poco_puffs

If it's any consolation, I think you're a rockstar for doing the history thing. In the last few terms of my undergrad, I was torn between pursuing History or English Lit as my discipline of choice. English Lit won out for a few reasons, but one of the big ones is that History can truly be a difficult and perplexing monster to dig into. I *always* enjoyed my history classes, but looking at the graduate and professional work in the field almost made me wet my pants (in fearful awe, not joyful anticipation). In my opinion, you deserve credit for having the stones to commit to it in the first place. Stick with it! Find its weak points and tame the beast!

Finally have my official schedule hammered out, after a lot of meetings and orientations. This will be my first term at a PhD program in English Lit: Monday: 10-12 Intro to Grad Studies Seminar 1-2 Class I TA for that I want to sit in on, even though I don't have to/not getting paid to 3-5 Tutoring Tuesday 10-12 Tutoring 1-2 Tutoring Wednesday 10-12 Intro to Grad Studies Seminar 1-2 TA Class session Thursday 9-12 Medieval Lit Seminar 1-3 Tutoring Friday 1-2 That TA class, which I might not attend on Fridays, because otherwise I have no reason to be on campus. The deal with the TA thing is that the professor requested me mostly to help read and grade papers and perhaps final exams, and she's not expecting or requesting me to come to class sessions. I'm wondering if anyone else is in a similar situation: I'm sure I'll be pressed for time at different points during the term, but the subject matter of this class (19th century British novel) is right up my alley, so if she allows me to attend I'll not only get to observe some lecture styles and student involvement from a new perspective,especially in something that I can foresee myself teaching someday, but I can potentially get a free lit course without paying for it. I won't be able to sit in if a.) there's not enough physical room and b.) if she nixes the idea, but my field is pretty under-represented at this particular school and I want to scoop up every last drop of it that I can get. Does this strike anyone as problematic or dishonest, sitting in on the course and whatnot? I figure as long as I'm a silent observer that it won't be as if I'm robbing the students of their learning experience. Then again, part of me is very worried about doing something wrong or even just tacky so early in the game. Anyway, there's got to be at least 4 hours a week of meeting with the prof, book reading, and paper reading/grading for that class I'm TAing for, plus I'd like to get some of my course reading done on campus. I foresee sticking around for an hour or two after tutoring most days, and possibly coming in on Fridays to make it a full 5-day week. My program certainly doesn't frontload the stress, and I'm thankful for that.

When I took mine a year ago, I distinctly remember a small series of questions about an Old English passage (and not Beowulf) that required us to identify at least a few words in order to answer them. Something along the lines of "Read these six lines. Okay, what is the topic of this stanza? What is it saying about X? In which lines does the poet comment on Y?" It wasn't a full job of translation, but you had to be somewhat familiar with either the specific poem or the language in general. Another thing to consider is there are multiple subject tests that go out each round-- you can't be guaranteed to be taking the same one as your buddy. Mine was heavy on biblical references, theory, and 20th century lit/drama. Other people that round had tests that were heavier on Shakespeare and 19th century lit. Sometimes you'll get a test that has 8 questions on Milton, and sometimes you'll get a test that has 2 questions on Milton.

I did food stamps in the year between my undergrad and starting my grad program, and they helped immensely when dealing with the burden of student loan payments. I let my agreement with the stamp people lapse at the end of this past August because of moving to a new address and thinking that I might be able to manage on my stipend (about the same, $9.4k/9mo) since I wouldn't be paying student loans. I didn't properly account for the huge blow moving and not working for most of the summer would deal to my savings, though, so now I'm considering reapplication because I am going into my program broke, with absolutely no financial padding at all. I know that, in Oregon at least, your qualification depends on either your income alone, if you live alone or buy/prepare your own food, or your combined income with a roommate or S/O if you buy and prepare your food together. My boyfriend is making considerably more than me each month, now that he has a legit job at the University, but since he's not paying any more for groceries and we still eat a lot of our own meals (not shared) I think I might just apply for my own stamps again. Sometimes the people at human/health services offices are over-worked and a little grumpy, but remember that you can find a lot of information on their websites and part of their jobs is explaining the qualifications and benefits to people. They have a lot of helpful information, and it's worth it to give them a call if you are truly having trouble putting enough/nutritious food on your table.

