musichistorygeek

Rejected here, too. Significantly better ranking than last year (and eligible on all criteria), but still no dice. 

Thanks, @DevsChick!! You, too!

I hope you're successful this year @musichistorygeek!

Hope you get positive news this year!
Please update the thread if you hear back from Banting PDF office.

Applied to Banting through SSHRC. This is my second year on the job/postdoc hunt, so an additional year of publications/conference presentations/teaching experience and revising the project outline will lead to something. 
 
 

Congrats! I received funding, too! 

I love the Quo Vadis Textagenda planner. It's small enough to fit in my medium-sized purse and gives you a full page for each day, which is handy if (like me) you procrastinate by making long lists of minute things in order to feel more accomplished.

I think there are two separate issues here which keep getting conflated.
 
1. "Snobbery" by STEM types who believe that the humanities and social sciences are inferior to their own fields.
 
2. Negativity by people with less (or little) formal education, which can be due to anything from insecurity to a sense of "I accomplished X, Y and Z without your education." 
 
For #1, I think one major issue is that *some* STEM majors did well in AP-level classes in high school (like US History) and maybe did ok in a survey class or two for general ed... so they think that they know what the "field" really is about and what it is that we do. That, combined with the stereotype that "humanities people are not good at math," makes them feel superior. Of course, those of us who majored in the humanities (and especially those who went on to grad school) know there are HUGE differences between high school history, survey classes, upper division work, and graduate work. And not all humanities people are bad at math.. I majored in a STEM field when I started college and HATED every second of it, which is why I switched out. 
 
Note that I said *SOME.* My partner majored in a science field and now teaches math, and he will the the first to admit he can't write a paper to save his life. Our relationship works because he respects what I do and I respect what he does.
 
For #2, there really isn't much you can do except deflect or avoid contact. My father didn't finish HS and to this day he still considers my education a waste of money (even though I went to a public university and he didn't pay a dime of it) because I switched to the humanities. My first marriage collapsed in part because my partner was very insecure about my education (and I only had a BA, and no plans to go to grad school). He kept shoving it in my face how I acted 'superior' because I had gone to college. He had only finished high school and joined the military, and even though this was not an issue for me, it clearly was a huge problem for him. (And clearly I picked a guy who was a lot like my father the first time around. Didn't make that mistake again).
 
I would add that the educational emphasis at the high school level on "going to college" has created resentment in people whose skill set and abilities might not be suited for university but might do great in vocational or technical fields (a good mechanic is worth his or her weight in gold). Schools have eliminated vocational training in favor of college prep, and that has alienated a significant proportion of the population. You don't need to go to college to be successful or even to make money.Some type of education is generally a requirement, but high schools make it seem like if you are better at building houses than you are at chemistry, you're not "living up to your potential," which is BS.
 
At the same time, we have a political culture that devalues education as "elitist" and "snobbish," and that combined with the fact that a college degree nowadays can't guarantee you a job at McDonald's, have emboldened people who chose not to pursue higher education (or were unable due to a variety of circumstances) to try to bring down those who have.
 
I think it's just symptomatic of a larger issue in this country, which is class warfare promoted by politicians whereby people tear each other down to their "level" rather than demanding that living standards be better for everyone. Look at the backlash against public employee unions, for example. People in the private sector complain that "they don't have unions protecting them" so public employees (teachers, firefighters, etc.) shouldn't either. A better solution would be for private employees to demand collective bargaining rights, given that unions helped forge the middle class in this country and make it accessible to people who often did NOT have formal education beyond high school.
 
And let's not even get started on this country's war on education (especially in the humanities), which is the reason why few people know why we have unions in the first place. 

I don't know this exact situation, but sometimes I think it comes from a defence mechanism related to not having the option (or at least not percieving having the option) of staying in school so long.  It's the idea of, "Yeah, I could have stayed in school forever too, except I don't have parents that will subsidize my education, so I have to work for a living," or "I have a family to support", or "I have responsibilities in my hometown."  Even though this forum is full of people who have gone to grad school in spite of poverty and family responsibilities, these issues really do hinder people from getting a higher education, so I can understand why they would feel a bit resentful towards those of us who have the luxury (and let's be honest -- it IS a luxury, albeit a grueling one) to stay in school so long.
When I was working, I got frustrated sometimes by how little anyone was willing to invest in me -- I couldn't find any scholarships to take masters classes on the side, or income-based discounts to conferenes, or really any other way to better myself.  But: I was generating income, supporting myself, paying taxes, and contributing to the economy.  There is valute in work.  If I had stayed a "working stiff" my whole life, I too might be dissilussioned by those that could go into debt and/or get paid to pursue their passions while I had to keep toiling away to make ends meet.
The other thing I see -- the side with more reverse snobbery perhaps -- is that it can seem flighty or induldgent, like skirting responsibility to be a productive member of society.  Some people go to graduate school because they don't know what they want to do with their lives and, as PHD Comics says, "it seemed better than getting a real job". 
To combat this, it might be best to talk about what your career goals are; most people respect honest work, although with varying standards for what's "honest."  So if you say, "I want to be a professor, so I am going to graduate school," or "My experience working in X field exposed me to problems in Y that I want to help fix, so I am studying Y with intent to work in that field", they may see that you really are trying to become a tax-paying, contributing member of society, and may be more understanding. 
(Oh, and as a side note, I do realize there are ways to contribute to society other than generating income/taxes, but it's a good one, and I assume that this is the most universally valued contribution among those who look down on higher ed.)

