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katerific

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  1. Upvote
    katerific got a reaction from p4lm0r3 in Things not to say to someone who has just been rejected by their dream school   
    A pamphlet, you say?

    Presenting!

    a preview!

    Front side
    Back side
  2. Upvote
    katerific got a reaction from sareth in What you think the adcoms are saying about your application   
    two possible reactions to my application. no words, only raw emotion:




    or


  3. Upvote
    katerific got a reaction from quantitative in How will you celebrate?   
    Whether I get rejected or accepted, my reaction will involve two activities: crying and drinking.


    edit: I mean, not necessarily at the same time. Well, maybe for rejections. Yeah....
  4. Upvote
    katerific got a reaction from gilmoregirl1010 in Things not to say to someone who has just been rejected by their dream school   
    A pamphlet, you say?

    Presenting!

    a preview!

    Front side
    Back side
  5. Upvote
    katerific got a reaction from coffeeplease in Things not to say to someone who has just been rejected by their dream school   
    A pamphlet, you say?

    Presenting!

    a preview!

    Front side
    Back side
  6. Upvote
    katerific got a reaction from catfishbasket in Things not to say to someone who has just been rejected by their dream school   
    A pamphlet, you say?

    Presenting!

    a preview!

    Front side
    Back side
  7. Upvote
    katerific got a reaction from LLajax in Things not to say to someone who has just been rejected by their dream school   
    A pamphlet, you say?

    Presenting!

    a preview!

    Front side
    Back side
  8. Upvote
    katerific got a reaction from Two Espressos in Things not to say to someone who has just been rejected by their dream school   
    A pamphlet, you say?

    Presenting!

    a preview!

    Front side
    Back side
  9. Upvote
    katerific got a reaction from Kudrov in Things not to say to someone who has just been rejected by their dream school   
    A pamphlet, you say?

    Presenting!

    a preview!

    Front side
    Back side
  10. Upvote
    katerific got a reaction from mandarin.orange in Things not to say to someone who has just been rejected by their dream school   
    A pamphlet, you say?

    Presenting!

    a preview!

    Front side
    Back side
  11. Upvote
    katerific got a reaction from caffeinerd in Things not to say to someone who has just been rejected by their dream school   
    A pamphlet, you say?

    Presenting!

    a preview!

    Front side
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  12. Upvote
    katerific got a reaction from psych21 in Things not to say to someone who has just been rejected by their dream school   
    A pamphlet, you say?

    Presenting!

    a preview!

    Front side
    Back side
  13. Upvote
    katerific reacted to qbtacoma in Colleges Rescind Acceptance Offers   
    SuperPiePie, I think what we are running up against here is an unspoken assumption on your part about what the study of the humanities serves in the end. I see your point about engineering etc. saving lives, being the main force ending physical suffering in the world. That is a point well made, but let's set that aside for now and see what study of being human has to offer.

    Two examples. When Ann Bannon wrote softcore lesbian pulp fiction in the 1950s, her work was eagerly devoured by women even though the publisher intended the books as porn for straight men. The women who read her books were starving for portrayals of themselves - of women who had deep emotional and sexual connections with other women. Her books were the only contact many women, who were isolated from underground lesbian subcultures (and, for that matter, unexposed to a literary education which would have introduced them to non-normative sexualities that any classics person knows), had. The books were a positive cultural presence for these readers, who knew they were not alone in their feelings, despite the moralizing bad endings. This sense of isolation from peers remains one of the main drivers of queer teen suicide even today with all the unabashedly positive portrayals of all kinds of people available, suggesting how important it is that people see themselves represented.

    When Alice Walker published The Color Purple in 1982, the presence of black women in popular culture was virtually nonexistent. Whoopi Goldberg, the biggest black female presence in popular culture of the 80s, was pushed into the popular spotlight by that film adaptation. Walker's exploration of black womanhood in general, not to mention the trauma of the aftermath of slavery, male abuse of wives, children, and partners, female sexual choices, mixed feelings of empowerment/colonialism inherent to Christian missionary work in Africa, the legacy of abuse and the struggle to rise above it all - these issues are explosive even thirty years later. Walker introduced to the popular consciousness certain discussions of gender, blackness, and the legacy of history which were incredibly unique and valuable - like Bannon (but better!), her work began a conversation which simply did not exist to the vast majority of people. Like Bannon, Walker gave voice to (in this case) black women in general and black lesbians in particular

    When are students exposed to ideas like these? In English classes.

