Sigaba

YOLP-- Hang in there. Rather than reading the tea leaves and driving yourself nuts, consider the utility of focusing on matters that you can control. If you really need an answer, give some thought on how you could contact each department at Penn State, ask a direct (or indirect) question, and go from there. (An indirect question would be along the lines of "Can I confirm the contact information you have about me?") As for the other schools, keep your head up. Remember, that sometimes these decisions are not about how you look but about how departments think other candidates look. That is, just because you miss a cut doesn't mean that you're not a worthy applicant with lots of potential.

Okay. You might be trying to make a point that can work against you. Does the expectation that an undergraduate will do better in the last two years reflect the view that she will do better work in her major? Or does it also reflect the view that she is maturing as a student and doing better work over all?

Bluntly, I think that you need to take a look at your attitude and how it may impact the outcome of this process. You are going to be discussing a very complicated and controversial issue with people who have power over you. I think it is in your best interest to take your emotions out of the equation. Among the emotions to control are your feelings of victimization, self-righteousness, and anger. It does not matter if you and your cohort are in the right and they are in the wrong. If you communicate with the tone you display in the OP you will not prevail. If you decide to continue with this process, Identify the issues you want to address. Figure out the outcomes you'd prefer. Figure out the outcomes that are possible. And then figure out what you can do to close the gap between what you want and what you can get. That is, manage your expectations. You may want heads on a platter but what may happen is that students will get nothing more than an opportunity to retake the class. Do not say anything about the individuals you're dealing with either on line or to anyone else that you're not willing to say it directly to those people. If you need to vent, and I suggest you don't, do it with pen and pencil or in an encrypted file. Right now, your emotions are getting the better of you. If you have a talk with people higher up in the food chain with the tone you used in the OP, you are going to undermine your chances for a sustainable resolution to your issue. Do not, under any circumstances, make anything that sounds like a threat, especially if you do not have the power to carry out that threat. If you're set on tearing the temple down, then do it. But do not talk about it. (Make no mistake, I think that this would be an incredibly self destructive act on your part.) Concurrently, please do take a long hard look at yourself in the mirror. Bluntly, some of what you say you did does not track with who you say you are. You need to figure out these inconsistences before you go into a meeting and say/do something that undermines your credibility and forfeits the high ground. For example, somewhere along the line, you made some pragmatic decisions. But now you're talking about principle. What prompted the transition? And there are other questions you might consider. Why are you fighting this fight? (It is unclear if you got a poor mark in the second class.) Who are you trying to help? Did they ask you? Are you helping them the way they've asked you? Or are you imposing your solutions on their problems and thereby complicating an already difficult situation? Whose interests and what priorities are driving you right now? Do you want a sustainable solution or do you want revenge? What are you going to do if you can't get either?) I understand that some of my comments may not be what you expected. You strike me as someone who has what I call a "crusader's mentality." IMO, that isn't such a bad trait to have. However, I urge you to understand the differences between giants and windmills before you grab a lance and charge down the hill. And also understand that being angry can get in the way of being effective. (FWIW, as a hot head, I often say to myself: [sigaba], do you want to be mad or do you want to get the problem solved--because you cannot do both? When I decide to get the problem solved, things tend to turn out a lot better for me.) HTH.

What is the significance of your taking courses out of sequence? Are you saying you took more advance courses first, and took less advanced courses later on and did not do as well in them?

Maybe, maybe not. It will depend not only upon the requirements of a specific program, but also the preferences of the professor who has "pass/no pass" authority. Some professors will let you get by if you pass a course in a language department designed for graduate students. Others will sit you down in their office and proceed to have a conversation with you about your field of study in the language under review. And that will be just for starters. The broader point here is that graduate students in history can help themselves best by having several face-to-face conversations with any and all professors who will administer make or break exams. Also, consider the possibility that each student is a program is going to have a different experence in that program from his or her classmates. A classmate who says "do not worry" may have a different skill set as well as an entirely different relationship with the materials and a given professor. And that person isn't going to take the exam--you are.

