Str2T

Whether you will be teaching courses or leading discussions depends on the field and program. For history, I imagine you'll start out as a discussion leader while the professor holds the large lectures. Then you'll move up to lecturer--still not quite independent. Then, when you're advanced in the program, you'll teach as the instructor of record, completely independent (though there is usually still some oversight--observations). No matter where you are in the process, you will always get desk copies of the course texts for free (and free copies of other books the publishers want you to use).

You won't get many questions you don't know the answer to. Usually it is miscommunication/vagueness on behalf of the student. Ask for clarification. If you really don't know the answer you can do two things: ask the class what they think or acknowledge that you don't know the answer and that you'll get back to them next class period or over email. (You're not an encyclopedia).

Dealing with problematic students is a trial and error practice. Some problem students need you to call them out and keep them focused (like high school). Some problem students you need to ignore because they only want attention and by calling them out, you are rewarding disruptive behavior. Most of this intuitive--you've probably seen professors do this over your academic career. And most students behave fairly well--they want to be there/make use of their money and college education.

My first day teaching (as instructor of record)
*"Is everyone in the right place?" (course and room number)
*"My name is ______. You may call me (whatever you're comfortable with: Ms. ______, instructor--occasionally I'll let an upperlevel course use my first name if I think they can handle it/not get disrespectful)."
*"My field is composition rhetoric. I'm interested in...." (Some personal information)
*If a small course (25 students or less), have students complete an icebreaker where they introduce themselves and their interests (also use this as roll).
*Go over syllabus
*Do in class writing (as a diagnostic writing sample)

Specifics vary by field--this one is obviously composition/writing oriented.


My first day as an intern (discussion leader/lecturer)
*Professor introduces course and self/interests
*Professor introduces me as assistant/discussion leader--I tell them about myself/interests
*Professor or I conduct icebreaker
*Professor goes over syllabus

Everything is prearranged with professor, even if just 15 minutes before class. Usually you'll probably meet with the professor the week before to discuss how things will go/what to cover.

Dress code: Follow whatever the dress code is at the university. Mine doesn't have one. That being said, most people wear academic casual: dress pants/skirt and a blouse/sweater.

On TAing--It's different at every school. You'll most likely have some TA workshops before/during your first year teaching that help you with pedagogy and application. Some schools give their TAs amazing freedom, others not so much. At my school, TAs have complete control of choice of text, assignments, lesson plans, syllabus text/requirements (pretty much everything). But other TAs I work with have been instructors at universities that really limit the amount of control TAs have over their courses: predetermined texts, major assignments, even grading rubrics.

You'll also probably have a "mentor," an advanced TA who will show you the ropes and help you deal with problems/concerns. (I was one of these this year and it's been wonderful). Most TAs don't have any teaching experience when they come into the program (some have high school or college teaching depending on past jobs/college degrees). I hate to say it, but most TAs are pretty bad when they start their first semester. It is a learning experience, at the beginning and when you're more advanced. The way I approached my first semester:

1) Don't let the students know it's your first semester teaching (I didn't even tell them I was a TA unless they asked--they assumed I was an adjunct). This is all about power and control of the classroom. Women usually have a bit more trouble controlling the classroom at first, especially if students know the instructor is "new." My friend told her students she was a TA on the first day of class and one student got up and left. I wanted to avoid that. Most students assume TA means something less than it does in reality. Reality: I am your teacher and I do the grading.

2) You can say things like "I want to try this assignment out with you guys. Rhetorical analysis is a little more complicated than a traditional analysis paper but will ultimately be more helpful to your college career." Usually students will take this as a challenge to do well and exceed your expectations. Students love context. Explaining the assignment/course competencies as beneficial to their college coursework (whatever the major) will always get positive results.

3) Learn from your mistakes. You aren't infallible, and your students aren't expecting you to be.

4) Expect student evaluations to be a range of positive, neutral, and negative comments/ratings. This always happens no matter how many years you've been teaching.

5) Peer and professor observations: Breathe.

Do you have any proof that they forgot about the application? Perhaps you could lobby to have your application looked over again in light of that information?

I can't imagine that you'd want to attend there at this point, considering your treatment but in case you would.. it might be worth pursuing. Really, if they forgot about it, and are rejecting you because of that, they should at least offer you the 80 back.

I'm waitlisted at a really small program. They only accepted seven people, so I assume the waitlist is short as well (they won't release the specific details). But does being waitlisted at a small program severely reduce the chances of getting in?

