Postbib Yeshuist

OK, I accepted a PhD offer last week, resigned from my job on Friday (effective June 7) and last night, my wife says "I might be pregnant." This morning, a pee test confirms it. Wow! Our first son is now 18 months, so will be two when our second baby is born. The PhD offer pays $16k/year and I think I get insurance (pretty sure I'll have to pay through the nose to cover my wife and child though). Anyone have experience with type of thing? lol

Go for it. And if it'll help you any, I'll share my situation... I'm 36 and a full time high school teacher (which, in TX, means I actually do fairly well ($55k/yr)). I have an 18 month-old son and my wife is staying home with him as she tries to decide if she wants to continue her career (chaplaincy) or go in a new direction. I just accepted a PhD offer that pays full tuition + $16k/year (so a 2/3 paycut like you). Last night, my wife says "I might be pregnant" and then verifies it with a pee test this morning. How's that for worry? LOL! But you know what? A PhD is my dream and, by God, I'm going to at least give it a try. If I wind up having to drop out, I can at least say I tried. So perhaps Nike has a word for both of us in our respective situations: "Just Do It."

Yeah, unfortunately, it's not offered at the school and I won't be able to pick it up in a year. Kinda sucks, but this was the one weak spot of the PhD program going in.

I think the comments about GRE scores beg the question: what would a perfect score on the Math GRE mean? I'm a lowly high school math teacher who got a 710 on it, so I can't imagine that a perfect score would mean anything to a math department. I mean, are you likely to see Taylor equations on the GRE? Symplectic Geometry? Using vector sheaves in place of bundles based on arbitrary topological spaces? (<3 Wikipedia) In short, I think putting much weight on a GRE test would be like focusing on the spelling bee results from an applicant applying to a PhD in English. The GRE's just not going to be able to give anyone a sense of your math abilities, especially if, like most PhD's do, you're going where no one has gone before. So, I have no advice on getting in other than, like almost all other PhD applicants, ignore the GRE beyond what it takes to get scores at 600 or above so the app isn't trashed...

rofl

This needs a picture...

If it were me, I'd sign the contract but give a month's notice instead of two weeks. Be careful and be sure you can quit w/o repercussions. I'm a teacher and sign a year-long contract. Though my employment is also at the discretion of the district (i.e. "at will"), I could face serious consequences if I decided to quit and the district responded by enforcing the contract...

lol. Awesome

Excellent! Congratulations!

Are you kidding? That's phenomenal! You should write a dissertation on why people don't write dissertations.

This is sound advice as well.

Yes, some will wait until the last minute (and they're certainly entitled to do so). This is a big decision and some people want to be absolutely, 100% sure they make the best decision. As such, you might be ready to call/e-mail on April 16th to request an update on your wait-list status.

Money is always a factor in what I'm suggesting but... Get a "gut" sense for the school you want to go to and then see if you can somehow visit in a few weeks. If you can meet profs again, now that you're accepted, and maybe talk to some students, it might give you a sense of whether it's right. You're not so much crossing the other schools off the list as you are making sure your "gut" choice will work. It's kinda funny, your tummy will almost always help you make the decisions your brain can't handle. If all three offers offer good placement, go where you "feel good."

