angesradieux

I would start thinking about what subfield you can see yourself working in for an extended period of time. For me, it was easy. I've always been fascinated by France and I've only ever really wanted to study French history. Perhaps sit down and talk with a professor about at least narrowing it down to a continent. The reason this is important is language training. You'll want to have at least some grasp of the languages perinent to your research. Mandarin and Spanish are great, but they won't do all that much for you if you won't be needing to read sources in those languages. If you truly don't feel strongly about a particular subfield yet, perhaps consider what best fits your current language training.
Once you have an idea, if your school offers the option of writing a senior thesis, plan to take advantage of it. First, it will give you a long writing sample with extensive primary source research. Second, it will help you build relationships with professors. Your recommendations will be stronger if they come from people who have seen your ability to do independent research. As a sophmore, you can begin thinking about what you think you'd like to research and whether there's a professor you'd like to work with as an advisor.
But I think the first step is to start thinking about a subfield that interests you. That way you can tailor your classes to give you the best understanding of said subfield you can achieve, start working on whatever languages are most pertinent, and making connections with professors within that field. For example, I'm interested in France, so it was important for me to get to know the French historians where I did my undergrad, because a letter from them would be far more convincing than a letter from an Americanist. Likewise, a medievalist would have wanted to cultivate relationships with a different set of people.
You don't have to have a super specific topic, but I think trying to get some sense of which field you'd like to pursue will be really helpful in figuring out where to go from here.

I'm likewise waiting to visit everywhere before choosing. I leave for the last visit tomorrow. Still wondering how that happened. 0.o But I'm still really hung up on one aspect of the first school I visited. Like the second one makes way more sense financially, and there are great professors there. But the first school had like one of the ten largest music programs in the country, and their music library was incredible. Since I'd really like to do interdisciplinary work that incorporates music, and I'd like to take some music classes to ground my studies, that's important to me. Meanwhile, the music program is pretty small at the second school. I don't know how many classes I'd be able to take and I didn't get a chance to see the music library because no one knew where it was when I was on my tour, and then when I tried to find it myself during some downtime I got lost. And as much as I'm like "second school makes sense", I'm thinking about the amazing music program and the opportunities for interdisciplinary study at the first school. I mean, people at the second school were super supportive of me wanting to work with people from other departments and bring music into my work, but I'm just not sure they have the same resources to facilitate that. Before visiting, I had no idea there was such a huge difference in that regard. I made sure to ask if I can see the music library while visiting my last school. I don't know. I really thought visiting would make things easier. But learning more about the different programs is just complicating matters. Like I've learned things I really like on both visits, as well as things that I'm a little lukewarm on. I'm hoping I'll be able to sit down with one of my mentors from undergrad to talk through some of the pros/cons. Right now, I'm just really overwhelmed and confused.

I have had enough of the bullying by @Telkanuru, @Sigaba, and others. They have been condescending and abusive and are doing a disservice to the applicants just trying to get advice.


 
I can’t imagine that the institutions where these bullies study would in any way condone what they have been doing. I have decided to make an example of Telkanuru. Therefore, I have emailed the following people at Brown - Amy Remensnyder, Robert Self and Christina Paxson about the abuse with relevant links.

 
If there is any more bullying, I will notify other institutions about the despicable behavior of their graduate students. Sigaba and the others, you have been warned.

I don't know if you actually did this or if this is a joke, but if you're for real, this is extremely childish. If you don't like someone's behavior on a web forum, you can complain to the moderators or simply stop reading.

