dancewmoonlight

I appreciate the concern, but two of my colleagues attended the university, as well. I also had several hour-long meetings with my advisor and talked with a committee member for four hours. The program itself isn't sketchy. It's a PhD in Education and just has a lot of educators/principals who are working full-time, which is why they don't provide automatic funding.

Y'all, I feel so lost right now. So, I got into my top choice for a PhD program, and I feel like there's so much ahead of me that I'm just stuck. Things are made so much worse by COVID and the uncertainty it brings, too! Can you all help me think through things I need to handle between now and starting classes? I'm a U.S. student doing a PhD program in Canada, so I know I need to handle a bunch of stuff with moving internationally (with my spouse and animals) and securing a student visa. I didn't receive funding automatically, but the program is super cheap (under $8500 CAD for 5 years). I still need to apply for fellowships, etc. After this, I just kind of get lost. Help!

Following because I'm in the same boat. I got accepted into my top program (also my only acceptance), but no word about funding. I have until April 9 to accept the offer, and I have a meeting with my supervisor on Tuesday. I'm just so anxious that I might not be able to go work with my dream team because of funding.

I got into the University of Manitoba!!!! It may not be highly ranked but goodness, I love my advisor and the research they're doing into student well-being.

Oh, I'm cautiously optimistic. I squealed and ran to my spouse when I saw the change. However, I'm not making any plans or telling anyone until I get that official notice.

My top school has moved my application from "Under Review in Department" to "Under Review in Graduate Studies," and I'm dying.

As an update, I didn't end up applying. Although I was really interested in Dr. Woloshyn's research, I didn't click with her when we met. Furthermore, I didn't like the idea of taking all online classes for my PhD and not really having a cohort.

I think University of Michigan did that to me last year. I checked the portal, and one day, it said, "A decision has been made." Then it wouldn't tell me what decision was made for a long time. I eventually figured it out myself.

I've been checking my portal religiously, and my top choice just moved from "Under Review in Department" to "Under Review in Graduate Studies." I'm dying.

Not necessarily, no. Your interests might not be a perfect fit for a university, they may have had a small group of students being admitted this year (quite common for 2021), and much, much more. For grad school, they're really looking at who the applicants are and how well they fit the faculty. That means that it really depends on who's on faculty, what your interests are, how many students the school is admitting, who else applies, etc.

Deadline was December 15. And yeah, I was shocked to hear from them.

I heard back from Northeastern University's English PhD on the 15th. Rejection. They noted they had an exceptionally competitive pool this year. It's chill, though. They were my second choice.

I applied to the Education PhD program at University of Manitoba, as well as the English PhD program at Northeastern University. I'm a university writing instructor, so both apply. It's been a month and a half since I submitted the UM and a month since the NEU app. Waiting is so hard!

I'm celebrating today! I just submitted my first application, and I'm finalizing my SOP for the other. All my requests for LORs are out. I'm psyched because I'm still nearly a month out from the deadlines!

I'm currently a FYW instructor, and I'm applying to get my PhD in Rhet/Comp! I have a BA in Secondary Ed: English & Psychology and an MA in Creative Writing. My research interest is improving student well-being through the FYW classroom through "life skills" lessons (e.g., time management and stress reduction). I'm applying to Ed and English programs for this application season. I'm only applying to Northeastern University for Rhet/Comp. Fingers crossed!

Part of this depends on who your other LOR will be from. Does you program specifically state what kind of references they want? Some programs ask specifically for academic-only references, some might say one academic and one potentially professional. To cut it down some, I would suggest against 2 and 3, since they just aren't as strong as the others.

As a note regarding videos, make sure you have them captioned!! This helps for people who may have a disability or speak English non-natively or for people in louder environments. A lot of universities have a service to do this. If not, you can upload them to YouTube privately and have YouTube create auto-generated captions. You can leave them auto-gen or edit the auto-genned ones.

I don't think a 22-year-old dating a 20-year-old is weird at all. In some places, it isn't illegal for a 20-year-old to date a 16-year-old due to Romeo and Juliet laws, but that's a different thing altogether. More of what I was saying is that at certain ages, there's just so much that happens, making the age difference seem much larger. If you want to go for a difference age comparison, what about a 13-year-old and a 17-year-old?

Hello! I wanted to know if anyone has been part of the BLW Joint PhD program in Education. I'm a US student, and the concept of three universities "hosting" a program is completely foreign to me. However, I'm really interested in the research of one of the faculty members at Brock (Vera Woloshyn), and I'd love to work with her. I just don't know what to expect out of a joint program. TIA

I've been teaching online for about a year now (3 semesters), and I've found a lot of great resources to really help. Are you teaching synchronously or asynchronously? What have you tried? What seems to be working? What specific concerns do you have? What topic(s) do you teach? Without knowing much about your situation, it's more difficult to help. One big thing that changes with online teaching is obviously the connection between teacher and student. From personal experience and research, feeling connected to a teacher improves learning. I find it really helpful to be much more involved in the process. For example, I have very active discussion threads and try to respond to everyone. I email students regularly to check-in, and since I have my faculty email on my phone, I often respond to emails within minutes (assuming they're basic responses). Students really appreciate that they feel they can reach me and feel heard. Also, I do what I can to help them feel like they "know" me. As part of "knowing" me, I'm also more relaxed online than in-person. For example, I might not always wear dress clothes. I know other profs who'll record lectures while cooking dinner. Another thing I've found with teaching online that it's really helpful to be more of a maximalist regarding resources than a minimalist. Teaching in-person, you don't want to overwhelm students with too much information, but you also have the opportunity for students to ask questions about material. Online, I find students don't really reach out when they're confused about a topic. Instead, I'll find multiple resources that might explain the topic a different way, and I'll link them under my lecture with "For more information..." My students have mentioned on course evals that this helped because they never felt lost, and they had lots of information about the topics. A few quick things? Make sure your course is well-organized. Even try to have someone else look at it! I thought my course was beautifully organized but then had students saying they couldn't find stuff. Check-in with students more often. I do Google surveys twice in the semester (every 5 weeks in a 15-week semester) that asks how things are going. It's not graded and can be anonymous. I ask what's going well and what they'd like changed. Record videos with your actual face, not just slides. (As a note, I just started using Zoom for lecture capture, OpenShot for video editing, and then YouTube for publishing, and it's working great!) Don't use too much text. Nobody likes a text wall. Especially looking at a computer screen, the eyes start to hurt. Do more checks for understanding with low-stakes "quizzes" that students can retake.It's harder to know if students understand the learning material, so I often just have a pretty basic quiz to check their learning occasionally. It's important that these are low stakes, though, because it's more about communicating to YOU what they know so you can alter your lessons, not to actually "test" them. If that makes sense.

