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runonsentence

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  1. Upvote
    runonsentence reacted to UnlikelyGrad in Depression, anxiety, uncertainty about what to do.   
    OK, really? I hate to say this, but your mental health NEEDS to take priority over your boyfriend. Period. I don't care how good you think your relationship is: if he's not willing to let you do /supportive of your doing what you *almost certainly* need to do, you need to tell him to take a flying leap.

    A bit of background: I discovered that I suffered from severe depression about 3 months into my marriage. My husband told that it was "no big deal" since "everyone gets a little blue now and then" (seriously? I was suicidal at some points) and that therapy was no good since "all they will do is talk"--and he had a severe dislike of medication, too.

    I spent 15 years listening to him say (and accepting) that I shouldn't get treatment. Finally I convinced him that I should get treatment, but he would only let me do it if I were willing to pay for it out of my own money. (This was at a time when the total amount of money he let me spend on myself would have paid for 2 or 3 visits. Tops.) I put up with this for another 5 years.

    I spent 20 years of my life being depressed, anxious, and occasionally suicidal, because I didn't want to upset my husband. The depression affected every aspect of our marriage--but so did the intense control he exerted over every facet of my life (including mental health treatment). We are not married any more, I've been in therapy for almost a year, and I'm SO much better off than I used to be. And HAPPY.

    I say: get on medication. You've given other treatments a fair try, and you need to do this for your own good. If your boyfriend doesn't like it, tough. Now, he may change his mind if he sees a big improvement in you--in which case, great! Things will work out just fine. But if he isn't supportive of your getting the help you need, you really are better off without him.
  2. Upvote
    runonsentence got a reaction from gellert in What's your opinion of the "Occupy Wall St." movement?   
    I agree that it sucks that the movement can't only target those "to blame" and only disrupt their day...but, well, this is how civil disobedience works. You get people to sit up and pay attention by disrupting the daily operations of the system. The movement wouldn't be successful if it stayed out of the way.

    Furthermore, if I understand what's going on correctly, the occupiers aren't the only ones to blame in terms of disrupting the city. The NYPD seem to have developed a month-long history of over-reaction and escalation (and here I'm blaming the powers pulling the strings and the whiteshirts, not the everyday beat cops in black shirts who, according to source after source, are largely supportive of the movement). Why, for instance, have they barricaded/blocked off Wall Street, only allowing people through once they've shown a work ID?

    And last, I am immensely grateful that the NYPD have not yet [successfully] cleared out the protestors with a "hats and bats" approach. That's horrific. That's what an autocratic police state does to stifle dissent.
  3. Upvote
  4. Downvote
    runonsentence got a reaction from awwdeerp in What's your opinion of the "Occupy Wall St." movement?   
    I fully support the occupy movement. I see the repeated accusations that the protestors don't know what they want as manufactured by corporate-sponsored media as an attempt to discredit and dismiss the occupation.

    I mean, it seems pretty simple to me. OWS is looking for a system where accumulated capital isn't just for the few and isn't built on the backs of the bottom rungs of society. It's looking for, in the words of N. Katherine Hayles, "fair capitalism."

    http://www.businessinsider.com/what-wall-street-protesters-are-so-angry-about-2011-10?op=1
  5. Upvote
    runonsentence reacted to johndiligent in Friends don't let friends get a PhD   
    I suggest a longer T-shirt:

    Friends Don't Let Friends Develop Unreasonable Expectations About the Job Market, No Matter How Much Easier It Is to Pretend That You and Your Friend Are the Exceptions to the Rule and You'll Both Get Jobs Because You're Both Brilliant and The Unemployed People are Just People Who Aren't as Academically-Gifted As You Are. Instead Friends Acknowledge to Each Other the Exceptional Difficulty of Getting an Academic Job, Call Bullshit on Each Other When Appropriate, and Help Each Other to Professionalize Early and Often. Further, Friends Will Also Remind Each Other that While Getting a Funded PhD, You are Actually Getting Paid to Live Your Dream, If Only for a Short While, So While Academic Jobs May Be Few, It Was Still Worth It For the Opportunity You Did Get to Engage With Academic Discourse on a Daily Basis.That Said, Friends Certainly Don't Let Friends Get Unfunded PhD's. Nor Should Enemies For That Matter.
  6. Upvote
    runonsentence reacted to juilletmercredi in Concerns about Re-Apply for PhD in another school   
    Actually, I disagree with kel. There is nothing that you have said so far that I would want to explain to any professor, especially not my advisor.

