mlle
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Posts posted by mlle
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WELL, if you guys are gonna go back and forth about the stinkin' duplicate threads, it should be noted that even though there was a previous age poll, remember that the answer categories were coded much differently in that one, and therefore the results looked very different, so really, the 2 age polls here were asking different things.....
.....I think I must be trolling around here more than I need to if I can remember the other age poll so vividly (and argue about it).
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I'm 26 now, but I'll turn 27 right before I start my MA program and 29 right after. Geez. I graduate from ugrad, work for a few years, go back to school, and then the next thing I know I'll be 30. Time flys.
Seriously.
I'll be 26 when I start my program (if I get in anywhere). If I can't do a one-year MPH, I'll be almost 28 by the time I finish with this business. I will have spent my 20s doing an entry level crap job and then getting 2 masters degrees <<>>
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That seems like a dick move... I'm sure if you handle it with enough tact then maybe it would work out, but I imagine there's plenty of professors who would happily tell you to take a flying leap even if their rec letter was going to be strong. Maybe our fields are different, but I can think of several professors in mine who would happily tell a student to shove off if they made such demands. As it should be, I think...
Well, when the poster is going into a field like "security studies," I suppose hypervigilance on his part re: recommendation content would be characteristic :wink:
Okay, enough of the bad jokes....I have homework to do that I'm not doing.
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I am so confused by this thread. I have always heard people (e.g. adcom representatives, "how to get into grad school" literature, or whatever) say that going to grad school straight from college is not as attractive in an applicant compared to taking a few years off to get work experience or "fieldwork" experience, etc. (e.g. doing the peace corps or just having a regular job related to your discipline in grad school), or even going back mid-career. Or am I misunderstanding the conversation here? Especially in anthropology, the line of reasoning I picked up is that more experience (and hence, older) = more mature = a more capable/promising/committed candidate/applicant. Am I missing something or mistaken--or something?
*scratches head*
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I guess women professors just don't do it for the boys...?
By this I meant do male STUDENTS become attracted to female PROFESSORS--NOT the other way around!!! So far there have been no first-hand male testimonies on this thread saying, "oh, I had SUCH a big crush on my [female] professor, blah blah"
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Well...yeah, the prof can get into pretty big trouble for that...
Well, I know at my school there is no formal proscription against students dating professors. In the graduate handbook, right under the section with info about fellowships and assistantships, I remember seeing a section to the effect of "guidelines for schwumping your professors." It basically says that student/faculty relationships are not officially prohibited, but they're strongly discouraged....So yeah, now we can all go hop into bed with our hot professors :twisted: And, splendora's little minutia-speckled crush accounts are just too much, I am laughing my pants off; yes, adorable.
On another not, it seems very telling that this entire thread is about women students being smitten with profs who are men (or women students having crushes on women profs :wink: ) I guess women professors just don't do it for the boys...?
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What's even more foolish/disturbing/embarrassing is when you're a grad student and you think one of the undergrads are cute.
I had crushes on my profs in undergrad all the time. I probably would have shameful crushes on my profs in grad school too except everyone in my dept is a 60+ -year-old wrinkly/fat/bald/mole-y/ornery/modernist/positivist/dull old bag.
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My dad is a professor and has a lot of opinions. Sometimes they are helpful and sometimes he's a little too old school for my interests. He's not super thrilled that I ended up in Sociology, but has accepted it these days ... mostly. I'm selective when I tell him about my interests and keep a running tab of things that are okay by him (Goffman, Simmel) and things that will cause a long-winded rant (Marx, Foucault). One time I emailed my mom an urban soc paper to see if she could follow the logic and she let my dad read it and I FREAKED OUT because I always tell her "Don't show dad don't show dad!". He was like "Oh daughter, it's a well written piece ... but it is all PROPAGANDA." I just told him thanks. And I did mean it.
That post is so hysterical...talking social theory with my dad is a total crap shoot and I can't even imagine getting into heated theoretical debates with him. I once tried explaining social interactionism to him when I was in undergrad and said I thought it was provocative and interesting and he said "that doesn't sound provocative; that sounds really boring." He is a psychiatrist and I used to try explaining Foucault and Goffman to him and what they said about madness and psychiatry, just to see what he thought, and he got really defensive and pretty much said that both of them as well as I could go F off.
My dad is not supportive at all. He has only been supportive of the law school idea, which never appealed to me (yes, it's true what t_ruth said about white collar people and law school...), and he's not supportive of any other idea at all. My parents don't even know I'm applying to grad programs. I don't discuss grad school or careers with them, period....Good times, indeed.
I agree this is a very interesting thread.
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So, for those of you who have actually been through this already, I'd like your input...
