cliopatra

Everyone learns and processes information differently. Know your learning style and harness it to your advantage. They might have skimmed the book for the most relevant passages/arguments. Or maybe they read book reviews prior to class. Do you know how to gut a book? There are different strategies on getting the information you need in a timely fashion so that when you come to class you have a grasp of some of the material and are able to follow/participate. Some of them look like they're into it but they might be daydreaming. Others might be spewing out BS that they pulled out of their asses.

What's giving you trouble following? Are you having trouble with the material in general or do you have issues with concentration? Are you doing most of your readings before class? I know it's hard to get everything done, and sometimes it's unrealistic, but you really should be skimming through most of the material, at least. For the courses that you don't prepare for, that's your fault (and we've all done that from time to time no judgment here). Doesn't mean you have to read page by page but are you taking notes while you read? Does taking notes help you to remember the material?

Maybe your classmates are better at thinking spontaneously. Maybe you need take more time to process the readings and to come up with points and questions before class? Part of you feeling like you're not following or learning anything might be performance anxiety. I had that and I know what it's like to feel like you're not contributing anything to the discussion, despite having prepared before class.

I hear ya. This is a class that just started right? Or has this been a problem before? Maybe when the novelty of the class setting dies down you will feel more comfortable expressing yourself? I would like to think some professors are aware of issues like this for students and will take this into consideration when handing out grades. Do you write really strong papers?

Another thing to remember is that you don't always have to be talking/thinking about what to say. Slow doesn't = bad. People think differently and whatever conclusions you come to in your head are not less or more valuable if they took 10 minutes to get at instead of 2 minutes. I think you can contribute more with sparse but really insightful and original comments rather than chiming in with whatever is on your mind every time the discussion takes another direction.

If this is performance anxiety, like any other fear I think the more you face it the easier it will become!

Hello everyone (first post)

I am a senior in Sociology at the University of Illinois. The sociology program here does not require us to have a specialization but I am focusing on cultural aspects of immigration and globalization. I am debating with my girlfriend about the prospects of entering a MA program at one school before I enter a Ph.D program in a larger area. Prior to my decision, her professor remarked how his wife obtained her MA at one school and was not able to find another school willing to admit her into a Ph.D program because "they want someone to teach classes for free." Is there any truth to this statement, or is it just a one-off anecdote? tl;dr I want to enter a MA program before my Ph.D at two seperate universities. Is this more difficult than just going for a Ph.D at one university?

Thanks

It comes every now and then, usually when my schedule is getting tighter, but I just accept it and get back to work. The readings don't make any sense? That's fine, they're useless for my research and they probably don't make sense to anyone else anyway. My funding proposal is garbage even though I talked to the program coordinator and went to a workshop to figure out what I should be doing? Now I at least have some concrete feedback to work from and I also got some really good ideas I hadn't thought of yet out of it as well. Getting my adviser (or anyone really) to reply to my e-mails is an ordeal of biblical proportion? Screw it, I just go by their offices until I see the door's open and ask them about it in person.

I think it helps that I was hit with a really embarrassing failure in my last semester of undergrad, right after I was accepted in my MA program. It reoriented me towards a field of research I'm much more excited about and helped me put things in perspective.

I've received that one too, twice. So have a few other grad students I know. I don't think it's an outright scam, but it's certainly worthless. Actually, telling people that you self-published might be worse than worthless because it reeks of desperation.

I hear you on the boredom thing, and I had thought about this a bit earlier in the year when the open days of summer seemed full of time and possibility. Anyway, I think part of the appeal of eating out is that food made by other people just has that delicious quality that WE did not make it. To get around that, still save some money, and expand our own culinary horizons, I'm thinking about asking people from my cohort to come to my house and teach me to cook something. Ideally, there'd be 4-5 people, and we'd all cook some element of a feast together in the kitchen, so it has the deliciously ample result of a potluck but with the added value of instruction. It hasn't happened yet, partly because my kitchen and the rest of my living quarters are never quite presentable at the same time.

I also get lumpsum payments (at the start of each term). Instead of paying rent in advance, I kept my money in an INGDirect account, automated monthly transfers to my checking account, and gave my landlord post-dated checks. Same peace of mind as paying it all in advance, but I also earn some interest on my money by keeping it in my possession for as long as possible (instead of my landlord earning interest on my advance payments). Every bit helps, right?

Is there anyone stopping you from pursuing more inter-disciplinary projects in terms of your research/dissertation? If not, just stick through the coursework and wait until you're given more autonomy over the topics and methods you employ in research.

right, the SSHRC pays me directly. sent a giant $10,000 cheque to my mailbox.

i am fighting every temptation to go to the casino...

If there is a common number of words per paragraph it is only incidental to a common structuring and degree of detail or depth for a given word limit. That is, don't worry about it. Think about what you want to say, how succinctly you think you need to say it, and how it breaks down into different sections. The number of words that end up being in your paragraphs won't matter if it's well laid out.

