rising_star

Quick question: why are you trying to hold the professor responsible for the actions of her boyfriend? It seems like you could report this to the local police as assault or harassment but that would be regarding the boyfriend, since he's the one that actually yelled the offensive language at you and dumped the glass of water on your head. That said, it's unlikely anything would happen if you went that route. Another option would be to report it to your university's Title IX coordinator. They may or may not investigate since the incident occurred off-campus. That would probably be the route I would go. But again, I question why it is that you are trying to "get the professor in trouble" when the professor is not the one who actually did these things. Also, from what you've posted, your observation that this professor hates you is completely unfounded. Their boyfriend may hate you but, there's no clear evidence that the professor hates you.

The Allen Institute sounds like the best option to me. Are you able to get funding from any of the programs? Can you get placement information on recent grads from the master's programs? That is, what PhD programs are they sending graduate students to? You'll want to go to the program with the best placement record if you're going to one of the master's programs.

For anonymity's sake, I'm not saying. I'm not talking about a subfield within a discipline but an entire discipline. The data was put out by the national association to show this. And while adjuncts are cheaper in some sense, they also aren't cheaper. If one reduces the number of grad students to match the number of available TT positions, who will do the teaching that is currently done by grad students in the humanities and social sciences? At least in the short run, you could hire adjuncts to do it. But, eventually, you'll need more adjuncts than you can find since you've decreased the number of people earning a PhD. At that point, universities will either have to let people without a PhD teach, increase class sizes, go the MOOC route, or find other ways to get qualified teachers. Reducing the number of PhD students in a program is merely a short-term fix that doesn't address the broader structural changes universities have undergone in the past 25 years.

This is discipline-specific. In one of my areas, there were the same number of PhDs graduating and TT positions every year for almost two decades until about 5 years ago. I can't find a handy link to the data but I do remember being shown the data in the early years of grad school. I wonder though why the focus is on reducing the number of students in programs, rather than encouraging colleges and universities to hire full-time positions rather than relying on adjuncts? Because part of the reason the academic job market is so poor is because there are fewer TT positions as TT/tenured faculty are replaced with adjuncts, VAPs, and (rarely) full-time lecturers. Instead of just focusing on supply, we should also consider demand. That said, I'm in a social science fields where cohorts are much larger than the numbers ExponentialDecay suggests. My incoming cohort was 16 students, with a mix of master's and PhD students in that. Some left with just a masters and some never finished after hitting the ABD stage so there's definitely some attrition there. Still, there's also the fact that many people (including myself) didn't do a PhD with the expectation of getting an academic position. My mother has a PhD and has literally never taught in a college classroom (didn't even do it while in grad school) so I've always known that there are things you can do with a PhD besides be a college professor. Now did I always take the right steps to make those happen while in graduate school? No. If I could go back in time, I would tell younger me to take more quantitative classes (statistics, research design, etc.), possibly some accounting or business classes, and also courses in student affairs. I may now go back to school to get some of that training (though not as part of a formal degree program!) just to facilitate future job opportunities I want to pursue.

I had to do fieldwork during the summers, so that's where much of my traveling time went. That said, I probably could've taken 2-3 week trips to cool places if I'd had the money and not had the desire to spend time with friends and family. I didn't work in a lab or have any RA duties over the summer, so that should be taken into consideration too.

Marst, I think telkanuru's last comment was to suggest that it isn't hard in a humanities (or social sciences for that matter) graduate course to adapt the level of the material to the skill of the students. That you would suggest that it is more natural to do so in STEM than in other fields is insulting, quite frankly. It also sounds like you (Marst) and telkanuru are working in different contexts/countries. Telkanuru is speaking about getting a PhD in the USA, not in another country.

You might want to consider Kara Wentworth at UCSD. She's quoted in this blog post you might find of interest, CostaRita: http://culanth.org/fieldsights/642-writing-power-story-why-and-how-to-do-ethnography-of-non-human-beings-and-things

Find a new place to live and move as soon as you can.

Graduate student loans are no longer subsidized so interest begins accruing after you take the loan out, even though you don't have to make any payments until 6 months after graduation. What many people do is pay the interest as it accrues to avoid having to come up with a lump sum at the end of the deferment period to avoid capitalization. If you look at the example in the link TakeruK provided, you'd have to be paying the interest while in school to avoid having it capitalize. The example on the right side of that table is if you've been paying the interest while in school. I'm going to disagree with Takeruk's advice though. Right now, savings accounts interest rates are paltry (less than 1%). While you have the chance to make more money by investing in the stock market, you also may not (the 5-7 years of a Ph.D. program is not long-term by stock market standards). If you were to invest the money and lose it, then you'll be even further away from avoiding capitalization. The only semi-safe investment would be a savings bond or certificate of deposit (CD), which have interest rates under 3% right now...

