It is difficult to tell you exactly what is in the packet because it may be different from one school to another. However, I think it is most likely that you will receive the I-20 and some documents detailing your school's instructions for newly admitted students, for example the next steps you need to do to apply for a Visa, your arrival at the university, health insurance, etc. So with that packet in hands, you will know the next things you need to do, among which the most crucial one is to secure a Visa.
And yes, you may want to start getting your passport, transcripts, and financial proof ready for your Visa application. Everything related to this process you can easily find on the UK-based US embassy's website.
American History R_Escobar (20th century, American Indian), crazedandinfused (antebellum, intellectual), hopin'-n-prayin' (southern, religious), stevemcn (transnational), Simple Twist of Fate (early American), zb642 (20th century, labor/working-class culture), BCEmory08 (19th-20th century Catholicism, labor), irvinchiva10 (20th century, immigration/immigration reform) natsteel (early American political culture and intellectual history) unforth (19th century US political and military history, US Civil War) hbeels (colonial, early national, 19th century, transappalachain west, historical memory of these eras/areas)
European HistoryKelkel (Modern Germany, political), goldielocks (Britain), SapperDaddy (Eastern and Central Europe), kotov (Modern Romania, Holocaust, labor), RevolutionBlues (Modern Western Europe/France labor and leftist politics), theregalrenegade (18th/19th cent British Empire/environment), jrah822 (19th century Britain; emphasis on colonial relationship to India), grlu0701 (Intellectual & cultural history,fin de siecle Germany and Italy), naturalog (modern European [mostly German] intellectual and cultural/sexuality and gender/political radicalism), runaway (Eastern/Central, memorialization & visual culture), Sequi001 (Modern France, gender and sexuality, colonialism/imperialism) Abetheh (19th/early 20th century Germany and France, religious politics vs secularization)
African HistoryOseirus (precolonial/early colonial West Africa), Singwaya18 (20th century East Africa), Safferz (20th century Horn/Northeast Africa), The People's Scholar (Spanish colonialim in Africa- i.e. middle/West Africa) Jogatoronto (Psychiatry in early colonial West Africa)
Latin American HistoryCageFree (20th century, Southern Cone), BH-history, The People's Scholar (18th-19th century Colombia) StrangeLight (20th century Central America)
East Asian Historyalleykat (Modern China) kyjin (Pre-Modern Japan)
Sigaba, I'm afraid I can't tell if you're just trolling, or if you're really this unfamiliar with how internet forums work. The effectiveness of a forum is undermined when no one posts; it is not undermined by people posting similar questions. I'm pretty new here, but I don't think most of us view this as a information repository so much as we view it as a discussion community. There are a lot of reasons that users should post new threads, which TakeruK outlined quite thoroughly above. In fact, a perfectly valid reply from you would have said "Hey, you can also check out these past threads on this topic. Good luck!" That would have been something a helpful member of a forum community would do. Unfortunately you chose to share some links then couple it with a rant equating poor (in your mind) internet forum behavior to grad school research habits.
And just to avoid contributing even further to the hijacking of this thread, I'll add for the OP that I don't think you should give your dog away. There's another thread around here somewhere about pets in grad school - plenty of people manage it!
About your dog: I think that depends entirely on you and your program. I am in a social science program where the majority of my analysis and writing can be done from home, and I prefer to work from home or from a library (as opposed to my cube in the windowless cube farm). When I was taking classes I was generally there from 9-6 or so, but now that my coursework is finished I am rarely at the school itself. I go for meetings, seminars, interesting kinds of things and I do most of my work remotely. My time is verrry flexible, and if my building didn't prohibit it I would get a dog in a heartbeat. Another thing to keep in mind: a dog can be a great comfort when you're all stressed out over graduate school.
Advice?
Age:
-Don't feel like you have nothing to offer just because you are younger. I was 22 when I started graduate school. You got accepted to the program for a reason, and chances are you are just as equipped as any older students are to successfully complete the program, just in a different way.
-Your older classmates may be just as terrified as you. Talk to them. You have a lot in common. You are, after all, in the same place.