Check out this thread it is extremely helpful (especially for #3).



as to the recommended length: you could as the director of graduate studies of the specific program as to what an appropriate length would be. At the schools I have been looking at, I haven't seen anything over over 2000 words. When in doubt, ask!

Everyone learns and processes information differently. Know your learning style and harness it to your advantage. They might have skimmed the book for the most relevant passages/arguments. Or maybe they read book reviews prior to class. Do you know how to gut a book? There are different strategies on getting the information you need in a timely fashion so that when you come to class you have a grasp of some of the material and are able to follow/participate. Some of them look like they're into it but they might be daydreaming. Others might be spewing out BS that they pulled out of their asses.

What's giving you trouble following? Are you having trouble with the material in general or do you have issues with concentration? Are you doing most of your readings before class? I know it's hard to get everything done, and sometimes it's unrealistic, but you really should be skimming through most of the material, at least. For the courses that you don't prepare for, that's your fault (and we've all done that from time to time no judgment here). Doesn't mean you have to read page by page but are you taking notes while you read? Does taking notes help you to remember the material?

Maybe your classmates are better at thinking spontaneously. Maybe you need take more time to process the readings and to come up with points and questions before class? Part of you feeling like you're not following or learning anything might be performance anxiety. I had that and I know what it's like to feel like you're not contributing anything to the discussion, despite having prepared before class.

It would be extremely inappropriate for you to open the letter, and even more inappropriate to ask the school about the contents of the letter. It's a very strange request to make. I also think you are being way too paranoid, I can guarantee there is almost no way that he would say bad things.

That being said, one of my reference letters for a major scholarship was shown to me and was quite weak. But I got the scholarship. It was my own fault as I didn't have strong references then, but I do now, and a reference letter he wrote for me later was MUCH better. So I can kind of understand your concern, but that's the nature of LoRs. The best you can do is try to develop a good relationship and try to guide the letter writer as much as possible. In the past I have even gone so far as to write a draft for them (at their request) or to specifically point out things I think they should highlight.

Yes I think you should leave it sealed. There's a huge debate about whether students should have the right to see their letters (personally I think they should).

A thoughtful letter reccomender will let you see it, I think. But if it is sealed leave it this way as you said, honour his wishes. You have every right to go talk to this person and ask if they can give you an idea of what they said about you. There's a certain amount of trust that goes with recommendation letters and you would be breaking that if you opened the letter (it's different when they leave it unsealed it means you are free to see it).

Be up-front about your intentions as should they: you want to know if this letter gives you a shot at being accepted, and they should tell you honestly if they think you're grad school material. Saves everyone from wasting their time. "I would be happy to" is a good sign usually.

Can you explain how it is rude to ask the professor if they can give you idea of the contents of his/her letter? I don't think it's rude at all, in fact, the professor should be telling the student what is in that letter because their future is at stake. If the letter won't be strong then that saves everyone some time. The student can find another letter-writer and the professor doesn't have to write a mediocre letter. Or maybe it will be a sign that it's not a good idea to apply to grad school if you're finding it hard to get strong letters.

I can see how it would look like you're not trusting their judgement, but at the same time, it's crucial to know if it will be a strong letter. I guess what this means is that before they even get started on the letter, like you said, ask them if it's going to be strong. If not, then don't bother.

When I asked for letters while applying for my M.A. I asked them in general what the letters would say. I didn't feel like it was out of line and based on their responses, they were happy to oblige.

No reason to aim low. I got into a good MA program at a competitive university with a humanities bachelor's degree and no relevant work experience.


I disagree with this completely. You can acquire the knowledge necessary while in the program and it's unlikely that a human geography PhD student would ever teach a GIS, remote sensing, or physical geography course unless they asked to. Leading labs is another story but, that knowledge is pretty basic and very easy to acquire.

I can see how it would look like you're not trusting their judgement, but at the same time, it's crucial to know if it will be a strong letter. I guess what this means is that before they even get started on the letter, like you said, ask them if it's going to be strong. If not, then don't bother.

When I asked for letters while applying for my M.A. I asked them in general what the letters would say. I didn't feel like it was out of line and based on their responses, they were happy to oblige.

Can you explain how it is rude to ask the professor if they can give you idea of the contents of his/her letter? I don't think it's rude at all, in fact, the professor should be telling the student what is in that letter because their future is at stake. If the letter won't be strong then that saves everyone some time. The student can find another letter-writer and the professor doesn't have to write a mediocre letter. Or maybe it will be a sign that it's not a good idea to apply to grad school if you're finding it hard to get strong letters.

Yes I think you should leave it sealed. There's a huge debate about whether students should have the right to see their letters (personally I think they should).

A thoughtful letter reccomender will let you see it, I think. But if it is sealed leave it this way as you said, honour his wishes. You have every right to go talk to this person and ask if they can give you an idea of what they said about you. There's a certain amount of trust that goes with recommendation letters and you would be breaking that if you opened the letter (it's different when they leave it unsealed it means you are free to see it).

