fuzzylogician

I would definitely update adcoms about an accepted peer-reviewed publication. I think it's big enough news to merit an email and a request to update your CV. I'd think differently about an unrefereed publication or a conference presentation, but publications are a big deal. I would suggest contacting someone at the department (admin person, or anyone else who the department has specified as the contact person for admissions purposes) and ask to update your CV since you've just had a paper accepted for publication. Attach the CV to the email.

Some may call, but if you don't pick up they will email. You won't lose out on an acceptance because your phone was turned off.

To add to the above, keep in mind that if you make something up to get out of this less than desirable tutorial and it falls to someone else, this someone may not like you very much (and may not keep this dislike private) if what you did comes out. I know I wouldn't appreciate it. So, unless there is someone who would like to be there early and you can offer to switch with them so you both get a more desirable time, I don't know that I would bring it up. Someone has to do this time, and why shouldn't it be you? At most, I would state my preference for a later time and maybe bring up that you don't think it's a good time for the students, and hope that either they reschedule or find someone who is more inclined to do early times.

Update: http://www.linguisticsociety.org/news/2014/12/05/2015-linguistic-institute-fellowship-apps-are-open

Well norms and expectations vary widely across fields and institutions and even within the same program, across years (and even PIs, but never mind that). If you are in your first year, at least in my field students will mostly be expected to concentrate on their coursework. They don't really start thinking about research until the spring, and even then it's secondary to classes. Only over the summer and gradually during the second year does the focus begin to shift. So, someone in my program who was ignoring classes for research would probably at some point have a talk with their advisor where the advisor would explain that at the moment the student should concentrate on classwork, to make sure that they are getting the background they need to build research projects on in later years. I am not sure what is expected of you in your program, but if you are not sure, I think you should have a conversation with your advisor about that. I think it would also probably help you a lot to ask in particular what is expected of a student who is interested in switching into the PhD program. The important question is not (just) grades, though, it's how much time you should be spending on classes vs. research. Based on how much time you are expected to spend on classes, you can try and figure out how good a job you can do on your coursework, and if you can't do it all (which no one can, btw), you can start to think what you can cut back on: skim but don't read all the readings, or don't completely solve the extra difficult last question on the problem set, or whatever it is that you need to adjust so you're spending your time as you should be. I think the adjustment is more about thinking strategically about what you *need* to achieve and what you *want* to learn from your classes, and how you can manage your time to accomplish that.

I bought my own domain, http:// myname.com, after I graduated. I have a unique enough name that I can do this, and I like that it's not linked to any platform and doesn't depend on my university's servers, since they can be quite finicky, and anyway I've graduated, moved to a postdoc location, and expect to move again at least once or twice in the near future. It's nice to have something permanent and it's pretty cheap to buy a domain these days. I redirect there automatically from my university domain, so anyone who is looking for me directly or through the university can find me. I have a minimal page on academia.edu that just says "see my academic webpage, <link>," or some such. I don't want to maintain multiple pages, and it's much easier and safer to just maintain my own domain. The only thing it's really useful for is telling me who googled me and what they were searching for, but actually google analytics can tell me a whole lot more based on visits to my website. It's a great way to waste time, if you were looking for one. I don't have an account with any other professional networking website.

You routinely write teaching statements when applying to academic tenure track positions. I'm not exactly sure what a statement for a teaching fellowship requires, but assuming that it's a similar concept, I suggest you google "academic job application teaching statement." I just tried and it brings up lots of good advice, and hopefully some of it is what you're looking for. This is generally something that's hard for students to write even when graduating with a PhD, because we don't tend to have that much teaching experience as a primary instructor. You want to keep it short - one page, 1.5 max. Outline your teaching goals as an educator, as well as your strategies and how they may vary depending on the level of the class, the students, etc. If appropriate, discuss what you can/would like to teach and why teaching is important to you. Give examples and be specific, same as with the SOP; you want a "show, don't tell" strategy, though it can be very hard to do if you don't have a lot of experience. I recently re-did my teaching statement from last year: this year I am instructor of record of my own classes, but last year I only had informal experience as an instructor (in workshops and as a volunteer) and TA experience. There is a big difference in how many big (=vague) ideas I had before vs. how much more concrete I could be now. *This is all assuming that this is for a fellowship that would have you doing some actual teaching, as opposed to tutoring or TAing. If it's one the latter options, you probably want to structure the essay differently and discuss experiences and goals that relate to tutoring/TAing instead of straight up teaching.

