twentysix

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Thanks for the advice. I've been here for more than two weeks now living on dwight and chapel (and driving around new haven, west haven, milford, orange, and hamden). 
 
My three intial thoughts:
 
The Yale campus is outrageously beautiful.
New Haven is a complete shithole aside from Yale.
It seems like the rundown areas around where I'm at are less dangerous than they would appear on the surface.
 
It is definitely an interesting place with the cloistered castle style colleges on one side of the street and the green full of homeless people sleeping on cardboard less than 50 feet away.

One of my good friends, also a veteran, just graduated with his PhD from my MA school. He was in his fifties, and very much the department dad, and I have no doubt that he will find a job. Another friend also just graduated from my MA school with her PhD, and her degree was from UCF. The things you are worried about are not the issue. You are never too old, and I think that you are in a unique position to be able to do whatever you like, because you don't have to worry about how to finance your life. You have good grades and great language skills - I think you should speak to trusted professors about what your options are, and get great letters of reference. You should develop a topic that you feel is viable, and write the hell out of an SOP.

Even more extreme: whether or not you think you will get in should have no bearing whatsoever on your selection of schools.

I have to say I disagree. Limit your search to the top-20, look for 3-5 programs, and be willing to not get in anywhere and move on. Your goal isn't to get into grad school. Your goal is to get a job after grad school.

It is a curious thing, how you can state that you don't care about others, bash an entire discipline (and, by extension, several others) in which you have no experience or knowledge, and then accuse me of being snide and condescending. Hilarious.
 
Why would it be because of demand in the field? Are the acceptance rates of top graduate programs in the sciences much higher than those in the humanities? Is there a desperate, unmet need for graduate lab assistants driving up salaries? Not as far as I can see.
 
The difference in pay is the source of the funding for the stipends.

Regarding abuses: Yes, there will be a small number of people that abuse this kind of system and it will be at the expense of everyone else. But it will also help the majority of other people in need. To me, this is worth it. This is why I support socialized healthcare in Canada, even though some argue that people who don't take care of their own health (e.g. choose to smoke, eat unhealthily etc.) abuse the system and cause an extra burden on everyone else. But, socialized healthcare also helps a ton of other people--people that would have no access to care otherwise. It's worth it, in my opinion. But I understand that there are other ideologies that do not agree with this. I'm just stating mine.
 
Regarding the choice to have children (and other industries etc.): Choosing to raise a family is a choice. And I agree that there are already existing programs from the government that help low income, so the burden shouldn't just be 100% on the school. Someone brought up the point that other jobs don't do this. I'm not arguing that academia should do this because other jobs are doing it. I'm arguing that we know that our community is marginalizing and pushing people who can't handle the financial expense of being a grad student out of the field. Therefore, we should do something about it. If we value the diversity of ideas and backgrounds in academia, and if we don't want academia to only include people that choose career over children, then we should do something about it.
 
 
Sorry to have derailed the topic, but I brought up children because of a tangent to this point you're making. I think it is a real problem that there is such a big wage gap between disciplines. My point was that when I work to improve stipends of graduate students, my goal is to target the bottom--I would prefer to make life significantly better for the bottom 20% than to incrementally improve everyone. Raise the minimum, rather than the average. Some student parents are in this category. At my MSc school, I worked on the TA union to improve conditions for students in the humanities and social sciences mostly. As a physics grad student, all of my needs were met and I had no problems with how my department treated us. But, the drive and need for unionization came from the humanities and social sciences side, and we worked to improve conditions for those who needed it the most. We used the way STEM departments were treating their students as the model to what to negotiate for in our collective bargaining agreement, so that everyone can be treated better.
 
For example, the University provided the union with X dollars per year as health benefits to distribute as we see fit. We had a choice between writing every student a small cheque, or creating an "emergency medical fund" that students can borrow or be awarded money from, based on need. We went with the latter, because it would help those who needed it most.
 