    I'm not saying that wanting to be closer to one's fiance and feeling close to your cohort and other graduate students are not good reasons to want to transfer PhD programs. However, they are going to be perceived as somewhat unprofessional reasons to an advisor. He is going to want to hear that your interests have changed and that you feel like you would be a better fit there, because of the research going on at the other school. Or that they have specific resources there that you need or want to use in your research.

    In all honesty, examine yourself first. You've only been apart for 1.5 months. Long-distance relationships are ALWAYS difficult in the beginning; it's not that they get any more fun, but they do get easier to deal with. It will be very difficult to get your advisor's support so early into the game, when you haven't even given the PhD program a game year to get adjusted and decide. The other thing is that you have to really take the time to decide whether you are willing to take the potential career hit you will take by transferring to a lower-ranked program that may not be as tight a fit for you.

    I think every graduate student has to be willing to decide what they are willing to sacrifice and what they are not, and I don't judge any grad student for those decisions - as a person who has been in an LDR for much of my own relationship, I'm planning in tandem with my own fiance so that we are not living apart again. But, I think it takes careful planning and serious thought - stuff you may not be able to do in the first two months of your program when emotions are still high. So my advice would be to stick it out for a year and see if you still feel the same way. Get settled into your department (my cohort didn't seem very friendly at first either, until I got to know them), into your new city, into a rhythm of work. Your feelings may change and you may come to adore it.

    If you are already decided on leaving - or once you do - here's my advice.

    1) When you approach past professors, frame your decision in terms of career choices, not so much personal choices. You will get a better response and stronger support from your advisors if you do.

    2) You will need support from at least one person in your current department. You may not have an advisor yet, but perhaps you should adopt an informal mentor or at least get to know one of the professors who teaches your classes. The department to which you are trying to apply is going to want to know how you are doing in your current department; they're going to want to be assured that you're not attempting to transfer because you are sinking in your current department. And for that, they're going to need at least one letter of recommendation from a current professor or advisor.

    3) You will definitely need the support of your MS advisor. It will look suspicious to the new department if you don't have that, number one; and number two, going behind his back and getting three other recommendations may burn some bridges for you that you want to keep open. Academia is a small world and people know people. The professors you ask may assume that your old MS advisor already knows you are transferring and bring it up; if he doesn't know, he'll be embarrassed. So don't sidestep that one; come up with a really good and professional (not personal) explanation as to why you need to transfer, and then ask for his support.

    I will say that there is the VERY real possibility that your advisor will not understand your decision, especially in terms of leaving a program he obviously thought was a good career fit for you to be closer to your partner just two months into it. He may perceive you as not committed enough to the pursuit of academia. That's why I insist that you come up with a professional, research-related reason that you want to transfer.
  7. Upvote
    runonsentence got a reaction from jbriar in I chose (cheaper) Harvard over (more expensive) Columbia... and I regret it every single day   
    Americans have a saying: "the grass is always greener on the other side." It sounds to me like perhaps you're having trouble adjusting and are trying to convince yourself that Columbia ("the other side") would be the better choice for instance happiness. But I think that thinking comparatively like this probably isn't helpful. No decision is ever perfect, and no school will be without its problems—I don't think that Columbia is necessarily your instant fix. Try, if you can, not to focus on lines of thought like, "Oh, if I'd only gone to Columbia, I'd surely like my neighborhood more...."

