Danger_Zone
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Posts posted by Danger_Zone
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4 minutes ago, tsatsang2129 said:
To people who got waitlisted officially : did you got any interviews before or simply notified that you are wait-listed?
I emailed the admission officer, who never wrote me back. I simply am assuming that I am waitlisted by UW Biology. Yesterday I emailed a potential PI and he said he help checked my file and I have not been invited to interview so they probably wont be accepting me. I am a bit confused now. So if they wont accept me, why not reject me yet?(People have been rejected from the program, according to result search here) Or maybe the professor simply does not know that I am waitlisted? Must people get interviewed before being waitlisted? This is so frustrating.....
I'm in a different field so I don't know how comparable my experience is but even if others have been rejected it's still possible to be much later on. One program I applied to started to reject people in February but I just heard back (and was rejected) less than a week ago. However, the person who I talked to also said there might be some kind of wait list but they weren't really sure where I stood.. So sometimes who you talk to know about as much as you do unfortunately. So I don't think you can know for sure until you get an official notification, but I don't think not being invited to an interview necessarily means you were rejected.
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Has anyone been admitted to their top choice but wait listed at what they consider their second? I don't think I'll accept the wait listed offer if I do get admitted but I can't help but be very curious and anxious at taking myself off of the list if I don't even know what - if any - offer they would give me. But I feel bad for taking up a spot if others are waiting as well.. Any advice? I've been on this wait list since early February..
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Added my UK and Purdue offers.
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Had an awesome visit to Purdue, think I'm going to accept there soon!
- KLZ and archersline
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Not reading any history books at the moment but.. I'm about finished The Bell Jar now (very, very good albeit depressing) and am probably going to read Nausea by Jean-Paul Sartre next.
(Brave New World is great, by the way! Read it a couple times back in high school.)
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9 hours ago, Cat_Robutt said:
@Danger_Zone I also have communication apprehension, and...I have taught Public Speaking for a year and a half! In my classes, when I lecture I have prepared notes, discussion questions, etc. and do many activities where the class is split up into small groups in order to get them talking. I've found fostering an encouraging classroom environment where I know my students, they know I know them, and they know each other makes both my anxiety lessen, and their anxiety lessen.
This has worked for me personally, and your mileage may vary, but my students know that I am both shy/have anxiety and that I'm dyslexic. This makes me more of a person like them--especially my shy students--and when I inevitably misspell something on the board, they point it out instead of snickering. It's a small detail that has radically changed my classrooms.
I would also encourage you to check out "flipped classrooms" where students are more verbally engaged with material, and to perhaps check out Dan O'Hair's A Pocket Guide to Public Speaking as it contains some tips on managing anxiety.
Thank you! That is very helpful. Unfortunately it seems no matter how much I try I will always be a shy person, I just don't want it to interfere with my ability to TA or be a grad student. It sounds like I won't be teaching my own class for a few years, so until then I'll do my best to improve my public speaking skills. I'll definitely check out that book and might look into some sort of public speaking class.
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This is pretty much echoing what others have said, but I wouldn't rely on a "safety" school when applying. I was rejected from a program in the 90s which I ignorantly assumed was a safe bet considering its rank. It's much more about you fit within a program and how your experience, grades, etc. along with fit compete with other applicants. You will also need a faculty member who is interested in taking you on as a grad student. So there is really no way to predict how this will go, so it's best to choose multiple programs that are a good fit for you, rather than relying on lower ranked programs to admit you. It may be good to consider applying to some higher and some lower programs that appeal to you for a better variety.
While applying I tried to predict which schools would accept/reject me and I ende up very wrong so, you just need to go on and give it your best and see how things work out in the end.
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22 hours ago, Septerra said:
I can't believe Illinois still hasn't informed me about my status...the DGS has not replied to my e-mail, and I wish I could go ahead an eliminate them from my purview.
I just received my rejection, sadly.. But I anticipated that, I just really wanted to make it official so I could move on. I'm assuming you will hear back soon.
Now to just hear back from Indiana.. Did anyone happen to apply to the HPS program (can't remember if I asked this)?
