rising_star

I'm glad you've decided not to do this. But, just to be clear, page limits are typically NOT arbitrary even when the topic is open-ended. That's like saying that maximum word counts for journal articles are arbitrary because a journal covers a broad topic. And yes, there's a way to say that anything, whether it's 100 pages or 10 pages isn't well written because it is possible for anything to be poorly written. Follow the instructions you're given for the assignment. FWIW, I wouldn't even read a paper written by a student who either used all of those tricks or whose paper was blatantly longer than it should be. It'd be an automatic zero with a chance to rewrite for partial credit.

@Quickmick, that sounds so cool! I'm insanely jealous. I wanted to pursue Scientific Diver status a few years ago but I've just never had the time. I'm hoping to do the PADI Divermaster course somewhere warm next summer...

Scientific diving? Can you tell us more??? Let me know how they are. I need to beef up my stats skills again but I'm not sure what to do so Udacity or some other MOOC could be a good option.

Have you found any good statistics MOOCs?

I had a hobby in grad school with a similar time commitment to the cycling team and it was fine. I just scheduled things so I was able to meet my TA responsibilities, do the research and grant stuff which needed to get done, and pursue my hobby. It only ever got tough at the end of the semester, and only because my hobby had a big event the last weekend of the spring semester, which meant I couldn't get any work (grading, reading, research) done that weekend.

You'd need to find someone who went through this program at the university you'll be attending to find out. I've gone to classes where they want your mini-lesson to be something you might actually teach to students and ones where they assign you a topic and you do that. So it's difficult to say what yours will require. If you really want to know, send an email to the people organizing the class and ask them. They're going to provide you with instructions though.

1) Totally fine, especially in an interdisciplinary field like comp lit. 2) Honestly, I had read very few things by the POIs when I sent them emails. I mean, maybe an article or two but definitely not everything they've written. Your aim is to connect what they are interested in and work on to your interests. 3) Yes, definitely talk about your research and the direction you want to take it as a PhD student. Good luck!

I guess it depends on what you need. I need some specialized equipment (not all of which is expensive) so that's what I'd buy. It's hard to say more without knowing your field...

You know, I've been in programs with a 3 course requirement and even a 4 course requirement for TAs. You know what a lot of people did? They took research hours for 1-2 of those courses to give them more time to focus on their research. Unless they are telling you those courses absolutely must be graduate seminars, you're doing too much, OP, as others have said. I can't imagine trying to take six courses, even a mix of grad and undergrad, at the same time. It's no wonder you feel overworked and resentful of everything. But, you are lying in the bed you make, as the proverbial saying goes. You can and should change things so you can stop being so resentful of your source of income and instead focus on getting what you need out of your grad program so you can move on with your life. Why are you doing a minor? What is the purpose of said minor? You should do a cost-benefit analysis on things like that so you can prioritize appropriately.

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news but... If this is the case, then you may not be cut out for an academic job. You're talking about teaching one course a semester. Faculty typically teach several courses a semester (ranging from 2-5 depending on the institution), so they're spending far more than 6 hours a week in the classroom. In addition, they have research and service requirements. At R1s, this means publishing at least a few articles a year. So, if producing a publishable paper at the same time as doing 20 hours of teaching a semester is too much for you, you may want to rethink your intended career path. As others have said, your prep time should really be decreasing if you're teaching the same language class each semester. Once you've done something 3+ times, it really is easier to prep for and teach it. You can also shift your assessment strategies to use more peer grading or low stakes grading so you can spend less time marking assignments.

Honestly, even a PhD from an "elite" school may not be enough to make you competitive on the job market. If you're doing a PhD to become a college professor, then you've already narrowed your options significantly and are potentially setting yourself up for failure. I highly recommend that everyone considering academia take a look at the Academic Jobs Wiki for the past couple of years to get a sense of how many openings there were in your area of interest and how competitive those positions are to obtain. The market is increasingly competitive for jobs at all levels of institutions. That said, if you're looking to work at a community college or satellite state university, going to Indiana could actually be better because it can suggest to the hiring committee that you won't leave as soon as another "better" job opens up elsewhere.

None of the above. Even the NAU offer will require you to take out loans and, quite frankly, a stipend of $5000 per year for 10 hours of work per week is absurdly low. Add in the cost of health insurance and housing and you're look at more than $10K total in loans because it'll probably be more like $10K per year. IMO, you're better off working at one of these nonprofits or in state government for a few years to build up your credentials and then applying directly to PhD programs in the future.

Don't give up so quickly/easily, @JerryChaing! If they've already written a letter for you, then writing another one with a week's notice won't be too hard for them. I'm not sure why you think it'd be better to ask current supervisors to do something with a quick turnaround, unless all of them have also previously written letters on your behalf.

