AP

Thanks guys. This was about a month ago. I am not back on campus, but I am "back" in the prime location of my research, a home if you will. I didn't lose my archival reserach but I lost my notes. Besides the financial strike, emotionally it was hard but I was very supported by a community here and back home. @Sigaba your suggestion to speak to some trained professional is very good advice. People don't normally understand how much we value our laptop (it is not "just" a laptop), our phone, our kindle... it was hard for me to explain to people my anguish so I'll take your advice to heart. @TakeruK for now I am working with an old phone and an old laptop. I think I'll get a new phone because I use it like a camera for the archives and this one has low battery life. As a strategy, I am sticking to my research plan, only working longer hours. But yes, I was unharmed and while everything still sucks, it is an important silver lining considering I was abroad. I wanted to just follow up since I had initialized the thread about insurance and could not find something that could cover what I suspected could most probably happen. I had an insurance from a fancy credit card but the only thing they cover for theft was that they assist you when you place the claim at the police station. I also wanted to do the follow up as a reminder to plan time for managing your data. In general, all of us handle an enormous amount of data in the form of articles, quantitative information, archival research, and the like. We seldom set time apart for uploading, syncing, saving, and duplicating our precious research and we should. At least I did mention in any grant that I will spend one day a week uploading stuff to my university's server. My two cents. Thanks again

UPDATE: I got mugged. I have health insurance and I have credit card's traveler insurance, neither cover the actual dissertation materials loss. My program has an assistance company and they are supposed to assist you with whatever you need, but with no phone and no laptop I couldn't contact them until I got everything sorted out. Fortunately, I was unharmed so I didn't need any medical assistance. They just took my stuff violently on a motorbike while I was walking across a touristy area in a city. Also fortunately, although I had to change my air ticket, the company waived the changing dates fees. Finally, my AirBNB patron graciously reimbursed me some money for leaving several weeks earlier.

I was wondering why would anyone use such service? Then I remember many people pay for editing purposes at different stages in their careers, including jobs applications. As an international student, I could see the lure of getting help with language if it is not provided on campus. But I don't think I have that much money to begin with

I think I submitted mines with 1.5 but I could play the international student card hahahahahah keep positive Good luck! Not an Africanist here but I have lots of friends that are.

I'll be reading a book for a review. So I will be actually *reading* the book.

I believe the application to the program and the Gates-Cambridge fund work on different levels. "Awaiting Consideration by Department" means exactly that. No, they will not let you know when they are reading it. It means you have submitted and they are reviewing.

You ask a very complex question. Yes, a candidate can be admitted to a PhD program without enough money for him/her to get by. This depends on schools, programs, and location. For example, I remember comparing schools in New York with schools in the Carolinas. Although the latter offered less stipend, I knew I could live by that whereas those in NY were higher but in a far more expensive city. Sometimes you are admitted with a scholarship that covers tuition, sometimes you are just given a stipend and from that you have to pay tuition, sometimes you are offered covered tuition costs and a stipend with some service, sometimes no service. In my case, I knew I didn't want to teach my first year because I came from abroad, and I had no money to survive in the US for more than two months. So I applied to schools that offered tuition scholarship+stipend+no service the first year+health insurance (it is obligatory for me, as an international student, to have health insurance if I want to enroll in a school in the US). Yes, the schools that offered this are the hardest to get in to. I doubt there are awards for coursework, but there are a lot for research. In my school, there is a lot of competitive fellowships (for a whole year) or funding (for the summer) to be able to conduct research. This added a lot of money to my stipend. In addition, many schools offer on-campus employment that can help you make ends meet. I know people that work at the library, at students tech services, and many have TAed for professors for another stipend a semester. My understanding of the vocabulary is similar to @TakeruK. I would add that scholarships are in the PhD because they covered tuition. You don't actually see the money. Besides, and this is important, the vocabulary does matter because of tax returns. For example, fellowships and stipends are often subject to taxes while scholarships are not. And this also depends on your nationality. In conclusion, You be admitted into a program with not enough to get by. This depends on the program and once you have an offer you will know better. Scholarships, awards, fellowships, etc vary in type and who gives them. You can always think of part time employment. [PS: I wrote this post yesterday, 12/9, but my connection failed and apparently it didn't post but it did save, so here it is. Sorry if it is useless now...]

This is great advice. I've recently had some misfortunes during dissertation research and because I've backed up stuff regularly, things are not as bad as they could be. As historians, we underestimate the amount of time we need to devote to information management. We handle a lot of data but we are not very aware of it. Plan for this too.

I'm sorry you are feeling frustrated about research opportunities. There are many in times in grad school when we feel we are not doing what we want to do for our careers because professors (sometimes) make bad choices. Do you think you could give us more information as to what type of research you were hoping to do and what was the meeting about? There are some blanks that you need to fill in so that we can help you with what to do next.