Mass transit information is available here http://www.capmetro.org/index.asp Contact info is there http://www.capmetro.org/contact.asp FWIW, my moment of panic came in mid/late October my first semester there. Since I'd arrived, I told myself that things would cool down once fall arrived. One early evening, the following thought came to mind. Hey, stupid. Fall isn't coming. I hugged my inner child and went back into the library. Something to consider if you do go. Wear long sleeve shirts to keep your arms out of the sun and always follow a +1 rule by having an additional layer in your book bag to deal with the transition from outside to inside.

The heat in Austin is something all potential Longhorns who are not from Texas or the Southeast should consider very carefully. Unless you are used to tropical heat AND humidity, you need to understand that there are no easy "five minute walks" in Austin. During my time at the Forty Acres, I lived across the street from campus and the equivalent of three long blocks from the hall where I took most of my classes. By the time I got across the street onto campus, I would be sweating. By the time I got to class, I would be drenched. This dynamic was especially uncomfortable when my destination was the PCL (the main research library) as the A/C ensured that one was going to go from being hot and wet to being wet and cold in a very short period of time. The heat can affect your mood (I realized why Texas are so polite my third day there), your ability to focus on your studies, and your ability to sleep. Unless personal hygeine is not a priority, you will need to program your budget to account for a lot of showers, a lot of laundry, and a lot of dry cleaning. If your utilities are not included in your rent, you will take a ding from your AC bill. Add to the mix the cedar pollen and those with allergies are going to have a grand old time. And then there were the grackles. Don't get me started on the grackles. Or the roaches the size of compact cars. Again, if you're used to such a climate, these issues won't bother you any more than they already do But if you're from a temperate region or you're used to a dry heat, you are in for a surprise. (Imagine the feeling of thousands of needles pressing into your skin and delivering the feeling of a weak electrical charge. That's a nice day in Austin.) I loved Austin but the heat and the cedar pollen really kicked my backside and got in the way of my enjoying a truly beautiful city, an outstanding school, and the great State of Texas.

If you really think that money is just going to be "handed" to you, you may well be. If you accept the offer, anticipate being held to a high standard of performance by your department, being subject to a review at the end of each academic year, and having at least one fellow graduate student competing against you with a very high level of intensity. This student may end up being a good friend or a dangerous foe, but in either case, others will watch to see how you respond.

Have you, in a face to face conversation with the director, used the exact same words to describe his character and his conduct that you use in your narrative?

