aimasiko

Some people take life too seriously. Lol. After years and years of working hard, a little humor never hurts. I have seen even very renowned professionals/authors make their acknowledgements very personal. I know a professor who did not just thank his wife and children, but went even further by thanking all his children's spouses (yes, he listed all their names). There is nothing wrong with injecting our humane side and some humor in serious situations every once in a while.

Ah, thank you all for your advice. I definitely appreciate the frankness (I did appreciate the director's as well). His just sort off came off as downright discouraging, but like you all said some of them regret getting a PhD. I was recently talking to my Dad, and I told him that if there was a list of the things I wanted to do eventually, being a professor doesn't top the list. So as a matter of fact, that people with PhDs saturate the academia job market doesn't really scare me. I don't think it should scare even those who want it very much. Yes, count your costs and weigh your options wisely, but in the end go for something if you really want it.

I met with a PhD program director who went on and on about how difficult the program is. He told me to prepare myself for the next six years, and that the courses were intense and hard, he also mentioned that there were two comps...people failed out. He went on and on...and in retrospect, I do not think he said one single positive thing. In fact he said something along the lines of "Don't get this PhD just because you want a job." I definitely understand that a PhD is hard and I appreciate his attempt to lay all the cards squarely, but I got this vibe he was outrightly discouraging me. I left his office feeling a bit down. Okay, we sure should be passionate about getting a PhD and not get it just for the sake of getting it, but what on earth does he mean by I shouldn't get a PhD cos I want a job? Of course I will eventually get a job with the PhD or does he expect me to stare at my diploma after working so hard to get it? Goodness, he was so discouraging, he even mentioned that the only 10 of 220 applicants were picked etc. I get that it is competitive, what I don't get is the attitude and vibe around the man himself. "What advice do you have for me on how to improve my application and stand out?" I asked him "Make sure you apply to other programs." He responded. Woah. A PhD is definitely tedious, but it isn't life and death, is it? Despite all his pessimism, I still want the PhD. In other news, Empire's season finale was all that and MORE!

Hi everybody, So I met with the director of one of the PhD programs (International Relations) I plan on applying to, and everything was all good. Except that it dawned on me that my interests are too broad. It's too hard narrowing down and i am having a hard time knowing what exactly I want to work on. I am interested in international development, human rights, education, poverty eradication, corruption...(I know, too much) Also I really want to work on Africa. After a lot of thoughts all day (I also thought about foregoing the whole PhD idea). Anyway I realized that reading journals and papers would help identify and narrow my interest. basically, I want to read more papers. This is where I need your help. Can you please direct me to a website or any recommendation on articles and books in the International Relations. Also, I'd prefer to apply to programs specifically for International Relations/Studies, but that are more qualitative, if you can recommend any of those. Thank you

Hi everybody, So I met with the director of one of the PhD programs (International Relations) I plan on applying to, and everything was all good. Except that it dawned on me that my interests are too broad. It's too hard narrowing down and i am having a hard time knowing what exactly I want to work on. I am interested in international development, human rights, education, poverty eradication, corruption...(I know, too much) Also I really want to work on Africa. After a lot of thoughts all day (I also thought about foregoing the whole PhD idea). Anyway I realized that reading journals and papers would help identify and narrow my interest. basically, I want to read more papers. This is where I need your help. Can you please direct me to a website or any recommendation on articles and books in the International Relations. Also, I'd prefer to apply to programs specifically for International Relations/Studies, if you can recommend any of those. Thank you

Thank you very much for your responses. I would just do it all over again then. Thanks again.

I want to take the GRE a second time because my first time was terrible (151Q 144V) but my writing was really good (5.0) and in the 93% percentile. So I do not want to go through the stress of re-doing it, and just focus on the other parts. I called ETS and they said that I could just skip it on the test day and do the other two sections. However on the score sheet, it's going to show "No score" for the AW section. Could this be a bad thing for admission committees. Of course I am going to send my previous scores too, but Im just curious as whether it might send the wrong signals.

Hello everybody, I hope this is not an over abused topic, but I do need some clarity on the issue. I am currently a Master's student and planning on applying for PhD programs in the fall. However, I do not know whether or not to contact professors in prospective schools. Especially because I am looking at PhDs in International Relations and its not like I would need to join a lab or something. Most of the samples I am seeing online are for science programs. I was just wondering how important it is to contact professors and what exactly to say. I can also be quite socially awkward and I am already quite nervous about stuff like that. Please advice. P.S: I would have posted on Government Affairs forum but they are mostly talking about Master's and stuff, not PhDs. Thank you.