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havemybloodchild

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Posts posted by havemybloodchild

  1. 4 minutes ago, mandelbulb said:

    is there a state of "handling PhD rejections well"? i'd just be as honest as i felt comfortable with how i'm handling the process and present it as one of many possible experiences :) 

    i feel like often teachers are reduced to these stoic lecturing voice boxes and (younger) students forget that teachers have feelings and experience life just like they do. when i was in my master's, i was always honest about how busy i was and that we were all stressed out together. i don't think i talked about applying last year with any students, but if i were to talk about it now, i think i'd talk about how crushing the rejections can feel but that i've always had realistic back-up plans in mind. i'd also talk about the extra ice cream and the few extra shopping sprees. 

    i don't know if that answered your question lol

    Hahaha you are pure gold.

  2. 2 minutes ago, CaffeineCardigan said:

    Thanks! I've been thinking about it a lot since results started coming in and my students started asking, but a former student asked me to write a LOR for them yesterday and I thought that maybe it's something we should talk about more openly.  

    Definitely. My lor writers all went to grad school...a while ago, and as a result were shocked last year when I didn’t get in. I think that’s a reflection of just how much more competitive humanities admits are these days.  It’s just so important to go into the process knowing what the odds really are and also how to react to rejections in a healthy way relative to those tough as hell odds. 

    Tl/dr you’re doing the lord’s work.

  3. 11 minutes ago, CaffeineCardigan said:

    Hi y'all--

    I'm teaching two classes currently (university students across all academic years) and also have students from past years who know that I'm moving on this semester and are asking questions, and I'm wondering what your thoughts are on modeling handling PhD rejections well. I want to be able to show them healthy ways of dealing with failure, especially because it seems to be a big challenge for university students (we all get that). I also, though, don't want to simply ignore that trying something and not having it work out sucks and there are necessarily negative feelings to be experienced and processed. 

    Is this something you've dealt with? Have you had these conversations with students (at any level)? 

    I have nothing to add but this is such an important topic, thank you, and I can’t wait to read the responses.

  4. 5 minutes ago, Ranmaag said:

     I'm just trying to do the best I can tbh. There's a lot of uncertainty in this process, so I've basically been doing as much legwork to plan to busy myself and also to make sure that things don't go astray for the upcoming fall. (even now I'm just like... things are going so fast, in two months it's gonna be April 15 and whatever plans we create now are gonna start crystallizing or at least be put into motion soon even if time feels insanely slow atm. I can barely believe it's mid-February.)

    Ahhh I hope I become that kind of professor in the future (oh job market, bless us all with that magic full-time TT position). I've had a very, very strong support system amongst my professors in undergrad and my letter writers are basically my role models in both teaching and research. Even with busy schedules, they always made the time to support undergrads and they were basically one of the foundations as to why I became excited about continuing onto PhD work. I hope to do right by any student in the future, whether that be undergrad or high school.

    Omg this just reaffirms how incredible you are. 

    I was also super duper lucky with my undergrad professors. They all feel like my aunts and uncles and their support empowered me to go through this process twice (and maybe a third time).

    I’m so grateful to know/know of these amazing good souls supporting us in our goals and I, like you, hope I get to do the same for future students.

    Sigh...Lit/rhet comp folks are the best folks ❤️

  5. 6 minutes ago, Ranmaag said:

    Have been lowkey thinking about this since applications tbh. A lot of my out of academia work has primarily been in high school teaching (my experience so far is teaching summer camps, haven't gotten my feet wet in an in-school year HS classroom just yet) so if academia doesn't work out for me during and after the PhD (like... let's say I can't do PhD work at all and fail at the MA exam or fail my PhD quals), I'll move back home and hustle for sub work here and there to balance out my savings. I'm taken and passed the CBEST, just need to do the paperwork to sub and read up more on it, as well as contact a few people I know who have subbed and see how I can feasibly catch up. I don't mind doing HS teaching for the long term as a stable career, but I'm not quite as good on the crowd control front... Short stature and weak voice have been weak points, but I've been working on smoothening those out and using what I have in my toolbox to improve my teaching (also contemplating this for the eventual TAship as well).

    I haven't really thought up of anything beyond of that though. I have like default statements, 'maybe paralegal, maybe interning somewhere, hopefully AmeriCorps if I'm still eligible' but no play-by-play plans yet. I'm still trying to keep my options open as admissions rolls on.