    I think I agree with other posters that many of your difficulties may be related to the initial adjustment to a new school, a new program, not knowing anyone...also, I wasn't clear from your post, but have you moved from abroad to the U.S. for the first time, as well? It may be that you're also experiencing some culture shock. I would suggest you wait it out, definitely for the rest of the semester, if not the year, before making any decisions.

    Good luck, and I'm sorry you're having some trouble.
  8. Upvote
    runonsentence got a reaction from dimanche0829 in What's your opinion of the "Occupy Wall St." movement?   
    I agree that it sucks that the movement can't only target those "to blame" and only disrupt their day...but, well, this is how civil disobedience works. You get people to sit up and pay attention by disrupting the daily operations of the system. The movement wouldn't be successful if it stayed out of the way.

    Furthermore, if I understand what's going on correctly, the occupiers aren't the only ones to blame in terms of disrupting the city. The NYPD seem to have developed a month-long history of over-reaction and escalation (and here I'm blaming the powers pulling the strings and the whiteshirts, not the everyday beat cops in black shirts who, according to source after source, are largely supportive of the movement). Why, for instance, have they barricaded/blocked off Wall Street, only allowing people through once they've shown a work ID?

    And last, I am immensely grateful that the NYPD have not yet [successfully] cleared out the protestors with a "hats and bats" approach. That's horrific. That's what an autocratic police state does to stifle dissent.
  9. Upvote
    runonsentence got a reaction from rising_star in What's your opinion of the "Occupy Wall St." movement?   
    I fully support the occupy movement. I see the repeated accusations that the protestors don't know what they want as manufactured by corporate-sponsored media as an attempt to discredit and dismiss the occupation.

    I mean, it seems pretty simple to me. OWS is looking for a system where accumulated capital isn't just for the few and isn't built on the backs of the bottom rungs of society. It's looking for, in the words of N. Katherine Hayles, "fair capitalism."

    http://www.businessinsider.com/what-wall-street-protesters-are-so-angry-about-2011-10?op=1
  10. Upvote
    runonsentence reacted to Jbarks in What's your opinion of the "Occupy Wall St." movement?   
    This statement is well-put. I also support OWS. I live in the city, and I try to participate as much as possible. But because I'm fortunate to have a full time job, I can't be there as much as I would like. It's also important to remember that this movement is only 31 days old; it's still in its infancy. In our culture, we expect ultra-fast results and solutions, and, when this doesn't occur, we become impatient and desire something more. I'm excited to see how the movement evolves.

    Also, if you live in NYC and are interested, this Saturday from 6-9 OWS is staging an open forum on student loan debt.
  11. Upvote
    runonsentence reacted to natsteel in What's your opinion of the "Occupy Wall St." movement?   
    This is so off the mark, it made me laugh. That quote is merely regurgitating the mainstream media's portrayal of the events. Is there a protest in or near your town? If so, go before characterizing a protest that is going on all around the world as "spoiled white kids." Living in New Haven, I can say that I see my fair share of "spoiled white kids" and they are definitely NOT the protestors. In fact, it's the spoiled white kids who are trying (unsuccessfully) to organize anti-protester protests. I don't care if I get flamed, but, in some ways, it's sad to see aspiring academics be so easily inclined to swallow the corporate media's party line wholesale without investigating for themselves.

    As for there being no "clear goals," I think that is the movement's biggest strength at this point. Obviously financial injustice is the major issue, but if you don't have clearly delineated goals, you cannot be co-opted by the left or pacified by the right, which is exactly what happened to the original Tea Party (not the Sarah Palin/Koch brothers Tea Party). I think it's actually quite prescient on their part not to be organizing some kind of leadership or vanguard and not to be issuing so-called "demands." That speaks to their critique of the economic system as a whole being corrupted and in need of serious re-organization.


    @ long_time_lurker, how is a public protest using a park for their own "private purposes?" If it was a protest for a shorter commute and the same amount of people were there, including yourself, would that then be public?


    @Behavioral Wall Street, the 1%, and the government are in many cases the same people and, as groups, control and protect each other. That is the WHOLE point.

