Sigaba

IME, background checks for private sector jobs center around verifying the information you provide IRT your education: institutions attended, dates of attendance, degrees earned. If you're asked about your GPA, the background check will be to verify the number you provide. I got dinged ever so slightly on a background check when I was rehired at my present job because I was a month off in my high school graduate date. My division recently let go of a consultant because he didn't have the degree he said. The assessment of your education will come during the job interview and exam. I recommend that you get into the frame of mind that you're willing to give a prospective employer at least two years of your undivided attention. Finding, hiring, and training qualified employees costs a lot of time and money. Firms may balk at making a job offer to someone who isn't committed. To be clear, unless directly asked a question such as "Where do you see yourself in ten years?" don't offer your plans to go back to the Ivory Tower. Do not lie, but do not say anything you don't need to say. Please understand that, at least in the U.S., it is a buyers' market. Before the recession, interns at my firm were typically collegians between their junior and senior years. Now, interns often have master's degrees.

What is your specific interest in the American Civil War and how, in your view, would military historians and Americanists who specialize in the nineteenth century not be able to help you get to where you want to go? Have you discussed your concerns with the professor with whom you worked at Purdue?

Are you searching for departments of education or schools of education when you look at institutions with African American studies programs?

Find a copy of Natalie Zemon Davis's Society and Culture in Early Modern France. Not only is it a work that can change your life (and not just in an academic sense), the introduction is an excellent example of how a master of the craft can connect topics together. Alternatively, you could find collected essays in your fields of interest and see how the editor pulls things together in the introduction. If you need additional support, let me know.

I recommend the following. Do not use term "pop culture," even in the most casual and friendly circumstances. Start developing an understanding of the different meanings of popular culture with an eye towards how you'd answer the questions "What is popular culture?" and "Why American studies?" in the most important conversations of your personal and personal professional lives. Find hard copies of the field's relevant journals (start with Journal of American Studies and American Studies) Read selectively through the last ten years or so. Focus on articles that talk about the state of the art and terms of debate Focus on reviews of the must read books. Skim pretty much everything else. Programs to consider: The University of Texas at Austin Yale Southern Cal Harvard University of Minnesota Additional considerations. You may want to take a close look at the backgrounds of potential POIs. Do they approach American Studies as a social science or do they have backgrounds in the humanities? If it's more of the latter (which I suspect), you may end up having to grind the gears to get your motor in sync. #HTH

When I first heard this rule of thumb, my thoughts were along the same lines as yours. It wasn't until after I junked a car I drove into the ground that I gave some thought into how much good money I threw after bad.

IRT the push/pull in different directions, it happens often with graduate students. If you can articulate (in casual conversation, in seminar, in office hours, and in your writing) the themes your different interests have in common and draw connections to historiographical themes in your main area of interest, you're going to be in a very good position. As Americanists tend to over-specialize, I recommend that you explore how Europeanists, especially those who focus on early modern Europe connect the dots between disparate topics. You could also explore the influence of political science (the dreaded "case study") upon history.

PM inbound.

Could you extend your undergraduate career by a year, ostensibly to compete for honors in your major or to qualify for a second major? Could you reach out to graduate students in your intended field of study at your UI and ask the same questions you have askedhere? (You may get answers that are more apples to apples.) FWIW, after my junior year, I participated in a summer program in which graduate students mentored undergraduates. We got to hear a very in depth conversation about the advantages/disadvantages of going directly to graduate school. Those who took time off were generally appreciative of their experiences out of the Ivory Tower BUT many spoke of the difficulties of making the transition back to being a student. The challenges ranged from going from having a job to being perpetually broke, to having authority in the work place to the infantalizing head games that professors sometimes play. IRT the guidance being given by your professors, I would assume a posture of paranoid good faith: they're probably trying to do right by you BUT might any of them be vindictive if you pick a post bac program over graduate school?

IIRC, there's a rule of thumb for owning a car. "Would you buy your car today?" If the answer is "no," then it is time to get another car. I would sell the car. New car parts for vehicles older than ten years become harder to find and your fuel efficiency is going to cost you. The rust is going to decrease the vehicle's resale value I would use the money from the sale and the money saved from not owning a car to pay for transpo (metro passes, uber/lyft, car rentals, taxi rides) and delivery services. (You can also attempt to negotiate a lease in an apartment with the parking 'unbundled'.) (FWIW, I haven't owned a car for some time. My annual transportation costs are $1,200 for monthly metro passes [paid with pre tax earnings] +$400ish for car rentals [including gas and insurance] + $100 for Amazon Prime.)