    The study of the humanities can, like you imply, be just about creating art or exploring themes which are of particular interest to only a few. But English, film studies, theatre, history, and other fields all have the task of transmitting and reinterpreting the soul and, dare I say, morality of our day to day lives. YES, absolutely funding vaccine research is important! YES, funding research into making better bridges, better strains of wheat, better energy sources is important! But giving a voice to the voiceless is the reason that I myself research history, and teaching students to be better critical thinkers and writers is why teaching is social justice.

    YES, there is more than a little selfishness to my area of study - no one's life is going to be saved (directly) from my work. (That's what volunteering is for!) YES, some of my work is masturbatory and not particularly useful even for social justice purposes - they are simply interesting topics to me. But then, some computer scientists end up working for Pixar instead of protecting the nation's defense systems from cyber attacks. Some engineers end up working for SpaceX (a private rocket company which will eventually send tourists into space) instead of designing more effective medical imaging equipment. Most chemistry Ph.Ds will end up making drugs for big pharma which manage symptoms instead of treating underlying causes (oops, did a little bias slip out there?).

    I'd still fund the education for those non-life-saving science folks. It's still a net gain for society. But humanities research isn't inherently less valuable than anything these folks do.
  14. Upvote
    katerific reacted to Kathiza in Colleges Rescind Acceptance Offers   
    That's naive. There are already so many developments that no one in the world should be hungry or in the need of water. Those developments you are talking about are of course important and necessary and brought us to where we are now. But it's a myth that it's because of "helping people". It's about profit, not about helping the poor and hungry. Why are there still so many people in the world that are hungry/thirsty, can't read, die because of diseases which could be cured in an instant, etc. - It's because science and knowledge is not shared. Because there is no huge profit in giving knowledge/development to people who need it.
  15. Upvote
    katerific reacted to FingersCrossedX in Colleges Rescind Acceptance Offers   
    We're all in the same boat. Everyone is sitting around pressing the refresh button on their email hoping to be accepted, hoping to be wanted. Its like a middle school dance and looking around this forum it seems we have reverted back to middle school behaviors. We are putting each other down for no reason but a glimmer of hope that we will feel superior and no longer rejected. All of us were dumb enough to spend hundreds of dollars in application fees for this torture. No one is better than anyone else.

    Let's all take a moment step back and realize that the broad range of our interests and studies isn't a hierarchy but diversity.
  16. Downvote
    katerific reacted to waddle in Colleges Rescind Acceptance Offers   
    You mad?








  17. Downvote
    katerific reacted to lbullock in Colleges Rescind Acceptance Offers   
    Reading the result board posts (specifically for English) has officially become serial lobotomy. Does anyone think the next six years of any person's life should be reduced to an apostrophe? Is pernicious (not to mention banal) wit an appropriate response to the time, psychic energy, and financial expense required of the application process? It's troubling that PhD applicants can find no better use of their intellect than to impugn themselves, their prospective institutions, future careers, and presumed depth of understanding with so much bland brain matter. Sadly, no amount of good grammar can season it to taste.

    This is a stressful time. Please remember, the eyes of more futures than your own look over those posts with alternating hope and pause. Own acceptance, rejection, and the creamy anxiety in between with a little class.



  18. Downvote
    katerific reacted to waddle in Colleges Rescind Acceptance Offers   
    Cool story, bro.
  19. Upvote
    katerific reacted to Medievalmaniac in Colleges Rescind Acceptance Offers   
    Dear SuperPiePie....I hope you won't mind, but I just need to...well, I need to help you out, here. I hope you won't mind. See below.

