Cheshire_Cat

My student health plan cost almost the same as a comparable plan at my old job, which was a LOT cheaper than any of my friends were getting on the exchange.

Grr! I'm tired, and I have regression homework tonight. I had a test last week, and I'm pretty sure I bombed it. On top of that, I bought a car yesterday (yay!) And I had planned on using a specific account for the down payment. But the card they gave me for that account wouldn’t work. So I used my other account and transferred money from the other one. Unfortunately it is the first of the month and the money hasn't arrived yet. I didn't think that one through well enough. So all my bills are going to be paid late. Hopefully the money will come tomorrow or I'm screwed.

You are using inaccurate measures. Of course undergrad business majors don't make more than MD's or JD's, those require a doctorate! There are some subjects such as engineering that make more coming out, but not many. (Any my undergrad didn't have an engineering school, so I wasn't talking about them. Also, I've noticed on the salary thing, they list each engineering major separately, while aggregating business degrees, which is weird to me) And just because you don't have to have a degree in business to be a business person doesn't mean that having a degree in it isn't helpful to you. You could say the same about several other majors. I posit that business schools wouldn't exist if they weren't useful. The people who would consider a business degree are the people who are more practical and have to be shown that there is value before getting the degree. (People will get a degree in mid evil literature for fun. Accounting, otoh...) Business school isn't always about entrepreneurship or stock-brokering. (My grandpa was extremely successful at both with a high school education. I guess all college is useless) You HAVE to have a certain number of hours in accounting to become a CPA. Finance has similar requirements for some of their jobs. You can't just pick up Quick Books and publish financial statements for a fortune 500 company. (Or do their taxes, or audit them...) You don't automatically know what the optimal rate of return for an investment should be, or what debt to equity mix your company should have... And we haven't even touched on market research... I don't even know why I'm arguing this with you. That isn't what this whole thread is about. My post was a humorous anecdote, and then about how there are multiple intelligences and one major doesn't have a monopoly on all of them. You apparently have something against business school. Well good for you. You also have a limited understanding of business school and business operations. I'll let you have your opinion out of ignorance. Obviously I can't convince someone who is ignorant of business that it is useful. That would be like convincing a desert nomad that boats are useful. ("Why the hell would I need a boat? I can swim across any water I see!" Says the nomad) But: To back up higher pay of b-school profs: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-03-17/the-highest-paid-professors-in-the-u-s- According to them, we are second highest pay, next to law school. But lots of schools don't have law schools, and the "smart ones" are the ones in the hard sciences that wonder why we are paid more. My professors here are paid about 100k more than the average law school professor. How do I know that? State schools where I live have to publish the salaries of all their professors. And specifically at my school, my professors make about 80-100k more than the law professors at my school. If we control salary by school tier, then b-school profs probably make more.

First of all this whole conversation started with me just making a funny ancedote about business *professors* in the university and that we aren't as "smart" but make more money. Learn to read. Also, those in my field have to at least have a master's in business to get a Ph.D. Secondly, where the hell are you getting you information about b-school students? The stats are not in your favor. I went to b-school, and all of my friends from there have decently paying jobs. My dad is a b-school professor and has has seen countless of his students become rather successful business people. And he doesn’t teach at a top school either. If the degree was worth less than the paper it was written on, then people would stop going to b-school. It isn’t like we learn fun stuff. Debits and credits and financial equations are boring. Also, the reason that b-school professors make more than everyone else is because we don't have enough professors for the demand. Why not? Because our students are out in the real world making money instead of trying to stay in school for as long as possible to avoid dismal career prospects. We can't even get them to come back for a Ph.D, so we have to take from disciplines that don't have the same career prospects in their own field. But as a general rule, I try not to disparage other disciplines because I am a decent human being and not an ass like some people.

Holy crap! Condescend much? Also, I said we make *more* than anyone else on campus. Not less. As in, at a major engineering university, the assistant professors in my area of business make twice as much as the assistant professors in engineering. Doing pretty well for ourselves, considering we don't really have to do "real science"

The professors I GA for rarely have work for me. I suppose I should enjoy that while it lasts. I need to study for a regression analysis test. I have come to the conclusion that it isn't the topic that bothers me, but having to learn it in a class. I would be so much more efficient learning it by myself with the help of Google, and a professor just making assignments. I feel like we are going really slow. But since part of our grade is attendance and participation, I suppose I can't do that. I have a new appreciation for my undergrad and masters statistics teachers though. I never felt we were going too slow in those classes. (Though, that may have been because I slept through half the class and then played catch-up) I'm really enjoying the other classes I have. I love the fact that we have a lot of discussion in class. I feel dumb half the time, and that my comments are dumb, but it is challenging, in a good way.

