cokohlik

Thank you so much for sharing your story and for the advice. I hope that my cohort is nice and that I'll be comfortable enough with them to actually talk to/bond with them. I haven't introduced myself to any of them yet but I'm told I'll get to meet them during TA orientation! If they are anything like the other students I've met in my department then I imagine we'll get along famously! I love this! I always feel like I need to rise up to their level of thinking but who knows how to do that when I'm just starting graduate study, if you know what I mean. I've been reading as much of my POI's work as I can so I can get an idea of how he thinks to see how my way of thinking might cooperate (not really sure of the right word) with his. So anxious for school to start so I can get first-hand experience... and start learning, of course.

Made my day.

Thank you so much! I don't know why the endnote thing freaked me out so much. I've started to take note of scholars' endnotes and it seems fairly simple but for some reason the thought of actually writing these is intimidating. I think I'll get the hang of it once I write my first graduate paper and get feedback on it. Maybe I'll even be required to turn in rough drafts -- which would be so helpful but I doubt profs have time to read graduate level rough drafts. I've started to read ahead of time for some of my coursework and the things I'd like to research. Luckily, what I've read so far is challenging but not overbearingly difficult. I'm not sure who to thank for that but I fully expect the readings to become difficult once school starts and I get the real reading list (I'm going off my own intuition and past semesters' syllabi right now, which is a frustrating method because many of the readings are online through a proxy that I can't access and of course the readings only exist online within this one website!) I think the hardest part for me will be vocalizing my thoughts during discussion. I tend to clam up because I'm either so excited by an idea that I mentally trip over myself, or I'm intimidated by the intelligence of my fellow classmates so I end up stuttering and speaking non-coherently (or so I think).

Thank you oswic! I've been picking my way through Robert L. Peters Getting What You Came For, which is helpful, but I can never be too prepared so I'll be checking out your recommendation

Haha!!! I get it. Brilliant!

Sigaba suggested I read this thread since I'm nervous about my first semester. I've heard that grad courses are easy from so many people, and I'm sure that the work itself (papers, readings, presentations) can be decidedly easy, however, I'm having trouble predicting how I'll do in graduate level discussions. How does one really particpate on a graduate level? I enjoyed what theregalrenegade said about constantly trying to think on a more advanced level. I'm trying to do that early, by pushing myself to read certain texts and read in academic Italian and French, but I suppose i won't know how I'm doing with said thinking level until classes actually begin. I'm slightly excited, because I love a good challenge. Like Red Bull, I came from a fast paced (undergrad) Honors program. I'm not sure if a fast paced undergrad Honors program is comparable to a graduate program, but I hope it is on some level (maybe with regards to weekly amounts of reading or paper lengths). I feel like my undergrad department prepared me well for graduate study on a whole, but I'm getting caught up in being anxious about little details like essay formats and some bigger issues, like becoming more advanced in my level of analysis. Anyway, I know this reply isn't quite relevant to the OP since because I haven't actually begun coursework, they can't necessarily be harder than expected I did find this thread to be inspiring and calming, so thank you!! It's comforting knowing that there are so many people in the same boat.

Ahh! Thank you.