Honestly, I would plan for each of them as if you won't get the other. These things are never guaranteed. Suppose you just got one, you'd want it to be the best that it could be. You might also find that once you win a nice grant or fellowship, people become much more flexible and accommodating than when you are just applying; you might be able to find a way to fit the grant with the job's start date, or it might be possible to postpone the start date itself. Of course it's possible that you won't be able to make it work and you'll have to give up one opportunity or the other, but I think that's a good position to be in. If you are awarded a grant, you can put it on your CV even if you decline it. And being offered a nice job opportunity that you had to turn down for something even better will normally be accepted with sympathy by any academic.

I usually try to turn to another project after I send off text for someone to read, so I don't have to think about it for a bit. It helps me come back with a fresher mind once I do hear back from whoever is reading the text and as you say, sometimes it doesn't make sense to go on before you hear back. Is there something else you can do right now other than this work? If you can, it may be a good time to just take a short break from research and enjoy this accomplishment.

Put English, it'll make your life easier and I think it's fair for the purposes of the application. If you were a potential subject for one of my experiments, I might be more cautious, but that's really not the case here.

First of all, I'm sorry that you are in this situation. Whether or not (and how/how much) you tell your advisor I think really depends on what your relationship with him is like. Since you're new, I assume you don't have a very strong relationship, but you might nonetheless have some idea of how he might react. I would urge you to find someone to talk to. First off, talk to someone at student health services. It's important to have a safe place to vent and think out what's happening. Your university might have good counseling services and they might be able to also give you information about any official provisions that you might be entitled to. They would have experience with this kind of situation and can help you find and use resources. Second, I think it may be beneficial to talk to *someone* in your department so that they know what's going on and why you're struggling. It doesn't have to be your advisor, depending on who you are comfortable with. I think any professor who you feel close to, or perhaps the DGS or chair, might be appropriate. You want to find someone who could be an advocate for you and help you if you need an extension or some consideration. Everybody doesn't need to know your business, I think it's fair to ask that professors only be told it's a private/family matter, and if there is someone who is aware and can attest to it being truly a serious issue, that should be enough. I personally think this is a better approach than keeping things secret from everyone, since it's been negatively affecting your work. Again, nobody has to know any details, but I think any reasonable person would understand that you might be struggling because of this personal situation, and also that it will work itself out and that with some time you will go back to being a successful student and researcher.

I found that trimming my ~850 word SOP down to 500 words for a required application did it a world of good. The process itself was painful, I will be the first to admit that, but once it was done, my SOP expressed everything that my 800 word one did, but in a much more precise and sharp way. The way I cut my SOP down was (partly) to remove whole paragraphs that described different research experiences, so later on for applications that didn't have a word limit I added some of that back and ended up submitting something that was around 600-650 words and I thought was very good. I recommend trying to do something like that, because that process of constant editing for what really matters was very helpful in seeing the bigger picture. If you recommendation is 500 words, I think submitting something that's roughly 600-700 words is ok but a lot more than that might be noticeably longer than other applications, and it's not really a way that you want to stand out.

There are two options here and we can't tell you which one is right: often, schools do not update their application system to show submitted materials at all, or they are very slow at doing that. In all likelihood, your scores have arrived but just haven't been updated on the computer yet. However, it's possible that your scores either never arrived or were not updated properly on your application. This is much less likely, but we can't tell you for sure that it's not the case. Since admissions is not answering, my suggestion would be to contact someone at your prospective program (probably the secretary/admin person, unless the website says there is someone else who you should contact with admissions related questions) and ask what to do. Did you upload an unofficial copy of your report? I'd ask if that would be enough to get your application reviewed while you sort this out, and whether they have any way of knowing if the scores have arrived. Most schools will be ok with unofficial scores until they make you an offer, and then they might need the official report before you can get the official offer and/or accept it. But that's a long time away and would give you a better chance of figuring this out.