1) Congrats! 
2) I did the application online at http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/e-services/mycic.asp. It was really straightforward, and it cost something like $120. 2 weeks later my application was approved, and I printed the approval letter. At the border I showed the officers my approval letter, and they then issued me a physical student visa--stapled into my passport. I recently received an e-mail about union issues and how this might effect visa application wait times, so you might want to go ahead and apply online. I am now living in Canada: getting to know both the country and my program. I stressed hard over the visa, what crossing the border would be like, etc, and It all turned out to be super easy. I even catalogued each and every book I was bringing, estimated their values (over 1000 titles), and arranged this list alphabetically (as the website says to make a list of everything brought). It turns out all they wanted was a hand-written short list approximating quantities and qualities... Total time at the border was under 20 minutes... I hope this helps in some way. To affirm your angst: the guidelines are extremely ambiguous!

Yeah, it's hard to find information about how exactly applying for your study permit when you drive across the border works, but it's actually really simple. Here's how crossing from NY into Ontario worked:
 
-Tell immigration officer at the drive-up booth that you need to get a study permit. They'll write down your license plate on a form, hand it to you, and direct you to park and go into the building.
 
-Inside, give them all your paperwork. In my case, this was my acceptance letter, US passports for me and my wife, our marriage certificat  , and  my funding letter (which stated that the university was giving me enough to cover tuition and what Ontario requires for living expenses). For Quebec, I presume you need you CAQ at this point, as well.
 
-Wait while they process the paperwork. It took about half an hour to get a study permit for me and a work permit for my wife at a busy border crossing in the middle of a Saturday in August. If you're trying to cross on a summer Friday or Sunday, it will probably take longer. Both permits were stapled into our passports and are good for four years.
 
-Go over to a different window and pay the fees for the permits. 
 
-At some point in there we gave them a list of all our belongings that we had arriving later with a moving company and had them stamp that. This is very important if you are having stuff arrive after you, because we need that stamped list to clear your stuff through customs later. This list was pretty generic, and just said things like 20 boxes of books, 6 boxes of dishes, 1 bedframe and mattress, 3 crates of decorations, etc. with approximate values that we pretty much completely made up.
 
-We had another paper with us listing everything we had in our car at the time, including serial numbers for our electronics. We weren't asked for that list or for proof of rabies vaccination for our cat and nothing we had in our car was inspected. I have no idea if our storage cube of things that came over later was inspected or not. I know my advisor moved from the US to Montreal for grad school about 10 years ago, and when he drove a UHaul with all his stuff across the border, they opened it to make sure the contents matched the inventory list. 
 
-If you're importing your car, i.e. registering it in Quebec while you're a student, there will probably be more paperwork you need to fill out at the border.
 
Hope this helps!

Thanks for the advice, Troppman and random17!

Good point about having an inventory ready to go.


Edit: Ugh, pressed the wrong button. Did not mean to upvote my own reply. Sorry!

Got my rejection from Eastman while I was in line at Dairy Queen.  At least I had a built-in coping mechanism!

FYI for those waiting on Yale:
 
I called today, as I've heard from all of my other schools and would like to know where I stand. They haven't sent everything out yet, and they've not yet come to all decisions. I spoke with the woman in the grad school admissions office, and it sounds as if we should hear completely this week. I'm not expecting anything positive, but I don't think they've made all final decisions.
 
Hope this helps, guys!

I love this!

Me: deciding among WI, CUNY, and McGill.
 
My family: Where is McGill again? Will you have to write papers in French? Don't you want to move to NYC? Isn't it supposed to be a great place to be a musician?
 
Me: I'm a musicologist. And all three schools have some great people in my research interests.
 
My family: What's musicology again?