While I applied to several schools that are famous for their research, I ended up getting my only acceptance from a school that places a relatively heavy emphasis on pedagogy compared to similar programs. As sad as I was knowing that I wouldn't have a big name Ivy on my CV, I also got reassurances from several camps that my school's reputation for pedagogical training meant that the graduates had a pretty good hiring history. Maybe they didn't end up at big schools, but they ended up with jobs fairly quickly, and that is certainly the goal right now. I've heard this discussed on other threads, but here it goes again: As happy as I would be to be a known scholar making a big impact in my field, and that is certainly my "shoot for the stars" goal, my "real world" goal is to just be able to make a living doing what I love. This means that even if I end up teaching at a small state college and pulling a few extra courses at a community college, I'll be happy as long as I'm making enough money to help support my family and not be completely swallowed up in debt. And even though I feel like I have some compelling and unique research interests for my field, one of my constant reference points in the application process was always "Can I stand the idea of teaching this material for the next thirty or thirty-five years? Am I okay with stress and gray hairs and sacrificing hours to paper-grading in order to share this stuff that I love? Will I be happy spending most of my time interacting with students, most of whom aren't in it for the long-haul, and spending a smaller amount of time at conferences and with colleagues that are truly of a mind with me?" The answer was yes. I really really want to teach.

Your stats look good, but it's important to remember that admissions committees have many reasons for choosing a candidate beyond simply their numbers. Sometimes candidates get in with lower numbers, sometimes they get in with higher numbers, and your scores really aren't the best indicator of potential success in the application process. I'd recommend looking at the advice given for some other forum members who have asked similar questions. Even if your field isn't the same, the advice generally is as follows: If your numbers are adequate (and I'm not an expert, but yours are within the adequate range as far as I can tell) then the chances of your admission most likely ride on the written components of your application. Many school websites even state that specifically. Focus on getting good letters of recommendation, hammering out a stellar Statement of Purpose, make sure your writing sample is as polished and revised as you can manage, and give due time to any supplementary questions or essays they might assign. Make sure you research the departments and faculty in which you are interested, in order to a.) make sure you will be a good fit for their department and at least a few faculty members, and b.) work on expressing that fit concisely within your statement of purpose. Unless you are planning to retake the tests, and other users on here will be able to give you a better idea of whether or not that will be worth your time, let the scores stand as they are and devote your time and passion to the other portions of your application that matter more anyway.

Okay. There is a lot of serious stuff going on in this thread. So I'm going to throw this link in here, because it made me laugh. There's a paragraph quoted in each of these articles where Franco talks a little on how he goes about his reading and writing for school. The topic is a little NSFW, but came about through a conversation with a reporter about his new movie 127 Hours. So, aside from wondering how he completes movies while completing ANY coursework at all, now we get to know a little more about his personal time. Slightly off-color, but in the name of art More purely off-color, but with more commentary on Franco's personality

Yeeeesh. Your comps are before Year 3? You guys don't fool around.

Oh! I didn't even think about semester vs. quarter. I'll be on a quarter system, so I'm taking six seminars a year for three years = 18 seminars, which are 4 or 5 credits each (I can't remember specifically). There wasn't a huge variety of seminars I could even choose from at my program, plus my specific interests are not as widely represented within the department, so I really just ended up taking the one I was most interested in plus the Intro, which was required. After that, I'm looking forward to making some careful choices on which seminars might be a little out of my comfort zone but still be interesting and act as a little building block towards the knowledge I'd like to build up to support my research. As much as I enjoy picking out my classes (and I and tell the rest of you do too!) in some ways I feel like taking two seminars a term means that I'll have to be VERY discriminating about what will further my purposes vs. just being fun stuff, and it also means that I'll be able to focus intensely on those particular courses and go balls out on my research and revisions for assignments.

Nope, no teaching until the second year. First term is two seminars, one of which is a really intensive Intro to Graduate Studies, which is heavy on theory and preparation for more professional writing. Second term is two seminars plus a course on pedagogy and the specific classes that I'll be responsible for running discussion groups. Third term is two seminars, plus a TA/apprenticeship type thing. For the second and third years, I'll be expected to take two seminars per term plus run discussion groups for one class a term. Fourth year is teaching plus exams and the proposal process for the dissertation. Any time after that is teaching, plus working on the diss. I think I'll be stuck running those discussion sections for composition and Intro to Lit until year four, when I can apply to either teach other courses within the department or even petition to teach a course of my own design. From the discussions I've had with the professors and the current graduate students, this particular program is very big on guidance and not over-loading the students. Maybe it won't be the most intensive and high pressure program, but there are a lot of very happy, productive people who seem to love their work in the department. Something that strikes me about the difference between the humanities and the sciences is the expectation of hours in labs/working and whatnot. The grad students I met at the visiting weekend made it very clear that grad students in the English Dept. are welcome to call their union rep. if any professor ever tries to pressure or coerce them into working more than the 16 contracted hours a week. I even found a "bill of rights" type document through the graduate school that details the rights and responsibilities of both students and professors, which specifically included that we aren't expected to mow lawns or babysit kids to maintain our standing in the program!

