kateausten

If you'd like to get a taste of computational linguistics, there are some Natural Language Processing courses online: https://www.coursera.org/course/nlp (looks like they might not have a session planned for the near future) http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/electrical-engineering-and-computer-science/6-864-advanced-natural-language-processing-fall-2005/

Not an engineer but I work in tech recruiting. The annoying answer is that it just depends. PhDs in industry are most useful in research-focused positions in specialized sciencey areas of engineering, like optics or chemicals. For most R&D positions, a master's is helpful but anything beyond that isn't a big difference (especially compared to a few more years of industry work experience). Conversely, it could make some employers wary of you, sometimes they assume that someone with a PhD will be dissatisfied without a very high-level position or without working strictly in their specialty. For a few very specialized positions a PhD is preferred and very rarely is it required. You may not make any more money with a PhD, but you may get more interesting projects if you really like the niche areas. Having a narrow specialty can also help you build a consulting career, if that's something you'd like to do eventually (rather than stay at one company). Since your field is chemical engineering, I definitely wouldn't call it a total waste of time, but not necessary either.

I was discouraged from buying my netbook instead of a tablet and I have no regrets. But, this was a couple years ago when there were no $200 tablets on the market, so a tablet plus keyboard attachment would have been much more expensive than my $300 netbook. I also bought it for extended travel and use it as my only computer for any travel, so the large hard drive (I think it's 150gb) comes in very handy for storing movies and all the photos I take on one vacation and stuff like that. If I were shopping right now for something strictly for use in class, I'd go with one of the cheaper tablets like Amazon Fire with a keyboard attachment, because they are smaller and lighter and I don't have a smartphone so it would be nice to be able to join the 21st century and use apps. However, if you think you'd like to use it instead of your laptop for things like travel or writing papers in a coffeeshop, a netbook is nice because of the keyboard and being able to easily use MS Office or Open Office on it (I'm not sure whether you can do that on tablets or not).

LORs are definitely my biggest challenge in applying. In fact, I'd say that anxiety about where to get them made me procrastinate thinking seriously about grad school because applying seemed impossible. I went to a small school, and was a transfer student so I mostly took classes within my small department. I got to know three professors well and two of them passed away within a year of me graduating. I'm aware of how ridiculously egocentric it sounds to be naming that as my own bad luck, but I'm left with profs I had one class with and may not remember me, or profs who didn't see my best work due to me happening to have health issues while I was in their classes. People keep telling me to take more classes but I still have to pay my rent and local university classes don't fit my FT work schedule. In a broader sense, figuring out what I want to do has been a challenge as well. I've almost picked a career path by process of elimination, trying different things related to subjects I'm interested in and hating them for different reasons, then looking at what I find draining versus what I find stimulating. My undergrad was very good with grad school counseling and helping you explore your academic interests but that's only half the equation. You also have to figure out what you want out of life and if the career you're pursuing will support of impede that. I experimented with different fields that would give me the lifestyle I wanted (geographic freedom, ability to work for myself or as a contractor) and figured out what I like and hate to do. It is also challenging for me to make the commitment and take on the financial burden without feeling like I know for sure what I'm getting into -- but as a person with bills to pay I can't just take internships or a $10/hour entry level job to get exposure to a field, I have to trust myself enough to trust that I know what I want.

I don't have answers, just wanted to comment and say that I'm in the same boat. My overall GPA was 3.0, brought down by one semester in which I got Cs and Ds in all classes after not finishing all of my assignments. Because a D was considered a passing grade at my school, I had a full-time job to worry about the summer after that semester, and I was in a hurry to get out of school, I just went with those grades instead of withdrawing or asking for an incomplete. I took the next semester off and then went back and only took the minimum full-time courseload my senior year (that's all I needed to graduate). I know that my overall GPA isn't horrible -- I worked hard to get it above 3.0 so I would be eligible for admissions most places -- but it wasn't fabulous outside that semester, mostly 3.5-ish my junior and senior years and 3.2ish my freshman and sophomore years. I'm planning to write an explanation in my application and take the GRE even though it isn't required to compensate a bit, hopefully it all works out.

