[Handling grad school with a disability]

On 5/13/2017 at 0:36 PM, angela4 said:

This is my second time going to grad school (first time was in a different field). The first time around I chose to self-disclose my chronic illness to my advisor/professor because I thought it would be good for them to know "just in case." I thought it was smart to be as open as possible. Unfortunately there is a stigma associated with my condition and telling my advisor about my illness was the worst decision I made in grad school. They told me I may not be able to continue because my condition was a liability. I had to get documentation from my doctor, and I finished the program successfully but it was harder because I self-disclosed and the professors made me jump through extra hoops.

This time around, I am going to go through the disability office and make sure I have protections in place before I share my disability with a professor again. If you go through the disability services office, they will give you a letter stating your accommodations, but the letter does not share your diagnoses. It is up to you how much information you want to give the professors in addition to the letters.

Maybe I just had bad luck, but I thought I should share my experience. I'm not saying it's smart to "hide" your disability, but I think it's good to make sure you are registered with disability services (or whatever it may be called) BEFORE sharing anything. 

I know I will need accommodations during grad school this time because my medical problems are a little worse now than they were a few years ago. But I'm going to go the official route this time. I encourage you to do the same to have the protections in place before you share with your professors.

 

I am so sorry you had to go through that with your previous profs/program but thank you for sharing this. I have been wondering about what to do in this area and this is pretty convincing to go to disability services first. 

[Summer reading for the social sciences]

On 4/25/2017 at 10:05 AM, AmityDuPeuple said:

I am beginning to put together a summer reading list that is probably overly ambitious and it got me thinking that there should be a thread for summer reading for social scientists. I would really like to see what books other people have on their to-read lists, no matter the disciplinary background. [My background includes sociology, anthropology, WGS (women's, gender, and sexuality studies, and French.] I'd also be interested in hearing whether and how everyone annotates what they read.

Are you revisiting theory you read (or skimmed) during the semester?

Are you focusing on classics in your discipline or working your way through some more contemporary works?

Are you branching out from the literature in your discipline?

Do you do this in an effort to keep it all straight and help with finding the right resources when you are writing? Or is it more for retention of information? Habit? 

Let's talk about what we read, why we read it, and how we organize our thoughts about it.

I have had similar thoughts of trying to get together a summer reading list to prep. I'm doing American Studies (so interdisciplinary) but sociology was one of my majors in undergrad and is important for a lot of the research I want to do so I think we'd have some overlap in readings. (Same with gender and women's studies). Part of me just wants to get back into a bit of a (light) academic reading routine bc I have been out of school for a few years and am getting some anxiety about being prepared mentally and experience-wise. 

I've been flipping back through some texts I had from my Classics class- "Protestant Ethic", "Suicide", "Communist Manifesto", Civilization and its Discontents".. 

Do you have any texts to add that they've found really helpful/interesting/challenging/etc.? Trying to put my grad school jitters into something productive 

[Pullman, WA]

On 5/14/2017 at 9:12 PM, lbar said:

I visited Pullman at the end of March and decided to attend WSU! I'm starting a physics PhD in August 2017. The quality of the research and department was the most important factor, but I also thought the town was charming. Everyone was very friendly and I liked the outdoorsy feel. I visited Moscow too and there's enough shops and things to do there. I'm not planning to stay in Pullman for life, but I think spending six years there will be fine. I'm going to have a car so I can take trips if I want to and get groceries. I applied for university grad housing, but if I can't get an apartment from them I'm going to look into off campus places. 

I saw Pullman pop up in the city guide forum recent activity and just wanted to throw in a review of the Pullman/Moscow area. I first visited to help a friend move there for the cog. neuroscience program and visited again a few months ago. I know she has had an overall really positive experience and I've had a blast every time I've been. She found a super cheap apartment off campus- there was even a student discount for academic performance and it's still close to WSU. As for the area itself, it's really nice to have the two towns so close because they've both got some gems of restaurants, bars, coffee shops, and places to see concerts. If you like dive-esque bars (that don't feel skeevy) check out John's Alley in Moscow, they randomly will have big names come through and have live music regularly (we saw Afroman when I was there ha). Also, if you're looking for an occasional splurge dinner that's totally worth the money go to Sangria, it's a Peruvian restaurant on the border of Moscow close to Pullman and is ridiculously delicious. I definitely recommend getting out and exploring the Pullman/Moscow area, it has a lot to offer. My friend out there has met some great people, both in grad school and in town, and has overall really loved it.

