MastersHoping

Hello everyone, I tried to search LOR in this forum but it was mostly about asking professors to write them for us. Has anyone had experience in which students asked them for a reference letter? What was it for? How did you do it? Currently, I am planning to write one for a high school student who wants to go to a college I attended. I served as this student's instructor for a course and was very impressed with the student's caliber, and believe that I can write a strong letter. That said, I am only a 2014 graduate of that college. Does being a relatively young graduate of that college matter at all? Should I include that I'm a PhD candidate as well, or just that I served as her instructor for a course? Thanks!

I'm also in a political science PhD program. It seems that, for most intents and purposes, that should be enough to do research with your target language. I'd recommend you continue studying and practicing Russian even outside of formal training. Watch YouTube videos, talk to people, use Duolingo, etc. Now, the longer answer is that it depends what your goals are for your research. In any case, there is never an "end" to language learning, so even when you reach your target goal for the language, I'd still keep going.

Just to add onto rising_star's comment - if you happen to not get along, I encourage you to seek communities outside your department. Do you have some sort of hobby or interest? I'm a dancer, for example, and I joined a dance group here recently.

Awesome, thanks for the advice. While I never planned to publish in predatory journals, I will now be extra careful to avoid them. Speaking of which, how can I find some lower-tier journals? I'm not particularly ambitious when it comes to publishing in prestigious journals, and would rather just get my work out there than stress about rankings.

Thank you for the advice. I definitely will avoid these journals then. What about low impact journals then? Like legitimate but not very prestigious ones. For someone who is aiming is not aiming to work at large research universities, are such journals okay?

This is an article from the New York Times last year. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/30/science/predatory-journals-academics.html I have come across it recently and found it fascinating. Although for fields like medicine when people's health is on the line, for some fields, like my particular field (esp. the subfield) have little direct consequence for poor quality scholarship. If an individual does not plan to pursue a high-research career at prestigious universities and would prefer instead to opt for teaching careers at lower ranked places, what's the harm in publishing your work in these? Especially if you put forth an earnest effort in your writing. Sometimes, the distinction between "legitimate" and "predatory" journals are not even that unambiguous. For the record I'm not saying I plan to do so, but was just hoping to get your thoughts.

I'm in Maryland. Damn that's a lot of taxes. What happens if I can't afford to pay my own taxes now? And I don't believe my school withheld tax throughout the year.

Hello everyone, Usually I know people don't like to disclose exact numbers for money, but oh well whatever. Last year I took a leave of absence fall semester and hence only received stipend up till August. In total, I got 19,000$ stipend money, and I earned approximately $7,000 through self-employment, so a total of $26,000 or so. I just filled out TurboTax and it says I owe a total (federal and state) of approximately $3500!!!!! This is about $1500 more than I paid in taxes last year, even though I made 11,000$ in self-employment and I didn't take any leaves of absence. Furthermore, my sibling received a similar PhD stipend as me but only paid $600 in taxes. In fact, she got money back this year. I know I get a little extra from self-employment, but this seems absurd!!! I must be doing something wrong on Turbotax, and I really can't afford to pay $3500 in taxes right now.Thoughts?

Are you a US citizen? Do you plan to get a PhD after this master? If so, perhaps take a look at Harvard Extension for an MLM in government. I looked through the curriculum and syllabi and it looks pretty good, plus it's a relatively good price for a Master's. I paid more than twice that of Harvard Extension tuition for an area studies master's, and I wish I'd gone to Harvard Extension instead. Would've been less debt burden, that's for sure.

That is entirely inappropriate. Does that individual have a supervisor? I would report such behavior to a supervisor.

Hello everyone, I have recently discovered the general direction I want to take my PhD research, which will require research abroad in at least 3 different countries, making particular use of interviews. I will have no problem getting financial support for this research, and I am not exactly a shy individual about interviewing people. However, I am not fluent in any of these three languages, which are unfortunately about as hard as foreign languages can get for native English speakers. I have had succes learning a foreign language to fluency in the past through formal training and self-study, and have self-studied another foreign language to a high level (not fluent yet) completely through self-study. Does anyone have any strategies/experiences to gain working knowledge of foreign languages for research? Thanks!

In the USA, your stipend is attached to your social security number (at least if you're a U.S. citizen and at least at my university), so if you don't file taxes it will be very unusual if the government is not aware that you are receiving a stipend. My university doesn't withhold taxes, but tax evasion could get you in serious trouble. Believe me, I wouldn't pay taxes if I didn't have to either. Although the likelihood of the IRS coming after you for such small amounts (I'm estimating less than $1000 for most grad students) is not very high, they can retroactively charge you plus interest if your'e ever audited in the future.