American History
R_Escobar (20th century, American Indian), crazedandinfused (antebellum, intellectual), hopin'-n-prayin' (southern, religious), stevemcn (transnational), Simple Twist of Fate (early American), zb642 (20th century, labor/working-class culture), BCEmory08 (19th-20th century Catholicism, labor), irvinchiva10 (20th century, immigration/immigration reform) natsteel (early American political culture and intellectual history) unforth (19th century US political and military history, US Civil War) hbeels (colonial, early national, 19th century, transappalachain west, historical memory of these eras/areas) thedig13 (20th century U.S.; built environment, modern consumer culture, race, and immigration) Weepsie (North American Mapping, Exploration and Trade, Anti-Communism/Socialism in Interwar period, bit of a mixed bag) lafayette (19th c. [with a dash of 20th], urban, intellectual) vtstevie (Revolutionary/Early Republic New England, infrastructure/economic) macmc (Feminist, gender, and LGBT history) HistThrift (early America, indigenous history) junotwest (19/20th century African-American, Cultural/Intellectual, Gender & Sexuality) calhoun&caffeine (19th cen. Southern [political]) tampopo ramen (19th-20th century capitalism/business) BookishVixen (late 18th-early 20th ce maritime communities, cultural, gender & sexuality) hardtack&coffee (19th Century American Social & Military History, American Civil War) spellbanisher (economic and cultural history of the gilded age, progressive era, and the 1920s) European History
Kelkel (Modern Germany, political), goldielocks (Britain), SapperDaddy (Eastern and Central Europe), kotov (Modern Romania, Holocaust, labor), RevolutionBlues (Modern Western Europe/France labor and leftist politics), theregalrenegade (18th/19th cent British Empire/environment), jrah822 (19th century Britain; emphasis on colonial relationship to India), grlu0701 (Intellectual & cultural history,fin de siecle Germany and Italy), naturalog (modern European [mostly German] intellectual and cultural/sexuality and gender/political radicalism), runaway (Eastern/Central, memorialization & visual culture), Sequi001 (Modern France, gender and sexuality, colonialism/imperialism) Abetheh (19th/early 20th century Germany and France, religious politics vs secularization) NeutralKate (Modern Russia, modern European economic history) Crackerjacktiming (Modern Germany, gender and sexuality) GloFish (USSR, Stalinism, Soviet-American Relations) jamc8383 (19th/20th century France, interwar culture, relationship between body, mind & place) Heimat Historian (19th/20th century Germany, migration, settler colonialism) AshleyJuneBug (Early Modern France and Britain, gender and sexuality) maelia8 (19th/early 20th century Germany, imperialism and colonialism, travel, exploration) BookishVixen (Victorian and Edwardian English imperialism/gender & sexiality) episkey (19th/20th century France, gender and sexuality, Holocaust) AngesRadieux (18th/early 19th century France, cultural history, music) African History
Oseirus (precolonial/early colonial West Africa), Singwaya18 (20th century East Africa), Safferz (20th century Horn/Northeast Africa), The People's Scholar (Spanish colonialim in Africa- i.e. middle/West Africa) Jogatoronto (Psychiatry in early colonial West Africa) ronwill06(Social and political radical movements) Heimat Historian (German settlements in Southern Africa) Latin American History
CageFree (20th century, Southern Cone), BH-history, The People's Scholar (18th-19th century Colombia) StrangeLight (20th century Central America) Heimat Historian (German settlements in Southern cone and Mexico) Mujereslibres (German informal colonization of Peru, Brazil, and Chile) East Asian History
alleykat (Modern China) getitlow (Modern China: Republican, Women, Gender and Sexuality) kyjin (Pre-Modern Japan) aec09g (Modern Japan) pudewen (Late Imperial China) kdavid (Modern China; focus on the Republican period) Near/Middle Eastern History
uhohlemonster, (modern Israel, Iran, Palestine) oswic (modern Egypt, gender) Conmel (modern pan-Islamic thought/networks) Atlantic World
sandyvanb crazedandinfused Global/World History
cooperstreet (Cold War) melissarose8585 Heimat Historian (German settlements throughout world) Jewish History
uhohlemonster, (modern Israel) hopin'-n-'prayin, kotov (Holocaust), naturalog (sometimes modern European/Holocaust), runaway (memorialization & visual culture), ticklemepink (20th c. Germany/U.S) awells27 (Late Antiquity: Roman Empire/Palestine/Byzantine) Science/Technology/Environment
shaxmaty1848 (Cold War) StrangeLight (environmental history, ecological distribution conflicts) sukipower (20th c. forensic science & anthropology, 19th c. science and medicine) Social
annieca (Cold War and Post-Cold War East and Central Europe) BookishVixen (Spheres of influence, Progressive Era reforms affecting immigration) Classical and Medieval
Hogs of War (Monastic Studies and Conflicts in Authority) telkanuru (high Medieval intellectual and social history, Cistercian studies) AbbeyRoad (Monastic History, Gender, Cistercians) Kirialax ("Dark Age" Byzantium; the Komnenoi) Cultural
StrangeLight (gender, race, ethnicity, and religion) hbeels (race/ethnicity, religious, masculinity/feminimity, print/literature) crazedandinfused (race, nationalism, performance, rhetoric) alleykat (religion, race/ethnicity, cultural relativism) Heimat Historian (German culture in transnational context) Canadian History
truthfinder (New France, religious)

