robot_hamster

It can be a fun website if you're just looking out of curiosity. I wouldn't take anything that is said on there too seriously though, especially when it is just someone who is whining. It is funny though sometimes. I have looked up old professors just to see what people say. Sometimes I can see why they would say what they did because I might know the professor well enough to know about their "quirks". I just have to laugh because sometimes it is so true. It certainly isn't what I would consider a valuable tool though. You can't judge how your relationship will be with a professor you haven't met yet simply by looking at what other people say about them. Every person is different. People are going a like a professor and people are going to hate a professor. That doesn't have anything to do with how I will feel about that professor. As far as a professor's name disappearing from the site, I don't think it means anything. I think the others are right, their disappearance could be due to a lot of reasons and is not necessarily a bad sign.

I'm an American and I have a hard time making friends in general. I'm nice and friendly to people. They seem interested. We do something together. Then nothing happens after that. It's frustrating, so I suppose I won't be of much help. I think it just really depends on the person when it comes to how receptive they are to your friendliness. There have been times when I would try so hard to make friends with someone, only to find it was always me who had to call them and always me who had to invite them to do something with me. Some people are just like that, I guess. When I was younger, I had friendships where things were reciprocated more. I really miss that.

It really depends on the program or department. I don't know any masters level students that teach their own course in my program or even the larger umbrella school it belongs to. Most of us are either graders or we do the lab sections. I did a little more stuff for the very last class I was a TA for, but I had to follow everything that the professor had set out. I know students in other programs though that get to teach their own courses from start to finish, they create their own syllabus and everything. These students are mostly in the humanities. I don't know much about it works in humanities, but maybe it is just something that is more commonly done overall. Don't quote me on that though. As for summer courses, my school doesn't offer a ton of summer courses for TA opportunities are very limited.

Eigen - I didn't mean that if something is cited a lot that you absolutely should cite it. I just meant that if something is cited a lot and it is relevant, then it is probably something important. Believe me, I have been chewed out before for not including something that someone felt was an important article. This comes up a lot in discussions about how to write a good literature review, at least at my school it does. The advice that has been given to me was to look at how many others have cited the article if I am in doubt.

Look up how often something is cited by others. If it is cited a lot, then it would probably be a good idea to cite it too. Otherwise someone else who is familiar with the area of study might read it and ask why you didn't include X article by Y and Z because it is a very important article.

I have to agree with the others. This is something that happens more often then you might think. Since my field is interdisciplinary, it isn't too uncommon for a professor to not be knowledgeable about every single thing. Often times, students will have knowledge to add to the class because they come from differing fields and areas of expertise. Even if this isn't the case here, there is still nothing wrong with a professor having a particular expertise and deciding to focus on that.

As long as I can slow something down, then I can usually transcribe stuff pretty efficiently. I don't mean slowing it way down, but just enough so if someone is talking fast I don't need to rewind. I don't transcribe a lot of stuff though, just interviews for class projects. My thesis won't involve anything like that.

I am nres/ecology. I actually really suck at math and I am normally pulling my hair out trying to figure stats out. I got a little bit of a nibble, so I'm seeing right now if it's going to pan out. It really doesn't have much to do with my field or interests, but I have experience.

A suit sounds too stuffy to me. But that is just me. If it were me, I would just wear dress pants and a blouse.

Since those are the amounts reported to the IRS by your school and what you would be entering in would match, I don't think it would cause your return to be flagged. That being said, it's probably better to be honest just to be on the safe side. It would suck to have to pay back a refund, especially if you spent it already.

Just thanking everyone for their help. I think I have this stuff figured out now.

Ugh, I am starting to get really discouraged. None of the jobs I applied for seem to be too interested in me. I haven't been able to get any bites with tutoring. I have inquired about jobs at school and have been told they would prefer an undergrad student. I have been looking for something that is related to my field, sort of like an internship experience. I'm not seeing anything. I fear this is what I'm going to be facing once I have completed my masters.

I know quite a few people who are doing this. It really just depends on the program and what the requirements are. My program (has both MS and PhD) has most classes in the late afternoon/evening for this very reason. Some people take a class or two a semester, while working at their regular job. Most don't work for the university either. They seem to be handling it okay.

Still not fair. Haha! Isn't putting in the number from box 2 accounting for the fees? It is tuition plus fees in that box. Right now, box 2 is about $300 less than box 5. If the fees weren't reported in there, then the difference would be around $900.

That still doesn't sound very fair. If it wasn't for the health plan credit, I would actually be given credit for the fees I had to pay for out of pocket since the tuition waiver only cancels out the tuition. i.e. tuition and fees would equal more than scholarship

Okay, I figured it out (partially). The school charged my account for the student health plan. GAs get a reduced rate for the student health plan. There was a credit on my account for difference (actual cost - what GA is responsible for = amount credited to the account). So I added: tuition waiver for spring semester tuition waiver for fall semester credit for student health plan This equals the amount displayed in "scholarships and grants". That's box 5 on the 1098. Anyway, this difference basically means that I will be paying taxes on "income" that I never really received because it was used to cancel out most of the student health plan premium. That doesn't sound very fair.

My school might not pay for it, I don't know how it works exactly. It might just be exempt. For some reason, every time I say I am exempt people say that that can't be so. It is in the GA handbook at my school, so I know I am. So thanks for clearing that up. Thanks everyone for your help.

Turbo Tax says I don't owe anything on my stipend. Maybe the total amount is too low to owe anything anyway. And yep, I will check with someone on Monday to see what's going on with the 1098.

I had a TA position. They sent me a W-2. Graduate assistants at my school at "exempt" from social security and medicare taxes. The school (i.e. the employer) pays for all of it (their share and my share). That's why I don't have to pay the taxes. I'm only required to pay state income tax.

No, they only pay for tuition. I have to pay all the required fees out of pocket and I have to buy my own books. Turbo Tax is telling me I can't take books etc. as a deduction. My 1098-T form says my scholarship was about $300 more than what the "tuition and related expenses" was. I went back and looked at my account showing all the charges and credits. Something isn't adding up. I might call whoever is in charge of this stuff on Monday. As far as my stipend goes, I only have to pay state taxes on that and they took that out of my checks already. The school pays all social security and medicare taxes for us. Turbo Tax figured that part out when I entered my school's employer ID number in, so it's not saying I need to pay anything on that.

So you think there were fees that they paid for with the scholarship that wasn't part of the tuition? This is why I'm confused because I wouldn't think the scholarship would be more than the tuition unless they paid for something else. The scholarship is just supposed to cancel out what you owe for tuition.

I am trying to do my taxes. As a graduate assistant, my stipend is exempt from social security and medicare taxes. What I found weird though was my tuition form. It shows X amount was charged and then X amount was reported as a scholarship. My tuition was waived, so they just cancel my tuition out with a scholarship of the same amount. What was weird though was they reported more for the "scholarship" than my tuition. I was using Turbo Tax and it says the difference needs to be treated as income. What I don't get is how it could be more than what the tuition was. Has anyone else had this problem?

Okay, scratch that. I just heard back from one, they have already filled the position.

Thank you for the offer but I have been checking with the school's site, the local labor department, etc. I have applied for a few things but there is no news yet.

At my school, you can take independent study credit and then arrange with the professor teaching an undergraduate course to sit in on the class. You might look into that as well, it might be an option.