fuzzylogician

Normally it's not possible to switch. You'd need to reapply as a new applicant and most likely you'll need to retake whatever courses you are taking now. A good reason to switch would be if for some reason your current school can't support your research interests, e.g. if your main advisor is leaving the school or if your interests shifted from when you started school and there isn't anyone there who can support your new interests. Another good reason is a shift in methodology or approach, so that your current school does things differently than how you'd like to do them. Basically, issues that have to do with fit. Preferably, things you couldn't know before choosing to attend the school. Knowingly choosing a school with a poor fit won't reflect well on you, and leaving after less than a year will mean that you're at a higher risk of generally dropping out and not finishing the degree. Better rankings is not a particularly good reason to want to transfer. If your goal is to stay in academia, school rankings aren't a very important factor: your advisor's reputation and the department's reputation are, and so is your research output.

This. A person comes here, admits an insecurity that is very troubling to them, and is not a popular thing to admit; tries to reply once but mostly gets attacked by posters for said unpopular feeling, gets down-voted, and is called a troll. I am surprised at how many people interpret this post as some kind of personal offense to them as opposed to someone expressing an insecurity. You'd be surprised at how many very(!) successful people need external validation and don't feel accomplished unless others tell them that they are. I think this case is beyond what people normally admit, but -- secretly -- lots of people compare themselves to others and feel insecure, even when objectively they are very successful. Everybody likes it when others acknowledge their successes. If you thought everybody ignored all the good things you've done, wouldn't you be upset? This is where the more helpful posts come in with advice on whose opinions matter and how to deal with this anxiety. Telling someone to get over it or that you don't feel sorry for them is not helping anyone, and taking it personally is just completely misunderstanding what this OP is saying. It's not like this thread has been too helpful. Would you come back for more?

No.

Is it possible to have the letter from the postdoc be co-signed by the postdoc's supervisor, assuming one exists and is a tenured/tenure-track professor? That would give you the best of both worlds.

I'd also try the admin staff in your department. They are usually a good resource for who to contact and how to navigate the university's bureaucracy. Good luck!

It's not really about TT vs. non-TT but other factors that tend to correlate with that. People put more trust in letters from people who they know, and who have successfully trained graduate students in the past and therefore have a good idea of what it takes for an applicant to be successful. They trust letters from people whose names they have seen in the past, even if they haven't met them in person, if they have recommended other students in previous application cycles who turned out to be successful. And they tend to trust people from well known universities more than people from obscure universities they've never heard of, because a better department usually employs better faculty and has better students. These things tend to correlate with a person's experience at being a professor; and that normally correlates with being TT or tenured, as opposed to non-TT, because non-TT people just don't tend to be around for that long. That said, the most important criterion is the content of the letter, not the signature at the bottom. If the letter won't be strong, it's only the rarest superstar who'd be worth the sacrifice over a good detailed letter from a less known professor.

I don't think it makes sense to contact the programs. This is your choice, not theirs. Obviously they can't tell you which letter to go with, but it seems fairly clear that the letter from the prof is better and the only reason to submit the other letter is if otherwise your application will be incomplete. I don't think you're at that point yet. It seems clear that the prof received the link and clicked on it, even if they didn't complete the letter at the time. The link is not a one time deal, they can go back to the application and complete it when they have the time. I'd be optimistic that the prof has the letter ready and has the link, so there is no problem (other than doing things last minute and causing you all this anxiety!). (Meanwhile, I'd email again to express your anxiety and ask if they have the link and all is well, and I'd probably also devise a plan to be on campus and try and find them in person to make sure they're doing it, if that's at all possible.)

