Graduate Students's topics - tribe.net

Professional Development

missem — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 22:08:35 GMT

I've just been appointed Lead TA and put in charge of the TA training and professional development program in my department.

What kind of workshops, events, handouts would be or would have been useful in your first year as a TA?

What kind of professional development would be helpful for those going into college and university teaching?

posted in Graduate Students - 0 replies

Taking "time off" the failure way

Gulfpirate — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 21:39:30 GMT

My graduate misadventures run thus: So I was done my M.A. by my 23rd birthday, and going into a PhD program in English. I hoped to be done, and professing, by 26.

I'm 26 1/2 now and not in school. I couldn't keep it together and flunked my minor field/candidacy exam twice, and was asked to withdraw from the program. This ruined me for a long time.

Turns out, I had an incredibly severe case of sleep apnea that was impacting my memory, concentration, and other cognitive abilities. I had to have some surgery to get it taken care of. Most people don't take it seriously as a disease, particularly since it's easily treated once discovered, but I find myself now in the process of appealing to the Dean's office for reinstatement on medical grounds.

I don't know how it will go. The Department's grad director is supporting me, and I've managed to find a new dissertation committee, but all indications are that it's touch and go, and that even if I get back in it'll be "extremely unlikely" that they'll be able to fund me. This means a hard uphill slog for the rest of my degree, or else I won't get accepted back, and I'll have to apply elsewhere for September 2008 and start over. Meaning I've lost four years of my life to this nonsense, and a lot of confidence. I'm no longer current on my research/theories and haven't had to do anything remotely school-like in over a year.

How common is stuff like this? I have spent my entire life excelling only to find now that I've run up against a wall. Nothing comes easily or naturally anymore, and I'm scared to death that I've lost "it." I was among the youngest PhD students when last I was enrolled--now I find myself among the oldest, except for those who have gone off to have successful careers and then come back to finish 30-odd years later. I guess it may say something about me that I'm still trying to force my way through, but I just feel so disconnected and disillusioned from the whole process now.

Is this normal? Is this how academics all end up so cynical? I find it tough to believe that it's this hard for everyone. It'd just be nice to know, maybe, that it's not uncommon for delays, failures, rejection and misery to appear on the road to success. What have been your biggest obstacles in the past-- the ones you never thought you'd get past? And how did you overcome them?

posted in Graduate Students - 1 reply

In The Meantime...

Frost ***** — Mon, 15 Oct 2007 19:05:26 GMT

Question - I am going to go after a PhD once I finish my Master's, but my Master's program will end next fall (Dec 08) and I cannot begin the PhD program until the Fall of '09. Soooo... in order to avoid student loan debt, I was either going to try to do either a graduate certificate program over the spring/summer, or I was going to try and get a graduate fellowship.

Any experience in either? Recommendations? How difficult is it to get a graduate fellowship?

Thanks,

SD

posted in Graduate Students - 0 replies

is it just me....

Thu, 27 Sep 2007 02:25:11 GMT

.....or do my friends resent the fact that I am in graduate school?

Hi there. I'm brand-spanking-new to this tribe, and looking for some people to commiserate with/whine to. I'm about to start my 4th year in a Ph.D. program in Literature. Done with coursework. Taking my qualifying exams in December. Writing like crazy right now. Writing, writing, writing.

My friends just don't get it--and don't want to. And it's really starting to get to me.

I have an ecclectic group of friends, many of whom did not finish undergraduate school, some of whom did not finish high school. When they find out what I do, they clam up completely. For a while (okay the last three years) I've attempted to relate to my friends in ways other than school. But I am at a point where graduate school and my writing are completely consuming me (in a good way, i swear).

Things I hear often:

"F*&@ graduate school, why don't you just quit already so you can come out and play?"
"Why would anyone want to go to school for that long?"
"School is for slaves who need somebody else to validate their identites."
"College doesn't do anything but make you permanently anxious and in debt."

Huh?!

I am an awesome friend that respects and supports everything my friends do--if it's what is going to make them happy. So, what the hell?! Does anybody else get this from their friends? Have you in the past? What did you do about it?

posted in Graduate Students - 3 replies

... Beauracracy Blues ...

Jess-my-pet — Thu, 13 Sep 2007 23:25:29 GMT

Has anyone had the same trouble? There are more stupid HOOPS to jump through to get this flipping degree than is reasonable and proper. I feel like I'm in the "Hitchhiker" books, trying to maneuver my way through an enormous stinky bog of red-tape and forms-upon-forms-upon-forms than even a Vogon could imagine ... (for more information on said Vogons, please see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Races_and_Species_in_The_Hitchhiker%27s_Guide_to_the_Galaxy#Vogons ... thenkewveddymush)

"I'm sorry, you'll need a form for that; I'm sorry, that wasn't entered into the computer correctly, but in order to fix it I need your department to send my department this form; OH! You should have filled out this form when you first entered the program, but of course, you wouldn't have known that, since the graduate program was undergoing a bunch of administrative changes at that time ... etc. etc. etc. .... "

posted in Graduate Students - 2 replies

Dissertation problems

John — Sat, 14 Jul 2007 06:30:56 GMT

Hey everyone--

My name is John and I'm going into my 10th year in a dissertation program in Sociology. I am 3,000 miles away from my committee, I have no one to talk to about my work-- that is, up close in person-- It takes me all day to write six pages, everything is going slower than I plan and I'm sick of hearing "when are you going to be done?" from well-meaning friends. Soooo.....

