rachaelski

I hope this is true...research experience I have!

Thanks for this information...make sure you are around right before the the school deadlines (mine is late September), I am sure I will have a bunch of panicked questions for you!

I took the test YEARS ago, but what I read back then was that taking the test several times in a short (let's say 1 year) time frame and doing worse can sometimes look bad. However, I believe that the school will see all your scores, and if the first two were pretty consistent, than the school should be able to see that. However, I could be wrong. Can anyone else confirm? BTW, your research interests are very interesting. I am in a PhD program in Literacy, and my focus is visual literacy.

I took the test YEARS ago, but what I read back then was that taking the test several times in a short (let's say 1 year) time frame and doing worse can sometimes look bad. However, I believe that the school will see all your scores, and if the first two were pretty consistent, than the school should be able to see that. However, I could be wrong. Can anyone else confirm? BTW, your research interests are very interesting. I am in a PhD program in Literacy, and my focus is visual literacy.

Were you an alternate that did not get selected for this year and you are reapplying? Either way, welcome. I bet you have a lot of good advice to offer.

I am working on my PhD in Literacy at the University of New Mexico. I started the program part-time while teaching. My department (Language, Literacy, and Sociocultural Studies) is very accommodating to a teacher's schedule. In fact, you have to have 3 years teaching experience to get into the PhD program! My focus is literacy, and a lot of the research done in my program deals with new literacies (visual, digital, etc.). Let me know if you have any more questions!

I used to be a runner in college, but my body just started telling me NO! I got a stress fracture in my food and my IT band swells to the point that it's painful to walk...so no more running for this lady! It's too bad. However, I now do yoga a couple days a week. We have a great studio off campus, near our home that does 5 dollar yoga everyday! I also will be biking back and forth to school (parking is INSANE). I am hoping that will keep me in pretty good shape. I totally developed a gut from being a teacher for the past 4 years....work all day, lesson plan and grade all night.

I responded once to this thread, but since then I have come up with some firm goals to make my graduate school life productive and enjoyable. I should also add that I am working on my 3rd graduate degree, and that I have had quite a varied graduate school experience. I did the live in the college town, full-time graduate student thing. I also did the work full-time and attend graduate school part-time thing. I am returning to the full-time life, but also working a couple small jobs (a TA position and leading a preschool co-op). For me, having a schedule and forced normalcy is vital. Here are my resolutions: 1. Read 20 minutes of leisurely material--magazines, a novel, something new (and unrelated to my graduate degree) in non-fiction--a day. 2. Cook on Monday, Tuesdays, Saturdays, and Sundays (the nature of my schedule makes these days the best. Also, I want to continue to photograph and blog about my cooking experiments. 3. Read 1 academic article in my field that is not directly related to my research per day. 4. Practice my foreign language (using Rosetta Stone) for 1 hour, 5 days a week. 5. Take Sundays off from school. 6. Set a time to stop working each day, and spend time with my husband. We'll see how these goals mesh into my life once school starts. However, the cooking thing and setting a stop time each day really helped me maintain focus last year when I was working and going to school.

I am feeling pretty good about everything. Big picture, I am getting more and more drawn into my research plan, which is great, since it is my dissertation! If I don't get the fulbright, I am easily able to convert my research plan to being done in the US only. In fact, I will be going to the very first school I taught in at the beginning of October to conduct a pilot study! It's bittersweet, because I get to work with the kids I taught during my first year of teaching, and work towards my larger goal of a PhD. Plus, I have talked about my topic so much, done quite a bit of background reading, etc. I am so inspired by my research. Life is good. Like Crimson, I am so happy I got a lot of the work done during the early part of the summer! Rachael

I got my Kindle 2 in January. I love it. I figure it will keeping me going until the next generation comes out. I only use it for leisurely reading though. I still need the real thing for marking on for classes.