It's basically a given that I'm moving at the end of the summer, so my days at work are numbered. Knowing this, even though it's months away, I'm starting to feel a little bit guilty about not saying anything. But, I still need the income, so I feel like I really can't say anything yet without jeopardizing my financial situation. The store I work for hasn't been overly kind to me in the past, so if this just involved the manager, I'd have no problem riding it out and giving my two week's notice when the time comes. However, I teach private music lessons, so I'm working predominantly with kids, some of whom have been taking lessons with me for over a year at this point. I remember how devastated I was when my first voice teacher moved. I also remember the tears and upset when another teacher at the store I work with had to retire. Now, I'm not my first voice teacher or the other teacher who retired. I think it would probably be a bit arrogant to assume that the level of attachment to me is the same as it was to either of those two women. At the same time, I've known these kids for a while, and I can see where after seeing me every week for over a year, me leaving might come as a bit of a shock. Plus, some of them have stuck with me even when the store was going through some tough times. We had to move out of our old location suddenly and basically we spent two months teaching in an open space, with "rooms" sectioned off by cardboard boxes. It was a nightmare, and I fully expected all of my students to leave, because I wouldn't have been comfortable taking lessons behind a cardboard box, where you could hear every conversation and every other lesson going on in the store. But, a bunch of them stuck with me, and there were a couple students who, when the store offered a discount because of the situation, paid me in full, anyway, and said the location didn't matter because the teachers were still the same. I guess the fact that they were loyal enough to stick it out through that mess and many of them were really kind about not raising a fuss, I feel even more guilty about waiting to long. In short, I don't want to blindside the kids, and I'm not sure if two weeks is enough. Because of limited availability of rooms, It might also take some maneuvering for them to get a spot with another teacher if they want to continue lessons at the store, and I don't want to leave them high and dry without a teacher and unable to schedule lessons with someone new. I guess I'm trying to figure out how to navigate the situation in a way that's fair to my students, but also doesn't leave me without an income for a significant period of time and render me incapable of paying my student loan and credit card bills. I guess it's hitting me now because I'm taking time off to visit schools, and when I tell students and parents that I'm not going to have to miss two lessons, I get the inevitable, "Oh? Doing something fun? Where are you going?" It's all well meaning conversation, and so far I've just told them the city I'm visiting and letting them assume it's a vacation or something, but then the guilt of knowing that I'm actually essentially working on picking out a new place to live.
Is anyone else in a similar situation of feeling guilty at work? Any advice on how/when to approach the subject? I'm just not sure what time frame (if such a time frame exists) gives kids sufficient notice, gives them time to work out scheduling with another teacher if they so desire, and also doesn't destroy my bank account.