Any advice?

John

posted in Graduate Students - 2 replies

Writing problems--to disrupt or not?

Sadie — Fri, 13 Jul 2007 02:48:51 GMT

I just received the first 2 pages of my first draft of my master's thesis (approaching year 3, time to get out, fast fast fast defend in september) and it is covered in red, more red than ink, no sentence untouched, not a square inch of paper without text. My adviser is re-writing the whole thing, mainly because he doesn't edit, but only re-writes, and we have a very different idea of what academic writing ShouldBe

So...I need some advice. Do I bring up how frustrating, unproductive and potentially offensive this is before my adviser super-edits it all? Or shut up, do the edits, and wait another few weeks for the next?

Side notes:
The only thing I've liked about my thesis in the last 18months is when I've written things
I was really happy to receive all the crazy corrections on draft 1, instead of the usual minor minor corrections for 3 drafts before the big one.

Thoughts? Experience?

posted in Graduate Students - 2 replies

oooh, annoying

melissa_bruninga_matteau — Sun, 17 Jun 2007 17:46:28 GMT

I have a student who put in barely any effort this quarter who is currently raising a ruckus about her grade. I've tried explaining her grade to her repeatedly, but she doesn't seem to want to take my explanations seriously.

Any suggestions?

posted in Graduate Students - 6 replies

Generic "Study Tips" Question from someone new to the Tribe.

blackegg — Mon, 11 Jun 2007 20:38:01 GMT

Hello, I'm new to this tribe!

I'm not sure I'd describe myself as pedantic exactly
but I am a student and I have a question.

Is there any technique that beats (or compliments!) the Notecard System?

I'm trying to attack, to subdue, to seduce new knowledge into my tightly packed brain.
I'm using a wide variety of techniques
but the best method I've come across, the only method really,
are notecards.

I love 'em.
I've got multiple piles each half a foot thick, and I work the **** out of them!
Putting missed cards two cards deep to keep the answer reasonably fresh.
Keeping them 'at the ready' wherever I go.

Still, I feel there are techniques I'm missing out on.
Angles that I'm not familiar with.

Any tips or useful advice from the Pedantic Peoples of this most wonderous Tribe?

thanx in advance!

Be Well,

Ben

posted in Graduate Students - 4 replies

advice and/or kick in the pants from those who know ....

Jess-my-pet — Wed, 30 May 2007 14:32:55 GMT

So ... my master's thesis.

I am freaking out and afraid to start writing. I would be completely happy doing research for the rest of my life. You see, I'm kind of a perfectionist. And while I know that a master's thesis isn't expected to be anything particularly ground-breaking, but rather should demonstrate my understanding of the topic and how I apply that knowledge ... still ... I am overwhelmed by the blank page and my stupid cursor blinking .... blinking .... blinking ....

Ironically: my major is Rhetoric and Composition.

So: what's the secret? Should I drink copious amounts of wine until I just don't care anymore and engage in drunken type-fests, then edit out all the rambling bull-shit later? Should I write it in iambic pentameter, not only for the creative challenge, but also to force my mind to focus more on meter so I'm not so worried about content? Should I hire an unemployed drill-sergeant to stand over my shoulder? Should I tell my boyfriend to withhold sex from me until I have at least 50 pages written?

what to do ... what to do ...

please share thoughts, horror stories, anecdotes, encouraging words, disparaging words ... any sorts of words.

thanks.

posted in Graduate Students - 5 replies

Virginia Tech

missem — Tue, 17 Apr 2007 03:48:43 GMT

My thoughts go out to the victims, families & the campus and local communities.

May all our campuses stay safe.

posted in Graduate Students - 1 reply

re: standardizing writing ... sighs very heavily

Jess-my-pet — Wed, 28 Mar 2007 05:07:05 GMT

Interesting article from Inside Higher Ed. "Fooling the College Board" -- about how teaching students formulaic approaches to writing only helps to them into erudite-sounding, fallacy-spouting automatons -- er -- at least that's my editorialized, highly-biased take on it.

http://insidehighered.com/news/2007/03/26/writing

posted in Graduate Students - 3 replies

The Hidden Crisis in Graduate Education: Attrition From Ph.D Programs

missem — Thu, 15 Mar 2007 20:46:30 GMT

interesting article!

http://www.aaup.org/publications/Academe/2000/00nd/ND00LOVI.HTM

posted in Graduate Students - 0 replies

Harvard's First Female President

missem — Mon, 12 Feb 2007 03:25:19 GMT

From the AP:

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. - Harvard University on Sunday named historian Drew Gilpin Faust as its first female president, ending a lengthy and secretive search to find a successor to Lawrence Summers and his tumultuous five-year tenure.

