coyabean

Great post. While it is geared towards "students of color" the Grad Skool Rulz #20 has some transferable points, I think. Being 1st gen college can be a lot like being a minority in academia: isolating, challenging to one's identity, etc. I did a research program where all of us were 1st generation. We discussed this a great deal. Some of the most common issues were relating how you've changed to family and friends. It can be easy to forget when you're immersed in places like this forum but there are very few PhDs, relatively speaking, in the population. It's, by design and nature, a rare thing to do. When you are 1st generation college or graduate school I think that becomes even more true; you are, to many, a different species. My father still doesn't get it. He wanted me to go to law school. Everybody knows what a lawyer (kinda) does, professors not so much. So, he still thinks of it as "becoming a teacher." Which is fine. My mother does have a college degree and is a very worldly woman but it is still a stretch sometimes for her. However, she's been more comfortable asking questions and reading about what I'm doing. For instance, the concept of research was kind of getting lost in translation. Then she saw me present at a conference and she "got it." Now, she's always sending me emails "for [my] research." Friends are less open to asking or finding out. I just say "grad school" and keep it moving. That means that there aren't a lot of people for you to commiserate with until you develop an "academia family," as I think of mine. These are mentors, classmates, etc. who understand what I'm going through. One such mentor/friend who has completed her PhD told me once not to expect one person to be everything to you. She meant get different kinds of mentoring from different kinds of mentors, ex. the academic superstar with intimate knowledge of publishing politics to the younger scholar who remembers what starting out is like and is amicable to tea and hugs. I think the same holds true for your family and friends. Discover who can go how far with your new life and respect the knowledge gap. I never forget that there's plenty of things that they know that I don't and I'd hope they'd respect my gap! Something else mentioned upstream is interesting, too. The idea of the all the secret knowledge in academia. You miss out tutorials about that if you don't have any peers or family with comparable experience. During that research program I kept asking people, "is this in a book somewhere?!" Invariably the answer is no (although Harvard publishes an interesting guide...for their students only:/). It lends to the marginalization along lines of class, race, gender, etc. with which academia is often charged. Things like which is the privileged journal in which to publish, how to negotiate for a spouse's job during interviews, how to date/partner/marry within your academic circle, academic incest, etc. It's a secret code of behavior that we have to be very vigilant about cracking. Like someone else I drop the ego and ASK! I'm legendary among mentors and senior scholars for asking, "how do you spell that?!" It's my way of slowing down all the theorist name-dropping and acronym slinging. When someone kept saying, "her CV has holes" I made them explain what that means, for example. I think we just have to not let any inferiority complexes or impostor syndromes prevent us from getting what we came for.

Summer is winding down. If you're like me you are looking at a moving deadline quickly approach. Also, if you're like me, you think time decided to move at double time and find yourself unable to keep up. My to-do list seems to be mating with itself and spawning and new entries!!!! It's been 100+ degrees almost every day for the last month. I am unnaturally tired and unmotivated. Packing up my apartment is beginning to feel like climbing Mt. Everest. Therefore I'm posting a new topic instead of looking at the mound of clothes waiting to be cleaned, sorted and packed. YAY for grad cafe procrastination. So, where are you guys in the process? Ready to go? Freaking out? Passing out like me?

I am heavily biased towards UNC. I love Carolina, I love Chapel Hill, I love my friends and peers there. The school has great people, great quality of life, etc. Duke always makes me break out in hives (I'm allergic to preening and pretense) but even I have to say that, depending on your goals, Duke's name is going to be pretty nice to trade upon. But this is a no-lose choice. Either way you're in good shape.

In a recent class at an HBCU a play circa 1969 compelled a student to say, "That's the year my Mom was born!" After doing the math I realized it was very possible...and then I thought about jumping through the plate glass window. :/ The last "guy" to hit on me was born in 1989. In 1989 I was running a babysitting business, slow dancing at my first real grown-up dance and looking forward to taking my driver's test. See above plate glass jumping desire.

Of course.

There seems to be a lot of variety in how this is handled. It would help if my best friend wasn't having a totally different experience at Carolina. She's registered, has met her entire cohort, is on a cohort facebook, has made friends and everything. I'm only sure about three of us, have had no contact with the department since I accepted their offer and minus my financial aid and ID picture, no contact with the school. I never did get any kind of packet or anything. Thank God I have the letter or I'd think I made this all up! But, from the website it looks like we do about what your department did. After orientation we meet with the general first year advisor to discuss direction, register and tentatively request our permanent advisor. But until then? Nada.

