hashslinger

But I don't think that expecting students to make certain concessions to the classroom space = expecting them to become future scholars. Maybe it's just me, but I really don't think that putting your cell phone away for 50 minutes is a very high hoop to jump through. Beyond that, I'm not quite certain what standards we're expecting our students to meet if not to become at least semi-literate in the materials we teach. I took a lot of classes in college that I had no interest in; I was still expected to do the work. I was still expected to attain a minimum proficiency in say, physics, despite the fact that I hated the subject and never thought about it again after I got through the class. But my professor still expected that I, a non-physics person, would do the reading. And I expect my students to do the reading for my class, even if they don't see an ounce of usefulness in the subject. Why else go to college? I used the examples of "seminar" and "job talk," but I could have easily said "sitting in a board room" or "sitting in a movie theater." There are places in life where it's still considered rude to pull out your phone. If a professor or TA feels that their classroom space is one of those places, I think that's fine, and I think they can enforce that expectation without feeling like they're alienating their students or infringing upon students' rights to do with their class what they see fit. (If someone doesn't feel that way and has no problems with cell phones, then that's also fine--no judgment there.) Ultimately, I think the professor or TA gets to make decisions of how to run their classroom. Students are always free to take another class if they find a professor's rules too burdensome or their demands too high.

You should wait for him to contact you. He's probably busy right now weeding through all the applicants. Unless this guy knows you personally or has reached out to you to let you know that you're on a short list, then no, let him do his thing. Don't call him, he'll call you, etc. March 10 is still weeks away. If you don't hear from him by next Monday, then you might send a *very* polite, unassuming email inquiring about the status of your application. That is all. Is there some special reason to assume that you've got this in the bag? Whenever I apply for things like this, I assume that I won't get it. Usually I don't. The fact that you haven't heard yet may mean that you haven't been selected. This is par for the course. Academia is so competitive that you won't get the vast majority of things you apply for--jobs, conferences, publications, fellowships, competitive seminars, etc.

I see that you're in Ohio ... and there are tons of funded MA programs in Ohio. Kent State, Ohio U, Bowling Green State, Miami, maybe even others. I know that working a crappy job is miserable, but going into a bunch of debt isn't going to solve one's economic problems. There are many options here. It's not like you HAVE to pay for a pricey MA in order to get into a PhD program. There is a world between "pay to play" and middle-of-nowhere job misery.

I can't upvote this enough. The bottom line is that you have your whole life to get this PhD. I know that this point in the admissions game is the worst; you can start to feel desperate. You feel bad that you didn't get accepted anywhere, and to offset that bad feeling you just want to go somewhere, anywhere, to feel like you have a future. My first year out was the worst. It felt like everyone else was getting these incredible offers from high-ranked schools without any effort, and I was getting shut out everywhere. However rough this time is, it's not the time to make a $60,000 decision. Life is long, and few people enjoy success right out of the gate. Tbh, a lot of people I know who got multiple top offers right out of the gate aren't happy in their programs. (Part of me wonders if it's because they didn't have to struggle as hard, but that's neither here nor there.) Think about it this way: next year you might have a funded offer at this time, and then you'll be relieved that you didn't spend your (yet unearned) life savings on something that you can get for free.

I think this is the main issue for me--cell phones and other devices are distracting to other students. So as much as I'd like to take a "screw 'em, it's their responsibility to know the material!" attitude, I have to think about the class as a whole. I actually don't allow laptops in my classes unless we have some special task that requires a laptop. When there are no electronic distractions around, I find that the class discussion is much better and that students actually perform better. TBH, I don't really understand why it's so much to ask to have people put their personal phones or devices away when they're in class. It's really very little to expect of people. There are a variety of rude things that I could do when I'm in a seminar or job talk, but I don't do them. And I attended college before the cell phone craze hit, but professors back then were not tolerant of other distracting behaviors--reading the newspaper or a magazine in class, or sleeping all over your desk. Doing any of those things would get you kicked out of class. I didn't think my professors were insecure for enforcing those rules.