The seven-member Harvard Corporation elected Faust, a noted scholar of the American South and dean of Harvard’s Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, as the university’s 28th president. The 30-member board of overseers ratified the selection.

Faust, 59, recognized the significance of her appointment.

“I hope that my own appointment can be one symbol of an opening of opportunities that would have been inconceivable even a generation ago,” Faust said at a news conference on campus. But she also added, “I’m not the woman president of Harvard, I’m the president of Harvard.”

With Faust’s appointment, half of the eight Ivy League schools will have a woman as president. Her selection is noteworthy given the uproar over Summers’ comments that genetic differences between the sexes might help explain the dearth of women in top science jobs, comments which sparked debates about equality at Harvard and nationwide.

Faust oversaw the creation of two faculty task forces, formed in the aftermath of Summers’ remarks, to examine gender diversity at Harvard. She has been dean of Radcliffe since 2001, two years after the former women’s college was merged into the university as a research center with a mission to study gender issues.
Story continues below ↓ advertisement

“This is a great day, and a historic day, for Harvard,” said James R. Houghton, chairman of the presidential search committee.

Some professors have quietly groused that — despite the growing centrality of scientific research to Harvard’s budget — the 371-year-old university is appointing a fifth consecutive president who is not a scientist. No scientist has had the top job since James Bryant Conant retired in 1953; its last four have come the fields of classics, law, literature and economics.

Faust is the first Harvard president who did not receive an undergraduate or graduate degree from the university since Charles Chauncy, an alumnus of Cambridge University in England, who died in office in 1672. She attended Bryn Mawr College and the University of Pennsylvania, where she was also a professor of history.

Faust pivots from managing Radcliffe, a think-tank with 87 employees and a $17 million budget, to presiding over Harvard’s 11 schools and colleges, 24,000 employees and a budget of $3 billion. The Harvard presidency is perhaps the most prestigious job in higher education, offering a pulpit where remarks resonate throughout academic circles and unparalleled resources, including a university endowment valued at nearly $30 billion.

“Faculty turned to her constantly as someone whose opinion is to be trusted,” said Sheldon Hackney, a former president of The University of Pennsylvania and southern historian who worked closely with Faust. “She’s very clear, well-organized. She has a sense of humor, but she’s very even-keeled. You come to trust in her because she’s so solid.”

In Faust, Harvard not only has its first female leader, but a president who has candidly discussed her feminist ideals in a memoir, “Shapers of Southern History: Autobiographical Reflections.”

Born Catherine Gilpin in the Jim Crow era, to a privileged family in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley, Faust wrote that a conversation at age 9 with the family’s black handyman and driver inspired her to send a letter to President Eisenhower pleading for desegregation.

She then began to question the rigid Southern conventions where girls wore “scratchy organdy dresses” and white children addressed black adults by their first names.

“I was the rebel who did not just march for civil rights and against the Vietnam War but who fought endlessly with my mother, refusing to accept her insistence that ’this is a man’s world, sweetie, and the sooner you learn that, the better off you’ll be,”’ she writes.

Faust joins an exclusive roster of former Harvard presidents that have included colonial clergymen, Bay State patricians and a cabinet secretary. Former President Derek Bok has been leading the university this academic year on an interim basis.

While the presidential search was marked by disciplined secrecy — committee members met behind closed doors in a Georgian mansion and were quietly ushered away in idling Lincoln Town Cars — it also revealed an embarrassing trend: several top-tier candidates said they weren’t interested.

In January, Thomas R. Cech, head of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and a Nobel prize winner, asked the search committee to remove him from consideration. The presidents of Columbia, Brown and Princeton all said they did not want the job.

© 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

posted in Graduate Students - 1 reply

Can we get a school shout out?

paradigmbrooklyn — Wed, 03 Aug 2005 17:44:32 GMT

No matter how immature it seems...

shit, just let me know where you braniacs are attending!

NYU in the houssssseeeee!

posted in Graduate Students - 46 replies

procrastination: URGENT

missem — Sun, 14 May 2006 09:29:04 GMT

www.phdcomics.com/comics

y'all know about this, right?

it kicks all of the ass. you can click the archive to start at the beginning - but it's a serious time waster.

posted in Graduate Students - 3 replies

Week number three and I'm exhausted

jeffreyanderson — Thu, 21 Sep 2006 01:08:23 GMT

Hey everyone. I'm just in my third week of a PhD program. I'm working full time and taking two classes (although one of them is just a one credit seminar that meets 4 times throughout the term). Between night classes and working I am BEAT. I know I can do this, as I made it though my first masters program, but figured it couldn't hurt to vent a bit here.