-You will feel like an imposter, like you don't belong, or like you are constantly behind. Or all three. It's normal. It will pass. (Well, sort of.) People of all ages go through this.
Adviser related:
-If you are lucky enough to get both research interest fit and personality fit perfect, congratulations! But sometimes, personality fit is more important than research interest fit as long as the research isn't too different. A great adviser is interested in your career development, likes you as a person, advocates for you, and wants to hear your ideas. Even if his or her research is quite different from yours, they may give you the autonomy to work on your own projects and just supervise you. A bad personality fit will drive you nuts, even if you love his or her research. Consider that when evaluating your adviser fit. (This will vary by field: research fit may be less important in the humanities, more important in the natural and physical sciences. Social sciences are somewhere in-between.)
-Don't be afraid to be straight up blunt with your adviser when it comes to asking about your progress. Ask if you are where you should be both academic program wise and getting-a-job-after-this-mess-wise.
-Be proactive. Advisers love when you draw up an agenda for your one-on-one meetings, come with talking points and progress to share, have concrete questions to ask, and have overall shown that you have been thoughtful and taken control of your own program. Of course, this won't immediately come easily to you, but in time you will work up to it. Every semester I type up my semester goals, and at the beginning of the year I type up annual goals. I show them to my adviser and we talk about whether they are too ambitious, or whether I need to revise them, and how I can meet them.
-Don't expect your adviser to actually know what courses you have to take to graduate. They will know about comprehensive exams and the dissertation, but a lot of professors don't really keep up with the course requirements, especially if their program is in flux. Get you a student handbook, and find out what you need to take. Map it out in a grid, and check off things when you finish them. Show this to your adviser every semester. You may have to explain how such and such class fills a requirement.
-Nobody loves you as much as you, except your mother. Keep this in mind as you take in advice from all sources, including your adviser. Your adviser is there to guide you, but that doesn't mean you have to do everything he says.
Studying:
-You will have to read more than you ever did before, in less time than you ever have before, and you will be expected to retain more than you ever have before. The way that you studied in undergrad may need some tweaking. Be prepared for this.
-Corollary: you may find that your methods change with age or interests or time. I preferred to study alone in college, but in grad school, I prefer to study in groups. It keeps me on task and the socialization keeps me motivated. You may find that you shift from being a more auditory learner to a visual learner or whatever.
-You will feel behind at first. This is normal.
-At some point you will realize that your professors don't actually expect you to read everything they assign you. This, of course, will vary by program, but there will be at least one class where the reading is actually impossible to do in one week. The point is to read enough that you know the major themes and can talk intelligently about them, and then pick some of the readings to really dig into and think more deeply about.
-For most programs, don't worry so much about grades. If you stay on top of your work and do what you're supposed to, you will probably get an A. How much grades matter varies from program to program. In some programs, a B is a signal that you are not up to par, and more than a few Bs will warrant a discussion with your adviser or the DGS. My program isn't like that - A, B, it's all meaningless. My adviser doesn't even know what my grades are. But at almost all programs, a C means you need to retake the course, and two Cs means you have to convince the DGS not to kick you out.
Extracurricular activity: What's that? No, seriously:
-A lot of your time will be unstructured. You will have coursework, but most grad classes meet once a week for two hours and you may have three classes. You may have meetings with your adviser every so often and some seminars or things to catch (like we have grand rounds and colloquia that are required), but a lot of time will be unstructured. However, since you have so much more work than you had in undergrad, you actually will have less free time than you had in undergrad. This may initially cause you great anxiety. It did for me. Some people love unstructured time, though. (I don't.)
-Because of this, you'll have to be planful about your non-grad school related stuff.
-TAKE TIME OFF. DO it. It's important for your mental health. However you do it doesn't matter. Some people work it like a 9-5 job. Some people take a day off per week (me) and maybe a few hours spread across the week. Some people work half days 7 days a week. However you do it, there needs to be a time when you say "f this, I'm going to the movies."