I agree that teachers need to keep their egos in check, but being generous doesn't mean suffering fools gladly. No one has to turn themselves into a martyr--or allow a select group of students to make their own rules or sour the class atmosphere--in order to become a better teacher. Quite frankly, the best teachers I know are reflective--what I guess you're calling "endlessly deconstructing." What good is teaching if you only teach for that specific moment?

I also worked in the professional world before returning to grad school, and I find this "professional" student's behavior appalling and not really worth entertaining. Everyone has a degree of inexperience in their lives. The OP here is probably (relatively) inexperienced with dealing with this type of thing or these types of students. Obviously the non-traditional students are inexperienced with chemistry (or they wouldn't be taking the class). However, I find that the older students have behaved much more egregiously here. If you're a mature adult, and if you're dealing with an inexperienced TA, then have a little compassion and deal with it. Rolling your eyes, whispering, and flying off the handle over a missing 10% are not ways that mature adults should navigate this kind of situation. (I think that maybe they're the ones that need a "skill set.") Even if the OP is inexperienced and not equipped to reach this particular demographic at this point in his life, it certainly doesn't give the non-trads a free pass to behave in this manner. It seems to me that there might be some ego issues here. The older professional student seems to feel that his experience as a professional isn't being validated by the younger (I'm assuming) TA. He feels that the TA isn't deferring to him in all his professional achievements. And whose problem is that? The older guy's. I've actually seen this happen quite a bit to other TAs in my department (most of whom are quite young and don't have the work experience I have). One older woman accused a young friend of mine of being "just some rich girl" who didn't know anything about the real world. I can understand that having to take orders from someone who is younger and less experienced can be an uncomfortable situation. However, being an adult also means navigating a world with different leadership styles and different personalities. By the time you're older, you should know that not every teacher is going to care about your weekend or want to have a beer with you or make you feel validated. Other professors might--because yes, they're older and have been in these situations before. But one can't fault a TA for just doing his job and not shifting his entire teaching style to make a certain group of people feel special.

I ... kind of wish I had used one during my first round? I'd been out of school for about four years and lived very far from previous professors. I indeed tried to get former professors to help me with my statement, but no one came through with comments. I was a little nervous about sharing my statement with somewhat anonymous people on the internet.. And I had a job at the time, so I had the money. However, I agree with what everyone else here has said: these consultants can probably help you with wording issues or structure, but they won't be able to comment on the creativity or validity of your proposed intervention. When I went from MA to PhD, I got help from professors in my program and some other grad students. That's probably best. FWIW, these consultants also exist for job market stuff. They say they help with your cover letter, your teaching philosophy, and your interview skills. I don't know of anyone who has used one, but unfortunately I think there is a need for them: Advisers do not help people with their job letters as much as they should.

