rising_star

This is also the case in my department. In fact, the recent female graduates have been more successful at getting tenure-track R1 jobs than the male grads. And, if you look at my advisor's students, his female students are definitely more successful than his male ones, though some of that may be due to their different priorities (his male students tend to prioritize family).

fuzzy, we were having that conversation about recommendation letters and teaching philosophy statements yesterday. It's definitely something I wasn't aware of (the gendered nature of rec letters) until recently courtesy of the Chronicle. Now, I wish I could read my letters to see what they say! My field isn't strictly STEM but there are a lot of scientists in the discipline. A few years ago, our department hired two more female faculty and thus had an almost equal number of men and women hired. At the graduate student level, we've had a few cohorts that have more females than male students. But, what was odd to me is that, at least in our internal conversations, reaching gender parity was seen as a sign that we officially had a diverse department, with no concern for race/ethnicity at all. It was...interesting to say the least.

Honestly, if you do your best work at night, then the above solutions to go bed earlier will provide only short-term assistance. The thing is that you need to work when you're most productive. So, if you're a zombie in the morning and just wasting time, sleep later. That's what I've always done since I do my best writing between like 8pm and 1 or 2 am. You could also just try to gradually retrain yourself by going to bed half an hour earlier each day and forcing yourself to do work when you wake up. The form of that work could vary though, it could be paying bills, replying to emails, updating the online gradebook if you TA, etc.

I'm currently in a department where, for reasons outside of their control, they are not allowed to guarantee funding for 4 years for PhD students. However, even in the current era of budget crises, they have always been able to provide 4+ years of TA/RA funding to PhD students. My suggestion would be for you to talk to both the DGS and the current students about whether these promises are honored and, if so, how frequently. If you were applying to my department, I would flat out tell you that everyone has gotten at least their four years of funding, if not more.

Oh, definitely don't ask until you've gotten the full acceptance. In all likelihood, the funding information will be included in your official acceptance letter/package.

Definitely apply. If you later find a better opportunity, no one will blame you for backing out, provided you do so professionally and while providing them with plenty of time to find a replacement TA.

This is really program-specific. During my MA program, I had an offcampus job for 8-12 hours per week. It was really easy work (I had done similar work before in another job and knew the software already) and I was able to use the time at work to conduct literature searches, skim articles, outline thesis chapters, and even edit them. But it really depends on the kind of job you get and where you are in the program. It was also possible because of the TA/RA assignment I had at the time. Honestly, with my current TA assignment, I could take on the offcampus job I had before very easily and it wouldn't hinder my degree progress at all. Like I said, it really is dependent on your campus and offcampus jobs, what you need to get done, and how you work best.

That's interesting. In my experience, tuition waivers mean precisely that, that is to say that tuition is waived. Consequently, fees are not covered, unless you go to a school that offers a tuition waiver that includes all fees. About both institutions where I've been a grad student, fees are something we pay out of pocket or our stipends, rather than something covered by our tuition waivers.

Notker, instead of just giving up, you should contact the programs and see if they'll accept late letters. Many will, for various reasons.

Here's something that I don't think gets talked about too often. There's the chance that your PI could come to view you as a competitor if your research interests are really similar and then actually give you less help/assistance in terms of mentorship, research, publications, etc. so that s/he doesn't have to compete with you in the future. Not saying that it happens often but it does happen from time to time.

I wouldn't bother doing the voluntourism unless you really, really want to. But, more importantly, I would NOT list it on a resume/CV, unless you intend to study that organization or that specific type of tourism (not just voluntourism, but voluntourism in Guatemala to build schools, for example) for your thesis/dissertation.

I agree with almost everything already said except one thing. I work from home all the time. I have a separate office in my house and rather enjoy being able to read articles, write papers, and cogitate while in my pajamas and within an easy walk of my fridge and tea selection. It can work for you, if you make it work. But, if my office were also in my bedroom, I'd probably either never work or never sleep, neither of which is healthy. 1) Never underestimate the importance of writing regularly. Make it a habit to write something, even if it's only a dinky paragraph summarizing some stuff you read, every single day. 2) There will always be someone that seems to be 100 times better at everything than you are. You have to figure out how you're going to deal with that. 3) There's always more work to do, but sometimes you just have to let it go. Not everything you write can be perfect. Not every class presentation can be perfect. Not every important text can be read in full. You just have to do your best and make sure that that's good enough. 4) Always remember that the best dissertation/thesis is one that's done. See #1 and #3. I could probably say more but, I'm tired.