I'll send out some feeler emails to the old professors. My current boss is not an option -- it's just not the type of work environment where management would ever be supportive of someone having goals outside the company, it would result in retaliation if not firing or sabotage. My trusted coworkers are already serving as references for me in trying to get a different job, and it could compromise those references if I tell them I'm looking to start school soon anyways. Is having a copy of an SOP absolutely vital before asking for an LOR? I'm trying to pull this all together in 3 months, My life is pretty tense already (job, commute, possible surgery in the near future with a lot of pre-surgery doctor's appointments, looking for another job) so I was planning to put all time into studying for the entrance exam and GRE initially, writing the SOP in the last month before the due date after the tests are done. I know I need to ask for LORs a couple months before the due date so the recommenders are not rushed.

I don't think the program is too competitive, and I'm applying to the professional track rather than the research track. I may be applying to others that are more competitive if I don't get into this program for Spring, but all would be professional programs. In trying to do some sleuthing I discovered that the professor I thought had retired also passed away (I assumed he had retired when I didn't see his name on the school website as he was that age and I wasn't aware that he was sick). The program requires 3 letters, so I need to pull at least 1 out of somewhere, assuming I am successful at contacting the other two. I can't be the first person to face this sort of situation -- what is it that people do? Could I write an email explaining my situation to professors whose classes I did well in and whose classes involved some sort of discussion or interaction to ask for a letter? Or should I try with the research supervisor, who didn't see my best work, but should at least remember my name?

I am planning to apply to French Translation MA programs (one French Translation - Linguistics dual concentration) for next year. My major hurdle is that I can't figure out three people to get LORs from. I spent my first two years at a major public university (a UC) where I only had classes with a couple of actual professors, and barely (if ever) spoke to any of them in person. I had some smaller classes with TAs, but I don't think I'd stand out to any of them, and to be perfectly honest I don't even remember their names. I then transferred to a LAC where students worked closely with professors. It was a very small school with only a few professors in each department, so I only had a handful of professors during my time there. Unfortunately I had one semester where I had a bit of an emotional crisis, didn't finish my work for some classes (though I passed them all), and burned some bridges that I didn't get a chance to fix through later classes with those professors. My senior capstone project was a group project and the only group project where I had issues with my group -- I wound up with a B but it was my only work with the advising professor and I don't feel comfortable asking her for a letter of recommendation based on it. I developed good relationships with three professors, one of whom I TAed under. Of those three, one passed away, one retired (and I can't find his contact information online), and another left the university. I found the last on Linkedin so I know where he works now and can probably contact him, and he has a very good opinion of my work. I feel a little awkward about it because I had a lot of interest in his field but I'm applying to a totally unrelated one -- I'm sure this is normal, I just feel a bit odd about contacting professors from my very academia-focused college for recommendations for a professional program that I'm choosing largely due to lifestyle (I do love languages and linguistics and writing, but I also want to be able to work for myself and have a job that travels easily). I did take an interim term linguistics class with an adjunct. I got an A in the class and we had a good rapport but I'm not sure if a 1-month class is enough to request an LOR, and I'm not sure where she is teaching now or whether I'll be able to find her contact information. Even if I am able to contact her, that leaves me with two LORs and I need a third. What should I do? I'm working full-time with an inflexible schedule and I can't take additional classes just to get an LOR at this time, plus that would require delaying applying by another year and killing another year in my current until-I-go-to-grad-school career. My current job is unrelated and I'm not sure what coworkers could contribute besides saying that I show up and work hard, plus I graduated in 2010 so I feel it would look bad if I use professional rather than academic recommendations (not to mention the fact that it's always a bad idea to advertise that you plan to leave the company soon). I even looked into classes at the Alliance Francaise or something, but there aren't any that work with my schedule. Do I just start looking up the classes I got an A in and see if the professor could write something for me? Does anyone have suggestions?