Maleficent999

This! So much this! I could stay working my cruddy office job, making barely more than minimum wage and hating my life...or I could be doing something I really enjoy and learning more skills. The way I look at it, with a BA in social science the best I can hope for is a job in middle management unless I start my own company or go into a completely new field. I don't want that life. I sat down and tried to figure out what I would do if I didn't have to work (lottery scenario) and I would still go to grad school because I enjoy learning and researching. Like meowth said, I'm not doing it for the money. I think doing something I enjoy is much more valuable to me personally. I've worked jobs where I made pretty good money but I hated getting up and going to work every day. Again, I don't want that life. I had a conversation with one of my POIs at a recruitment event and he said the biggest mistake he's seen grads make is going into their programs thinking they're going to change the world. The unhappiness that follows the breakdown of this fantasy is what he blames for many of the "drop out" cases he's seen. I think it is definitely possible to be placed in a job and lead a happy life outside the top-20. It all really depends on your goals. Not everyone WANTS to be or statistically CAN be a famous researcher. If you have realistic goals and expectations then it's much easier to swallow all the difficulties that nearly everyone will face on the job market.

Same for Davis.

CONGRATS

So I thought I would be getting a quarter of TA seminar my first quarter at the school I'm attending in the Fall (a seminar on how to be a TA), but it turns out they ran out of money and can't afford to hold that seminar anymore so I have to TA my very first quarter...in a subject for which I've never taken a class in my entire life. Yep, a little freaked to say the least. I'm just hoping I get to TA an upper division course where all I have to do is grade. Otherwise I better read ALL the dummies books and Wikipedia articles out there.

Thanks! It was nice to meet you. Good luck making your decision!

I officially accepted an offer from UC Davis (surprised? You shouldn't be ). I knew it was my top choice and that was confirmed for me at the recruitment event. It is a relatively newish program, but I really like the direction the department seems to be heading. They recognize the things they need to work on and are making concerted efforts toward their sociology department being the best it can be. Funding was my only issue and the one thing that made me question going there but I was able to work it out so I accepted! Now to find an apartment....ugh.

Yes, yes he did. I actually haven't seen season 2 yet. It's in my Netflix queue. Season 4 looks interesting to say the least.

I'm pretty sure a major plot point in the first season of American Horror Story is that Ben had an affair with one of his grad students in Boston so he moves his family to Los Angeles. She comes back throughout the season to generally wreak havoc.

Congrats!

I'd agree with the above statements that it isn't necessarily creepy. If the undergrad is a freshman and underage (I was a 17-year-old freshman, it happens) and the TA is 37 then yes, it's creepy and illegal. But otherwise who are we to judge? My mom is 15 years older than my stepdad and they've been married almost 20 years. It works for some people.

Davis recruitment tomorrow - current and admitted students, who will be there?

Congrats! I should know for sure if Davis is where I'll be by the end of next week or the week after.

http://staff.lib.msu.edu/harris23/grants/3math.htm http://www.nctm.org/resources/content.aspx?id=198 http://sam.msp.berkeley.edu/nsa-ams/about/program/guidelines.html Google is an excellent resource. Found in .03 seconds by doing a Google search.

www.google.com p.s. Congratulations

Yes. It might be in the financial offer letter they send eventually.

Hmmm thank you. That is useful information. I went to undergrad in a town that is often compared to Davis and in my second second quarter I was able to find a studio for $650 that included utilities. It was sheer luck. I'm hoping I can find something like that, but I have a feeling I'll have to actually be in Davis and keep my ear to the ground for a while.

Here's my question though, when you asked for both your Master's and PhD did you use other offers as leverage or did you just ask straight out?

I am glad my suffering amuses you!

I feel you on that! I had a stress dream about it last night.

Last night I had a stress/fear dream about recruitment events. I dreamt that I woke up at noon on the day of my recruitment (I can't even remember the last time I slept in that late) and I wasn't sure what day it was or where I was located. I gchat messaged SocGirl and asked if she was at the event to which she replied, "Yes, so-and-so department chair is presenting. Where are you?!" Mind you, SocGirl and I live on different coasts and were admitted to completely different schools. I woke up totally disoriented and stressed out that I had missed the event. ...Yep.

I am 2 years away from this and I am already stressing out about it.

I adore Andrea Beckmann and the work she has done and continues to do. I wish she worked at a US institution because I would camp outside the department office until they accepted me. If "The Social Construction of Sexuality and Perversion" wasn't so expensive, I would have it sleep next to me in bed. That is all.

I think mainly they might look for first authorship in student journals. For instance, my undergrad had a political science journal that was created and run by students but edited by professors and students. That's where my only first author pub came from. I don't think many schools expect undergrads to publish in big, professional journals as first author, maybe second or third if at all.

This is actually really good advice, especially for people wondering what to do if they took a year or more off between undergrad and applications.

I think it might be but haven't watched it in years. Very wow. Such funny.