There's a concept bouncing around in this thread that I think poses a risk to any and to all who use it. That concept is the "selling" of one's self to a program in order leverage additional funding. IMO, this is not a tactic that anyone on this BB should use--not even applicants as successful as Safferz. (Correction: especially applicants like Safferz). Here's why. The interpersonal and political dynamics of the departments that have accepted you comprise a massive black box. Once you're in a program and you start developing relationships with professors and developing as a historian, you might be allowed to see inside portions of this box. But right now, as a newly admitted student who doesn't have a day's worth of class time, you are the proverbial hog staring at a wristwatch. If you try to "sell" yourself for more money, especially by playing one program's offer against another, you are taking a huge risk that is entirely avoidable. That risk is rubbing the wrong person the wrong way. Are you one hundred percent sure that POIs at institutions A, B, and C don't know each other or hat they've not broken bread at a conference or two or that they helped each other out at some time in the past, or that they're former classmates or that they're neighbors on Facebook? Do you know for certain that they're not already communicating amongst themselves about you? I have experience in the Ivory Tower as well as the private sector and it is my experience that the Powers That Be always talk among themselves and compare notes--even when they're fierce rivals. (And sometimes, especially if they’re fierce rivals.) How much extra money can such a tactic get you to make it worth the risk of getting off on the wrong foot with a POI? A thousand dollars? Five thousand dollars? What good is the extra money going to do you if you're on professors' bad side? There are things about your areas of interest that only professors can show you, lessons that only they can teach, and pitfalls only they can help you avoid. Even if they really like you, they're going to let you flounder around until you figure things out for yourself, use you as a chew toy, yell “look out” after you’ve hit a tree, and flat out knock you on your backside on a regular basis. Do you want to risk going through these experiences with one or more professors having a skeptical view of you because you "sold" them something? If so, well, sell away and may the Force be with you always. But I ask: Why not try an honest approach? How about leading with something like the following. "I want to attend your program and I would like to talk about opportunities for additional funding. My concern is that, even with the generous offer I've received, I may not be able to make ends meet." Or, "I've also received a very generous offer from the University of Happyland. Can you tell me more about your program/your work/your expectations of me/your other graduate students/the quality of life here so I can make the best decision?" [The "for me" is implied.] Both of these approaches, as well as others in the same spirit, make the discussion about money but without "selling." If you're still thinking about the "sell" approach, think about the following diagnostic question: DO YOU HAVE GAME? And by "game," I mean are you a person who has the proven ability to "sell" oneself successfully? Do you routinely "win people over"? Are you highly successful in your pursuit of those who interest you romantically? Do you regularly get yourself out of serious jams with your communication skills? Are you the life of the party? Are you the alpha male/female in the pack? Are you the shot-caller in your set? Are you the belle of the ball? If the answer to all these questions is "yes," then maybe it is worth taking a chance--but even then, there's that black box. What’s in that black box that can be so bad? Well, one of you has a quote by Raymond Williams as a signature. Have you ever really gotten to know historians who seek to embody the ideas and values of intellectual giants like Williams and other critics of the exploitive, dehumanizing nature of capitalism? How long do you think it is going to take them to sniff out your “sell”? Do you think they’re going to say “Ah, it is all part of the marketplace. Here’s some more money. Well played, player.”

As a native Angeleno who went to Cal as an undergraduate, I quickly came to the conclusion that folks in the Bay Area spend more time thinking about their neighbors down south than we do about them. The ambiance in the L.A. area (and I'm including adjacent cites like Culver City and Santa Monica) will depend upon where you are. It will be very difficult for you to replicate the cosmpolitan feel of SF because L.A. sprawls like it is no body's business. There are some pockets that have a nice cosmoplitian feel--like downtown L.A.--but living in those areas may prove cost prohibitive. (The great crash of 2008 threw a bucket of ice water on a lot of local redevelopment projects that emphasized mixed-use development.) Overall, do not count on as positive experience with the mass transit system as you are used to. The LAMTA is getting much better and mobile apps are helping, but we've still got a long ways to go. If you do your research, you can find a place to live in L.A that won't require everyday use of a car. But don't be surprised if you get sidelong looks if you don't own a car. (Down here, it is no big deal for three friends going from from point A to point B to take three different cars.) From an everyday life point of view, it is likely you'll feel much less 'connectivity' with people than what you experience up north. People down here are used to doing their own thing and you may have a hard time meeting new people and making new friends. (People from the midwest find this dynamic exceptionally jarring.) On the other hand, anonimity has features and benefits. Also, keep in mind that it gets much hotter down here than it does in the SF bay area, especially in the San Ferndando and San Gabriel Valleys. If you don't like the heat, do your research carefully and/or budget for massive energy bills during the summer and fall. As for Westwood, I don't know that it will appeal to you. The younger people in that area will have more in common with Charlie Sheen than Charlie Mingus.