-Find your happy place, something that keeps you the you you were when you came in. I love working out. It gives me energy and I feel good. I stay healthy. I also love reading fiction, so sometimes I just curl up with a good book, work be damned. You have to give yourself permission to not think about work, at least for a couple of hours a week. You may also discover new hobbies! (I never worked out before I came to graduate school.)
-Your work will creep into all aspects of your life, if you let it. This is why I hate unstructured time. You will feel guilty for not doing something, because in graduate school, there is ALWAYS something you can do. ALWAYS. But since there will always be more work, there's no harm in putting it aside for tomorrow, as long as you don't have a deadline.
-You may need to reach outside of your cohort for a social life. None of my close friends are in my doctoral cohort. I've met master's students in my program, master's students in other programs, and I know a few non-graduate students I hang out with, too. Go to graduate student mixers. (If your university doesn't have any, organize some, if you like planning parties.) Join a student group that doesn't take up too much time. I had a doctoral acquaintance who kinda laughed at me because I joined some student groups other than the doctoral student one, and I was usually the only doctoral student in those groups, but I met some close friends (and future job contacts) and had a good time.
-DO NOT FEEL GUILTY FOR WANTING A LIFE OUTSIDE OF GRADUATE SCHOOL. This is paramount. This is important. You are a well-rounded, complex, multifaceted human being. NEVER feel bad for this. Everybody wants some kind of life outside of work. Yes, you may loooove your field, but that doesn't mean you want to do it all day long. Some other doctoral students, and perhaps professors, may make you feel bad about this. Don't let them. Just smile and nod. Then disappear when you need to.
Career:
-This is job preparation. Remember that from Day One. Always be looking for ways to enhance your skills. Read job ads and find out what's hot in your field, what's necessary, what's in demand. For example, in my field statistics and methods are a hot commodity, and they're not a passing fad. I happen to really like statistics and methods, so I have pursued that as a concentration of mine.
-Don't be afraid to take on volunteer work and part-time gigs that will give you skills that will be useful both inside academia and out, as long as it's not against your contract. Your adviser may be against it, but he doesn't have to know as long as it doesn't interfere with your work.
-If you want to work outside of academia - if you are even *considering* the possibility - please please definitely do the above. Even if you aren't considering it, consider the possibility that you won't get a tenure-track job out the box and that you may need to support yourself doing something else for a while. You will have to prove to employers that you have developed usable, useful skills and this is one of the easiest ways to do it. But don't overdo it - get the degree done.
-For more academic related ones - always look for opportunities to present and publish. Presentations look good on your CV. Publications look better. When you write seminar papers, wonder if you can publish them with some revision. Write your seminar papers on what you maybe think you may want to do your dissertation on. Even if you look at them three years later and think "these suck," you can at least glean some useful references and pieces from them. Discuss publication with your adviser early and often, and if you have the time and desire, seek out publication options with other professors and researchers. But if you commit to a project, COMMIT. You don't want to leave a bad impression.
-If you can afford it, occasionally go to conferences even if you aren't presenting. You can network, and you can hear some interesting talks, and you may think about new directions for your own research. You can also meet people who may tell you about jobs, money, opportunities, etc.
-Always try to get someone else to pay for conference travel before you come out of pocket. Including your adviser. Do not be shy about asking if he or she can pay. If he can't, he'll just say no. Usually the department has a travel fund for students, but often it's only if you are presenting.
-If you are interested in academia, you should get some teaching experience. There are two traditional ways to do this: TAing a course, and teaching as a sole instructor. If you can help it, I wouldn't recommend doing a sole instructor position until you are finished with coursework. Teaching takes a LOT of time to do right. You should definitely TA at least one course, and probably a few different ones. But don't overdo it, if you can help it, because again, it takes a LOT of time. More than you expect at the outset. If you are in the humanities, I think sole instructor positions are very important for nabbing jobs so when you are in the exam/ABD phase, you may want to try at least one. If your own university has none, look at adjuncting for nearby colleges, including community colleges. (I would wager that the majority of natural science/physical science students, and most social science students, have never sole taught a class before they get an assistant professor job. At least, it's not that common n my field, which straddles the social and natural sciences.)