I saw my first ever graduate seminar syllabus today. My first thought was "holy crap, that is a lot of reading," followed by "thankfully, reading is easy," followed by an unnerving feeling when I reached the end of the syllabus that discussed requirements for the final paper. I have no problem reading or writing papers or coming up with ideas, but it seems like I'll have a heck of a time figuring out proper formatting and things like that. I'm not sure what style my department prefers (my guess is Chicago). I'm also worried about endnotes (which were specifically mentioned in the paper requirements and I'm told this isn't uncommon for the dept.). This might sound stupid, but What on earth is an endnote? I mean, I know what endnotes are, technically -- at the end of papers, discussing little details that would be good for your readers to know, sources, and things of that nature, but I've never actually written an endnote myself so I have no idea how they're generally structured or why I personally would need them. I try not to put superfluous information in my papers and although reading endnotes has been useful when reading others' scholarly works, I never actually wrote them for my undergrad papers. I did use footnotes that basically just had bibliographic citation information, but my guess is that this isn't the same thing as a "real" endnote. I've literally spent the last hour on Google trying to discern how endnotes differ from footnotes (is it just that one is in the footer and one is at the end of text?), which makes me feel really, reallystupid. I'm not worried about the amount of reading or even the fact that final papers are usually research papers. All of this is second nature. I don't know why, though, I am so worried about formatting. Perhaps it's because my undergrad art history department didn't really care what formatting you used as long as you were consistent. Perhaps it's because once, I was 1 point away from a perfect score on a health sciences paper just because my margins weren't exactly 1.25" despite how much I tried to fix them and restructure my footnotes (thanks, Word). Or maybe it's because I'm worried that I'll fail (i.e., "get anything less than an A[-]") on my papers and lose all my funding by the second semester because I can't format my writing properly. Sigh. I'm also concerned about what exactly a graduate level seminar sounds like, with regards to student-to-student discussion. I've always thought that I could just be myself in discussions and not have to strive to sound/act/speak certain ways. I assume that this is the same for graduate study, but I also assume that I'll have one professor and ten students judging the merit of what I'm saying (to decide about future funding. Again. Even though fellow students have nothing to do with funding, I don't think.) This sounds silly as a write it, and I know it is. The department and I will get along famously, I'm sure. But I just have to let out all these unhealthy thoughts in a safe place.... I suppose I won't really know any of this until I actually get to the first day of classes. Thanks for listening to my stream-of-consciousness, anxiety-wracked post about endnotes (sorry).

Yay! Mandarin Orange and I like the same book!! :) (Peters')

Unfortunately my favorite one is a few years old, but when it comes to discussing timelines, time management, picking out an advisor/thesis topic/dissertations and your exams & defenses, it's awesome! "Getting What You Came For" by Rober L. Peters.

I still haven't heard from Toronto and my application status is "Under Review." The secretary told me (in January, in an automated email) that they were sending out all their PhD acceptances in February, and MAs in March. It's April.

I made this comic this morning to express my fear. (I'll be ok when the time comes.)

Any advice on what to expect for Delaware winters? I grew up in Winnipeg, MB so I'm used to the cold and snow, but I've been living in Los Angeles for the past 10 years and am so ready to be back where snow actually falls! I spent thirty minutes trying to find out what to expect for Newark winters and ended up with nothing. Does it snow? Is it freezing cold (please say yes)? Will we need to buy "real" winter coats (e.g., like this one), or should a basic un-lined peacoat or something similar suffice? Thanks in advance!

Aw man, I didn't realize I was crashing the party in the Literature forum. I'm sorry guys! I hope you don't mind little old art history me.

I'm right there with you -- I couldn't agree more with everything you said! Yay us!! I am a little nervous about hours in the week. I'll be in class for 6 hours plus I have a TAship and a Graduate Assistantship (not in the same semester, haha) both for 20 hours per week. That's 26 hours per week that I'm not working on assigned reading/papers/thesis. I really hope I have enough time for those things!

I wouldn't worry too much about that, contiguous

I had that problem too! For instance, right now I work in business development which is pretty boring but it pays well. It's difficult to write papers and keep up with academia unless you have access to scholarly journals, etc., through your undergrad school or subscriptions or things like that. I also found that with working full time, I'm so exhausted by the end of the day that I found myself thinking: Do I really want to study my non-existant German right now? (or whatever you need to get caught up on). I also found that being outside of academia for so long has led me to feel like my brain cells have died. I made a point to try to stay academically minded through the website I started and through my own reading/research, and while independent study is freeing because I had no deadlines, it's also unnerving because I had no expectations except my own and no assignments to guide my thought process. Edit: *by the end of the day, not "by the end of." Silly me. Typing is for awake people.

Exactly this!! And, I just realized that it will actually be two years for me (sad day) in June. I keep forgetting that I graduated in 2010. I hope this doesn't mean I'm getting old.

Gap year, definitely! It's given me time to recharge and to read tons of books in my area of specialty. I also got married and have had time to save a little nest egg (which is probably going toward moving costs, now) and it's just been fabulous! I'm definitely super motivated to be in school and I think I may have burned out had I started grad school immediately following graduating with my BA.