What courses are you taking your first semester/quarter?

[lovekilledinos]

Hi! I'm starting my MA in Anthropology in August, I got to register for classes on Monday, which is pretty awesome. Unlike the stress of undergrad I was able to enroll in all the classes I wanted which is a huge relief. 

Ultimately I'm taking three (for a total of 9 units which is the maximum for grad students at my university). Anthropology of Media which examines non-western media, grassroots activism, transnational politics and all the joys of analytical frameworks in anthro and that awesome thing called representation. Theeen, outside of my department I'm taking a history of Chicano/a people in California, since I'm focusing on the racialization of media--through a Latin American lens--and currently excessively vague, I thought it was important to get a better understanding of the history of the people in the region. Finally I'm taking a theory class that discusses the problems of anthropological theory and the limitations of contemporary analytical methods in the field. 

Pretty excited. So what are you taking/looking forward to the most?

[eternallyephemeral]

I'm taking statistics and a course with my supervisor. The second one should be fun, because we get along really well, but I still worry sometimes about how the dynamic will play out.

I'm moving into a new subfield, so there's tons to learn! I want to take ALL the classes, but I know there's other things to focus on too.

[sjoh197]

I'm taking thermochronology with my advisor, remote sensing, and advanced tectonics & sedimentation.

Nobody I know seems interested in what I'm going to be doing in grad school (except my partner). So its nice to at least tell somebody, even if its just people on the inter-tubes. Lol.

[ETRXRock]

I am taking 9 hours my first semester as a grad :). Aside from research credits, seminars, etc., I am taking two classes. One in planetary geology and the other in cosmochemistry and meteorites. Just by typing that up I got super excited

[sjoh197]

1 hour ago, ETRXRock said:

I am taking 9 hours my first semester as a grad :). Aside from research credits, seminars, etc., I am taking two classes. One in planetary geology and the other in cosmochemistry and meteorites. Just by typing that up I got super excited

I love planetary geo and cosmochemistry. I study them on my own, since my uni doesn't offer planetary courses.

[lovekilledinos]

@eternallyephemera I have that same concern, both of my anthro classes are with my advisor. Which is nice, but I also want a little more diversity when it comes to instructors. That'll come later though, I suppose.

@sjoh197 My family and friends roll their eyes whenever I start talking about school. I can't tell if it's because I talk about it too much or they're not interested in what I'm studying. 

@ETRXRock Good! I'm glad you're excited! That's what really got me too, was thinking about how awesome it'll be to learn about stuff I love. I'm also super nervous though because it's been a few years since I graduated or did anything remotely academic. 

[ETRXRock]

52 minutes ago, lovekilledinos said:

@eternallyephemera I have that same concern, both of my anthro classes are with my advisor. Which is nice, but I also want a little more diversity when it comes to instructors. That'll come later though, I suppose.

@sjoh197 My family and friends roll their eyes whenever I start talking about school. I can't tell if it's because I talk about it too much or they're not interested in what I'm studying. 

@ETRXRock Good! I'm glad you're excited! That's what really got me too, was thinking about how awesome it'll be to learn about stuff I love. I'm also super nervous though because it's been a few years since I graduated or did anything remotely academic. 

You got this! Its been a few years before I finished my last 2 years at the 4 year college and now I am pumped more than ever. My previous uni never offered these planetary geology courses so I am super excited. 

My family also does not give a crap about me being my school or they think I speak another language when I mention it! Only my husband, but hey that is what matters!

[Pink Fuzzy Bunny]

Taking solid state and quantum mechanics. I'm also in a new subfield @eternallyephemeral, so we can definitely commiserate!

[savay]

I'm taking 11 credits my first quarter. My first is a Scandinavian Studies Method course with my DGS and is a required course. I think it should be good, it's a lot of literary theory I've encountered before, but being discussed in a new context. The second, a Textual Theory and Practice course, is through another department. I was very excited to get in as it's the intro course to a grad certificate I'm hoping to incorporate into my masters. I'm interested in print culture and the theory & practice course, in addition to challenging the very definition of "text," covers the production, circulation, and reception of texts in their material forms. The third course is a 1 credit seminar formed around a conference on Teaching World Literatures, covering questions of context, coverage, translation, and cultural difference.