-Always look for money. Money is awesome. If you can fund yourself you can do what you want, within reason. Your university will be thrilled, your adviser will be happy, and you can put it on your CV. It's win-win-win! Don't put yourself out of the running before anyone else has a chance to. Apply even if you think you won't get it or the odds are against you (they always are), as long as you are eligible. Apply often. Apply even if it's only $500. (That's conference travel!) Money begets money. The more awards you get, the more awards you will get. They will get bigger over time. If you are in the sciences and social sciences, you should get practice writing at least one grant. You don't have to write the whole thing, but at least get in on the process so that you can see how it's done. Grant-writing is very valuable both in and outside of graduate school.
-Revise your CV every so often. Then look and decide what you want to add to it. Then go get that thing, so you can add it.
-The career office at big universities is often not just for undergrads. I was surprised to learn that my career center offers help on CV organization and the academic job search, as well as alternative/non-academic career searches for doctoral students. In fact, there are two people whose sole purpose it is to help PhD students find nonacademic careers, and they both have PhDs. This will vary by university - some universities will have very little for grad students. Find out before you write the office off.
-It's never too early to go to seminars/workshops like "the academic job search inside and out", "creating the perfect CV," "getting the job," etc. NEVER. Often the leader will share tips that are more aimed towards early graduate students, or tidbits that are kind of too late for more advanced students to take care of. This will also help you keep a pulse on what's hot in your field. It'll help you know what lines you need to add to your CV. And they're interesting.
Other:
-Decide ahead of time what you are NOT willing to sacrifice on the altar of academia. Then stick to it.
I'm serious. If you decide that you do NOT want to sacrifice your relationship, don't. If it's your geographical mobility, don't. I mean, be realistic, and realize that there will always be trade-offs. But you have to think about what's important to you for your quality of life, and realize that there is always more to you than graduate school.
-If you don't want to be a professor, do not feel guilty about this. At all. Zero. However, you will have to do things differently than most doctoral students. Your adviser will probably never have worked outside of the academy (although this may vary depending on the field) so he may or may not be able to help you. But you have a special mission to seek out the kinds of experiences that will help you find a non-academic job. Test the waters with your adviser before you tell him this. My adviser was quite amenable to it, but that's because I told him that my goal was to still do research and policy work in my field just not at a university, AND because it's quite common in my field for doctoral students to do non-academic work. If you're in a field where it's not common (or where your professors refuse to believe it's common, or it's not supposed to be common)…well, you may be a little more on your own.
-Every so often, you will need to reflect on the reasons you came to graduate school. Sometimes, just sit and think quietly. Why are you doing this to yourself? Do you love your field? Do you need this degree to do what you want to do? Usually the answer is yes and yes, and usually you'll keep on trucking. But sometimes when the chips are down you will need to reevaluate why you put yourself through this in the first place.
-To my great dismay, depression is quite common in doctoral students. Graduate work can be isolating and stressful. Luckily your health insurance usually includes counseling sessions. TAKE THEM if you need them. Do not be ashamed. You may be surprised with who else is getting them. (I found out that everyone in my cohort, including me, was getting mental health counseling at a certain point.) Exercise can help, as can taking that mental health day once a week and just chilling. Don't be surprised if you get the blues…
-…but be self-aware and able to recognize when the depression is clouding your ability to function. Doctoral programs have a 50% attrition rate, and this is rarely because that 50% is less intelligent than, less motivated than, less driven than, or less ambitious than the other 50% that stays. Often they realize that they are ridiculously unhappy in the field, or that they don't need the degree anymore, or that they'd rather focus on other things in life, or their interests have changed. All of this is okay!
-You will, at some point, be like "eff this, I'm leaving." I think almost every doctoral student has thought about dropping out and just kicking this all to the curb. You need to listen to yourself, and find out whether it is idle thought (nothing to worry about, very normal) or whether you are truly unhappy to the point that you need to leave. Counseling can help you figure this out.
-Don't be afraid to take a semester or a year off if you need to. That's what leaves of absence are for.
