far_to_go

Just want to give props to everyone posting their stories on this thread! I think it's soooo important for academics to be able to recognize and bridge the ivory tower/real world divide, and I think first-generation college students are uniquely situated to do just that. Let's rise to the challenge. I'm also a first-generation student. My dad is actually now working on his bachelor's degree, though- one class at a time, while working full-time and helping to raise my younger siblings. I'm proud of him. We sometimes joke that we're 'racing' to see who can finish first- him for his BA, me for my PhD!

What a bunch of nerds. You all are awesome

Yes, it does mean "be on your best behavior." I've been told that it comes from the expression "mind your pints and quarts", a recommendation to keep track of how much you're drinking so that you don't get wasted and do something stupid. This is also a good piece of advice to keep in mind when you're around faculty- don't get wasted.

As the others have said, it varies hugely by school. Here's the basic package in my dept for TAs (which is pretty much everyone, because the dept only accepts people they can give TA jobs to unless the person has some outside grant funding): - Tuition and fees are waived. - $14k per year stipend. - We get health insurance (not the best, but it's something). - Housing is not provided.

Oh, and I second the stay-away-from-Godfrey vibe. I've had friends who rented from them this year who've had very bad experiences.

Yikes! Sorry to hear about your housing horror story, CMB! I started at UVa in fall 2010, and I live with a pretty awesome housing co-op called CHUVA. We rent four houses within walking distance to grounds and then sublet rooms to individual people. It's a really nice way for me to get to know people in the area, especially people outside of my own department (most CHUVAns are grad students). I think we still have a couple of available rooms for the fall- if you're interested, check out our website to see pics of our houses, read member profiles, etc: http://coopuva.wordpress.com/

I'm in Anthropology, but I know that a lot of students in my program do their dissertation write-up while living elsewhere (sometimes in different countries). I would bet it really depends on your own program and various personal factors, though.

Yikes, I wouldn't want to be in your position. People can get jealous and mean even when it's not your 'fault'. On the whole, I'd follow Arcadian's advice- just play it cool, be yourself, etc. Usually I try to keep the news relatively quiet when I get a fellowship or something that I know somebody else wants. So, whatever you do, don't go on that forum and post "yeah, I got housing, I'm so stoked! Woohooo!" (I'm sure you weren't going to do that anyway, but just in case...)

Yeah, the vocab can be killer. I'd recommend that you get a GRE vocab book or flashcard set (there are plenty on the market) and spend maybe 10-15 minutes a day reviewing from now til when you take the test. I think that, more than anything, can help bring up a verbal score.

I would recommend re-taking the GRE, definitely. If you have limitations on where you're willing to go to school, then you'll need to do everything possible in order to make yourself a good candidate for getting into the program(s) you'll be applying to. We all know that GRE scores don't really mean a whole lot, but unfortunately a lot of departments do use them as cut-offs (there are a lot of good applicants out there, and they've got to whittle down the stack of applications somehow).

Sorry to hear about that, kogia. I don't know how things work in your field, but in my social science department, I don't think it's a huge deal if one's PI retires/goes to another school/takes another job. We just have to find someone else with interests that are a "close enough" fit and ask that person to supervise our research. It's even possible to keep one's old advisor on the project as an "outside reader" if s/he is willing to do it. It is kind of a bummer when things like this happen, though. After I got accepted to my program and agreed to come, I found out that one of the primary people I was hoping to work with had accepted a job at another school (on another continent, actually). Fortunately, there were still enough faculty with similar interests to make it worth my while to come here.

I took about a year and a half "off" between the completion of my MA and the start of my PhD. It was a busy time (I was working 3 part-time jobs to make ends meet) but also a good time to hang out with friends more and pursue various academic and personal interests. By the time my PhD program started, though, I was ready to jump in! I'm at the end of my first year now and it's definitely been a year of hard work and adjustment, but I don't at all regret taking the time "off"; there are good parts and not-so-good parts about each season of life, and I just try to appreciate each season in turn.

My MA advisor and I are friends on Facebook, so I do keep in touch with him there. Not ideal for everyone, I'm sure, but it works for this particular relationship. I also send him syllabi from courses I'm taking that have content that's relevant to his interests. He asked me to do this before I left, and it's worked well as a way to touch base every semester or so. We also met up for a beer at the most recent AAA meetings. Incidentally, it's a good idea to maintain contact with one's former fellow students as well. Several of my MA buddies are now in PhD programs in various fields at different schools, and we keep up by Facebook, reading each other's blogs, occasional e-mails, meet-ups at conferences, etc. Never too early to begin cultivating one's academic network!

I'd vote for option 1). You'll need to get the language experience anyway, and it's hard to do that during the school year. Also, it's never a great idea to go against your advisor's wishes without a very compelling reason (and to me, the case you've made for option 2) isn't all that compelling- it's just something you'd like to do). Too bad you don't have the option of combining 1) and 2). I am actually doing a summer language program abroad in the country where I plan to do my dissertation fieldwork, so it's a pretty sweet deal. Hope your summer turns out well, no matter what you do!

Unfortunately, most MA programs in Anthro are unfunded. You might want to check into the MAPSS program at Chicago, though- it's a one-year program, and, while most students are unfunded, I know of a few who have received funding for it. Best of luck in your future work! I'm in an Anthro Ph.D. program with a background in History, and often wish I had done an MA in Philosophy. Let's hear it for interdisciplinary interests!

