Scantronphobia
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Posts posted by Scantronphobia
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So I managed to break my ankle two weeks before my program started. I went hiking with some future classmates and slipped, rolled it, and snapped the bottom off the fibula. Luckily surgery has been taken off the table but it's been 6 weeks now and I'm so sick of crutches and knee scooters. It was quick bonding with my cohort as they helped me down off the mountain and got me to the hospital but I'm definitely missing out on the fun part of being in a new city and program.
Hey, that's what we graduate students get for trying to have a social life, right? Hope you'll be on the mend soon!
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my job sucks because I have to take care of the units that nobody gives a shit about. we had black smoke coming out the stack today, a real fucking problem, and I'm sitting next to this operator trying to work with him. But he just got done working on the unit he cares about, and is now sitting there playing solitare on his phone, pretending I'm not there. what a fucking prick.
What? What kind of a job do you have? That operator sounds ridiculous.
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Can you join an immersion program?
That's a good thought--I'll see if my university has one. Thanks for the suggestion!
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Quick question to throw out to anyone who might have some insight. I need to learn a language as part of my program, and quickly. I need reading proficiency mostly, not necessarily speaking fluency. What are the best approaches to do this?
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Yes - beginning to apply to schools. Sent away for my transcript today - start of the journey to make it official
15 years since undergrad, so go AARP me!How would I find schools that would pay me to go? I understand that PhD programs often will sponsor some of your tuition, but I'm looking at masters, and not seeing any. I'm looking at New York area design schools (Parsons, Pratt, SVA etc.) and trying to find scholarships, although I doubt there's much substantial that covers thousands of it - maybe $1,000 here or there. If it was a Harvard, they do have larger scholarships, but perhaps smaller schools like Parsons don't have quite so much in the way of scholarships and instead assume most folks are there on loans.
I understand what you mean linking career and social. It depends on the program - I don't get the sense at any of the schools I"m looking at that it's looked down upon if you're a little older, and it's not like we're sharing a program the way that other courses might be... it feels very self directed, and you don't have to be hanging out with everyone at the lab after school. At a certain point, I'm hoping people are evaluated on the strength of their ideas and not their ages (etc.), so if anyone gives me any guff in class - well, I'll concentrate on my work instead, and if I make a few friends, I'll be happy. I don't look 'old' and I know how to 'act younger' and dress younger if I need to, luckily, but I'm feeling really old and bit like I've failed in life, and like I'm going back to school because I have to for work - which is the big problem, which is also tied to age. We'll see I guess. Happy to have found folks going down similar paths in the Going Back To School madness.
For wildlifer, yes, 27 is a perfect age to be doing it - so enjoy! I so wish I had done this earlier back when I wanted to, but was intimidated by the cost. Life is too bloody short - just do what you want, and never be scared to do it. I've spent too many years being scared - don't do that.
That's the spirit! As far as finding programs that will provide a tuition reimbursement and maybe a stipend, the best way to find out for certain is to 1. look carefully at the website for the program to see if there is info there and 2. call and talk to the director of graduate studies. Best of luck to you!
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So I am not sure if I'm really considered an older student per se.. I'm 7 days shy of being 27 but I've always been beyond my years (or so I've been told). I just finished my second BS this past May and I was definitely one of the oldest of the student body there. I'm looking into graduate programs for Fall 2015 (hopefully). In some ways, I feel like the "odd one out" because some of my peers from my first college went straight into graduate school and now are working full time in their field. And then the other half of my peers from my 2nd college are just setting foot in the the real world post college. And here I am, in between both worlds. Sometimes I wish I could turn around and redo it, other times I like that I have had my own unique path. To those of you pursuing graduate studies while having a family, HUGE kudos to you. I have huge amounts of respect for those of you who fit that category!
Oh, to be 27 and just starting grad school! Grab it while you have the chance! You're not so young that you won't appreciate the experience, and you're not too old to fit in with those who might be coming right out of undergrad, either. IMO, 27 is just about the perfect age to do anything. Carpe diem!
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Makes total sense - although the good part is with grad school, often there ARE people who've had a gap between undergrad and working. I"m trying not to focus on a 15 year gap, or how old I feel, and instead on why I'm doing this - like to ensure I have work in the future.
Right now, the main struggle is paying for it. The other parts are difficult, but I can work on applying, thinking of topics to study, changing my life to accomodate schooling. The money part is over my head... completely lost and stressed out. Even exploring scholarships is overwhelming. The schools I'm looking at are at a minimum $40K in debt for 2 years, and I don't even see where I'd have money to live on let alone rent. I know they don't expect it all repaid overnight, but I'm feeling so lost at this point, I don't know where to begin to sort it all out.
Hi--so you are beginning the application stage? If so, look at schools that will pay you to go. That was the best advice about grad school I ever received: Don't go if they won't pay.
And yes, I need to try not to be distracted by the age thing. This is, after all, a career move and not a social move. But they are sort of linked in my field.
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So glad to have found this thread--have been feeling unusually exhausted and sickly as well. I think it is the stress of a new environment and the knowledge that the program I have just entered is more demanding than anything I have done before. Having to watch what I eat and try to get enough sleep; ironically, I am exhausted but cannot sleep very well. Insane. This is what I WANT to do, but my body is saying otherwise...
