Postbib Yeshuist

Ordered mine the day they were announced, so I'm eagerly awaiting August 27th. Anyone else hop on the bandwagon?

Consider it this way: if you DON'T appeal, you've essentially wasted your entire Masters career. Few employers will care that you "almost" got your Masters, and any chance of continuing education is mostly over. So effectively, if your appeal is overturned, you're in no worse shape than you are now. As for hostility, sounds like you already have it, so how could it get worse? Have an honest, heart-to-heart, hold-no-punches discussion with your advisor (the advisor is the one holding no punches, not you, by the way). See what they say. See if a third reviewer is possible. In the end, it's your Masters and it sucks that you're in the position. Just ask yourself how NOT fighting will make things any better, and I think you'll pretty come to the conclusion you need to appeal...

Doesn't seem out of line when you're in the final stages. Credit checks aren't unreasonable for an apartment. Of course, if you're not comfortable with it, by all means, move on.

I've never rented without the deposit and the lease-signing happening at the same time. If you can travel up there to do it, that might work, even if it meant a special trip. Otherwise, sending money with no contract means the landlord could cash the check, forget you wanted that spot and then you have to take him/her to court to get your money back.

No idea. Presumably it would last for a month. Of course, if you wait just one day too long... I went ahead and signed up today. No use taking a chance for what amounts to one month.

Just have to have a .edu e-mail and fill out some basic info. http://www.amazon.com/gp/student/signup/info Go go go! PS If there's a better forum for this, please move it

To explain the title: About two years ago, I decided to stop taking notes on laptops. I felt two things were happening: (1) the laptop had too much room for distraction and (2) I tried to get so much down, I became a scribe. I switched back to taking notes in a notebook of some kind and I immediately felt more involved in the classroom discussions (haven't been to a "lecture" in years), found I could take "better" notes since I could more easily use diagrams and jot down "rabbits," and found I had much more room on my desk (and fewer cords). I still carry a netbook, but it stays closed and in sleep mode unless I have to do something my iPhone can't handle. The meat of the thread: I've been using Moleskine notebooks (the hardcover "large" ones) and they have been phenomenal. Easy to carry, about the same size as most paperbacks, durable, and they don't take up much space on the desk. The only problem is price. Even at Amazon, they run $12 on average. Since we're going to have to make some major financial cuts, I'm interested in cheaper alternatives. Ideally, it would be a "close" replacement of the Moleskine linked above, but I'm willing to consider other paper solutions except ringed/spiraled binders, etc. The old lab notebooks might be good, but they're still a bit too big for what I want and most are wide-ruled. I've looked at Black & Red, but they're still too big for my tastes. Any ideas? PS In the event someone wants to turn this into a "laptops are the best way to take notes" thread... don't. You won't sway me, since my experience directly contradicts that claim.

Registered for classes and all ready to go. Still trying to recover from "June Vacation" before it's "August classes." July 9th ALREADY?! Ug.

Entourage is out and Outlook is in. One reason I'm so excited.

Not sure if that's a service or a software license, but Dropbox will do the exact same thing for free (though it all resides in its own folder). You might look into it.

Free iPod is going on now: http://store.apple.com/us/browse/campaigns/back_to_school?aid=www-naus-bts2010-00011

My humble opinion is to buy as much as you can afford. This will give you some "future proofness" and you shouldn't have to worry about a new one for some time. That being said, even the cheapest MBP will be plenty for academic purposes. PS You can also "eBay" your free iPod Touch (after rebate when you purchase a Mac) to offset the price. I would also suggest Applecare, which is at a significant discount if you buy when you purchase the Mac and you are a student (all this assumes you buy in a store). The discount brings it down to Amazon prices, and Applecare is a great deal if anything ever goes wrong.

Sounds good. I'll try out the 10 cards and see what they're like. Definitely better than VistaPrint at the moment, which is doing all kinds of weirdness with not giving me some of their promotions.

Excellent points, and I got a good laugh out of your last sentence.

