Neist

So I came onto campus this morning only to find that my building was plastered with Alt-Right racially-inflammatory flyers. Even as an optimist, my faith in humanity is slowly waning.

@MarineBluePsy I know, right? I expected the graduate students to all be a bit weird. I mean, we are, but not as weird as I would have supposed. And thanks! I'm definitely a little odd. I'm comfortable enough to admit that. I'm a happy odd person, but my oddness makes situations awkward sometimes. @Pink Fuzzy Bunny Thanks! Fortunately, and I mean this is in most not depressing way possible, I'm sort of used to sad things happening. I had a relatively rough life. I'm somewhat scarred to bad things, although I readily admit that I'm not exactly sure if that's a good place to be. Also, I'm glad people showed up!

Thanks! It does make it a bit lonely though when you just want to grab with a beer with someone. I don't think I mentioned this, but I did mesh well with one other graduate student. Probably could have become good friends, but he died earlier this semester unexpectedly.

I have to agree with the occurrence of hate crimes. I've been on university campuses for 15 years, and the only time I've recalled hate crimes of this extent was immediately following the September 11 attacks. I don't have any profound thoughts yet concerning the subject, but I'm worried. I'm a white male, and I'm worried. I can't even imagine how worried I'd be if I were a minority (of any kind). If I were applying to graduate programs, and I didn't already have a family, I'd probably more heavily consider applying to programs outside of the country. It's all very worrying, at least concerning gigantic influx of hate crimes. My concerns with Trump are entirely separate matter.

@Pink Fuzzy Bunny I would have shown up! And I completely understand. I'm definitely meshing with the graduate students here, but I wouldn't say any are especially friendly with me. Then again, we're all pretty busy, so I dunno. To be honest, I'm pretty sure I'm a departmental eccentric, but I was pretty sure I was going to be. I'm sort of odd.

It's apt that a student provide proper documentation of their experiences with the faculty member. I provided my letter writers with a bundle of documents to jog their memory. I think every faculty member pretty much knows that writing letters is part and parcel to being a faculty member. And if we become faculty members at an institution, it'll be part and parcel of our positions. Maybe it's just my two cents, but writing one's own letters is at the very least tenuously unethical.

Wow, I didn't catch this until now. Did you like the book? I think it's fantastic and one of the better written for-popular-audience history of science books.

Whew. Here goes nothing! And I'm only listing books that I've read outside of class. There's too much reading to keep tabs on for class. So You've Been Publicly Shamed by Jon Ronson The Psychopath Test by Jon Ronson Scarcity: The New Science of Having Less and How It Defines Our Lives by Sendhil Mullainathan and Eldar Shafir Time Travel: A History by James Gleick Losing the Signal: The Untold Story Behind the Extraordinary Rise and Spectacular Fall of BlackBerry by Jacquie McNish and Sean Silcoff Eniac: The Triumphs and Tragedies of the World's First Computer by Scott McCartney The Wright Brothers by David McCullough In Defense of a Liberal Education by Fareed Zakaria About half of them were in the last few weeks. As this being my first semester in graduate school, I had to acclimate a bit to the work; I think I've got it down at this point. Also, I've finished the three books that I previously mentioned for reading groups (along with Awakenings by Oliver Sacks, which was added to a reading group).

I miss this thread. Is anyone reading anything interesting? I need to post an update, but my reading habits have become prolific, for lack of a better word. I'll work on an update this evening, but I'm curious if anyone else still visits this post.

As someone who lives in a state might very well be affected significantly by his proposed actions, I'm nervously twiddling my thumbs. I don't think I have the clarity of thought to comment in regards to the future meaningfully, but I'll be sure to revisit this thread. I'm glad that someone posted it (was a little curious if anyone would).

Well, I didn't really stress in preparation for my GRE, but I didn't score amazingly well, either. Then again, I had a friend who took it and scored 164 verbal without studying at all. Assuming you can afford the GRE, I say it's worth taking. If you score badly, you could simply not use the score when applying to programs. Schools don't know what your scores are unless you offer said scores.

Yeah, I don't think I'd be comfortable doing this. A general rule-of-thumb I try to adhere to is if I'd be comfortable with what I'm doing if it became general, public knowledge. Writing one's own LoR seems a bit iffy in that regard.

