm reading that article so I'm not going to go into that here. I will say that I read more articles carefully and thoroughly early in my graduate career than I do now. It's kinda like fuzzylogician said, I'm up to speed on the field in general so I don't need to read people's intro or lit reviews very carefully. I'm also in an interdisciplinary field where people's methods vary a great deal and I tend to skim the methods, particularly when they're highly quantitative, because I know that I'll never need to replicate them so I just go ahead to the results and conclusion. But, when I was a new PhD student, I paid special attention to the methods because I wanted to see what people's research questions were and how they approached them to help me figure out how best to develop and approach my own questions. To answer the last thing you asked, I don't know anyone that reads journals in the library anymore, mostly because most subscriptions are digital and your library likely doesn't have physical copies of the most recent issues. I signed up for and receive table of contents alerts for an array of journals that are related to my interests. I did this by tapping into the major publishers (ScienceDirect, Wiley-Blackwell, Sage, Oxford Journals, etc.) and following their process. I will say though that this is something that makes sense only once your interests are more defined. Otherwise, waking up to an inbox with TOCs for 30 journals (this happens like four times a year because of quarterly journal publication) would be daunting and possibly even overwhelming if you didn't know what you were looking for. I don't even read the abstracts of most of the articles that I come across that way because I can tell from their titles that they aren't particularly relevant to my dissertation. I click on and read the abstract for the ones that seem potentially interesting or relevant and, if they are, I might then decide to actually skim or read them. How much time I'll spend with an article depends on its relevance and how interested I am. FWIW, I wouldn't pay for any journal subscriptions. The only ones I actually physically receive are the ones everyone gets through our disciplinary professional association. And, as of my next renewal, I'm switching to online-only access for that too since I rarely use the physical copies and they are just piling up in my office. Money is precious as a graduate student and if your library has the journals you need, I see no reason to take out an individual subscription. And, even if it doesn't, you can probably use Interlibrary Loan (ILL) to get the articles you need from journals you don't otherwise have access to.

Even if it doesn't affect your credit score, it would affect your ability to borrow money to get a car or mortgage because you'd have an absurdly high debt to income ratio. With the amount of loan debt you have, you'd probably be best served by waiting to pursue additional education until you have fully guaranteed funding that will cover your living expenses and tuition.

Thank you! I've been meaning to come and write something along these in response to Arcanen but haven't had the time. Plus, I think you articulated my main points more clearly than I would have! But yea, this is what I was trying to say in my earlier post, though I clearly didn't get there with my explanation. I think this is a really good idea. I don't drink coffee but I went out for coffee a lot when I started my PhD, just because that's what other people were doing and what I was invited to do. I drank tea or italian soda or whatever, but went just because that was the way to be social. My other suggestions are to find activities or hobbies you like and pursue them. I've made some great friends through my hobbies and they're people that will be lifelong friends. And, they're great to be around because they aren't in grad school so they aren't caught up in the trap of feeling like they have to work 24/7 and that kind of thing. I seriously recommend that everyone try to get and maintain at least a few friendships with people outside of grad school and academia.

You could also go with the hyphenated approach, wildviolet.

I thought about it when I moved for my PhD program but, the graduate housing isn't a "residential college" with a common dining area, it's set up as apartments. And, it would've been $150 more per month (not counting having to pay for on campus parking for my car) to live in a 4 person graduate apartment than it was to live a mile from campus in a house with two roommates. There are lots of reasons why people don't choose to live in graduate housing, whether they be personality, cost, the quality of the housing (lackluster in many places), or otherwise. And while you don't have to accept them, you also don't have to be so negative or judgmental about other people's choices.

In a nutshell, because it's a flexible degree that will allow you to pursue either or both of your interests (working with the elderly, studying Appalachia), under the assumption that you're interested in helping people. If not, ignore this suggestion. From the Council on Social Work Education: "Social work is a profession that distinguishes itself through its own body of knowledge, values, and ethics. Although graduates of the other fields listed may, in various states, be employed by social service agencies and perform many functions that social workers do, their education and background knowledge are not distinctly that of a social worker. Please contact the accrediting bodies of the fields mentioned above to learn more specific information. Social work education not only focuses on the acquisition of knowledge and theory but also requires that students have field experiences in the last year of a baccalaureate program and in the 2 years of a master's program. This field experience provides students with an opportunity to practice skills learned and to apply knowledge and theory in actual practice settings." http://www.cswe.org/About/FAQ/StudentQuestions.aspx

I think, given your interests, that you might want to pursue a MSW. It would allow you to combine several of your interests, and position yourself well for a job at a nonprofit.