My mom has a strange grudge against the University of Chicago because it gets cold there.  Other schools where she is convinced it does not get as cold: University of Michigan, University of Minnesota, and Brown.  And, as if that weren't strange enough, I lived in Chicago - I know I like the cold!  But every time we talk she says "but its soooo coooold" just about every other sentence.  Moms  

Hey, if you can get a funded master's degree, take it! Those are as rare as mythological beasts. 
 
Somewhere there's a blurry photo of a funded masters student walking through the forest.

you should send them this as an attachment, and have the body of the email be a modified version of the rejection you received, if you got a letter/email.

I'm not going to address the issue of "handouts," but PSLF doesn't provide a "free education" to anyone, regardless of the definition of public service. To qualify, someone in an eligible profession still has to make the first 120 payments (10 years) of their loan. 
 
According to the Federal Student Aid website, full-time employees of most public and private not-for-profit universities are eligible for PSLF.
 
http://www.studentaid.ed.gov/sites/default/files/public-service-loan-forgiveness.pdf
 
 
So, for this to this sort of thing to apply to grad students (as well as other groups of university employees, such as adjuncts), it seems like one would have to address:
 
1. The definition of "full-time employee." Most of the grad students I know (myself included) are hired at 33.3% or 50% assistantships, which in theory suggests that we work (and are paid) for 1/3-1/2 of the time as full-time academic staff. There would definitely need to be some further research into how much time the average grad student (regardless of field or appointment)  actually works per week in comparison with full-time academic staff and/or faculty.
 
2. How much one's academic work counts as "work" in an employment capacity. I'm especially thinking of RAs and PAs who are paid for assisting a professor with research, but who also use that work towards completing a thesis/dissertation.
 
I don't know that grad students necessarily should be eligible, but the issue of what work we do and how we are compensated is an ongoing issue. Also, while I disagree with ANDS! that this is necessarily stretching or distorting the definition of public service (especially since many employees of both public and private universities already qualify), I do think we need to have more of a conversation in and around academia about what sorts of public services universities do provide for the general population.

I think you're playing fast and loose with the definition of public service.

Stop being greedy. If you want a free education then go to the library. There are already enough handouts in this country. 

Klondike bars! Wow, blast from the delicious, delicious past. The only grocery stores within walking distance are a Trader Joe's and a Whole Foods, and there are just not enough organic kale chips in the world to fix what's wrong. Wonder how far I'd have to go to track down some Klondike bars and cheddar blasted goldfish...

Interesting! I don't know the significance of this but Indiana is having Andrew Mead from Michigan this year.... I'm currently staying in NYC, but if Michigan does seem like a big deal I will have to check it out in person.
 
Again best of luck to everybody still in limbo. Perhaps this will entertain you for a bit:
I got rejected by Santa Barbara last week, and I instantly knew why after reading their standard reject letter. I've been spelling 'Barbara' 'Babara' in all my paperwork. Blame the Aussie accent!

I've learned to hate weekends. Not that I will necessarily hear back from any of my remaining programs on any given day during the rest of the week. But with work days at least there is that hope that I might here something.

-wrote this out of anxiety, half from life experience, and half from what i observe, correct me if i am wrong.
just want to keep your mind off the waiting game for a little bit, don't take anything seriously or personal please
 
applying to grad schools vs. getting pregnant, something in common
 
-it is not for everyone, people can live without it, and life is just fine

-there is no one correct answer to “when,” it always depends on “when” you are ready

-for a lot of people, it is not the first time

-average age is around 27-29, again, some people make it happen in their early 20's, some people wait until their 40's. teen grad students do happen once in a while, ex: Dr. Sheldon Cooper

-the process usually lasts about 9 months. for grad school applications, usually Sep - May, and pregnancy is more flexible

-you start by doing research online, asking around for suggestions

-during the 9 months, you always start with excitement, and later on, you are just like “why am I doing this to myself!!!!”. Frequent morning sickness.

-later, you will experience freaking-out, nervous breakdown, afraid if something went wrong, “maybe I should wait another year or so,” constantly need to be part of a community with others who are on the same boat, and, compare notes with them

-you will get sick of people asking you the same damn question over and over again. "what is your top choice?" "it is a boy or a girl?"

-costs a lot $$$ here and there, you don’t even notice, by the time you do, you don’t even care

-you don’t get to choose, you just put out your best, and pray that the best would come to you

-you don’t know the final result, but whatever you end up with, 99% of you will love it

-you think, “When all of this is over, I will be so happy.”

-NO, you are WRONG. the next 2- 3 years means rarely eating on time, you become secondary for something else, and get SUPER excited for something as little as “I slept for 8 hours last night!”