I know they are busy around this time of year, but every other email communique with them has been responded to within hours (last semester--really small program).
I'm probably just spoiled by their earlier attention.
Bottom line: I don't want to continue working as a pt clerk (not to mention I'm not sure how I'm going to pay my UG and G loans on that salary).
It's just difficult to focus on anything when waiting on a decision that could affect the next 5 years of your life. I'm also down because of a grad school article I read that called students who got accepted to multiple programs "superstars" while I'm clinging to a single wait list.

How long does it take to respond to a wait list status update email? It's been three days. I'm starting to freak out a little bit. I think there are a couple possibilities as to what's going on, but I don't think most of them are good:

1. email was lost
2. program administrator forwarded the email to someone without giving notification of receipt
3. ignoring me

Blah!

I know they are busy around this time of year, but every other email communique with them has been responded to within hours (last semester--really small program).
I'm probably just spoiled by their earlier attention.
Bottom line: I don't want to continue working as a pt clerk (not to mention I'm not sure how I'm going to pay my UG and G loans on that salary).
It's just difficult to focus on anything when waiting on a decision that could affect the next 5 years of your life. I'm also down because of a grad school article I read that called students who got accepted to multiple programs "superstars" while I'm clinging to a single wait list.

How long does it take to respond to a wait list status update email? It's been three days. I'm starting to freak out a little bit. I think there are a couple possibilities as to what's going on, but I don't think most of them are good:

1. email was lost
2. program administrator forwarded the email to someone without giving notification of receipt
3. ignoring me

Blah!

How long does it take to respond to a wait list status update email? It's been three days. I'm starting to freak out a little bit. I think there are a couple possibilities as to what's going on, but I don't think most of them are good:

1. email was lost
2. program administrator forwarded the email to someone without giving notification of receipt
3. ignoring me

Blah!

How long does it take to respond to a wait list status update email? It's been three days. I'm starting to freak out a little bit. I think there are a couple possibilities as to what's going on, but I don't think most of them are good:

1. email was lost
2. program administrator forwarded the email to someone without giving notification of receipt
3. ignoring me

Blah!

How long does it take to respond to a wait list status update email? It's been three days. I'm starting to freak out a little bit. I think there are a couple possibilities as to what's going on, but I don't think most of them are good:

1. email was lost
2. program administrator forwarded the email to someone without giving notification of receipt
3. ignoring me

Blah!

How long does it take to respond to a wait list status update email? It's been three days. I'm starting to freak out a little bit. I think there are a couple possibilities as to what's going on, but I don't think most of them are good:

1. email was lost
2. program administrator forwarded the email to someone without giving notification of receipt
3. ignoring me

Blah!

I'm probably at the other end of the spectrum. While I get tons of support, there is also a lot of pressure. My brother's in a PhD program at UNM, my cousins are in PhD programs all over the place, and a lot of my aunts and uncles teach at big name universities (in tech writing too!). They want me to succeed, but they never seemed to have trouble getting into PhD programs or getting tenure track jobs. My brother got into six of his seven Poli Sci programs with full stipends. My friend got into a bunch of law schools with full rides, including Baylor, and is turning it down because she decided last minute she wants to do psych! And here I am with one waitlist, a bunch of implicits, and waiting for one school. Frustrating! I told one of my letter writers that I had been waitlisted at one of the programs AND SHE ASKED ME WHAT THAT MEANT! Clearly these people didn't seem to have much, if any, trouble getting into PhD programs. Maybe I'm just used to getting my way, but I'm getting down and finding it hard to do work (let alone finish my thesis). Despite their support, I have started wondering if I'm really meant to continue on to a PhD. I was realistic coming into the process -- I didn't get double 800s on the GRE like my sibling -- so I chose programs I felt I had a good shot at. These people understand my want/need to get a PhD, they just don't understand the difficulties I'm encountering. One of my other letter writers told me not to break her streak of acceptances, as one of her other recomendees got into med school. No pressure...

AWESOME !!!
I have a -40 Bad Reputation !

That is an accomplishment I can be proud of

I've had you pegged as an insecure, pretentious person for a long time. Glad to see you show your colours so clearly. I'm sure people in your daily life see through you just as easily as internet strangers do.

Me-got flat out rejected from VERY unselective PhD programs 5 years ago. Went to law school. Got a good job at a reputable firm against all the odds and the horrible economy AND the extreme glut of unemployed lawyers in NC. I'm deferring a year to pay down six-figure debt and then going to do what I actually WANT to do.

Go to law school if you WANT TO BE A LAWYER. Don't go because you think you'll luck into a job. You won't. Don't go because you think it's a good way to wait out 3 years. It's not. It's extremely stressful, expensive, and antagonistic. I have seen the absolute WORST in humanity from my fellow law students and practicing lawyers. Not all lawyers are bad people, but MANY of them are very unhappy people who-like me-went into the law because Plan A didn't work out or didn't come easily. If your sole motivation to go to law school is because you are frustrated with your other options, PLEASE do some research and spend a few days "shadowing" real lawyers (by that I mean people who have only been practicing a few years, not John Grisham).

