Sigaba

It's easier said than done. Do what you can to separate outcomes from positive (and less than ideal) interactions with historians. An observation (sometimes a complaint) of older professionals is that more and more people are treating relationships as a means to an end. In my experience, if you treat professional relationships from a the journey is the destination frame of mind, you will earn a lot of respect. And from there you may have unforeseen opportunities to learn and grow. Also, separating interactions from outcomes will allow you to build your self confidence, something you will need when preparing for quals and you want to curl into a ball on the floor of wherever you are and wonder if you're even smart enough to flip burgers.

I recommend using either the edit function or the hide post function to get rid of the identifiable information. Members of departments do come to TGC and some might misread your post in ways that are contrary to who you are and the spirit in which you wrote it. Then, I would consider the possibility that you have access to a much better resource than TGC--the professor at your department who appears to be mentoring you and is absolutely in your corner. There is very little information here that is anywhere as valuable as the guidance this professor can offer. In the event you still want advice from strangers who wish you the best but are, ultimately, still complete strangers on the internet, I recommend that you do a deep dive into the background of the aforementioned POI. You want to do all you can to make sure that your work is going to be on par with that person's expectations. Yes, you're a work in progress, yes, this person will understand that when looking at your work, but this person is also the real deal and may have exceptionally high expectations. If you take this deep dive, I would recommend getting a copy of this person's dissertation AND master's thesis. (If you're within distance of this person's UGI, you might also consider seeing if you can find a copy of that person's UG thesis and honor's thesis.) At the very least, reading both will provide you an opportunity to see how a practitioner of one of the profession's most challenging and important fields grew as historian. More generally, you should feel great! You have a professor in your corner. You have got the attention of a POI who may be willing to take you under a wing, advocate on your behalf in front of an admissions committee, and provide you support as a graduate student. (And this support could come even if you end up at a different program.) You should take these experiences as a sign that the tremendous potential others, including me, a complete stranger, is real. A challenge now is to look those impostor syndrome ghosts in the eye and say "GTFO" and continue on the path of developing the skills as an academic historian. My $0.02.

I think that your scenario asks some good questions but I suggest that some of the financial assumptions/projections are off. An assistant professor, at least in the CSU and UC systems will be in the six figure range if one includes benefits. If a person secures promotions at a decent rate, that professor could see compensation increase significantly. https://transparentcalifornia.com/salaries/search/?q=assistant+professor https://transparentcalifornia.com/salaries/search/?q=associate+professor https://transparentcalifornia.com/salaries/search/?q=professor Then there are the perks that reduce expenses. The access to libraries, gymnasiums, and subsidized reserved parking are worth hundreds, if not thousands a year. A professor may also have opportunities to get tuition/fees waived for offspring not just at one's parent institution but partnered schools. One should not overlook opportunities for generating additional revenue during semester/quarter breaks. If one really wants to crunch numbers, if a professor does most of his/her work on campus, there will be savings for reduced electricity and internet costs. And, as is being discussed in another forum, unpaid internships can work to the benefit of the professor willing to exploit shamelessly collegians and graduate students. If a professor makes use of a Roth 401k, the "triple reward" of an insurance policy with a HSA option, and shares resources and divides expenses with a partner or spouse, a newly minted 50-year professor with at least 20 to 25 years of working years would, IMO, have a reasonable chance of making a comfortable life while building up an okay retirement fund. (All the more if the person participates in "wellness" programs and takes advantage of all of the benefits of a health insurance policy. The cost of living in the future could go up, especially with an aging population and rising healthcare costs, but they could also go down with deep-learning ASIs making life easier, more efficient, and less costly for those who haven't been replaced by drones. Also, there's nothing stopping an academic from changing careers from the Ivory Tower to the private sector towards the end of one's career. (I've overheard a very senior vp at my firm talking about academics joining consulting because they go from wanting to save the world to making some money.) So while I think an aspiring middle aged person contemplating a career in the Ivory Tower should take your recommendation under advisement, I also think that "gaming it out" should be based upon broader considerations than just the base salary of a professor.

It may matter if you authorize a background check down the line and there's no paperwork to verify that you were a RA. I recommend that you ask around the department how non paying RA-ships are handled: Do you execute an agreement anyways? Are certain class numbers designated for RAs? (Are those class numbers described as such in a class schedule and a catalog. I also recommend that you double check on what you're eligible to receive even though the RA-ship is unpaid. As an example, the departmental staff may issue student store discount cards to all TAs/RAs but those RAs who aren't paid may assume they're SOLO, not ask, and miss out. If the situation is such that there's no piece of paper issued to verify that you're a RA, I would look for specific guidance from those who have held similar positions in your department as well as from your department on how to put the position in your CV/resume. TL/DR: protect yourself at all times. Don't put anything on your resume that a third party couldn't easily verify.