Has anyone here quit their full time job in order to commit to school full time? I'm thinking that might be the way to go next year, especially if I can get a grad assistantship with a stipend. Feel free to share :).

Jeff

posted in Graduate Students - 3 replies

What am I getting myself into?

Marshall — Sat, 26 Aug 2006 04:45:41 GMT

Hello All,

I'm new to the tribe. I will be starting grad school next month at Seattle University, doing an MBA/CPA program. I'm doing it part-time while working full-time...I couldn't bear the thought of being a poverty stricken student...been there once and not goin there again!

Could anyone take a few mins to give me an idea of what to expect? Do I kiss my social life good-bye for the time being?

posted in Graduate Students - 0 replies

Naughty... but nice

ghostcat — Thu, 29 Jun 2006 07:38:59 GMT

It's nearly 4pm and I am at work. I have been a very naughty girl - working on my thesis all day. I've redone the conclusion, written the abstract and done a fairly rudimentary 'Future work' section. The thesis is now around 200 pages long and it's ready for me to hand to my supervisors tomorrow. And that feels very nice :-)

posted in Graduate Students - 1 reply

Changing your name.

Adeline — Thu, 13 Jul 2006 09:18:09 GMT

Hey, has anyone changed their names in their academic career? If so, how did you do it? I also would like to know how is it affecting you in your field, and how do you deal w/ the identity change.

I am going to get married. I don't know if it's such a good idea but I want to change my name. This just means that by the time I get my PhD, if I do change my name, I go by a different name than the name on my BS and MS diplomas. I currently have two publications. I'm wondering if I have to make modifications to them.

Anyway, if anyone could shed some light to this, I'd appreciate it a lot!

Thanks in advance!

posted in Graduate Students - 1 reply

plagiarism

melissa_bruninga_matteau — Thu, 15 Jun 2006 07:55:56 GMT

This quarter has been simply dreadful. Had one gal who plagarized a 2 page precis. We made her drop the course.

Gal number 2...get this...bought a paper online and used it as her first draft (of 3). Then, for the second and third drafts, modified it so that it was WORSE so that it passed the turnitin.com test. The first two drafts were peer edited, so I didn't catch it until this morning, while grading the final papers. 2 hours and a lot of headache later, I had my proof and my assurances from the dean.

So tonight, I'm grading the last of the papers. One paper has no turnitin.com reciept. Okay, well then. 6 pages of pure dreck...except, of course, for those brilliantly turned gems in the middle of a crap paragraph. So, I google it. And lo and behold, there it is. Fully 1/2 taken from 2 different websites...one of which, mind you, is the one I pointed out to students in class!

So, here's my evil, evil decision. In the humanities, any grade above an F is non-repeatable. So, instead of flunking these three girls, I am giving them all D-'s. It kills their GPAs, gives them grad but not requirement credits, and they can't repeat the course for a better grade.

What did the principal in "The Breakfast Club" say? Mess with the bull, you get the horns? HA!

posted in Graduate Students - 2 replies

grading, grading, grading

melissa_bruninga_matteau — Tue, 13 Jun 2006 20:30:14 GMT

oh, I'm sick of grading.

Can't I just give them all the grades I WANT to give them? Why do I have to read so many dreadful papers to get to the good ones?

Sorry, just needed to get that off my chest.

posted in Graduate Students - 1 reply

yay for me!

cooldawn — Wed, 17 May 2006 01:30:14 GMT

it's official....I can now artfully master my BS

heh heh heh

lame, I know, but I just had to say it somewhere!

posted in Graduate Students - 3 replies

Heroic Computer Dies To Save World From Master's Thesis

Sadie — Wed, 24 May 2006 00:01:27 GMT

http://www.theonion.com/content/node/48461

posted in Graduate Students - 1 reply

I need some cheese for my whine.

missem — Mon, 27 Mar 2006 04:58:46 GMT

I just realized that I have 50 students and 50 ten page papers to grade AND if I was instructor of record (instead of a TA) with 50 students, i could have a reader to help me grade. They wouldn't expect an instructor of record to actually *grade* 50 exams. Boooo that I have to do it for less pay!

That is all.

posted in Graduate Students - 4 replies

Scholarly Contribution??

missem — Tue, 21 Mar 2006 05:20:34 GMT

I've been tackling a problem with the goal of producing a conference paper or an article, only to discover that I can't find a single new thing to say about it. I've been trying and trying to tweak some ideas into something significantly new or interesting or useful and I just can't do it. I thought I had something good but then I read an article that argued almost exactly my point. Bastard. I'm just exhausted and overwhelmed at the body of knowledge I have to have before I can even produce something that can contribute. I haven't taken my exams yet and I suspect that once I do I might be in a better place to make a real contribution....

