Neist

Wow. Those Mexican Central Bank loans sound pretty nice. 2%? I want one of those. Do UK PhDs work like most European PhDs? Personally, if I'd be finished in 3-4ish years, and I was already somewhat debt free, I'd probably do it. Under that scenario I'd only accrue 30-40k GBP maximum (assuming other funding didn't appear) in debt for an Oxford PhD with a ridiculously low interest loan. Doesn't sound that bad, to me. But that's me.

I think it's because a lot of the population of the apartments I live in (which are university-owned) are international students. A lot of the families here, especially the ones from Asia, grow their own vegetables. I always see weird veggies I've never seen before when they walk back from the gardens. Must be nice growing something that reminds you of home when your living far from it.

The only real hesitation I have with graduate school is the potential of taking on more loans. I only have 27.5k in loans right now, and I'll be able to finish my dual masters with only a little more. I'm hoping to end graduate school with no more than 40k (a chunk of which will be from unsubsidized loan interest.. yay...). However, If I can stay under 40k, and I pay the minimum payments expected in an income dependent plan, gauged against the entry-level librarian salary of $45k a year, the required ~$150 minimum payment will cover compounding interest until I get loan forgiveness in a maximum 20-25 years (with a final income tax payment of around $6-7k). Of course I want to pay them off faster than that, but I think I'd be comfortable with the worst case scenarios. Even if I'm only getting a 45k a year salary, that's a thousand dollars more a month than I'm getting now, so my quality of life should go up, either way. And librarian positions, given my experience, should be way easier to obtain than a faculty position in a department. I still get nervous though. I'm glad for you! I'm not sure if everyone experiences academic camaraderie, but I definitely have. Academics tend to be either really supportive, or not. I let the former help me while ignoring the latter.

I comfort myself with the thought that very few historians do the work I do like I do it. So, there's few people who can intelligently comment on my work. It's both a boon and a curse. I think the difficult part for me is going to be to able to do that without becoming a little bit arrogant. It's hard to discount someone's opinion without thinking you know better than they do. Life is all about balance. I have some growing to do, I think!

The apartment complex I'm living in offers small square plots to garden in, and while I've never participated in the past, I think I'd like to this year. The plots are a little bit off-site from the complex, but I don't think that'll bother me too much. It's still within walking distance. I'm not too sure what I want to plan at this point. Probably simple things that I use often. Green onions, peppers, herbs. Anyone have any other suggestions of low-maintenance yet kitchen staples?

Apparently, I'm the only person in this thread who thinks a touch screen laptop would be awesome. However, I never, ever normally touch the screen. Finger prints bother me immensely, and I think I'd have more of an issue with finger prints on a touch screen laptop, not the touch screen itself. That being said, I think I'm going to invest in a Google Pixel. I need something better than my cheapo $200 laptop.

I know many of you here are already attending a graduate program, so what I'm fixing to comment on will probably be more obvious, but I had a strange epiphany that I thought I'd like to share. I just realized that once I'm in graduate school, I can be more selective about what sort of advice seriously consider. This sounds like a silly realization, because anyone can discount advice at any point, but somehow I never felt as if I could intellectually disagree with peers about my interests. Before, I'd end up feeling guilty and stupid in the shadow of another's discontent, but I think I'm going to set that all aside. A lot of academics think a lot of other academic's work is misguided. Happy thoughts, and I'm marching to the beat of my own drum going forward.

I'm far from an expert, but I don't think you're necessarily denied, even if it's more likely than not. Who knows what sort of crazy situations arose this cycle at the schools your waiting for?

Clarification? Even if you were denied, it'd be nice to know. At this point in the cycle, I'd consider any news good news, and I don't think it's uncouth to contact programs.

Thanks for the kind words! What bothers me about these papers is that they were written for an upper division course. If this were a freshman course, I could comfort myself with the justification that some students received better schooling than others. However, these students have been at this university for at least two years, and this writing would be borderline unacceptable in high school. I didn't have high expectations for writing skill, and I'm shocked. It's pretty rough. Hopefully this girl is understanding? It's not your fault. I'm sure it'll be okay!

Paper grading.. So bad... I'm 100% certain that half of these papers were written amidst drinking binges and completed in under 10 minutes.

Looks pretty interesting. Thanks for the heads up!

Congrats!

Since he was discussed fairly recently in this thread, I thought I'd chime in and say that I've found out that Jeffrey Selingo has a new book out in a few days, There is Life After College. I might have to pick it up considering how much I enjoyed College Unbound. Nothing wrong with being well-prepared! I'm very similar. I often plan months or years in advance. I don't feel as if I'm an overly intelligent or qualified individual, so I do everything in my power to ease my future life.

So, I'm grading some papers, and I'm pretty sure some of these students were heavily intoxicated when they wrote them. For example, how does someone almost correctly use a comma? Oh, they used a comma, but about two words down further than correctly placed, several words beyond a conjunction. There's also quite a bit of missing words from this paper and several heavily misspelled ones. Ergh.

I'm so happy for you! ASU is a fantastic university, and I wish there was a program there that aligned with my interests. I wish you the best!

Congrats! Maybe we'll run into each other at same point. Different programs, but I imagine we'll be in similar circles.

I finished College Unbound, and I really liked it. I think it should be suggested reading for every high school senior. Additionally, it consider the future of my career. I imagine most of us here want to eventually work in academia, and if Selingo is eventually proved correct, I wonder how that will affect the job market and how I should focus my future graduate career. It was an interesting read. I've now started Hatching Twitter. Not overly educational, but I'm a science and technology nerd, and I thought it would be interesting. About a third of the way through already.

Thanks for the advice! I'll look into them. I cannot speak personally, but I know a lot of people who have used Surface Pros in grad school and loved them. They seemed to be the ideal combination of tablet and pc. That being said, I'll probably get a Pixel C. I'm a Google fanboy.

My program pays for my insurance, but I'm considering upgrading it. It requires that I use on-campus health facilities generally. Although, I might just keep the simple plan. I haven't really had to go to a doctor in a decade. Every 5 years or so I might get a sinus infection, but I'm pretty healthy. That being said, even if they didn't pay for my health insurance, I'd probably use loans to float getting it, even if it was terrible insurance. I'm terrified that I'll some significant injury and have no medical options.

I liked it a lot. I think it should be required reading for high school seniors, and I think it would have altered my career path if the options that now exist existed when I graduated high school. At the very least, anyone interested in eventually working in academia should read it because he argues what the future of higher education will look like, and does so quite well, I think.

RPI finally sent me a rejection. I decided against attending there anyway, but I'm glad I was eventually notified.

Depends where you get the said online degree from. I recently completed College Unbound, and I have to say I was rather surprised how progressive some online programs have become. There's always some online programs that will looked at badly (University of Phoenix, I'm looking at you), but there are quite a few interesting options. @pen2009, I know it might not be directly relevant to your current pursuits, but you should consider reading the book. At the very least it might bolster you commitment to attend an online program, as you have no other option. That could never hurt, right?

I know how safe one feels in a given area is relative, but Baltimore is far safer than the worst places in the US. Camden or Detroit are far, far, far scarier than Baltimore; I'm not sure if I'd ever go outside after dark in many parts of either of those two. I've never lived in Baltimore, but I've visited it often because my in-laws live close to there and that's where we usually fly into. I think you'd fine as long as you get advice about the best parts of town to live in and be smart with your actions. How's their placement records compare?

Congrats!