    It's simply unfair that the financial sector has created a system (in partnership with the government via deregulation) in which gains are privatized and risk is socialized. The movement is not claiming to have all the answers. What they are claiming is that the system itself is in need of serious changes and, most importantly, they are trying to show that there are people all over the country and all over the world who are opposed to the status quo.
  12. Upvote
    runonsentence reacted to Safferz in What's your opinion of the "Occupy Wall St." movement?   
    I listened to the same interview on CBC, and that's not what he said at all. He said they could bring down the system, and when the interviewer asked "you think so?" he said, "I know so." What he said about the movement being white-dominated is to point out that it won't be the same as the 60s Civil Rights Movement (even though many of the Occupy WS activists think of it that way) because this is not a historically oppressed group demanding their rights, but people with "400 years of white privilege" who feel the system worked and has gotten worse, when black activists have held that it never worked to begin with. He also warned that the police response can't deal with young white people with the same violence it has unleashed on blacks and Hispanics.
  13. Upvote
    runonsentence got a reaction from Two Espressos in Where is Everyone Applying?   
    N. Katherine Hayles is the shit.
  14. Upvote
    runonsentence got a reaction from Timshel in What's your opinion of the "Occupy Wall St." movement?   
    I fully support the occupy movement. I see the repeated accusations that the protestors don't know what they want as manufactured by corporate-sponsored media as an attempt to discredit and dismiss the occupation.

    I mean, it seems pretty simple to me. OWS is looking for a system where accumulated capital isn't just for the few and isn't built on the backs of the bottom rungs of society. It's looking for, in the words of N. Katherine Hayles, "fair capitalism."

    http://www.businessinsider.com/what-wall-street-protesters-are-so-angry-about-2011-10?op=1
  15. Upvote
    runonsentence got a reaction from dimanche0829 in What's your opinion of the "Occupy Wall St." movement?   
    I fully support the occupy movement. I see the repeated accusations that the protestors don't know what they want as manufactured by corporate-sponsored media as an attempt to discredit and dismiss the occupation.

    I mean, it seems pretty simple to me. OWS is looking for a system where accumulated capital isn't just for the few and isn't built on the backs of the bottom rungs of society. It's looking for, in the words of N. Katherine Hayles, "fair capitalism."

    http://www.businessinsider.com/what-wall-street-protesters-are-so-angry-about-2011-10?op=1
  16. Upvote
    runonsentence reacted to TripWillis in Wondering about ideological bent of PhD programs.   
    You could try every school outside the heartland. Marxist criticism is highly influential pretty much everywhere.
  17. Upvote
    runonsentence got a reaction from ecritdansleau in How do I ask for the LoRs I need?! I feel screwed out of my plans for life!   
    I've never heard that emailing could be rude, myself. Email would be my suggestion, but you could always call if you felt like email isn't the right thing to do here. (Though I realize that calling might be difficult for you, if you feel socially anxious...but if you're trying to turn that around, it might be an empowering way to start trying to change!)

    I don't think that post is the way to go since they probably aren't in their offices much (if at all) over the summer and it could get lost in the campus mail shuffle during the school year. But if you do, I would NOT send ORIGINAL copies of any marked/graded papers—send photocopies instead.

    There are a lot of threads in this forum you should poke around in to see how others have assembled materials to help their recommenders. But before you send on a packet of materials, I would first send an email that
    introduces yourself as a former student ("Because I was shy in undergrad, you may not remember me, but I took XXX class with you and really enjoyed it...").
    tells your prof that you're applying for grad school and why, and ask if s/he is comfortable writing you a strong letter of recommendation. Word it exactly like that so that your professor can take the out if s/he doesn't remember you well enough to write you a good letter.
    explains the reasons you've asked this particular professor to write for you. (If you're worried about a professor remembering you well, it will make it easier for them to imagine writing a letter for you if you can tell them what sorts of things you see them writing about. For instance, "I thought that my papers for your class really showed my understanding of XX theory..." or, "I thought that my participation in your course showed how passionate I was about the material and showed my potential for working with graduate-level ideas...".)
    tells her/him that if s/he can recommend you, you can send a packet of materials to them that includes the list of schools you're applying to, writing sample from her/his class, etc. by such-and-such date.