Well, by addressing them as students, you ARE treating them like professionals. I'm not exactly sure how they want to be treated, or what they think "professional" treatment might look like? Your professional role here is to be the TA, and whether they like it or not, you're in a position of authority over them. I'm sorry, but if these students can't accept that particular arrangement, then they shouldn't have decided to enroll in this program. Part of going back to school means that you will likely have to deal with TAs and instructors--maybe even professors--who are younger or less experienced than you are but still in a position to judge your work. And as another above poster pointed out, this kind of behavior is anything but professional. In the professional world you do not get to miss a deadline and then bitch out your boss because you don't like his personality. You do not get to sit around and complain about your boss to other coworkers and then go to the boss and say, "We all feel that you suck as a boss." Or, if you do, you don't get to expect good results. Quite frankly, I think this student is a bit of a bully, and not too bright for 1) bringing all this to your attention, and 2) putting it in writing. There's probably a reason this guy is back in school and not burning up the track in the work force. Even if a whole gaggle of students don't like you--and even if they happen to be "professional" non-traditional students--that doesn't mean that you should change your teaching style, back down, or let this person make you feel bad about the way you're running the recitation. You are running the lab section the way you see fit because it's YOUR LAB SECTION. You're a PhD student in chemistry; obviously these students don't have the expertise you have because they're the ones who need to take the class. There are always students who don't like you, and who disapprove of your teaching--and yes, sometimes these students may be older or more seasoned. I've also had older students who feel I'm not "serving them adequately" because I don't jump to answer their emails immediately or hand out my personal phone number for the purpose of late-night "troubleshooting" (as is more customary in a profit-driven workforce)--too bad. Moreover, your students' behavior seems very unprofessional and beyond rude. Whispering when they get their papers back? Criticizing you when you're within earshot? These are adults? Perhaps if they want to be treated more like professionals, they should start acting that way. Frankly, I'd be tempted to tell them that! (But I understand that you don't want to exacerbate the issue.) Personally, if I were you, I don't know if I'd even do a midterm evaluation. Why make it seem like you care a great deal about their opinions? I know that midterm evaluations are useful pedagogically, but I find them a double-edged sword. They can definitely let you know what's working or not, but they can also give students the impression that you're incredibly interested in their opinions, and this can make you seem a little wishy-washy. FWIW, I've noticed over the years that students uniformly don't like a lot of things (difficult assignments, honest grading, a lot of reading)--but they absolutely lose respect for an instructor who seems ambivalent or willing to backpedal or eager to please. You can get away with giving the harshest grades ever if you do so with utter detachment and conviction. They won't like your grades (and probably not you), but they'll stick around. The minute you seem to cater to the whispering peanut gallery--or allow them to have sway--you lose the whole class. [i don't think that midterm evaluations are bad or that we shouldn't listen to the feedback that students give us. On the contrary, evals can be very valuable. I just think that you have to get a read on certain classes. If a class is just a crummy mix of people, then I forgo the midterm evaluation.] If I were you, the only thing I'd change is when I had back papers--and that should be at the end of class. I'd pass them back their papers with a big fat smile and then saunter out of the room. Anyway, good luck with the rest of the semester. Just trust that this issue is probably an isolated one, and it doesn't have to do with your merit as a teacher. I can guarantee you that other students in the class are probably as fed up as you are with this contingent of "professional" students. (You might want to keep that in mind as you go forward.)

I was thinking the same thing. Just the emphasis on "approachability" alone--not to mention the attempt to pull rank ("I'm a successful professional and you're just a TA")--seems like a tip-off. This guy's got issues with certain individuals being in authority, whether that authority is perhaps female or younger. OP: Looking back at some of the things you wrote about his complaints, I would be tempted to not believe any of them. "First TA to refer to the rules as laid out in the handbook"--yeah right. I call bullshit on that one. "Some students feel I'm dismissive"--which students? "They feel I don't respect them"--again, who are these people? Did he manage to take a poll? Classic manipulative behavior. "most of the students are former professionals with highly respectable careers"--So what? Does this mean they're better than the other students at the university and deserve special treatment? Better than you? Sounds like that's what he's implying. Personally, I think you should take all this accusations with a big fat grain and move on. If you haven't replied to the email yet, I'd recommend just giving a very cursory reply: "I'm sorry you feel this way, but as the TA I'm required to enforce the standards set forth by the class and department. If you're dissatisfied by the curriculum or other instructional issues, feel free to take it up with [course director/department head/whatever.]" I do think you have to respond to him in some way or another just to cover your ass. Give your supervisor a heads-up about it. Keep the emails. Don't even engage with him on the personality issues. That stuff just doesn't even deserve to be dignified. I don't think you need to meet anyone "half way" or change your teaching style. You're not doing anything wrong by treating these professional people as students, and your previous course evaluations have been fine.

Oof. Sorry you're going through this. Sounds like this guy is making every attempt to be manipulative. As the above poster mentioned, you're their teacher (and as a grad student you have responsibilities to yourself apart from these students), and you're under no obligation to make yourself additionally available to them. 24-48 hours is a perfectly reasonable time to respond to emails. You might just want to spell it out upfront, like on a syllabus or something. Sometimes non-trads can be like this. I know a lot of people really enjoy teaching them--myself included--but there are always some who have a raging entitlement problem and believe that you're not providing good enough "customer service" or something. Just ignore this attitude. We TAs are not working in customer service; we're not supposed to be at their beck and call; we're not people at a freaking call center; we don't have to give out our private cell phone numbers. The best you can do is just do your job, and it sounds like you've got it covered. Ignore this person.

