fuzzylogician

At least in my field, department heads, Deans, etc. are all professors who have chosen to take on an administrative position at some point in their career, usually after already being quite established academically. They still (usually) have academic responsibilities, to varying degrees given their other admin responsibilities. These are not positions you apply for straight out of grad school, so it's not even an option one could consider. You'd have to find an academic job and be successful at it for a while before you could consider this move (which I personally don't think of as giving up, but I think that's irrelevant because it's a different career move at a different career stage than what you're imagining). And in that case, we're right back to where we started, with the problem of availability of academic jobs.

It sounds to me like your interests will be better served in Leiden. If your goal is to continue on to a PhD in linguistics after your MA, I think Leiden will give you a better starting point than Oxford, and within linguistics it is well-known for its quality. I would go as far as saying that in my subfield(s), I would consider a degree from Leiden better than one from Oxford.* I also think the system is better in being more structured and allowing a lot more interaction with other students and researchers, as well as visitors. The only reason I can see why you would choose Oxford is the brand name, which would matter if your goal is non-academic jobs that are removed from linguistics. But I still don't think that is a good enough reason to choose to do a degree in a place that can't support your interests. *Not that this is a particularly meaningful statement. The question at the end of the day is what you did while you were there. But I would bet that a degree from Leiden would come with better LORs, so would therefore make a better impression, all things being equal (which they never are!).

What field are you asking about?

No funding means no funding. They will not pay for anything. Any costs associated with your education must be covered by you. It means a lot of debt. Do NOT attended an unfunded PhD program in English. It is not worth it.

For straight up linguistics programs (which is to say, I know nothing about language specific programs), I know that Harvard, UConn, and UC San Diego have researchers who work on sign language. NYU just had a student who graduated with a dissertation on sign language semantics.

What are your interests? What are your plans post-Masters? I can think of several subfields where I'd consider Leiden more prestigious than Oxford. I've never been to Oxford but my impression of Leiden is that it's an extremely friendly environment where it would be great to be a student. (But again, might depend on subfield, I can also speak to my own experience as a visitor on the syntax-semantics side.)

That right there is a great sign for a healthy and supportive program. That, to me, ended up being a deciding factor for grad school choices. I visited one school that I was seriously considering but instead of telling me all the ways that they are great, they spent their time explaining why their competition sucks. Major turn off. At the school I ended up attending (and a few others, to be fair, I think that was the case at most places I visited, and why those other ones stood out so much), faculty had only nice things to say about the alternatives I was considering. What a difference that attitude makes.

Do the interview, you have nothing to lose (a few hours of sleep don't count!). You aren't wasting their time unless you have already decided that you will absolutely not attend. If you're not sure, talk to them, and then see what kind of offer they make you. If it's unfunded or you are offered insufficient funds, you could consider using your other offer as leverage to ask for an increase in your stipend, or you could just accept the other offer. Either way, it seems to me that you owe it to yourself to give yourself as many options as possible and choose from a position of knowledge, not speculation.

Good to hear from you and thank you for the update. I am glad to hear that things are going well. Congratulations on your job offer and interview and good luck with your exam!

Seriously?? This is equivalent to the following conversation: A: Could you pass the salt please? B: No. A: What do you mean 'no'? It's there right next to you. Don't you see it? B: Yes. (Doesn't pass the salt.) This has got to be one of the more ridiculous conversations I've had in a while.

A lesson in pragmatics that I just taught in my freshman Intro to Linguistics class: questions like "do you know what time it is?", "can you open the window", "could you pass the salt?" are not (usually) information-seeking questions. If you answer "yes" and do nothing else, any reasonable person would consider you to be uncooperative. This is a request for you to take action! There are some background assumptions that all speakers in a conversation share -- for example, that the contributions we make to a conversation are relevant, and that they are truthful, and that they give just as much information as is needed, not more and not less. In most contexts, if someone asks if you can pass the salt, it's not just so they know whether or not you can do it. Unless the conversation is about your physical abilities (maybe you had a stroke and can't move your arm very well, for example, or maybe we're testing you ability to reach very far in the distance), in most contexts it's assumed that of course you are physically capable of passing the salt. We don't ask just to get a 'yes' answer. Instead: we ask an obvious question: of course you can reach the salt --> we are making the salt relevant to the conversation, and specifically making your ability to pass it relevant --> it's a request for actual action to be taken, of the kind that we just made salient --> so please pass the freaking salt! The exact same logic works here for your professor's request. He is not asking if you have a copy of your paper just to have that information and to do nothing with it. He is asking because he *wants you to send him a copy*! So a simple "yes" or "no" response isn't being cooperative in the conversation, it's exactly like answering "yes" when someone asks "could you pass me the salt?". And it'll be perceived in exactly that way by your professor, who I am sure is very confused about why you are being so difficult.