It accrues over what's been dispersed and it accrues daily. More information available here: https://studentaid.ed.gov/sa/types/loans/interest-rates

Like some of Kelsky's other advice, this one has always made me laugh. I use a nice black daypack (Eagle Creek, I think) for every day work stuff. Many of my colleagues carry and use backpacks for their stuff, in no small part because a lot of us walk to work in a hilly area with snow on the ground for 5+ months a year. If you find a nice backpack, you can look like a professional and not a grad student. Plus, Kelsky's advice is totally impractical for those with a bad back/shoulders who just cannot use a messenger or shoulder bag.

The Statements of Purpose subforum has some great advice about SOP mistakes and advice on writing a SOP: http://forum.thegradcafe.com/forum/73-statement-of-purpose-personal-history-diversity/They're the first two pinned topics.

I think not wanting to do fieldwork there is a very valid reason. Researchers who do fieldwork have to consider their personal safety and comfort, which is part of being a "serious" academic as you put it. If I were your advisor upon hearing that, I would wonder if there's a way you could do research without having to spend a lot of time on the ground or if there's another similar place you could go to instead. That said, the vagueness of your original post is what kept me from replying initially. Whether or not you really need to switch advisors depends on your department and field. For example, my MA advisor conducted research in the Congo, El Salvador, and Bosnia.* I did my research locally. My MA advisor had another student doing field research in Paraguay. In my PhD program, my advisor did research in China and their students did research in Indonesia, Lesotho, Kenya, Mexico, and Canada. What was the connecting thread in these? Theoretical frameworks. All of this is to say that, provided your advisor is okay with it, they do not have to be an absolute expert on the country where you do your research, at least in some disciplines. You put country or regional experts on your committee and they serve to provide that regional expertise and oversight. My impression is that this is less common in history or anthropology than in other social sciences. Long story short, you should really consider your options, including potentially not needing to switch advisors, based on the norms for your discipline and department. It may be possible to move into area B without having to get a new advisor. *I'm anonymizing the countries here.

This long piece in The Atlantic suggests otherwise, MastersHoping. http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2015/05/recruitment-resumes-interviews-how-the-hiring-process-favors-elites/394166/ From the article: "What ends up happening is that firms create lists. So there's a school list, and on the list there are cores and there are targets. Cores are generally the most prestigious schools; targets are highly prestigious schools. Cores receive the most love. But basically if you're not from one of these cores or target schools it's extremely hard to get into one of these firms."

Grad PLUS loans might be an option...

That's going to be very tough in the US. Most programs start in the fall, not the spring, and few offer summer classes. That means finishing a single calendar year would be quite difficult.

Hi StormHur, there's no need to post the same thing in multiple different subforums here. I have locked or deleted your other posts. Those who wish to reply, should go here:

Because everyone has to be able to understand what they read and write coherently to succeed? Because there's more to political science than just math?

I'm in the social sciences. I would say that how big of a deal missing class is depends in part on the professor and the reason. Some professors get annoyed if you miss class for any reason, so missing class would be a big deal. Others don't care much. In the humanities and social sciences, the discussions are why you go to class. If it was just about doing the reading to learn the material, you wouldn't need to go to most grad seminars basically ever. But you learn from your peers, from the insights they bring to the text(s), and the connections they make that can help you as you advance in your graduate career.

When I was still in grad school, I would definitely bring it up with new grad students if I could. I also brought up things like which advisors were probably too busy to take on more students and other related considerations for whether or not to attend our program. Bringing up money is definitely not easy. But, it's essential. It also doesn't ever necessarily get easier, I think you just get more comfortable doing it. I've spent most of my time working at state universities so I'm also used to salaries being public records. While TA/RA salaries weren't in this, it was also just something that grad students talked about around one another.

Nothing can "cover up" your undergraduate record. You will still have to submit those transcripts when you apply for PhD programs. I'm not in economics so I can't give any field-specific advice.

Ranking is really not that important for MA programs.

Not weird but I would reach out to a POI and/or the DGS, rather than jumping straight to current students. You have no idea which students are around this summer and which aren't but they probably do/will.

Sword_Saint, what you said about crime research is really interesting in light of the ongoing Chronicle commentary about the sociological work of Alice Goffman on young felons: http://chronicle.com/article/Conflict-Over-Sociologist-s/230883/

I don't have a Paperwhite but I do have a Kindle Touch. I've tried reading PDF journal articles on it and found it really annoying if the article was in columns. For journals that don't use columns, it's not so bad. Also, at least on the Touch, the notetaking ability was limited, which got on my nerves. I only did it because I was in a bind at the time and wouldn't do it again if I had any other option.