Lastly, and positively…
…graduate school is great! Seriously, when else will you ever have the time to study what you want for hours on end, talk to just as interested others about it, and live in an intellectual community of scholars and intellectuals? And occasionally wake up at 11 am and go to the bank at 2 pm? Sometimes you will want to pull out all of your hair but most of the time, you will feel fulfilled and wonderfully encouraged and edified. So enjoy this time!
Hey all. I was wondering if grades received in PhD programs matter. I'm in my first year and just got my first grade so far this semester (B+) when I should have gotten an A- without all the of the subjective BS the professor put in (the class was also a very theoretical/discussion based class, but that's a whole different story).
I sort of care because I've been primed my whole life to care about grades, but now that I realize that there is nothing left to strive for since I'm at the highest level of education, are grades really that important?
On a side note, I need a 3.0GPA to stay off of academic probation, and a B+ is a 3.3.
It seems like you are basing a lot of your assumptions of the program and how it's run by the "tone" of the faculty member. As previously mentioned, often faculty members aren't in a position to offer funding (especially in the social sciences, whereas in the natural sciences, faculty often support grad studnets via work in their lab). That doesn't seem like credible evidence. Once you are accepted, faculty want to recuit you to pick their university. That's part of the prestige of the program, not only in the number and level of talent of their applicants/admits but also in the percent of admits who actually matriculate. Your offer letter should have mentioned something about funding. And it seems like they said you were being nominated for a prestigious fellowship. As others have mentioned, that doesn't mean you automatically get it. I also am less inclined to think that you saying "no" to the question about other schools heavily recruiting you made much of a difference. The faculty on the admissions committee read through all the applications and often go through multiple rounds to whittle it down to the admits - they talk about each case. For you to be admitted means they wanted you and thought you were a good fit for the program.
To answer the question from your original post - I've never heard of a program being unethical in funding offers (of course that doesn't mean it doesn't happen, just I don't think it's in the program's best interest to do so for their own reputation).
Also, I agree with previous posters re: dealing with the situation. Posting the detailed information you did would make it very easy for faculty at Temple or at your own university (if they read here, I don't know if they do) to know who you are. Just a consideration as you move forward. Good luck with grad school, and I'm sorry that funding at Temple didn't work out.
I was recently accepted to the Teacher's College Columbia (Art and Art Education) and Virginia Commonwealth Univ. (Art Ed and Nonprofit Management). VCU offered me a graduate research assistantship with a tuition waiver and a hefty stipend. TC forked over about a 50% aid package. How much should I factor in reputation? TC is top five for education while VCU is ranked #30. I mean it's hard to turn down a free education...does anyone feel there are repercussions to taking (what feels like at least) the easier way out?? There's a huge difference between the two schools. New York, NY and Richmond, VA are on two different planets. I feel like a bigger city would offer more opportunities for research, projects, networking and job placement but at a high cost. Thanks for any input!
I went to SUNY B for undergrad, and I still visit from time to time. I didn't have a pet when I went there, but some of my friends who still live there do, and it's possible to find housing with a dog or a cat. I lived there a total of five years, from 2000 to 2005.
There are both houses and apartments, be careful of the student slum areas filled with the usual dilapidated accommodations.
Note that when you look at housing, keep an eye out on which city/town it's actually in.
The college is in Vestal. Most of the housing in Vestal is either student slummy, crappy apartments, or impressively nice places where faculty lives.
Binghamton is the largest part of the city, east of campus. It has a lot of neighborhoods that are hit and miss, and the student slums are mostly in Binghamton just north of the Susquehanna. I lived in Binghamton on the south side In house total slum house, but generally south side Binghamton isn't a student slum.
Johnson City is due north of campus across the river. It's a mixed bag. It's got a good stretch of main street with some okay local businesses, and is also where the mall and Wegmans and such are.
Endicott is west and north of the campus, but still is only about 15 minutes away, and is generally a bit nicer, though be careful of the industrial plum from IBM.
Endwell is also north, tucked between JC and Endicott. I think Endwell is pretty nice, comparatively, and I don't know any students who lived there when I was around - ie not a student slum.