I've vented on here about my sister before, but she's just making me crazy. She's one of the most ungrateful, self-centered, thoughtless people I know, and this past week makes me really wish I didn't want a relationship with her. I know I would be so much happier if I didn't care, but I can't stop wanting to spend time together and actually act like sisters. I keep trying to be nice and supportive, but she never reciprocates and it always ends in my feeling taken for granted and hurt.
A few days ago there was a big argument between my sister and my parents. It was a bunch of things building up, but what finally did it was my mom went out and only bought pork sausage for dinner. My sister doesn't eat pork. She was upset that our mom bought dinner for everyone in the house except her. I agreed it was thoughtless. I also offered to go out with her so she wouldn't be home and wouldn't have to sit there eating leftovers when everyone else had sausage. She refused and decided it would be better to just complain about it to our mom. When things were already tense, my dad asked her how her day at work was, which only made her more upset, because she hates her job. She started ranting. At one point, she snapped at my dad, and then my mom snapped at her that she should be more grateful and shouldn't have complained about the leftover chicken. My sister started crying. My parents have been spending weeknights in the city, so they left to go back to the city.
To try to diffuse the situation, I made brownies to give to my sister. She started ranting at me about our parents, which I expected. But then she started making disparaging comments about the "grad school club" in our family, which doesn't actually exist, and implied that she's upset that I'm going for a PhD. That made me feel great. But I didn't say anything. I let her rant and offered her a brownie. Her boyfriend called, and I guess she decided she'd rather talk to him than me, so she picked up the phone and just went to her bedroom.
Since the whole hullabaloo started over chicken, the next morning I cooked. Usually our schedules work out so I'm at work when she gets home. So, I started cooking in the morning so it would be in the fridge when she got home. I made chicken stuffed with cheese in a sherry sauce--one of her favorites. Later I had to go to the mall for something, and I stopped at Starbucks and brought back a cookie butter bar for her. Turns out she came home early and was back around lunch time. So I gave her the cookie butter bar, which she took but didn't thank me for. Then I told her I made chicken and put it in the fridge for her if she wanted it. She opened the fridge, looked at it, and then snubbed it and heated up frozen taquitos instead, which made me wonder why she made such a fuss over leftovers the previous night and didn't just heat up taquitos then. I was pretty unhappy--first, I would have at least liked a thank you, and I was kind of annoyed that not having chicken turned into a big fight the night before, so I made her chicken, and then she didn't eat it.
I went to work, and on the way home I stopped and got a meal from Stewart's and her favorite soda to bring home. When I offered it to her, I didn't even get a "no, thank you." She just kind of shook her head and then proceeded to more or less ignore me for the night.
Has she shown any kind of gratitude? Nope. In fact, today she's been out with her boyfriend the entire day, happily pretending I don't exist. I really don't need much. Just a "thanks" now and again would be nice. And maybe if she were to say "Hey, how about we spend some time together?" But no matter what I do or how hard I try to make her happy, she never thanks me and never wants anything to do with me. It's also gotten to the point where I don't talk about grad school plans around her, because I'm afraid it'll upset her. The other day, I showed my dad an offer letter on my phone so I didn't have to say anything out loud and she didn't have to hear about it and get all snarky about whatever "grad school club" she's fabricated. That especially frustrates me, because when she got her full time job and was actually excited about it, I bought sparkling wine and a cake to celebrate. Meanwhile, my career's starting to move forward, and I feel like I can't talk about it in the house because she'll get upset if she overhears.
Also, her Christmas gift to me was a Groupon for two, which is apparently just going to expire because she never wants to go anywhere with me. But, whenever I get upset and make it known to her, she hangs the stupid Groupon over my head. It's along the lines of "Oh, well I never said anything about it to you or even asked if it might work in your schedule, but I was going to do that with you next weekend. But you made me mad, so now I'm not." Keep in mind, the "Well, I was going to do it with you, but now I'm not because you made me mad" situation is the only time she ever acknowledges it. And it never occurs to her that I have a life, too, and whatever weekend she claims she was going to actually spend time with me on might not work for. Like today, she gave me the same spiel. But you know what? I'm traveling next weekend, so even if it were true, it wouldn't work for me. But she just assumes that I'm sitting around waiting for whenever she deigns to finally acknowledge that I exist.
I'm just sick of it. I try to be supportive and show her that I care. But no matter how hard I try, I feel like I could just disappear tomorrow and she wouldn't care. I really feel like I might actually never see her again once I go to grad school. She can't make time for me when I'm actually here and available. There's no way she's going to make time when I'm only home a few times a year and definitely can't bend over backwards to accommodate her and things have to be more on my terms. I've reached a point of desperately wishing I could just stop caring and not want an actual relationship with her. It would make my life so much easier.

