Archaeologist

And I don't mean, go back to the school I withdrew from. I mean, apply to many other schools.

I withdrew from a Masters program a few years ago for reasons relating to my motivation and purpose. Now I see my purpose and my own need to go back. Is it possible? How would it work? Do I mention the last grad school I attended? Do I have to say why I left without a degree? Where do I get my references from if I'm not in contact with an academic reference?

Well I withdrew from the grad program and university for reasons concerning the program's quality and advisor's incompetence. I felt it was not the experience I should be investing my time in when the professor (not my advisor) I was TAing for showed the film Zeitgeist for his anthropology class. That teaching style was just an example of the quality of that program's courses. But it's not over yet. I still want an advanced degree, but I will have to try harder to get into a better program next time. I am, in the meantime, employed at a job that does utilize my bachelor's degree.

Am I suppose to schedule an appointment with my advisor and just tell him I want to leave? The thought of doing this brings me much anxiety....

This graduate program is not for me. I'll admit I didn't do my research before I accepted the offer to this program, and now I have learned my lesson the hard way. I have been attending for what is now a year and two months. By the end of this semester, I will have finished all of my course work, and all that will be left is my thesis. But I can't do my thesis with my current advisor. Although I have a graduate assistantship granting me bi-monthly pay, along with tuition waiver, I have to go because I can no longer put my all into this program. How do I leave without burning bridges and wasting this department's resources?

Department dinner? Must be nice! I hate my school. The quality of my department is low. How do I go about formally quitting? I'm contemplating just making bad grades this semester so that I can get fired and have a reason to move and work. I'm not desiring to leave because there is no department dinner here, but because the education is horrible. I am learning more from my internships and volunteering with the particular CRM firm I've been working/volunteering for over my breaks. I'm not happy here. i feel like I'm not getting what I should be getting out of the program. All of my anthropology classes consist mostly of undergrads (20 to 40) and a few grads (3 to 4). This is the reason why I take classes from other disciplines (geography and geology) that interest me and are relevant to my research methods. These are classes are much more challenging and interesting. My advisor's other graduate student and my cohort, who arrived a semester before me, has had more opportunities because of his earlier arrival, his seniority. Because he got here earlier, he has been given more attention from my advisor and has been given the opportunity to supervise the lab and give lectures in the class I'm taking that's taught by my advisor. My advisor constantly speaks of him and his achievements in class of how his graduate student will soon get his PhD. My advisor even announced an irrelevant announcement in one class about his graduate student being part of a selection committee for selecting new faculty. My TAing experience has been dull, consisting of number crunching. The graduate students in the department are suppose to be paired with an instructor for their graduate career. I was switched to another professor after TAing for another. A new incoming graduate student has been paired with the professor I first TA'd for. I never give lectures. I just post exam results online. The professor I'm TAing for this semester seems to have no clue what he's doing. It seems like this was the first intro class he has taught, and he approaches the 150 student class as if it were 30 student class. The exams given are inconsistent. The first exam had a few errors that screwed up the electronic grading (duplicate questions and answers). The second exam was changed to have 2 versions of the exam. Because the instructor was unaware that his exam had 2 versions, because apparently the secretary changed it, the class will grade their own exam. I suggested that I grade them all by hand and post the results immediately, but that's not going to happen. I feel sorry for the students at this university, particularly those taking courses in anthropology. However, I get paid bi-monthly. I'd rather be volunteering out in the field and learning stuff rather than getting paid for putting grades in a grade book. I'm also contemplating whether or not I should share this with my undergrad research advisor. We worked very well together, and she helped me with a lot. I know she is going through some hardship right now with family and her grad students. I just don't know what to say when staying in touch with her. So far I've kept my news light and positive with her. I just don't want to let her down.

I really don't have the heart to apply myself to academics anymore. It's so tempting to quit and work at this job that I've been interning and volunteering for on the side.