Thought Crime

My school schedule for the first term of my PhD seems pretty tame compared to everyone else, but no matter how much I pick through the Graduate Handbook for my program it just suggests the two seminars a term. So, I just have the two classes: One is 10-12 on Mondays and Wednesdays, and one is 9-12 on Thursdays. That's it. I know I'll be reading a LOT, so it's not going to be all down-time in between classes, especially with work, but duuuuude... I think I might get Friday-Sunday off, which means time with boyfriend and away from school. For work, I know that I won't be doing any more than 16 hours a week. Not sure how that will be divided up-- and I don't even think I'll find out until the first week of classes. I'm wondering if my lighter schedule is specific to my school, specific to English, or specific to Humanities. There's gotta be a catch somewhere, right?

geological survey.

All three of the universities I've attended in my state close sometime between 11pm and 1am on weeknights, and significantly earlier on weekends, like 9pm. I'm not one to be at the library until 5 in the morning, but I really truly dislike having to pack my stuff up at 1. Although heard recently that my last uni's library finally got the funding to stay open for 24 hours, just as I leave for another school

living dead

summer solstice

lag bolt

trapper keeper!

a.) I'm surprised that I posted less this month than last! b.) There's an actual blogging season on here? I guess that's a part of the site I've never really explored.

time being

I don't have a fear of flying, but I do have my own phobias that have caused a ruckus or two in the past. I can tell you this though: there are other medical conditions that would prevent people from flying, and departments would obviously have to accommodate a person for that disability. In your case, you obviously have more than just a minor fear of flying: it's a full blown phobia, with panic attacks and fainting and all sorts of physical manifestations of your extreme anxiety. Such being the case, I have a couple of recommendations that should help you avoid the "but it's just flying" conversations and get you the results you need. First off, do you have any sort of medical records documenting your severe anxiety about flying? Have you been hospitalized, or were there incident reports filed at the airports where you had fainting or panic attacks? Have you sought any sort of treatment, whether counseling or pharmaceutical? Gather whatever records you have, or work with your boyfriend to put together a time line of dates, incidents, particular symptoms. Any of this will put significantly more weight behind your claims of the phobia/anxiety, and should help smooth the way for alternate travel plans if anyone seems reluctant to accommodate you. I would recommend going to the Disability Services offices on your campus to speak with someone about your situation. You might need to make an appointment, but there are people who are employed for exactly this reason. They are paid to help students work around limitations in order to maximize their experience at the university, and they are also there to advocate for you in case your department (for whatever reason) is less willing to have you travel by train instead of plane, for instance. Finally, within your department, talk to either a trusted professor/advisor, your Director of Graduate Studies, or whoever might coordinate student attendance at conferences. It depends on the climate and personalities within your department, but among those people you should be able to find *someone* with a sympathetic ear. This whole travel arrangement thing could potentially be a non-issue, where no one would be bothered at all by your aversion to planes. If it is something that requires a bit of discussion and effort, having a person within the department on your side will help you navigate the problem. The important thing, I think, is to start working towards a solution before the anticipated problem gets too close. If you can work out this understanding and arrangements with the Disability Services and your department before any conferences are discussed, then everyone will be prepared and no last-minute changes will need to be made. Also, if you suffer from such intense anxiety and panic attacks for several weeks before a planned trip, your ability to find advocates and make these arrangements might be diminished. Work with your boyfriend, the services on campus, and your department to start the ball rolling on this, and you should be able to avoid a lot of hassle.

calm waters

Yes. I rarely had to do group projects for my undergrad majors, beyond small group work in classrooms. I can think of three major group projects from my six years of bachelor work, and only one of them was a positive experience. The other two groups were mostly slacking off, poor/no communication, backstabbing, credit-stealing, and general lack of group-ness. The one that happened in a military history class my last year of school involved this one guy who... ugh. He didn't just drop the ball, he launched the ball so hard at the ground it penetrated the earth's crust and left a smoking hole of destruction and despair. Group work DOES have the potential to be good though, so I hope that in grad school people will kind of have their act together and understand that we're all in the same boat. I know mixed-level groups might make it tough, rooibos, but if you are super pro-active about communicating your scheduling needs then at least that should be taken care of. I wish you the best of luck!

I agree with mudlark. There's a chance that someone else in your group might have a work schedule they need to accommodate, but there's an even better chance that you'll be working with people who have fairly open schedules without jobs or families to work around. If anything, the people in your group might be grateful that there is an older member who has home space available for group work. Priorities are priorities, and people generally understand that. If they don't, they probably have some deeper issues.

cheese tray