So, funny story. Everyone considers your major and intelligence in a hierarchical manner. Hard sciences are "smartest" humanities- not so much. But they don't know where to put business majors. We seem dumb, but we make twice as much money as anyone else on campus. So who's the smart one now? There are multiple types of intelligence, seven or eight last time I checked, and being smart in one doesn't mean being smart in another. What you think is "smartest" really comes down to what you value. As a business person, the "smart" people are the ones who act rationally, like economics says they should. Or the rich people. But then all you have to do is look at a couple of the USA's presidential candidates to realize that wealth does not equal intelligence. English majors may value the ability to communicate clearly and beautifully the most important indicator of intelligence. Hard sciences look at the more traditional measures of intelligence...

A boy. Haha. So really, my dad is a Ph.D and I always thought I would get one. But then I moved off to get experience in industry, and life was comfortable. Work was not terrible, I didn't like having to be there from 9-5 each day, but it was manageable. (It went downhill later, but that’s a different story.) Then I met a guy who was in a Ph.D program and started dating him. And although he is in a field I would advise against getting a Ph.D in, it did remind me that I wanted to go back. And he was there to answer the 3 billion questions I had, and make going to school seem more in reach. So I applied a few places, and got in. Boy and I have since broken up, but at least he pointed me in the right direction, and gave me a random appreciation of Baylor football. Go figure. The point is, it was always in the back of my mind, and I knew I wouldn't be happy unless I was in academia. I have some good credentials in industry, but when it came down to it, I needed something different than where a career in industry would take me.

Thanks guys. I have begun to develop 1 on 1 relationships with some of them, and it helps. Large groups of people have always intimidated me, "large" meaning more than six people, and being an obvious outsider to those groups makes it worse. But actually, 1 on 1, they are more proactive and willing to introduce themselves and talk to me than people from other regions.

Thanks for the advice everyone. For the record, I do have a wonderful group of friends outside of school. I probably go out with them at least a couple of times a week. I'm small town girl, not a hermit. This isn't about making close friends. It's about getting along with colleagues and making connections with people that I will probably be working with for the next four to five years. And having people who understand the life of a PhD student. It's important, and not as easy as it seems.

First of all, I certainly don't think everyone should have to speak English all the time. I understand where you are coming from, Tak, because that "this is america, speak english" senitiment bothers me too. But right now I feel left out. And it is important because our field is highly relational. We are supposed to be developing contacts and getting to know one another. It's awkward when we are sitting, waiting for a professor in class, and they are all talking to each other and I can't even begin to join a conversation because they are all speaking a different language. I dont want to interject myself in a private conversation, but these are obviously open to everyone who understands their language, which happens to be everyone else in the room. Sometimes they are even discussing a paper we just read (They have to use some English words, so I know what they are talking about. ) and I can't join in there either. Or, they are waiting for the train with me, and one of them specifically decided to wait for the next train because I had to wait for it, and the other addresses her in the other language. Or I'll be having a conversation with one of them, and someone else will interrupt in a different language. I think these things are rude. I mean, tbh, my cohort is usually very sensitive about making me feel included, but there are more people who speak their language in our research community than those who have English as a first language, and when everyone else gets together with them and they all start talking in a different language is usually when I feel left out. I also think it is rude to address two out of three people in a room in a different language because people who are self conscious will think you are talking about them. I have always lived in a multicultural world, and these people are a lot nicer and more inviting than some of the other cultures around that do speak English. But having been stabbed squarely in the back in my masters program by a group when I was the only one not from their culture has made me very sensitive to being an outsider. I think everyone gives Americans too much credit for feeling like they belong. I'm a small town girl from a very conservative background who is living in a big city where no one understands my upbringing. At least internationals can be international together.

Ok, so I'm not an international student, in fact, I'm going to school in my home state. However, everyone in my cohort, and two of the three people in the cohort above me are all internationals from the same region, and all speak the same first language (Which is not a language I know or could even pick up easily.) Anyways, they all end up talking together in their first language and I feel left out. And I have always been taught that it is rude. I understand that it is easier for them, but it still makes me uncomfortable. Is there any way to address this nicely with them?

I worked full time while studying for exams for the most important professional certification in my field, worked full time while studying for the GMAT, and while applying for school, I was working such a hard and stressful job that it made me physically ill. It can be done. It just requires focus. And a realization that this is only for a season.

That happened to me. But I think your view of writing actually gets a little warped when you read a lot of journal articles. There are some not so good writers out there that get published. Last semester, I spent a lot of time refining the verbiage of one of my papers, only to be told the writing needed work. On another paper, I ran out of time and just wrote in my normal voice. So of course the professor thought my writing was the best part of that paper. Go figure. I think for me, I need to relax a little and try not to sound like everyone else.