If you think graduate school is brutal, the law is MUCH worse. It works out for some people, but those are the people who truly love the law and believe in the system. If that's you, maybe you WOULD be happier in law school, but if you're smarting from MA or PhD rejections (I've been there! It freaking sucks!), give it another year or two before you sell your soul...

Simply put. . . .me > you:P

I agree with the above poster. you're a douche.

and seriously, it's the lecturer you should be complaining about not the student.

If you had a real life job and your boss took a nasty customer's side instead of your, you wouldn't have been oh-my-godding about the customer, but how awful your boss treats you. why the difference ?

Depending on at which school you're attending, the quality of the undergraduate population will vary quite a bit, as will the quality of the grad student population..

I hope you read what you've written again from an outsider's perspective and realise how elitist and douchey you sound. As an undergraduate in a high performing research laboratory taking graduate level physics and chemistry courses, I experienced this elitism from the first-year graduate students every year and it was quite satisfying to stomp on their faces come exam time. Just because you've gone through an additional selection process doesn't mean you walk on clouds and are a higher authority on a topic than one of your pupils. There will always be undergraduates, college dropouts, and high school dropouts who are more qualified than you are in some subject material.

I understand that your cohort's behaviour serves to solidify your sense of kinship and shared experience, but it's kind of petty and antithetical to the basis of academic intellectualism to criticise a population based on hierarchical orderings of goodness. Perhaps you should all discuss your latest poetry stanzas regarding the flowers of Spring or whatever it is you do instead of practise ego-inflating elitism at the expense of others.

You dig?

I will admit though, that the student you mention is completely out of line, though I don't know what his age has to do with it. It sounds almost as if you have disdain for him for being older than you and for being in an allegedly inferior social position at the same time.

Sometimes the prospect of what is needed to succeed in the field seems daunting. But I loved every single minute of teaching, writing articles, and presenting my ideas at conferences. This is what you do when you are no longer taking courses (and it is often your only way to earn "praise"). In all fairness, it has taken me three years of graduate study to accomplish these things, as well as finding a balance between "competitive student" and "humble peer" to get these opportunities. That's seven years in academia all ready! Almost a third of my life. Most of the hoops the field makes you jump through are merely in place to weed out less motivated people, but you'll find upon entrance that there is a rhyme and a reason for most requirements. Presenting and attending conferences, which seems to be one of your bigger issues, has made me a better teacher and student of literature. (And teaching a bunch of under-motivated Gen. Ed. credit students Beloved or Geek Love in a literature survey course is trying at times to say the least). Not that I don't love Socrates, but what good is learning unless you have a method of sharing or utilizing that information?

I think it also depends on where you feel you are at as a student. There are plenty of MA programs that are not "terminal" (focused on community college teaching and publishing industry) and are intended to prepare you for entrance into a PhD program. Personally, I did not feel ready or competitive enough to apply for PhD programs after graduating with a BA in English from a private liberal arts college. Instead, I followed my interests into an MFA program in Creative Writing at a state school (well known, however, do to the limited options for graduate study in the state). While earning my MFA, I have had the opportunity to take a couple graduate-level English seminar courses in addition to my CW coursework, teach freshman Composition and Intro to Creative Writing as instructor of record and intern in 100-level lit survey courses, publish an article with a faculty member in a peer-reviewed journal, present at multiple conferences (at no cost to me), and mentor new teaching assistants. I feel these opportunities have made me a more competitive PhD candidate, but time will tell as the acceptances and rejections roll in.

I think it also depends on where you feel you are at as a student. There are plenty of MA programs that are not "terminal" (focused on community college teaching and publishing industry) and are intended to prepare you for entrance into a PhD program. Personally, I did not feel ready or competitive enough to apply for PhD programs after graduating with a BA in English from a private liberal arts college. Instead, I followed my interests into an MFA program in Creative Writing at a state school (well known, however, do to the limited options for graduate study in the state). While earning my MFA, I have had the opportunity to take a couple graduate-level English seminar courses in addition to my CW coursework, teach freshman Composition and Intro to Creative Writing as instructor of record and intern in 100-level lit survey courses, publish an article with a faculty member in a peer-reviewed journal, present at multiple conferences (at no cost to me), and mentor new teaching assistants. I feel these opportunities have made me a more competitive PhD candidate, but time will tell as the acceptances and rejections roll in.