I missed this thread the first time around. How did it turn out?

FWIW, I very strongly recommend that you defer your socializing until you get a good sense of what you need to do to be successful in your program as a first year student. IRT the social life of graduate students, there are many threads in which that topic is discussed across many of the fora here. Maybe try browsing through the hits from this search before doing additional searching and reading . https://forum.thegradcafe.com/search/?q="social life"&page=1&sortby=relevancy

If a grade you give on a midterm leads to a semester grade that a student thinks will keep him out of Happyland University and said student has a "helicopter parent," your posts may be used as proof of "bias". If your boss and your department 100% have your back ahead of their own interests, you're good to go. Otherwise...

What follows are recommendations that others haven't already been discussed in great detail (or I just flat out missed). I offer no comment on previous recommendations that I find controversial. I offer no guarantee or warranty that any of the suggestions that follow will work for you. My background I was trained and mentored by a professor who won a university award for teaching and a national award for teaching, wrote a well regarded pamphlet on teaching history, and was ultimately the university-wide SME on teaching undergraduates. (Hereafter Professor Sierra) I did my outside field in the school of education' with a professor whose many hats included training teachers to teach, consulting, and some session work. (Hereafter Professor Charlie) Prior to graduate school, I had aspired to be a professor known for teaching. With this objective in mind, I deliberately studied under historians who struck me as great teachers to the point where I dropped professors who were clearly awful ones. My experience Ten (10) total sections in the history department, all but two (2) in my areas of emphasis. Recommendations From Professor Sierra. Hold the line on grades at all costs. Grade inflation is a blight upon the Ivory Tower that diminishes the reputation of a department and the value of a degree. Develop and adhere to well-developed evaluation rubrics. Give comprehensive feedback to students so they understand why the deserve the grade they received. Make office hours mandatory after midterms Do not throw students curve balls when preparing them for exams. Every question he ever posed on an exam or allowed me to write were right out of the course materials. Fastballs at 119 MPH. A syllabus is a contract. Hold the line on grades at all costs. (After penciling in grades, go through everything again.) From Professor Charlie If a student is motivated to learn and does not achieve her educational objectives it is the teacher's fault. (This one stings.) If a student is motivated to learn, do not attempt to alter that student's motivation. Technology is a tool no more, and often less, valuable than other resources. (He could point to the research backing this up.) Give information in small clusters of 7 +/-2 . (This tactic is related to the concept of "working knowledge" in cognitive psychology.) Students are like "abused children" and can respond as such, so don't take feedback too personally. The second best tool he shared -- distribute an evaluation form at the beginning of each and every class meeting that allowed for anonymous feedback. Sometimes, the feedback was brutal. Most of the time, the feedback was painful (because few hand in the forms). The best tool he shared was a frame of mind that made supporting students so they could reach their goals the only objective of teaching. "You're going to tell me what you want to achieve, and I'm going to give you some support." This position means that if a student wants to pass a class, it's your job to support that goal. My Lessons Learned Having students complete, by hand, a student information sheet that includes fields for interests, course objectives, contact information, and schedule can pay huge dividends if: You schedule your office hours in a way that accommodates the schedules of most schedules. You read carefully their interests and objectives. Memorizing the names of all your students by the second section meeting will earn a lot of respect. FWIW, I used an instant camera to take photos during the first meeting, had students write their names with black sharpies, and spent as much time as necessary that night to learn the names. For the rest of the semester and beyond, I paid students cash out of my pocket if I couldn't remember a name. Make a commitment to your students. Throughout the semester, I would beat the drum that I was their advocate with the professor who had final say on grades. I implored "Put me in a position where I can make a convincing case that the high B you earned by the numbers should be a B+." Many students responded to this offer and worked harder and harder as the semester wore on, and they got the bumps (and in a few cases, the lumps) they deserved. Grading blue books Time consuming, often painful, I eventually found a workflow that saw me going through all the responses for a specific ID term, short essay, or long essay so that I could understand what better responses looked like compared to less thoughtful ones. From there, I'd work on the responses that merited a straight grade and then the pluses and the minuses. Throughout, I'd use the rubric which also had abbreviations for recurring issues. Extra credit With a professor's prior approval, I'd offer extra credit opportunities. In general, they were easy to evaluate because the task would be something I'd already read/seen/heard and students would often not want to pay the cost in free time. Have a realistic sense of who you are as a person. "Yours is not a smiling face," Professor Sierra told me after three undergraduates cried in my office on consecutive days, the third would go on to start in the NFL. From that point forward, I've worked on softening the edges, but I understand that an edge will probably always be there. Your department will form opinions if you are placing too high a priority on your TAing. During midterms and towards the end of the semester, there would be multiple 18+ hour days on campus, doing the TA thing. Recognize, document, report, and avoid the crazy Use in-class group projects to put the burden of disruptive students on other disruptive students. That is, if you have five students who are constantly causing you issues, divide your section into groups of five with those five students on the same team and appoint the chief trouble maker to be team captain. The other teams will pretty much run themselves and do well so you can focus your support where it's most needed. Luck of the draw is a huge factor in how well a section goes. One semester, you can have a critical mass students who "get you," like the class, and love the professor and off you go. Another semester, you can have a critical mass of students who are in the class because nothing else was available, don't like the materials, don't get the professor, and have a "fuck you very much" attitude no matter what you do. Big smiles and fun times await. Before the first day of the academic year, you want to get a clear sense of how your department, the college, and the university value academic integrity. As a collegian, the riot act on plagiarism was read during every first meeting of every class. As a graduate student, such a process was not in place. So, when I caught some students doing shady things and did my job as I understood it, I found out that my expectations were out of whack with established practice. I am not bitter; it's purely and absolutely by coincidence that I've made a living in the private sector since then.