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1 hour ago, Kleio_77 said:
@Danger_Zone My area is modern German history and my advisor is McDougall. I have never experienced so much positivity in any city or school I've ever been too. I love Guelph.
Awesome! I'd never had him as a professor but I've heard he's great. Guelph is definitely a very friendly place, it's what drew me there when I was visiting schools for undergrad.
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5 hours ago, TMP said:
Don't worry about it. You told them that you were considering it-- that means "I have other offers" and they know that they will have to encourage you to go to their program over whatever other offers you have. It's part of the ritual. If you know you will definitely turn the offer down, then formally turn it down and write back to those faculty members thanking them for their warm welcome and that unfortunately you have accept an offer elsewhere. End of the story. No burned bridges.
Yeah that makes sense, thanks. I just didn't know if it would be viewed badly to sound excited about the opportunity but turn it down fairly soon after. But I guess you can't accept everywhere!
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50 minutes ago, Kleio_77 said:
@Danger_Zone Where did you do your undergraduate degree? I am currently doing my MA at Guelph.
I did my undergrad at Guelph! The history department is wonderful, I hope you are enjoying it! May I ask what your research area is?
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Can somebody give me some advice? I recently got accepted to a school and thanked them and let them know I was still considering it.. But once I thought it over I realized I'd most likely reject the offer afterall. I keep receiving really nice emails about how they really hope I accept and that they would love to have me visit, etc. I would visit just to check it out but it is a few hours out of the way and I'm not in the U.S. much longer.. Should I delay replying and let them know I'm rejecting the offer once I've made an official acceptance elsewhere? I really don't want to come off as rude.. But perhaps I came off as more enthusiastic about the offer than I had intended...
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3 hours ago, Septerra said:
Congrats! I got into UK as well, but plan on declining. The POI at UK would have been great, but I found an overall better fit elsewhere.
Thanks! Congrats to you as well. That's how I feel as well.. A good research fit but I've found a better fit at another school. But if I can I'd like to try to take a trip to Kentucky and check it out.
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27 minutes ago, Septerra said:
For anyone still waiting on Illinois:
I spoke with my POI, who informed me that they only admitted 6 graduate students this year, after admitting 20 last year. I was told that I may be on a waitlist, but my POI is not sure about my status. I have also heard that the University of Illinois has had some really serious budget cuts and that they are laying off faculty and cutting funding opportunities.
It is really unfortunate, because on a better year I feel like I definitely would have been accepted. However, there are factors that I can't control and this is definitely one of them. However, I have three admits and am overall really happy with how this process has worked out. I feel like I found a great fit for me. Good luck all!
Edit: I realize now that I posted most of this info a few days ago. Haha, oh well. I suppose redundancy is not the worst sin.
Thanks for letting us know! Illinois is the only school I need to hear back from (other than one wait list) so I can probably assume rejection at this point. I think it would have been a good fit for me but that sounds like a rough situation and it's unfortunate that they are having such difficulties.
Oh well... I got into U of Kentucky today so that was some nice news.
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4 hours ago, Sigaba said:
Pick a minor outside field in that allows you to take classes in Purdue's School of Education. http://www.education.purdue.edu/Academics/graduate_programs.html
That's a great idea as well, thank you.
I haven't looked much into minor fields yet and hadn't actually considered doing one outside of history. But I've always loved learning/reading about education so it might be something to look into.
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3 hours ago, fencergirl said:
Why would people say gifts are a bad idea? I mean, you want to be careful to get something appropriate of course but I think gifts are fine. Just be careful not to spend too much or give something that looks like it might be worth a lot of money as professors may not be allowed to accept those. (Personally I'd also stay away from food and alcohol unless I really knew their taste).
I gave my LORs a card and a small canvas print I made on Snapfish using photos from my time here in Japan. They seemed to really like it and one said it was the best thank you gift ever so it was well worth it for me! (Snapfish often has 50-60% off sales, I'd definitely wait for one of those if you want to go that route).
I've seen people mention that it can be against university policy (I guess if it looks like a professor is taking gifts in exchange for letters? Other than that I'm not sure.. I think it sounds fine to do as well.) I hadn't actually heard of Snapfish before, that sounds like a great idea.. I'll have to look into it, thanks!
