Keeping up your motivation

[fenderpete]

I guess this is maybe bad timing, as everyone will pretty much now have sent in all of their applications for the 2011 season and no longer be in need of motivation, but I figured this might make for an interesting topic. I also figured if might be a good thinking about a new year post.

Everyone here has one thing in common, that they want to get into grad school. I thought it might be interesting to talk a bit about why people are applying to grad school, what they want to get out of it and what the particular hurdles are for their given course and how you keep motivation up when doing the ground work to improve that all important application. For once, this isn't necessarily a 'Look at my GRE scores!' thread, but more of a personal journey thread.

I figured it'd work well in the format:

What program are you applying for?

Why grad school and what's your journey?

What challenges does your field present and what hurdles do you need to overcome?

What skills are you working on?

How are you keeping motivation and what perspective have you gained from the process?

So... in the interests of fairness:

What program are you applying for?

MA International Relations/Conflict Resolution

Why grad school and what's your journey?

For me it's been kind of an interesting road. I decided pretty early on as an undergrad that I wanted to go to grad school, and this was motivated by nothing more complicated than realising that for any decent job in the United Nations you needed an MA! I went through an ill-advised round of applications at the end of final year, when I applied to PhD programs (due to the fact PhDs are a lot easier to get funded for) and after that decided I'd rather get some work experience and then figure out what to do about grad school.

Fast forward two years and I've now got a decent amount of experience, and talked to enough people in my field to know that an MA is well worth it and will open a lot more doors than a PhD might (and also take a lot less time!). Working out in the West Bank, Guinea and Côte d'Ivoire has really helped me hone in the area of development I want to work in, and the job profile I want (HQ vs field based).

What challenges does your field present and what hurdles do you need to overcome?

I'm really weak on quantitative skills. Having gone to a UK university, where my undergrad was taught in a lot more of a Politics as a humanity than Political Science. That in mind, I have zero economics background and that definitely showed in my first attempt at the GRE in 2008. This is the main thing I'm trying to overcome. I also absolutely hate maths, and that's something I'm trying to overcome too. I figure if I can make what is a huge weakness into something approximating a strength then I'm in decent shape to make it through grad school.

I worked on my French a lot out in Guinea and Côte d'Ivoire and it's something I want to continue to improve, along with my Spanish and Arabic. In my field it's pretty much taken for granted that you'll be close to fluent in more than your mother tongue, and as someone who's never found that languages come naturally this is something I know I'll have to work hard on for the rest of my career.

What skills are you working on?

At the minute it's all maths all the time! I've signed up to do a diploma in Economics with a distance learning program, and I'm also going through what is basically remedial maths in a course online - starting small, trying to reteach myself everything and end up at Calculus and Stats (which might help with the Economics). I'm also doing all the standard GRE prep and once that's all done I'm hoping to have some time to work on some languages and read a bit more into conflicts I've been interested in but never studied.

How are you keeping motivation and what perspective have you gained from the process?

This is the tough one. I know from the PhD application cycle that grad apps suck, and that it takes up a large portion of your time for a long time! The main thing I learned from last time is that worrying doesn't help and that once your applications are in you might as well forget about them. Easier said than done, but I'm hoping that'll help me once I'm back in the fog of applications this time next year. I also learned that not getting in isn't the end of the world and other options are there if you don't.

Motivation at the minute is coming from some positive visualisation based on my number one grad school pick. I'm trying to think of it as if I work as hard as I possibly can for the next 9 months then if I don't get in, it's not meant to be. At the minute when I'm not working, I'm thinking of 'this is my goal, if I don't work I won't get it.' Kind of fluffy and non-specific I know.

In more definitive terms, I'm thinking about all the sacrifices I've made over the past few years and how I want that to translate into something concrete (hopefully a good graduate education!) and also comparing my progress to that of my peers.

Finally, I got the chance to live in the USA for 5 months a year ago and it was the best time of my life. Going to grad school in the US is a huge motivator, and something I hope might translate into a career and life in the USA once I finish.

So... what about everybody else?

[Count de Monet]

Good idea for a topic. I'll throw in my two cents...

What program are you applying for?

PhD in Political Science, political theory as my primary field.

Why grad school and what's your journey?

Why grad school? Well, for me the answer is simple: I love to teach (I've taught Sunday school, CCD, been a moot court instructor, and a TA), I want to teach, and my passion is political philosophy. I want to teach political theory. I would gladly teach high school government/civics if grad school doesn't work out, but I ultimately want to teach political theory courses be it at a 4 year college/university or at a community college.

What challenges does your field present and what hurdles do you need to overcome?

I'm not a big quant guy. Stats gives me headaches, math is the bane of my existence and I'm going to have to really work hard at it. I'm going to need a second and possibly third field for my PhD in addition to theory so quant skills will become necessary. I also speak a language which doesn't do me too much good when it comes to theory (Italian) so I will probably need to learn a 3rd language, probably French or German.

What skills are you working on?

Math, math and more math. It's my biggest issue so I'm making it a priority to freshen up my math skills.

How are you keeping motivation and what perspective have you gained from the process?

My perspective is somewhat different than it has been in the past since I now have an MA. This is my third time doing grad school applications and I feel like I know what to expect and what I need to do in order to succeed in both the application period and what I need to do in order to do well in a graduate program. That's also my biggest motivation for keeping positive. For me there's no more mystery to how the process works and what I should expect from it. I feel oddly at peace compared to my frantic panic state of the past 2 times.

[katerific]

Here is... the story of katerific.

What program are you applying for?

PhD in the earth sciences.

Why grad school and what's your journey?

