RandiZ

I just finished my first semester a in PhD program. It is my understanding, and this can certainly be different in different programs, but the main thing to getting accepted is fit. Does the school think that you will fit in with the existing researchers, students and professors, in regards to research interests, background, and personality. As a PhD, it is more a job than mere student. You have to know why you want a PhD (go with a burning research question, NEVER that you want to teach in a college), why you think the school to which you are applying will help you achieve that goal, and which professors you want to work with and why. Again, different schools use different criteria to sort the voracity of each candidate on these things but this is what you have to hit. It is kind of late now to send emails to professors, and you may not get a response. But, it won't hurt to identify more than one professor and find out if they might have a few moments to meet with you via phone or Skype if you can't go in person. You will be working very closely with your advisor for the next 4-6 years so you and s/he need to figure out if that is a good thing. It is also my understanding that the quant number of the GRE is weighed strongly when the schools decide who gets funding. I recommend checking the College Board's matrix on GRE scores by major to see where you fall in relation to other ed majors in general, and your subspecialty as well. Good luck.

I am now and have been an adjunct for some time at one college. Just this semester I have been teaching at another college in the university system. Luckily I have received a fellowship along with my PhD acceptance. I have already told one school that I am no longer available to teach. But the newer school is only a 30-minute drive from where I'll be going to school. Should I continue to teach that one class and consider it extra income? Or thank my lucky stars that I have no TA, GA, or RA responsibilities? I've already been assigned an advisor and been working with a research team. I'll be taking 3 courses in the fall. My advisor has already told me that the person who teaches one of those courses, the first prereq for my program, gets a bit insane with the reading list. I really want to dive into my new work. But the extra income would be nice and I generally like the students at this college. I just don't have a good guage for how much more work I should be prepared for.

Real estate law will vary by state. However, unless a buyer has cash and doesn't care about appraisal, inspection, title search etc, it will still take 60-90 days to close. Most buyers will be getting a mortgage and that will certainly take 60-90 days. So, list your house ASAP and consider renting it out if it doesn't move in your time frame. I'm in a very fortunate position. My neighborhood is hot and there is not much inventory. I went with a broker because I have no time to be showing the house to real estate gawkers or pre-qualifying buyers. This broker has been working my neighborhood, and lives in it for 30years. She has a list of buyers anxious to live here. We've had two private showings and already an offer near the list price. The Open House is this weekend where the broker will have a staff of five people here while I am looking at real estate in my new home town. While we have considered a short term rental that accomodates pets, they are very expensive and it just makes sense to buy again. My biggest fear is that I'll sign a contract with someone who doesn't get financing at the last minute. While there are no guarantees, that's also why I have a broker and may not choose the highest bid. I will take the highest bid from the most qualified buyer and keep my fingers crossed. In NY, you no longer own your home the moment after closing, so we have to be out before we all sit down for the paper chase. We're hoping to have a place of our own by then but are mentally preparing for storage or Pods just in case. I'm not gonna panic about all that for another week when we'll likely be accepting an offer. We will try to set a July 1st closing date so our younger daughter can graduate from high school without a full fledged move going on. Hopefully, the prospective buyer will respect that. If they want us out sooner, we will ask for more money to cover our costs. No telling what would happen at this point.

Tried One Note but it did not seamlessly sync with my other devices. Evernote is my best friend. It has totally replaced my need for paper notebooks. I use Mendeley for document management and Dropbox for stuff I write and possibly want to share with others. I'm a little nervous about how little paper backup that I have. But it sure makes travelling and working a lot easier.

Got my funding letter! Sending in the orange paper today. We're officially moving to NJ.

I'm 50 and got accepted in a PhD program, likely with full funding. I'm hoping to find out the details this week. It is kind of late for Fall 2013, depending on the school. You'll need to look around and really pull a lot of documentation together in a very short period of time. In many cases, even if they are taking applications (i.e. Johns Hopkins until April 1), they are making financial decisions now. You might want to consider going non-matric for a semester then apply for Fall 2014, or Spring 2014. But you might run into funding issues for Spring of 2014 too. The schools are less interested in someone who wants a TT position and much more interested in people who have a burning question and demonstrated that they can follow through with research at the doctoral level. And I can't emphasize the idea of fit enough. Overall, I got a good response from professors I was interested in with the following email formula: 1. 2 sentence introduction about me and my credentials -- NO NUMBERS, just professional experience in education trying to link to my next graf. 2. A 2-3 sentence statement about what I want to study, why, and any preliminary work I've already done. 3. Politely asking if they have time to meet with me by phone, or in person if I live nearby. BUT, I started emailing this time last year. Good luck.