Be up-front about your intentions as should they: you want to know if this letter gives you a shot at being accepted, and they should tell you honestly if they think you're grad school material. Saves everyone from wasting their time. "I would be happy to" is a good sign usually.

Make sure that you read any directions given on a school's website. While most of the schools I'm applying to just give a word/page limit, one school actually stipulated that in the first sentence of the SOP that you MUST mention the school's name and what department you are applying to. That changes everything regarding my entrance of the SOP.

Whatever you put in for your first paragraph, it needs to be strong, relevant and not too wordy/verbose. I think this website explains very succinctly how to make things sharp: http://www.uni.edu/~gotera/gradapp/stmtpurpose.htm

Wow.

This is not about efficiency. This is about surviving.

As I said in my first post, at least at my school (maybe you had a bad experience elsewhere, Sigaba? If so, shame on them for letting you down), the grad student support group attracts people from all sorts of programs. Academic PhD, academic master's, MBA, law, med. It's an emotional support group, not a "how to get an academic R1 job" seminar. You vent, cry, people give you Kleenex, and then you listen to other people vent, cry, you give them Kleenex, and you leave feeling not so alone.

{{gentle hug}}

I had a rough first semester of my MA and downright horrible first year of my PhD. Here I am back for more.

So the good news is, it does get better, it really does. The beginning sucks, no matter what. (To be clear: the second semester of my PhD was bad not in and of itself but b/c it was basically a 'hangover' from the first semester.)

Feeling alone *is* the worst part of it. There is very much a culture of "pretending everything is hunky dory" in academia, even though nearly everyone is falling apart underneath the facade, at least/especially the first year. Is there a grad student support group run through your counseling center? If there is, GO. I cannot recommend it highly enough. (I had a scheduling conflict first semester last year and couldn't go. But I am convinced they are the sole reason I made it through the spring. Well, them, and long protracted phone conversations with, yes, my mother.) At least at my school, it's not group therapy in the traditional sense--which I've done for a different issue and have actually found quite counterproductive--it's basically grad students in all sorts of programs sitting around and venting. Of course it feels AMAZING to get everything off your chest IN PERSON, i.e. not just on the phone , and sometimes other people will have really good advice for you (especially the older more experienced students...I am eternally in their debt). But the absolute biggest value is that it completely beats you over the head with the giant Baseball Bat of You Are Not Alone. 'Cause let me tell you, I was convinced that I was the only person in my department at my university in graduate school who took an incomplete in a class, still couldn't finish the paper, nearly failed out of the program, cried every night, was homesick, loved what she did so much it hurts and would die if she had to give it up but didn't know if she could bear how crappy other stuff was, etc. (And keep in mind I had already been through First Year Blues with my MA! /sigh.) Grad student support group saved me.

As far as teaching goes--yeah, the beginning sucks. (The beginning of any job sucks.) But I guarantee you that your students aren't nearly as hard on you as you are on yourself.

As for friends--I finished the first entire year with basically no friends. It is three weeks into year two and I am rich in developing friendships, even if we don't have time to hang out beyond an hour for coffee after office hours.

(Also, if you need a dose of "you are not alone" right now, search this forum for "depression." You'll find several threads from last fall consisting of multiple people, including me, basically talking about how stressed and sad we are and how much grad school sucks and everyone says it's going to get better and why can't it just get better now. I was a stunning exemplar of maturity last fall, yes, yes I was. )

I hear ya. This is a class that just started right? Or has this been a problem before? Maybe when the novelty of the class setting dies down you will feel more comfortable expressing yourself? I would like to think some professors are aware of issues like this for students and will take this into consideration when handing out grades. Do you write really strong papers?

Another thing to remember is that you don't always have to be talking/thinking about what to say. Slow doesn't = bad. People think differently and whatever conclusions you come to in your head are not less or more valuable if they took 10 minutes to get at instead of 2 minutes. I think you can contribute more with sparse but really insightful and original comments rather than chiming in with whatever is on your mind every time the discussion takes another direction.

If this is performance anxiety, like any other fear I think the more you face it the easier it will become!

Taking it the other way around, it can often be viewed as inappropriate for professors to be seen fraternizing with undergraduates. Forging personal relationships is fine, but they should be on the basis of teacher/student, mentor/mentee, not two people hanging out. Whether or not it's there, the illusion of impropriety on the part of the professor is a huge risk, career wise, and can lead to accusations of favoritism, etc. Not to mention some universities indirectly forbid such contact.

The difference isn't there so much with graduate students, especially once their coursework is done- the grad student and professor should start forming more familial ties, as they are on the road to being colleagues. The power imbalance isn't quite as great.

I did things with my undergrad professors- dinners at their house, etc... But that's not the same as meeting them at a bar and drinking. We're talking about a whole different level of familiarity there.