    Absolutely a wise perspective. Just saying though from your input in this forum it seems like you’re probably a very insightful and supportive teacher/professor. 

  6. 11 minutes ago, madandmoonly said:

    Officially heard back from all the schools I applied to (well, + one interview request, but for the sake of argument). I look forward to going through this process all over again in 20 years when I'm bored & itching for more suffering, & seeing which (out-of-state) schools I can, hopefully, get into (am I joking, probably not).

    You’ve had an awesome cycle @madandmoonly and I hope I get to meet you at SMU next month! Congrats!

  7. 6 minutes ago, spatial_person said:

    Teaching at the high school level. I am in my 5th year teaching now.  I knew I wanted an advanced degree when I started getting my teaching certificate, but my spouse beat me to the punch and went and got himself accepted at a 4 year pharmacy program. In the meantime I have taught all levels - remediation, "regular," and pre-AP/AP/honors. If I can't land a TT job in my home state I would honestly be happy teaching HS until I retire. I would still pursue research projects and/or attend conferences, and you can still publish as an independent scholar.

     

    That’s really cool. I was homeschooled from third grade on so even being in a HS environment seems totally foreign to me, but I know a ton of people who love it. I think there’s something especially lovely about people with real passion for lit sharing it with young folks who don’t necessarily know where their interests are at yet. You probably have a lot more potential to impact lives in a big way. And like you said you can still present and publish!

  8. Curious if anyone here has some plans for a non-academia job post PhD or MA?  Personally I'd like to be isolated in a library doing research until the end of time, but that's just me.  Obviously we all know the job market is tough so...anyone worst-case-scenario planning ahead?  Or have a passion outside of the academy well served by a graduate degree?

  9. 41 minutes ago, trytostay said:

    What’s everyone doing to say thank you to their letter writers?

    I'm holding out hope I actually get to enroll this year, and, if so, I'm going to get them like a pen or something from my new school, along with a nice card...and a case of cheetos for my advisor because she is the one who told me she hoped I would be her colleague one day and inspired me to go to grad school in the first place.  And that's her favorite snack, haha.

    1 hour ago, kitties said:

    Do you guys know how much a difference it makes which school your LOR writers are from? Two of my recommenders were from UCSB (I did a study abroad year there), so I thought I was more likely to get in there than anywhere else, but now I've been rejected (despite fit etc. also being good), so I'm guessing they don't care about that after all?

    Pretty hard not to be bummed when the one school you actually thought would work out didn't...

    I had letters from someone who went to grad school at UCSB and another at Stanford (who is highly published and very well known in her field) and I didn't get in to either school.  Obviously this isn't the same as current faculty, though.  I feel (and who the heck knows if this is true, but it's my opinion) that LOR are basically whatever UNLESS they are not particularly good or contain red flags about the student.  But then who would write those letters?  This is just my guess.

    Sorry you're feeling gutted right now, but I'm rooting for you!

  10. 4 hours ago, trytostay said:

    My mentor and I are pretty close — we text and she’s really down to earth and I view her as both a good friend and mentor. Is it considered rude to share funding info, perhaps similar to sharing salaries? 

    I’d really like to ask her a question about my funding package from NYU (which honestly looks really good and I am thrilled/shocked) but want to check here about whether or not that’s considered bad manners. 

    WHY ISNT THERE AN ACADEMIA ETTIQUETTE HANDBOOK? We should take all the ridiculous “is this okay to do” questions we ask each other here and compile one, lol. 

    I had a lot of conversations with my mentors about funding, and continue to talk about it with them, originally because they wanted to make sure I got a good package.  Now moreso because I want them to know what I’m being offered/may be offered so they can pass that info along to undergrads looking at where they should apply.  I think these packages should be more transparent/known. 

  11. 3 hours ago, bonesandbakes said:

    I just got an acceptance to UC Davis and am trying to arrange a visit. I know it's easiest to fly into Sacramento, but flights can be really expensive from where I live so flying to San Francisco would be easier. Can anyone tell me if it would be worth saving money to fly to San Francisco, or would the hassle of getting from San Francisco to Davis using BART/Amtrack be horrible?

    I live in Roseville and have lived in Sac for years, and taken the train several times.  Personally, I enjoy it.

    If you have any questions about the Sac area, let me know!  And congrats!!!

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