We've wined, we've waited, now it's time to celebrate 2016

[hippyscientist]

Damn all these high grades!!! It's going to be so different moving from the system I'm used to, where anything above 70% is absolutely incredible, to that being a poor grade. Also the way assessments are done is totally different. 10% on homework?! What?! I think that's going to be the biggest shock to my system, how things are assessed and how things are graded. It's just a million miles removed from what we do in the UK.

[Neist]

3 minutes ago, Danger_Zone said:

That's an impressive major GPA! I would not be concerned about a B either if I was doing very well otherwise.  

Thanks! I've gotten only one B in a history course.  I'm not a brilliant student, but I'm tenacious with my studies. History courses are courses in which one can reliably do better with more effort. You can continually polish a paper, but once you take a test, it's over. I'll work 30 hours on a 6 page paper in order to make it perfect, but no matter how much I study for a Spanish test, I still might get a low B.  I think I'm a bad test-taker.

I'm not sure how history courses are at other universities, but undergrad courses here almost always have a component that's nearly exclusively awarded through effort and preparation, not performance (such as discussion participation). The rest of the grade in the course will be through papers, but as I've implied, I aim for 100% on my papers, not simply good marks. I know it's silly, but it's just the way I am.

1 minute ago, hippyscientist said:

Damn all these high grades!!! It's going to be so different moving from the system I'm used to, where anything above 70% is absolutely incredible, to that being a poor grade. Also the way assessments are done is totally different. 10% on homework?! What?! I think that's going to be the biggest shock to my system, how things are assessed and how things are graded. It's just a million miles removed from what we do in the UK.

My capstone adviser is British, and I got at vague jist of the UK system through him. It does seem quite a bit different! However, as noted above, history course assignments are "polishable," and I spend an excessive amount of time doing so. I've actually gotten close to 100% in history courses when the class average is probably a B, for no other reason than because I put in five times the effort (the near 100% 3-credit-hour course probably demanded 20 hours a week; I reread the entire course materials three times). That specific professor would fully-critique papers if you put in the effort, and I did so with every assignment. Most students were too lazy to do it because she only provided the prompt a week or so in advance. In order to receive a critique or two, you had to instantly write the paper, a week or more before it was due.

I'm living proof that effort can overcome mediocrity.  

[Danger_Zone]

1 hour ago, Neist said:

Thanks! I've gotten only one B in a history course.  I'm not a brilliant student, but I'm tenacious with my studies. History courses are courses in which one can reliably do better with more effort. You can continually polish a paper, but once you take a test, it's over. I'll work 30 hours on a 6 page paper in order to make it perfect, but no matter how much I study for a Spanish test, I still might get a low B.  I think I'm a bad test-taker.

I'm not sure how history courses are at other universities, but undergrad courses here almost always have a component that's nearly exclusively awarded through effort and preparation, not performance (such as discussion participation). The rest of the grade in the course will be through papers, but as I've implied, I aim for 100% on my papers, not simply good marks. I know it's silly, but it's just the way I am.

My capstone adviser is British, and I got at vague jist of the UK system through him. It does seem quite a bit different! However, as noted above, history course assignments are "polishable," and I spend an excessive amount of time doing so. I've actually gotten close to 100% in history courses when the class average is probably a B, for no other reason than because I put in five times the effort (the near 100% 3-credit-hour course probably demanded 20 hours a week; I reread the entire course materials three times). That specific professor would fully-critique papers if you put in the effort, and I did so with every assignment. Most students were too lazy to do it because she only provided the prompt a week or so in advance. In order to receive a critique or two, you had to instantly write the paper, a week or more before it was due.

I'm living proof that effort can overcome mediocrity.  

That's great! My worst mark in History was one B+. It was a required course that I wasn't enjoying very much to be honest, and the exam was a pretty brutal one worth 40%. I definitely put most of my effort into papers as well, but never dreamed of getting any marks close to 100%! I was told time and time again by both History professors and TAs that you're very rarely going to get A's in History courses, especially on papers, because it just isn't "possible" to do perfectly on a history paper (not sure if this was something exclusive to our university, or maybe to Canadian universities, but it seems strange to me) but I managed to pull them off in every class except the one.

I'm a pretty bad test taker as well I think, so I prefer the formatting of History exams where you usually get some idea of what is going to be tested. I double majored in History and Psychology, so I had the complete opposite experience as well, where in psychology we were mostly tested with midterms and exams and rarely did a lot of writing. Definitely did not enjoy that.