I've started asking for a PDF copy an I've been surprised how often that's been OK. There are still the odd paper packets, but most of the time they're from a book or journal I can access easily enough, so I read them through, take a few notes, then recycle. I hate paper.

In both Masters, I've simply worn "t-shirt, shorts, flip-flops" and it's been fine. I probably don't look "serious," but my contributions to discussions and my papers offset that. Granted, I was working during my Th.M., so I took any chance to NOT wear "business casual." I think overall, your dress isn't critical. School is school. Dress in what feels comfortable so you're at the top of your mental game, instead of fiddling with a too-tight tie.

el oh el! OK, one month later and I finally got it! Was a Columbia outlet store yesterday on the way home from the beach. Found a Columbia Glade Bomber that, after all the discounts, etc, was only $30. It's got a "clamshell" opening (so it's easy to put books in), a few small pockets for squirreling away stuff, fits well, water-resistant, lifetime warranty, etc, etc, etc. I had basically given up and then along comes this one. It's not a "true" school backpack, but for the envisioned needs I have, it's gonna work well I think. If not, I got a sweet outdoorsy backpack for $30. Win win! Thanks again for all the advice everyone.

I've gotten 4-5 business cards from fellow students when we had to meet outside of class. At no point did I find it bizarre and I certainly never laughed at it. In fact, they were immensely useful. Of course, I tend to respect my fellow students these days, and appreciate whatever gestures they take to make our interactions easier. Maybe during my first Master's a decade ago, I would have snickered too. Perhaps at the advanced Master's and PhD levels, people are less hung up on "looking cool." I dunno. OK, after having caught up on all the comments, I wonder if there's some confusion here (despite my clarification on several occasions). Just to be sure, everyone realizes this is not a "cold contact" thing I'm talking here, right? They're only for use for situations where, like UnlikelyGrad said, a rapport has already been established. If at that point someone would take offense, I would be surprised and, to be perfectly honest, a bit relieved to discover their shallowness early on. A business card I could see being pretentious, but a card with your name and e-mail on it? Maybe the school you attend? As I said above, the times when I've received cards were perfect. I didn't have to whip out a pen/pencil, or say "How do you spell your last name?" There was no break in the conversation while we figured out how to get that information ("Wait just a second, I have a napkin in here somewhere") and I had the card at home when I needed it a week later to call. Anyway, this has been a very interesting thread. For the most part, it seems like those who have "thumbs-downed" the idea more-or-less don't really have a good reason for it, other than just some perception of impropriety (and it is most certainly not a faux pas in the humanities, as I've seen it happen on multiple occasions). The benefits outweigh the negatives in my mind, as long as it's not done in a cocky, self-important way (which is always off-putting, regardless of what's being done). Oh, one final thought: you and Professor X (yes, you can be the mutant of your choice) are having a conversation during a break at a conference. The prof thinks you've got an interesting point and suggests you present next year. He asks for your e-mail, to which you reply "Colossus@xaviermansion.org." A few months later, you wonder why you have't heard anything, only to find out the prof sent an e-mail to Colossus@zaviermansion.org (and since they all seem to be computer illiterate, never noticed the "unrecognized address" kickback. "That's my fault Colossus, but the conference has already been decided. So sorry." The bottom line is that at a certain point, a single off letter can have significant consequences, so it could literally pay to get the information right. Just another side to the conversation.

Thanks for the input all. I definitely see business cards as responses to the "I'd definitely like to get in touch with you. What's your name and e-mail address?" to which I could reply "Would a card suffice?" Seems like it would be easier than trying to spell out my name (not the hardest, but often misspelled) and so on. I had thought I'd get some that stand out without being over the top, then have my name, e-mail, web address and then the school and program I'm in. Seems like it could be handy with fellow students or even other beginning Ph.D. students I might meet at conferences, etc. It seems that 250 (way too many) are less than $10 on VistaPrint, so I might go for them just in case.

Do any of you (especially at the Ph.D. level) carry/hand out "business" cards? (I put "business" in quotes because all I'm really thinking of is name, e-mail, institution, website.) If so, what do you put on them, how do you use them, etc, etc, etc. I'm thinking mainly for those times when someone asks for your name/e-mail, since it'll save them the trouble of writing it down. Certainly not seeing these as proactive, "here's my card" type things.