As others mentioned, I don't believe it's the inherit act of dating an undergrad that's "wrong," and depending on the school, no one will blink an eye. I think it's about compatibility of two people. Of course, in grad school you're considered more mature, and if you're going out to frat parties every weekend with your undergrad girlfriend, people will probably look down on you, but that's more about going to frat parties every weekend -- your maturity. Additionally, you're more likely to connect with people in your environment since you'll spend A LOT of time with them. In grad school, I had two GAships, meaning I worked 20 hours/week on top of classes. My GAships were teaching and working in the university's writing center. Most of the hours for "teaching" were spent in the group office with 20-30 other people. That's just where we hung out basically any time we were on campus. Because we were around each other, had classes together, and were going through the same things, we became friends. It was mostly straight women and gay men, so there were no relationships... I probably had my best friendships in the UWC, though, and they were with undergrads. The undergrads working at the UWC often wanted to go to grad school or were nontraditional students. Therefore, they felt more "on-level" and we hung out at work and beyond. I don't think anyone would have blinked if a grad student dated one of them. All in all, as long as you're compatible with someone, I don't think it's a big deal to date a junior or sophomore. Someone 18-20 is a little different since they're practically still children and figuring out how to be adults, what to do with themselves, etc. (at least in the US). Although the age difference doesn't seem like a lot, it's like a 20-year-old dating a 16-year-old: weird.

Hi, all -- I'm sure there's something in the forums about this, but I couldn't find anything, and at this time of year, I'm sure it's relevant to a number of people. I've gotten my potential Ph.D. programs for application down to five and have selected my potential supervisors. Last week (Aug 27-ish), I e-mailed them to talk about their research, share my interests, and request further information about their programs. I kept the e-mail relatively short (about 3 brief paragraphs) and inquired when they'd be available to chat more. A week has passed, and I haven't heard anything back. I know its a busy time of year with classes starting, and I don't want to be annoying, but I also want to ensure these are the best programs and supervisors. How long should I wait before e-mailing again?

MA in English speaking here: Beyond research positions, I may also suggest reaching out to faculty you've connected with in the English Department to see if there's anything they think you may be able to do to improve your application status - specifically not literature professors. Additionally, reach out the university writing center. You might be able to get a job there, which would also look good on an application showing your devotion to English. As a consultant at the UWC, I started attending conferences, made an excellent connection with the UWC director, and now have an excellent reference. Honestly, my work in the UWC was major. What are your long-term goals for your MA program? I may be able to help further.

Hi, all -- I'm stressing out about my eligibility moving forward. I'm interesting in PhD programs in education, specifically looking at faculty members' role in university students' mental health, as well as improving accessibility for university students with disabilities. I have found some incredible supervisors in Australia, but I don't know if I'm eligible for the programs. I have a BA in Secondary Ed with a major in English and minor in Psychology. My MA is in Creative Writing with a creative thesis. I have now taught first-year writing (i.e., freshman composition) for four years. At present, I'm not sure if I'd be eligible to apply for PhD programs in Education, especially for international universities. First, I'm not sure if my academic history is strong enough in the field. Secondly, I have zero background research*. In the US, I feel more confident applying in the US because they all have introductions to research in the PhD programs, but I don't see curriculum plans in most international programs. I've considered looking for research-based masters programs in Education to get my feet wet, but I'm concerned about funding. Plus, I'd just prefer going the PhD route. The MA isn't out of the question, though. Additionally, I could keep working at my university (or another) and try getting more research under my belt before applying, especially since I physically can't attend school if COVID is still in season (highly vulnerable). Any suggestions? * I'm starting a research project with others regarding the mental health of university students with disabilities. I'll be the third author (of four).

Hi, all -- I've been stressing about my next steps. Last year, I applied for PhD programs in English, but it just didn't feel right. This year, I realized it's because I'm more interesting education in general. Right now, I'm specifically focused on faculty members' role in mental health in higher education. I'm also fascinating by increasing accessibility in classrooms. The topics of English Ed. just don't feel as pressing. I have a BA in Secondary Ed with a major in English and minor in Psychology. I did zero research for my degree. I completed my MA in Creative Writing with a creative thesis. Again, no research. I've been teaching first-year writing (freshman comp) for four years now. I'm looking at Education PhD programs internationally, and I'm feeling so unqualified with my lack of research background. At least in the States, everyone takes research classes, but in many other countries (e.g., Australia with my top researchers), it seems like you're just supposed to know how to do this. Am I unqualified? Should I look at getting an MA in Education to get the research experience and then go for the PhD later??? What do I do?!?! HALLLPPPP.