I really love doing research, and I'm really interested in what I've been doing. My first two years of college I sort of bounced around a lot (physics major, environmental studies major, etc) and I couldn't decide if I wanted to go into environmental policy, or environmental consulting, or conservation, or if I should just say 'screw it!' and go pursue art. None of that really stuck with me, despite my interest in the environment and the natural sciences. So I want to do research, and I think I'd like teaching, too.

What challenges does your field present and what hurdles do you need to overcome?

I'm interested in a really, really interdisciplinary field, so that means I need to have to be really knowledgeable about a number of different subjects. That in itself is quite the challenge!

What skills are you working on?

Well, I get reeeally nervous when I'm presenting or talking to a bigwig. I've always had social anxiety issues and dealt with extreme shyness for the longest time, but I've been working on this for years now. It's a project in progress, of course--I just have to keep putting myself out there and build self-confidence, etc.

How are you keeping motivation and what perspective have you gained from the process?

I stay motivated by thinking about all the cool potential projects I could be working on. And I keep in mind these could really happen!

The application process has really made me realize my strengths and weaknesses, as well what things interest me more than others.

[Ludwig von Dracula]

What program are you applying for?

Ph.D. Ethnomusicology

Why grad school and what's your journey?

I really enjoyed my undergraduate academic music classes--even more than the practical ones. I worked as a high school teacher for a few years but found that while I enjoyed the teaching and relationships, I hated the classroom management part. Teaching at a higher level seemed to make sense, and it helped that I have always loved to read, study, and learn. And I also had an interesting and unique topic for fieldwork research given my experience working with members of a very distinctive religious minority.

What challenges does your field present and what hurdles do you need to overcome?

Well, a humanities Ph.D. is always a risk. I need to work on my language skills too, as I am still far from fluent in anything other than English (a few years of grade-school French don't count for much). If I get into an American school, we'll have to figure out a way for my wife to work, and on a personal level, when it makes sense to start having kids. Not to mention the difficulty of some of the material.

What skills are you working on?

German big time (exam in less than a month), and developing/increasing my theoretical fluency so I can hope one day to explain (meaningfully) some of the intricacies of poststructuralism.

How are you keeping motivation and what perspective have you gained from the process?

It helps that I am busy with my thesis right now and that I'm still finding my topic very interesting. That'll keep the admissions stuff from becoming a full-time obsession for about two months. Also, I am extremely glad that I did my M.A. degree. I think that I'm in a far better place for the Ph.D. programs that I'm applying to than I was when I applied initially (to some of these same programs) two years ago. I have far better writing samples to draw from and my statement of purpose is focused and informed. Hope it's good enough!

[starmaker]

What program are you applying for?

PhD, Computer Science (I'm applying in fall 2011, and am already in an MS program in CS).

Why grad school and what's your journey?

I did my undergrad in a different (life sciences) field. My grades were quite low (undiagnosed medical problems combined with a school noted for relative lack of grade inflation) and I couldn't get into any grad program. I had taken a number of CS classes, and used them to get a job after I graduated. My job happened to be a CS research job, working under a PI, and I discovered that I loved doing CS research. I started taking classes to improve my formal CS background, but eventually decided that in order to be considered for most PI jobs, even outside of academia, I would be better off with a PhD. Plus, a PhD, with its research emphasis, was sounding like fun! So I decided to get one. I went for an MS first because 1) I needed to prove that I could do well in classes, 2) it gave me more time to build my CV through work, and 3) PhD programs have high attrition rates, and I wanted to make sure that I had some graduate degree no matter what happened in the PhD program.

What challenges does your field present and what hurdles do you need to overcome?

Women are still a relatively small minority in CS, and unfortunately still face prejudice, harassment, and discrimination in some quarters. So there's that. I can't think of much else that's CS-specific that will be a hurdle. I need to overcome my own undergrad grades in PhD program and fellowship applications. I need to finish my MS, and continue to balance work, school, and the rest of my life.

What skills are you working on?

I'm working on implementation (programming) skills and presentation skills. Also, filling in some of the odd little holes in my background that come from having not gotten my bachelor's degree in the field.

How are you keeping motivation and what perspective have you gained from the process?

I get through tough times in my MS program by daydreaming about the future PhD program, about getting publications accepted in prestigious venues, etc. I've been through the process a multiple times at this point, so I don't expect it to be too hard.

Edited January 3, 2011 by starmaker

[Alyanumbers]

What program are you applying for?

Mainly Comparative Literature PhD, but also: Middle Eastern Studies PhD, Comparative and General Literature MSc, Cultural Studies MA.

Why grad school and what's your journey?

I'm a literature student, and I'm mostly interested in the relationship between art, literature and society. My interest in current trends in Egypt has led me to consider researching similarities and differences with analogous periods in other countries. Grad school is the best place for me to do that.

What challenges does your field present and what hurdles do you need to overcome?

It's very interdisciplinary and heavy on theory. I need to strengthen my knowledge of literary theory, cultural/critical theory, and I'll probably do some art theory or film studies. I also need to gain better familiarity with non-contemporary Egyptian literature.

What skills are you working on?

I'm working on my writing; English is not my first language, and I want to better my prose for academic writing. I'm also reading up on theory.

How are you keeping motivation and what perspective have you gained from the process?

I'm trying to collect as much information as possible about each uni I've applied to, in case I get offers. It's kind of obsessive, but really cool to learn about each city I might move to, check out resources, and try to imagine what my life there would be like. The application process frankly helped me be that much more organised, and I got my priorities in order. I'm in the middle of my finals right now (damn exams run over a month!), but I still find the time to work on the skills mentioned above, and hopefully I'll do more of that over break in February.