I'm just whiny and don't know how I'm going to proceed - nor can I imagine actually finding something new to say.

One of my profs once told my class "You can think you're innovative simply because you're ignorant."

That's how I feel today.

posted in Graduate Students - 6 replies

Biotech @ North Carolina?

Wed, 22 Mar 2006 00:25:03 GMT

NC Biotech Research Campus
http://www.localtechwire.com/article.cfm?u=13541

posted in Graduate Students - 0 replies

All But D....?

hipstorian — Fri, 10 Mar 2006 18:22:17 GMT

Anybody else out here in a long-lingering state of not-quite-done?

posted in Graduate Students - 4 replies

juggling duties

missem — Wed, 08 Mar 2006 17:08:47 GMT

I know there was just a thread on burnout but I have an angle....

So I'm taking a full load of course work and teaching part-time - Which means I have over 60 hours/week of responsibilities just to the university. This doesn't include my personal responsibilities (exercise, sleep, cooking, cleaning, keeping up on current events so I can vote responsibly, community involvement). I don't have a significant other, children or pets - so my life is a little less complicated than those who *do* have those responsibilities.

Apart from burnout (which if the focus of another thread) how does anyone else manage to juggle everything and keep on top of all the responsibilities in school & life? I know some of my colleagues here just sort-of let some things slide.... Does anyone have creative time-management techniques? How do you deal?

posted in Graduate Students - 2 replies

dealing with burnout

cooldawn — Sun, 19 Feb 2006 13:41:55 GMT

I'm on my last semester and I am SO ready to be done! Am I alone here? Obviously I'm going to push through and finish, but I am just so sick of burning the candle at both ends.

~end rant~

posted in Graduate Students - 6 replies

Southern Californians - Free Museum & Special Exhibition

missem — Wed, 22 Feb 2006 19:57:49 GMT

The Norton Simon museum has a very nice special exhibition on the Hindu goddess Durga, as well as a lovely collection of South Asian sculpture. I was just there with some of my students from my Hindu gods & goddesses course - it's really one of the best exhibitions I've seen in a long time. If you have any interest in Hindu art or South Asian art, I encourage you to go check it out. There are a number of English translations of the main text about Durga, the Devimahatmya, should you want to read it or have your students read it before they go.

The museum also houses a nice collection of 14th- 20th century painting & sculpture (a nice bit of Degas!) and is FREE for students - including the special exhibitions!

www.nortonsimon.org

posted in Graduate Students - 0 replies

Introduce yourself! =)

Jaffa — Wed, 24 Dec 2003 13:49:49 GMT

Just thought it might be nice to see who's wandering the halls of the graduate tribe...

To get things started off:
I go to the University of Queensland in Brisbane Australia. I am however American, I just decided to get out while the gettin was good. I'm doing a PhD in what amounts to an information design program. I'm researching Mobile Electronic Communities, or basically how mobile devices will be affecting community development. I'm also interested in related concepts of group coordination/awareness, social capital and effects of design on behavior.

whereabouts are you? What do you study? What do you think about being a grad student?

posted in Graduate Students - 99 replies

Educational Leadership

itsoktoplay — Tue, 14 Feb 2006 17:45:30 GMT

anyone here in or completed this type of grad program? I currently doing my masters at DePaul and I've been in proprietary higher ed for several years now. The program is really desgned for those seeking a type 75 (Illinois) that is, principalship. But my goal is to use it for school operations type work, maybe corporate. Any ideas? thanks - patrick

posted in Graduate Students - 3 replies

Complete lack of motivation

melissa_bruninga_matteau — Mon, 30 Jan 2006 02:39:34 GMT

Okay, so I've done the orals, done the coursework, and I'm working on the proposal, but I'm finding myself not doing a whole lot of work. I have piles of books I haven't cracked, and I'm so not interested in anything that it's making me crazy. Any suggestions for how to get back into the motivated mood?

posted in Graduate Students - 1 reply

when is it time to let go?

ariana — Mon, 09 Jan 2006 07:21:15 GMT

I'm mid-way through my second year of a PhD program in American Studies. Last year I posted about depression and many of you were very, very helpful! Thanks for that. Even though the depression has largely subsided, I still find myself extraordinarily uninspired, apathetic, and unable to concentrate. I am starting to wonder if this is really not what I should be doing with my life, at least not right now. Has anyone else experienced this? I wish I could blame it on my program, but I really don't think that's the issue--it's a great program with supportive and interesting faculty and a decent student community. Did I jump into grad school too quickly (I only took one year off)? Am I just not cut out for it? I am terrified to leave although I have some outside career interests; I fear that the feelings of failure and being a quitter would be overwhelming. I also don't know how to tell whether this is a passing phase and scared to leave only to find that I really did want to be in academia. I realize I have several options, none of which would necessarily prevent me from re-entering academia in the future... I could take a leave of absence and work for a while; I could stick it out through this time next year and get my MA before I leave (we have to apply retroactively the semester after we've fulfilled the requirements); I could just suck it up and figure it out later. I worry that taking a leave might hurt my standing in this program or my chances at getting into another if I want to switch. Any sympathetic anecdotes or advice would be very much appreciated...

