ZeeMore21

Trust me, that is absolutely fine. This thread is a bunch of nonsense. I think it is funny that you have just made pre-conceived notions of who I am based on my disapproval of your post. Don't be surprised if others take an opportunity to tell you what they think you are. You are clearly here to find support for your decision to separate yourself from others in your programs. As the majority of posters here are mature, professional, and good people, you won't find that support here. Sorry. Perhaps you will find support in another forum. Obviously, I don't discount that you are a doctoral student...but you are a condescending one at that.

I don't understand how you don't see yourself generalizing. I do agree with one of the posters who was comparing your POV to that of one with racial prejudices...every person who goes through this certain MA program is somehow automatically seen by you as immature and childish. It really is a shame.

I'm quite sure your department has not prevented you from having social interactions with MA students. Don't try to hide behind your department and tell us that we should blame schools for having a distinction between degrees in the first place. What a silly argument...are you sure you are a doctoral student?

I'm immature? That's funny...you automatically assumed I must be a masters student because I have a problem with your initial posts. That's not a bit foolish? Someone who is mature wouldn't make such generalizations. As someone who calls themselves a doctoral student, I am very confused as to why you would make such an artificial divide in your initial posts...like others have said, why not simply say that you have a problem getting along with other graduate students...why specifically pick out MA students. I wouldn't be surprised that the problems you have had with MA students in your program are a direct result of the way you view them.

Interesting comment. I actually will be starting a doctoral program in the fall and have the maturity and professionalism not to believe that I am somehow superior to anyone else in my department.

I'm not trolling, and I take offense to that accusation. An MA poster decided to give you advice...instead of just thanking them for input you felt the need to mention that this thread is only for doctoral students. I am on your case because I find your attitude very disrespectful, and as someone who did do an MA, I take offense to your blanket generalization that master students are inferior or substandard. Shame on you for that generalization, and I will continue to call you an elitist.

You said that you have talked to professors about MA students in this paragraph....which I assume meant that this discussion with your professor was not one-sided. The way you talk about MA students on this thread and your disrespect towards posters here working on MAs only reaffirms my belief that you have been actively participating in badmouthing master students.

Wow, you are an elitist.

Obviously I am sure qualifications vary from school to school. As most people applying to grad programs are coming with excellent qualitative scores--both GPA AND GRE--the rest of the package must carry a lot more wait. The only advice I have been trying to give is that you can't really bank on grades and gre scores to get you into a program...especially not in this day and age when the market is terrible and graduate programs are being flooded by way more applications then they have been. Something else has to set you apart from the crowd. Sure, there are schools where the GPA and GRE are weighed heavily. There are, however, schools that weigh the qualitative side of the application far more heavily than the applicant's numbers. Given that one wants to cast a wide net when applying to schools, you would want to make sure that all aspects of your application are strong. I have a hard time believing that the personal statement counts for nothing...I doubt that an admissions committee will accept someone into their programs who is unable to communicate effectively what there research interests are and how the specific department he or she is applying to would be beneficial to his or her research. Given that the field is heavily writing-base, I just can't believe your argument. And as an aside, the writing in caps to emphasis again that I have nothing to contribute to this discussion is definitely unnecessary. There have been people from various fields who have given me advice...I don't simply brush them aside and assume they don't know anything about my topic. Obviously, yes, there may be some differences in the admissions process when it comes to English and Art History, but I have experience working in Visual Studies, going through this past admissions cycle for a doctoral program and listening to others advice about what admissions committees look for. I stand by my opinion, and people are definitely free to disagree with it. i just don't think I have to be reminded again in this thread that I am not in Art History.

Anyone who badmouths fellow students to a professor doesn't belong in a doctoral program...how very unprofessional. Its the pot calling the kettle black.