I've vented on here about my sister before, but she's just making me crazy. She's one of the most ungrateful, self-centered, thoughtless people I know, and this past week makes me really wish I didn't want a relationship with her. I know I would be so much happier if I didn't care, but I can't stop wanting to spend time together and actually act like sisters. I keep trying to be nice and supportive, but she never reciprocates and it always ends in my feeling taken for granted and hurt.
A few days ago there was a big argument between my sister and my parents. It was a bunch of things building up, but what finally did it was my mom went out and only bought pork sausage for dinner. My sister doesn't eat pork. She was upset that our mom bought dinner for everyone in the house except her. I agreed it was thoughtless. I also offered to go out with her so she wouldn't be home and wouldn't have to sit there eating leftovers when everyone else had sausage. She refused and decided it would be better to just complain about it to our mom. When things were already tense, my dad asked her how her day at work was, which only made her more upset, because she hates her job. She started ranting. At one point, she snapped at my dad, and then my mom snapped at her that she should be more grateful and shouldn't have complained about the leftover chicken. My sister started crying. My parents have been spending weeknights in the city, so they left to go back to the city.
To try to diffuse the situation, I made brownies to give to my sister. She started ranting at me about our parents, which I expected. But then she started making disparaging comments about the "grad school club" in our family, which doesn't actually exist, and implied that she's upset that I'm going for a PhD. That made me feel great. But I didn't say anything. I let her rant and offered her a brownie. Her boyfriend called, and I guess she decided she'd rather talk to him than me, so she picked up the phone and just went to her bedroom.
Since the whole hullabaloo started over chicken, the next morning I cooked. Usually our schedules work out so I'm at work when she gets home. So, I started cooking in the morning so it would be in the fridge when she got home. I made chicken stuffed with cheese in a sherry sauce--one of her favorites. Later I had to go to the mall for something, and I stopped at Starbucks and brought back a cookie butter bar for her. Turns out she came home early and was back around lunch time. So I gave her the cookie butter bar, which she took but didn't thank me for. Then I told her I made chicken and put it in the fridge for her if she wanted it. She opened the fridge, looked at it, and then snubbed it and heated up frozen taquitos instead, which made me wonder why she made such a fuss over leftovers the previous night and didn't just heat up taquitos then. I was pretty unhappy--first, I would have at least liked a thank you, and I was kind of annoyed that not having chicken turned into a big fight the night before, so I made her chicken, and then she didn't eat it.
I went to work, and on the way home I stopped and got a meal from Stewart's and her favorite soda to bring home. When I offered it to her, I didn't even get a "no, thank you." She just kind of shook her head and then proceeded to more or less ignore me for the night.
Has she shown any kind of gratitude? Nope. In fact, today she's been out with her boyfriend the entire day, happily pretending I don't exist. I really don't need much. Just a "thanks" now and again would be nice. And maybe if she were to say "Hey, how about we spend some time together?" But no matter what I do or how hard I try to make her happy, she never thanks me and never wants anything to do with me. It's also gotten to the point where I don't talk about grad school plans around her, because I'm afraid it'll upset her. The other day, I showed my dad an offer letter on my phone so I didn't have to say anything out loud and she didn't have to hear about it and get all snarky about whatever "grad school club" she's fabricated. That especially frustrates me, because when she got her full time job and was actually excited about it, I bought sparkling wine and a cake to celebrate. Meanwhile, my career's starting to move forward, and I feel like I can't talk about it in the house because she'll get upset if she overhears.
Also, her Christmas gift to me was a Groupon for two, which is apparently just going to expire because she never wants to go anywhere with me. But, whenever I get upset and make it known to her, she hangs the stupid Groupon over my head. It's along the lines of "Oh, well I never said anything about it to you or even asked if it might work in your schedule, but I was going to do that with you next weekend. But you made me mad, so now I'm not." Keep in mind, the "Well, I was going to do it with you, but now I'm not because you made me mad" situation is the only time she ever acknowledges it. And it never occurs to her that I have a life, too, and whatever weekend she claims she was going to actually spend time with me on might not work for. Like today, she gave me the same spiel. But you know what? I'm traveling next weekend, so even if it were true, it wouldn't work for me. But she just assumes that I'm sitting around waiting for whenever she deigns to finally acknowledge that I exist.
I'm just sick of it. I try to be supportive and show her that I care. But no matter how hard I try, I feel like I could just disappear tomorrow and she wouldn't care. I really feel like I might actually never see her again once I go to grad school. She can't make time for me when I'm actually here and available. There's no way she's going to make time when I'm only home a few times a year and definitely can't bend over backwards to accommodate her and things have to be more on my terms. I've reached a point of desperately wishing I could just stop caring and not want an actual relationship with her. It would make my life so much easier.

