rheya19

I'm having trouble understanding the situation. What kinds of organizations is he/she a part of? When you say you "don't care" for them, do you mean they aren't useful/relevant to your work, you don't agree with their ideological stances or actions, you don't like the way they're managed, or something else?

LOL I've been putting far too much time into thinking about this, but I think I figured out why I feel like the term "female" (as a noun) is subtly demeaning: because so much of the world is constantly trying to either infantilize or objectify women. Women have so many fewer fair representations in the media; women have difficulties finding equality and respect in many, many relationships throughout our lives; our experiences in scholarship are "feminist scholarship" whereas men's perspectives are "scholarship;" etc etc. I mean, I get that to most of the world, my main characteristic is "female," but I also know that I am not just my plumbing and someone to sell cosmetics to, and I'd really like everyone else to catch on. Maybe other women here have similar or different opinions.

Whatever happens, I hope you do pursue a some counseling sessions. The isolation you speak of is bound to wreak havoc in other parts of your life, whether or not you're in grad school. Sooner or later other problems are bound to arise, and if you can start working on ways to handle them now, you'll be better off in the long run. So as long as the sessions are free through the university, take advantage of them.

You need a support network to survive grad school, as well as non-school things to do that will let you blow off steam--like hobbies, shows, drinks with friends, movies, working out, or something like that. Have you been able to find things like that outside of your studies to help you decompress? Would you be comfortable inviting someone you've become friendly with to coffee or lunch and asking them how they are doing? If you heard someone else open up about their difficulties first, would you feel better about admitting that you share some of the same stressors?

You are not alone in what you're feeling. My husband when through something similar in a stats class in his first year. I'm positive there are more people in your cohort and class dealing with these problems than you realize. What kinds of resources, academic and otherwise, are available at your school? Can you get in to see a counselor, for example? Or attend a therapy group with other grad students? Are there any people you've met-- students or professors-- that you would be comfortable reaching out to?

I also prefer the term "woman" to "female." I'm a female human being, i.e. a woman. I don't think anyone I've met is purposefully trying to demean me by calling me "a female," but it is strangely, subtly dehumanizing. It doesn't feel right.

I got my MA (or AM) at UC Div School, and my husband did his MDiv there too. If you have questions about it, let me know.

Hi everyone! In a couple of weeks I'm starting my first year as a PhD student. A few years back (or more) I completed an MA at a different school than this one, but I had a lot of trouble with time management, and I feel like I could have done a lot better with those two years. Since then, I've been teaching and developing better time management skills, but grad school is going to test my ability to stay on top of things (as it does to us all.) I know that time blocking is a great way to plan and manage one's time, and I just am wondering, for those of you who practice time blocking in a planner, online, or on the back of napkins from Starbucks every morning, what does your schedule look like? I'm hoping that mine will look something like this: 8:30-9:20 AM TA-ing 9:30-10:40 AM class (Tues, Thurs) -or- 9:30-12:00 Language homework (M, W, F) 12-12:30 Lunch Afternoons-- classes on Monday and Thursday -or- Afternoons Tues, Weds, Fri- read for 2-3 hours, write for 1 hour 5:00-8:00 pm workout, rest, eat, TV 8:00-10:00 pm leftover work I didn't get to ...... That seems like an overly full day, huh? But that's basically what my husband did for his grad program. Saturdays I'll try to catch up on things for a couple of hours (trying to take most of the day off,) and Sundays are for prep for the new week. How do you time block? How much time to you give yourself for different tasks? How do you estimate how much time you will need? Edited to add that in those longer time blocks, I will schedule breaks every 20-50 minutes. I know that helps avoid burn out.

Put the fear of God in 'em! That's what I say!

This is very helpful. I have the Oxford Handbook of Christian History. I'll look for the other two, and start mulling over those "big picture" questions. This is such daunting task. It's so strange to think that in 3 years, I'll have this whole bibliography filled out and be reading items from it day and night.

I sit at the front of the room and stare forward, motionlessly, like this:

I'm going to echo what other people have said that it's natural for your research interests to change and evolve. In fact, when you look at many professors' profiles, they note that they have new interests. The profiles start with what they've written extensively on, and then go on to say that currently they're engaged in a related-but-still-different topic. You're not in religion or art, but just as an example, one professor that I wanted to work with went from studying Byzantine Christian art and architecture at the beginning of her career to writing about how post-WWII construction in Europe has impacted our understanding of ancient archaeological remains.

Just an update (in case anyone is in Humanities and was wondering): it seems that many Humanities fields, religious studies in particular, don't publish review papers, which is a shame but understandable. RS is so interdisciplinary in nature, it would be difficult to draw a line on what is relevant or not. I'll have to stick to skimming bibliographies and footnotes for now.

