rising_star

If you're not willing to actually enroll in the program if you're admitted, why spend money on an application? Don't apply to a bunch of "safety" schools that you have no intention of ever going to.

Don't replace it! Tell them you're doing the environmentally responsible thing and/or preparing for life as a broke graduate student if anyone asks. Also, no one will ask. Cracked phone screens are common these days.

I should've said some of what @TakeruK said in their post, btw. I accept late work with no penalty provided a student tells me in advance (and that could be 5 min before class, but shhh I try not to tell them that). Why? Because it's like a job where you ask for permission to miss a deadline and then wait to see if you'll be allowed to. I also don't care about the reason for that extension and typically ask students to tell me when they can realistically expect to submit the work. The only time I change deadlines is to push them back for everyone, not just for one person. I hold more than the required minimum number of office hours each week, am available by appointment, and encourage students to just drop in when they're in the building/hallway to chat. I tell jokes about my own college grades and those of other faculty. Once I showed an entire class my college transcript as a way of pointing out that their grades in that one course weren't going to keep them from achieving their goals AND that your major in college doesn't really determine your life since I'm now in a completely different field than what I studied in undergrad. And this is a small thing: no extra credit. Ever. For any reason. Why? Because students will work themselves up in a tizzy trying to do every last bit of extra credit to salvage their grade rather than focusing on the work itself. (Also, because if something is so important that I want people to do it, it's going to be an assignment and not extra credit.) At the end of the day, we can encourage students to develop the skills needed to manage their anxiety but we can't keep it from existing and that's important to remember for the sake of your own mental health. I've been known to tell students that the campus counseling center is basically the only time in your life where you can have an almost unlimited number of weekly appointments and go to group sessions all without having to spend a dime out of pocket (ours is fully covered by their campus fees). I couple that with telling them that as a working adult, I pay over $100/month for health insurance and would have a $20 co-pay to see a therapist if I wanted to AND there's probably a 2-3 month wait for that first appointment. The message for them? Do it now while it's cheaper and you have easy access to it. That approach has worked for me with several students so I keep using it.

I've read this a few times and, like @eternallyephemeral, can't figure out why you'd want/need another master's or a PhD to do this. There are plenty of people who go into macro/advocacy work after doing a MSW so, why not be one of them? Were I in your shoes, I would seek those folks out and do some informational interviews with them to learn about their career path, see how they got where they are, and see what they think you should be doing to best prepare yourself. Also, you're not graduating until May, right? So why not start volunteering, doing an internship, or working part-time in these areas so you can get your foot in the door and prepare yourself for a job after graduation? Given your interests, you may also want to look into things like HealthCorps (is that still around?) or AmeriCorps as post-graduation opportunities to gain experience. Once you've got years of experience, you may then decide to do something like a MBA or Master's in Nonprofit Management if your ultimate goal is to start a nonprofit of your own.

So, I have an undergrad degree in literature. I like reading and read a ton growing up but studying literature in an academic context was very different than reading it for pleasure. It's also different from the way you approach and look at texts/data when studying law, political science, etc. @Warelin has already given you some excellent advice. In addition to it, I'd just add that I think the best way to determine if you want to study literature and conduct literary research as an academic/scholar is to start by taking one or two upper-level or MA literature courses as a non-degree student. That way you can determine if this is really, truly your calling before going through the application process for and entering into a graduate program that may not be the right fit.

Ummm... this is going to bother/upset some people but, I really don't see it as my job to manage students' mental health. Instead, I point them to the appropriate campus resources and encourage them to take advantage of them. Because I am not trained in mental health care so beyond general statements that almost anyone could find on the internet, I don't have much to offer students. As far as grades themselves, I generally remind students who are freaking out that X assignment is worth only Y percentage of their course grade. That context can be helpful because it reminds them that they may have failed a particular assignment but that assignment is only worth like 5% of their course grade so they could still, in theory at least, get an A. Oh, and I frequently tell them that grades don't really matter, that you don't need a 4.0 to get into grad/law/med school, and that employers are going to care about things beyond your grades when hiring you. Better to have real experience and interests than anything else so I push them to do internships for credit, get summer jobs, do summer research, etc.

If they say there's no grace period, then it may be detrimental to your application. At this point, it's beyond your control so I'd try not to worry about it.

Yes, it demonstrates interest but it also has a hint of desperation to it. That seems like a ridiculously long drive to make without having any formal contact with the department, the professors, and the current graduate students. What are you going to learn by showing up unannounced?

I would be patient. You might send a follow-up to the POI who reached out to you to verify that they received your reply and to ask them if they have any additional questions for you at this time but, I wouldn't start emailing POIs/coordinators right now unless you have a very specific, relevant, time-sensitive question for them to answer.

To reply, see here: https://forum.thegradcafe.com/topic/100110-berkeley-vs-mit-vs-columbia-for-chemistry-phd/

Honestly, I would take a few minutes after landing and before exiting the secured area to touch up hair, makeup, change clothes, etc. I also wouldn't be too concerned about makeup as long as you look put together and professional. No one is going to be expecting you to have photograph-ready makeup after a 10 hour trip. I would definitely try to get the pants tailored if you like them. That's the kind of thing that can usually be done in a week or less.

Why do you want to be in an Ivy League PhD program, @Aahhhanthony? If your plan is to go into academia, the most important things are your supervisor (dissertation advisor) and doctoral committee. If the top people to work with for what you want to do aren't at Harvard/Yale, then you're doing yourself a disservice by going there.