When it comes to choosing a school, I think it's okay to choose a less prestigious one, so long as you work your butt off to make a name for yourself. A friend of mine beat out applicants from all the Ivy League schools for a pretty awesome position in Africa. She said she secured the job over them because of her rationale for choosing the lower-ranked school, the interviewers were impressed with that. I attend an institution that's a Research 1 school, but is ranked around 50 or so. However, my department is a pretty unique one, and it perfectly addressed my needs. In addition, with this program I am teaching my own class independently, and it's a senior-level course! I am building up my teaching background, my school has quite of bit of resources for students attending conferences, and I have great mentors to work with. For me, the lesser known school was the better choice.

This is not true, at least for the states I have researched. All public institutions receive funding from the state. Where I am from, there are a couple different funding formulas, but the majority of the money comes from the number of student credit hours registered. A certain amount is given for 100 and 200 level classes, another for 300 and 400 level, another for graduate level, etc. I had the pleasure of spending the summer working with my state's Higher Education Department, which is responsible for passing out the money.

I am a big fan of consignment shops for furniture. Craigslist can be good as well. I have the traditional & kitchy vibe going in my house.

Wow, my defense process was a bitter different than yours! I worked primarily with my advisor during my coursework and initial writing time....then I presented my committee with a draft copy, they read it and provided feedback during my oral defense. After my oral defense, I completed the suggested revisions, and was granted the degree.... I would definitely fight it. It can be very hard to make everyone on a committee happy (especially when at least 1 person on your committee is chosen for political reasons, i.e. director of the program, person researching same topic/area as you). Let us know how it works out. Sorry that you are in such a crummy situation!

I am visiting the college town where I earned my first master's degree this weekend. At this very moment I am sitting in the coffee shop where I completed the majority of my thesis (as well as my readings and papers for courses). It made me remember how important place is for graduate studies, and what a big step identifying that place is. I tried working at home, at the library, and at other coffee shops. However, no place was quite right. At my coffeeshop I had the perfect balance of focus and socializing. Many friends worked there as well, or at least knew they could find me here. I miss the coffee shop! In my new graduate student life, I get so much more work done at home, so that's my new space....kind of funny how it changes! Somewhat bittersweet, as I sit here an album that was played a lot during my time here (2004-2006) is now playing--The Buenavista Social Club! Let's share our stories of finding space and our secret space....mine is Donkey Coffee for anyone at Ohio University....though it's not too secret in Athens!

I think I am in a Fulbright funk....haven't worked on my application for over a week. Will have to hit it hard next week when I am home from vacay (I am visiting family and my friend from grad school and I am currently in the coffee shop that was my second home during graduate school). I am meeting with my thesis advisor for dinner, but it will probably be more social that fulbright related! Anyone else in a funk/slump?

WOW!!! I feel so honored! LOL

I got my dog when I was in my last semester of my master's program. I wish I would have gotten him sooner. It was so nice to have something to require me to take a break from academics. Plus, as a student, you have plenty of open windows to check on the puppy and potty train him. It is so hard if you work 8 or 10 hours shifts. It was a wonderful experience for me. There is a lot of info on the internet that tells you how apartment friendly/active dogs are. You will be surprised how many big dogs are suited for apartment living.

I am a current student....last year I taught middle school full-time and worked on my PhD part-time...now I am full-time PhD and part-time worker...of multiple jobs! I teach a course, facilitate a co-op preschool group, and work by contract for the state government.

FYI you get student discounts from Apple all year long, though they usually add in the free ipod right before school starts!

I am going to try this right now...totally will make my day!

Is anyone applying to the East-West Center's Asia Pacific Leadership Program or know anything about it?

Fulbright is my friend these days! I ended up getting a second contact for a letter of affiliation (not sure if I mentioned that), so now I have one in both the cities where I want to research. That's great....and I just found out that the first person who agreed to write a letter of support USED to be a professor at a top education school in Vietnam....NOW she is the VP of Research and International Relations at a well-received private university....WOW!!!!! How many letters of support is sufficient? Should I try to seek out more than 2?

Ohio University used to have a pretty good film program, both an MFA and an MA. My husband completed his MFA there. The MA program is more theory based, and they focus quite a bit on experimental film. I cannot say much about the program now, as there has been quite a bit of turnover of professors.

Does anyone know if we have to send hard copies of our transcripts, in addition to uploading them to the e-application?