First off, your LOR writer hasn't missed the deadline yet. You might be surprised how many academics do things very last minute. Second, the deadline is really just for the student's portion of the application. LOR writers generally have some leeway and are able to submit letters late, as long as they arrive before the applications are reviewed. Many professors know this (because they have served on committees before) and take advantage of this fact. Adcoms know that the student can't control when the letter is submitted, so a late submission doesn't count against the student. So, two questions: has the prof already submitted some letters on your behalf? If so, then the letter is basically ready and there is no reason to think that the prof will not submit it this time. Second, when was the last time you were in touch with the prof? Is there any reason to expect the prof not to be available or have personal issues that have taken over their life? If all is well and you have been communicating the the prof about your LORs, I again don't see cause for concern. I wouldn't contact another LOR writer unless you think something is really off, and if it's possible to submit this letter as a 4th letter for at least some applications in case your original letter writer comes through. You don't want to have someone work on a letter last-minute and then not use it at all. That said, one of my letter writers submitted all their letters on the day of the deadline, generally in the last hour before the deadline, and it made me more than a little worried. You have my sympathy. (For job applications, basically all my letter writers submitted past the deadline but explained the "the deadline is just for the applicant" business and actually contacted colleagues to ask when they really needed to submit, so that helped. But still, those missing letters can cause anxiety.)

Sorry you got laid off and I hope you find another job, but this is really not something to worry about in the context of grad school applications.

I would not send a rough draft that you put together in one day. I'd propose to send your LOR writers a short bullet-point document highlighting your interests, accomplishments, and future plans to help them get started with their LOR and tell them that you'll have a full draft ready in a few weeks.

I have a collection of free pens from various on-campus events. I haven't bought a pen in at least 6 years. I suppose if I were to choose, I prefer a 07 roller ball pen. I also used to use mechanical pens with a 0.7mm tip.

Yeah, that's hard, but if you have a grading key it should come out ok. I'd try and share with the prof anything that was out of the ordinary or not agreed upon as part of the grading key, so you're on the same page. It's probably impossible for you to do things exactly like the prof (it's hard enough to be consistent just within what you are doing!), so aiming for similar scores is probably the best you can do. You're not doing anyone a disservice if their grade is 1-2 points different than it would have been if it had been graded by the prof (in either direction). They are still getting a fair assessment and you are doing the best that you can. If there is a grading key, there shouldn't be large discrepancies, and students can always come to you if they think something isn't fair. Just to make sure you're doing ok, a good measure, I think, is to check that the average for the prof's half is similar to yours--which is how multi-recitation classes I've TAed for in the past made sure things seemed reasonable--but I'm sure you'll do just fine!

Honestly, as a TA and as a primary instructor, I want my students to come talk to me if there is anything that they are not sure about or if they feel that they are not keeping up with the class. Falling behind even one week can be a lot to make up and might lead to an eventual low grade or even an inability to finish the class. Sometimes it's hard to know that someone is struggling until it's too late, and not everyone will notice and reach out to you. However, professors have a vested interest in your success. If you feel unsure about how you're doing, I think it's fine to ask the professor how you're doing. It's probably more useful to come with a specific question or talk about anything that wasn't clear in class. Go to their office hours, or talk to a TA. Don't be afraid to use all the resources that are out there!

I am sure they are used more in large programs that get lots of applications for an initial pass and maybe even in later rounds, but I've never heard of GRE scores being taken more seriously than the CV, SOP, writing sample, and LORs at the end of the day. Those should be enough to tell applicants apart, even if you can't easily compare their grades. I've heard of GRE scores mattering for fellowships and awards, but not really anything beyond that.

Yeah, this happens. You want to be fair and are afraid you might screw it up. It'll get better as you become more experienced and confident in what you're doing. If you're unsure, start out slower and give yourself more time. Do one round with just reading and comments, without taking off points for anything. Do one question at a time and go through your whole pile. When you're done, you'll have a good idea of how people did in general, what kind of mistakes you see, and therefore how you might want the grades to come out. As you go, keep a list of the kinds of errors you see and how many points you want to deduct. Then do a second round for just the grading, based on your comments and the list and grading key. The second round should be faster. Repeat for other questions, then sum up and put final scores on the assignment.