No, it's not. That you think it is suggests you may not yet be mature enough to do the kind of work before you... It's probably been mentioned before, but I'll use my PhD situation as an example of why you shouldn't do that: I was accepted at Iliff and wait-listed at SMU. SMU was my first choice, but Iliff was a "hey, you're in." To attend Iliff, I would have had to take a VERY serious financial risk (possibly not selling my house in time to move from TX to CO, uprooting my family, etc). Luckily, someone declined at SMU and I got in with a nice financial package, a better program for my interests and the chance to keep my house and just drive 45m one way. Now, let's say you had been the person ahead of me and you just said "yes," to everyone. Now I begin the process of selling my house, preparing to move to Denver (maybe I make a payment on an apt), we give our dogs away (rent is high in Dener compared to TX) and so forth. June rolls around, you finally decide, SMU sends me a letter (or doesn't) and now I've gone through all that... Heck, I get mad just thinking that you're considering putting others through this. Please don't put your own selfish indecision before the very real lives of others who may be harmed by your inability to make a mature decision. And FWIW, if you did accept all, then dropped a few this summer and, in retaliation, all of the schools rejcted your acceptance because of the resolution you linked (and they might very well do this), I wouldn't have one iota of sympathy for you. Go with the offer that fits you best and decline the rest. Sorry, that just got me kinda heated up. I see your follow-up, so it sounds like you're taking the high road. That's good to know. The comments about academia being a small world are especially true. Just don't take those chances with your career...

If it were my wife, I would want her to do what's best for her. If we're truly committed, we'll make it work. Luckily, it's not my wife, so this isn't a decision I have to make. I have great sympathy for you. Bottom line: make the choice YOU think is best. Boyfriends come and go, but sometimes, you only have one shot at a good education. If you two are "meant to be together," you'll both make it work.

This is a key point. If all you've been doing is e-mail, step it up. And resist voicemail if possible. Aim to get the actual person on the line with "Can you tell me when they'll be back in so I can call back?" E-mail/voicemail is easy to avoid if you're busy. Someone actually hearing you say "Hello?" means you're caught!

Is it possible she said something along the lines of "I've requested full funding for three years?" Schools do it many different ways, but my understanding is that funding is ultimately the purview of whoever does financial aid at your program, and that profs more or less just make recommendations (unless there's a set, year-by-year financial system laid out that doesn't change much).

Does someone have a link to the German program at UofA?

So, here I am, accepted into the PhD I had hoped for, poised to study the topic provided in my signature, and I've run headlong into the wall of the "second language requirement." By "second" I mean "non-native." I have French pretty much locked down, but now I'm faced with choosing from a list that's probably not perfect (i.e. Arabic would be excellent), but is going to have to do given the fact I have to have this finished by Fall 2011. So, without further ado, here are my choices and my abilities in each language: Spanish: No study at all, but I live in TX and have picked up a smidgen German: No study at all, but I can ask for a room with flowing water Latin: A year in high school and the obvious "this comes from the Latin root" while writing papers. Greek: One year in seminary 10 years ago Hebrew: No study at all. So, considering that my language should be "applicable" to my project, what would you all suggest? Personally, I'd love to reacquaint myself with Latin (I almost went to Latin 2 & 3 in high school, but opted for French instead), but I can see "Hebrew" being more applicable given the Jewish side of things (German tends to be standard, of course, and Spanish has ties to liberation theologies, but I already have one modern language, so a classical language is probably a better compliment).

I love Amazon Prime, but I can't say it's strictly "necessary." The ability to have a book, or whatever else from the kabillions of things they have for sale, in two days (often one for me, since I live near a warehouse), is awesome. That being said, have I ordered anything in the past 3 years that I could not have waited 2-3 weeks for? Not too much. There have been maybe 3-4 cases where the two days saved my butt. The real beauty of Prime, imo, is hat you don't have to hit $25 for free shipping. Being able to buy an $11 book and just an $11 book has most certainly saved far more than the cost of the program. (PS It's great for emergency boxes of diapers when you run out unexpectedly )

Excellent!

Ohhhh. I thought you were talking about a real-world situation that the Onion had parodied.

I contacted SMU (where I was wait-listed) to ask for input on my application "so I have a stronger application next year." Luckily, they had had another student decline that day and I was first in line, so they sent me a letter that afternoon. Obviously, my contact didn't matter since it could not have changed the other person's decision to decline, but it didn't hurt me either. The worst case scenario is that I would have gotten valuable feedback and they would have known I was still interested. Following up never hurts, imo.

I still say the sky is Tarheel Blue for a reason...