Normally I stick to what I would wear when teaching, so not casual but not too dressy either. When I'm presenting, I might also wear a jacket. It depends on the conference, really. The small ones tend to be pretty informal. Large ones, especially those held at hotels or convention centers, tend to be more formal. It also varies some by subfield, for me. So yeah, if this is your first conference, ask someone who's been there. If you're not sure, err on the side of formal but layered so you can easily switch to looking more informal if everyone around you is dressed that way. By the second day, you'll figure it out.

There is a big difference between fields where it's expected for students to do research away from the department and ones where it's not. If it's the norm, departments will be set up to deal with the situation and there would be provisions in place for dealing with students who are away; if not, there may be kinks to work out and they may be bigger or smaller depending on luck and the circumstances. This is not to say it's impossible, it's clearly not, but it's harder to do if it's unusual and people don't really have experience with it.

Busy is busy If it hasn't been a week and you know it's a busy time, I think it makes sense to wait a bit longer before trying again.

Since this week was a holiday and long weekend, I'd give it a few more days before emailing again. If you don't hear back by the middle-end of the week, I'd email again.

"Overall performance problems" could be code for actual struggles in classes or in research, or it could be code for personal issues that caused the student to withdraw from the degree even though they were doing ok academically. Mostly it's code for "we can't really share the details with you." In some cases something like this might mean that the faculty don't feel like the student is strong enough to get a job after graduation, even if they could graduate. Occasionally you see people who graduated with a weak research profile who spend a few years looking for a job and bouncing from place to place before giving up, and you kind of wish someone would have told them the harsh truth much earlier and saved them much of the ordeal. I would hope that this is not something that a program would do without giving it a lot of thought, and honestly I'm not even sure I am convinced that you can really know who will succeed early on in the program, but I do sometimes wonder if it's possible if you're experienced enough. (This is to say, I've never had anyone admit to me that they left, or know someone who left, a program for this reason, but I wouldn't be surprised if this happens sometimes.)

I'd agree that you first want to either come to office hours, or if you can't then arrange for an alternative time via email. If she's not replying to her email, however, I don't think it's rude or ridiculous to stop by her office some other time, even if you haven't cleared it with her. Obviously, she may not have the time to speak to you right there and then, so your goal will really be to arrange a meeting in person, either then or at some other time. If you explain that you tried to contact her via email first and can't make her office hours, she shouldn't be upset at all. Either way, I do agree with the others that in general asking for a letter in person is better, but I don't think it's particularly rude to ask over email, just less personal and gives off a certain impression of you.

Yeah, I would not offer speculations. After finishing this program you'll go back home and hope to apply for a PhD program later on. If they ask where, I think it's fair to say that at the moment you think that the best fitting programs are in Canada, but it's hard to know before you even start your MA program. But it's very likely that no one will ask you any of these questions, and I would advise you not to volunteer information beyond answers directly to what you are being asked.

If you've found B and verified the original source, I'd just cite that. There is no need to mention that you got there because you saw it mentioned in A. Obviously this is different if you can't get to the original, and that's how I understand it when people write "(B, as cited in A)," and I always take that with a grain of salt.

There is more than one correct way to do this, but I would say: - list both theses in the same place. If you have a "thesis" section, that is where they should both go. - list only courses that are relevant under "relevant coursework." My guess is that this means all your courses in Sociology, and perhaps some small selection of History classes, depending on what classes you took and what your specialty in Sociology is going to be. If there is nothing relevant, don't list anything. The adcom can see what classes you took on your transcript, and you don't want to obscure the relevant stuff with irrelevant stuff. - list both of your conference presentations under a "presentations" heading. You don't need to have a paper coming out of the conference to be able to list the presentation on your CV.

