lzs

When I applied for a non-academic job (albeit a university staff job) earlier this year, both my references were professors: one was my advisor (I graduated last year but we were and are still in touch), and one was not my teacher or advisor but my employer.

Was it a good idea? Well, I got the job, I love the job, and I still have good relationships with both of my references. Did I feel self-conscious about discussing non-academic jobs with my advisor? Yeah, but I sucked it up because I knew he'd go to bat for me and I really wanted the job and jeez, it's a perfectly good job, it's not like I was applying to work for the KKK or something. (I even told him I felt weird about it and he was totally nice about my being weird about it.) I'm sure it's harder when it's your graduate advisor (I only have an undergrad degree, so this was my undergrad advisor), but at least you're applying for a research job -- your academic work and relationships are totally relevant.

Well, why does anything matter? Even if you're a medical doctor you could say, "Why does it matter if I save people's lives, since they're all going to die eventually anyway?" If the entire human race went extinct, how much would it affect the rest of the universe? For most of the universe, probably not that much. How about, if we (linguists) don't demand that non-linguists find linguistics as interesting as we find it, non-linguists don't ask linguists to justify ourselves and our interests? Unless you're writing a grant, of course! Then justification is necessary.

In a more cooperative vein, though, I would say that linguistics is bound up with social justice and equality. Linguistics matters because the linguistic ignorance of people in the educational system is part of why some students are unfairly disadvantaged. If you care about eradicating racism, you cannot ignore both the systemic and individual biases that harm AA(V)E speakers. Linguistics tells (or would tell, if linguists had better PR) black kids, "The way you and your family talk is not wrong or broken or lazy. It is just as rule-governed and complex and intricate and interesting as any other variety of English or any other language. And your mastery of it is just as impressive and mysterious and honestly kind of miraculous as any rich white Eton kid speaking RP."

A good letter says a lot more than "got an A in my class." A good letter shows that the writer actually knows you and your work and your capacity for graduate study, which in many ways is very different from undergraduate study. Preferably, the letter is written by someone who has worked with you outside of class and/or has supervised your research. The letter should say things that the admissions committee would not already know just from reading the rest of your application. It should attest not only to your intelligence but, importantly, to your maturity, responsibility, work ethic, and strong intrinsic motivation.

If he already told you he doesn't think you're a strong candidate, then why would you expect him to tell an admissions committee that you are a strong candidate?

Not an expert in this field, but I strongly suspect tutoring. It's more similar to what speech-language pathologists do, and is more difficult. Anyone with at least a grade-school reading level can read to kids, and you can read on autopilot, but tutoring isn't something you can phone in, or at least not as easily. I used to tutor elementary school kids, for what it's worth, and it was hard and I sucked at it.

Evidence of your maturity, professionalism, work ethic and self-motivation, using specific examples.

A good letter says a lot more than "got an A in my class." A good letter shows that the writer actually knows you and your work and your capacity for graduate study, which in many ways is very different from undergraduate study. Preferably, the letter is written by someone who has worked with you outside of class and/or has supervised your research. The letter should say things that the admissions committee would not already know just from reading the rest of your application. It should attest not only to your intelligence but, importantly, to your maturity, responsibility, work ethic, and strong intrinsic motivation.

I totally think it's legitimate to discuss how your parenthood and background have made you more mature, responsible, etc. I just think that saying "I want a graduate degree in English literature because I have a family to support" may make you sound naive about the realities of the contemporary academic job market, in which the majority of jobs are not "stable" at all and often do not pay enough to support one person, let alone two. Again, I completely support your goal of wanting to make more money so as to better support your son, but if that is your primary motivation, why choose a degree with such unstable career prospects?

Also for recs you should get at least one professional (not just academic reference). Since it sounds like you're doing so well at your current job, is there any particular reason you wouldn't want to ask your boss for a letter?

Well, why does anything matter? Even if you're a medical doctor you could say, "Why does it matter if I save people's lives, since they're all going to die eventually anyway?" If the entire human race went extinct, how much would it affect the rest of the universe? For most of the universe, probably not that much. How about, if we (linguists) don't demand that non-linguists find linguistics as interesting as we find it, non-linguists don't ask linguists to justify ourselves and our interests? Unless you're writing a grant, of course! Then justification is necessary.