Two separate convos in this post, but I'll say something about each I guess. At my current university, grads are able to join undergrad clubs. I think it happens most often for religious clubs or athletic/club sports type student clubs. I'm a member of one. So yes, that means I regularly interact with undergrads in that context but, I'm not the only grad student there. As for fees, last I knew, grads paid what undergrads pay. Our university-wide grad student association is trying to fight this, particularly since whenever there's a vote about what the fee money should go towards, grad student priorities get outvoted. Which is why we all currenly pay ~$15 so the health center can offer binge drinking awareness classes...

I have a community of people, largely academics in various fields, that I interact with regularly online. Some of them I've met in person, others I haven't. Most aren't even in my field. But, they're a network of grad students and junior faculty that I'm friends with and communicate with fairly often. Is that what you mean by "virtual"? I consider them my friends just as much as anyone else and, to be honest, when I talk about them, I don't typically mention that "oh well I only know so-and-so from online" because that isn't important. In a weird way, courtesy of social media and blogs, I probably know more about their lives than I do about the person I share an office with on campus.

I've never heard of anyone doing this, though maybe this varies by field. If anything, we'll have a session where the author and then some reviewers/critics will do a roundtable or panel together at a conference. If you want feedback on your review, ask other grad students in your field or your advisor to review it before you send it to the journal.

Definitely tell them that you don't plan to enroll. But, it's not really appropriate for you to recommend someone off the waiting list to them.

Two things. One, don't recall saying that the OP should do that. I suggested that the discipline might need to rethink given the increasing numbers of PhD students seeking funding for international work and the fact that the number of available scholarships/fellowships to support that work is NOT growing. Consequently, continuing to require 12 months of time in the field will be increasingly problematic and lead to longer time to degree, which many universities are cracking down on. It's actually going to be a problem that sociocultural anthropologists *will* have to confront at some point, though now may not be the time. Two, I actually suggested that the OP think about revising the project such that s/he can work with the same population in two locations (Mark Anderson and Cindi Katz have both been successful doing this) to maximize the value of those 6 months out of the US. To the OP: I'm not sure where your fieldwork is but, it can be difficult to earn a living teaching English, working in a restaurant/bar, or in other ways, particularly if you aren't local. In my experience, it can be done if you have some savings and/or are willing to work 8+ hours/day every day. And, depending on the locale, you may find that some locals resent you for having taken a job/money away from them. And that's not to mention that working on a tourist visa is illegal in many places and you could get kicked out of the country if someone finds out or chooses to report you. All of this is something to consider while making your long-term plans. Like I said, I'm not in anthro. But, about half of my cohort does/did their research outside the USA so I'm familiar with many of the issues. The cautionary information about trying to work and earn enough to live comes from them. Some were successfully able to adjunct at local universities (typically in that country's official language) or teach part-time at a local private school (more often in English) but, this is highly dependent on one's location and proximity to such resources. Many others have gone to rural places where these opportunities were unavailable. Moreover, for some of those people, even teaching English was problematic because it complicated their relationships in the community to be asking for/taking money from impoverished community members when Americans are seen as wealthy (or at least middle class). YMMV since all of this is specific to various field sites and kinds of research.

The Manti Te'o story is the gift that keeps on giving. I have to admit I'm thoroughly enjoying the rampant speculation about why he didn't think something was weird, why he lied to his parents and friends, and why he didn't ever go see his dying girlfriend even though he was flying home anyway. I'm curious about the rumors about his sexuality, which of course will never be addressed because football is a macho sport. But, seriously can't wait for the Katie Couric interview to air on Thursday. And the Bill Simmons All Te'o Mailbag? There's some real gems in there if you haven't read it yet.