No. Seriously, students tend to obsess about their professors more than professors tend to think about their students. (Or, in other words, no offense, but you are probably not that special. Unless you did something outrageous, she doesn't hate you because she doesn't think about you that much to begin with.) Email again to ask for an appointment, but if she's not responding to email, find a way to talk to her in person. Stop by her office once in a while to see if she is there. Lurk outside a classroom she is teaching in and try and talk to her at the end of class, or if she is busy or needs to go then try and schedule another time to talk with her before she leaves. Seek her out at colloquia or reading groups that she is likely to attend. If all else fails, maybe skip class and go to her office hours. There is no point to being afraid to talk to her. If she is going to say no, it's better to know this earlier rather than later so you can work on getting another letter. In all likelihood, she is busy and your email got pushed back and forgotten. Try again. This is not personal. If you have someone else who you could consult with and who could potentially write you a letter if needed, talk to them about this. *Don't complain*. I cannot stress this enough, it will not come across like you'd like. Ask for advice about how best to contact her, because you've tried emailing a couple of times but got no response. Some people are known for their annoying email habits, but then there are other ways to get their attention. Your professors may have some other creative ideas.

I see. Although I understand wanting to submit something that is closer to your proposed research interests, I think a better (=safer) strategy is to submit a paper that is not the result of a joint class project. If you had someone who could explain the situation in a letter, I would be less concerned. But as it stands, I think you can't ignore the eventuality where people aren't sure that the paper really reflects *your* abilities. If you need to let the paper speak for itself with no support from faculty, I think the best bet is to submit a strong theoretical paper, and to talk about your experiences with psycholinguistics in your SOP. Mind you, this might be a better strategy regardless of this complication, if you are applying to mostly theoretical departments, both because it'll be likelier that (more) people will read and appreciate your writing sample, and because it might do a better job showing fit -- that you can do good theory work that fits this theoretical department and you also have experimental interests that mesh with their psycholinguists'. Anyway, just a thought. I think this is an unusual enough situation that you should get advice from your LOR writers, they may have other opinions altogether.

Several thoughts. First, you should submit the best paper you have, regardless of subfield. If the paper is in your field, there should be someone on the adcom who can read and evaluate it. The goal is to showcase your research and writing ability; having a writing sample in your subfield is secondary to showing your best work. Second, you should probably contact schools about this issue and ask about their policies. Collaborative experimental work is relatively new in some subfields of linguistics and policies might be vague. You don't want your application to be discarded or suspected because your writing sample is the result of a multi-author project. Third, if/when you contact schools, you should make it clear that you are the first author and main contributor on this work, and you did the actual writing of the paper. The whole point of the writing sample is to showcase your own abilities, so schools might be legitimately concerned that you are submitting something that doesn't really reflect that. Assuming that this paper is your best work, is there a professor writing you a LOR who will be able to describe your contributions to the project and attest to the fact that you contributed as you describe in your post? If so, I would suggest a combined approach: write a short description of your role in the paper in a footnote in the beginning of the paper, outlining what you did and what the other team members did, and ask a recommender to also address this in their LOR. That is, do your best to explain exactly what your contributions were and how this paper reflects your research and writing abilities. Since you are applying to linguistics programs, this may be a little bit tricky. Depending on whether you apply to theoretical or more applied/experimental programs this situation may be more or less unusual for them. Some programs don't have a lot of experience understanding how experimental projects work and what it means when there are multiple authors on a paper. For theoretical projects, we normally just assume that everyone contributed equally, but contributions that merit authorship on experimental papers can be very different, as I'm sure you know. I myself am a theoretical linguist who also has experimental projects, so I've had similar concerns as well. I've opted to submit my multi-authored experimental work as a writing sample in the past (for job applications, not grad school, but the considerations are similar), and I know that my letter writers address my contributions to these projects in their letters. I can tell you that it hasn't been a problem for me, though I always have the chance to submit more than one paper so I additionally submit some singly-authored work and my dissertation. It's seemed to work so far, so I am guessing that if your letter writers explain that the research and writing were primarily yours, and the schools you're applying to allow it, then it should work out ok. Honestly, though, if you have another strong paper that is singly-authored, I'd consider submitting it just to save yourself the headache and doubts. The field needs to be educated, but at this point you just want to get accepted to grad school, not teach everybody how experimental work is done.