[Neist]

1 hour ago, Danger_Zone said:

That's great! My worst mark in History was one B+. It was a required course that I wasn't enjoying very much to be honest, and the exam was a pretty brutal one worth 40%. I definitely put most of my effort into papers as well, but never dreamed of getting any marks close to 100%! I was told time and time again by both History professors and TAs that you're very rarely going to get A's in History courses, especially on papers, because it just isn't "possible" to do perfectly on a history paper (not sure if this was something exclusive to our university, or maybe to Canadian universities, but it seems strange to me) but I managed to pull them off in every class except the one.

You know, I think that, too. However, after grading papers in a history course this semester, I realize that high marks are more rare because people are terrible, terrible writers. I don't even consider myself a good writer, yet after grading essays this semester, I've read perhaps two out of 100 that I would consider passable by my standards (essays I would expect to get A's on if I wrote them). 

A good or nearly perfect essay is a paper that is easily imagined. It's a paper that is clear, artfully argues its points, and is efficient communicating that argument. It's a requires the skillful combination of sources; it's closer to a puzzle than writing. The perfect essay is one that manages incorporate multiple parts together in an easy-to-read shell. And if that ideal exists, then it's possible to strive for it.  

I sort of think good writing is a dying craft. One of the reasons I initially decided to pursue a PhD is because most of the sources I read are horrendous. I want to write sources that are actually enjoyable to read.

[MarineBluePsy]

And now for the latest installment of things that are getting on my nerves about this move....I was seriously asked if I was relocating my mother with me.  Not because she's elderly.  Not because she's ill.  Not because she's fallen on hard times.  But simply because I'm the oldest and I have responsibilities.  I feel like I wouldn't be asked this if I were a man or not a minority.  This is also part of the reason I've stalled on actually telling my mother anything.  I just can't take the helpless whining and the guilt trip.

I still have all that friend search stuff swirling in my head and one of my acquaintances I'd hoped to upgrade to good friend (and she visits the area I'm relocating to!) just got herself a bf and blew off our plans.  Geez women suck.  

Thank heavens for retail therapy.  I bought some new wall art from my favorite local artist and she even told me how to package and ship it cost effectively.

[hippyscientist]

2 hours ago, MarineBluePsy said:

And now for the latest installment of things that are getting on my nerves about this move....I was seriously asked if I was relocating my mother with me.  Not because she's elderly.  Not because she's ill.  Not because she's fallen on hard times.  But simply because I'm the oldest and I have responsibilities.  I feel like I wouldn't be asked this if I were a man or not a minority.  This is also part of the reason I've stalled on actually telling my mother anything.  I just can't take the helpless whining and the guilt trip.

I still have all that friend search stuff swirling in my head and one of my acquaintances I'd hoped to upgrade to good friend (and she visits the area I'm relocating to!) just got herself a bf and blew off our plans.  Geez women suck.  

Thank heavens for retail therapy.  I bought some new wall art from my favorite local artist and she even told me how to package and ship it cost effectively.

Who the heck had the audacity to tell you that?! I'm livid!! If anyone gives you a hard time you can say "my friend hippyscientist is an only child, with a single mother and she's upping and leaving the country and not bringing her mother with her". Agh. That's horrible that anyone would even consider asking that. Way to rile me up this morning!

 

[hippyscientist]

Okay so do you ever have odd dreams? I had a very strange one last night. We (random academic-y people) were at a conference in Ancient Greece, but in modern day clothes with powerpoints, in an amphitheatre and a friend (who did my undergrad course) is presenting her paper. Along the row from me and my  best MSc friend is our most notorious and scary lecturer. He starts asking questions of the presenter, while she's presenting and she's getting visibly more flustered. Then she snaps and asks the audience "I can't be the only one noticing that I'm being grilled right?" Everyone looks at each other and we start to "oooohhh" (you know, like teenagers do when someone does something wrong in class and gets called out?). The scary lecturer turns to me and my MSc friend and gives us the "you understand, you get why I do this" nod. Then my alarm woke me up. 

I'm not too sure what this says about me, except maybe coconut water and rum before bed isn't the best idea. Anyway, thought you all might get a giggle from my weird brain.