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1 hour ago, ashiepoo72 said:
You should also look for university resources for TAs. My program did a TA orientation that was required for all first years, for example. Graduate studies might have stuff you can look at, like TA handbooks. I would spend some time talking to seasoned TAs in your department before you start.
From what I know, most history TAs do not lecture unless they get an instructor of record position, which is generally after advancing to candidacy. I've heard some TAs in my department do mini-lectures during section (in addition to facilitating discussion) but they aren't required to.
Yeah that's a good idea, thanks! I'm also sure I will get more information regarding the TA position once I make an official acceptance. But I'll definitely talk to some other students once I have the chance and get a better idea of what is expected of TAs. If it's anything like my undergrad school, I do expect TAs would be leading smaller discussion groups, but I suppose that leadership role itself - not just the idea of lecturing - might make me a bit nervous.
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I think a nice hand written thank you would be much appreciated, as others have said.
I plan to do this once I choose a school.. I was planning on getting a small gift at the school as well (just a pen or mug/cup with the name of the school on it) but people keep saying gifts are a bad idea.... should I just forget that?
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5 hours ago, rising_star said:
There are lots of great books out there on surviving teaching. Many have titles like "Your first year in the classroom" or something similar. Find and read through several of those which are targeted to new college faculty because they'll have plenty of tips about how to ease your way into the classroom, get comfortable being in front of students, etc. I also highly recommend The Courage to Teach, which is a good read. In terms of resources, McKeachie's teaching tips and Elizabeth Barkley's books on student-centered learning and classroom activities are both resources. I've found that, regardless of the discipline, engaging students in active learning activities takes some of the pressure off of you because you don't have to speak the entire time. In history, this could be running a Reacting to the Past game, having students read and discuss historical documents, or having them prepare for and participate in an in-class debate.
If you're really worried about the anxiety factor, you may want to talk to your doctor about anti-anxiety meds. There are some which can be used situationally, which could be an option if the anxiety isn't pervasive in your life. It's really about finding what works for you, which could be listening to certain music before you teach, the level of prep and notes you need for class, etc. Sometimes my overly planned classes are some of the worst and the improv classes are some of the best, other times the improv classes flop and having a meticulous plan saves my a**. Even after teaching for years, I can't always predict which is going to be which. At a minimum, I like to have a bulleted list of what needs to get done in each class and some discussion questions to ask in case I lack other material. I also show a lot of clips (many of which I find on YouTube).
You can do this!! You need to have that self-belief. Good luck!
Thanks for the book recommendations! I'll have to check them out. I know I probably won't have to teach a class for a while, but once I do I'd like to have a good idea of what I'm doing and hopefully make things interesting. I'm probably going to talk to a therapist about this and other things I'm worried about which I'd like to hopefully deal with before going to grad school. I'd like to avoid medication if I can but I have heard people recommend things like beta blockers as well? One thing I have been doing is cutting down on caffeine when I'm going to be in a situation I feel will make me anxious, but that's very hard to do as a student.
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5 hours ago, PoliticalOrder said:5 hours ago, PoliticalOrder said:
I just want to point out that it is very rare for TAs to ever have to lecture, especially for first year TAs. You might have to run discussion groups but this isn't really 'lecturing' it is facilitating/moderating discussions among the students. The only way you will have to lecture as a TA is if your prof needs to miss a class for whatever reason and even then you would still usually have the right to 'volunteer' whether you want to cover that class or not, i.e. it's not expected of you.
All this to say is chances are all you will be doing is grading exams/papers and having office hours.
I just want to point out that it is very rare for TAs to ever have to lecture, especially for first year TAs. You might have to run discussion groups but this isn't really 'lecturing' it is facilitating/moderating discussions among the students. The only way you will have to lecture as a TA is if your prof needs to miss a class for whatever reason and even then you would still usually have the right to 'volunteer' whether you want to cover that class or not, i.e. it's not expected of you.
All this to say is chances are all you will be doing is grading exams/papers and having office hours.
Honestly I thought there might be a low chance of lecturing, but at least during my undergrad we did have discussion/seminar groups which branched off from the larger classes and TAs were responsible for those. These classes didn't involve a lot of lecturing, but in any case I'd like to be prepared for whatever I have to do.