I'm going to echo the general tenor of the other advice and say that you should work as little as you can afford to. I've found tutoring to be a good way to make extra cash- you can generally limit your hours by taking only a few students, and depending on the subject matter and your level of expertise, you can charge up to $50 an hour. Another option: it seems that our department secretary is sending out e-mails practically every week looking for a grad student to do "odd jobs" for extra money (such as teaching an old faculty member how to use e-mail and Word, helping a faculty member move offices, testing incoming international students' English skills, etc etc). In addition to being an income source, these jobs can be a good way to build relationships within the department. Maybe you should talk to other students in the dept about it or just wait to see if these sorts of opportunities come up.

I live about 1.5 miles from my department's building on campus, and I can get there in about 15 minutes by bus or 25 minutes by walking. I definitely wouldn't want to live further away. In grad school, you need every minute of time you can get!

I strongly second lambspan's advice about saving money. You will need it! In large part because of the money issue, I moved in only one week before the start of classes. I had made a preliminary trip several months before and found a place to live, but then I stayed in my old location and worked until the beginning of August. It would have been nice to have a little more time to get settled in before the semester began, but it worked out alright. A word of general advice on moving (since I've done it many times): I always make sure that getting a bed set up is the first priority in a new place. Moving is really exhausting, and you don't want to get to the end of the day and realize that you have no place to sleep. Since it sounds like you'll be getting all new furniture, consider making the bed the first piece you buy. Good luck!

On a slightly different note: Before my first semester started, I gave myself some time to get my living space well in order. Especially since I had moved across the country to start my program, I had a lot of work to do in terms of acquiring furniture, organizing all my belongings, etc. It was totally time well spent. My living space isn't large, but it's well-organized, functional, and beautiful; it's an optimal environment for getting work done and for relaxing at the end of the day. If you have the time and even a little money to invest in organizing/decorating your living space before school starts in the fall, I strongly encourage you to go for it. I asked one of the ABD's in my department what she did to survive her first year. She said "I bought a good, comfortable reading chair and a very large bottle of vodka, and made good use of both."

I agree that it probably doesn't take 10,000 hours to be good enough at writing to make it through a graduate program (especially if it's just an MA). Still, I do believe practice is important. I was so inspired by the exhortation, in fact, that I wrote a rather lengthy post on my blog, which has been languishing due to my end-of-semester frenzy. http://marginalia84.blogspot.com/2011/04/mixed-signals-but-in-this-case-i-dont.html Shameless self-promotion, I know. However, it deals with advice I received from my advisor about writing/presenting/publishing, so in this context I feel like it's not completely irrelevant.

I do my best to make it to the gym several times a week, usually with friends. The accountability helps. To help me squeeze in short workouts on days when I'm too busy to make it to the gym, I bought an aerobics step (http://www.amazon.com/The-Step-F1053-Home-Trainer/dp/B000GBKEWM/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1303788798&sr=8-1) and some weighted gloves. When I get up in the morning, I do a 20-40 minute aerobic workout while I catch up on a favorite TV show on Hulu. The TV time plus the endorphins/other benefits of exercise are a great motivational combo!

I took a year and a half "off" (i.e. not in school but working three jobs) before starting my Ph.D. program. One thing that proved to be immensely helpful in gearing back up for grad school was reading through the published work of several key people within my Ph.D. program. It really gave me a feel for the profs and how they think before I even met them in person. Other than that, I definitely recommend resting as much as you can... while you have the chance...

I second fuzzylogician; the trust should be mutual. I'm sorry to hear that your current relationship with your advisor is so shitty. One possible avenue of redress: have you tried talking with other students who work with her currently/have worked with her in the past? Although it sounds like the problem is definitely more her fault than yours, perhaps there is some sort of "hot button" for her that you're unintentionally pressing. Other people who've worked with her may be able to provide some perspective on this, or at least help you figure out how to talk with her to address the situation. Best of luck.

I agree with Sparky- just because the professor is miserably failing the students doesn't mean that you can't teach them anything. I've had good luck with my TA assignments so far, but friends in your situation have told me that they regard their discussion sections as an opportunity to teach a mini-course of their own, in parallel to what the professor is (allegedly) doing in class. Since the professor isn't giving you any explicit instructions on what to do, he probably won't mind if you take some initiative in planning worthwhile learning opportunities for your TA sessions. Just keep the prof in the loop on what you're doing and try to give the students something that's worth their time. Hopefully this experience will help you to prepare for teaching your own courses later on. Best of luck!

I'm in the first year of a Ph.D. that will take a long time (6 years if I'm lucky). I'm doing my darndest to stay on top of coursework, but I also try to engage in the CV-building stuff. In fact, I've set a personal goal of trying to either present at 1 conference or publish 1 article per semester. So far it's working out; I presented at a national conference last semester, and a regional one just last week. Conferences really are a good way to network and get new ideas. Plus, an excuse to travel? Yes please! Don't forget to keep an eye open for CV-building opportunities close to home. My department has annual Best Essay and Best TA awards for its grad students; I applied for both awards, as the app process involved relatively little work ("Best Essay" was supposed to be one already submitted for coursework, not written from scratch). I may not win either award, but that's ok; I think the process of applying for things can be valuable in and of itself, as it can encourage useful self-reflection. Also, the more awards you apply for, the more chances to eventually win something! :-) Volunteering/service within the department can also be a CV builder, in addition to building capital in relationships with profs. One of my profs runs a center which organizes panel discussions and other events, and I'm one of the "interns" (i.e. I help with putting up fliers, getting refreshments, etc). May seem a bit lowly, but it doesn't take up too much of my time, and in my department it's very important to be seen as a "team player." And, of course, another line on the ol' CV...