If one of the predominant theories of cognitive educational psychology is correct (and I believe that it is), your inability to master math to your satisfaction is the fault of your instructors and tutors, not yours. That is, when a motivated student cannot reach her goals, her teachers have failed her. They failed to match teaching tactics to your individual needs. It's up to you to decide if you want to spend more time and money finding someone who can get you to where you want to go. However, according to the work of K. Anders Ericsson, it is increasingly unlikely that you're going to "catch up," at least to people your age who have been refining their skills all along. This doesn't mean you cannot be a neuropsychologist, or any other practitioner in STEM. This just means that you're probably going to be older than your peers when you get to where you want to go. Given your subsequent post, the age difference may be a "trigger" that you struggle with from time to time. I very strongly suggest that you start, as soon as possible, addressing the passages in bold. As a graduate student in history, you're going to have to make many decisions very quickly and, sometimes, under a lot of pressure. The craft of history requires a lot of sorting. Examples include books you need to read cover to cover, and books you can skim; interpretations that advance historiographical debates and those that don't. As you advance in your work, you will be expected to make these decisions faster and faster, with the crucible being your qualifying exams, but especially the oral exam. IRT your struggles with learning, professional academic history is generally a field of knowledge that is self taught; all the more with the growing generational rift between established scholars and each incoming class of graduate students. Consequently, you're going to be on the spot to figure out which skills you need to develop and how. You may also have to figure out how to push your professors to teach you what they know even though some may prefer to ignore you. IRT finding the sweet spot between history and science, have you considered the possibility of being an "official historian" for the Canadian Space Agency? Or, if you're willing to become an American citizen, NASA, or private companies like SpaceX?

I think you should start managing immediately your expectations. As a first year grad student working as a T.A., you're going to be very busy. Unless you're exceptionally disciplined and already have a firm understanding of your department, there's a good chance that you're going to have some difficult times ahead--over lapping course deadlines and TA deadlines, a professor standing on your head, and the pressures of everyday life. How will the privacy of living alone help you through the times of tough sledding? Will it enable you to focus better because you can depressurize as needed? Will the privacy push you to going full potato either through self imposed isolation or excessive socializing (or both)? My recommendation is a slight variation on FL's post. For your first year, find a two-room flat in which you have your own bathroom and the rooms are on opposite sides of the common areas. Find a room mate who will respect your privacy but also will hold you to some level of accountability. Talk everything out before hand and present specific examples of what you would want and what you expect--avoid making assumptions. You can use some of the money you'll save to improve the quality of "life outside of grad school" and bank the rest to get you through the summer of 2017.

For the emotional component of your experience, I strongly recommend that you focus on your sessions with your therapist, especially in regards to coping with the way you feel. From an intellectual standpoint, I recommend that you try to think differently about your experiences as a graduate student. You passed your qualifying exams, full stop. If the exams revealed areas where you would benefit from improvement, then put those areas on a "to do list." Don't beat yourself up. If anything, you might celebrate the fact that you passed qualifying exams without the background that students in your area typically have. Second, you didn't win a NSF, you EARNED one through the hard work you've done so far and for the potential for future achievements that you've demonstrated. Draw confidence from what you have done. Third, recognize that graduate school is often a "self taught" affair. Advisers don't always offer the kind of support one would like. (I am NOT bitter about this dynamic. Not at all.) One of the things that you can teach yourself is the skill of finding other people who are willing to help you and resources upon which you can rely. Fourth, understand that your research is not useless. Based upon your comments, you're on the leading edge. It may well be that the pain your feeling is partly due to the fact that the leading edge is often the bleeding edge. Give some thought to finding ways to connect your work to existing trajectories of research. Use that research to strengthen your foundation and your work may feel more "connected." Also understand that by being on the leading edge, that by getting there first, you will be defining subsequent scholarly debate. "Geographyrocks? Heck, that person got it right/got it wrong and I'm going to spend the next five years proving it!" Circling back to the emotional component, focus upon the usable guidance you developed while working with your therapist.

Don't bench mark yourself against your perception of your classmates' progress or their skills. Do not measure yourself based upon preconceived notions of how much time it should take you to perform a task. If you're the type to wait until the last moment, consider the utility of embracing that trait. Do not flog yourself with the "I should be doing something else" cat of nine tails. Develop an understanding of how long it takes you to perform tasks and of when you're most efficient. Use your windows of greatest efficiency to tackle the more difficult tasks. Develop a respect for your strengths as a historian and draw confidence from those strengths. Use that store of confidence to improve skills that aren't where you would like. Study the lives of those historians who inspire you. Chances are, their memories/autobiographies/letters will provide useful insights on how to approach the work.

@Knivez, it its current form, your SOP suggests that you don't have a detailed vision/understanding of how a degree in security studies from a specific institution will help you realize your career goal as an agent for the FBI. IMO, your discussion of your armed service in the Marines would benefit from a significant re-write. I recommend that, without resorting to jargon, you explain how your training allowed you to advance the mission of your unit and how you learned from your experiences to see a bigger picture, what ever that may be. I suggest that you do additional research on those faculty members who might read your comments about your time in the Marines with hostility (America is still fighting a very unpopular war) or with indifference (not everyone cares one way or another about citizen soldiers) or with an especially critical eye Your discussion of your thesis needs to include a very concise summary of your findings, how those findings fit into ongoing scholarly discussions of the topic, and, if you plan to continue studying the same topic, additional questions you hope to address. Your comments about your considerations of your options needs refinement--they presently read like a cut and paste job. Define your areas of interest, your proposed course of study, give an indication that you're familiar with how your interests "fit" with those faculty members with whom you hope to work. Demonstrate that you're aware of the resources available at a given institution and how you intend to use them. (PM inbound).