This is one of those things that depends on the department's culture. In some departments, affiliated faculty are very well integrated and participate in department life. In others, not so much. Sometimes it even depends on the particular individual in question. I'd first try and find out if the faculty member you want to mention appears to work with students in your prospective department. If you know anyone you can ask, then I'd ask more generally about the department's culture. If students work with this professor, then it's likely that they will have conference presentations or papers together with the prof that you can find on their CVs, or that you'll see mentions of joint projects in the department's newsletter (if they have one) or on their website. You could also try emailing a few current students to ask about this. I'd start by asking about the facts ('do students work with Prof. X?') and not the why (if not, there is probably some amount of politics involved in this, and people might not want to share that with strangers). If you do choose to mention affiliated faculty, I suggest doing that only after discussing at some length the core faculty and how they could support your research, and mention the affiliated faculty as a secondary reason why you are interested in the school.

What does personally mean? There is nothing personal about it. The GRE essay doesn't require any particular logic or depth, you can make things up and lie. The single most important factor in success is the 5-paragraph structure. The 5 paragraph essay is something that as an American you've been trained to write for years, and that international students normally never even hear about before starting to prepare for the GRE. To me, that's the main disadvantage of the AWA portion of the GRE for international students, and it just doesn't exist in the TOEFL because everyone who takes it is international. Anyway, though, both the TOEFL and the GRE only do a bad to mediocre job of testing whether someone is a good writer, imo. The SOP and writing sample are much better indications.

feministswagger, I think you got some very helpful and thoughtful advice from several people, which is not trivial on a site that is entirely based on the participants' good will. As is the nature of internet discussion forums, people may have opinions that you disagree with, even strongly. They may try and steer the discussion in a direction other than you intended, or bring up a new topic. These are all fine and welcome developments in a thread--this community thrives and regular posters keep coming back because we do more than just answer visitors' questions (though we also do that!): we also have broader discussions on (sometimes) controversial issues, and we ask difficult questions. I don't see any "witch hunt" or even anything rising to the level of an attack in lzs's posts, though perhaps better word choices could have been made. I don't read it as specifically addressing your choices but instead bringing up a more general question. It is entirely (and sadly) true that the academic job market is not particularly great, and that saying that you decided to become a professor with less than one year experience as an undergraduate student might sound naive to some. On the other hand, the prose you quoted above sounds mature and level-headed, so I personally wouldn't be concerned about your motives or ability to succeed, if I were on an adcom. (But I'm not, and who knows what anybody else thinks.) In any event, I suggest you simply ignore this comment, as there is otherwise a quite interesting discussion here. I think the fact that you are getting conflicting advice from your mentors, who presumably have a lot more experience doing this than us, shows that there is no hard and fast truth here, only people's opinions. ETA: re: But I guess I know not to post questions on here because of the level of judgment that might be received if you're purusing a career in the humanities.-- I have to tell you, even after graduating with my PhD from a top school and obtaining a really great postdoc, I occasionally get these questions of 'what are you going to do with this degree?' (funnily, often from people who have had a lot less education and little understanding of the realities of academia.) I choose to ignore these people and move on. I don't need to justify my choices to anyone.

Probably, though we can't guarantee that. Your SOP will also serve as evidence of your writing ability, so make sure it's polished. You could additionally have one or more LOR writers address your writing abilities, if you are concerned.

You'll likely only have a few weeks. You could and ask about interview dates, in case they have been scheduled already and explain why you are asking as you did here, otherwise the inquiry will seem very presumptuous. However, I wouldn't be surprised if the dates haven't been decided on yet, since they will probably only happen next semester and people are likely not to have a full schedule yet. You could look at previous years' results in the results survey to get an idea of when interviews might take place. It'll be fairly accurate, but obviously it doesn't guarantee anything. Keep in mind that schools will understand if you can't make it there on short notice. You can always request a skype interview.

I don't know if it's possible to give an answer that will be true for all programs in all cases. If we're talking about academic PhD programs, I think it's much likelier that the adcom wants a CV than a resume. The resume won't provide the kind of information that would be useful for an adcom, whereas the CV is the standard document that an academic would use to list their accomplishments. On the other hand, for professional programs and perhaps some MAs, I could imagine that a resume is more useful. So I guess if I were in this situation I'd either choose to submit a CV, or I would contact the program in question and ask them what they meant.