AHHHHHHH!!!! I am cross registering for a class at a different school, and it has been one screw up after another. First, they get my email address wrong, so I don't get their email about everything else I need to do. So I emailed them and asked about it, and they just told me to wait, they probably hadn't processed it yet. Then, I email them after the break, and they said they dropped my application because I didn't have vacation records, because I didn't get the email asking for them. So, I finally I got them past that, since they made a mistake, and they gave me until Wednesday to turn everything in. I was raised in the state where this STATE school is, and yet their requirements are so different from the other STATE SCHOOLS in the state that I have attended before, that I had to get titers run, which takes a few days. Then, to top it all off, they get my freaking birthday wrong when they entered it into their system, and my handwriting was very clear there. So I can't upload any of my vaccinations anyways because according to their system, I wasn't freaking born yet. And I had to restart my tablet and lost all the work I did that is due by noon today. I'm stressed out and the semester hasn't even started yet. This school has a reputation for stressed students, and I'm beginning to think it is less because of the coursework and more because their administration staff is so lazy and dumb that the students are worried they will take all engineering classes and end up with an art degree because the staff will make a mistake.

There is this jerk in my friend group. And we've been pretty civil recently, but then apparently I did something to set him off and he's been an ass to me ever since. I tried to confront him about it, and give him reasons he shouldn't be an ass, and of course he blames me for his behavior. Having him around in general is frustrating. I try to be nice to him because he is a central member of our group. Ive even tried to make him my friend and tell him his good qualities. But he grates on my nerves and doesn't get the hint when he's gone too far. So I tell him, and he blames me. And this happens over and over again. I realized just how much I dislike him when he wasn't at an event and I had a much better time not having to psych myself up to handle his jabs. I am a sweet person, but I'm not a sweet person when he is around and I hate it. I feel so separated from this group of friends right now, and he makes it 100 times worse. I want him to go away, but that means leaving this friend group. But there isn't anything else I can do. I've tried ignoring him, but he's always around. I've tried being nice, and he takes it the wrong way. I don’t know what else to do. I guess it's time to move on anyways.

The world doesn't care about how much you need or deserve money, it just cares about how much it needs what you can give and how many other people can provide the same things for less. Economics makes me jaded. Feeling anxious for no good reason, I just am. I have one presentation left, and two or three class meetings, and then I'm done for the semester. So now seems like a great time to suffer from impostor syndrome and freak out. Not.

Putting Miss makes me feel so young. They don't make men put their marital status in their prefix. It is dumb.

Introvert thoughts: Can someone die from too much exposure to people? But the wedding is over. And I just want to cry right now, for no good reason. I'mma curl up and cuddle with my cat. He's super clingy because I've been gone for almost three days straight and he's used to me being here.

Tmi, but it is that time of the month and I am in a wedding. I'm cramping and I have stuff to do. No fun. Also I have a term paper is want to finish this weekend. And stupid autocorrect.

My background is accounting, so we learned how to research tax law and GAAP codes, but not academic research. I have a good amount of experience and qualifications in my field, but it is very rare for someone in my field to go into research. In undergrad and my masters, I can count on one hand the number of papers I had to write, and the longest paper was 10 pages double spaced.

A little over a month left in the semester. Wow! Time sure flies! Learning how to do a lit review right now. So far it is like browsing Wikipedia for 3 days straight, just with an extremely specific topic and really large words. The papers never end!!

Well, the professors I am GAing for haven't given me much work, so that is 16 hours that I can spend sleeping. So far it has been 12-16 hours of class each week (one class is variable), about 24 hours of reading, and another 10 or so of research, plus the occasional workshop. My schedule varies a lot from day to day. I only have class on Monday, Thursday, and Friday, (until last Friday) so generally Sunday, Monday, Thursday and Friday are long days, and the others are shorter.

I'm half way through my first semester, and I think I've found my stride too. I actually finished my work for Monday's class before 8 PM for the second week in a row, whereas I had been getting it done a lot later. (Like at 4 AM for a 8 AM class) and I was able to take all of yesterday off. (It was wonderful! I hadn't had a full day off since I started) School is challenging, but I was thinking today about how I would rather do this for the rest of my life, at my current stipend, rather than go back to my old job making 20k more and working shorter hours. I know that there will be times when I won't feel this way, but right now I can really tell that this is where I need to be.

Just completed a critique for my critical thinking seminar. I feel stretched. And accomplished. I'm not sure if I really addressed anything substantial, but I feel like I understand the subject better. The process that I used, which included looking up a lot of relevant literature, was a lot more thorough than I had done before. I was so frustrated with it yesterday morning that I had to just leave it be. But after hanging out with friends this weekend, and praying about it, (Yeah, I know, weird right?) that frustration finally went away and I think I came up with a pretty decent paper.