posted in Graduate Students - 7 replies

finding data

cooldawn — Tue, 03 Jan 2006 17:25:36 GMT

Long story short, my research project was qualitative and now I've lost contact with my original study participants. My prof said I could use something from a database (or previous study) for my stats analysis project, but I haven't been able to find a source for raw data....any suggestions??

posted in Graduate Students - 1 reply

Bioengineering / FEA Tribe

Thu, 08 Dec 2005 04:01:28 GMT

If anyone is interested....

http://tribes.tribe.net/bioengr

http://fea.tribe.net/

posted in Graduate Students - 0 replies

Damned Microsoft!

melissa_bruninga_matteau — Tue, 15 Nov 2005 16:58:36 GMT

Okay, so my school requires that my dissertation be done in Microsoft Word. Fine. I hate it, but fine.

So here's the latest fiasco...I open my diss today, and all of the footnotes are now double-spaced. No matter what I do, they stay that way. Oh, each reference is single-spaced, but there's lines inbetween.

so I have a couple of questions. One, has anyone else had this problem, and two, how the fucking hell do you fix it?

(I had to edit this post about 10 times because every other word was fuck. I am SOOOOO frustrated)

ARGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

posted in Graduate Students - 5 replies

NYU Graduate Strike

paradigmbrooklyn — Sun, 13 Nov 2005 01:46:40 GMT

I don't know if folks have heard about it but many of the TAs, GAs, RAs and other types of grad students are on strike at NYU. A webiste from about 450 faulty: www.facultydemocracy.org, the Graduate Student union: http://www.2110uaw.org/gsoc/ andNYU's official website about the matter: http://www.nyu.edu/public.affairs/gata/

read on, please comment. there is far a wide support for the gesture of the strike even if not for the union.

posted in Graduate Students - 4 replies

Study Abroad

Sun, 13 Nov 2005 19:23:36 GMT

Does anyone know of engineering programs for graduate studying abroad- particularly somewhere in Europe? I've heard German has a program put together but anything else? THANKS!

posted in Graduate Students - 1 reply

Fellowship

Sun, 13 Nov 2005 17:58:34 GMT

I'm currently applying to doctorate programs in bioengineering and wanted to see if anyone here knew of any specific fellowships that would be interested in my research in biomechanics & cell/tissue engineering or have any advice. THANKS!

posted in Graduate Students - 0 replies

NYU ITP and Question

Sun, 13 Nov 2005 16:25:58 GMT

First, a tough spot i'm in. I re-applied to Berkeley's J school since I didn't get in a last time. I have made a documentary since then (see: http://myprimers.com/my_primers/documentary_film/) and I was assured it was in the Santa Fe film festival. But the festival must have changed or something, because it did not get in. But on my statement, I said it had...dooope. I think I just need to let them know I was misinformed and to change it or put a note in my app before it's read.

Second question. I visited NYU's ITP program (http://itp.tisch.nyu.edu/page/home). It felt like a wonderful playground for me. Hands on, experimental, wood shops, circuit shops, video, programming, writing. Very expensive. But I think i could get in. No GREs, they want creative types, no hard computer science training needed. seems very highly regarded in that area, right up there with the MIT media lab, which is not my style and doesn't play to my strengths

posted in Graduate Students - 0 replies

take away my degree now

franceschina — Fri, 04 Nov 2005 00:04:13 GMT

Many of you will learn that the most humiliating and frustrating part of getting an advanced degree is when some official from your school looks over your dissertation or thesis to make sure the document conforms to the university's guidelines. It seems ludicrous that after you have worked on this document for years (at least in my case), there is a little lady wearing taupe shoes in a windowless office, measuring your margins and page numbers with a well-worn wooden ruler. If the document doesn't pass muster with her, you don't get your degree. Naturally, this woman has no idea how humiliating and excruciating this process is for you. She also doesn't understand that none of us are professional word processors, armed with all the arcane secrets that our writing software holds.

So getting to my point: I am going through this process right now, having prepared the final final final draft of my dissertation, all 569 pages of it. After screaming at my footnotes to make them move into the correct spot on the page, they finally complied. I tore my hair out to get all of my images to fit within the Bizarro World margins required by my uni. Satisfied that my document was in perfect shape, I sent off a PDF of it for approval.

And the little Taupe Shoe Lady writes me back today to say that all looks good, except for the fact that I misspelled "university" on my title pages.

posted in Graduate Students - 6 replies

my critical theory blog!

