biisis

Death to Car Culture, Sincerely, Future professor who doesn't know how to drive.

I did it before! Baring any delays from the airline you should be fine. If there are delays and you miss your flight they'll just put you on the next one.

There have been a few queries of this general format on the forums as of late, and gives me the impression that you're sort of asking someone to do you homework for you. It's not classy, and it's not what this website is here for.

Anathem by Neal Stephenson for Monastic/Scholastic sci fi goodness. A Canticle of Leibowitz for an excellent take on post-apocalyptic society and the retention of knowledge. Blind Sight by Peter Watts for an interesting discussion of the nature of consciousness.

Try finding a bulk/hippie store- not a super fancy health food store, but an excellently grungey food politics place with earth mothers and a 'bring-your-own-resuable-bag-even-for-the-bulk-food' policy. They also tend to segregate the glutenous stuff to one end to help prevent contamination. Failing that, restaurant supply stores (some of which are open to the public!) will give you a great deal on bulk good and produce. Making big grocery runs can help you save.

Calendar/Agenda! For planning!

Let your recommenders handle it. It sounds like you're trying to micromanage their content. Select them on the basis of who knows you best as a student (volunteer LOR aren't as important as your academic LOR for most programs). Pick people who can write enthusiastically about you (and ask them respectfully if they feel comfortable doing so).

Do your own homework.

Do you need to go to grad school in order to teach technical photography? It seems like your skillset is more trades related; those schools tend to hire on the basis of work experience. The only grad program I can think of in photography is more fine arts related (an MFA), but it sounds like you really don't have the portfolio.

What is this for, exactly? What kind of scoring? Is it some sort of admissions piece? While I don't know the purpose of your writing, I've got to say that I'm not very favorably disposed towards its style or content. It reads as overly sentimental and universalizing in ways that I expressly do not identify with and find to be problematic. It seems more overly poetic than academic? (And not particularly good poetry). Here are a few specifics: - it's highly out-modded to speak of humanity as 'man', using male pronouns. - I get a little bristly when I hear people speak of good vs. evil; that's a rather simple and overly cloying concept, I think, particularly when you put it in a geopolitical context. - it's "heart wrenching" not "heart ranching." Heart ranching is how we get anticuchos de corazon. - the clause construction of your sentences gets a bit messy at times. Short sentences can have more impact than extended and rambling thoughts. - god, God, and the gods get confused here. What sort of religious system are you describing? Be consistent. - Do you really think you should be speaking on behalf of African or Syrian children, or assume that they have the same experience/worldview? I'm assuming that you're from neither place, and are just evoking these tropes to conjure a sort of general worldly malaise. It reads like you're a newspaper spectator, and not a particularly informed one at that. Could you talk about your own experiences instead? This is generally preferred for college admissions essays, if that's indeed what we're looking at. - "it doesn't take a genius"/ "flying colors" are overused phrases- rather stale. - "...hopes of being given a favor from the gods" should read something more like "...hopes given nor favors from the gods". You overly rely on the present continuous tense (what x is doing). - What is this for again?

Haha, thank you for the recommendations and the levity. I'll definitely check out Aetna. And try to stock up on all forms of medical care and prescription medication before I leave the country, like a camel preparing to traverse a long and thirsty desert.

TAs aren't expected to be experts, by any means. You'll learn the material like all the students, and then be a sort of peer leader/bridge between the students and the professor. It's honestly the professor, rather than the material, that will make your experience difficult or easy. Try and sound out who has the fairest expectations for their TAs, and who works them to the bone.

I'm afraid your name may be rather apt. Scholarship season for fall 2014 is quite over, and the going's always rough for terminal MAs. You should, however, have heard from your department by now about their financial commitments. Follow up with them and stress your need for funding. Ask them about any scholarships their students have held, so you'll know where to look for the future. Then start looking for grants to fund your second year, if you're in a 2 year program.

Many many thanks for your sagely words!