Everyone is different and hopefully your brother has a good idea of his own work habits, but let me tell you a bit about how it worked for me. I am a social scientist and basically everything I need for my work is on my computer, so my work environment can be pretty flexible. I don't need a large desk for books and such, but it's important to have a good internet connection since a lot of the material I need is online. It was useful to always have scratch paper in hand and occasionally I would write things on a whiteboard to work stuff out or to keep track of what I was doing. I always kept to-do lists and it helped me a lot to discuss with someone what I was up to and what I was planning to do for that day or that work session. Even if you don't understand what your brother says exactly, it may help him to talk things out loud and it gives some sense of accountability when you have told someone that you'll do X by time Y. Having snacks and a drink nearby also prevent some wandering around and trips to the fridge. Sometimes I played quiet music and sometimes I needed silence. One thing that is important is to have a space where you won't be interrupted and where there aren't (m)any distractions. It's good to have a well-lit work environment with a comfortable chair and desk. However, I also found it helpful to have more than one work environment and to be able to move to a new location whenever I got stuck (either in the house or outside--I had several coffeeshops that I spent a lot of time at). If it's in the house, having a couch or comfortable chair in addition to the desk might be enough, or the possibility to work outside in the yard if it's not too cold. I can't tell you if any of this would help your brother, but I hope he will appreciate your efforts. Good luck to you both!

OP, I think it's wise for you to take a break after you graduate and spend some time doing something else. You might want to try and figure out why the brand name means so much to you and why other people's opinions or ignorance matter at all. People who matter (like potential employers or grad schools) know Columbia and UCSD and if some of your friends or loved ones don't, you can educate them. If some random person doesn't recognize a school's name, that means very little and matters not at all. Those are both great schools that you went to. However, trying to go to the number 1 place for everything, all the time, is bound to fail, if for no other reason than that people can't agree on what the number 1 is. That aside, it's simply not necessary. People can get places and be successful and respected by others without going to all the best schools or getting all the grants or winning all the prizes. No one is perfect, and at the end of the day it's not like you have to do everything perfectly or it's not worth the bother. If that were the case, school #2 would never even exist and frankly, no one would get out of bed in the morning. Life doesn't end if things aren't all perfect, and who decides what's perfect anyway? You're entering a competition with yourself that you are bound to lose. I'm not sure what more to say except that this goal you've created for yourself is truly unattainable -- there is always something more and better that you could achieve, that cycle just never ends unless you stop it yourself. You need to learn to take pride in what you have achieved, which frankly sounds like quite a lot already, you just need to decide to see it.

Alright, this looks like it may take a turn for the worse very fast, so everyone PLEASE think for a moment before you post.

This. I'd say having a good working relationship with your advisor is the most important factor in your success and general well-being as a graduate student. I personally worked with more than one PI during my PhD (my program was structured in such a way that you were never assigned a single PI who was solely in charge of you -- instead, you could work with different people on different projects and you could choose to stay with them or not as you grew and your interests evolved). The thread that unites the people who I worked with is that they were probably fairly hands-on, compared to some of what I read on the board. My advisors were all very much invested in me and in my project(s) and would take the time to talk to me about what I was doing on a weekly basis, help talk through problems and questions (including thinking through solutions together), and generally cared about both my well-being as a person and about my career development as a scientist. This is what works for me, and it didn't suit everyone else, which is fine and normal. Likewise, there are other profs in my program who I personally didn't click with, but some of my friends found them to be great advisors. It's really just about who you are and who they are as a person. I've worked with very famous professors and also with newer ones. I think my best working relationship was with a prof who was new to my university: started the same year as me and came untenured. He came from an undergrad only institution so I was his first real graduate student and I was involved in all the steps of him setting up a lab and getting started on research projects, as well as his (expedited) tenure process. It was definitely a trial and error process, more so than my other relationships with established faculty where I think a better characterization would be that either I fit with the way they did things or I moved on. With him, there was more room for negotiation and we explicitly discussed different approaches to mentoring and how it's working for us. I think I learned a lot more from that mentoring situation than all my other ones, mostly about myself and what kind of mentor I would like to be. There were also more difficulties and bumps in the road, so it's a tradeoff. As long as you are comfortable talking things out, I think it's worth doing. I would definitely choose to do it again, so no major regrets.