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Page228

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  • Application Season
    2015 Fall
  • Program
    Philosophy

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  1. I have no problem with choosing what makes sense to you out of a very old book and following that. I do have a problem with telling other people how to live their lives regarding broken "rules" that i) don't affect you, and ii) aren't hurting anyone else. On that front, I don't care if the person lives according to his faith perfectly or not. So the issue for me isn't cherry picking/hypocrisy, but minding one's own business.
  2. Bumping a slightly old thread to suggest Nordstrom Rack. Lower prices than at the regular stores and a good selection of less common sizes. (They also have a good selection of dresses if that's your thing. It's definitely my thing.)
  3. If you just drive down 95, NJ seems like a horrible state with a horrible smell. The one time I decided to drive through the state on smaller roads though, I was pleasantly surprised.
  4. Man v. Food! I used to watch that all the time. I try to hit up Man v. Food places on road trips. (Almost all really have been great.) I watch Louie (although the current season hasn't been my favorite), The League (only one season left - so sad), Mad Men, and Bones. I'll also occasionally watch whatever Anthony Bourdain show happens to be available.
  5. I'm also in the unique undergrad boat. Probably different from yours, but still unique and somewhat insane... Unique is tricky. Not impossible, but tricky.
  6. The response to philosophy as a discipline is different (it's less intimidating than the hard sciences) but just saying "grad school" can prompt replies like "You must be smart" or, worse, the same rephrased as a question: "So are you really smart then?" Both make me uncomfortable. But in terms of talking to other people, you shouldn't worry too much. Most people love to talk about their kids, if they have them. Stay at home moms should be easy to get talking. Everybody hates the majority of drivers in any given area, so you can always talk about the trials of commuting. (If you take the bus you probably have even better stories.) The weather was a good suggestion. If you like something someone is wearing, comment on it. Ask where he or she got it. Talk about the best places to go for hikes, walks, food, drinks, the movies, concerts, etc. Talk about travel. Talk about tea vs. coffee. Talk about the latest news story about how everything in our food supply is basically poison. You're a human. They're humans. You have things in common. I spent awhile outside of academia, in a couple of very different groups. If you're willing to meet the group you're in halfway, you can almost always find something to discuss. As for the questions about your studies, it's not bragging to talk about what you do. I doubt many people are terribly jealous; they're just interested. Most people remember disliking science class in high school, and have absolutely no desire to take your place.
  7. You might look at which program has better placement for places you'd like to go after the MA. Has one program done significantly better in that arena? Also, this doesn't seem to get discussed much (perhaps because becoming a professor, if that is the goal, will likely require a lot geographical flexibility) but location can be important. If Boston would make you happy while DeKalb would make you miserable, that is something to consider. And if NIU's course offerings would leave you uninspired and unmotivated, then perhaps you've already made the correct choice. Funding is nice though; there's no denying that. Outside of that, it's just weighing what set of pros and cons suits you best.
  8. Considering the obesity rate, a change in diets wouldn't be a bad idea - but not necessarily to vegetarianism. If people cut down on food wasted and food consumed (so that they ate only what they needed in order to maintain healthy weights), it seems like that could be helpful. Of course, that doesn't account for water-guzzling crops like almonds, which are favored by the diet-conscious, but it would be a start.
  9. I tend to look for a trend. One really dramatic person is often the kind of person who could find a reason to be dramatic anywhere. But, of course, it depends on the story the person has to tell.
  10. Glad to see I'm not the only person thinking highly enough of my own intelligence to think that the world needs my children to prevent an idiocracy. Not right this moment though. Right this moment Nothing in life seems to be going quite right, and school can't start soon enough.
  11. First, almost nobody attains glory through suicide. Just putting that out there. The success rate is very low. As to moving forward, I had an ex who had done the CC thing. The first time was a miserable failure. I think his GPA was just above a 1. He came back in his late twenties, finished strong, and wanted to go to UCLA. His advisors at the school told him he didn't have a chance. He applied, he told his story of overcoming obstacles and perseverance, and he got in. He later got into an MA program at Toronto. (Decided not to pursue the PhD.) It can be done. That said, you have to be prepared for future chances when you do make them happen. Whether that takes medication, therapy, whatever... you have to be able to do the work and go to your exams. Feeling sorry for yourself accomplishes exactly nothing. (Yes, your past selves will haunt you. We all have past selves who made mistakes of one kind or another, but universities prefer to admit people with more consistent selves so they don't have to worry about whether it is the focused selves or the distracted selves that are the anomalies. It's unreasonable to hold that against them.) If you're ready to take a calm look at your life and realize that yes, you've given yourself extra obstacles, but no, those obstacles aren't insurmountable, and fully commit yourself to your goals, which you cannot do with part of your mind dreaming of suicide, then go for it and don't take no for an answer.* *There are exceptions, but they tend to be in creating some kind of artistic work with impending death as the final motivator. Few say, "I will get into UCLA! And then die, and everyone shall remember my name."
  12. Same, and thank you to everyone for all your informative posts and discussions this season. Good luck in the coming year(s)!
  13. I'm visibly tattooed and it may count against me with some people. C'est la vie. Others have given advice on that front. The advice I want to give is this: if you go for it, research your artist. Look at portfolios, choose a nice shop, get a nice tattoo. As the saying goes, "Good tattoos ain't cheap, and cheap tattoos ain't good." Don't hunt for a bargain on something you'll be keeping forever. Don't assume that because it's a simple idea any artist can do it just as well as another. Not true.
  14. There's also a very low probability that it would help us in any way at this point (decisions are made, we may not have applied to the same schools/AOI and there's no telling how many people don't read this site who we'll never reach with our "advice," etc.) and a much higher probability that we'll be told off and/or ignored. If we've accidentally posted too much info and someone connects us to our real identities AND our motivations are found out, that certainly wouldn't do our careers any favors. Plus, we'd have to live not only with being assholes, but with being assholes who probably didn't even accomplish anything with our asshole behavior. For a better chance of successful subterfuge, we'd have to start during the application process. Try to reduce the number of applications to our chosen schools and/or spread rumors to get people to mess up their applications. ("I heard that the UChicago way involves not citing your sources. With technology now, they just know. Amazing, right?") ...But then someone would just correct you, and again you'd be an asshole for no gain. The game might be rigged, but not by us. We might as well help and support each other.
  15. I had the "what if" situation here: We were online friends, developed deep feelings, THEN met in person... And the physical attraction/chemistry just wasn't there. I hoped that I would learn to feel differently, but it never happened. Instead, the emotional distance between us grew until we called it quits. Never again.
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