Well, for example, the University of Texas (Austin) is considered a Tier 1 school by the state, but the questions is whether someone at Harvard at Yale would have that same perspective (and this is more with respect to the sciences than religion). Again, this all returns to the fact that "Tier 1" is really an almost meaningless concept. Even those who refer to it don't entirely know what it means. There's not a national body (that I know of) that assigns such a status, and someone in Austin could care less whether a student at Yale thinks UT is Tier 2. (This article gives a helpful perspective on the whole "Tier 1" concept: http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/education/stories/030809dntextierone.3ab7a09.html). In the end, Tier 1, 2 or 3 really doesn't much matter in my opinion. The thing is to pick the best school you can get into, provided the professors that are best for your particular interests are there. I went to SMU because, for me, it was a far better choice than, say, Yale or Harvard. In fact, I didn't even apply to those because they just didn't have what I needed. Sure, my job prospects are automatically lower now, but in the end, the people I wanted to work with most (aside from Drew University) were at SMU (and semi-nearby Baylor University). PS To return to your original question, I know ND will be respected, but I'm not so sure about DTS. The others I don't really know much about. Still, I'm over on the liberal end of the spectrum, so it may be that they would all be fine when looking for jobs at conservative places, but it won't have the "universal" appeal that a degree from ND might. (ND begin the only "Tier 1" school in your list that I'm aware of). The rule of thumb if that you're rarely able to get a job at a school that's "better" than where you did your PhD.

Never. If the schools are comparable (and the GTU is definitely a heavy-hitter in the field of theology), that's an important element. If you're unhappy where you are, how will you do well in your studies?

I think you misread my post a bit. I said funding has "as much to do" with finances and slots as anything. It's certainly not the only thing, but it's a factor to be sure. Faculty reputation counts, but that appears to be evening out (for example, Catherine Keller is at Drew University, Kwok Pui-Lan is at EDS, Tat-Siong Benny-Liew is at PSR, Carl Raschke at Iliff, etc (granted, their PhD's are from Tier 1 schools, lol)]. One of the important trends that seems to be occurring right now is that students are following names of professors more and more and not exactly worrying about the school's pedigree, since no school covers all the bases well. In fact, there even appears to be somewhat of a backlash against the Ivies at the moment for what some consider to be "establishment" approaches to theology. Still, in the end, I think the whole "tier" system is kind of on its way out (thank goodness). People will obviously always think highly of the "Top 10" schools, but there seems to be a growing realization that who you study with is more important than where you studied. In all likelihood, the only tier that really has any meaning at all is "1," and the students at Oxford and Cambridge probably even laugh at that. PS I did not mean to imply that the religion program at SMU was Tier 1, merely that SMU as an institution appears to making attempts to reach "Tier 1 status," at least in TX (which also raises the important point that "tier" has a regional element as well).

My working definition of the two has to do with the adjective. In my mind, "Systematic Theology" claims that theology is, well, a system, and that answers can be right or wrong (in a broad sense). "Constructive Theology" acknowledges that theology is a construct and, as such, has the stamp of the theologian on it. In the end, I see both as "theology," just that one (constructive) is acknowledges the inherent instabilities and fallibilities of personal perspectives. Hope that makes sense. I'm not much of a theologian, so understand that I am greatly oversimplifying a complex topic (and perhaps even getting the oversimplification wrong).

I think your sentence, in a way, encapsulates the main issue that makes it so hard in all of this. For the most part, there really aren't any "objective realities," just perceptions of on a topic. I think both sides approach a debate from this mindset. Those who admit that their perspective is exactly that--a perspective and not reality--are ones I rarely have an issue with. They're at least willing to consider arguments from the other side. It's those who stake their claim on a certain stance and then argue it's somehow "objective reality" that I tend to have difficulties with. (And I'm not saying that's what you're claiming here, but your comment did raise a few flags for me).