You, my friend, are in for a world of trouble if this is going to be your attitude for the duration of your graduate program. One can only hope that it's a short professional masters that will lead to a job in industry and not much reliance on your advisors, and not a PhD that you hope will lead to a job in academia, because for that you will need a serious attitude adjustment.

If that is what this is about then I agree, you don't need to give them too many details. It is entirely reasonable to say that you are very excited about this offer, but you want to have all the relevant information before making this important decision. You are still waiting to hear from a couple(?) of the schools you have applied for, and that is delaying your decision. As soon as you are able to, you will let them know what you have decided, and of course you will contact them again if you have any questions.

He didn't change the topic -- this is directly on topic given your reply. I am again confused about why you are reading so much into a simple exchange. I don't think he is doing anything out of the ordinary. If anything, your reaction would probably seem odd to him.

You didn't say anything about your field or the structure of the program so this may vary. The first year is actually probably the best year for your advisor to be gone (and note: not teaching is not the same as gone!). You take a pretty heavy courseload, you might be TAing for the first time -- it takes time to adjust and usually you do less research than in subsequent years. You should also not have a problem starting to discuss a project with the two other individuals who are around and beginning to meet with this professor in your second year. I don't think there should be any problem at all.

It's not bad form to go, and it wouldn't be bad if school A learned that you visited school B or even entertained an offer from them. Schools fully expect that their top candidates will have multiple offers and that some of them will accept some of those other offers. This is not something that they will be offended by, and if you end up deciding to accept another offer, as long as you are professional in your email informing them of your decision, there is no reason why it should burn a bridge or cause any trouble, really. However, I am not sure what good it would do to tell them about your waitlist from school B right now. You don't have an offer, so it's not like you can negotiate. I am not sure you could do that either way, but clearly not without an offer. There doesn't seem to be any other reason why this is relevant to school A at this point.

I haven't submitted a paper in any form other than electronic for so long, I don't think I can answer the frequency question, but I am very confused as to why you are even asking. They left the copy they were reading in the office and wanted to continue working at home, so they asked you to send a copy. Why is this a problem?

Quick thoughts: - Unfortunately, I am really not sure that Japanese Language professor is a job you can have. First, you are not a native speaker and admit your level isn't very high; there is no shortage of native speakers who are looking for these teaching jobs. Second, teaching language courses is often done by people who aren't quite professors but instructors at the college level, meaning on contract and not tenure track. They usually have a higher teaching load and no research/advising responsibilities. If that's what you mean, you should frame it that way, because it sounds very different. But either way, I am not convinced that this is at all realistic. - If you're serious about this, I would start by searching for job ads recruiting people for jobs like the ones you'd like to have. Get a sense for what's out there and how many jobs are there in general. Look several years back. If you are not discouraged at this point, look at the requirements more carefully. What skills do you need to have? I assume at the very least fluency, if not being a native speaker, would be a bare minimum. You can also look at the kind of degree these people should have and if there is anything mentioned about a teaching certificate or other experience. Are these requirements something that you can meet or study for? If so, then your next step is to get started on those requirements. - Two options: maybe you need to improve your language skills independently of a formal degree program. That might take a few years and entail living in Japan for a while. This would be my guess. Then maybe a degree in education or teaching a foreign language is what you want. Or, you can study the language as part of your degree, but then you need to find the right programs that will allow you to do that. Would Japanese language programs actually give you the training you need for the job you want? Carefully look into that, because I am not so sure, I would bet those programs are more theoretically oriented and might teach you lit as well and prep you for a PhD, mostly. You need to read up on program requirements and compare them to the job ads. - There is likely no way around the 3-letter requirement. You need to think about who else could write you a letter and cultivate those relationships. You should probably have a letter from professor from undergrad. I assume you haven't been out of school for that long, so you'll need to reach out to your professors and ask if they would be willing to write you a letter. It might be a good idea to give them materials (papers from classes, your SOP) and to offer to speak with them on the phone before they write the letter, so they can remind themselves of who you are and what you're about. This step should only happen after you've figured out what you are going to do.