Note that all of these places are contiguous - when you're new you'll have no idea where one starts and the other ends - living in any of them is still close.
One thing to really be careful about when searching for housing is your elevation. The Susquehanna floods badly, and last year it flooded catastrophically, damaging housing all through the lowlands. Many people, including a friend of mine, lost everything. In the 10 months since then, a lot of landlords have slapped a coat of paint on the damaged houses and are now renting them again. BE VERY CAREFUL OF THESE PLACES. Quite aside from obvious potential issues with mold, the flooding including the overflow of the city sewage plant and so there are actually disease risks associated with some of these places. In short, just make a note of where a place is in relationship to the river, and aim for the hills! The whole area is a big valley, so there are sections of each of the five cities/towns that are lowlands and parts of each that are up on hills (except Endwell, I think it's all on hills).
Hope this helps. I'm happy to try to help with other questions; even if I don't know the answer I've got multiple friends who still live in the area who I can ask.
I will not be able to arrive in Binghamton sooner than the last week of July. So I will have only a few weeks to settle down before classes start, including department hunting, the most important and time-consuming part. So if you guys have any experience about finding a decent apartment in Binghamton, please do share with me and others on this thread. I have heard many good things about BU from a person working there as a professor (not my POI though) and I still wanna hear more from students' perspectives. So after your trips to the school, let us know what you think about BU. Especially Kelkel, if you do not mind sharing with me about the History Department and their program. I think your sharing would be really useful for those coming there this Fall like us. Thanks and enjoy your visit, both of you Cici and Kelkel.
Wow, this thread is great. I am coming to Binghamton this Fall too from outside the USA so I guess I am even more nervous and excited than you guys. Hope we will be able to meet up, maybe for a drink where we play the game "Can you guess what my nickname on gradcafe is?"
I am going to SUNY Binghamton, where I am offered full funding and have the best fit in terms of research interests. This also enables me to live closer to my sister (in the same state) after living apart in two different continents for eight years. I am truly excited!!!
I am going to SUNY Binghamton, where I am offered full funding and have the best fit in terms of research interests. This also enables me to live closer to my sister (in the same state) after living apart in two different continents for eight years. I am truly excited!!!
I am going to SUNY Binghamton, where I am offered full funding and have the best fit in terms of research interests. This also enables me to live closer to my sister (in the same state) after living apart in two different continents for eight years. I am truly excited!!!
I am going to SUNY Binghamton, where I am offered full funding and have the best fit in terms of research interests. This also enables me to live closer to my sister (in the same state) after living apart in two different continents for eight years. I am truly excited!!!
I am going to SUNY Binghamton, where I am offered full funding and have the best fit in terms of research interests. This also enables me to live closer to my sister (in the same state) after living apart in two different continents for eight years. I am truly excited!!!
I am going to SUNY Binghamton, where I am offered full funding and have the best fit in terms of research interests. This also enables me to live closer to my sister (in the same state) after living apart in two different continents for eight years. I am truly excited!!!
Sorry folks by no decision yet! My visits to Wisconsin and OSU made the decision making process more complicated than I expected. Now I understand why my professors and colleagues say the this is tough!! I'm fairly confident that I will wait until April 14th or 15th to decide.
I wonder why someone would ding a comment offered in this thread without taking the time to say why.
In an earlier post, TMP suggested that those who are sure of their decision should make it as soon as possible so that others could get off of wait lists. In this post, TMP is disclosing that her decision making process took a turn for the complicated. Why is this disclosure at all controversial?
What is the member of this BB who dinged attempting to say? That a graduate student in history should not do one's due diligence? Or maybe that one should not recognize complexity? If either is the case, then what is the point of being a historian in the first place?
ETA: Another member of this BB has since balanced out the down vote for post #153.
I vote for the first option. Research fit is important and in addition (from what I've been told by prof's) it looks a lot better academically if you go to different universities throughout your academic career. It shows that's you're getting different view points, can work and succeed in different environments, etc. Plus going to the UK will help you build a lot of new connections and allow you to network in ways that staying at your home university will not. Plus. the travel
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