Depends on how much you need the money and how much downtime you'd get in addition to the 10 weeks (varies depending on when your undergrad ends and grad program begins). It could be a great experience and a good chance to start developing collaborators and outside references, which you'll need if you intend to pursue an academic career...

I was once in a bad roommate situation with a similar thing where I had to give thirty days notice. I decided that I couldn't live with my roommate at the time and put in my thirty days notice before having even found another place. I put it in writing, got it date stamped and signed by a third party, made two copies, and then gave my roommate the original. Then, I hit Craig's List hard, posting a housing wanted ad, browsing the listed ads for roommates, sublets, and apartments, and working all my in-town connections (at the time, I had few of those). I was moved into the new place in less than 2.5 weeks and didn't even care that I had a couple weeks of rent overlap. It was all worth it to be out of that place. And I got my deposit back. So, go for it. Give notice and then find a place. You've already got one potential option and I'm sure you can find more if you try.

HeadCold, thanks for the explanation. But, what does having 12 months as a standard really mean? What does it tell us about the quality of a person's research or the accuracy of the conclusions and claims they present? It's not like we actually know what someone did for all twelve of thsoe months. For all we know, they hung out and toured around like a visitor, isolated themselves in their house, and occasionally emerged to do interviews or sit outside and conduct observations. There's no inherent rigor in being in a place for 12 months and no way for those of us that weren't there to say that someone did or did not do what they should have done, you know? I come from a different place in the social sciences where we think the time in the field should match what the person wants to study. So, for example, a colleague of mine built on fieldwork that he began as an undergrad for his PhD. He spent maybe 3 summers in his field site before going there for 6 months to do dissertation research. He'd already built some connections during his prior stays so he was able to start doing interviews without waiting 2-3 months. Should his work be devalued because he didn't live there continuously for 12 months? My last point is sort of an aside. I've read lots of published ethnographies, and not just those by anthropologists. As you say, most are based on return trips to the field. But, those trips are usually only 4-8 weeks long (based on what the authors themselves say). So, how much can you really learn about a new topic or new developments in that short time frame? And, if the answer is that you can learn plenty and that those experiences are incredibly valuable, why privilege the initial 12 months as being a necessary standard?

What's best really depends on you. I use a hybrid of things I already mentioned. I print out some articles and highlight, I take notes in a separate notebook sometimes, sometimes I read on the computer and put the notes in Zotero. I kinda wish I were more organized because using these various things will complicate writing the dissertation, I'm sure. But, it is what it is. The articles that are foundational for my work I have printed out, highlighted, and I have saved notes on the computer on them because they're that important. The rest is sort of a jumble...

Hmmm... I have mixed thoughts about this. First though, two things to consider. 1) Check out VersatilePhD. There have been a lot of posts there about deciding whether or not to quit and ways to think through the decision which you might find helpful/supportive/interesting. So, join and use the forum there. You'll find that you're not alone. 2) I realize this is common in anthro but, is there any particular reason why you need 12 months in the field and not 6 other than because that's how anthropologists have done things for a century? My understanding is that shorter periods of fieldwork are becoming more common... 2a) Could you do six months there and six months here and link the two projects in some way? I'm thinking her of Cindi Katz's book where she linked her fieldwork in Africa to subsequent fieldwork in NYC but, there's definitely a way to do this as part of a dissertation project if it's something you (and your committee) want to pursue. More later, I've got to head off now. But, I have to say that there are differences between your initial post and your more recent one that suggest you really do need to think more carefully about whether to finish the degree, why you're purusing it, and the opportunity costs of finishing versus not finishing. So head over to VPhD (that's the twitter account), check out the various alt-ac (twitter hashtag too) things available across the web, and get in touch with your inner self, however that works for you. It will help.

For your FAFSA, it's irrelevant. The only aid available for grad school is loans so EFC doesn't really matter. For your daughter, you'll need to work closely with the financial aid office of whichever school she decides to attend.

At this point, most of the deadlines for external funding have passed. If your programs offer full funding and you indicated your interest in that, then you'll be considered. No need to do anything else except wait.