ZeeMore21

I don't think it is necessary to include age in your personal statement. You putting it in a personal statement just brings attention to it, and possibly in a bad way....it could be seen as if you are possibly showing off how young you are. Age doesn't matter at the graduate level if you don't make a big deal about it.

I used my stipend as income on 2 occasions, my previous rental company wanted a copy of my acceptance letter that stated that I would a stipend. This time around, I did put down a stipend as income, but the landlord didn't need a letter as proof, he is used to renting out to doctoral students. But in short, it has never been a problem to put down my future stipend as income.

Is this a Masters? I know that online education has definitely become popular over the years , but I still doubt that online degrees are taken as seriously as traditional degrees. There is still a stigma attached to the online degree in my opinion. Though, maybe you wouldn't have to list this program as online on your resume.

I will definitely keep this in mind moving forward Bison, thanks a lot!

Hi all, So I was hoping that by now that I would have a job for the summer before I start school in August, but unfortunately I haven't landed anything yet. I was counting on a museum position since I had worked at this same museum last summer in a different position. I had the interview 2 weeks ago, and still haven't heard back from the person who interviewed me. I did do a follow-up call today, but the woman is out until tomorrow so I won't hear back from her until then. But I am not that hopeful about this position...I'm assuming if you don't hear back within a reasonable time, you probably didn't get the spot....but for me not to have heard back with a yes or no is kind of hurtful given that I worked here last summer. I have applied to other positions, but since I plan on starting school in August, I have been rejected since these people are looking for people who can work a longer term. So basically I'm just frustrated about the whole situation. I've used many job search engines, so I really don't know what I'm doing wrong as to my procedure. Does anyone know of alternate steps I could take? Thanks for listening to me rant, just very disappointed.

I really never mean to be rude, but when I come across these kinds of posts, where the OP has stellar grades/scores and other achievements, if the OP is ever being serious with this question. Sorry, just my opinion.

Have more confidence in your abilities! Since you are starting your application process very early, you have more than enough time to come up with impressive documents!

I would definitely look at Cornell. I know that every summer Cornell's English department holds what I would call "Theory Bootcamp," so theory is definitely taken seriously there. I would also look at University of Chicago, Duke, and Johns Hopkins.

Such a great and helpful post, I think you discussed student debt situations perfectly, thanks.

I think people feel bad enough without you having to say this.

Thanks for the advice! Decided to go the roomie route. It will be a crazy year for you, but I think it will be worth it!

I have a question, what do people think of living with a roommate vs living by yourself as a graduate student? I have experience with both, and though I do love living by myself, I'm still thinking that it would be nice to live with someone else just to reduce cost. However, as someone that is beginning a doctoral program, I am also wondering if it would just be better to live alone so I wouldn't have to deal with certain things that arise in a roommate setting. I've never had a bad experience with roommates in the past though.

Oh, and keep us posted!

Wishing you the best triceratops!

I do agree with lyonessrampant and everyone else saying that you there are other aspects that are more important besides grades. But if a professor at the doctoral level gives you a B, I would take it a bit seriously as the OP is. But instead of thinking about dropping out, I think the best thing to do is consult with this professor and figure out what steps to take to better his or her work. Seminars and the papers that come from them are just as important, and usually these courses are the stepping stones for publishing research papers, giving conferences, and teaching your own courses. So I wouldn't totally discount grades and pretend that they don't matter to a certain extent in the humanities.

I do see your worry as I have heard that an A- is equated to a B and a B is equated to an F at the doctoral level. But before thinking of leaving, could you possibly talk to the professor who issued you the B and ask what problems he or she sees in your work? These problems could be easy to fix, and the B could just simply be a warning.

That sounds good, but I don't know I don't know if it would be good only to get in touch once a year?

Oh, my fault. But I still would like to know what caused this reaction from the professor, seems like it came out of nowhere.

Glad I'm not alone, was worried it was just me being sentimental lol. Thanks for the support!

Hi, I just finished a one year fellowship program at a school this past week, which was very exciting. I really am looking forward to attending a new school in the fall for my PhD. Yet, I am a bit down about leaving the advisor I had while I was doing the fellowship. Out of all the advisers I have had, this professor is by far the best and I feel like he really made an effort to support me and my work even during a short period of time, on top of guiding me through the crazy application process. He really invested time in me, so I really am thankful for him. Sorry for going on about how great he is though! You get the point. But anyway, the last time I met with him, last week, he did mention how we would get to meet during MLA and other conferences and then joked around that I should make sure to send him weekly emails when I start my new program...but I joked back that I wouldn't get around to that with all of my reading so we agreed on monthly. But to wrap my rambling up...I guess I wanted to know how you guys deal with maintaining strong relationships with past advisers or mentors who you admire? Is maintaining a strong relationship possible? How does the relationship change? How often do you contact them? I really would love to make sure I keep in contact with this adviser, but I do know once I am at my new school, I should focus on my relationship with a new advisor, so there has to be some kind of balance I am assuming. I really didn't feel that I would care that deeply about keeping in touch with this professor, but like I said before, he really made an impact, and I really would want to find some type of way to maintain a relationship without me coming across annoying or clingy. I would still like to keep it very much professional and academic. Sorry again for the rambling, this has been close to my heart so thanks for the advice!

Great post, go nurse's aides!

My mom is a nurse aide as well, she works in a retirement home. It definitely is a tough job and yes, it does seem like you do deal with a lot of the "messy" stuff...but that type of stuff doesn't really faze people who truly enjoy working in health care and have been in it for a while....that's just part of the job. I truly respect nurse aide's, I really don't think they get the credit they deserve.

I second juilletmercredi, it does seem like the wrong time to be contacting a professor....perhaps this advisor's load will lighten up during the summer and he will be more available for those types of questions. But again, the secretary can also help you with courses too, they are pretty valuable.

You mentioned that you are "black-listed" at this school, what led to this? You never gave an explanation. Regardless of if it is your fault or not, I do agree that the professor should have never said this to your face. However, I still do wonder what provoked this response from her....it seems as though this is not the whole story.

You should find answers to these questions on your school's website.