A variation of the above. Have in mind what you'd like to do and what you don't want to do, so that when you tell your professor, you can propose a solution as a diplomatically phrased recommendation with an appropriate amount of deference and respect. Using your situation as an example, you could point out that as the two of you have a social relationship, and as you want to avoid the appearance of impropriety, would it be prudent for the student to be assigned to a different section? If the professor agrees with your recommendation, make a note of it after the meeting. If the professor disagrees with your recommendation, make a not of it after the meeting. In both cases, store a digital copy of the note in more than one location. Why? Because batshit crazy happens, and when it does, documentation is a good thing to have handy. (Or so I've heard.) Meanwhile, consider the advantages of dialing down your digital footprint to zero for as long as you're working as a teaching assistant plus the number of years that a grade can be changed or challenged. Why? Because batshit crazy happens and entitled grade conscious students can go full guano smoothie with the best of them. (Or so I've heard. #notbitter though.)

You may be trying to find too much self-efficacy in one arena. You want work that is intellectually challenging, a work environment that is intellectually engaging from the start and most of the time, and a workplace that provides opportunities for social bonding with your peers, AND you have a quirky personality/sense of humor which you don't want to dial down too much, AND a work life balance In my work experience at two engineering firms in different industries, a great work/life balance is the minimum price one pays to check the other items off the list, and dialing down the quirkiness is also a requirement if one wants to get the more challenging projects. My sense is that it's about earning trust from the Powers That Be by demonstrating one's commitment by fitting in with the culture of the pack and showing one can handle responsibility in a way that resonates. Ultimately, it's about expenses and revenue and reputation. There are those people that the bosses like to pal around with, and those they trust with the future of the company. Members of the former don't always get asked to join the latter; the latter are not always from the former. IRT earning a Ph.D. and joining the work force, IME, new hires with doctorates (we've hired two this year and one year before last) are expected to hit the ground racing with zero warm up time and even less training time. My recommendation is that if you decide to rejoin the private sector sooner rather than later, you practice patience, patience, and more patience. The time you spend pushing paper and twiddling your thumbs is part of your training. PMs/bosses need to trust an engineer before that person is given meaningful work. (We recently hired an EIT who is a course or two shy of a master's degree. This EIT is having many of the issues you described years ago. Those of us who are training this new hire are counseling patience but the advice may be falling on deaf ears.)

A consideration for those contemplating disclosing a mental illness. You have very little to no way of knowing if a department has had experiences with mentally ill faculty members, administrators, and graduate students and if those experiences have resulted in greater self education, policy revision, and empathy or an unspoken consensus to avoid those kinds of experiences in the future. The latter frame of mind does not automatically mean that a disclosure is going to encounter less than professional behavior. However, one can be treated professionally, still get screwed over, and never have any way of knowing that your disclosure was at the core of the reasons why. TL/DR. Know the recent history of your department before disclosing a mental illness.