I think a lot of people do the same thing. On the one hand, it's great because you have plenty of time to prepare for a retake if you aren't happy with your results. On the other, if you don't retake it, your free reports are almost definitely going to be wasted. But, that's probably why they make it a "do it now or pay up later" thing--they know most people will either be too paranoid to send it immediately or take the test early and not have a final list yet. In either case, they end up making much more money than they probably would if they gave us some time to claim the free reports. They're evil.

Rawr. I'll start off by saying I know this guy pretty well at this point. This is the third time I've been his TA, and last time I was kind of there for multiple classes. As in, I only officially did the grading for one, but when he was going to be away for a week, he asked me to cover and give a presentation on properly formatting papers to another class, I accompanied his two classes that I wasn't officially TAing on a field trip, and I was heavily involved in keeping tabs on his research assistant. Generally, we've worked well together, with bouts of some irritating behavior. In all this time, his forum discussion assignments have been out of 10. And he's never said anything about skewing the grading system in any way. So for as long as I've worked with him, it's been 9-10=A, 8.5=B+, 8=B, and so on. Just as you would expect. Multiply the grade by 10 and you get the score out of 100%. Note that this particular class is a 5 week winter semester class, so grading has to be done quickly.
With this in mind, I've already graded the first forum discussion for this class with this system in mind. I gave 10's to students whose work was truly exceptional. 9-9.5 to students whose work was very good, but not quite on par with the best. 8.5 to students on the high end of B work, 8 to those on the low end, and so on. I entered those grades days ago. Students have seen them.
Well, today, I get an e-mail. Even though the class is basically done and the first round of grades have already been posted for students to view, he's changed his grading scale. 9-10 is still an A. But now 8-8.5 is a B+. Still, fine. I'm not going to quibble over half a letter grade. But where it gets really frustrating is now 6-7.5 is a B. 5 is a C+, 4 is a C, 2-3 is a D, and 0-1 is an F. This is drastically different than what I'd had in mind while grading the first assignments. There was a student I have a 6 to, which is probably the lowest grade I've ever given to a complete assignment. Usually, if all parts of the assignment have been submitted, I give at least a 7.5, or what in my mind has been a C. But this was truly one of the worst assignments I've ever seen, so I gave what I thought as a 60%, which would have been an F.
But now that's apparently a B.
But what frustrates me even more than the apparent adjustment of grades I already entered is now grades may be markedly lower than they were on the first assignment. Say for example the student who earned a 6 made significant improvements on the second forum discussion, but the work only merits a C. Am I supposed to give a lower grade even if the work is actually better, because the grading scale has changed somewhere in between the assignments being graded? What about the students I have 8's to because they were on the lower end of the B range? Do I give them a lower number grade even if they've maintained the same level of quality from one assignment to another? How do I justify that?
I'm just so frustrated. If I'd known that this time around he was going to change the grading scale, I would have graded the last assignments much differently. But not only did he wait until I'd finished grading, but he left it until after all the grades were posted to notify me. So now I can't change it, because if a student notices that what was an 8 has now dropped to a 6.5 or 7 or, worse, what was a 6 is now a 1 or 2, they'll be out for blood before I even have time to explain. I feel like no matter what I do, if I suddenly follow this scale I'll have a mutiny on my hands with my inbox exploding with angry emails. But, if I ignore it and follow the original scale out of a healthy sense of self-preservation, I'll get an e-mail from the professor wanting to know why I'm suddenly giving everyone what works out to be higher grades than I have in the past.
I planned to get a good chunk of grading done today, but now I'm frustrated and confused and, frankly, feeling a little stuck.
Has anyone else here experienced a professor drastically changing the grade scale after the class was underway and assignments had already been graded?

just different opinions. I happen to side with those who think that obesity is a real problem, and ignorance is not bliss.