TheSquirrel, I see no need for you to feel as though you are somehow superior to MA students just because you are a doctoral student. Your post comes off a bit condescending with assumption that MA students are somehow not as serious about their studies in comparison to doctoral students. In my own experience as a MA student last year, I did notice this ill-informed judgment made by doctoral students, and their refusal to associate themselves with MA students really made the department a hostile environment at times. As someone who will begin a doctoral degree, I definitely will never make it a point to separate myself from people just because I am seeking a higher degree, especially since I have been on the other side. Creating this artificial divide between you and and other members of the department is absolutely unnecessary...you miss out on meeting interesting people if you take that route.

Definitely agree Mal83...it is fun to be a detective once and a while. It does seem, however, that this type of cyber popularity is something this woman actually wants...she wants people to talk about her story and try to piece everything together from all of the different postings found on multiple websites. It doesn't seem like she cares at all about her online activity getting in the way of landing a job or academic opportunity--rather, she continues to this day to blame a professor for her inability to gain employment. Like others have suggested, this woman does have some type of mental illness that she is unwilling to accept. That part is sad.

You are right qbtacoma...there is really nothing you can believe when it comes to what she lists as her credentials. I really shouldn't be so interested in what this woman is going online but I honestly haven't seen anything like this before.

Funny....her linkedin profile says she is currently a doctoral student at Binghamton. If this is the case, then why is she still going on these online rants Houston?

Well I'm thinking she never got into the University of Houston in the first place, but perhaps I'm wrong. I just see now way she could have given her history of bullying a professor and his family members. Academia is so small, so word of this woman must have gotten around, especially considering that she also was a professor at some time.

I only mentioned the threats to online reputations because Brou noted in his email that his employer, UWO, questioned him about what has been found online. I do doubt that this woman would try to pick a fight with posters here, but I really don't know if we can put anything past her...from what I am seeing she has used Gradcafe, The Chronicle, Inside Higher Ed, Yahoo, Youtube, Topix, and a couple other academic websites to smear the name of this professor in addition to her own family members. It also seems like she does take the names of other people to ask online question. I think that even the first thing that comes up for Brou is accusations from this woman...as an academic you really don't want your online reputation looking like this. Her cyberbulling is out of control, so it would be best that she not get her hands on anyone's name.

She can't be serious with this, wow.

WOW...that is bizarre. She did in fact go to John Hopkins...there is an article of hers online. She did also teach at a university in New Jersey, but not exactly sure which one.

And I have no idea about this Houston business...I'm wondering if she ever really did apply, she has serious mental issues so she could be making up the entire thing. I'm still wondering if there is anything the administrators can do to get her off this site....this whole thing started off hilarious, but she is definitely a stalker, and again, I really do hope she doesn't get a hold of anyone's information on this site.

Given the posters last post on the results page, I figured I would just Google the Daniel Brou+houston and came across a whole bunch on links....I am just curious about what the entire story is with this woman and this seems to be more serious than I thought. But yeah, she has smeared this guys name everywhere and is still continuing to do so. Pretty scary stuff

I'd also say that posters on this website should very, very careful about their identities...seems like if she ever got a hold of your real name she would do a very good job of trashing your reputation all over the internet.

I think that is the woman's real name...the professor includes her name in his email. I'm assuming that she was posting the professor's response to her emails on an academic website. If you type in her name, you will see that others are familiar with her. Just so weird.

Hey folks, Found this link online apparently written by one of the professors to scrdbyhouston http://www.xoxohth.c...c=23&forum_id=2 Thought this might be interesting. And it seems like the poster has even harassed this professor's family, which is why he took it upon himself to finally respond to her accusations.

Just put in "Daniel Brou, Houston" on google and scrdbyhouseton really has it out for him on various sites...when does something like this become cyberbulling? Is there anyway to remove this poster from gradforum? I hate the fact that she is using this site as a platform for her idiotic rants and false accusations of faculty members for somehow cheating her. This is getting pretty bizarre. I wonder if the econ professors at Houston know about this woman's online rage.

Don't quite see why you would have to use acronyms...I'm sure there is more than enough space on the applications to write the full name of the programs you attended. You really don't want members of the admissions committee mistaking one of your programs for something else.