You can do that, but keep in mind that "begun to teach myself Russian" will come across as admirable but vague. It would be better if you could say, "I've completed this or that textbook or online course independently" or something like that. Are there courses on Coursera you could take or respected 101 textbooks you could work on?

I've been on the other end of this. I moved to a small to mid size town with my husband for his graduate work, and I hate it here. It has been very hard for me to make friends and find work, even after 4 years. My husband holds himself responsible for my situation, I have to remind myself that I willingly came along, and so yeah, it's been stressful on our relationship. One major thing that has helped was that before we came here, we agreed that when he is done, we will move to wherever it's best for my career, so I have that to look forward to. He also has been taking that into consideration over the last few years and not getting his hopes up for any particular place to start his career. Plus he's encouraged me to travel for professional-development programs and things like that, even when the money wasn't 100% there. I'd considered doing a PhD program of my own when we first got married (no appropriate programs in my field where we are now), and last year when I decided definitively to apply to PhD programs in 2018, he insisted I apply to start this fall even though it means we'll have to spend a year apart. I think he just couldn't stand to watch me wander aimlessly through this part of my life anymore; in a way, as hard as it will be to spend a year apart, it will be less emotional pressure on him and more motivation to get his dissertation written and done. So, I guess the moral of my story is that both of you have to be really committed to each other, and while tit-for-tat isn't a great way to run a relationship, in this case you should think about ways you can support her and make it up to her in some way. Good luck!

Edited to: Oops, I misread the question and gave advice for a religious studies program. My bad. Can the mods delete this post? Thx,

This might be too late, but I teach religious studies courses and would like to throw my two cents in. I have never seen "+JMJ+" from Catholic students, but I do emphasize the importance of formal English writing in the classes, which means no unnecessary abbreviations, etc. The issue with Muslim students and PBUH is a little different though; Muslims are culturally obligated to say "peace be upon him" after the Prophet Muhammad's name. They also don't normally call him by his name ("Muhammad") with out his title ("Prophet.") It's not a religious requirement, but often a cultural one done out of respect. Likewise, some Jews are more comfortable writing "God" as "G-d." The difference between these two examples and "+JMJ+" is that the former are cultural expressions of respect or piety, and the latter is an informal abbreviation for something that can be written out in full. So I think it's ok for students to use familiar forms of respect for the figures we study as long as 1) it's not incorrect, informal English and 2) it doesn't create bias in their argument.

Having applied to religious studies programs last season, I can confirm that Duke's department seems to be... shifting, for lack of a better word. I would do some research on the state of the faculty before applying there.

That is shocking, though I suppose it shouldn't be. University administrations need to be more responsible in documenting violent or criminal behaviors (or potentially criminal behaviors) and also enabling the faculty, students, academic advisers, and mental health facilities to form interventions.

1) Community college or state university head of Humanities department; teaching and promoting Humanities and interdisciplinary course design (need my PhD first) 2) Designing interactive, online, educational tools in ancient history and material culture for middle schoolers to undergrads-- ideally working for Google cuz they have all the technology, access, and money (need my certificate in Digital Humanities, which I'm pursuing at UIowa, and a company or organization willing to fund me to do this) 3) Designing interactive, digital, educational activities to supplement ancient art exhibits at a museum (again need my certificate in Digital Humanities and museum willing to hire me) 4) Teaching in a community college and spending my summers excavating in the Mediterranean; not researching, just helping out excavators and eating the local food (I could be doing this now, because I have an MA and am already an adjunct instructor, but stupidly I applied to get my PhD lol)

In addition to what the other posters suggest, practice writing it as well. Try writing about your research interests or journaling in Korean. Translate your letter of intent into Korean for fun; it doesn't have to be flawless. Creating/composing in a foreign language helps learners develop a higher form of proficiency than just reading it.

It depends upon which branch you're in and whether you're Reserve or not. But, all branches need psychologists right now. A lot of times if you do your internship as an officer, they'll give you a VA internship and pay your fees to get your licence. You also have major job security and opportunities to get tuition repayments.

Thank you for the information. I didn't know there were formal historiographic papers out there for scholars to use besides those that are included in all books and papers to set up the writers' arguments. I'm not finding any review papers for religious studies or Humanities, but I'll keep searching.

My husband had a similar problem as the OP in a class he was TAing, and he finally asked the guy to leave. When the kid wouldn't, my husband threatened to call security and he finally left. He was worried he went too far, but his adviser (the professor for the course as well) told him, "Good. You're not doing him any favors by letting him act like that." They're not in high school anymore. They choose (and pay) to attend college classes, so the onus is on them to make good use of their time. You also have a responsibility to the rest of the class. They shouldn't have to suffer because of that kind of behavior. After my husband kicked that student out, he looked around the room and saw relief written on everyone's faces. And he was able to continue with the class more efficiently as well.