The following link may be of use. http://verylocaldata.com/

I am going to stray from my lane and toss in my two cents. I regret that you're in this position. I think there are too many instances where these types of reversals happen, and what ever the reason for these mistakes, they are not fair to those applicants who are on the receiving end. That being said, I think that a little bit of (jaded) pragmatism may provide a different perspective. Even if your assumption is correct, what then? Do you have the resources and time to hire an attorney and to chase the bouncing ball down every rabbit hole? Let's say you prevail, what then? You would be working with a POI in a department in which someone bungled something somewhere. You would be surrounded by other professors who are as disinterested in your work as you are in theirs. Are they going to view you any differently for standing up for "what is right"? Or are you going to be viewed as "that guy/girl" who is going to be a litigious PITA when he or she gets a bad bounce? Would working in this environment be the best for your long term interests and goals? On another BB, there are a couple of threads by graduate students who decided to fight, were in the right, and successfully vindicated themselves at the cost of their time and their economic and psychological well being. A big difference between them and you is that they had no choice--they had so much skin in the game that they couldn't pick up their chips and head to a different table. Are you absolutely in a position where you cannot walk away? Is this a moment where alloplasticity trumps autoplastic solutions? MOO, is that you should accept the fact that you're path has changed and to embrace that change. Look forward with hopeful expectations, not backwards. Use this experience in the future to limit your exposure to these kinds of screw ups and to make sure that you don't put someone else in such an uncomfortable position. HTH.

Who achieved more success as a collegian?

My concern is that while your work may not impact your grades as a master's student, it may impact your study/critical thought time. Please keep in mind that the objective of course work is not simply to get good grades but to gain an understanding of one's fields of interest that enables one to create new knowledge in one's fields of study. If you work while going to school, you may end up trading 'processing time' for 'peace of mind' from the bump and grind of the workplace. (You've had a tough day at the salt mines, you have a paper due the day after next, and instead of going home and busting hump on that assigment, you decide spend some time decompressing with the understanding that you'll still have tomorrow. Meanwhile, your competition, who doesn't have an outside job, is grinding and toiling away at that essay. Sure, you botm may end up acing it, but who has a better opportunity to write the type of an essay that is going to get professors saying "Hey, this is a student who would benefit from more mentoring--and more financial support from the department"?) If your ultimate objective is a master's, I think the question is: Can you do it? MOO, the answer is 'yes,' especially if the work is somewhat mindless or if you're going to be in a supportive work environment. However, if you intend to enter a doctoral program down the line, I believe the question should be: Should you do it?

I would not trust USPS with my books unless I had the resources/budget to pack those books very carefully. MOO, a better way to go is UPS ground. Yes, it will cost more and sometimes one's peace of mind is worth paying extra. IRT paying extra fees for boxes as additional baggage, that can work well. However, I do recommend planning things out very carefully and preparing for hidden costs (i.e. tips for porters and cabbies). Lastly, given the state of global affairs and the vagaries of the TSA, make sure you double check the regulations and make sure that you're in compliance. The TSA does the best that it can (or so I'd like to think) but the check points are not always staffed by the sharpest spoons in the drawer.

My own conclusion is that established historians get to the point where they can anticipate a work's arguments because, over time, they've developed a sufficient understanding of various fields--even those outside their areas of emphasis--and the skills to read just enough to "get it." As a mentor once told me as he tried to curb my habit of writing like an essayist, every work of academic history is written the same way. That point tied very nicely with another mentor's on going lessons on "how to read a book." (I also think professors take advantage of the expertise of their peers in ways that are unavailable to us as students.) And there are the book reviews...

You are competing against peers who will let nothing stand in the way of their maximizing their potential and their opportunities. How badly do you want to be the best scholar you can be? What is the likelihood that, at some point, your career progression will require you to be a long ways away from family and friends?

Now is as good a time as any to start developing one's ability/comfort level with reading just enough to understand a book's basic argument. A long time ago, a senior scholar who writes outstanding historiographical essays told me long ago when I asked if he'd read every book in his office, "It's not about reading all the books, it's about knowing where to find the information." (Of course, one remains responsible for every word on every page in every book . )

You may be misinterpeting my post and/or we're talking to different groups of warriors and/or the conversations are taking place in different venues. My experiences with professional soldiers have been overall very favorable, and I've developed a few friendships. I treat them with respect. However, because I'll not budge on some of my views on historical and social issues (e.g. race, class, gender, and religion) the conversations get interesting some times. If I talk about operations or tactics, it will only be a part of a broader point about America's grand strategy during GWOT.