I'm out of waiting purgatory! I was shocked to open my e-mail and see an e-mail from my POI at Vanderbilt telling me that I've been accepted. Three acceptances and one rejection is a much better outcome than I dared to hope for.
Good luck to people still waiting for news! Official notifications from Vanderbilt haven't gone out yet, so if you haven't heard yet it could be that your POI is just a bit less proactive.

Rawr. I'll start off by saying I know this guy pretty well at this point. This is the third time I've been his TA, and last time I was kind of there for multiple classes. As in, I only officially did the grading for one, but when he was going to be away for a week, he asked me to cover and give a presentation on properly formatting papers to another class, I accompanied his two classes that I wasn't officially TAing on a field trip, and I was heavily involved in keeping tabs on his research assistant. Generally, we've worked well together, with bouts of some irritating behavior. In all this time, his forum discussion assignments have been out of 10. And he's never said anything about skewing the grading system in any way. So for as long as I've worked with him, it's been 9-10=A, 8.5=B+, 8=B, and so on. Just as you would expect. Multiply the grade by 10 and you get the score out of 100%. Note that this particular class is a 5 week winter semester class, so grading has to be done quickly.
With this in mind, I've already graded the first forum discussion for this class with this system in mind. I gave 10's to students whose work was truly exceptional. 9-9.5 to students whose work was very good, but not quite on par with the best. 8.5 to students on the high end of B work, 8 to those on the low end, and so on. I entered those grades days ago. Students have seen them.
Well, today, I get an e-mail. Even though the class is basically done and the first round of grades have already been posted for students to view, he's changed his grading scale. 9-10 is still an A. But now 8-8.5 is a B+. Still, fine. I'm not going to quibble over half a letter grade. But where it gets really frustrating is now 6-7.5 is a B. 5 is a C+, 4 is a C, 2-3 is a D, and 0-1 is an F. This is drastically different than what I'd had in mind while grading the first assignments. There was a student I have a 6 to, which is probably the lowest grade I've ever given to a complete assignment. Usually, if all parts of the assignment have been submitted, I give at least a 7.5, or what in my mind has been a C. But this was truly one of the worst assignments I've ever seen, so I gave what I thought as a 60%, which would have been an F.
But now that's apparently a B.
But what frustrates me even more than the apparent adjustment of grades I already entered is now grades may be markedly lower than they were on the first assignment. Say for example the student who earned a 6 made significant improvements on the second forum discussion, but the work only merits a C. Am I supposed to give a lower grade even if the work is actually better, because the grading scale has changed somewhere in between the assignments being graded? What about the students I have 8's to because they were on the lower end of the B range? Do I give them a lower number grade even if they've maintained the same level of quality from one assignment to another? How do I justify that?
I'm just so frustrated. If I'd known that this time around he was going to change the grading scale, I would have graded the last assignments much differently. But not only did he wait until I'd finished grading, but he left it until after all the grades were posted to notify me. So now I can't change it, because if a student notices that what was an 8 has now dropped to a 6.5 or 7 or, worse, what was a 6 is now a 1 or 2, they'll be out for blood before I even have time to explain. I feel like no matter what I do, if I suddenly follow this scale I'll have a mutiny on my hands with my inbox exploding with angry emails. But, if I ignore it and follow the original scale out of a healthy sense of self-preservation, I'll get an e-mail from the professor wanting to know why I'm suddenly giving everyone what works out to be higher grades than I have in the past.
I planned to get a good chunk of grading done today, but now I'm frustrated and confused and, frankly, feeling a little stuck.
Has anyone else here experienced a professor drastically changing the grade scale after the class was underway and assignments had already been graded?