There are tons of funded MAs, but most are at big state universities in the middle of the country:. Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, Ohio U, Kentucky, etc. And these are good programs, too! You can learn a ton from the faculty at any of these institutions. I would recommend really looking into them. Just go poking around on their websites for more info.

I have the most draconian anti-cellphone policies of anyone I know. So far this semester, most students have been respecting the rules. A few haven't been. I haven't really gone off on those who still like to diddle; I'd like to, but I worry it would just derail the whole class, the vast majority of which is paying attention and learning, and I don't want to wreck that by ratcheting up the tension. So I just quietly mark them down. It's sad to say, but when I first started teaching about 4 years ago, it was MUCH easier to control cell phones. Now it's become part of the culture to the extent that people feel a need to check their cell phones every where they go and can't fathom why they shouldn't just scroll through it in class. It really is a losing battle

I went through this in the worst way. I made the choice to leave a really bustling, exciting city to move to a remote area, and this was just for my MA--I didn't even have a guarantee of PhD acceptance down the line--my MA was at a crappy school and I'd been turned down by all PhD programs so I didn't even know if I was PhD "material." I had a feeling I wasn't very talented. It took me a month to pack my apartment. I'd put two things in a box and then have a panic attack. It was the worst. The day I quit my job was also bad. Every fiber of my body was screaming that I didn't want to move. Every night I'd be on the phone with my mother, and she'd say, "You don't sound excited about this. Are you sure that moving to Remote Backwoods Area is a good idea?" Two days before I left my car broke down and I dropped $1400 to get it fixed. By that, I mean that I put $1400 on my Visa where it accumulated the most horrible kind of interest fees. The rest of my money was all tied up in moving. But now, weirdly, I look back on all of that kind of fondly. In my memory it's an adventure, even though I know it was hell to live through at the time. I guess it's because of what happened afterwards: I really enjoyed my MA ... and phew, got accepted to a PhD program. In this weird way, I actually think it was funny I had cold feet because the entire move turned out to be not a big deal--and the fact that I expected the worst meant that I was pleasantly surprised. This is true ... but try to picture yourself in 5 years. Would you be happy with the same job, same place, all that stuff? Would you instead regret not taking this chance?

That seems like an extreme perspective. Professors vary on this, but I know that not all view an A- as the kiss of death or something. And most people I know have a few A- grades on their transcripts, especially back from when they were MA students or very early in their PhD program. I have a few. (By the time you're finishing up coursework, you should probably be getting all As. However, no one really looks at your transcript anyway, so no one is going to care.) That also seems extreme, but I guess it also demonstrates how much things can vary from professor to professor. Sounds like this one had a few quirks. Most of mine valued professionalization, so they were okay accommodating conference travel as long as you weren't missing more than one class. I wonder what this professor did in the days before skype? Like, I wonder if this hard-line toward conference travel was made possible because of new technology. Or, what would he or she have done if your panel was scheduled during class? As far as illness goes--I never missed class unless I was sick enough to go to a doctor or urgent care. I always made sure to get a note to be on the safe side, but no professor ever asked to see one.

I've seen some students go the other extreme route of taking Semenza literally. During my first year, a lot of other students were afraid to miss class for illness, believing that, short of being in an iron lung or decapitated, you had to be there. A lot of other people took seriously the "Semenza grading scale" to the extent that one of my professors had to sit us all down and explain that a B+ isn't the end of the world. I'm glad the Semenza book exists, and I definitely wouldn't want to go through grad school not having read it, but it's just one perspective.