I'm new to the quarter system, so I'm not sure if I'll continue to enjoy it, but so far I'm pretty excited about how many courses I'll be able to take this year. My department's offerings seem pretty exciting and if I can get in to the ones I'd like, I may be able to meet the requirements for the textual studies certificate by the end of this year.

[klader]

I'm starting my MA in rhetoric and composition and am technically taking 14 credits in the fall (it's because we have a teaching practicum that starts before the regular semester yet is still billed/counted for the fall semester. So, I don't think it'll be too awful!!).

In addition to the teaching practicum, I'll be taking the next part of the teaching practicum (basically a weekly class period to check in/troubleshoot anything), a rhetorical history class, and a public rhetorics class. I love classical/historical rhetoric and am excited to learn more about it, but I haven't done anything with public rhetorics and am kind of intimidated!

I'm also writing a conference paper to present at a national conference this semester and might submit a proposal to present something at a local conference as well, so I'll be busy. Anyone else trying to do conferences during their first semester? I'm worried about it, actually, because I know the transition to graduate school is going to be hard enough as it is.

[Neist]

I'm taking 9 hours, and my classes are pretty routine and boring.  It's a lot of introductory and survey courses. I'm taking:

• History Science Survey to the 17th Century
• Information & Knowledge Society (general survey for LIS)
• Organization of Information & Knowledge Resources (subject-specific survey for LIS)

The history of science course I'm looking forward to the least. My interests nearly entirely exist in the post 17th-century world, so I imagine the course is going to test my patience. However, I've taken survey courses in the history of science from this university from these professors, so I'm probably better off than the rest of the contingent. There's only 5 of us, and I think only one other has any significant experience with the history of science (which is pretty common in the field pre-graduate school).

The spring looks to be shaping up to a more engaging semester. The LIS department is offering a social informatics course and a cataloging/classification course (I'm big on bibliographies, so...), and I'll get to take the latter history of science survey course. If I'm lucky and I can afford it, I might try to take some bibliography courses at the rare book school next summer. That'd be super awesome.

[Danger_Zone]

Taking 9 hours, have a general required Historical Methods and Theory course, a course on comparative global medicine (I don't know much about medicine outside of North America so this should be interesting) and a US biomedical ethics course. The latter is a sociology course but it fits very well with my research interests. I'm excited for these topics but also have my 20+ textbook list now so I'm also very overwhelmed! 

[Neist]

6 minutes ago, Danger_Zone said:

Taking 9 hours, have a general required Historical Methods and Theory course, a course on comparative global medicine (I don't know much about medicine outside of North America so this should be interesting) and a US biomedical ethics course. The latter is a sociology course but it fits very well with my research interests. I'm excited for these topics but also have my 20+ textbook list now so I'm also very overwhelmed! 

 

All joking aside, I feel your pain. I can comfortably ingest, perhaps, 750-1000 pages of reading a week, but I know there might be some heavy weeks that go beyond that. I've heard that one of the faculty members like to test graduate students by assigning Darwin: The Life of a Tormented Evolutionist for a single week!

I love books, but man...

[pterosaur]

I have no idea what classes I'll be taking. I don't think you decide in my program until basically the first week of classes. Which is stressful since some of my courses have to be approved for my external fellowship.

[Effloresce]

First years in our program have to take a comprehensive bio course to bring everyone up to speed, along with a mentoring course and a weekly smaller group meeting. I think that translates to 8 hours + lab rotations. 

[Danger_Zone]

17 hours ago, Neist said:

All joking aside, I feel your pain. I can comfortably ingest, perhaps, 750-1000 pages of reading a week, but I know there might be some heavy weeks that go beyond that. I've heard that one of the faculty members like to test graduate students by assigning Darwin: The Life of a Tormented Evolutionist for a single week!

I love books, but man...

That sounds rough! I'm a slow reader so I will have to work on speeding myself up and getting the gist of texts without reading the whole thing. Though it will suck if the book ends up being really interesting if I can't sit and read it carefully.

[Neist]

4 hours ago, Danger_Zone said:

That sounds rough! I'm a slow reader so I will have to work on speeding myself up and getting the gist of texts without reading the whole thing. Though it will suck if the book ends up being really interesting if I can't sit and read it carefully.

