qbtacoma

Why is it that we can never have these sorts of revelations until after everything is turned in? I do this all the time when I can't think of anything to improve my papers until it is much too late.

tall tree

Thanks for posting that thought-provoking response video, saecla vincere - it bucked me up enough to watch the original video, which I had been avoiding. I doubt this woman would benefit from going to an anthropology class. In my experience the students who are forced to be in classes with a heavy emphasis on diversity will deeply resent it and sulk the whole time, as well as mulishly refusing to even consider the authors' perspectives if it doesn't immediately jive with them. They think in terms of us vs. them to such an extent that they don't even recognize the fact that there is no such thing as THE black or THE Asian perspective, so any experience voiced by people of color they take as oppositional and, of course, self-centered and wrong. I don't know how students like this can be jarred out of their complacency, but they see efforts to do so from a mile away and have already hardened their minds against it. As you can tell, I tired quickly of such classmates. And you know what? Fuck this woman's opportunity for a degree. Her classmates don't deserve to be subjected to her. If she expressed those thoughts to another person it would be bullying, and I think it is progress that we can say (via social pressure) "No, this perspective is so invalid that you can't meaningfully contribute to the community here anymore." It isn't like she was making the most of her educational opportunities while she was there, so maaaaaybe this reaction will snap her out of it. Even if it doesn't, UCLA is better off without her. As for the death threats, well, just goes to show that bad behavior is universal, especially when you throw in the anonymity of the internet.

Now I want to see someone be offended by the requirement that we have to give them our names to apply ("that's so personal!") and I will have seen someone get deeply offended at every aspect of the applications process. Yay! Seriously though folks, I know we're all Unique Snowflakes (I certainly am!), but there's just no good way (read: "nice" way) to assess large groups of people and their potential without generalizing/testing/asking other people, and any numbers of these measure will reveal our weaknesses, as they should. There's no need to resent that. We need to be holistic good candidates for programs to pour half of decades and thousands of dollars into us.

I'd like to hear more opinions on the relative value of taking classes outside one's area of study vs. independent reading seminars. Obviously any choices I make will be discussed with my advisor and so forth, but since a lot of seminar reading is gutting books for their arguments, wouldn't it be valuable to make theoretical connections with subjects outside one's research?

hot ticket

For folks who wanted to get a headstart on teaching strategies, though, having earlier and more frequent teaching experiences could be a clear benefit to more TA work. Doesn't it take teachers something like five years to develop their own styles and gain experience? Also if the final goal is working at a CC the teaching experience will be just as important as the research, though anyone doing that should try to adjunct at a CC too. Setting all that aside, sometimes people just need to pay the bills, even if school takes longer. And people, what's with the thumbs down on StrangeLight? If you disagree please elaborate in a post. I know you all aren't objecting to Star Wars jokes.

As other folks have said here, I think your attitude is healthy and a great advantage! It is my attitude too. You know what you need to keep happy and you have a sense of perspective on what is required - a weekend every few weeks is not an onerous accommodation, so do let your PI know! I think that most people here are lifelong high academic achievers (including me), and now we are getting to the point of failure due to either a) chance and the market, or b ) the work is so hard that we really can fail. So people who stake their identities on being Good At School 'N Stuff are not preparing themselves for these options and are accordingly devastated by failure, and most of us (including me, until my current gap year) don't consider who we could be without school. It is a personal identity crisis as much as it is anything else. Hence, too, the glum warnings on blogs from academics who understand personally the risk of tying our identities to academia alone (or primarily).

If there is another, younger professor co-advising you, it sounds like you wouldn't really suffer the negative consequences of a retiring advisor. You'll still have the young one, right? And you'll be able to tap into the retiring one's prestige/social network. I would ask both professors separately how they envision managing you together, since compatibility between them needs to be something on which everyone is clear. Also, it is definitely okay to ask clarifying questions.

Sounds like a perfect job for a ten year old cousin.

delicious eel

I am curious, OP - do you feel conflicted about the choice because you have some undefinable uneasiness about school A, or because it is difficult to once and for all make a choice and close off all other possible futures? If the latter problem is holding you up, rest assured that you will feel better when it is all over - it sounds like you've got a great choice here. Keep in mind your long term goals as well. If you want to stay in academia then being forced to take a TAship may actually help you in the long term at school B; if not, then school A is the best option.