Depending on your living requirements you can absolutely live in Chapel Hill/Carrboro for about $600-$750 rent/mth for a one, if not a two, bedroom. My BFF will be at Chapel Hill this year and she's moving her family into an award-winning school district in new-ish, modern units for less than $900/mth.

No registration, no reading lists, no proof that I'm really going to school in a few weeks. :/

FYI: I got an email today that IKEA is having a huge sale this weekend -- up to 60% off and secret sales. For you guys who are already at that stage.

Ditto. I wish academia, as a whole, wasn't so terrified of openness and technology. *sigh*

In addition to all of those things I would have added one or two more 'reach' programs as I got into two I thought I didn't stand a chance with. Although I'm more than happy with my choice who knows what could have happened? Now is NOT the time to save $60. Seriously. I told the group referenced in the above link to consider the ROI on everything during this process. $60 for a chance at a school where full funding is the norm versus a free app at a school where you'll have to take a loans, etc.

Ditto But I also have some other links I put together for a workshop that I • www.h-net.org – an online database of listservs by discipline and/or research interest • www.orgtheory.wordpress.com – most posts are for organizational theory folks but they have a group of posts called “Grad Skool Rulz” that are universal. A post specifically for grad students of color is particularly enlightening • GRAPES is hosted by UCLA. It is a searchable database of funding opportunities similar to the one you’ll have access this summer but it doesn’t expire once the program is over. (http://www.gdnet.ucla.edu/grpinst.htm) • www.academic360.com – A list of academic-related websites • www.academia.edu – Facebook for academics (also helps to “clean up” your online presence by becoming the primary hits when your name is googled.)

You have to get a pair of Clark's. http://clarks.zappos.com/artisan.zhtml

Choidy kind of hit it but I'm shocked that someone would be sick about coming to UNC out of fear of there being no research going on in comparison with the "northeast, etc." LOL That's funny. This is one of the most educated areas in the country; a great deal of those educated people have PhDs. Period. I doubt they're all working at Wal Mart. LOL

I think that's already written. And I have some feelings on those projections but I know there's a time and place for everything so I'll sit on it. Let's just say I think that, like in all things, folks are going to act like change is a surprise. Much like the factory workers in my home state were told for YEARS that their industry was dying and yet few did anything to prepare, we'll watch academia (and, to be fair, law, medicine among others) act all super shocked in five, four, three...

I don't think I've ever been anywhere for longer that 2 years in my adult life. :/ After three or four of the moves you describe you learn that there is such a thing as being a slave to stuff. I refuse. Beyond something a relative gave me or something like that? I purchase with the intent of USING it, not treasuring it. I figure that by the time I sell off some furniture I've gotten what I paid for: the use of its function.

I got to tell you, I'm packing what fits into my car and hitting the road and I'm only going from NC to GA! Granted, my apartment has been rented partially furnished for the past 18 months so I've already shed most of my "real" furniture from my previous life. Most of it is at my parent's house or with a family member who needed it and it's too much hassle to go from city to city. My dad's back isn't what it was when I was 18, I'm not what I was when I was 18 and it'll be summer time. So, I plan on buying when I'm there. I figure it's a minimum of five years so I can justify buying semi-quality stuff more than I can justify hauling stuff down there.

Yes, yes, yes. As much as a school might consider the academic heft of your UG they look just as closely, if not more so, at what YOU did. No one made you not meet people from neighboring institutions, form relationships, go to conferences, etc. As much as your GPA is an issue the lack of mitigating evidence supporting your motivation is troubling. When combined it suggests that you are mediocre and content to remain that way. I'm one of those toilet grads with a fully funded offer at a good school. And my GPA is lower than the OPs! I, too, would suggest a terminal MA even if you have to do it at another school that fails to meet your standards. One, the opportunity to research is built into the degree. Two, theoretically you should have more courses available in subjects more narrow and in-depth than you'd find in an UG program. And finally, if you find yourself unable to get into a PhD program at the end of your MA program that you are willing to attend you at least have an advanced degree. Generally speaking, that's a greater ROI in the job market that two bachelor's degrees.