From a later-grad student perspective, I found Semeza to be both helpful and problematic for the reasons other people have described here. It's good that he demystifies grad school and tells you what exactly is expected of you in the seminar room, at the academic conference, on the job market. And his own background as a "working class" (as he puts it) grad student is especially useful for those who come from a similar background. For people who are coming straight from college, I think it's a good primer for knowing how to behave in grad school--like, no, it's not just an extension of undergrad; you're expected to do all the reading (or behave that you have), attend all classes, attend department functions and talks, and basically treat grad school like a job. This may seem self-evident for most, but I see new grad students every year who just don't know what's expected of them, or that their professors are holding them to much higher standards than they do undergrads (and judging them harshly for not speaking up in class or arriving on time). I personally found the book really helpful for the way it lays out your teaching responsibilities. He makes the point that you should value teaching and seek to do a good job but also minimize the amount of time you spend agonizing about undergrads. I've applied a lot of his advice about keeping "teaching stuff" confined to a certain part of the day and using the rest to work on research. I don't have the book in front of me right now (and it's always checked out of our library), but I believe he offers some really helpful tips for minimizing email interactions with students and with encouraging use of your set office hours (rather than allowing student demands to dictate when you come to campus or answer your emails). I also found the exam chapter and "two-page-a-day" dissertation recommendation to be really useful. What I found not useful--Semenza's micromanaging attitude toward personal habits. Like, I don't need to know how to organize my files or my bookshelves, thanks. I also don't need to be told how to manage my personal life. YMMV, I guess, because some people do find that kind of thing helpful. What I also find really annoying is his suggestion that you just "work harder" to balance the various aspects of your life, even to the point of sacrificing sleep. I know that "just work harder!" is the order of the day in a capitalistic society, but I can't stand the way Semenza piles on. It's like he espouses this sort of ridiculous Ben Franklin-esque work ethic. I'm surprised that he doesn't include charts about how he structures his day, or his own errors or temperance, industry, frugality. I almost expect him to say something like, "Eat not to dullness, drink not to elevation" or "imitate Jesus and Socrates." The whole "women over 35 have high-risk pregnancies" also seems outdated and sexist to me--especially that we now know that women's post-35 fertility isn't quite as doomed, and that men also have a "biological clock" too. Minor things I find super-annoying: the idea that one must never be ill in graduate school. Seriously, if you're sick, stay home from seminar. No one expects you to come to class with a raging fever. A minor cold, yes; pneumonia or flu, no. I also hated the fact that he says he puts so much stock in numeric teaching evaluations when looking at job candidates--right after trashing the whole idea of teaching evaluations. He definitely needs to make up his mind about that.

I think 2/2 sounds like a bit much, but the two years of fellowship probably offsets this. I taught 2-1-1 during my MA, and I have to say that I accomplished nothing during the quarter I taught two sections. Might have been a lack of discipline on my part, but 40 students were really a time suck. I don't know if there's such a thing as a "normal" or "standard" load, however. Some schools really shield their grad students from teaching responsibilities. Stanford's website, for instance, says that PhD students only teach four quarters during their entire time in the program. Must be nice!

Spouses and SOs are fine; just don't bring children to seminars or department tours or social functions. It may be un-PC to say this, but there's nothing worse than a screaming kid at a place designated for grown-ups. Don't bring your parents, either.

You should always try to negotiate--if you have leverage, that is. We often look at these schools/programs as cash-strapped, but truth be told, it's often not the case. My program, for instance, always pretends to be poor. However, our offers vary wildly and the university in general has more money than it knows what to do with. We have a standard TA package that is really not so impressive. But last year we offered someone a stipend in the high-20s, with multiple teaching-free years, to lure them away from a top-ranked program. (Sick, IMO.) If you are good enough, and if you have competitive offers, they will fight for you. Programs don't like getting shown up by other schools. And yes, the worst that can happen is that they can just say no. I once had a solid offer to attend one school and very little funding to attend another school. So I brought the offer to the DGS of the second program. He said that he really wanted to fund me but that the funding was all gummed up in collective bargaining and that he basically couldn't do anything. So I took that as a sign and just went to the first program. But I didn't get any "bad feelings" from the DGS or feel that I had offended him by trying to negotiate. And as others have said, money isn't your only bargaining chip. If you have more time "off" from teaching at one school, or summer funding, of funded language study, or an opportunity to work at the writing center, then you can always try to get the same perks for yourself at the other program. So don't feel guilty or grateful. Go forward and bargain your ass off. Such opportunities are rare. Take advantage.

I don't even open the emails I get from various listservs. I can guarantee you that no one's reading your statement of purpose right now. Even if they are, oh well. It's not like you accidentally sent along your Harry Potter fanfiction or something. Look at it this way: at least you're not this person: http://gawker.com/university-of-iowa-ta-accidentally-emails-her-homemade-1450711397

In a sane universe, yes. Problem is, some of my professors would probably just give the kid the half point so as not to spend 30 minutes listening to a student complain. Which is always great for a TA's authority. Ah, it is what it is, I guess.