#DC# — Sun, 06 Nov 2005 16:02:47 GMT

Hello all! I am a PhD student in Dance History and Theory, and am currently studying for my oral exams, on the road to writing a dissertation on social dance culture, discoteque/dance club culture to be more specific. It will draw on space theory, cultural studies, performance studies, and music/tehcno theory, intersecting issues of gender, race, and class. To keep myself motivated, and to encourage dialouge, I have started a blog. If you go to my profile page, you can read the first two installations. Its all very informal, and hopefuuly friendly to those who aren't familiar with grad-speak. I encourage anyone to post comments. Thanks!

posted in Graduate Students - 0 replies

teaching interests

franceschina — Tue, 18 Oct 2005 21:45:52 GMT

I'm writing an application right now for a post-doc position. Part of the application entails discussing my teaching experience and teaching interests. The former is somewhat easy, but I'm having a more difficult time with the latter. Do you think that in the 'teaching interests' section I can state in a sentence the range of courses I'd like to teach and then write, say, three descriptions for proposed courses?

posted in Graduate Students - 4 replies

wannabe

Muggle — Mon, 17 Oct 2005 22:47:56 GMT

i just found this tribe and i'm excited! rubbing elbows with the smarties!

i am in the process of applying to grad school for english. is anyone familiar with the jacob javits fellowship? i applied for it but i don't know anything about how competitive it is (i.e. if i have a chance in hell).

i would appreciate any words of wisdom! peace

posted in Graduate Students - 8 replies

NSF Graduate Research Fellowship

angelina — Sat, 27 Aug 2005 17:35:25 GMT

This may be a silly question based on the fact the GRE scores are such a weighty evaluation factor when applying for and receiving fellowships, but I am curious to know if anyone has an solid understanding of how heavily GRE scores weigh in NSF GRF applications. I have received a wide spectrum of feedback from a strong package (strong research design, strong letters of recommend) is what really matters to no chance of receiving a GRF if your GRE scores are not a minimum of 1300. Anyone have one? Been rejected? In either case what were your scores like? Any additional advice on the application process? thanks...

posted in Graduate Students - 4 replies

Call for Papers--Pacific Sociological Association

garian — Tue, 04 Oct 2005 04:28:10 GMT

CALL FOR PAPERS
The 77th Annual Meeting
of the Pacific Sociological Association
Theme: Playing with Sociology:
Pedagogy, Postmodernism and Pop Culture
April 20-23, 2006
Hilton Hotel
Universal City / Hollywood Hills, California

Deadline for submission to session organizers is October 15, 2005.
Go to http://www.csus.edu/psa/meeting06.html for official submission form and more conference details. All sessions are open to anyone!

1. Fans and Fan Communities—Papers submitted for consideration in this session should examine the ways in which people organize themselves within fan communities. Does not have to be limited to music.

2. The Sociology of Music—The papers in this session will discuss music from a sociological point of view and may be broader in scope than papers in other sessions described here.

3. Music and Identity—These papers should focus more narrowly on individual identity construction in relation to music, whether the subjects are musicians, music industry professionals or fans.

4. The Sociology of Bluegrass—Papers submitted for this session should address sociological topics specifically about bluegrass or a closely-related genre.

5. The Disneyfication of Adulthood: Postmodern Maturity—This session, created in the spirit of the conference theme and its 2006 meeting site, will showcase papers that discuss the ever-blurring line between childhood and adulthood in today’s consumer markets, popular culture and economic trends.

For consideration, please send your paper and completed submission form to:

Garian Vigil
Department of Sociology
University of Colorado at Boulder
Campus Box 327-UCB
Boulder, CO 80309

If you have questions for Garian Vigil regarding these conference sessions, you may contact her at: Garianv@yahoo.com or 303-492-8418. Electronic submissions are welcome.

posted in Graduate Students - 1 reply

done done done done

franceschina — Tue, 19 Jul 2005 19:04:23 GMT

So I just got confirmation that my dissertation is ready to go to my committee in preparation for the defense! It feels fantastic!

I can't believe that it took me two months to get the document to this final stage after finishing the writing back in May. **A word of warning: this end part is not very fun.** There is a lot of tediousness in terms of word processing, bibliographical stuff, getting images together, conforming the document to the university's specifications... I used MS Word's 'master document' feature and it was freaking scary. I can't believe I managed to do it without blowing up the computer, losing work, or putting big holes in the walls with my head. Just a word for all you dissertaters reading this to know that even though there is a huge sense of relief when the research and writing is over, there is still this really irritating part at the end.

So what's next? I have to schedule my defense for the second week of September and go back to Boston for that. With five people on my committee, it won't be easy to get them all in the same place at the same time, but since I'm coming across the freaking country for the defense, I hope they'll be accommodating.