I'm finishing up an MA in the social sciences (non-thesis--and unlike everyone else here, I don't plan on getting a doctorate). It's not a requirement for me to graduate, but it's expected that I go to a certain annual professional conference this spring to present a poster of my practicum work. I submitted the abstract and got accepted. As I try to put together the poster, it is sinking in how truly unsubstantial the project I did at my practicum really was: The "product" of my practicum is certainly not publishable quality, therefore it's not something I would want to share publicly to everyone in my field. I am not confident I would be able to defend my "methods" or even the "results" in detail if someone were to probe or grill me.
I know poster presentations are pretty laughable and are not exactly what makes your career among you (aspiring) academics, but I don't want to fly across the country to stand next to a poster for 3 hrs and present very pathetic data to underwhelmed Ph.D. passerby who may or may not deconstruct my work. I'm thinking it may be wisest to just not do this.
I guess my question is, what do you think? Should I try to throw this thing together and go for broke, or is it best to stay home in this case? I know it varies by field and how big or small the professional organization is, but how grueling are poster presentations in general? I know this post is incredibly naive, but really, I've never presented anything of any kind before outside of class....
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I've heard of grad program chairs wanting to admit someone but the professor with the relevant work not wanting to advise them...in that situation, I'd rather not be admitted to end up with a reluctant advisor!
This pretty much happened to me for my MA program....my initial advisor basically told me this at our first meeting when I enrolled in the program; I ended up changing advisors during my first semester--it's NOT a confidence booster :oops:
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...And all my classmates in my current grad program talk about me because I actually read scholarly and nonfiction shit on my spare time (granted, it's an applied program, so thinking more deeply than I need to has been pretty much superfluous :roll: ). However, I don't feel "quite" as ridiculous after going through this thread...
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I'll admit I'm (too) conservative when it comes to sending reminders and it makes sense to stay on top of things, but I think that in any case sending a reminder *twice a day* is too much. I still feel terrible for what you're going through, lilith. I know when I applied to my MA program 2 yrs ago I didn't pester my recommenders (I didn't need to), but looking back, I know I pestered the dept about checking to see if my documents were received. In hindsight I'm not even sure how I still got into the program, I was such a pain in the ass :!: ....
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I wonder if the recommender got turned off by all the reminders you sent her--sending a reminder every week for a whole month and then getting your mother to call. I definitely wouldn't feel comfortable sending more than one reminder, a week before the deadline. If you find someone else to write the LOR, I wouldn't constantly remind them about it while they are writing, though I know this whole process is nerve-wrecking.
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These categories are not mutually exclusive. I'm pretty much vegetarian but I eat more noodles and oatmeal than anything else (though I guess technically, ramen isn't vegetarian...).
Also, I didn't see coffee up there. :wink: I probably consume more coffee drinks than I do "actual food"....
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. . . perhaps more MPH applicants this year applying for backup in case they don't find jobs? PhD is a big investment and I doubt the applicant numbers will jump much. No evidence to back that up though; it's all uninformed speculation by me lol.
Oh, God, that has been my one big fear. I'm one of the MPH applicants and am scared shitless there will be more competition applying up against the experienced folks b/c of the economy. There's already enough competition to begin with since the MPH pool tends to draw mid-career ppl with more credentials.
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I figured "you know you're a grad student when..." would make a good google search. Here's the first link:
that list was actually really funny, I thought (I literally did begin worrying about getting scurvy from living off of pasta and ramen during my first yr of grad school when I didn't have any funding :!: )
I came across this one:
Q: What do you get when you cross a postmodernist with a mafia boss?
A: An offer you can't understand.
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So, I just submitted an application, and realised I needed to clarify something with the department. I go to the website to find out who I should contact, and I notice that one of the three faculty I mentioned in my SoP is the DEAN ofthe whole school this department is in.
Probably not taking students. Probably would only take those who noticed that he's the freakin' dean.
Am I the only one who has turned into a complete airhead through application season?
If anyone hasn't already seen from my posts, I've turned into an airhead like you wouldn't imagine. I seem to have a proclivity for blunders of all flavors and degrees with everything from the SOPs to the supporting materials to the waiting.
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some of you are seriously spazzing out here.
"i must have a horrible reputation in the department and i think i completely ruined my chances for getting accepted because i called up and asked about the status of my application and the grad secretary put me on hold for thirty seconds and sounded tired when she responded. also, i never heard her say "you're welcome" after i thanked her! I'M SO SCREWED!!!"
calm the hell down, people.
Okay, I guess I might've gotten a little hyper and read too deeply in between the lines (again). I mainly freaked out b/c the person I talked to was actually the grad director, not the grad coordinator/secretary. This program doesn't even appear to have a grad coordinator. I looked all over the website and stuff and couldn't find who that may be. That seems ridiculous.
But anyway, back to t_ruth, yeah--my apps are the same (one of them, at least). You send transcripts, scores, etc. to the grad school and they forward it to the dept. Then the dept makes the decision and forwards it back to the grad school.
