TheSquirrel

Hey QuietScholar, I'm a PhD student in PoliSci. TAships in my department are divided into "grades".. PhD students get Grade 1 TAships as part of their funding package. Generally speaking, we're expected to grade assignments and quizzes (I've never had to grade an exam because the course I've TAed has a major term paper but no final exam), attend lectures, and sometimes do office hours. The description of the Grade 1 TA, however, also includes this: "lead seminars." Usually, only PhD students are assigned to courses that have a seminar component, although there may be one or two MA students TAing courses with a seminar component (usually during the summer semester, when some of the PhD students go home). The course I've TAed had that seminar component, and all but 1 of the 6 TAs for the course during the fall and winter terms were PhD students. I TAed the same course in the summer, and the other TA was a MA student. So I think it depends on the department's needs / availability of students during the different terms, etc. At least for my university. But in general, the department prefers that PhD students, rather than MA students, TA courses that have the seminar component. That said, some PhD students have been assigned for courses that only had a grading component, but it was still considered a Grade 1 TAship (i.e. they got paid the same, for much less workload... not fair, but that's life, I guess)... Anyhow, when I TAed courses with other MA students, we had the same sort / amount of responsibilities, but generally speaking, our input into the course and what was useful to do in the seminars) was valued more by the prof. Also, although we were given a lesson plan for the seminars, I usually went ahead and did things my own way (while covering pretty much the same ground), without being worried that the prof would be upset. Usually, MA students stuck to the lesson plan word for word.Not sure if they would've gotten into trouble if they hadn't. But I'm guessing PhD students have more leeway doing that sort of a thing. Also, now that the PhD program has gotten quite large, the word that's been going around is that few if any MA students will now receive TAships. In fact, during my undergrad years at another university, I had never encountered a TA who was doing his/her MA. All my TAs were PhD students... Also, at the university where I did my MA, we weren't assigned TAships -- we only did RAships. So when I started my PhD program, I was shocked to see MA students TAing.. especially TAing the same course alongside PhD students. That probably won't be the case anymore at my university though.

Hi all, I'm going into my second year of a PhD program in PoliSci. I have 2 courses left to take, which I will be taking in the fall semester. I have been told that I have to sit for my (oral and written ) comprehensive exams (n IR and CP) in April 2012, or otherwise the autumn of 2012 or something like that. I'm thinking the latter would be too late, but I am also stressed about having to do the exam in Apil, since I pretty much won't have the time to start doing the readings/studying until end of December, after I'm done with my courses... Are 3.5 months enough to read/study for the two exams??!?! The university has a CP list that we don't really have to add much to. But we don't have an IR list. We've been told that we have to form our own list... So I have a few questions about this: 1) Is getting worried and stressed about this at this point, a good or a bad sign? On the one hand, it's good to care about the exam (there are a few students in my cohort who don't even give a damn about it and have said that they won't start reading until January, for the exam in April). On the other hand, it really makes me feel like I don't have it in me to pass this exam... Then again, I've been suffering from impostor syndrome ever since I started the program, so maybe that's part of that.. or maybe not...? 2) Did your department give you a list, or did you have to make your own? If the latter, any strategies you used, to make sure you covered enough ground in the literature? 3) When did you start reading/studying for the comps? 4) Did you take notes while reading? I find that very difficult to do, because I find that it kills my concentration.. Once I get distracted with note-taking, it takes a while for me to go back to reading... Any strategies that you've found helpful? 5) For IR, in general, did you have to read books in their entirety, or the most important chapters of books? (maybe just skimming or skipping over case study chapters, for example?) 6) I did not take notes in any of my classes (IR or CP). I also did not take notes when doing the required readings for those classes... I just didn't have the time to read AND take notes -- barely had time to actually get the readings done. Is this generally the case? If I had taken notes on those readings, I could've saved a lot of time, because a lot of them are on my CP list (and most will probably end up being on my IR list)... Now there's no way I can remember all that I've read for those courses (especially that my brain was so overloaded during the semester), so I have to go back and re-read most if not all of them... Did that happen to any of you, or am I the only one in this boat?? Well, that's all for now... also, any other tips and strategies for studying for the comps, are welcome.