In a more cooperative vein, though, I would say that linguistics is bound up with social justice and equality. Linguistics matters because the linguistic ignorance of people in the educational system is part of why some students are unfairly disadvantaged. If you care about eradicating racism, you cannot ignore both the systemic and individual biases that harm AA(V)E speakers. Linguistics tells (or would tell, if linguists had better PR) black kids, "The way you and your family talk is not wrong or broken or lazy. It is just as rule-governed and complex and intricate and interesting as any other variety of English or any other language. And your mastery of it is just as impressive and mysterious and honestly kind of miraculous as any rich white Eton kid speaking RP."

Well, why does anything matter? Even if you're a medical doctor you could say, "Why does it matter if I save people's lives, since they're all going to die eventually anyway?" If the entire human race went extinct, how much would it affect the rest of the universe? For most of the universe, probably not that much. How about, if we (linguists) don't demand that non-linguists find linguistics as interesting as we find it, non-linguists don't ask linguists to justify ourselves and our interests? Unless you're writing a grant, of course! Then justification is necessary.

In a more cooperative vein, though, I would say that linguistics is bound up with social justice and equality. Linguistics matters because the linguistic ignorance of people in the educational system is part of why some students are unfairly disadvantaged. If you care about eradicating racism, you cannot ignore both the systemic and individual biases that harm AA(V)E speakers. Linguistics tells (or would tell, if linguists had better PR) black kids, "The way you and your family talk is not wrong or broken or lazy. It is just as rule-governed and complex and intricate and interesting as any other variety of English or any other language. And your mastery of it is just as impressive and mysterious and honestly kind of miraculous as any rich white Eton kid speaking RP."

Well, why does anything matter? Even if you're a medical doctor you could say, "Why does it matter if I save people's lives, since they're all going to die eventually anyway?" If the entire human race went extinct, how much would it affect the rest of the universe? For most of the universe, probably not that much. How about, if we (linguists) don't demand that non-linguists find linguistics as interesting as we find it, non-linguists don't ask linguists to justify ourselves and our interests? Unless you're writing a grant, of course! Then justification is necessary.

In a more cooperative vein, though, I would say that linguistics is bound up with social justice and equality. Linguistics matters because the linguistic ignorance of people in the educational system is part of why some students are unfairly disadvantaged. If you care about eradicating racism, you cannot ignore both the systemic and individual biases that harm AA(V)E speakers. Linguistics tells (or would tell, if linguists had better PR) black kids, "The way you and your family talk is not wrong or broken or lazy. It is just as rule-governed and complex and intricate and interesting as any other variety of English or any other language. And your mastery of it is just as impressive and mysterious and honestly kind of miraculous as any rich white Eton kid speaking RP."

Well, why does anything matter? Even if you're a medical doctor you could say, "Why does it matter if I save people's lives, since they're all going to die eventually anyway?" If the entire human race went extinct, how much would it affect the rest of the universe? For most of the universe, probably not that much. How about, if we (linguists) don't demand that non-linguists find linguistics as interesting as we find it, non-linguists don't ask linguists to justify ourselves and our interests? Unless you're writing a grant, of course! Then justification is necessary.

In a more cooperative vein, though, I would say that linguistics is bound up with social justice and equality. Linguistics matters because the linguistic ignorance of people in the educational system is part of why some students are unfairly disadvantaged. If you care about eradicating racism, you cannot ignore both the systemic and individual biases that harm AA(V)E speakers. Linguistics tells (or would tell, if linguists had better PR) black kids, "The way you and your family talk is not wrong or broken or lazy. It is just as rule-governed and complex and intricate and interesting as any other variety of English or any other language. And your mastery of it is just as impressive and mysterious and honestly kind of miraculous as any rich white Eton kid speaking RP."

I've read that grad schools really like it if you have tutoring experience (since grad students often teach) or some kind of departmental service (which could be volunteer tutoring or otherwise mentoring lower-division students, or volunteering at conferences, etc.). I've found that any activity where you can hang out and chat with grad students is also useful because they can give you advice about grad school; in fact, if you start talking to a grad student, within five minutes they'll probably start giving you advice about grad school whether you want it or not. For example, when I volunteered at a department conference (setup, cleanup, food service, etc.), one of the grad students told me that getting your own external funding (she has NSF money) helps you get into grad school, because departments will be happy that you're already partially funded, since that means if they admit you they can give you less out of their budget than they would if you had none of your own funding at all. I'm not really familiar with the application process for that, but if you have enough time for that, I'd recommend looking into it.
 
External funding aside, attend department events (colloquia, conferences, etc.) even if you're not volunteering, and even if you won't get explicit advice. It'll give you a better understanding of what academia is like, what sort of activities will be expected of you, what the unspoken cultural norms are. Lots of students apply to grad school with a very uninformed, unrealistic idea of what it's like. If you can experience some of the real daily life of academia, you'll be less likely to come across as naive or unprepared (not that you necessarily would anyway, but there are just so many who are, and you need to convince admissions committees that you have a good idea of what you're getting yourself into).
 