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Oh, wait, that was a typo in my original post. It's not the grad coordinator, it's the actual DGS....I need a nap.
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I haven't emailed the dept at all since e-submitting my application and that was in November . . .
Just to clarify, this is the first time I emailed the dept *at all.* The wording in my post made it sound like I also e-mailed them in Nov when I submitted my app; I didn't. But anyway, yeah, the e-mail I sent today was apparently unnecessary *gulp.*
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No, no, no. Sending an email to confirm they have received your information after several weeks has gone by is NOT the same as contacting them immediately, etc. If you don't know the status of your application (ie, the school doesn't provide that information on a website) then you should assume everything is ok until you hear otherwise. If something is amiss with your application, they will notify you. Some programs are more efficient about this than others.
But for heaven's sake, don't pester them repeatedly, don't call after one week has gone by, don't assume your status will be updated immediately, etc. You have to relax, folks. These people are professionals, they know what they are doing, and they do it all the time. It is their job to be sure your file is complete before it is forwarded to the admissions committee. If for some reason it is not, they will notify you.
I_D Here everyone, have a drink.
.....Yeah, I realized what you meant after I posted that. I think that other poster was right. Need to take a xanax; I'm in an over-wired state and am reading into everything. Incidentally, the grad director has since replied to my query (and she replied after business hours) and it was, umm, pretty nasty. I haven't emailed the dept at all since e-submitting my application and that was in November (this was the one application I did submit early). I thought it would be valid to send a goddamn polite confirmation TWO MONTHS LATER, *2 days before the deadline,* but she was evidently petulant:
"Ms. _____-
Your application status is correct and updated every other day (including weekends). If the letter of recommendation and transcripts have been received, they are amongst MANY bags of mail at the graduate school waiting to be scanned. At busy times like this, it can take 3-4 weeks for the graduate school to open the mail and scan the materials."
Ouch--this can't be good. This is the only school I've applied to where the grad director is the one taking care of all the business. All the other schools actually have staff doing this . . .
Anyway, I see I'm taking this thread off topic . . .
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NO. Do not contact them. They are likely to get annoyed with you.
Oh, crap. Really? Even if it's been weeks? I just sent an email to the freakin GRAD COORDINATOR politely asking if my materials were received.
I had emailed the grad school in general first but the grad school told me to ask the dept directly and the grad coordinator's info was the only contact information listed. I didn't want to bug the grad coordinator herself but like I said... One of my prof's sent a paper LOR 3 weeks ago and the status still says its missing, and the deadline is in 2 days. I was worried. I feel like such a jackass now.I'm feeling the same way as you, T-Ruth. I didn't end up sending in most of my apps in until the deadline and am feeling so behind and nervous about that. My worries are warranted though, bc most of my schools actually do have rolling deadlines. Ugggghh. My applications have also been held up bc of transcripts even though I submitted the e-app. It's killing me.
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*cough* Now we know which professors submitted their assignments at the very last minute when they were students.
...... :twisted:
I'm actually having the same issue and it's really nerve-wrecking. One of my applications is due this coming Thursday (Jan 15) and one of my recommenders still hasn't sent in her LOR. I really don't want to resort to the polite email thing, though. I know there's nothing wrong with sending the polite email and it can actually be helpful, but I just don't want to be a pain in the ass if she is in fact aware of the deadline and simply won't get around to sending the LOR until the last minute (which I have a feeling is the case, based on her usual style of taking care of business). It's an online LOR, so thankfully there aren't additional layers of processing to deal with.
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You guys need to chill out. A lot of my instructions said transcripts were required for schools attended for at least a year. Nobody is going to care about a random community college class or a couple of summer courses. You've probably made it worse by informing them of the mistake and making a whole incident out of something that would have passed unnoticed. If the credit appears on your regular transcripts, it's accounted for.
I had about 29 credits transferred into my degree, 14 credits taken at another university over one summer and 15 credits from a semester on a domestic exchange. The applications were very explicit about sending transcripts for ALL coursework, I just completely overlooked that though. The issue came to my attention when I submitted some applications through a central application system and the next day they sent it all back to me with a nasty message about how they tried to verify my coursework and I didn't follow instructions, blah blah (it was SUCH a mean message). Then I looked at my other applications and saw their instructions were also outlined in obscene detail about sending original transcripts for each and every credit or else your application won't be reviewed, blah blah. These were all schools of public health. I dunno, I guess SPHs are evidently anal about these things. With my MA application, they didn't give a shit about accounting for transfer credit.
These other stories you guys are telling sound scarier than mine. The one abt the dead-beat recommender--oh, god, that better not happen to me. I don't have a back-up and the deadline is in a week!
do you already have a masters?
in Waiting it Out
Posted
Well I thought I was the only serial masters student around here.
Master's #1 will be completed in May.