You should be cracking. I did during February of my admissions cycle. Spectacularly. Anyway, I am going to bow out of this discussion, as the advice I'm giving is indeed pretty self-evident to 90% of applicants or so.

Lol, talk about seeing someone crack ... I apologize if my post seemed condescending. I really wasn't trying to come across that way at all, but after I made my post, I realized that it might have come across as overbearing and know-it-allish. However, I was just trying to advocate for/give hope to people who don't necessarily attend the "top" schools, and to dispel notion that a career is only available to those who attend a certain bunch of schools. Believe me, these aren't discussion that ever go away, as stale as they might seem to people here.

Yes, this all might technically be true ... but I think that some people are still unaware of the realities of the job market these days. There are no jobs at Marylands, regardless of what kind of school you go to. I'm sure we all have institutions we'd like to end up at, and I'm sure that "R1" ranks up there in our dreams. Problem is, R1 institutions just aren't hiring. This past year, in my designated field area, there were two jobs at R1 institutions. Two. For the entire country. Those two jobs got something like 500 applications. The other jobs (and it was a weak year, so there weren't many jobs in general) were at SLACs, R2 type places, and regional campuses of larger state universities. There were also VAPs and lectureships. On the other side of the coin, my R1 institution did do a couple of job searches last year. We got hundreds of applications. The people we picked to bring to campus weren't just from the top schools--they were holders of major national fellowships and post-docs. They had five or six publications each. One--a graduate student--had already published a book. These are the people that are able to be interviewed at the Marylands of the world. And there still were "losers" in this situation--"losers" with ACLS fellowships and PhDs from the top schools who walked away that year without a job. My point is that if you're going into this with your goal institution in mind--and that institution is one like University of Maryland--you might want to recalibrate your expectations. In fact, what I tell people thinking about grad school is to ask themselves a few crucial questions: Are you going to be disappointed if you don't get a job at an R1 or highly selective SLAC? Are you okay with teaching at a much lesser-ranked institution? Are you okay taking on a 4/4 load that includes composition classes? Are you okay with teaching students of a "wide array" of abilities? Are you okay with working exclusively with undergrads, many of whom will be unprepared for college-level work? Are you okay with relocating to a very different area of the country? Our discipline is currently being remade completely. Those of us in grad school now are no longer faced with a "choice" or where or at what kind of institution we will teach. We're talking about the fact that the university is undergoing a huge transformation--from public trust to private corporate scheme--and as a result, the funds to hire professors just aren't there anymore. Tenure is quickly disappearing. I say all this not to discourage people from dreaming big or to be one of these "you're never going to get a job!" pessimists. (On the contrary, I actually think that it's very possible to get a job in today's climate--you just have to know where to look.) But I just say this let people know that it takes a whole heck of a lot more than a degree from the top 20 to get a job at a Maryland--and that you should be more open to other types of institutions. Another note--I see it said here again and again that the key is to produce "good work." This is a truism more than it is true. Of course you should produce good work. But what "good work" means is really difficult to define. I'm sure that everyone in the country thinks they produce good work. Problem is that "good work" changes with the wind these days. What's trendy today might be totally dated tomorrow. The dissertation on trans-Atlantic vampires may be hot on this year's job market but seem totally passe next year. Therefore, I would say that you should make it your goal to produce "finished work." You'd be surprised by how many people go to grad school and don't finish their dissertations. Half the people I started with have fallen by the wayside. A lot of people sail through course work, pass exams, and then get gummed up in prospectus. A lot of people dither away for years on their dissertations, run out of funding, and then end up in some terrible adjuncting limbo. You should go to a program that allows you to finish and that offers you the funding and resources to do your best. You should to to a program that provides encouraging and supportive advisers. You should go to a program that limits your time teaching in the classroom, but that still offers you enough teaching experience to be competitive for the teaching jobs that now comprise the majority of the MLA job list. You should go to a program that just allows you to get it done. If the majority of people in the program are spending 8 or 10 years working on their PhD, then don't go there.