On the bright side, there's no stressing the rest of the semester at this point.

I'm a parent, and the majority of my undergraduate education was as a parent. Additionally, I was the primary income-earner during the years (spouse stayed home to take care of my daughter). So stated, I've thought about this a bit, and while I'm not sure I can comment definitively as to what you should do, I can comment regarding what I did. I mentioned it in my SoP, but only barely. I very, very briefly mentioned that I was a non-traditional student, and that's it. I decided that I absolutely should hint towards my non-traditionalness, for lack of a better word, because I didn't want to be in a program that was actively hostile against the fact that as a parent, it's likely that my daughter's presence would affect my work at some point, even if only very minorly. Did mentioning it hurt my chances getting into some programs? Probably, but I'd rather be happy and a good parent. I didn't want to be in a program that forced me to decide between school and my daughter. Personally, I wouldn't want to be a program that tacitly implied that my daughter was a burden; my daughter is far more important than any graduate degree. Also, like @TakeruK mentioned, I would not list it in a CV/Resume.

My MA thesis chair is from the UK, and he hardly ever gives over a 92% on paper. I admit that I agree with him. As someone who's written dozens and dozens of papers, I can think of maybe 2-3 that I think were truly exceptional, and I'm an OCD perfectionist who spends hours proofing his papers. As per the ramp up with grading, that's how the faculty member I'm TA'ing for handles things. They were softer than I would have been on the first assignment, and apparently, we're going to be incredibly sticklers for the final paper. I keep warning the students in the class. I hope they take heed...

I'm totally with you. I love the experience, but it is intense, for lack of a better word. Also, speaking of TA'ing, I just had a student meet with me because they expected a higher grade than what I gave them, and I gave them a middling B. I think they should be thankful I gave them a middling B.

Mastering the art of half-assery is expected by graduate programs. I don't like that it's the expectation, but that seems to be how things roll. @Pink Fuzzy Bunny I'm sorry! How's the other new students in your program doing (I assume you're not the only one)?

I'm still floating around, and I think I'm getting better at this graduate school thing (yay). I read a book for leisure last night. I feel fancy. I hope everyone else is doing okay!

It's difficult to say without knowing your GPA, but a lot of schools do not have incredibly rigorous standards, at least compared to many other disciplines. Some brief thoughts on the school in BC. I'm not sure how schools in Canada are accredited nor am I sure how a Canadian degree translate into the US workforce. Something to consider.

I admit, group projects secretly terrify me. I've never been as screwed over as some of my friends have, but the experience is usually never pleasant.

I'm probably not the definitive authority to answer this question, but it's my general understanding that it's nearly always appropriate to ask your past committee members for a LoR. Of course my logic might be flawed.

MLIS powers unite! In all seriousness, it's a good backup plan for a history PhD.

I'm glad I'm in the humanities. I honestly feel as if it's easier than my undergrad, at least in the sense that you'll get a good grade as long as you do exactly what you're supposed to and do it well. There's far more work than my undergrad, sure, but I'm not worried about failing as long as I do what I'm supposed to and participate in seminars. It's harder than I make it out to sound, but. On a brighter note, I asked a faculty member if they'd be my committee chair. They agreed. Yay. And the rest of my (hoped) committee seems to get along with each other. I like the solidity of it. I have established the direction of my thesis, if not the precise direction (although I'm pretty sure of the direction).

Hello! I was not a Spanish major, nor did I apply to Spanish graduate programs, but my stats were very similar to yours, as is my background. I can only comment anecdotally given my experiences, but I managed to get into a reasonably competitive program with funding (only two of the applicants were awarded funding at my program). It's difficult to predict the whims of an admissions committee, but I think you might have a shot. However, if you don't get into a program this round, accept that might very well be due to reasons other than your qualifications. Admissions into programs are a complicated, weird process, and all sorts of things might stop a person from being accepted.

I like most of what I read, or at least most of what I read as long as it's good writing. I am only barely tolerant of bad writing. I am getting a bit overwhelmed, though. I read a lot, but I'm reading so much that I'm beginning to doubt if I can articulate anything that I'm reading; it's all starting to blur. I remember things that I've read this semester, but I'd have to really try to figure out what any specific thing was in any specific reading.