    If you send out a feeler email like this beforehand, it won't look presumptuous (like you expect them to say yes—which could be the reason you've been advised against emailing in the past).

    Good luck!
  18. Upvote
    runonsentence reacted to Sigaba in How to tactfully mention that I worked full time and paid my way through my MA   
    Correlation is not causation. Unless you have been debriefed on why you (or someone else) did or did not get into a program, or been privy to behind the scenes conversations on that and similar topics, it is merely an assumption that the disclosure advanced an applicant's candidacy.

    In my view, the point Eigen is making--and that you are missing--is that within a program there are doors behind doors behind curtains behind mirrors. As a very accomplished undergraduate with unlimited potential, you have been allowed to see what is behind some of those doors. Once you get into a program, you'll be shown through others. After you pass various way points and as you grow as an academic and as a person, you will get ever closer the innermost doors. (If you're especially "lucky," you may be shown where the bodies are buried. You may even be handed a shovel, a leaking foul smelling burlap sack that is bursting at the seams, and instructions on where to dig.)

    As more doors are opened for you, you may realize that you need to reexamine and reinterpret what you learned earlier in your journey, especially as an undergraduate.. Examples include, the importance of subtlety, the efficacy of staying within the specifications of a task, the utility of a well-turned phrase, the value of not saying something that need not be said, the ways a department can--and will--deal with graduate students and colleagues who are determined to have "chips on their shoulders," the extent to which academics will go to bat for graduate students they respect, and the deafening silence that surrounds grad students who have fallen out of favor.


    With respect and at risk of belaboring a point, I think you are misjudging the utility of your experiences as an undergraduate against those of graduate students in the pipeline. In and of itself, there is nothing wrong with this dynamic--you're a very intelligent person who is highly motivated with a bright future. (FWIW, I would be highly disappointed in you--given your field of study and your current institution--if you didn't have such a swagger.)

    However, you and other members of this BB, in particular those who are going to study history, might well serve your own interests by considering the possibility that there are huge differences between being an undergraduate applying to grad school and being a person who has experienced the highs, lows, ups, downs, ins, and outs of graduate school.

    As an example, I would direct your attention to a thread in this BB's history forum. In it, a graduate student is being told by his department that he has alienated a critical mass of his professors and that it is time for him to leave << In that thread (like in this one) there is a noticeable difference between the responses offered by graduate students who are in the pipeline and those in the process of getting into it. Are these differences the result of "far fetched" thinking on the part of graduate students or do they reflect insights gained through hard earned experiences?
  19. Upvote
    runonsentence reacted to Eigen in How to tactfully mention that I worked full time and paid my way through my MA   
    I find it interesting to note that, predominately, those that are saying "don't do it" are all well into our graduate degrees, while those that are saying "do it" are currently applying. Something that might be worth considering.
  20. Upvote
    runonsentence reacted to Sigaba in How to tactfully mention that I worked full time and paid my way through my MA   
    With respect, I believe you are missing the point.

    The central question of this thread is what are the best way for an applicant to include tactfully a fact of debatable relevance in a SOP. Those of us who believe that the fact is not relevant are saying that there is no tactful way to accomplish the task and that the risks outweigh the rewards.

    In regards to a comment on a SoP pointing out that an applicant "completed a prize-winning master's thesis and graduated at the top of my class," in my opinion, such a comment is a misuse of space for a historian's SoP. In my view, the SoP is less about what you've accomplished--a topic that should be covered by one's transcript and LoRs--and more about what you've learned, how well you can think, how well you can write, and how one's expertise puts one a step or two ahead of other applicants.