[Danger_Zone]

18 hours ago, Neist said:

You know, I think that, too. However, after grading papers in a history course this semester, I realize that high marks are more rare because people are terrible, terrible writers. I don't even consider myself a good writer, yet after grading essays this semester, I've read perhaps two out of 100 that I would consider passable by my standards (essays I would expect to get A's on if I wrote them). 

A good or nearly perfect essay is a paper that is easily imagined. It's a paper that is clear, artfully argues its points, and is efficient communicating that argument. It's a requires the skillful combination of sources; it's closer to a puzzle than writing. The perfect essay is one that manages incorporate multiple parts together in an easy-to-read shell. And if that ideal exists, then it's possible to strive for it.  

I sort of think good writing is a dying craft. One of the reasons I initially decided to pursue a PhD is because most of the sources I read are horrendous. I want to write sources that are actually enjoyable to read.

That's definitely true. By no means do I think I'm a great writer, but I've had the opportunity to read papers of other students in my class and have realized that a lot of perfectly intelligent people don't know how to express themselves clearly in writing. I still struggle with this sometimes but I think I've improved a lot. I recently found a paper I'd written from one of my first history classes and I was actually kind of embarrassed at how poorly it was written. I think one thing that helps though is that I love writing. I feel like a lot of the people who don't write well just don't enjoy it enough to improve.

I also agree with you about published sources being poorly written as well. Another great way to improve writing would be to read other written works, but really how helpful is this if our sources of information aren't written well either? I think I'm fortunate that my faculty advisor has one of the clearest and most pleasant writing styles I've encountered.

[Danger_Zone]

8 hours ago, hippyscientist said:

Okay so do you ever have odd dreams? I had a very strange one last night. We (random academic-y people) were at a conference in Ancient Greece, but in modern day clothes with powerpoints, in an amphitheatre and a friend (who did my undergrad course) is presenting her paper. Along the row from me and my  best MSc friend is our most notorious and scary lecturer. He starts asking questions of the presenter, while she's presenting and she's getting visibly more flustered. Then she snaps and asks the audience "I can't be the only one noticing that I'm being grilled right?" Everyone looks at each other and we start to "oooohhh" (you know, like teenagers do when someone does something wrong in class and gets called out?). The scary lecturer turns to me and my MSc friend and gives us the "you understand, you get why I do this" nod. Then my alarm woke me up. 

I'm not too sure what this says about me, except maybe coconut water and rum before bed isn't the best idea. Anyway, thought you all might get a giggle from my weird brain.

That sounds pretty strange! I constantly have weird dreams as well. Lately I've had so many weird academic-related ones. I think it's my brain's way of telling me I am way too stressed about school (not as much anymore, but during application season I was constantly having surreal dreams about my applications going wrong, or going really well, only to wake up and find it was sadly just a dream.)

On a side note, coconut water and rum sounds pretty tasty!

[hippyscientist]

7 minutes ago, Danger_Zone said:

That sounds pretty strange! I constantly have weird dreams as well. Lately I've had so many weird academic-related ones. I think it's my brain's way of telling me I am way too stressed about school (not as much anymore, but during application season I was constantly having surreal dreams about my applications going wrong, or going really well, only to wake up and find it was sadly just a dream.)

On a side note, coconut water and rum sounds pretty tasty!

I wasn't sure about it - I was craving rum but didn't have anything to mix it with except coconut water, so I tried it. I added a bit of lemon juice too which helped offset the sweetness but it was surprisingly good hah. So glad I'm not the only one with weird academic dreams. Mine never have me in the bad situation, I'm always watching someone else then acting as the narrator of the story it's strange! 

[Pink Fuzzy Bunny]

Well... it's all over now. I said good-bye to my professors/friends, graduated (and just found out I officially have a 4.0!), drove to Ithaca and got all moved in, and my parents just left a few minutes ago to return home after helping me move. Everything went smoothly - on a scale from 1 to 10 in apartment niceness, mine is like a 12, DEFINITELY an upgrade from my previous place! I got a washer/dryer, Internet hooked up, and insurance/license all figured out, and even picked out a cat yesterday (though he's a bit sneezy, so it will be a few days before he is medically cleared).

Honestly, I really hope that moving goes as well for the rest of you as it did for me! It definitely helped ease the homesickness which is what I was most worried about. Cheers to all of you!