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51 minutes ago, shadowclaw said:
As someone who has long suffered from social anxiety, I very much understand your feelings. Back in the early days of my very long trek through undergrad, the hour or so prior to giving a presentation in class was filled with worry, quivering hands, elevated heart rate, nausea, and occasionally some vomiting. I have since developed a better ability to cope with the stress of talking in front of people (although to be honest, it was less about being in front of people and more about the fear of strangers thinking that I'm a complete idiot or me screwing up everything I say), but I still get nervous before presentations and before I teach my lab.
So my tips for you - first off, when doing a lecture, you will have a plan. Maybe you'll be using a power point presentation, maybe you'll be lecturing to them and writing some notes on a chalk board or white board. There are other situations as well, but since you're in history, those are probably the two situations you'll be in. Either way, you come into the classroom with a plan for what material you're going to cover, and ideally you will either go through your presentation slides/notes a few times and go over in your head what you will be saying, or you will practice out loud. I find that going through the presentation out loud helps me remember the order of material better and makes me feel more comfortable when I actually deliver the lecture. Since I only lecture for about 10 minutes before biology lab starts, it's not very time consuming to run through the lecture one or two times. If I had to lecture for a full hour, I might not have time to go through the whole thing once out loud, let alone multiple times. However, I would still want to read through my slides a few times and make a few notes.
My second tip is that it's perfectly fine to have some notes written/printed out on some paper with you to help you if you forget something or just to guide you along. Don't feel like you have to have everything memorized perfectly - maybe there are some numbers or names that you can't quite remember, and that's ok. Maybe you just covered something really interesting for 20 minutes and you can't remember what comes next - that's ok! Just look at your notes! I've seen TA's do this and I've seen seasoned faculty do this.
Third, break up the lecture if you can. No one enjoys talking for an hour (or more) straight, and no one likes listening to it, either. Plan for some discussion, include interesting materials to class if you can that will add to the lecture, like videos, photographs, even books that you might want to read a passage from. If you can, include some type of activity for students to do.
Fourth, I also understand what it's like to have a quiet/soft voice. Depending on the size of the class and the acoustics of the room, it might not matter. It's probably best to encourage your students to let you know if they can't hear you. As long as you make it clear that they aren't being rude if they interrupt to tell you to speak louder, I find that students have no problem letting you know if you're being too quiet. A really good tactic to use though is to move throughout the classroom or stand close to/in the middle of the students instead of staying up front by the board or computer. A wireless clicker is great for this when doing computer presentations. If you're stuck handwriting on the board, you'll have to move back and forth. This will allow them to hear you better and if you move about the room, will probably keep their attention better, too.
That's all really helpful, I will definitely have to remember this during the school year. Thanks a lot!
Sometimes I forget that I'm not the only one who feels this way.
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1 hour ago, GradSchoolTruther said:
Write detailed lecture notes and study them beforehand. Foster discussion, have in-class activities, and show interesting short videos.
Good ideas, thanks!
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I have been offered a TAship starting in August. I don't know whether I'd be lecturing at all yet, but the idea of having to talk in front of a bunch of university students is really making me nervous! I've been slowly improving at talking in front of groups when I have a definite plan of what I'm saying (I think presenting at undergrad conferences has helped), but my thoughts and words get really jumbled when I'm put on the spot, especially in front of larger groups of people. I also have a naturally soft voice and have to consciously make an effort to talk at an above normal volume that would be needed when lecturing. Does anyone have any advice? I'm sure I would get used to things eventually and it would become easier, but I don't want this to interfere with my ability to teach or help students. (I should also mention I'm probably going to talk to a professional about this, but I know he/she wouldn't be able to give me TA-specific advice..)
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Getting off the Waitlist
in Waiting it Out
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Yeah I was thinking about emailing them soon, but they did update me a few weeks ago after I emailed them and nothing had changed.. And they said they'd let me know as soon as something changed. So would it still be alright to inquire? I guess I could wait until the 15th but it would feel great to make my acceptance.. I almost want a rejection so I don't have to worry about reconsidering my top choice.