Hey everyone, I need your opinion/advice on something... This is my first semester in a PhD program in Political Science.. As soon as I arrived in town and got settled in, I contacted a professor I had been in touch with during the application process, who had expressed a lot of interest in funding me as RA and possibly becoming my thesis supervisor in the future. The prof is on leave for a year, but when I emailed him, he showed up at university and we talked. He had earlier told me that he would like me to work on components of a book he was writing, but during that meeting, he did not mention the book at all, and when I brought it up, he said someone else was working on it. That was disappointment #1. I felt like he had backtracked on his "promise." Then, he said he was writing this grant proposal, and that he had some money (very little, about $1,000) that he could give me if I worked on his proposal for about 50 hours). I said ok. He didn't give me what he had written for the proposal thus far, so I only had to rely on the 5-minute presentation he gave me about the proposal... He told me to write a "brief" about what I had discovered after researching two cases... I started with the first case study, and then I sent him a brief about it (and actually put in more than 50 hours for that one case alone). Considering that I'm taking my core courses this semester, my reading load was so high that I probably didn't do as good a job on the brief as I would've liked to, even though I spent quite a bit of time on it. He had told me that the deadline for submitting the proposal was Oct. 16, and there was an internal university deadline one week before that. I finished the first one quite early, and we met and discussed my findings. He then told me to start working on the other case (this was in the first days of October). Oh, and then he said, let's fill out the payment sheet for the hours you've put in so far. He put in the number of hours, and his grant #, but he said I need my employee # and the HR hadn't processed that yet, so I didn't know what my employee # was, and he also said I needed to give a void cheque so they will deposit the money in my account. He said, get those by next week, and I'll come and sign this thing so you will get paid... But since that day, I haven't seen him or heard from him. He just disappeared on me. I worked on the other case, but again, coursework was even heavier than ever before, and since I had a lot of assignments due every week, I could only finish working on it on October 8 and sent it to him by email, apologizing for the delay and telling him I'd be willing to work (without getting extra pay) the same amount of time I had put in for that, if my delay rendered my brief useless. So far, he hasn't replied to my email. It's been like 3 weeks or so.... I haven't emailed him again, because I am not sure what to say... and also, I have started worrying that he thought what I gave him was pure crap, and he doesn't want me to work with him anymore...I don't see any other reason why he wouldn't reply... he has always been prompt in responding.... Also, see above about the payment - he never showed up to sign the payment sheet, so I haven't gotten paid for the work I did, even though I rushed through some of my other assignments in order to meet his deadlines. I feel so disappointed and used. Is this how it usually works? I hope not. I just hope this guy's the exception and not the norm. I am not sure what to think... I'm currently suffering from a severe episode of "impostor syndrome." Any ideas ? Could it be that he's just busy? Or am I in denial? Is it the "end of the world" (i.e. is my academic credibility down the drain?) Any ideas on what to do? Email him again or not? I would appreciate your input... Thanks a lot.

Naturalizers are comfortable enough for short distances but not that great, I find, for long distances. I do wear them when I have to appear more professional, but most of the time I just wear my Converses. Most of the profs in my department don't stick to a professional dress code anyhow, ditto for other PhD students.

LOL! Well aren't you lucky! That way, you can say you got a funded non-offer! Real classy of USC, yeah .... I'll make sure to apply next year too - maybe I'll get a funded non-offer ?

I remember having also seen rejections...