The LSA Institute is (according to my professor who's taught there, anyway) potentially very useful if you have grad school plans, because it has undergrads and grad students and professors from all over, so you can network and get insider advice about different schools. You might conceivably be able to get a recommendation out of it, though I'm not sure how big the classes tend to be (and of course it is brief). But you can take classes in areas that your school might not offer, which will give you a better idea of what exactly you want to pursue in grad school.
 
But of course you can also read up on different areas on your own; obviously the Institute is really expensive and there are plenty of other, more affordable activities. Basically grad schools are primarily interested in your ability to do research, so, like the other poster said, prioritize getting research experience, whether it's assisting a professor or doing a thesis/independent study project (or both). If you have a choice between research experience (even really menial stuff) and interning at some sort of vaguely linguistic organization, the latter is better for your employability but the former will likely be better for your grad school admittability. Sometimes professors will take you as an assistant if you ask, even if they don't advertise a position, but don't be discouraged if you don't get anything on the first try. (I applied for a research assistant position with a professor who knew me and I never even got an interview, and then a year later the same professor emailed me out of the blue and offered me a better position than the one I'd previously applied for, so you never know.) Also: can you code? If so, do they know you can code? If not, can you learn? Everyone can use a coder, so professors will be more likely to want you, and if you can't find a professor who'll take you, well, you'll still have acquired a widely applicable and marketable skill.
 
If you can't get anything with a professor, you might still be able to get something with a grad student. Of course working with a professor is better because it's generally inadvisable to have a recommendation from a grad student alone (though if a prof can co-sign it then it should be fine), but working with a grad student will still be valuable experience and perhaps a way to get your foot in the door. One time I was sort of aimlessly chatting with a grad student and she offered to let me work on stuff with her (and it sounded interesting, too, though I ended up not taking her up on it); grad students are an often overlooked but potentially effective way to get research experience.
 
If you can't get anything in your department, try related departments. Often there are linguists in specific language departments, or psycholinguists in psych departments. If you have an education department, they can use linguistics students too sometimes (especially if you pitch it right, since so many people don't really know what linguistics involves). Or obviously, for you, computer science.
 
Of course, if you're in computational linguistics, you might not necessarily be planning to stay in academia forever (and even if you are, there's a lot of industry comp ling jobs and very few academic jobs at all, so, you know, that might happen), in which case employers will probably want to see some non-academic experience. Either way, it doesn't hurt to take a year or a few years off from school after undergrad and get some work experience; in fact it could make you both a more competitive applicant and better prepared to handle graduate school successfully.
 
If you have specific schools in mind, and if there are any professors in your department who went there for grad school or used to work there, try especially to get to know them. I know several students from Undergrad X who got into Grad School Y after having worked closely with undergraduate advisors who got their PhDs from Grad School Y, and I don't think it's a coincidence.

I'm not in your field, but generally recommendations from family members are frowned upon. They want to see more impartial recommendations. If you were an admissions officer, what would you find more persuasive, a letter saying, "I work with this person and I recommend them," or a letter saying, "I am this person's brother and I recommend them"?

I'm not in your field, but generally recommendations from family members are frowned upon. They want to see more impartial recommendations. If you were an admissions officer, what would you find more persuasive, a letter saying, "I work with this person and I recommend them," or a letter saying, "I am this person's brother and I recommend them"?

Grad schools don't care that you've always wanted to be a [insert profession here] ever since you were a kid. Everybody says that. Don't bother talking about high school. They want to know what serious grown-up work you've done and how you will be a credit to their department. I'm not in your field but I imagine they're probably more interested in hearing about the projects you've worked on than about the classes you've taken.
 
 
Be more specific than "be engaged in real projects, do high impact research, and to contribute to the body of knowledge." Any student could say that about any department at any school in any field. What kind of work do you want to do? What are your research interests? Which faculty members do you want to work with, and which of their projects do you want to work on? How is this department a good fit for your intellectual interests and professional goals beyond having a good reputation? What exactly are these "unique characteristics" that UNT has?

Yeah, distributed morphology is a bear. I spent almost half a quarter studying it in a syntax class though, so that'll tell you where IT lies at least.

On another subject, I've had this conversation too many times:

"I'm particularly interested in phonology."

"Wait, what? You mean . . . analyzing the bumps on people's heads?"

At that point I have to just say yes and offer to do a reading.