MastersHoping

So now we're well into 2017, and first semester/quarter is over, and some of us may even be in our second terms already. For those who are first-years (I am in the first year of my Ph.D program in political science), how did it go? Is Ph.D (or master's) what you expected? Are you happy with how things are going? As for me, I'm pleasantly surprised how much I like it. It hasn't been too stressful, coursework has been fairly interesting, made some decent friends, and had a lot of fun. Just got my grades back (B+ and A-), and couldn't be happier. For first year, we don't have to T.A. in my program. Can't believe we're literally being paid to go to school!

lmao I misinterpreted the title of this thread as you wanting to rent someone's passport XD does your U.S. visa count?

Oh I'm at a different school now and I'm in political science phd program haha just didn't change my avatar/description. But yeah that's definitely interesting to me - I just assumed that the tuition waiver covered everything.

Wow really? I never knew that! I guess I'm going to take off the language class I had for an audit just for fun. There's another language class I'm going to do P/F because it's both interesting to me and relevant to my areas of research interest.

How do you usually select your classes for a Ph.D? I just try to do what is required and no more. But as a huge language buff, I like to audit language classes, most of which are relevant to my research interests, but some just for personal interest. After all, it doesn't cost anything except time to audit, and I don't have to take the final exam. Do I need advisor's approval for these kinds of things? Do many grad students audit language classes or other classes (maybe like research methodology ones or something)?

I have never heard such a claim before, and to be honest wouldn't believe anyone who said so. There are definitely benefits to studying abroad, and studying abroad can possibly help you in terms of admissions. Not the studying abroad itself, but what you got out of it. But I highly doubt you'd be at a disadvantage in any way if you didn't study abroad.

I didn't read through the rest of the thread, but if you feel like going to campus events, just go! Have some fun, campus events are generally meant to include everyone in the college community. Last time I checked, graduate students are part of the university community too! If you really want to make friends with undergrads (assuming you're not so old you could be their parents...now that could be awkward), just do it. If you don't make it a weird thing no one else will either. There is a club at my new college I'm in that I just joined in an official capacity for (so not just attending events but actually an active member of the club leadership) that is meant for undergrads - but I feel just fine in it because it is literally directly related to what I'm studying in my Ph.D and something I've been interested in for years. I also go to a lot of culture club events, not least of which because grad school is highly lacking in the social/cultural clubs arena... About relationships though, generally it is not a good idea, in my view, to be in a romantic relationship with an undergrad. Not least of which since most grad students have to T.A. at some point. Can you imagine the situation where you have to be a T.A. for your undergrad S.O. or one of their close friends? That's just a conflict of interest/scandal waiting to happen! This is not a hard-and-fast rule though. If you truly have found the love of your life, I wouldn't let an artificial distinction such as "undergrad and grad" keep you apart, but do proceed with caution.

Great post! Depends what field you're in, but I'm in political science. A lot of the major texts, particularly at the intro level, can be found on Sparknotes and Wikipedia and other study guides. High school teachers may have shunned Sparknotes, but I found it really helpful to cut down on a lot of extra information to pick out what really matters. For journal papers, I'll usually read the title (not as trivial as it sounds!), the abstract, then the intro. From there, I look at the date and try to place it in context with what I know from that era (e.g. if it was published in 1973, I'll know it was published after a certain super important book about Polyarchy but before some other things). The whole time, I'll be trying to make my own guesses about the conclusions and then proceed to read the conclusion. After that, I'll read a few of the middle paragraphs (maybe like a couple paragraphs per page). Oh, and I take notes while reading - I write about 1-2 notes/bullet points for each page/section I read, including page numbers to find it easier later. Oh, and for anyone who is coming in to grad school for the first time, don't worry if you can't finish all the readings for a class. Profs know that you can't and won't, just try to get the major themes, issues, and debates from the readings.

I'm in political science, but I do a lot of political history too. At my university, Romance languages, German, etc. can be taken for a graduate Audit. Languages like Japanese, Korean, Chinese, and Hindi must be registered for but you are allowed to take them Pass/Fail (whereas undergrads are not). In my department, the general policy is that you are allowed to take these classes and no one will stop you, but it seems to be discouraged by faculty and advisors.

The answer to your first question is very obvious. Of course the department isn't going to keep giving you money if you're no longer a part of the program. Frankly, I'm a little surprised you asked this question. For the second one, attrition rates for Ph.D programs are very high, and I'm sure you're not the first person to have ever left the program. Your advisor may be a bit disappointed, but hopefully he/she will understand. I don't think your relationship will be "sour" though.