Honestly, if a student called me a profane name to my face in class, I would do far more than just dismiss the student for the day. I'd report them to all the relevant offices (instructor of record, dept head, student conduct office, etc.) because such behavior is completely unacceptable. Think of it this way: If a student calls their boss a b****, is the boss going to ignore it? Highly unlikely. It's far more likely that they'd be immediately disciplined or possibly fired. While there are times and places for "teachable moments", I'd say that learning that such behavior isn't tolerable counts as a teachable moment too. It's your job as the teacher/instructor not to let the students derail the conversation. If they are, you redirect and get them back on track. There are a number of ways to do this, including those suggested above. I'll also offer to speak more about the topic after class or in office hours, though students rarely take me up on this. I don't let students cause a scene in class because I establish from day one what the acceptable behavioral norms are for my classroom. You can even decide this in collaboration with the students if you want. I highly recommend this to everyone because it helps foster good behavior and helps students keep one another in check.

A really good air mattress (I like the ones from Aerobed) could be a better choice given that situation. Something which you can put in the living room as needed but will also fit easily in the bottom of the closet when not needed. As for the red pens, I'd caution you against grading in red. There are studies which show that students perceive comments written in red as more negative than those written in blue or black (I've also had students tell me this). While it's easy to say "I don't care", it's something that can show up as lower scores in your teaching evaluations. Consequently, while I do buy variety packs of pens, I save the red ones for taking notes in meetings, marking up articles I'm reading for research or class, or as pens which students can borrow when they forget theirs (knowing I'll never see it again). I do most of my grading in green, blue, purple, orange, and pink, FWIW. And I'll second what MarineBluePsy says about the gym. All of the universities I've attended have included free use of the campus gym for full-time students. I've also found that other gyms offer discounts for students. If you meant clothing when you said "weightlifting kit", then I'd say where to buy depends on what you need. I'm your average gym goer so I just get my workout clothes from TJ Maxx, Marshall's, Ross, or Target, and exclusively from the sale/clearance rack.

@charlemagne88, are you saying that Indiana has better academic support and can support your passion but that you wouldn't be able to get a job post MA if you went there? That doesn't really make sense to me. If you're able to grow and thrive academically and pursue what you're interested in, you should be making yourself competitive for jobs in the process...

@hippyscientist, I've never ordered a mattress online, only locally. In those cases, the mattress took less than a week to get (even less one time because it was in stock in the store). I'd think that two weeks is more than enough time, though I'd be in touch with whomever you're ordering from to be sure. Including clothes you'll need makes perfect sense to me. I upgraded my wardrobe only slightly when I started grad school but that's because I moved to a much warmer climate and needed things which were appropriate for that weather. You have to prioritize the things you need, obviously, and you may need to spread out some of the purchasing. Sleeper sofas are always insanely expensive and are rarely comfortable in my experience. Part of the reason for the cost is that they're ridiculously heavy. I think you're better off getting a quality futon, an air mattress, or using a twin bed as a couch/day bed situation. In fact, that last option is something I'm seriously considering doing in my own place right now because the bed part will be more comfortable than most sofabeds I've laid on.

1) I would contact someone at the graduate school who has experience with the NSF GRFPs about the possibility of taking a medical leave. See if it is allowed. 2) If it's not AND you still want to do a PhD, I would seek out specific professors/labs at other institutions and talk to them via phone about the possibility of transferring to their program. If they indicate that it's a possibility, even this late in the game, it will probably be because you do have your own funding. Only if they say it's possible would I talk to the department head. 3) In all honesty, were I in your situation, I probably wouldn't care about whether a medical leave were permitted because I would put my family first, take a leave, and find a different way to fund PhD studies in the future if I still wanted to get the degree. Good luck to you!

A well-regarded program is nothing to sniff at, to be honest. I guess it depends on your career goals/aims... Have you talked to trusted mentors?

@CU_Boulder_OM, please don't cross-post to multiple sections of the board. Your other posts have been removed. Thanks!

If you still meet the admissions requirements, it's highly unlikely they'd rescind your offer.

My experience using Google Flights is that they try to get you to book the same airline for the return. ITA Software, at least in my experience, has been more flexible with allowing different airlines on separate legs of the trip.

It really is discipline-specific. I know that at many schools master's students serve as the lab instructors for introductory courses in chemistry, biology, geology, physics, etc. That said, often you can't be an instructor of record without a master's in hand, which limits options for scheduling master's students to TA positions. I know that there were MA students in sociology, geography, and anthropology with TA positions at my graduate institutions. YMMV obviously.

Duplicate topic. To reply, see here:

I'll just chime in to say one thing. The scholarship apps for things like Fulbright, Marshall, Rhodes, etc. are due so early in the fall semester that you're working on them over the summer, not in the fall. I'm most familiar with Fulbright and the campus interviews for those typically happen in mid-September, so maybe a few weeks into classes. Without knowing more about the topic of your honors thesis, your preparation for doing it, and how far along in the process you are, it'll be impossible for anyone to say how much time that will consume in any particular semester. Similarly, we can't know about the workload for your other courses. So the question really is whether or not you need to take Italian now to prepare yourself for graduate school or if it's something you could take over the summer before starting or once you're enrolled in grad school. Again, we can't answer that, as Neist has said.