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Oh, thank goodness for this thread. I just joined the site and am trying to make my way down the journey towards grad school. I'm 40 and contemplating going back to school after 10 years away from school (did get a B.A.), and am slightly terrified at the prospect. If money wasn't a problem, I could see myself enjoying school, but at this point both the applying part and the whole 'why am I doing this' part is overwhelming me. I just can't seem to find work in my field anymore, and I'm too old to 'intern' at places, so this is part of the reason I'm thinking about grad school. I did love studying although my grads were a solid B - so I don't even know if I'll be able to get into any place, and the idea of standing up and defending a thesis seems beyond me right now. Focusing in on one topic seems impossible, but I'm hoping as I go down this road it will become less scary. If anyone knows of any great resources (books, scholarships, tips, meetups) specifically for older students, please let me know.
Yes, I would like to know as well. Basically, the best remedy for me has been just to forget (or try) how much older I am than the other students while avoiding saying things that draw attention to my age like a lot of people who feel self conscious about their age do. That will, I think, only widen the gap and thus distract from my goals in the program. Plus, when I think about how I feel rather than how long I have been on Earth, it isn't hard to open the mind. With that said, I am very wary of coming across as some immature dope who tries to hang around with people 10+ years younger. Does this make sense?
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This is a question that I am having, and I haven't even started classes yet! I just began a doctoral program--a fairly selective one--and had orientations. I am already freaking out thinking what a fraud I am and how I must have really fooled all of those professors into thinking that I have any kind of abilities to do the work they are going to expect. And now I am not so sure that I fooled all of them. I met with some of them this week and suspect that they see through my act with their super intellectual x-ray vision. There is a name for this complex: the Impostor Syndrome. Only I am the exception: I really am the impostor. But maybe feeling certain of that is part of the syndrome, too.
At any rate, I don't feel that education is ever a bad thing...for what it's worth.
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Yes--good luck. Personally, I don't look at it as starting over, exactly, just changing routes a bit on the journey. Of course, when I met the other new graduate students, I realized that they had gotten a lot farther in a lot less time. That was harsh. Plus they look like babies to me--hard to take them seriously. But then I remember being in grad school at their age (the first time) and feeling like people were thinking that about ME. But I was a baby--maturity wise. I didn't fully appreciate grad school the first go round. Feels kind of awkward. It's like I went back in time without looking or feeling younger, though.
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I hate the place I moved to, I just look around and nothing seems right. The apartment I moved into was so filthy - hundreds of spiderwebs and spiders, just disgusting bathroom and kitchen. I was stupid to sign the lease when I visited weeks ago, just after the viewing, without going over things properly. And so much about this country feels annoying and wrong and a hassle. I can't pay my rent with bank transfers. People shout from the very back of the bus "THANKS!" to the bus driver when they're getting off. My bag was searched at the airport. I had to show a receipt for a blender I was bringing with. I feel like I have so much I have to do - review a film's translated subtitles for a friend of a friend by Tuesday, go to 6 meetings, write a shorter version of a paper to make it a conference presentation in 3 weeks, write a grant proposal and an internship proposal in 3-5 weeks, get a bank account, a cell phone, a letter from the immigration saying I can work, a tax number, I need to pack again in 3 weeks to go to a conference, be prepared for that conference, track down the last images I need for my presentation (from people that are now 10 time zones earlier due to where I've moved to), do my taxes for last year still (ugh), send in 2-3 forms telling the government that I've moved, and I start classes in a week so I will have that work on top of this stuff. And it's so dumb and all my fault because I procrastinated this to prioritize doing an art project of my own, which in the end didn't work out. I feel overwhelmed and tired all the time and the only place I have to vent about it is gradcafe...
Grad cafe seems great for venting--I am soooo glad to have found this thread! That apartment sounds like an abomination. Can't you bring it up now with the realtor/landlady/landlord? Seems awful to make you do the cleaning.
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I'm locked with the same 25 people every day for 2 weeks.
Your situation is much more extreme than mine is. How come you can't meet anyone?
Yikes! Yes, that would get old. As far as why I could not meet anyone, I have now that orientation week has begun, but I learned that there WAS a mixer and apparently I am the only one who didn't get the "exclusive" invitation. I kind of wondered why they would exclude someone they haven't even met yet, though...they haven't had time to dislike me yet.
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Oh--your "days and days of TA training"--yeah, that sounds grueling. But again, maybe you've at least met some people?
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My orientation, which is really just 3 hours with the other students and department heads, got postponed possible to two weeks into the semester. I haven't met anyone outside of my lab.
Hey, at least you've met the people in your lab--that's way ahead of my situation! We have--get this--three days of orientation-related stuff before classes start.
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So glad to see this thread still going...I just began a doctoral program at 40. Orientation was brutal--for me, anyway. Looking out and seeing about 300 faces around 20 years younger was a reminder that it has taken me a lot longer to 1. figure out how to do what I want to do and 2. be in a place in life where I can actually do that. Then again, I look back to who I was when I was just out of undergrad--a mess. And I realize that now is the time for me--I probably would have screwed it up then if given the chance. Hopefully the members of my cohort won't call me mom.
Would love to hear others' experiences with being older grad students!
Language Requirement
in The Lobby
Posted
Hey, all,
Thanks for all of the suggestions. I think I'll try duolingo to begin a language with which I have no facility (but that has been recommended to me to learn), and the others for another language I'm struggling with.
Everyone in my program seems to be fluent in, like, six languages, but, having been educated in the US, I had limited opportunities to develop language skills early on when the old brain was most receptive. I am sure some of you can relate.
Anyway, your suggestions are very helpful!