I have been invited by the research fellowship program I completed last year to speak to current students. They are all from groups underrepresented in academia and planning for a PhD and/or career in academia. The topic is "Paving Scholastic Excellence". As my expertise right now is limited to just applying and getting accepting I'm focusing on that. I have had all kinds of thoughts over the past couple weeks as I try to decide what I'm qualified to say. The information isn't exactly a narrative so I decided to do some bullet points as a hand-out. The talk will elaborate, of course, but I thought that when controlled for audience the stuff I learned as written here might be useful. Or, not. Your call. Five or Six Things I Like To Think I Learned at Awesome Program (AP): 1. You are worthy. a. No matter how senior or acclaimed the scholar, always remember that you bring something valuable to the table. What’s a sensei with no pupil? 2. Contextualize all advice. a. One of the most popular and well-reviewed books on graduate school is “Getting What You Came For” by Robert Peters. First published in 1997 it features many gems … and then there are passages like this: “The standby method of backup [for your computer files] is to copy your data onto floppy disks as soon as you finish using your word processor or other application. (363)” Floppy disks? That advice is only 13 years old. Many professors were last in graduate school 20, 30, 40+ years ago. Many will offer you a lot of well-meaning advice. Learn to filter that by considering the source (ever sat on an adcomm? are in your discipline? Teaching college vs. research university?). Contextualize all advice as much as possible…including mine. 3. Trust Yourself a. You are the authority on you. 4. Invest in yourself…starting now. a. Consider how you spend your summer stipend b. Plan ahead for any financial aid refunds and/or anticipated earnings the summer BEFORE your first semester of senior year: i. School visits and interviews ii. Association dues iii. Technology 5. Realize the cultural divide in which you now reside a. Few of the people you love will understand what you are doing, and you’ll love very few of the people who do. Piece together the ultimate mentor – the cheerleader, pragmatist, the expert, the walking resource, etc. – from various people in your life. One person cannot be everything you need. 6. A special cultural note on contextualizing advice, information, sources, gossip, etc. a. “poor”, “hard”, “tough” are all relative terms. (As in the market for PhDs is so "hard" and the job is so "hard" and you'll always be "poor" -- all relative. When you hear these things ask or determine what the speaker/writer means by the words -- do they mean "poor" to be $65k a year? -- and decide for yourself if it means the same thing to you.) b. Having no expectation of what I deserve or any assumptions about what academic life should be is, what I consider, the great benefit of being a “minority” in the academia. For example, I'm not nearly as upset as some by the idea of the decline of "jobs for life" -- or coveted tenure track positions -- as I never entertained the idea of such a thing. Where I come from -- and where many of you are from -- the idea of a guaranteed job is totally foreign. Losing something you never expected to have? Not such a big deal.* Websites I found useful (keeping in mind numbers 2-6): • www.h-net.org – an online database of listservs by discipline and/or research interest • www.orgtheory.wordpress.com – most posts are for organizational theory folks but they have a group of posts called “Grad Skool Rulz” that are universal. A post specifically for grad students of color is particularly enlightening • GRAPES is hosted by UCLA. It is a searchable database of funding opportunities similar to the one you’ll have access this summer but it doesn’t expire once the program is over. (http://www.gdnet.ucla.edu/grpinst.htm) • www.academic360.com – A list of academic-related websites • www.academia.edu – Facebook for academics (also helps to “clean up” your online presence by becoming the primary hits when your name is googled.) • www.thegradcafe.com – a moderated but democratic discussion board for grad applicants, students and recent grads. It’s not for everyone. If you like commiserating and swapping info though it’s a great online community. Habits I developed by trial and error: • Apparently I’m a study-in-the-library person and not a study-on-the-couch person. Who knew? I should have. You should, too. • I filter all the emails from academic listservs and organizations (using gmail: settings --> filters -->skip the inbox-->apply the label). I set aside time to scan that folder semi-regularly, respond, etc. • I set up “google alerts” for people and schools I want to keep up-to-date on. It emails me when Dr. Superstar at My Dream Program is mentioned on the web. I can then send a note of congratulations on a new book or sound knowledgeable next time we talk. Or, at the very least I’ll know more about what I’m getting into! • Link to my academia.edu page and digital CV (set up using free google sites tool) in my email signature. • When I meet people I try to add their info to my address book as soon as I’m next at the computer. When you have money you almost never have free time and when you have plenty of free time you almost never have money. At AP you’ll have both. Spend both well, don’t waste too much time sleeping, and enjoy it! ETA: *it was brought to my attention that this is unclear or, rather, it does not accurately communicate my meaning. In the interest of internet fairness I won't edit the original but let me clarify. I don't mean not to have expectations of treatment or your career trajectory. I mean having no rigid guidelines about what a career in academia should look like makes one more flexible and open to what a career in academia may be becoming or will one day be. No preconceived notions is a good thing in a time of such massive transformation and change -- less angst, more aware of opportunity, more willing to take risks and less disappointment and bitterness.