The right people to ask are your advisor and any professors you've had for research methods. You should read articles which have used an pre-test/post-test or intervention a approach (e.g., showing videos and then seeing if there's been an effect) and read up on the methodology they use. You'll likely need to incorporate some level of baseline (pre-test) in order to know if watching videos had any effect. Given that these are minors and students with an intellectual disability, you'll need additional ethics approval and the approval of their parents for their participation. I hope this gives you a starting point.

Why are you driving out there for an informal visit separate from a formal visit/interview?

Well, what do you WANT to do? Do you have quantitative training you could put to use? GIS skills? Do you want to be doing research related to archaeology or would you be interested in transitioning to another field? If I were you, I'd check out the resources on VersatilePhD and do some career soul-searching to try to ID a new path for yourself.

A cynical answer would be that your scores are likely reflective of your race/ethnicity and gender and that they may say nothing at all about your ability to teach well or lack thereof. Student evaluations of instructors are notoriously flawed so I would focus on the narrative comments and use those to think about how to improve. If you really want help interpreting them and improving, meet with someone in your university's teaching center and, if possible, set up a classroom observation with them.

If you've already worked out the time frame and details with your advisor and they didn't reject your plan, why did you post here at all? I guess I'm completely confused about all of this. We don't and can't know how much preparation you've done for your thesis, which is why we're all asking so many questions to try to understand where you are. We don't know how familiar you are with using NVivo, which definitely has a learning curve and learning the software can take time and slow down your analysis. We don't know how many hours a day you have to spend working on your thesis, which is a factor. But really, why are you trying to finish in February if it's a two year program where the term runs through April/May? IME, it always makes sense to take the extra time to produce a higher quality project. I can understand wanting to have a full draft done by February (that's what I did during my own 2 year MA). That left me ample time to revise it into a stronger thesis and to visit the PhD programs I'd been admitted to.

I think you could simply say that at this time you aren't interested in pursuing a PhD and leave it there. Obviously, that won't work if you are currently applying to PhD programs. If you are, then talk about the fit between your interests and those at other programs.

@GreenEyedTrombonist, hopefully you can find some good cooking blogs with recipes for the slow cooker (or instant pot if you go that route in the future). I go through phases where I love cooking and others where I hate it. When I love it, I do things like batch cook for breakfast (mini quiches for the week are super easy and you can make them in a cupcake pan AND you could easily do this without any dairy), make a big pot of soup/stew/chili (I have a tendency toward sweet potato and kidney/black bean chili), and/or use my oven to roast a pan of vegetables so that I can more easily make meals during the week. If you're truly averse to cooking meat, you could supplement with something like those deli rotisserie chickens if you think you want/need animal protein in your diet. And I'll second the comment that people won't care about the what's missing and will just eat the tasty free food being offered to them.

My advice is to get in to see a therapist/counselor ASAP. It sounds like you may be suffering from depression and/or anxiety issues which you should definitely seek treatment for. Besides that, my advice is to do exactly what you need to do to get through your comprehensive exams and then take a break (at least 2 weeks) from doing and thinking about school stuff. At that point you will have enough distance to be able to more clearly evaluate whether you should leave with a MA, continue on in your program, or pursue some other option. Good luck!

Contact the department (admin assistant or Director of Graduate Studies) to ask them about the best way to pursue available RA/TA opportunities.

Ummm... are you sure you don't need IRB? Even if it's low-risk research, you still need to get approval. As far as timing, a lot of that is going to depend on your personal process. How certain are you that 10 interviewees is the right number? What methodology are you using to determine that 10 is the right number? Do you know for sure how you'll select interviewees and what their availability will be? What happens if you can't get 10 done right away? Are you planning to revise the interview protocol based on previous interviews? If so, you'll need to listen to recordings and/or transcribe between interviews, which may require you to build in some time between interviews. How long it takes to transcribe depends partly on the analytical process you decide to use. Will you need to transcribe word-for-word every single thing that your interviewees have said? Is your method of analysis one which will require you to allow participants to review the interview transcripts and/or the analysis produced based on it? I guess I'm wondering why you're trying to graduate in February, since that's likely the middle of the term? In all honesty, and especially if you're planning to go on to a PhD as you've said earlier, you should probably take your time so that you can do a more thorough MA thesis that will be publishable.

I've had both good and bad experiences with roommates. The first year of my MA, I lived with an undergrad senior and she was an awesome roommate. So much so that I later went to her wedding and we are still friends. We met courtesy of an ad in the weekly alternative paper. The next year, I lived with other MA and PhD students I found through an online site (roommates.com?). It was a pretty miserable experience and not worth the incredibly cheap rent we had. So, it can be worth the savings but it might not be. In my experience, having just one other roommate was ideal. Now that I'm working, I doubt I'll ever have a roommate that isn't my current partner (we don't currently live together). I just can't see living with anyone else, but that's because of the financial security working full-time has afforded me.

I think discussing this with your advisor after winter break makes sense. FWIW, I wouldn't say all of what you've said here. I would say something about how you've thought about your career goals and future plans and realized that, at this point in time, leaving with a certificate rather than a degree makes the most sense for you. I don't think your advisor or anyone else will be offended or upset by that, nor do I think it would jeopardize your future LORs. I hope this helps!

This might be a difference in fields. In the social sciences, a glossary can sometimes be useful, particularly if it relates to how a field is studied or is the definition of a particular social theory. But, otherwise, I would focus on summarizing sections and then the whole chapter in your own words. Without knowing the format of the quizzes and exams the professor gives, it's difficult to say more.