joan_was_quizzical

I don't know how it is in anthropology, but my experiences in academia in general tell me that many professors are themselves pretty socially disfunctional people. Embrace the awkward! There's lots more to come.

Hi all, A few years ago, I had the strangest experience with a referee. I wanted to post it here to see if anyone has had any similar experiences, or could offer a plausible explanation as to what happened. I was applying to an MA program, and managed to secure two references. One of these references was from an exchange year that I'd spent at a foreign (English speaking) university, and so I never physically met with this referee. S/he agreed via email to write me the letters, and we had some subsequent email correspondance. Around Christmas time, s/he let me know that s/he had sent the letters to my home address, and that they should be arriving within a few weeks or so. I went ahead and paid all the fees for submitting my applications, and sent in all the documents. The letters from that referee never arrived. I emailed her/him to let them know, and never heard back. Ever. I emailed many, many times. I called. I got in touch with the department administrators and told them what was happening. Nobody could get me in touch with this person. I even mailed a physical package to this referee with the necessary forms, politely pleading with them to either get back to me or resend the letters. They never got back to me, and since I wasn't about to buy a plane ticket to their country and show up in their office, all of my applications were withdrawn/rejected (no money back) after months and months of no reply. Years have passed since this happened, and despite all the trouble this caused me, I'm now in PhD program. Has anyone had anything like this happen to them?? As far as I can tell, this professor is still alive and well, working in the same department, and has taken no time off. Were they just being downright malicious?? Or is there some more charitable explanation? I've always wondered... Thoughts welcome!

Thanks so much for the input! daimiasue - We've thought about living somewhere in the middle, but I'm afraid that will be a disaster (both doing horrible commutes, never seeing each other, no friends in a small city). At least if I'm the only one commuting a few days a week, the rest of the time I'll be in a cool place and maybe have a bit of a life. As for living apart, that's what we're doing now and have been doing for the past year or so. After living together for a long time, doing the weekends-only thing for so long is really taking its toll. I absolutely hate it. So I feel like I'm stuck between either compromising our relationship, or compromising my PhD. Again, thanks for the insights!

I maybe should have put this in the general Applications section, but I want to hear from my fellow philosophers. If you have applied to the same school for, say, 3 years in a row, and have been rejected each time, does this begin to look bad on future applications? When I log into my online application tracking thing it has a record of all my past applications, so I assume that the admissions people can see this as well. Do you think a record of multiple past rejections are likely to effect current applications somehow? Purely hypothetical question, of course...

I wish I knew! I'm thinking it will be 2 - 3 days a week. I'd probably commute by bus or train, so at least I could use that time to get reading/writing done.

Hi all, I was wondering if there are any commuters out there who could tell me about their experiences. I'm starting a PhD in philosophy this fall (I hope), but am not sure yet what to do. My partner is doing his grad studies at a good university that I probably won't get in to (preparing for the worst here), but I've already been offered a great opportunity at another good university about 2 hours away. My partner isn't from this country (Canada), however, and so is more or less limited to staying at the university he's at (because of visa issues). I've been thinking that I should just suck it up and do the 2 hour commute, seeing as the city my partner is now in is a great place, and is also where all my good friends are. It will cost a fortune, however, and will undoubtedly change my PhD experience drastically. Has anyone done a PhD at such a long distance? Was it manageable, would you reccommend it, etc? Any input would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!