For what it's worth, I heard that I was getting the NSF dissertation improvement grant a few months before it was official. My advisor got an email from the program director. I don't know how normal that is.

If nothing in your circumstances changed, it's hard to imagine that the decision will change. You can try, but I'd be surprised if it worked. MAs are often a main source of revenue for these universities, and funding is limited.

Assuming you are planning to apply to grad school the following year, a lot of grad students will have more than one research project at the same time that they work on at the same time as taking classes and TAing/RAing. So, it's not crazy, but it might keep you very busy. You should have a clearer idea of the actual hours you'd have to invest in each activity you are doing and how it will fit into a feasible schedule. For example, how many hours a week will you be expected to spend working on the project? Will you need to be around at particular times/days? How much flexibility is there on busy weeks? Only you know what you can do. This doesn't sound to me outside the realm of possibility, and if you are successful, it will have great benefits, in the form of two great LORs (thesis advisor, project supervisor) and hopefully the ability to write a strong SOP and find good schools to support your interests. Also research experience and perhaps a publication, and/or a writing sample, and a good sense of what grad school will actually be like. So overall, great, doable, but possibly a heavy load.

You can (and should) have a letter from your supervisor at the foreign service. S/he won't be able to discuss your potential to succeed in a DrPH program (I assume), but s/he still knows you well and can attest to your work ethic, collegiality, and success at your current job. I assume that would be a stronger letter than any letter you could get from an online instructor or someone who will teach you an intensive two-week course. If you have an option to get a second (strong!) professional letter, one thing you might consider doing is actually writing the program you are considering applying to, explaining your circumstances and asking if they would prefer to have two professional and one academic letter or one professional and two academic ones. You might get a useful response (or maybe nothing will come of it, but you have nothing to lose).

The GPA is important in the sense that every component of the application is important and particularly low PGAs may be cause for concern. It is indeed entirely true that things are field-specific and vary (also: degree-specific; the GPA probably matters more at the MA level because students will on average have less research experience and not as strong LORs, SOPs, CVs, etc. than at the PhD level; it probably also matters more for professional programs than research-focused ones). Clearly, if you know that there is a GPA cutoff, you have to meet it; and sometimes there will be a cutoff even though no one told you. However, to say that the GPA is a transparent measurement of academic success is far from accurate. Grades mean very different things at different schools (and even different departments within a school), and if you throw foreign degrees with whole different grading systems and views of what constitutes a strong performance in a class into the mix, and you get anything but a transparent measurement that you could straightforwardly use to compare applicants. The GRE is the closest thing to that, but then we'd have to discuss all the ways in which it disadvantages certain populations, and why some schools are now moving away from using it. Overall, I think we both agree that both the GPA and GRE, while important, are less important than some other factors. I think a more accurate way to put it is that low GPA or GRE scores could keep you out (or: hurt you on funding decisions), but it's the SOP, LORs, CV, and writing sample that really get you in.

Yeah, my school was a lot like that. Cherish it while you can. Eventually you will graduate and move to an institution where the secretaries aren't as knowledgeable or helpful, the buildings aren't as pretty, the heating doesn't work as well, etc. Grad school is a special time. You're also in many ways sheltered from the "real world," and that too won't last. To me knowing that is all the reality check I needed, I don't know what else you'd want to do. You always want to do your best to get ahead and be prepared for when you graduate, but I don't see why you can't take advantage of all the wonderful things your school has to offer and enjoy it while you can. In fact, being there, I feel like you own it to yourself to make the most of the resources, because chances are you won't have access to them again later in your life.

The most you can do is tell them a version of what you said here: reaffirm your interest in this school, but tell them you can't attend without funding. Ask for a timeline for when you might hear about funding decisions and an estimate for your chances of getting it. You might mention having other offers but still preferring this school, if there was adequate funding. Unless the other schools are pressing you to make decisions before April 15, I don't think there is much more that you can do, except wait and periodically ask for an update and tell them you are still interested. Independent of that, I would strongly advise you not to compare yourself to others, it's not a healthy thing to do and also not really relevant to your funding decision. Beyond that, if you are going to do it, then at least look at relevant factors. GPA and GRE are among the least important factors in admissions decisions, so I don't find it at all surprising that someone with a lower score than yours could have had a better outcome.