heyles

mixed bag

I agree with Ganymede, in that good -- genuine! -- working relationships are very important. To be taken seriously, though, don't act like a doormat or some freaky fan who stalks their office hours. Be professional, do good work in their classes, and if you're a TA, be reliable. The running joke in my department is that showing up and following directions is 85% of success in anything, lol. So far, it's been more than true. This is more advice that has been given to me, and has served me very, very well. 1. Do some serious scholarship, and present at well-known conferences -- it can be graduate student conferences at well-known institutions, or perhaps regional, state, or national conferences. I'm not talking about AHA, but get on some list-servs at H-NET to stay in the loop for what's coming up. Try to hit up one or two a year, just to get your CV started. It's also a great way to make contacts, because most of the professors who volunteer to chair panels are genuinely interested in students and are open to questions and future communication. Plus, it's a cool way to get to know your peers at other colleges and get the inside dirt on their programs! 2. Start researching what PhD programs you want to apply to, and see if there's anyone teaching there that you could even work with. Read their books and articles to find out if their fields of interest complement yours in some way. Usually, when folks choose doc students for admission, it's not just whether or not the student would be a good fit in their department, but whether or not the program would be a good fit for them and if there is a professor who could guide and advise you in a substantive, meaningful way. 3. Related to the above, most PhD programs have a list of their current grad students and brief bios. Look at your peer's trajectory. What kinds of colleges did they get their BA or MA from? Do their current doc students have a ton of professional experience? Internships? Are there common themes? These could be things their admissions committee look for. 4. Be well-rounded but balanced. Don't try to do everything, but focus on doing a few things very well. Don't try to be president of every graduate committee on your campus, or volunteer for every event. Find things you are really, really interested in and get involved deeply. Building relationships that way will serve you a lot better when it comes to letters of recommendations, because they will be able to speak well of the work you did, rather than you being some random -- or worse, absent -- part of that work. And most importantly, 5. Be kind to everyone. You never know who is watching, who they know, and what kind of impression you are leaving. Academia can be a very small community, and just treating people with sincere kindness and interest can open a lot of doors. Just be yourself, act like an adult, and treat everyone well. Usually, people with the most power and influence are also the most unassuming, and you may never know until after you talked with them just exactly who they are.

shoo fly

shut in

court order

Agree with ktel. As a girl, I thought "casual church Sundays" -- a casual dress and flats, or slacks and a casual shirt, or dressed up some dark jeans with a nicer blouse, jewelry, and heels. I always tried not to overdo it because I wanted to seem approachable to my students, but I also didn't want to look like a student myself. I used to work in a semi-formal office, and my boss (a man in his late 30s) would say that if he didn't shave that day, he made sure to dress up. If he was clean-shaven, he could get away with more informal attire. I always thought that was funny, because it was true! He always looked well-put together. (Edit): PS. I would definitely, at all costs, stay away from athletic shoes/sneakers (ie. Nikes, Reeboks, or anything you use at the gym or to run around the track). Even a pair of decent Converse or Pumas can work instead. But I would consider investing in a good pair of black or brown shoes. They go with everything (jeans, slacks, etc), and can make you look really polished regardless of whatever else you're wearing.

left field

Found this blog post from an ETA in Taiwan a couple of years ago. Not how true it holds for the rest of Southeast Asia, but according to him, most ETAs walk away with reasonable savings at the end of their year.

This literally made me laugh out loud.

Applause! Cannot agree more. You may check out Jose Bowen's "Teaching Naked" pedagogy. He teaches a blended class (half online, half face-to-face meetings) and during the face-to-face time, he bans technology. This may be hard to do since you're teaching computer software, but his stuff may give you some ideas.

Cold feet.

I prefer "passionate." Or "goal-oriented."

What are you apologizing for? This thread is totally out of control for finding info ... I only knew about that spreadsheet because someone kept posting it, like, 20 pages ago. And then my campus FPA forwarded it to me in case I didn't know about it, which was a little weird. I hope he's not trolling this forum to see how neurotic all of us are, lol. And like Biz just said, the email is at the top of the spreadsheet after you click the link.

Here's another spreadsheet where you can email to have your info added/updated. It's fairly comprehensive. Also, note the tabs at the bottom of the spreadsheet, which also contain information for 2011-2012 and 2010-2011. https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AuGpbWEh-3b0dHZzTU1BN0lNLU1yeG5XWktnY2k3bmc#gid=0 Once you click on it, it should also be automatically saved to your Google Docs list.

That is awesome news! Although now we're all going to wear out the refresh button on our email. At least with regular mail, I know I wasn't going to go down and check the mailbox 9282903478 times a day and have my neighbors think I'm a crazy person. My iPhone is a different story.

I agree. As someone who currently works at a job kind of like theirs (no, I don't work for Fulbright!), constant interruptions and follow-ups hurt more than help their efficiency. By calling and emailing, you are distracting them from processing EVERYONE'S application more quickly. More to the point, it's a little selfish to call because you're basically assuming 1) yours is the only application they are working on, 2) your country is the only project they are concerned about, 3) your needs are more important than the other work they are doing right then, 4) your needs are more important than the thousands of other applicants, and/or 5) they aren't doing their job, and you want to remind them. Even if it's a "quick" question that only takes a minute, it adds up -- plus the time it takes to remember what they were doing before your question. Believe me. I deal with a lot of these little interruptions, and it slows down all of my work. They know everyone is anxious. So far, this year seems to have run very, very smoothly, and we found out about the first cut two weeks early. Even with hiccup the week that applications were due on the website, they were quick to notify everyone and extend the deadline, so it seems like they err on the side of transparency and generosity, not secrecy and "that's your problem." Until they give us reason to believe that there is something to worry about or some indication that they already aren't working crazy-hard, I say back the heck off and let them process all of us! PS. I was recommended as an ETA to Taiwan. I'm also a grad student, and like someone else mentioned, probably a couple of years older than the typical candidate. And I'm definitely not above it all -- I'm going out of my mind and here checking the website, aren't I?