A reminder. Dissertation and thesis titles should be in quotation marks, not italics.?

A reminder: active participation does not require you to pick a position and fight for it to the bitter end. Active participation can include a posture that combines thoughtful silence, intellectual engagement, and empathy. The craft of academic history is hard, the creation of new knowledge is a painful process. If you can "read back" to a historian a POV she hold or values, if you can connect another historian's work to existing historiography in slightly different ways, and maintain the comportment of a professional, you're probably going to be all right. In the event you find yourself in the middle of a major brush up, don't feel compelled to take sides. You can do the look at your notes and write something down thing, or the FDR-nod thing. On the occasion where you step on your crank, take the beat down that follows, shake the professor's hand at the end of class, check in with what ever professors you need to check in with, and go on with your day.

If you click the drop down triangle/arrow next to options, you can select to hide a post. In any case, I edited mine because I misread a post to which I was replying. Now, a day later, I'm realizing that I did read yours correctly. Not enough coffee? Too much coffee? One sure way to find out--drink more coffee.

What intention should be inferred from your judgement? You wrote. "Tbh, I don't understand why you don't know your work (roughly) by heart by now." You are articulating an expectation of someone and passing judgement for not meeting it.

Every one has a different process and that process can change over time. Unless you're an exceptionally skilled writer who makes a living from your craft, I would strongly suggest that you do your best and not lord over members of this BB asking for support.

What's your favorite sport? If it's baseball, keep in mind that the task at hand is to show basic command of your pitches. Make sure you can throw strikes before you walk to the mound in Fenway to face Aaron Judge in the deciding game of the ALCS.

If you were thinking about Magaziner, please consider the benefit of getting a copy of his dissertation, cross referencing it with both of his books, and identifying which scholar or scholars influencing him. Then give thought to reading those works and some thought to writing your review essay on one of those books especially if you have a significant interpretive difference from Magaziner OR if you see your dissertation looking for similar trees but in different parts of the forest. That is, you want to do for Z what Magaziner did for South Africa. Or you want to revisit the same topics but look for different sources, and so forth.

Politics are part and parcel of the Ivory Tower, if not the whole human experience. The key is knowing for one's self when it's time to go along to get along because you can't fight city hall, or to take a stand and fight the good fight.

Do research on the educational experiences of people who have the kinds of jobs you want to have. Where did they go to school? Did a sufficient number of them go to where you are now or to comparable programs? If the answer to the second question is "no," more often than not, you may be facing an uphill battle getting a job if you stay where you are now.

What ever you do, do not write a review on a work of "traditional," narrative, top down history. Or so I've heard. (#NOTBITTER) I would strongly urge you to reconsider this choice. All things being equal, there's an opportunity for it to come across as being obsequious, and/or of getting it "wrong," and/or of antagonizing other members of the department who have their own objectives and preferences. Instead, please consider writing a review on the same topic (or same trajectory of historiography) so you can indicate that you know your stuff. $0.02 from someone who didn't get into Happyland University for "political" reasons. (I was told it was politics, my own thought is that my application and book review just weren't good enough.)

Arc'Teryx Veilance Seque

I am still #NOTBITTER about The Farm saying no. FWIW, on a SOP that worked well for me, I laid out a road map of how I envisioned my career at the time (this is when I actually thought I'd ever get a job in the Ivory Tower--still #NOTBITTER about that too). Understanding that a history department had Americanists who'd produced important works on specific presidents, I indicated I wanted to produce works on different presidents of the same era (post World War II) from the same perspective (impact of domestic politics on foreign policy decisions).

I can make no promises nor offer any guarantees. That being said, send me an email in the event you want to explore opportunities outside of the Ivory Tower. Have you looked at opportunities at consultancies that specialize in planning services and operations management? Based upon my (very limited) understanding of your skill set, you might be a good candidate for positions that have a lot of client/stakeholder facing responsibilities. Thinking aloud here. I am imaging you reducing a technical report or memo or slide deck and an accompanying presentation that will be accompanied by the sounds of heads hitting tables into something that is informative, memorable, and enables a productive conversation about exceptionally controversial issues.

On the other hand. if one is going to pick a graduate program with one long term objective in the forefront, why not two? FWIW, my recommendation is to find a balance between conveying a clear understanding of relevant primary resources, especially those close by, without necessarily committing to a dissertation topic. Qualifying words/phrases can achieve this objective efficiently. In my mind's eye, this task very similar to explaining how one's research interests align with parties of interest in a department without mentioning a single name. YMMV.