(Apologies for the cross post) Perplexed Canadian here trying to figure out how health insurance works in your fine United States of America. While I'm happily covered by NYU's generous funding package, my spouse needs papers to get past the boarder and presumably also to live in this strange healthcareless land. The easiest thing to do would of course be just to add them onto the NYU student health plan. However, at about $10,000/year, and without access to the student health clinic where a lot of services are free, this seems like a supremely bad deal. Am I right in reading it that way? Does everyone pay obscene prices for medical insurance in the states? Why don't you just have federal health care? To add to the confusion, I can't access the New York state health insurance marketplace website from out of the country, which rather significantly impairs my ability to do comparison shopping on insurance alternatives (assuming that we'd be eligible, I'm not even sure). Does anyone have any excellent health insurance plans/providers to recommend? Any advice on how to negotiate these strange waters? Many thanks from the land of free hospitals and maple syrup.

Perplexed Canadian here trying to figure out how health insurance works in your fine United States of America. While I'm happily covered by NYU's generous funding package, my spouse needs papers to get past the boarder and presumably also to live in this strange healthcareless land. The easiest thing to do would of course be just to add them onto the NYU student health plan. However, at about $10,000/year, and without access to the student health clinic where a lot of services are free, this seems like a supremely bad deal. Am I right in reading it that way? Does everyone pay obscene prices for medical insurance in the states? Why don't you just have federal health care? To add to the confusion, I can't access the New York state health insurance marketplace website from out of the country, which rather significantly impairs my ability to do comparison shopping on insurance alternatives (assuming that we'd be eligible, I'm not even sure). Does anyone have any excellent health insurance plans/providers to recommend? Any advice on how to negotiate these strange waters? Many thanks from the land of free hospitals and maple syrup.

I'm really confused as to why you want to shift from a Masters degree to an advertising position. Is the field really so saturated that graduate work-rather than work experience- is going to give you a leg up? I can only really speak to NYU's MCC program in any specificity. It is decidedly not an advertising program, nor does it have anything to do with marketing strategies or business. It is a humanities focused degree about media, globalization, and culture, informed by some pretty Marxist leanings. It's where I'd go to write a thesis about the negative effects of advertising on cultural identity and the exchange value of products, rather than picking up any useful skills for a career in the trade. The one way I can imagine it being useful to you (besides some abstract prestige factor?) would be the school's internship program. So if you want to pay to go to school for the ability to work for free at a series of rapacious for-profit advertising firms, it's your go-to school.

You will be okay! At this point your research proposals will be much more heavily weighted by granting agencies than your grades. Even so, the odd language class isn't an indictment of your merit as a researcher. Moreover, once you've graduated no one will ever ask to see them again. The meaningful impact of grades has a short lifespan, and you're near its end.

1) Marginally? Perhaps more so if it pertains to your field in some description. It's worth including in your CV, but probably doesn't merit that much. 2) Yep, strong emphasis on major GPA, with a particular focus on your performance in the last two years of your degree. Good luck!

Sounds like your professor thought that your paper didn't meet expectations. The best thing to do is to go over their feedback and make an appointment to meet with them. Use this opportunity to learn more about the standards and resources for graduate research in your program. You may want to pursue additional writing and research seminars/webinars frequently offered by various student services. Your professor, more than anyone on this board, can help you.

I highly recommend watching this video for detailed instructions: http://lmgtfy.com/?q=What+is+the+average+cost+of+tuition+for+the+MSW+program+at+csulb%3F+

OKCupid is your friend. It can be a time efficient way of screening out terrible options and finding a few good ones without leaving the house/library. As for work/life balance in relationships, try and find other over-stressed companions. Or maybe polyamoury could be a good option. Think of it as a relationship timeshare.