Hand written "thank you" cards. I also gave a bottle of wine to the two I know who drink and some nice chocolates to the one I know does not drink. It is never too late to say "thank you."

My daughter has been an undergrad there for three years with her dog. As for apartments, stick to the side of campus where the law school is. The other side of campus is near the stadium, gets really loud with lots of revelry, especially on game days and weekends. The apartment management company is on West Jefferson and they have a number of buildings, not all of them take pets. If the apartment they want to show you needs updating, telk them. They'll either take you to another one or update it before you move in. Definitel get that in writing. My daughter walks everywhere and has a friend with a car for when she wants to go grocery shopping. She also walks to downtown for some restaurants or in another direction for her favorite coffee house.

Brave, brave souls you all are! Our kids were toddlers when we went back to school. We took our time with undergrad and had lots of support. Never missed a parent teacher conference or school performance or organized party at school. BUT, I remember feeling totally innundated with laundry all the time. And often the time set aside for reading or writing was diverted to a sick child leading to me pulling all nighters and working on half a brain the next day or two or three depending on what was happening. Took a few years off to work before we did our masters. Yes it was hard working full time, going to school and being a parent. Again, never missed a parent-teacher conference or school performance, etc. Our girls were in later elementary and middle school. I totally believe that they are wonderful students now because they saw us as students then. My spouse is very satisfied with the MFA, I wanted to go on to PhD. But, two teenage girls, teenagers in general, need almost as much attention as infants, and as much emotionally. I just chose, and it was my choice, to not give partial attention to either my girls or my studies. My oldest daughter will be graduating next year from the honors college at Florida State and applying to grad schools in the fall. My yougest daughter will be off to Smith in the fall, graduating at the top of her high school class this year. So far no drug addictions or pregnancies that I'm aware of. I can go on and on about their accomplishments. They are fabulous young women now. I know of other people who made different choices about parenting and school. The only thing I would have done differently is what I tell my kids now: it is much easier to get it right the first time. Also some opportunities only come along when you're young.

Ditto for Education PhD. I was told that a lot of students attending on RA or GA, lost funding due to grants ending and the school is commited to funding those students before taking on new ones. I was also told that the Dean of the college would be making a decision by the end of this week.

All my colleagues and I are back in turtlenecks and/or scarves with winter's last, deep breath. In other words, you'll look like the rest of us. BC attire in general runs from nice business attire in the deans' offices to business casual. Tomorrow there will be very few people on campus due to Friday and it being a Jewish holiday. Good luck!

Congrats Sumac77! I got my official acceptance in the mail this week. The program director said to expect a funding decision next week. He added, without promising anything, that it will likely come but a number of current students had grants run out and the GSE is committed to take care of them first. I've spoken to a number of people attending Rutgers or other PhD programs. They all advise me to take this offer based on the resources available, what I want to study, and what I want to do when I've earned my degree. Bottom line for me is without funding I can't go. But, I'm feeling really hopeful and excited right about now. Going out and about with a real estate agent tomorrow.

Letter of acceptance arrived yesterday. The iPad configuration I want is in the shopping cart awaiting my tax refund.

As with all other graduate level research, look at the references in the papers that most move you intellectually. Where those researchers are or have been is where you want to be. That is the most specific I can be because the names of the departments and in which schools they are in varies widely by school. As for the leading programs in the field, that will again be determined by your interests.

Bump to the new year. Anyone else looking to go to Rutgers? I'm still waiting on funding to make final decision. I'm thinking I should know by Tuesday when I meet with the program director. However, my SO and I have already started to look at real estate in <gulp> New Jersey. But the school has so many resources and doing research that really interests me.