The department I'm in is different in that it is interdisciplinary with sociology and emergency management. There is no PhD program for the department, only master's. I've been a grad student for a year now, and I'm just starting my second year. I am proactive, I have made friends from other disciplines and from mine, but they are undergrads. Thats okay. I've known grad students during my undergrad who displayed an intellectually superior attitude, and those types were the jerks. I'm not that type. I'm also active in the anthropology club, and I'm also the only grad student in there. I wish the graduate student scene was more active. It's also a small school (c. 14,000). My cohort sucks up to our advisor to the extent of emailing him about my colleague's unfortunate academic/legal situation which happened overseas. There is 1 professor (my advisor), and there are 3 lecturers in the department. 4 professors left before I arrived. I don't know why. My advisor notified me of this before I moved. I should have taken this as a warning, I don't think I even have an office, more or less a desk at the office. I don't mind. I don't want to be around this toxic environment nor play my advisor's game. I'm glad I have made a very good buddy and also am dating a great person. But I'm all out of ideas. I've thought about transferring, but ethics and politics comes into consideration. I'm all out of ideas, and the only one left is to just to do the topic I want to do, whether or not my advisor says its a good idea. My other mentor approves of my topic. I just perceive this as yet another challenge to overcome.

My field of study is archaeology. When I was an undergrad, I was able to socialize with many of my professors. My undergrad research advisor hosted gatherings at her house every month, and I had the opportunity to attend and mingle with faculty and grad students. I always thought that I would do fine in grad school. The anthropology department had many grad students and many professors. I made many good friends in that department. Academics was a smooth ride, and I think it came with the great social atmosphere. I finished my undergrad with a senior thesis. I got accepted into a master's program, and little did I know, the grad life I accepted was not what I excepted. My advisor is the only professor in the program. There are a few other lecturers. A few of the other lectures quit before I arrived to my first semester. There are a few other grad students to socialize with. There are 4 including me. My cohort is an ass. I've been a grad student for a year, and not once has there ever been any kind of grad student/faculty gathering. The few friends I have made at my new home, are undergrads. My girlfriend whom I met at my new home, is an undergrad. It doesn't bother me that I hang out with undergrads. Its just that I wish there were good people who share similar academic interests as me. I hardly communicate with my advisor. He has insulted the school I did my undergrad at, some of my professors at that school, and my colleagues at that school. And me. The academic work is not stressful at all, even though my classes are unorganized and unstructured. I have made A's so far. I spend as little time on school work as possible. I have grown lethargic to this scene because of the scene.

Appearances really depend on what area of the world you are living in. Having gone to archaeology conferences, I've seen quite a few interesting looking senior professionals. When I was an undergrad, I was working with my professors in the lab, and I had a mohawk, pierced ears and lip, and an arm tattoo. Now that I'm in grad school, I toned myself down knowing that the area I'm in is full of conservative people and professors. I keep my sleeve tattoo covered.

Does an archaeology NSF Grant or any other grants for a master's student exist? I'm a second year master's student, and I haven't even formed my committee yet. I'm still in the process of writing my thesis proposal, and even this has proved difficult with a difficult advisor. I communicate as less as possible with him because of past conflicts with him; he once sent an unprofessional email to me and his other grad student, and its intent was to insult one of my colleagues. I don't understand my advisor, and so I would've asked him about funding for my research, but there are more complications to this. I've mentioned my thesis topic to him before, and he shot it down. He insisted that I do something else. On the contrary, I think my thesis topic is a brilliant idea that brings new ideas into the discipline. I plan to write my thesis proposal by the middle of March and apply for grants for my research project, but the grants (NSF) that I've looked at only apply towards PhD students. I know my school won't fund me and neither will my department because I had to pay out of my own pocket to participate in my advisor's field school the past summer. My advisor is running another field school this summer, and I don't want to participate in that again. The groups are large (10-15), and work is done slowly, not to mention all the conflicting personalities. I just want to take a small group (2-4) of people that I know personally will work hard towards the project. This entails that I will not be participating in my advisor's field school, but I will be running my own separate project in the same archipelago; the field school will be on one island and my project is planned to be on another island. All of this seems complicated in the big picture, but for now, I just tell myself to read the 42 journal articles I've collected and compose my committee and thesis proposal.