sandyvanb

I am going to decide if I am applying to 8 or 10 schools, slam through a few articles, write a lecture for Monday, create my powerpoint for next week, write a quiz, and write a study guide for my students' upcoming exam. And my parents are here right now and my in-laws are arriving on Sunday. I don't plan on getting any rest...

Thanks TMP for your sage advice. Goldie, how is your anxiety coming along? When I was working on my thesis, my mentor and I often joked about scheduling my impending nervous breakdown. But seriously, I hope that everything is coming along.

I am waivering between 8-10 schools, I've given myself this weekend to make a final decision.

Yes, I believe that it is standard not to waste the pages on the bibliography. My samples are from my MA thesis so I would have to cull through my bibliography to create one for each document. Not happening.

remenis, I am not sure but I would lean toward yes... I think that I have narrowed down my list of schools to ten. I am determined nail this down by Monday!

Goldie, I am a compulsive list maker! If I do something that isn't on my list I have to add it on so I can cross it off!

I am trying to stay on top of my lectures. I'm hoping to revise two writing samples tonight after I upload a quiz and get my powerpoint done for tomorrow. I am still trying to plow through a few journal articles before I write some potential advisors. We had fall break on Thursday and Friday and I had originally planned on getting a lot of work done, but alas, I had to run around and get things done both days. Goldie, thanks and congrats on the successful conference presentation!

Bad teaching day today... I hope that one of my sections drops, I mean the whole class. I feel so hostile... On the other hand, I touched base with my LORs and and I'm going to give them some additional material next so they are all ready for my apps. It's nice that my former profs are now colleagues.

Goldie, I am teaching five WHI survey courses. Mostly freshman, and I inherited three sections from a professor who was known to give everyone in the class a "B." Needless to say, my three sections are packed with athletes and international students, all of whom expected to get awarded a "B" without doing any work. The exam average for my "special" section was a 55%. They have quickly realized that they are in trouble and they are now starting to panic. The energy in those classes has changed dramatically. I know that I have a full plate, but I am really happy to have this year as a gap year. I am learning to deal with all sorts of classroom situations and growing as a lecturer. I am teaching a course that is far outside of my comfort level, so if I can survive this year, I can teach anything. I am fortunate to have been hired from the department I just graduated from, so I feel comfortable speaking to any faculty member and telling them "I don't know what I'm doing, what would you do?" If I were someplace else, I might not want to admit that I don't have all of the answers. I was further humbled when the dean told me that I was the first graduate student that the history department ever hired as a full-time lecturer right after graduation. The teaching quality is so high in the department, that I really hope that I am bringing the same level to my classes. My students make that a real challenge. As far as my apps go, it is lucky that my thesis is done and I am just editing chapters for writing samples. It is amazing how many errors you find after you step away from your work for a few months! My basic SoP is in good shape, it just needs to be tailored for each program. I'll get it all done, it's just going to be a marathon!

I have a good friend who is in his first year of PhD work and he is dyslexic. We went through our MA program together and he did not disclose this to his thesis chair for a while. She was very frustrated with his writing and grammar and my mentor told him that he needed to tell her immediately. He did, and the process became much easier for him. My mentor then told him to tell his profs in his new program ASAP so they could work with him; he is doing fine this year. It makes sense to inform your program as quickly as possible. Good luck!

Congrats on goldilocks and crazedandinfused on getting the GRE out of the way! I am in grading hell, their first exam was abysmal. I had a massive panic in the class that got their exams back. They were genuinely surprised at how badly they did. Other than grading four more classes, I have two writing samples to edit. My mentor has been whipping through my samples so I can start submitting soon. I'm also trying to get through some articles so I can contact profs. The deadlines are quickly approaching...

I am so slammed keeping up with my course load and hostile students, that I haven't had any time to edit writing samples or contact potential advisors. I am trying to get my exam written tomorrow so I can spend the rest of the weekend editing and reading. Hope springs eternal. My mentor keeps telling me that it never ends once you are TT, you are always trying to balance your teaching load with doing your own work and research. Sigh.

I have not had much time at all to work on my app material. I got one of my samples back from my mentor but I have haven't had a chance to do any revisions. I have three other samples to work through for editing before I can give them to her. I have been dealing with hostile students all day who are angry that I failed them on a writing assignment because they didn't read the syllabus or listen to me in class. I really hope that I can carve out some time this weekend to do some of my own work, but it isn't looking good. Thanks for letting me vent. Hopefully next time I'll be back with more positive updates!

I'm waiting to hear about an article I submitted, but I have already completed my MA.

I got mine drafted a couple of weeks ago and that was after months of thinking and agonizing about it. Writing my SoP was incredibly difficult, I just had to figure out what angle I wanted to approach it from. Once I did that, I managed to get it written pretty quickly. My mentor looked over it so now I just need to start making it specific for each program. Are you writing a long version then cutting it for different submissions? The schools I am applying to range in length from 500 to 1000-2000 words so I wrote the long version from which I can cut shorter ones. Hang in there, you'll figure it out soon.

I'm applying to 10-12 schools as well and it seems as though each LOR will need to be uploaded for each school. It might be a question to ask each department. I'm curious to see if anyone else has had experience with this for PhD apps.

There aren't a ton of schools that offer a major in my field so I'm pretty much applying to all of them. *sigh*

So, I meant to post an update on this thread but it ended up on the other applicant thread... I did manage to get a draft of my long SoP done today. I sent it off to my mentor so we'll see how much work I have to do on it before tailoring it to each program. I'm going to start email potential advisors in the next week or so. I need to read some of their work first but I do have a list. I hope everyone else is making good process in their class work or on applications!

Well, I survived my first full week of lectures! It is definitely getting easier and I am whipping my classes into shape. I was an emergency hire and I took over for a professor who was forced out on medical leave. He was known as an easy "A" so my classes are packed with international students and athletes. After the first day they realized that they are actually going to have to work for me. So now I have to write my first quiz and continue to prep lectures and powepoints. I have to start cutting content because I am already behind! I am starting to obsess about my SoP and getting in touch with professors. I have no idea how to get started on my SoP...Any suggestions or tips?

I finished my MA in May and I'm applying to PhD programs this fall. I wrote a thesis and I was hired by my department to teach full-time this year. In my experience, a graduate program in history is hard. Very hard, as it should be. If grad school were easy, everyone would have an advanced degree. I was under constant stress to stay ahead and sometimes just on top of readings and papers. The process of writing my thesis was intense and I didn't sleep much while I was finishing it up. That being said, I completed my degree feeling very well trained and prepared for a PhD program.

My first day of teaching is tomorrow... No time to worry about my PhD apps right now... That concern will resurface in a few weeks...

I'm going to beginning contacting professors once the semester has gotten in full swing. I have a list, and I need to do some reading first.

Sorry I've been absent! We've been traveling so I haven't been online much. I'm finishing up week six of lectures tonight so I'm making good progress. I'm still obsessing about my SoP, I'll feel a lot better if I can get a draft down on paper. I'm so torn between getting my lectures done and writing my SoP... Good luck on the GRE prep everyone!

Most of mine are December 1. I'm starting the process in October and finishing up before Thanksgiving so I can enjoy my holidays and focus on the end of the semester.

I am so frustrated. All I want to do is knock out my SoP and I am in lecture writing hell... I just want to have them all in the can. I'm on week four and I wish that it would go faster. I haven't even begun to work on my Powerpoints! Vent over...