What would you be asking him about? Honestly, I don't email my advisor that often and I'm currently IN graduate school. I don't think you have anything to worry about. So, I just checked my email archives. I emailed my now-advisor once in mid-to-late April to say that I was coming and to talk briefly about research. Once in June, because I came here then to look for apartments. We met for like an hour, had a coffee, and he showed me around the department. Then, I emailed again in August once I'd moved into my new place. That was to schedule a meeting about fall courses and about my RA, since I was his RA that semester. Does that help any?

I changed fields for my master's (went from humanities to social sciences) and all three of my letter writers were professors from my undergraduate major. It was not a problem at all with admissions. But really, if you read the wording of your topic title, the answer should be obvious.

I use "Regards" or "Sincerely" for formal emails and "Best" or "Cheers" for less formal emails. I use "Best" to mean "All the best", which by the way is not a snide thing to say to or wish for someone. There's really only so many ways to sign emails or other correspondence. If you find one offensive, then don't use it. But I doubt you're going to change the way everyone else does it, even if you took out a full page ad in the New York Times.

Honestly, why would Fulbright care unless you're applying for a Fulbright specifically so you can be a full-time student in another country? You might get more advice on the Fulbright specific threads regarding this but, I'm doubtful that they'll care.

Meh, I think you'll be fine. I failed a study abroad course and no one has ever brought it up.

aberrant, I believe the assumption is that you would not be using Priority Mail if shipping USPS. Instead, you'd be shipping Parcel Post or Media Mail. Media Mail works out to under 50 cents a pound generally speaking. And of course all of this depends a great deal on how far you're moving since the prices are based on ZIP codes.

Definitely take the internship! There's very little (probably nearly zero) value in doing a second master's. The work experience will be more useful if you're wanting to change fields.

An intensive course would probably be a lot to do at the same time as coursework. It might be possible if you audit the course. But, if you're trying to become fully proficient, you'd be better off getting a summer job/internship in a Spanish-speaking country and doing an immersion program for your first 2-4 weeks there. Also, my experience with language tables is that they aren't a major help for improving your ability to speak the language. You would need to attend every day, for at least 1-2 hours, to see a real improvement in your speaking ability. They also depend on having attendees who are at or higher than your level, so that you can have actual conversations. And, if you really want to improve, you need somewhere there that will correct you when you make mistakes. If you have found something that fulfills all these things, then that's awesome.

Fair enough. But what you said earlier implied that there's no way you would have ever known about those opportunities had you not visited. I find that highly suspect given the wealth of information available online and from talking to current students and faculty about a department and university.

It's not about "what will look better" on your apps. It's about showing that you're preparing yourself for the career that you need. And, either language could help you do that. Were it me, I'd start learning the language that will help you with your career now. It's not like Arabic is easy to learn or that you'll be fluent in it after 2 years of undergraduate study. You're going to need summer intensive programs, time living in Arabic-speaking countries, and lots of study time to become proficient in Arabic, particularly if you'll need to be reading less modern versions that primary sources are often written in. German you'll probably only need reading knowledge of (based on a quick convo with a friend who has a PhD in near eastern archaeology). Depends on the school but yes, in many cases. I went on numerous paid visits and none of them were interviews. They were all visits after I'd been admitted. If you do your research on a place (the internet is magical and has loads of resources), you can get a better sense of the school and town before you apply. Now this I find very interesting. How do you know your future would have been negatively impacted if you hadn't visited on your own? For the record, I never visited any school on my own dime, in part because I couldn't afford to and in part because if the school wants you, they'll contribute towards your trip expenses. My experience was that all visitation weekends are not the same, even those that are planned by the department. For example, I went on a visitation weekend where the department definitely did not show itself at its best and let us meet with a variety of students, some happy, some disgruntled. It went a long way to helping me feel like I had a good sense of the department and whether I would fit in there.

Honestly, for just a bit more ($300-400) you could get a decently powered Windows 8 (or Windows 7) laptop with at least a 320GB hard drive. So, that's the route I would go rather than a Chromebook. But I also do a lot of work in places without (good/reliable) internet, so relying on internet connectivity would be problematic for me. I'd keep an eye on various blogs (like Cheapskate) to look out for deals on an laptop or ultrabook, and then just purchase one of those.