Ohhhhhhh I didn't to the research @Yanaka So, yeah, basically you want to talk about this with your roommates since it's something that worries you. @Black Beauty made some good suggestions. With my first roommates in a furnished apartment, I never talked about any of it. One of them was particularly insistent on having weekly meetings for solving roommate issues, but I was never fond of those. Again, this isn't something that worried me because if I broke something, I would have paid for it. I'm trying to think, though, of an example of something provided by the manager that anyone can break and the manager request a deposit. In my experience, when thinks broke (such as a drawer), maintenance came right away. (Also, I have a terrible headache so I feel there is an obvious example and it just won't come to me).

If these are hypothetical questions (nothing happened yet), I'd say you should sit down with your roommates and talk about it. We never did with mine, but it was implied that who ever broke whatever had to pay for that. For example, the TV was a gift from one dad to one roommate and me, but I know it is not really mine, it is hers, and if I busted it, I'd have to get a new one. There is a difference, I think, between breaking something that belongs to someone in the common area and something that belongs to the department, such as the stove. Since I always lived with friends, I never grasped the full meaning of "common areas", as if anything can happen there or as it if were no man's land. I our case, we agreed that those areas should be left as clean as possible. Sometimes things break because they are used and it happened to the last person that used it. In that case, I could be understanding and realize that it could have happened to me. Think of a cabinet door in the kitchen. In that case, when it is just the use of the item, I think it is fair to split the charge. I insist that if these types of things worry you, you should have a conversation with your roommates. My first roommate ever would have weekly meetings where we could have "total immunity" for saying whatever bothered us. It was really stupid, but it worked for her to pick on me only during those meetings. All the best!

@FeanorFor PhD programs, applications are due some time in December. The Admission Committees meet in January and send out interviews towards the end of that month. Some programs may have interviews even later in February, depending on the amount of applications they've received. Some programs have Skype interviews while others invite prospective students to their campus. In general, offers are made between early February and March because you have to make a decision by April 15th. @Yanaka Interviews seldom are part of a whole school's admission process because different departments need them for different reasons. Further, different fields within a program may require or not an interview. Actually, in one program I was admitted with no interview. In the program I am in, I was interviewed and it took me completely off guard. And I know of people in my program working with other advisors who did not interview. I know of programs in my school that have interviews weekend in February.

Mmmm. Ok, is this application for an American university? Do you have non-American degrees in the drop-down menu? Could this refer to "Honors" degrees or for international applicants? I would contact the department or the school. In any case, it doesn't seem your application would be incomplete if you leave that space blank.

I never suffered from this demand in my seminars, but I know of professors who requested 10+ pages papers a week. I'm sorry you are overwhelmed!

As many of you are submitting your applications, I wanted to pause to wish you all the best. Every step of the way in grad school is stressful, starting with the click on the "submit" button. Consider this part of your training I'm sure things will work out the best way possible. As you wait, entertain yourselves with hobbies, family, and other projects. The waiting is hard, so trust me when I say go and enjoy other stuff. I'm really excited about a new cohort of historians joining our lines. We'll be poor together and drink wine to that! And remember: you only need one acceptance Hang in there!!!!

There should be a "help" section in your application. If it only leaves room for less than one sentence, it seems they are asking for "Bachelor of Science".

Oh my, my first week I panicked. A book and an article per week per seminar sounds about a good pace. You'll manage that as your exams draw closer and then you'll just won't remember a time when you read everything on any book. I remember also those people who could cite authors and arguments in any given conversation, and comparing myself to them (even at my stage) has been a source for insecurity. My advice is don't do it! A good way to keep your reading game at the top is to take notes. You'll need everything you need now for your exams so you might as well gear your skills towards that while also addressing your seminar topics. Note-taking is also a skill and as you take notes, you also make connections between authors, themes, and arguments. I am now reading documents, not books, but I can see how reading skills are paying off for organizing information about who said what when. All the best for the rest of the semester!

Things will work out the best way possible. Clearly, you are doing everything you can and you need to remember that.

There are such things as stupid questions. People ask them. It doesn't mean they are stupid, only the questions are. But it bothers me when they get angry when I point that out.

Can you switch advisors?

Yeah, because *that's* how you get into Stanford. Or any other school.

My first year I lived in an apt close to campus. I rented it through the university website. You check with your campus housing dept to see if they have recommendations. My apt was furnished and close to a campus bus stop, so commuting was fairly quick and free. Once you get to know you area you'll be able to make a better decision.

Do you mean a car prepared for that? Or just your car?

In addition to the 'go to your professors' advice, I want to pick on @pro Augustis thread. As historians, we know that our questions arise from different ways of looking at the past. Your statement implies there is a truth that we can know completely. If this were the case, many of us would be without questions. Our research questions speak to the way we see the world and we experience it. That's also why you have so many 'versions' of the French Revolution. My undergrad training in Ancient History was very teleological: we studied the making of Greece and Rome. But only now, when I have friends that do Ancient History at PhD level, I realized that there's more to it. I'm sure you can bring fresh perspectives and new questions.