Imaginary

I've been watching Orphan Black. Two days ago, I finished the last episode of Season 2, and I can't wait for Season 3 to be available. When Continuum and Extant return, I'll be watching those too. Coincidentally, the third season of each come out during my one-class semester!!!

Areyno13, I agree with most of what zupgiusto wrote. You probably could find housing for about $300 a month for a room. The buses are pretty reliable and if you make sure a bus route that goes directly to UW is near you (within a block or two) you could easily get to UW within minutes. I do recommend looking up the bus route from the housing you are interested in before you move, though. Google maps! I'm also from the U.S. and I moved this past year.

I feel like it is strange, if only because I have young children. I'm in between the young people who are a year or two after finishing their B.A. and have the time and energy to go to parties, and the even older students who have older kids and (mostly) commute.

What is the significance of coursework, all told? I am thinking of taking a course on psychoanalytic, Marxist, and feminist theory, but it's a choice between that or a postcolonial literature and theory class. I don't have coursework in either, but I am relatively familiar with postcolonial literature and theory in general. Does the course work matter that much, or will the exams and dissertation help to mitigate lack of evidence of experience on my transcript?

Ok; this might seem like a stupid question. And I am not going to ask my supervisor, because I don't have one yet, and who I choose may very well be based on which area exams I choose. I am an American student. All of my background is in American literature. I am studying at a Canadian school. Is there any advantage in choosing American Lit as one of my area exams?

Sigh. First of all, I just lost my entire post. Ok, here goes. I’m lonely, I’m tired (the cold, dreary, gray, snowy, and freezing rain days when I could be in California don’t help) and I worry about both my current productivity and my future job prospects just about every day. I was just looking back at my emails from last year and remembering how excited I was and how helpful my POI was and how I couldn't go there because of money and family issues. Early in the term I thought I overcommitted and then it turns out it doesn’t matter, because after showing up to both an interview and a general meeting for a VOLUNTEER position, I got stood up for another meeting by the PAID director of the organization and he never responded to my emails. At the moment, I’m sitting outside the bathroom on the floor while my son takes a bath. I have grading to do and lately, even though I enjoy teaching, the only thing I look forward to is staying up late so my SO and I can watch Fringe.. except I’m always too tired to stay awake.

I don't think that one prof reflects the whole program at all. While their response MAY be representative of the program, it may not be. I will note that I wasn't accepted to any of the institutions where I had not had interactions with a POI. That said, there was one professor who was very enthusiastic and I was not accepted. There was one at which the professor was responsive and helpful but not particularly enthusiastic, and I was accepted. I don't think there's necessarily any correlation, beyond the fact that the professor MAY go to bat for you, and that some applications ask you for details about your POI(s), if any.

For future reference, I have found that the first link is kind of useless to students with families, as mostly shared housing arrangements for single students or couples is offered. However, Kijiji is pretty good for students with families - or at least as good as anything else. Some other sites I found somewhat useful are walkscore.com and trovit.com.

GradSecretary, You sound great!

So much to vent about. Housing is crazy. I finally found a place after three trips. I am tired. I just finished my M.A. thesis about a month ago. My kids might have trouble with the adjustment of moving 3 1/2 hours away. And, after I move in at 2 PM on September 1, I start all day meetings for three days straight on September 3.

Thanks so much!

Can someone tell me a little more about the Ontario leasing laws, particularly the part about month-to-month defaulting after one year.

Well, that depends. I imagine that the average user of Academia.edu is utilizing the website to pursue academic positions, and therefore, would generally be required to have a PhD. At which point, the M.A. thesis would be somewhat obsolete. (I should have stated that I meant an M.A. thesis.) I am also already matriculated to a PhD program, so I don't need to list my M.A. thesis there for grad school applications.

Should I list my thesis on my Academia.edu profile? I have it on LinkedIn, but is it relevant on Academia.edu?

I haven't had a vacation in four years. I spent my summer writing my thesis. I finished late last week - though I still have some minor, final edits.

I think it is program dependent and applicant dependent. For instance, maybe a particular program encourages students to ask professors if they are accepting students, as I hear many sciences programs do, and maybe a particular applicant wonders if they should even bother applying. I did this once when the website stated that they required students to have a B.A. AND a M.A. in English, plus teaching experience. I had the B.A. I had the teaching experience. My M.A. was in Liberal Arts. Therefore, I inquired as to whether or not I qualified to apply rather than waste my money, and their time.

I finished my M.A. thesis!!!

Thanks; though that's a great point, I am aware of the need to gain teaching experience at the college level. Actually, though I have a fellowship, there are so many costs associated with my move that I have decided to accept the offer. It is only that I wondered how other people handle the stresses of being in a new place, starting a new program, etc. plus teaching. For me, declining the assistantship for one term could have been one possible way of handling it.

What are the pros and cons of accepting and declining a teaching assistantship in the first semester (as a new PhD student)?

Great question. I had two professors I contacted during the application invite me to keep in touch - nothing so much as future collaboration on projects, but with that said, I would like to know what protocol is for working with professors from other universities somehow. I don't know if this would be offensive to the people I work with at the institution where I'm pursuing my doctoral studies. So, basically, Is this an accepted practice or not?

What is the word on Readercon?

That makes sense, and was sort of what I was leaning towards anyway, since I hope to merge and build upon those areas of experience by working as a TA supervisor and in a women's center. Thanks.

I have a question about this, too. My understanding is that one would include only experience in teaching or researching at the college level. However, I have experience in teaching, secretarial work, and more. I truly believe these jobs taught me very useful skills. Do I leave them off anyway?

I'll join in this thread, since I am also starting a PhD and also moving to a new country, and I have two young children who may or may not be home schooled at least part time. My older son will definitely be home schooled part time or full time; I am just not sure about my younger son, who does well socially but seems to be behind on some basic academic skills. (It's the opposite for my older one).

I have to say that it can be frustrating to search for these types of scholarships, given that many sites are outdated. For instance, many of the websites I searched said that the Javits fellowship was still available.