[Neist]

36 minutes ago, Pink Fuzzy Bunny said:

Well... it's all over now. I said good-bye to my professors/friends, graduated (and just found out I officially have a 4.0!), drove to Ithaca and got all moved in, and my parents just left a few minutes ago to return home after helping me move. Everything went smoothly - on a scale from 1 to 10 in apartment niceness, mine is like a 12, DEFINITELY an upgrade from my previous place! I got a washer/dryer, Internet hooked up, and insurance/license all figured out, and even picked out a cat yesterday (though he's a bit sneezy, so it will be a few days before he is medically cleared).

Honestly, I really hope that moving goes as well for the rest of you as it did for me! It definitely helped ease the homesickness which is what I was most worried about. Cheers to all of you!

Congrats! I bet it's relieving to have the moving process over.  

10 hours ago, hippyscientist said:

Okay so do you ever have odd dreams? I

Unfortunately, I'm one of those odd people who never remembers any dreams.  I might recall one dream over the course of 4-5 months.

[janetjanejune]

@Pink Fuzzy Bunny Congrats on the move and cat! New place sounds pretty solid. I just secured a place for my move last week. 

@hippyscientist Very weird dream! Remind me not to mix coconut water and rum before bed. I have very vivid dreams. Most are romantic or sexual. When I'm stressed or sad, I dream about zombies or that I'm back in high school knowing I'm too old but I can't leave. Tried to start up a dream diary several times but always lose interest.

[Danger_Zone]

2 hours ago, hippyscientist said:

I wasn't sure about it - I was craving rum but didn't have anything to mix it with except coconut water, so I tried it. I added a bit of lemon juice too which helped offset the sweetness but it was surprisingly good hah. So glad I'm not the only one with weird academic dreams. Mine never have me in the bad situation, I'm always watching someone else then acting as the narrator of the story it's strange! 

I have those too! Is it kind of like a movie dream where you're watching things happen to other people? I try to explain this to other people and they don't know what I'm talking about.

[rhombusbombus]

I frequently get teeth dreams. Teeth falling out or crumbling away.

My official move in date is June 8th! My roommate and I should be getting our lease papers by the end of the week. We have to pick an accent wall color and get our renter's insurance in order. I'm preferring separate policies bc I have a LOT of stuff and it'd be easier to move the policy around if I don't have someone else on it.

 

We're also looking into dog stuff storage! I still haven't packed!

[janetjanejune]

@Danger_Zone I have narrator dreams all the time. I enjoy them more than the ones where I'm an active participant.

[pterosaur]

Tomorrow is the leavers dinner for my fellowship here, and it's dawning on me how soon I'll be leaving. I'm really excited by my PhD, but I also really, really don't want to leave here! Also just started dating a guy here... 

[Need Coffee in an IV]

Leaving with a 3.2, pretty happy with it! Sure not the highest but no grade inflation at my regional school. I spent today running errands and moving doctors' appointments around. Congrats for everyone as well! @pterosaur have you brought up a possible long distance relationship? He may be up for it and its worth a shot asking if you really like him! I rarely remember dreams, I usually fall asleep and then wake up the next morning with nothing. Just a sea of emptiness . We are looking forward to traveling around the southwest for awhile. Now I'm just being a sloth and doing nothing.

[callabyrdt]

For me, getting into Graduate school, especially Hunter Silberman School of Social Work, is thus far my greatest accomplishment. In 2014, I was told by a supervisor that he was not going to offer me a Director position because I did not have my MSW, yet I was qualified enough to train my supervisor (who had her MSW) to supervise me. #FML

I'm happy to be starting the next chapter in my life and for finally having the balls to move towards adulthood.

[Neist]

5 minutes ago, Need Coffee in an IV said:

Leaving with a 3.2, pretty happy with it! Sure not the highest but no grade inflation at my regional school. I spent today running errands and moving doctors' appointments around. Congrats for everyone as well! @pterosaur have you brought up a possible long distance relationship? He may be up for it and its worth a shot asking if you really like him! I rarely remember dreams, I usually fall asleep and then wake up the next morning with nothing. Just a sea of emptiness . We are looking forward to traveling around the southwest for awhile. Now I'm just being a sloth and doing nothing.

Eh, GPA is sort of finicky anyway.  A person could take easy courses and breeze through with a 4.0, so it's hardly a measure of effort. A lot of my lower grades were in classes that I probably shouldn't have taken, but they sounded interesting, so...