That does help, thank you!

How close is your school to the border? Maybe it would be feasible for him to relocate relatively closely and then drive up for long visits until he finds a job in your city. That's the route I'm taking. I think I remember reading somewhere that it isn't very difficult to get common law status in Canada, but since I've looked and cannot find that maybe it was wishful thinking on my part. Do any other international students know?

What! You have cats in head cones with you!? You should be too busy giggling at them running into things to feel sad about your dream school. Seriously, though, that is hard news to hear, especially when you are so invested in achieving your dream. Grieve a little - give yourself a few days to mope and eat delicious things, but then rev yourself up by looking at programs you were accepted at and remember why you liked those places enough to apply. Not to give you a different torch to carry (but kinda sorta), you know there's always postdocs or even the possibility at working at Dream School in the future. So, the dream isn't totally gone forever - maybe it will look a little different. Incidentally, I also happen to have a cat with a head cone at the moment. He keeps walking backwards like he thinks that will get it off his head.

Applied to seven programs, rejected by five, accepted at one and withdrew my last application before hearing the final answer. However, I suspect I could not have gotten a better deal as far as fit and money, so I'm very happy.

Touche.

Silas, you should cross-post that in the Index thread. That's a lot of great info!

I do that too! I'm working on a research project right now for someone else and I haven't done hardly any work on it when I'm not exhausted - too stressed to sleep, but too tempted by other daytime activities to work on the damn thing.

Thanks for the tips!

I dunno. I'm inclined to give lots of points to folks to reference Harry Potter. I dressed up for the seventh book release and all that jazz.

Not necessarily. Many schools don't ask for any financial information when you apply, and fellowships/scholarships/RAships/TAships are offered on merit. State schools may ask that you file a FAFSA, and this probably does play a role in offers for those places. I think they *might* make an extra slot for an independently wealthy applicant, if that person was impressive enough, but they wouldn't reject a poor applicant in favor of a rich one. But, I'm not on an adcomm, so I speculate here.

Good for you! Much congratulations! Okay. Practicalities. The cutthroat competition aspect of this program - this is something for which you really need to prepare yourself. Not that grad school is the same at all, but in junior high school I dealt with the bullshit messed up social situation by withdrawing into myself and being fairly lonely. I felt this was a legitimate strategy; I was never bullied in junior high, and a lot of adult competitiveness comes from the same place as pubescent insecurity. Also take extra care to take care of your mental health - schedule in exercise, massages, nights out at the movies, etc so your general quality of life is better than the stress the competition will inflict upon you. Ask yourself if you can endure at least two years of social isolation from your classmates. Will you still be able to function academically? I think I remember from your other posts that you have a partner - you might have to ask him to help you edit papers and such since you won't be able to count on constructive peer reviews. I sincerely wish that the academy could be collaborative and mutually supportive everywhere, but sometimes this just doesn't happen (as in industry or wherever else). So be the kind of person you want to be, and I honestly think you'll be creating a better atmosphere for the people who follow. And this isn't, like, a Japanese high school or something where everyone knows your grades and knows where exactly you stand in relation to each other. You'll probably get burned, but there are ways to deal with it. It is a top program for a reason; you'll come out with strong training and a reputation to match. So good for you!

I did my undergrad research in history, but for most of my undergrad career I was an economics major, and I barely squeaked by without taking another semester of work after switching majors in my senior year. (Well, second semester junior year, but I went abroad and none of those classes had anything to do with any major, so effectively senior year.) It turns out that the areas in which I am interested - immigration, medical history - have little directly to do with what I'd studied before in history - gender and race. Well, the analytical angles I gleaned from gender studies and critical race theory I can certainly apply to the others, but as far as the literature and the theory in those specific fields I'm a bit behind. I'm also behind in languages because econ majors don't have to be multilingual in grad school; history majors do. So that's a bunch of stressed out suffering that I'm in for, but I'm at peace with that.

Dunno about you all, but I like my socializing sleepless and shellshocked. That's why I'm going to grad school!