rising_star

It sounds to me like you're doing fine. I typically try not to put in more than a 40-50 hour week because I'd go insane if I did more.

That said, there are plenty of universities that offer certificates in college teaching (or something similar) that graduate students in any department can pursue. The OP may want to identify universities by research interests and fit and then search the Graduate School websites of each of those universities to see if there is any broader pedagogical training available to PhD students.

Before taxes, withholding, and any fees you may have to pay the university.

You aren't going to get grants for grad school anyway. The only reason the EFC matters is for determining whether or not you're eligible for Perkins loans. You'll be eligible for Stafford loans (subsidized and unsubsidized) either way.

I used to think that way. Then, I realized that being less stressed in general would include being less stressed about money. But, no one here can fore you to get help if you don't want to. If you'd rather just go through dealing with things the way you have been, then let money be the reason you don't try to get help. Have you seen every possible person at your campus health center? I know ours has something like 15 therapists, so it would definitely take a while to go through initial meetings with all of them. At this point, you just seem obstinate and unwilling to make any sort of major change that might help things. That's fine. I think it's a stage pretty much everyone that needs to talk to someone goes through. But, at some point you have to decide to do what is best for you right now, rather than worrying about how it might make your finances more difficult later. You can pay back any debt you may have to acquire. But, the stress, anxiety, etc. That will shave months, if not years, off your life.

If you don't like the therapist, keep trying until you find one you do like. It's a complete trial and error thing, just like finding the perfect job, pet, or grad school is. No reason to waste money on seeing someone you don't want to see. If you've struggled with depression and you're sensing that it's getting harder for you to control, then you may want to consider medication in combination with therapy. Is there any reason you can't go see a counselor, psychologist, or psychiatrist through your university's health center? This might be a naive question but, if the services are covered 100% there, then it makes sense to start there. Both of these are excellent ideas. It can be hard to get to know others, I realize, but doing #2 can help you with that. You might try googling for local groups that do things you're interested in or going on Meetup.com to see if you can find any Meetup groups in your area that you might be interested in. Sure, it can be hard at first, but getting out and meeting people can really help. Personally, I enjoy getting a workout in and making new friends, which is why I train capoeira. (BTW, capoeira is a great way to meet people and get in better shape and have fun all at the same time.) You might also try yoga. The meditative techniques and relaxation you learn through yoga practice could really help you. Agreed completely with this advice. If you explain the problems, you may be able to get your GP to write you a temporary prescription until you can get in to see a psychiatrist. Agreed 100%. Work with the professor so that what you absolutely have to do, what you should do, and what's optional are clear to both you and him/her. Don't work any harder than you have to as a TA.

One thing to take into consideration is the cost of living in each of those areas. For example, $16K in Ann Arbor will take you a lot further than $19K will in Chicago... Find a cost-of-living calculator and actually compare the stipends that way BEFORE you even try to negotiate.

I think the biggest advantage of doing a senior thesis is the research and writing skills you gain. I never let anyone read my senior thesis. BUT, I was much better prepared as a MA student to write my thesis than my colleagues were that had never written more than a 20 page paper. A lot of them struggled with putting the data, literature, and ideas together into 80 pages or so for the MA thesis. But, I remember thinking it wouldn't be so hard. Plus, the experience of juggling coursework with writing is a good one.

When I have been a grader, I have not been evaluated by the students separately from the instructor. Rather, the course evaluations ask some questions about grading (how quickly were things returned, how helpful the feedback was). But, these are recorded by the students on the same evaluation that is used to evaluate the instructor. Consequently, those scores are not linked to my scores as an instructor (I have also taught my own courses). And, btw, I had an awesome conversation with two former students today (neither of whom got As) and who both said they really enjoyed the course. When I asked them a couple of questions to get them to expand on what was in my evals, one of them (without my prompting) actually said that my course evals were probably low because I assigned reading and required students to do it. My point is that all kinds of things (like expecting students to do their work and turn it in when it's due and not when they want to) can lead to getting lower evaluation scores. EVERYONE knows this. So, stop worrying about it. At the end of the day, the department is the one that signs off on your paychecks. So, make the department and its representative (in this case the professor that is your direct supervisor) pleased with your work. You cannot (and will not) please all students. You can, however, please the person you work for.

No. It may be because you're new to being a TA. It's not your job to decide how the papers should be graded, it's your job to grade them how the professor in charge of the course told you too. In general, I tend to grade writing on par with my peers. You shouldn't be grading from a student's perspective. You aren't a student for the purposes of this, you are a graduate student. Go with what the professor says, seriously. What's best, when it's your first time grading is to read 2-4 papers side-by-side with the professor and see what s/he comments on, how s/he uses the rubric, and the grade s/he assigns to those papers. Then, use that to guide you in your own grading.

Yes, people care. Don't wear sweatpants every day. At least put on a pair of jeans!