12 minutes ago, pterosaur said:

Tomorrow is the leavers dinner for my fellowship here, and it's dawning on me how soon I'll be leaving. I'm really excited by my PhD, but I also really, really don't want to leave here! Also just started dating a guy here... 

Time's really flying by, isn't it? It seems like it's only been a week since late February, when a lot of results were pouring out.

[Need Coffee in an IV]

Just now, Neist said:

Eh, GPA is sort of finicky anyway.  A person could take easy courses and breeze through with a 4.0, so it's hardly a measure of effort. A lot of my lower grades were in classes that I probably shouldn't have taken, but they sounded interesting, so...

Time's really flying by, isn't it? It seems like it's only been a week since late February, when a lot of results were pouring out.

It was mainly physics and chemistry that brought me down, darn those Cs! Before chemistry, I had a 3.89 but that C made my GPA take a nose dive to 3.3. I've gone up/down slightly ever since. I just graduated with a 122 credits and I needed 120 to graduate.....so I guess I could have stayed longer and gotten a minor to boost my gpa/explore sociology more. But I already got into grad school soooooooo I'm running with it . Yeah fall semester was a nightmare for me! So happy that's over.

[Neist]

4 minutes ago, Need Coffee in an IV said:

It was mainly physics and chemistry that brought me down, darn those Cs! Before chemistry, I had a 3.89 but that C made my GPA take a nose dive to 3.3. I've gone up/down slightly ever since. I just graduated with a 122 credits and I needed 120 to graduate.....so I guess I could have stayed longer and gotten a minor to boost my gpa/explore sociology more. But I already got into grad school soooooooo I'm running with it . Yeah fall semester was a nightmare for me! So happy that's over.

See, I graduated with something like 215 credit hours. I cannot raise nor lower my GPA, really.  

I don't think it matters much, as long as you can get into a graduate program. I knew a microbiology graduate student who had to take organic chemistry three times because he was required to make at least a B in it for his major. He still managed to get into graduate school.  

[Need Coffee in an IV]

Just now, Neist said:

See, I graduated with something like 215 credit hours. I cannot raise nor lower my GPA, really.  

I don't think it matters much, as long as you can get into a graduate program. I knew a microbiology graduate student who had to take organic chemistry three times because he was required to make at least a B in it for his major. He still managed to get into graduate school.  

That's my line of thinking plus I doubt I'm getting a PhD. I'm more interested in working full time in museums as a community outreach person and I have a feeling that a PhD isn't needed .  One of my peers was like "but wouldn't you be more excited by a 3.5, what about becoming a professor?!". I just looked at him like he grew three heads, let me finish my masters first dude!

[Neist]

3 minutes ago, Need Coffee in an IV said:

That's my line of thinking plus I doubt I'm getting a PhD. I'm more interested in working full time in museums as a community outreach person and I have a feeling that a PhD isn't needed .  One of my peers was like "but wouldn't you be more excited by a 3.5, what about becoming a professor?!". I just looked at him like he grew three heads, let me finish my masters first dude!

I'm a bit iffy right now about a PhD as well. I might pursue one, but I might not. I think I'm just going to apply to a round of jobs and the best PhD programs I can when I'm about to graduate, and let the cards fall where they may. Either way, I'm not going to pursue a PhD unless its in a program that is absolutely perfect for me.

I'm guessing museum work is a lot like library work? In libraries, a PhD is largely unnecessary. Although I have considered getting a PhD in information science because it does align with my interests and it's probably far more lucrative of a degree.

[Need Coffee in an IV]

2 minutes ago, Neist said:

I'm a bit iffy right now about a PhD as well. I might pursue one, but I might not. I think I'm just going to apply to a round of jobs and the best PhD programs I can when I'm about to graduate, and let the cards fall where they may. Either way, I'm not going to pursue a PhD unless its in a program that is absolutely perfect for me.

I'm guessing museum work is a lot like library work? In libraries, a PhD is largely unnecessary. Although I have considered getting a PhD in information science because it does align with my interests and it's probably far more lucrative of a degree.

I think so! I've used websites like Indeed.com, USA jobs.gov, Monster.com, etc to get a firm idea on what I would need. All the job postings have had masters for their "preferred" qualifications. The only time I would need a PhD is if I wanted to be a curator and/or work at a big league like the Smithsonian. I don't want to do either so I'm set. Plus I have to think of my boyfriend and we've decided that the PhD rat race isn't something that we want to do in our lives.