 

 

Yeah, I'm not a very fast reader either, but I can manage ~7 hours a day of reading somewhat comfortably, as long as I pace myself. At 7 days of reading, that'd be ~50 hours a week, or close to 1000 pages of somewhat intense reading; I can probably average a steady 20 page an hour pace.

If you're not a very fast reader, you might consider either Google Books or Kindle Books and have the book read to you via headphones while you read the text. I can read a little faster that way because it's reinforced both visually and audibly. 

Edited August 4, 2016 by Neist
Typo.

[lovekilledinos]

12 hours ago, pterosaur said:

I have no idea what classes I'll be taking. I don't think you decide in my program until basically the first week of classes. Which is stressful since some of my courses have to be approved for my external fellowship.

Wow, that IS super stressful. Do you know why they make you guys wait so long to register? 

 

22 hours ago, Danger_Zone said:

I'm excited for these topics but also have my 20+ textbook list now so I'm also very overwhelmed! 

Ahaha, I feel you. I was so smug when I saw I already owned and read 1 of 2 textbooks for a class, then I saw the 11 item list for the other one and it properly wiped the smug off my face. 

[pterosaur]

@lovekilledinos - I think it's because they have a sort of taster week where you can visit the classes without signing up. I don't entirely know. Harvard's weird.

[Danger_Zone]

5 hours ago, lovekilledinos said:

Ahaha, I feel you. I was so smug when I saw I already owned and read 1 of 2 textbooks for a class, then I saw the 11 item list for the other one and it properly wiped the smug off my face. 

My family and boyfriend's mom thought I was so smart since I already own 2 of the books on my required text list... My boyfriend just thinks I'm some kind of nerd. 

[Danger_Zone]

5 hours ago, Neist said:

Yeah, I'm not a very fast reader either, but I can manage ~7 hours a day of reading somewhat comfortably, as long as I pace myself. At 7 days of reading, that'd be ~50 hours a week, or close to 1000 pages of somewhat intense reading; I can probably average a steady 20 page an hour pace.

If you're not a very fast reader, you might consider either Google Books or Kindle Books and have the book read to you via headphones while you read the text. I can read a little faster that way because it's reinforced both visually and audibly. 

I've considered it, I'm just kind of a terrible audible learner. But maybe the combination of listening and reading at the same time might do the trick. 

Even if a book is super interesting I also need to take frequent breaks but, it's more that I get antsy from sitting and less from the reading itself.

[rising_star]

@Danger_Zone, have you tried using a lectern/standing desk to read? I sometimes read while standing or on the elliptical and find it keeps me from getting as antsy.

[Danger_Zone]

10 hours ago, rising_star said:

@Danger_Zone, have you tried using a lectern/standing desk to read? I sometimes read while standing or on the elliptical and find it keeps me from getting as antsy.

Yes I have actually. I might order one once I've figured out what kind of size I'd need. I generally don't like to sit for very long... I guess I picked the wrong profession. 

[rising_star]

1 hour ago, Danger_Zone said:

Yes I have actually. I might order one once I've figured out what kind of size I'd need. I generally don't like to sit for very long... I guess I picked the wrong profession. 

I don't know. I work at a standing desk most of the time and use it to grade, write papers, etc. I think I might be more productive that way, to be honest.

[klader]

23 hours ago, Neist said:

Yeah, I'm not a very fast reader either, but I can manage ~7 hours a day of reading somewhat comfortably, as long as I pace myself. At 7 days of reading, that'd be ~50 hours a week, or close to 1000 pages of somewhat intense reading; I can probably average a steady 20 page an hour pace.

If you're not a very fast reader, you might consider either Google Books or Kindle Books and have the book read to you via headphones while you read the text. I can read a little faster that way because it's reinforced both visually and audibly. 

Oh my!! I need to get on your level. My class schedule changed and I may be taking two heavy theory/reading classes, so learning how to read more effectively is crucial!

My problem is that I lose focus after a while and, eventually, I may not start to comprehend as much information.

I've found that my longterm memory is turning out to be horrible - I read a lot of studies one of my textbooks keeps referencing about two and a half years ago, but I can barely remember what they were about!!

Does anyone have any tips on how to better keep track of information when you have to read so much? Perhaps keeping a document of annotated bibs or something?