John12345-- Before making your decision, see if you can get more information about both programs. Is the department with the decent program taking steps to make itself stronger? Is it looking to hire more professors? Does it offer graduate students the option to work with professors at other institutions? Is the department with a good MS program taking steps to bring up the Ph.D. program up to speed? Does the professor you like more have career plans that he/she has not yet disclosed? Can the two of you build a relationship that will allow you to transcend the current limitaions of the Ph.D. program? As for getting into a better program, unless one can punch one's own ticket, there's always going to be a greener pasture on the other side of the fence. The reputations of top programs come in no small part from the quality of its graduate students. What might be the benefits to you if you were to be a part of a program's transformation?

Yes, and it was relatively easy. As a T.A., I set up my office hours around the schedule of the students and added office hours as needed (as early as seven and as late as five in the afternoon). I made a point of knowing everyone's name within two days of the first section meeting. I kept lines of communication open throughout the semester. Most of all, I would be clear in establishing what I expected from students and what they could expect from me. So when I set up mandatory office hours, the compliance rate was very high. For those who straggled, they'd hear from me. Not every student appreciated the opportunity to talk about how they did on an exam but they talked.

I'm going to throw cents worth of personal opinion to those offering comments about Jasmineflower's family members. As you go through graduate school, you may find that the ability to offer support to a person without attacking that person's antagonists is a very useful skill. In this particular case, Jassmineflower can say what she wants about her family because it is her family. She knows intimately the dynamics of the situation she's describing. As outsiders, we do not. If one really want to support someone, one needs to avoid the "Yeah, your parents are asspipes, so ef them and tell them I said so" approach. Those kinds of attacks risk perpetuating cycles of antagonism. Moreover, they place one in jeapordy of saying the wrong thing at the wrong time and getting tuned out. IMO/IME, diagnostic questions like those posed by anthroDork are absolutely critical in situations like the one described in the OP. There are places in America--and the rest of the world--where pursuing an advanced degree runs counter to long standing conventions, practices, and beliefs. One can grandstand and label those values all one likes, but at what cost? Right now, Rush Limbaugh has, yet again, dragged the discussion of vitally important issues into the sewer. He achieved this objective by imposing his values on someone he's never met. I'm not suggesting that any of the comments in this thread are that out of line. I am saying that as intellectuals we need to do the best we can to understand people everyone in their own terms, not ours, and to help them solve their problems in ways that will work for them in the long term. In regards to the issue presented in the OP. I have direct experience with a similar dynamic. While the desire to prove a critic wrong--especially when the person is a family member--can be a powerful source of motivation. Even so, I think it is one's best self interest to monitor constantly one's emotional state. If one lets anger, bitterness, and other associated emotions have their way, intellectual achievement that should spark a sense of joy will be irrevocably tarnished. The best revenge is living well.

Based upon my own research, If one wants to work for .GOV or .MIL or at a think-tank, one needs to approach history more as a social science than as a humanity--that is one will need to be very comfortable with a "lessons learned"/policy implication approach. One will benefit from having experience in (not just knowledge of) quantitavie methods, project management, and a background/lifestyle that will survive a background check for a security clearance. Based upon my experience, academic military historians will face challenges when it comes to interfacing with professional warriors, especially those who fall into the category of BTDT. They will question your lack of "real world" experience, the efficacy of academic history, and the sensibilities they attribute to the Ivory Tower, your political views, your stance on cultural issues, and your personal integrity. You will benefit greatly from having very thick skin, the willingness to hold your ground, good situational awareness, the ability to laugh at yourself, an ample supply of STFU, and an understanding that you may be held personally accountable for what you say and what you write. HTH.