After two years and three moves in Montreal, here's my advice: I'd actually council against planning for the July 1st move. You might have more selection, but the logistics are going to be hell (every moving company gets booked early, and charges at least double). The city is sort of overwhelmed with human misery. It's an awesome day to go hunting for free curb finds, however. Choose free furniture over mover angst. Finding a place for an Aug. 1st or even a mid-month move is still quite possible. Be on the look out in particular for lease transfers- you would be taking over a lease directly from the tenant rather than the landlord, meaning that the rent is locked in to their price (rather than being raised just prior to going back on the market). Because it's legally sort of impossible to break lease in Quebec, this is what lots of folks turn to when they take a job out of town, move in with a partner, or experience some sort of financial shift, hence the unusual move-in dates. I've found quite a few gems this way. In addition to the usual sites like Craiglists (which is more anglophone) and Kijiji (which is more francophone), there are also a few facebook groups you might want to check out. "Apartments for Rent In Montreal" is a general hub for lease transfers and roommate searches, while "Chez Queer" does the same, but with a queer-friendly focus. Lots of cheap listings to be had therein. Try to learn basic apartment hunting french (bail, sous-sol, etc.) so that you can check out ads in either language. Most landlords/tenants will be able to work with you in english, even if their ad is entirely in french. Know your rights! Damage deposits, paying last month's rent up front, and key deposits are all illegal in Quebec. And please please please sign an actual lease, the sort that comes in 8/5x14 paper from the Regie de logement. (If you are doing a lease transfer, sign a formal lease transfer agreement downloadable from the Regie, and take possession of the outgoing tenant's original lease). The ghetto and plateau are getting pretty overpriced (due of frequent turn overs in tenants, given the student population). Try NDG, Petite Patrie/Little Italy, St. Henri, or the Mile End for cheaper neighborhoods with tons of local amenities. Transit's so good in this town you shouldn't have a problem getting around if you live outside the core. If you can't come in advance to search for apartments, check your university's classifieds board (online). There are tons of students looking for roommates, making this a safer way to find a place sight unseen (though please do use Skype to virtually check things out, and ask lots of questions re: water pressure, noise, groceries, etc.). I know a lot of folks who chose this option and, while their enthusiasm for their roommates was variable over time, they saved a lot of money and stress by avoiding the advance trip. If it's awful, you can always lease transfer out at a date of your choosing. Good luck everyone!

Nope! It's highly unlikely that you'd land anything that big, particularly at the Master's level.

Yeah! This is the thread I need! Here's a few things I've sketched out so far. My list is specific to being a Fulbright scholar at NYU, so there are a few quirks. I'd be very happy to hear from other folks! - unlock phone apparently you can do this at home with a walkthrough via the internet? I will find out more... - research phone plans Anyone got any tips? - consolidate all my Canadian bank accounts into one - open up tax free savings account for extra funding dollars - open American bank account (I hear TD Bank and TD Canada trust have free transfers between the two, though I don't know if I'll be able to use TD Bank for Fulbright payments- sometimes there are restrictions on the banks a funder will deposit to, strangely enough) - Get medical exam for Fulbright/have doctor verify that I have my mumps/measles/rubella shots for NYU They really don't want you to have measles. They will kick you out of the program if you don't have medical proof of vaccination a few months into your degree. You can always get the shots in the states, though, after you've landed. - find housing With what I've heard about the New York rental market, I don't have high expectations of finding a place sight unseen. Instead I plan on heading down a few weeks early and hosteling while I visit apartments and frantically try to sign a lease. I am keeping my eyes on Craigslist for sweet cooperative housing situations, though. I'd love to be able to join an intentional living community... - research movers I'm thinking UHAUL storage pods? They gave me a quote for $1750 to move my studio apartment's furnishings from Montreal to New York. I bet there are cheaper options out there, however. They will for sure hold all my stuff in storage while I figure out what I'm doing with my life, however. - change of address notifications bank, provincial and federal taxes and elections, former schools, friends and family - visa stuff? Fulbright will apparently be handling this for me, though that also means that I don't have much in the way of control or knowledge of its progress. This is a bit frustrating.