How hard it writing? Well, judging from the title, apparently very hard XD I kid, I kid. For me, I generally don't find it that hard, but it is a chore so I don't enjoy it despite being fairly decent at it.

In undergrad I had a bad breakup that really affected me in every way. Academically, socially, emotionally, etc. Sometimes there's nothing you can do to get over it, time is the only healer. Indeed, I wish I'd taken time off from school that year, but at the time I was afraid of doing so for fear of either appearing weak or just deviating from the regular path. If this is affecting you significantly, I honestly recommend you consider taking time off from school. School will be there for you when you come back, take care of yourself first.

Thanks everyone! I feel a lot more relieved after reading your responses, and have more strategies for avoiding such errors in the future. Also, at least I didn't do this XD http://www.slate.com/blogs/future_tense/2014/11/11/_crappy_gabor_paper_overly_honest_citation_slips_into_peer_reviewed_journal.html

Thank you! You made me feel better, especially since this is my first independent and legitimate publication. I was so excited about the publication then I saw the typos and felt so embarrassed. Hmm maybe next time I'll try printing it out and have a pen handy so I can circle everything I find. Oh, and I also find reading out loud a good way too!

Hi everyone, This post is half meant to discuss strategies for preventing typos, half for me to vent my frustration . Just published a piece that took about 3 years from start to finish, and when it was accepted for publication I was so excited. I proofread it about 5 times and had two friends proofread it too. Alas, just a few days ago, I noticed a couple more errors. Minor errors, but errors nonetheless. Anyone have some strategies to better catch errors like these in the future? Also, does anyone else have publication with small typographical errors or spelling/grammar errors on them? Thanks!

If dropping out and starting a business is your dream, go for it. Don't just do something because it's what you think other people expect of you if your heart's not in it, otherwise you'd just be wasting your own time and your department's resources. Think of it this way - there are many amazing jobs in the world, but just because someone else might like being an accountant or a professor or a lawyer doesn't mean you might. There are many people who have quit jobs at consulting firms or law firms with six-figure salaries to live on basically poverty wages while pursuing their dreams. Do what's best for you! Good luck.

Yes! Right now, I'm in dance, a martial art, and a figure skating group and participate very often (every practice for all of them). This is in addition to independently studying two foreign languages and learning guitar as well as regularly working out. My academics haven't suffered as a result either - in fact I just published a paper in a journal!

Hello! I'm not in your program but I'm currently in a PhD program at Hopkins. Just wanted to say, welcome!! I can't tell you anything about your particular program, but if you want to talk about the university, the area, or anything else feel free to hit me up ~~~

If you really find someone you mesh well with and everyone is happy, and everything is consensual, go for it. I just feel a little concerned because your posts sound more like "I want to date an undergrad so badly no matter what it takes!" to me rather than "I'm interested in finding someone special, and if it's an undergrad, so be it." In the event that the latter is more applicable to you, then that's fine, but just so you know your posts sound more like the former. Just my $0.02

I am also a Ph.D student. I know that we're super busy and all, but if you want some extra work that you don't have to report to your university and you're a native English speaker from Canada or the USA, check out this company: [[Mod note: referral link to an online english language teaching company removed, send a PM to this poster if you want their link]] You can make around $20 an hour working online. I figured out a way to get $25 an hour recently. It's done at your convenience and it's quite fun. It has helped me out quite a bit - maybe you'd be interested? Even just working 3 hours a week can get you an extra $250 - $300 a month. Let me know if you are interested or if anyone else reading this is interested. Full disclosure: The link I posted is my personal referral link. If you choose to use it, I do get a small, modest bonus but it doesn't affect you either way whether you choose to use it or not.

Hahaha it's funny you posted this, cause I do the exact same thing. I'm at Johns Hopkins for a Ph.D right now, and other than during the winter months and often ride my skateboard from my apartment to class, especially if I'm running a little late. It seems to me that just about no one cares, although my wheels are a little loud so I feel a little self-conscious about it sometimes. Basically, go ahead!

Hahaha. I'm actually quite relieved to hear that!

Believe it! It'll happen not only in grad school, but also for the rest of your life. At school, at work, at a company, etc. Any time you have to deal with groups of people, eventually, there will be drama. There was drama among teachers in my high school, etc. One way I've been able to avoid drama in my program is to consider my classmates as colleagues (since I consider the Ph.D to be my "job"). Although it's only been one semester so far and I have yet to T.A., it's been drama-free. Things may change when I become a T.A. however...