I shouldn't do this but I can't help myself after having to read through all 13 pages of this. So you want to change the nature of the professoriate in American higher education, in essence? Good luck with that. The only place I see where your position might (and I emphasize the word 'might') be viable is at the community college level where professors have 4:4 or 5:5 teaching loads. And even some of those schools are moving towards requiring professors to publish. If receiving training in teaching is unimportant, why are there colleges of education? Why is there required training in instruction and pedagogy for teachers to earn their teaching licenses (certificates, etc.)? BTW, I don't think you should assume that law school professors have never taken a course on teaching unless, of course, you can prove by that this is by and large the case. Actually, this is not the case. Ever heard of community colleges? You can typically teach at them with a MA... 1) Yes, there's a thing called taking a teaching course and then getting teaching evaluations every single time you teach. You don't really think they just go "Person A gets Class A, Person B gets Class B, etc" just proceeding alphabetically through a list of graduate students and course numbers, do you? 2) It may be unethical but it is a by-product of the neoliberalization of higher education. Assuming you do hold a JD, you probably didn't see this since law schools charge exorbitant tuition. However, in the era of having your department's budget cut by 5% every year for 8 straight years, it makes sense to do whatever you can to save money if you want to still have a department. I know of such positions existing at a few community colleges. But, they are rare. To everyone, PLEASE keep it civil or we (the moderators of this forum) will be forced to close this thread.

There's an easy way to make sure you do...

I ask my advisor to repeat things but, he's usually already forgotten what he said.

It happened to me. Just have them resent. The people who wrote your recommendations will understand.

Dunno. I know someone doing historical research related to piracy (dif country though) that's on a Fulbright in Europe right now.

Tell them something about needing the money so you can concentrate on your studies full-time.

Other academic departments on campus? The library?

Nope. You didn't specify the caves part. Plus, the water is probably too cold for a tropical weather diver like me.

Okay, so if your advisor is up for tenure, he hasn't been a prof for more than 7 years generally speaking. Unless you mean that he's up for promotion from associate to full professor (which often requires a process like that needed to initially get tenure)? Anyway, I've never really heard of first year students publishing, unless they were publishing something from their master's thesis. I'd talk to other grad students about publishing expectations and norms. I'd also talk to the Director of Graduate Studies (or Grad Chair) to get a better sense of what the norms and expectations are. Is your funding tied to your advisor or can you get funding through another person in the department or through a TA position? Also, have you thought about asking about switching advisors? It's not always as difficult as you might think, especially depending on the situation. You just need to talk to people and feel it out (as in, senior grad students in your department that could provide advice, the Director of Graduate Studies, etc.) to see if it's feasible. If you're miserable with your current situation, then it's something you should pursue... As for salvaging that relationship, have you thought about trying to be more clear about what you need and getting clear expectations from your advisor? Maybe scheduling regular (once a week, every other week, etc.) meetings where you can update him on your progress (what worked, what didn't, where you're thinking about going) could help him understand how you work and think better than he does right now. This is a very good point. I second all of this.

Google the Upenn English CFP database. It might help you find a journal that is looking for articles in your area.

I train capoeira, take yoga classes, and work out more generally. I'm really not that athletic so I don't participate in any formal sports. (Though, I am going to sign up for tennis lessons through the city Parks & Rec dept at some point.) My department has previously participated in intramural softball. A bunch of my friends play on ultimate frisbee teams around town too. You can join these things through the university, by hanging out at a local park, or through Meetup groups (www.meetup.com). rsldonk, if you can't go and your dad needs a diving buddy, just let me know.

I'm completely honest with visiting students about the program, the university, life in the town, etc. I am by no means a "program ambassador" because there are a few things I take issue with. But, like I said, if you ask me for my opinion, then you'll get it. This is more often done in person because I don't really ever have prospective students emailing me (perhaps because my advisor hasn't been taking students for the past couple of years?). I found the same was true when I visited programs. Take the opportunity to go to lunch/dinner/drinks with the grads WITHOUT professors around because you might get a different answer from someone when his/her advisor is listening in on the conversation. I don't think anyone in my program sugarcoats things for visiting students. BUT, I would say that's something you should be able to suss out for yourself on a campus visit. If you only hear positive things and never anything critical or negative, then either you're visiting the best program in the world (in which case, tell us where it is so we can all go!) or people are hiding things from you. Go with your gut reaction and use every skill you've ever gained about judging both a situation and a person.

I'm a social sciences Ph.D. student so, none of this may be relevant depending on your discipline. Not off, really. In the summer, I go to my field site (in another country) for several weeks to conduct research. I also teach a course in one of our summer sessions if given the option because income is a good thing. Even with doing both of those, I still have a few weeks to go home (across the country) to see my family and friends or to hang out in this city with friends or my partner. Yes, there's time to start a new relationship, whether you do it in the summer or not. I did it and it's worked out fine. You just have to be good with time management and establish clear times for your relationship and time for schoolwork. Yes. I go home for Thanksgiving (sometimes), winter break (a week or two), and at some point during the summer for two weeks or so. Whether you have the money to do so is another question altogether. It helps that I don't have experiments in a lab that need to be monitored or a pet to worry about or find pet sitting for. This really varies by discipline. In my master's, I did a mix of coursework and research, which is the same thing I did in the first two years of my PhD. Only my final year of the PhD will be heavy writing, but again, my field site is in another country so it's not like I'm constantly collecting data to be analyzed. The close proximity to family and friends may be more stressful than you think right now. I used to be about 75 minutes away from my family. What I found was that they expected me to be around a lot more often and doing family things and that it took some time to establish clear boundaries about when I could and could not drive down and do a family thing. They didn't understand that grad school isn't just a 9-5 job and that I had work to do at night and on the weekends sometimes.

When you get the money really depends. At my current university, our department pays students a half paycheck at the end of August. But, that may not be true in every department since the date of your first paycheck depends on when your contract starts. I'd save up as much money as you can. Having too much saved never hurt anyone. And, I'd try to have minimal overlap between the two leases.