 
Obviously we disagree here and I don't think anything we say will change each other's mind. But just to be clear, I am not saying that students should have an automatic collective sense of community. I personally have a very strong sense of community and I think all workers in any field would benefit from collective action. Personally, I think the individual is better off when the community is better off. But this isn't automatic, this is something I decided over time and something I work to convince people about, when they are interested in listening. 

Whatever.  I am not even going to argue this anymore. It is dumb.  He obviously doesn't want her, he hasn't talked to her in months, why is this even a discussion still? My opinion is unchanged. I think a man in his late 20s who would date a teen has some issues, it isn't even that he has issues I guess, I mean who wouldn't want "a newer model" but I just don't think it can last long term.  I doubt a 29 year old man is going to marry his 19 year old girlfriend, I mean really.  I don't even think I said that you CANNOT EVER date older, I am just saying don't be a teenager dating that much older.  I obviously have no problem with being an adult and dating someone older. I'm 23 I want marriage and kids ASAP and a 23 year old isn't into that.  I don't mind dating 30 and up but like I said I am 23 dating older not a teenager. That is my opinion, you don't have to agree but it isn't changing.  

I really don't need a lecture on people, or relationships... I am saying that a guy who is in his late 20s choosing to date a teenager is sketchy.. that is that.  i will not be changing my opinion so thank you for trying but no thank you. If older guys chose to date you because you are a young single mom and they can relate to that then more power to them but at 18 and 19 she should maybe be dating 23 at the oldest.  I am not even saying that people can't date older, I am saying the a grown man dating a TEENAGER is wrong, weird and bad.  I am 23 I have gone out with guys in their 30s but guess what.. I'm 23 not 18. 

Sorry I guess at 18 and 19 I wasn't interested in dating old men... How awful of me :/

Oh whatever, you wouldn't question a 40 year old dating a 20 year old? Anyone would. Anyways doesn't matter, I'm going to judge it. Like I said I don't necessarily see the issue with an early 20 something dating an older 20 something or 30 something. Been there done that... Still doing it... but a late 20s dating a TEENAGER yeah that's a problem and I'm going to judge it.

And it's my right to judge them, actually I can pretty much judge anyone I want.. If a man in his late 20s would pursue a teenager I'm going to judge and say that is questionable and suspect. I doubt he is going to pursue a long term relationship with her. Maybe some fun for a little while but like I said before I doubt that's the person he would eventually marry or be with forever.
I'm not even saying that age gaps are bad, just the whole being an adult dating a teen is weird in my opinion. Like I said I have dated older as a 22 and 23 year old but when I was 18 and 19 dating someone who was 27 or 28 was just a no.

thought this sounded familiar..

6 A's to finish out my final semester. Another 4.0 woo!

Good question, I am also interested!

Has anyone worked for Converse International School of Languages? I'm just wondering what people think about the organization. Any experiences to share?

Last class with the worst professor I've ever had is tonight. My body is ready.

The trolley doesn't currently go to UCSD but is supposed to in the future (I'm not sure when). Buses are pretty good and with the UCSD bus pass sticker you can ride almost any bus.

PhD comics is, as always, apropos
 

Thanks! I already accepted elsewhere though (with a much better funding package)

It's funny, I just got accepted to one of the schools I applied to today. I guess some places just work in other ways...

Depends on the field and the fit, keep in mind that Wisconsin is ranked higher than Yale in several fields. But, Ivy League prestige probably goes along way when you are up against the hiring committee. In my subfield Yale and Wisconsin are #2 and #3.

Also keep in mind that Wisconsin's university system is being eviscerated by Scott Walker.

Honestly, SHORE was a huge factor in my decision between UCLA and UCSD. It is worth something like $20,000 a year to me.

I emailed the SHORE coordinator a question and the response included a confirmation that they received my deposit. I'm not sure if I'd have gotten this confirmation otherwise.

I'm pretty sure my school quit archiving the physical copies a few decades ago. They are all archived on proquest now.