Good luck and have fun! 

(Sorry for the long rant from just a Pullman/Moscow visitor, I really love the area and had my heart set on WSU but they didn't have funding for my program this year/didn't accept new applications because of this so I'm actually also just super jealous lol)

[Bethlehem, PA]

7 hours ago, A blighted one said:

Sorry, I don't know anything about the Saucon Village Apartments, but I'm looking for housing in Bethlehem too, so I second this!

ended up on the waiting list for the Saucon Village Apartments, gonna chalk that up to a no at this point. Are you new to Bethlehem/PA too?

[American Studies programs]

Kind of late but I have landed on Lehigh's American Studies MA program. After visiting, and along with receiving my full funding offer, it seems like it will be a good fit and a good place to get my grad school start before jumping into PhD work. Anyone else in Lehigh's AMST program? Congrats to everyone on their acceptances and future schools! Wishing all the best for you all

[Bethlehem, PA]

No one has posted here in a while but want to throw out questions about housing anyway. Anyone know anything about the Saucon Village Apartments for grad student housing? I applied and got a decent lottery number but I am still hoping to get a more "inside" perspective on what they are actually like irl. That, along with any other advice on housing/living in Bethlehem is greatly appreciated. 

[American Studies programs]

3 hours ago, way_moby said:

Nope, not a peep. Man, I feel like they're really dragging this out!

Right?! So ready for admission season to be over, the wait is too much! 

[American Studies programs]

On 2/28/2017 at 10:23 AM, foodnerd said:

Has anyone gotten the rejects from UT? I saw some admits/waitlists go up on the results page in January and earlier this month, but haven't seen rejects. Do they send them that much later???

I still haven't heard anything and I am about ready to pull my hair out. I think I've been checking the UT MyStatus website roughly 50 times a day. 

[American Studies programs]

On 2/22/2017 at 11:37 AM, way_moby said:

I applied to Kansas and emailed one of the depart. admins today concerning the timeline. She told me that the grad committee has met, but that "official decisions have not been issued quite yet."

It sounds like it will be soon, though.

Have you guys heard from Kansas yet?? Still waiting to hear from KU, SUNY Buffalo, and UT Austin for AMST...trying to resist the pull towards insanity....  

[American Studies programs]

15 hours ago, foodnerd said:

I've heard from heard from half of my eight schools (one waitlist, thee rejects). I totally get the desperate need for one full on acceptance. I'm handling it poorly. I'm trying to find comfort in the waitlist and trying to plan for a worst case scenario future where it doesn't pan out this year. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Absolutely! Positive thinking is the only way of getting through this, I swear. Lots of deep breathing and "everything will be fine!" mini mantras. Good luck on your schools, sending good thoughts your way!

[American Studies programs]

14 hours ago, RageoftheMonkey said:

Same here. I applied to 6 schools and heard back from one at the end of January (rejection from Northwestern's History PhD). Absolutely nothing since. It's killing me, I've been starting to obsess over gradcafe and checking and rechecking all of my application pages. It has definitely not been healthy for me, mentally or physically. At this point I'm fairly convinced I'm not going to get in anywhere (3 other schools I applied to, including Harvard, have sent out acceptance notifications, but I haven't heard anything). I just want to know so that I can move on with my life and start making some decisions about what I'm going to do going forward!

Yeah I feel ya! I actually think some of my complaining must've propelled something in the universe forward because I did get an acceptance from Lehigh's MA AMST this morning but no word on financial aid. Getting an acceptance is nice for sure but I'm still waiting for anything on funding. I totally know what you mean still though, I am still waiting for my top choices and I think I'm just getting more obsessive everyday. 

[American Studies programs]

13 hours ago, Armchair_Phil said:

Anyone apply/hear from BGSU? 

Yes applied, no to hearing anything 

[American Studies programs]

Long time lurker here, just needing to vent a little about the metaphorical cricket sounds from admissions. I've only heard back from one school (Minnesota, rejected) out of nine and am getting progressively more obsessive with checking for updates. I'm not heartbroken about Minnesota, it was my first app and when I looked back at my submitted work it was definitely not as polished as it could've been. I'm mainly just in desperate need of just *one* AMST acceptance letter at this point to get me through the rest of the wait. Anyone else feeling this way? And/or handling it better? 

P.S. Congratulations to everyone who has been getting good news back!