Congrats on the acceptance!
Anyone hear anything official from Vanderbilt? I've been contacted by faculty and about the visit days, but the first professor I heard from reached out to me over a week ago, but I still haven't gotten an official letter yet. I'm starting to get a little concerned. I'm trying to tell myself they wouldn't have wasted the time contacting me about visit days if things were still up in the air, but in the back of my mind I'm starting to wonder if maybe they've changed their mind about me.

I may look into it. I'm not too sure what the price range is for repairs, though. With all the President's Day sales, I'm not sure if it wouldn't be cheaper to buy a new pair of shoes. Would be nice to get a few more uses out of them before retiring them, though.

Even the best heels wear out. They're not really meant for walking or even standing for long. But at least you always have an excuse to go buy new ones!

I'm not aware of what you think we disagree about. But I'm not going to insist that you continue to engage if you're uncomfortable.

If it makes  you feel better, two of my letter writers missed my first deadline by several days. Then, one letter writer missed the deadline for my second application. Granted, she only missed it by an hour, but I was still absolutely livid and terrified that with late letters on 2/4 of my applications, I wasn't going to get in. For my last two, all of my letters miraculously got in on time. However, one professor kept me up until 11:50 pm, frantically refreshing the page and waiting to see if they'd get it submitted that night or if there would be at least one late letter on every single one of my applications. I'd totally written off the first school as a waste of my application fee, because I couldn't imagine 2/3 letters being late would leave a good impression. But, the only rejection I received was from one of the schools where all of my letters were submitted on time. Both schools that received letters past the stated deadline offered me admission.
Don't lose hope! Frustrating as the missed deadline is, as long as your professor does submit a letter, it may not have hurt your chances.

That does complicate things. The places I'm visiting are reimbursing travel fees rather than paying upfront. On the one hand, it must be nice not to have to worry about putting out the money initially.  On the other, I appreciated having some flexibility while I was making plans. But it does work out well if Duke is the one you're most unsure about.

If you really want to go visit, would it be possible to ask them if you could visit at some point other than the specified days? It's probably quite a bit less expensive to fly from North Carolina to Pennsylvania, so maybe you could save money and time by planning to visit Duke and Penn back to back? That way you can save on some time and probably some money and still get to see both places before making a final decision.

I'm in the same boat waiting for the official e-mail. But instead of being a reasonable human being and figuring there's some bureaucratic thing causing it to take time, I'm sitting here wondering if something happened to make them change their mind, or if the unofficial acceptance was a mistake. I don't think I'll be able to sleep until everything's official.

If you really want to go visit, would it be possible to ask them if you could visit at some point other than the specified days? It's probably quite a bit less expensive to fly from North Carolina to Pennsylvania, so maybe you could save money and time by planning to visit Duke and Penn back to back? That way you can save on some time and probably some money and still get to see both places before making a final decision.

If you really want to go visit, would it be possible to ask them if you could visit at some point other than the specified days? It's probably quite a bit less expensive to fly from North Carolina to Pennsylvania, so maybe you could save money and time by planning to visit Duke and Penn back to back? That way you can save on some time and probably some money and still get to see both places before making a final decision.

I'm back to stressing over visits. I feel like I'm just going to make an idiot out of myself and have to reassure professors that I'm not always a stuttering, inarticulate wreck. I just printed out a bunch of articles and ordered a book. Hopefully if I make sure I'm familiar with their work and it's all fresh in my mind I'll be able to come up with something reasonably intelligent to say? Like, I was prepared to meet with a couple people. But now I'm getting e-mails like "Oh! When you come I should introduce you to so and so. You may end up working together at some point," and I'm like more people...? 0.o On the one hand, it's exciting, but on the other I'm really bad at meeting people and it makes me incredibly nervous.

I'm out of waiting purgatory! I was shocked to open my e-mail and see an e-mail from my POI at Vanderbilt telling me that I've been accepted. Three acceptances and one rejection is a much better outcome than I dared to hope for.
Good luck to people still waiting for news! Official notifications from Vanderbilt haven't gone out yet, so if you haven't heard yet it could be that your POI is just a bit less proactive.