TulipOHare

:shock: That is fucking horrible, zilch. Have you been able to get anything straightened out since then?

A. Little contact from the program could mean that they're all busy doing groundbreaking work. :wink:

Sounds like you did a little more digging and found what you wanted. Good luck to you!

If I decide not to get a PhD: Be a damn good speech therapist. Be an advocate for ESL and ELL kids (huge numbers of these kids are pushed into speech therapy or even special ed for no reason). Possibly, become a clinical supervisor at a university's MA program. If I decide to get a PhD: Be a damn good professor of speech pathology or linguistics. Do research to learn more about how brains acquire first and second languages. Be an advocate for ESL and ELL kids, as above.

He is holding you back. He has already held you back for more than a year. He has also clearly chosen his career (and whatever ties he has to where he lives now) over you. Is this what you want?

Sorry for snapping, t_ruth. I agree with your last sentence completely (hell, been there done that, even...). But I also strongly disagree with the idea that if a person isn't good at school or isn't interested in school, that person must be stupid or lazy. If janeng's dude lives off of her and does nothing to earn his keep, or if he never really tries at anything, then yes, you're absolutely right. But if he just didn't like school or wasn't good at school, and does put forth effort at other things, there's nothing wrong with that. Besides, we all know stupid, lazy people who have graduate degrees and/or get paid way more than we do. ...

Right, because your grades and your performance at school determine your entire worth as a person.

For long drives: I agree with the other people's ideas -- trade off regularly, take breaks, sleep when tired, try very hard to drive from dawn to dusk. I would also pack the following: - Bottled water. But sip it so you don't have to stop every hour - Snacks that are not messy and that don't produce a lot of trash (I like baby carrots, grapes, or peanut M&Ms). - Gum. It's weird, but chewing gum keeps your brain awake through monotonous terrain. - A LARGE supply of music and/or audiobooks available. If you don't have an MP3 player and a device that lets you play it through the vehicle's radio, it would be worth buying them just for the drive. And NEVER RELY ON CAFFEINE TO STAY AWAKE... I'm not saying don't have a cup of coffee with breakfast -- I'm saying that if you're exhausted and caffeine is the only thing that stands between you and a wreck, don't pick the caffeine.

Racist?! I saw posts criticizing vannik's English, but hell -- I don't speak very good Turkish. If someone who spoke Turkish listened to me and said "Hey girl, your Turkish sucks," are they being racist?

Post this in the IHOG forum. There are probably lots of people there in the same situation!

I don't think they make you pay back anything they've already given you, but if you're switching programs, they're under no obligation to keep giving you anything you were getting under your old program.

Talk to the fin aid people at your school. I was in a similar pinch one year in undergrad (not enough federal loans, couldn't get private loans) and they were able to creatively rearrange things to cover me. You could see if they could get you some work-study -- it might suck to have to work, but it still leads to cash money. They might also know of some additional loan sources. At the very least, they should be able to come up with a payment plan so you're not totally screwed.

Same for brushing up my Spanish!

It is done: I have chosen Temple. I love the department at TC, but I simply cannot afford to go. The NYC DOE scholarship could pay for a lot of it, but I'm not willing to commit to being in NYC for 8 1/2 years when I could have Temple completely paid off before then. It's disappointing to have a door opened and then closed for you -- but I'm not at all disappointed about going to Temple! It's a department with a huge range of interests, I already know some of the faculty, and I get to stay in a place I love.

Unless you are really truly dirt poor, the FAFSA will not get you any free money (Pell grants). It will get you federal loans, though, and these are generally the best deal in student loans.

Congrats jferreir! That's great news. I know you've been tearing your hair out about this.

This is a good point. Outside academia, you will need the biggest name you can find. But if you're going to stay in the ivory tower, then go wherever you think you will be the most productive and do the best work.

What do you mean by a "generous but largely ornamental fellowship" ?

If you're having a hard time concentrating on classes and are sick of research, then you definitely need a break. We give you permission to take one Get some help from the almighty internets* and your college's career center on how to write resumes and tailor cover letters, and then go apply for any job you want. Having a psychology degree doesn't mean you can only take jobs that have to do with psychology. * One of my favorite job blogs is http://askamanager.blogspot.com/ -- it's a lot of very sane and current advice from someone not much older than we are (parents, relatives, and profs are all well-meaning, but they will have no concept of what the modern job market is like, particularly for people in their 20s and 30s).

I'm in almost the same situation, but less complicated because I've only been accepted to two schools. One is supposedly deciding finances this week and then notifying next week (but has an enrollment deadline of May 15th), and the other is making no decisions on finances until June (but is sticking to the 4/15 deadline). If it's April 14th and I haven't heard from the first school, I'm going to put down a deposit at the second school, and pull out if the first school throws money at me.

Go to Stanford and you're looking at loan payments of about $1000/mo for 10 years (or $700/mo for 20-30 years). Will you be able to afford that after graduation?

Stanford.

So what if he is? You admitted that the worry could all be in your head, but if it's not... then I don't see any reason to accommodate someone who says "do what you want to do, do what's best for you" and doesn't mean it. If he's made you afraid of what he'll do if you pick the "wrong" choice, then he doesn't care about you -- he cares about controlling you and owning you. If he cares about you, he'll be happy for you and determined to make it work no matter what you choose.

These are sponsored by the American Family Association: http://www.afa.net/ Judge for yourself if that's a "special interest group" you'd like to get behind.

From e-mails and phone calls I made this week... NYU does not fund master's students, period, end of story. Pretty lame considering they're the most expensive of that whole list. Columbia is supposed to be making its scholarship nominations this week. There are assistantships, but they are few, and first-year students rarely get them.