    In so far as a "so what" attitude towards going over a word limit, each applicant must decide if playing outside the lines are worth the risk. In my experience, there are professors who will cut students slack on a case by case basis, those who will hold the line on standards, and those who will use any excuse to cut down their work load.
  21. Upvote
    runonsentence reacted to Eigen in How to tactfully mention that I worked full time and paid my way through my MA   
    And since most SoPs are length limited, if something isn't going to make your SoP, why put it in?

    As was said, if the work area is relevant to your field, put it in- if you're in labor history, the work becomes at least partially relevant.

    The implicit assumption that the OP is making is that it would make him stand out for other applicants that he worked to support his family while he was in school. I don't think that's a reasonable assumption to make at this level, as I think most people applying to graduate school are less likely to be there on "Mommy and Daddy's dime".

    Additionally, many academics *do* look down on people working full time while doing a graduate degree. You may not agree with it, but there are several threads on the CHE forums with people asking about working while in graduate school (granted, many are talking about PhDs, not Masters), and the near-universal response is "Don't do it!"- either get funded or buckle down and get through it as fast as possible.

    Also, I think



    Says a lot about how the OP views it, and that's going to slant how they bring it up. It's not quite the extreme you suggest, but it's definitely heading in that direction.
  22. Upvote
    runonsentence got a reaction from Sigaba in How to tactfully mention that I worked full time and paid my way through my MA   
    Yes, but I'd argue that the very inclusion of it in the SoP is rhetorical.

    I'm not saying the fact that you have held a job to, you know, eat and things, is going to hurt someone's personal opinion of you. But telling a committee that you held a job while a master's student isn't going to help you make a case for yourself as a scholar in the SoP unless it's somehow related to your field or you're going into a field that requires/values professional preparation (e.g., MBA). And if you're in a field where funding at the master's level is common, it only draws more attention to the fact that you weren't funded.
  23. Downvote
    runonsentence reacted to fibonacci in Non-Academic Jobs: resume and general advice?   
    It's because the majority on here don't want to believe that the mantra they've been fed their whole life--that more education is always better no matter what the cost--is really not that true at all. Next year when the department of education starts tracking default rates on student loans out to 5 years the default rate on student loans is projected to almost double from 7% up to 14%. Only 40% of student loans are currently in repayment, the rest are either in deferment or are in default. The US has a massive ticking time bomb with regards to education and debt. The numbers don't lie, education costs keep soaring while jobs that pay livable wages continue to be off shored or are disappearing all together as the manufacturing base in this country declines. I bet the vast majority of kids on these boards have never even had a job or even looked for one. They have no idea what's waiting out here for them once they get out. Right now we live in a time when we are sending the most kids ever in the history of this country on towards higher education while the US economy is suffering from severe systemic and structural problems that will take decades to fix (a lot of problems may not be able to fixed at all). Suggesting that people should go to college or grad school no matter at what cost, because more education is always better, is completely stupid, especially when the economy is increasingly unable to absorb the huge swaths of new grads and pay them livable wages. College these days for many kids leads to nothing more than underemployment or temp jobs with no benefits with tons of student loan debt. Grad school just prolongs the underemployment while the interest builds on the principal and then you're caught in 20+ years worth of student loans. The whole f^cking system is one giant scam.
  24. Upvote
    runonsentence reacted to Sigaba in How to tactfully mention that I worked full time and paid my way through my MA   
    I agree with Eigen and Runonsentence: the work should be mentioned only if was relevant to the applicant's field of study.


    It might, if the tone of the disclosure suggests that the applicant has a chip on his or her shoulder. For example:


  25. Downvote
    runonsentence reacted to Trisha in ph.d.topic   
    can anyone suggest me which area is more stronger in field of microbiology....i am interested in following :
    1.isolation & characterisation of insecticidal compound from some selected fungi..
    2. production & characterisation of proteolytic enzymes from fungi..
    3. pollution control by algea..
    i hv to choose any one.....if any modification is necessary in above topic then i'll read more about that..plz reply
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