Oh geez. FINALLY. I heard back from USC. It's a rejection. Their email was funny, weird, rude, etc. Wasn't expecting any different after this long and disrespectful delay. I'm ever so glad I did not even wait to hear from them to accept another offer and get my study permit procedure started. Congrats to all those -- if any -- who were extended admission to USC after this long delay. PS: to give you an idea about the letter (mass email to all rejected persons) I received in the email (and I would be grateful if someone could decipher it for me lol ) :

i haven't heard anything back from USC yet either... and i even emailed Alex Venegas, but haven't heard back from him either.... i'm guessing i'm waitlisted too... but i know that some people did receive rejections, like a month ago ? it seems the name of the game this year is, which university can release their final decisions the latest . i guess everyone's just trying to create an impossible situation whereby students that are accepted so late (after April) would already have accepted other offers cos they didn't have any guarantees they would get admitted to that uni so had to take what was already on offer. I think that many universities are being very dishonest and are just trying to get as much money in application fees as they can, while having made an advance decision not to accept any students with full funding...

I must add: I am not *too* worried about coursework. I have been more worried about comprehensive exams... In fact, I am already feeling extremely anxious about those exams, as if I have to write them tomorrow! I think I won't have problems with coursework (I hope so anyway), but the comprehensives are freaking me out. *tries to breathe*

And here I was, thinking I was the only one..... But seriously.... I do get the Imposter Syndrome often... but not all the time... it comes and goes... sometimes I feel that I am quite good (not in an arrogant way, in a "I can make it" way....), and that happens especially when I finish a task, like writing a paper, etc. Now that I have been accepted into a PhD program, I keep reminding myself that I wrote a 300-page M.A thesis (which was quite impressive in quality according to all professors who read it, including ones that do not know me, and would not be keen on stroking my ego), and did most of the work for it in less than 4 months.. and telling myself all this convinces me that I can *be good* if I chose to concentrate and put in a lot of effort and time... I think any difficulties I might have in the PhD program will be related to procrastination and perfectionism... which are problems I've struggled with in the Masters program as well, though not with any bad consequences (4.0 GPA).... So I think one way to get over this Imposter Syndrome, is to remind yourself of good things you've done - like your Masters thesis, a paper you wrote and especially liked, etc.

Re: USC...... geez. if they did all that so early on , WHAT on earth is taking them so long to finalize their admission? If this is how uSC treats its applicants, I wonder how it would treat those it has a formal commitment to? Hopefully not in the same manner.

lol... well.... yeah....

Absolutely. I was just pointing out how funding usually goes. I got admitted without funding 2 years ago, after all, and nothing came out of it despite my attempts via email.

maaganmichael: If you did not get *some* funding from the university (either in the form of a scholarship or a teaching assistantship), emailing the professor is usually useless, as professors cannot give enough to cover your expenses/tuition fees.... what the professor would give you from his/her own grant funds is supposed to complement what the university has given you. But, in *some* cases, if you can get the professor to agree to fund you to the extent of covering your living expenses, some universities will have a rule whereby they will cover your tuition fees automatically. That said, I really do not know how this would work out, and my guess is that not a lot of universities have such rules in place.

Congrats!!!!!

Hey there -- Well, I do not have actual data, but, having applied to PhD programs twice (once in 2007 for Fall 2008 and again in 2009 for Fall 2010) -- a total of 9 universities -- I can say the following: 1. Most schools do not offer admission unless they can cover all your expenses. 2. There are some schools that do offer admission without funding. Of these, some offer admission from the very start and waitlist you for funding... others waitlist you for both admission and funding, and admit you when funding becomes available (i.e. if someone turns down their offer). 3. Those schools that offer admission without funding are aware that it costs a fortune and that few can afford it. But, believe it or not, some can, and so the idea is, why prevent good candidates from attending our school (and benefiting us financially!) just because we can't afford to fund them? I know one person whose father is *willing* to pay for his PhD, but the problem is that he hasn't been able to get *even* a non-funded offer...! In contrast, I got an acceptance offer from Boston University for Fall 2008 but did not get any funding so could not attend... (I got funded offers this year so I'm attending).

Hey there.... PhD POIR applicant here... no word yet from them... sent them an email inquiry last week, but still no reply................................................... this is mightily inconvenient, since I have acceptance offers on hold, and this is getting on my nerves because I need to take care of study permits ASAP (I'm an international applicant)..... and I will be very disappointed if, at the end of this loooooooooooooooooooooong wait, I get a rejection email...