I'm in political science, specifically interested in east Asia in the subfield of comparative politics. So I'm in: Introduction to Quantitative Political Science Theories of Comparative Politics Korean/Japanese histories (outside the department, but relevant class) anddddd taking Korean pass/fail

If money is an issue, you can't work part time while going to school to help with expenses, and you are confident in your ability to handle four courses at a time (that's what my master's program was anyway), in my opinion, I think it may be a better idea to do it in a year. As you said, going back for just one course doesn't seem worth it. As someone who also went to an expensive masters program and sincerely regrets it (financially speaking), there is no school worth going broke for.

Okay. I'm going to email my advisor today.

Thank you for the link and for the info. Yeah I do have that, although I really want to give it a shot during grad school too. I think I'll try during summer too as you suggested.

Thanks for that. Oh I actually finished Georgetown and am going to Johns Hopkins. Okay. So three normal Ph.D classes is the normal courseload, so that's what I'll be doing. But I seem to recall Ph.D students also took language classes too.

So I signed up for 5 classes (one of which I will drop b/c I want to do some course shopping). 3 poli sci classes, 2 languages (I'm deciding between the two). Does this sound like a full-time courseload?

Try the University View on Baltimore Ave. It's really nice, approx 1000 a month, and right next door to campus.

Happy to hear it! I personally think you made a great choice. Best of luck in all your endeavors!

Also, to follow up the last post, I am looking for roommates to share the costs: http://baltimore.craigslist.org/apa/5686867286.html Thanks!

Hello, I will be starting at JHU in a PhD program in September and am looking for a roommate to share costs with. Is anyone interested in living at University One? http://baltimore.craigslist.org/apa/5686867286.html Thanks!

Speaking from experience as someone who was just recently admitted to a Ph.D program after doing an expensive-as-hell master's: Do.not.do.it.! It will not help you as much as you'd think. Just take a few classes online if you want to brush up on your content knowledge (coursera, edx, futurelearn etc. are all places you could go for free, as well as Yale Open Courseware and MIT open Courseware). There are also much cheaper options than Brandeis. You're going to have a hell of a time paying back your student loans while living off your meager Ph.D salary. To pay back my student loans, it would take effectively two years of Ph.D funding if I didn't spend ANYTHING on things other than food and housing. It didn't help that I lived w/ a couple assholes from my program who screwed me over in rent, but that's a different story. There are much better ways to spend 20k a year.

I really, really don't want to be arguing with you over a pointless contention you had with a book suggestion I had. And I'm also not sure how you expected me be familiar with your knowledge or lack thereof of North Korea or Syria or Semitic languages. You also still haven't made it clear whether you have actually read this book, just that you had read some of the reviews. Although many of your statements, particularly the last one, rival the logical reasoning ability of a moldy potato, I'm not going to take the time to respond to each point you made. I am just going to point out that this is essentially what you said: "This girl had gripes with North Korea. Therefore, we cannot accept this as evidence against the North Korean regime." Imagine what an asshole you would've looked like if you had said this about the Diary of Anne Frank, "This girl had gripes with Hitler. Therefore, we cannot accept this as evidence against the Nazi regime." This is my last response to you. Thank you, and have a nice day.

Oh really, Joseph McCarthy? Did you read it? What "claims" are you referring to? If you didn't read the book, and can't specify specifically which "stories" you are referring to, you cannot make these claims. If you did read it, what grounds do you have to suggest that this book was "politically" motivated? And also, how do you propose that we, as private citizens, are to go around verifying the claims and descriptions in the book? Go to her hometown in North Korea and see if the descriptions match up? As an American citizen, I'm gonna have to say no thanks to getting arbitrarily arrested and imprisoned. Other than that, I'm not too sure how else you plan to "verify" the book's contents. I'm not sure why you chose to choose my recommendation in particular to discredit, but I'm also not trying to argue about the merits of a particular book with you. The OP simply asked for some simple recommendations for books about linguistics or refugee stories, and I did just that. Since your original gripe was this book is too "literary," I take it you didn't read the other recommendations in this thread either. Although this work is nonfiction, you said that it was more appropriate for a literature class. Some of the other suggestions were novels but yet you're not scrutinizing them?

Thank you, knp. I don't think historicallinguist read the entire first post. I am not a linguist and do not know anything about linguistics, so the only reason I responded was because he/she was asking for books about refugees. Everyone knows about refugees from Syria and Latin America, but North Korea not as much.

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