    There are more spots but there are also more of us. Our departments are massive[,] yes, but the amount NUMBER of people trying to get in is ridiculous(,) as well. You have to realize [that] some people in basic sciences and m(M)ath are trying to get into the same engineering programs as well.

    As for training people from other nations[This is a fragment; make certain your statements are phrased in complete sentences]. Although graduate schools give citizens [of what country? Ambiguous; consider revising for clarity] priority, qualified people from other countries are welcome. Many countries have very strong engineering and math because a lot of this is universal around the world[This statement negates your original premise; if many countries around the world have very strong engineering and Math programs then why is that a justification for U.S. graduate programs giving numerous spots to people from other countries? Also, "a lot of this is universal to the world" is a deeply general and ambiguous statement. Be specific - a lot of WHAT is universal, to whom, specifically?]. I know that in certain humanities[programs] it [ "it" here is an ambiguous modifier - do you mean the department, or the graduate student population within the department? Make certain your meaning is clear] is not as diverse as far as international students. Many of the people trained from different countries like to stay here at[to?] work.[consider using a semi-colon here to create a more unified statement; also, how is this statement relevant to your argument that humanities programs don't fund as many international students? You need to make certain your argument is organized logically.] My father is an example. The pay here is better and there are more opportunities. Furthermore, the research done by these qualified international students is beneficial to the school and department. The money is given to help those individuals who show a desire to pursue a degree in applied sciences. I don't see why we discriminate[against...? You need to make certain each statement is a finished one.].

    Doggone it...where were your English teachers when you needed them? This statement could have been so much more persuasive than it currently is, if only you had known tha (and I am only going to enumerate the glaring errors, for want of time):

    1. You use the word "number" rather than "amount" for anything that can be counted; amount is for things that can be measured but not individually counted.
    2. Every statement in English needs to have a subject and predicate. In "As for training people from other nations" you need to have a subject clause; this could be remedied simply either by your phrasing it as a question - "As for training people from other nations?" or by inserting a subject clause into the statement - "As for YOUR COMMENT concerning training people from other nations..." although, "as to" would be better; but really this would be best handled by combining this statement with the statement following it with either a colon or a dash.
    3. Math, as a discipline, is always capitalized; ditto for History, English, and so forth.
    4. A good argument is logically and clearly organized, rather than doubling back on itself.
    5. It is important to use specific modifying words and phrases in order to avoid ambiguity and fuzzy meaning in your statements. Expressions like "I know in many humanities it is not as diverse as far as international students" are weak because that "it" could be modifying either the department(s) or the students being named. A little sentence organization goes a long way towards clarifying and strengthening your argument.
  20. Upvote
    katerific got a reaction from pheonixx in What you think the adcoms are saying about your application   
    two possible reactions to my application. no words, only raw emotion:




    or


  21. Upvote
    katerific reacted to katerific in What you think the adcoms are saying about your application   
    two possible reactions to my application. no words, only raw emotion:




    or


  22. Upvote
    katerific got a reaction from kaz in EVERYONE STOP WHAT YOU'RE DOING   
  23. Upvote
    katerific got a reaction from Sherlocked2013 in What would Chuck Norris do?   
    Amazing. These will never get old for me. Ever.



    Uhhhhh, let me try. Prepare the sad trombone, because these are pretty bad.

    1. Chuck Norris was admitted to every geology program because he discovered something with a hardness of 11* on the Mohs scale--his fist.
    2. They gave him full funding and even offered him future post-doc positions because he later found something rated at 12--his resolve.

    ....Nevermind, I'm going to stop now for everyone else's sake. You guys, I'm so so sorry.


    *note: diamonds are the hardest at 10.


  24. Upvote
    katerific got a reaction from bags in Things not to say to someone who has just been rejected by their dream school   
    A pamphlet, you say?

    Presenting!

    a preview!

    Front side
    Back side
  25. Upvote
    katerific got a reaction from pegasusdi in Things not to say to someone who has just been rejected by their dream school   
    A pamphlet, you say?

    Presenting!

    a preview!

    Front side
    Back side
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