Unfortunately, the lesson taught is not yet the lesson learned. If you again make a decision to not do as you're expressly told, make sure that you read the fine print of the applications. By submitting it, you may authorize the schools you want to attend to look at all of your records. In the event you decide to follow the instructions on your applications, I very strongly urge you to avoid the second guessing of your professor and your school in your OP. If you don't understand what you did and why you received the penalty, you need to review all the available materials until you figure it out.

You may get better answers in the fora available here. http://forum.thegradcafe.com/forum/9-applied-sciences-amp-mathematics/

@SpaceCowboy , FWIW, I currently work at a boutique architectural/structural engineering consultancy. I have previously worked at the R&D lab of a multi-national consumer and business electronics firm. If your comments reflect accurately your general mindset towards work (rather than the late-night blues that stalk all graduate students) I don't think the private sector is going to be a good fit for you unless you can find ways to embrace the value of what you're doing in the here and now, to seize moments for self-improvement and skill development, and to have respect for the 'end users' of your work product. Good employers are not merely looking for skills to do a job with minimal to no training, they're also looking for "can do" / "team player" attitudes. You don't have to be a "rah rah go team" kind of person (I most certainly am not), but a "what's in it for me?" approach isn't going to get you very far unless you're a revenue generating machine. Even then, the Powers That Be will harbor doubts that may limit your opportunities for growth. IRT your current program, if you think you're going to end up in the private sector, use the requirements for an outside field to develop skills that will make you a more competitive applicant. When identifying these skill development opportunities, you should be mindful of how AI and the IoT are going to change the way work gets done over the next two or three decades.

Before asking for more feedback from your professors, I very strongly urge you to reflect upon the portions of your OP in bold face. You may not realize it, but if your comments reflect your approach to graduate school, you may be sending a message that is either different than what you intend, or a very unfavorable one, to your professors.

As you're entering your program from a large public university, I recommend that you not take an independent study class during your first semester unless: you're working with a professor who has a "hands on" approach, your DGS has something resembling a "hands on" approach, you have both the motivation and the skill set to start building relationships in your department, and you're going to be on campus most days of the week. For better and worse, graduate programs make assumptions about the situational awareness of graduate students and professors sometimes justify their desire not to teach or to mentor with pejorative remarks about "hand holding." You may not be told that you're drifting from the path to success until you're standing in a bog and someone yells "Hey, what are you doing over there? You should be over here?" IRT the sound recommendations that you confer with second and third year graduate students in your department, please consider the utility of balancing the information you receive with the backgrounds of the students giving you free advice. For example, students with teaching duties and/or interests and responsibilities outside of school may have a different idea of a good course load than students who have great funding and a monastic focus.

I would triple check with reliable sources (DGS, committee members, POC at top tier academic journals) within my area before I used crowdfunding to finance research. Does the use of crowdfunding violate any ethical standards, existing guidelines, or tweak established (but unspoken) sensibilities in the profession one seeks to join? Graduate school is often about jumping through hoops and sometimes novel solutions and innovative approaches are punished rather than celebrated.

Yes.

I agree with FL but offer a different phrasing of the guidance. Do not ask recent graduates from the program unless you really know how to ask the right questions and listen to the answers. A relationship between graduate students and their professors is a black box especially if the professor has exploited the power dynamic. You may not want to stir things up when there are other ways to get the information you need. For example, what you could instead do is to raise in a very general way, the known issues regarding sexism in your field (maybe even refer to a piece that was published several years ago) and then listen very carefully to what is said. And what is not. You could also do research on the parent institution's policy on sexual harassment training. Depending upon the maturity of the policy and mechanisms of enforcement, you may get a good insight as to what is going on.

Pardon the brevity of the following suggestions. I'm in a rush. Start here and there (if you have access to JSTOR or an academic research library). For nativism, start with Higham's Stranger in the Land and American Jewish History, vol. 76. The following links may also be helpful. http://myweb.fsu.edu/jkoslow/AMH%205229_syllabus_6_25_07.pdf http://courses.missouristate.edu/bobmiller/HST/HST525/Book%20Report%20525.htm https://www.cla.purdue.edu/history/documents/Syllabus-Fall/651_Gabin_F2011.pdf [Weeks 2 and 3]

I recommend that you communicate with the departments at the respective school and try to get a sense of what they're looking for in successful applicants. I would also specifically ask about their process for evaluating GPAs that aren't on a 4.0 scale and from academic institutions out of the United States. Do what you can to avoid questions/comments that sound like Why didn't I get in? / I should have gotten in. Instead, keep the conversation focused on identifying what you can do to make yourself a better applicant. You might also try reaching out to the following organizations for insights, tips, and pointers. http://texasisa.org/ https://stuactonline.tamu.edu/app/organization/profile/public/id/530 http://www.clubs.psu.edu/up/igsa/