But still, can I just say: FREAKING YAY!

posted in Graduate Students - 18 replies

fall semester

angelina — Fri, 15 Jul 2005 16:04:46 GMT

getting ready to jump into the program. nervous and excited. wondering how I will hold up and if it will be everything and more than I imagine.

what were the toughest bits your first semester/year? any tips for staying afloat, making the grade, setting the bar, towing the line?

posted in Graduate Students - 14 replies

publishing the diss.

franceschina — Mon, 18 Jul 2005 22:08:20 GMT

Has anyone heard of this site: http://www.dissertation.com/index.php
It's a way to publish the dissertation as an e-book or on-demand paperback. You apparently don't relinquish your rights to publish the diss in another format and you can even earn royalties on the sale of your diss.

I'm wary, yet my interest is piqued.

posted in Graduate Students - 4 replies

Advice on where to stay in Rome?

melissa_bruninga_matteau — Mon, 04 Jul 2005 00:26:27 GMT

So I gotta go to Rome (bummer, eh?) to do some research, and I'm wondering if anyone has any good suggestions for where to stay and all that.

posted in Graduate Students - 7 replies

To hell with our professors at the end of this quarter (or semester, whatev)

eulergonzo — Tue, 31 May 2005 02:21:10 GMT

Well not really, but its that time of the year when final papers are due, and everything is falling on you, and I need some means of venting.

So as for the venting:
1) To hell with people who get away with publishing articles without knowing what the fuck they are talking about. If not for you, I almost think science (grad school) would be easy. I want to hunt every one of these people down and punch them in the genitals till they weep.

2) To hell with professors who don't bother to actually look over the shoulders of their students and figure out what the hell they are trying to do. I am tired of wading through all this shit with little more than: "yeah, its the way it goes."

3) To hell with graduate school for being so damn frustrating and making the rest of my life miserable until I receive those few words of long sought after afirmation from said professors, then only to mire myself in the next project and have my sense of self ripped out of me again. AGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

So I'll be happy again in a week or so, and I'm not anywhere near jumping off a bridge. I actually even like my professors. But not right now.

Feel free to add to the list, or start your own. Hell, yell at me if it makes you feel better. Luck to all.

posted in Graduate Students - 4 replies

Orals are OVER!!!

melissa_bruninga_matteau — Fri, 03 Jun 2005 17:28:36 GMT

After a year of study, no fun, no nothing but my head in a book (some chiropractor is going to make a killing off me!!), I'm now officially ABD.

Yikes. I can write a book, can't I?

posted in Graduate Students - 1 reply

Internship Prep Hell

Tally — Wed, 25 May 2005 07:24:57 GMT

Anybody else moving to the east coast to complete
their internship hours/ sentence?

posted in Graduate Students - 0 replies

I am Graduating!

nurselisa — Mon, 16 May 2005 21:58:43 GMT

Its finally going to happen this Saturday! I'm so happy, I could explode!!!

: )

posted in Graduate Students - 4 replies

'Endnotes' program for citations

Sun, 12 Sep 2004 18:47:09 GMT

Hi All -

Does anyone use the program "Endnotes" for keeping track of citations, quotes, etc? I just downloaded a trial copy and would be curious to hear about other's experiences with it.

Also, I love to hear about other techniques/strategies that you may use to keep track of sources.

Best -
Shannon

posted in Graduate Students - 20 replies

Letter for professor's tenure

Tue, 03 May 2005 18:00:54 GMT

An assistant professor I work with (not my advisor) is up for tenure and has asked me to write a letter recommending her for her tenure promotion. Has anyone here ever done this?

posted in Graduate Students - 3 replies

cold feet

angelina — Tue, 15 Mar 2005 05:34:36 GMT

I was just accepted into my first choice in PhD progs. Now I have cold feet. I think this must be normal. If it isn't, please pretend it is and explain? I know I want it.. it is just that.. I have some kind of cold, creepy feeling about what my be just around the corner.

Did you have cold feet? Did you work around it, jump right it, still regret it, wish you have never done it, are amazingly succesful and can tell me, with a straight face, to get over it?

posted in Graduate Students - 30 replies

job offers

jmparker — Wed, 20 Apr 2005 17:27:56 GMT

Well, I finally got an offer for the job of my dreams.
My first impluse is to just say, hell yeah I'll take it, what's my schedule, see you in August.
My friends are telling me to ask what the salary is before I accept.
I'm kind of nervous about breaking the spell (besides, I don't really care what they pay me - I assume the salary's going to suck, whatever it is, anyway), and the guy who hired me already went through a lot of hoops to make this happen.
Still my friends are telling me to ask about the salary before accepting.
Any advice?

posted in Graduate Students - 11 replies

grad student/worker bees?

jnet — Mon, 21 Mar 2005 20:27:24 GMT

Hello Tribe,

I am new to this whole “tribe” thing, as well as to the whole “graduate student experience” or whatever. Actually, to be honest, I plan on starting my masters program this fall, so I’ve only really done the prelim grad school stuff – the dogged search for LOR writers, the art of filling out the application, penning my personal statement/magnum opus, the ridiculous and unnecessary GRE freak-out, etc.

Anyway, I’ve perused the thread topics to make sure that no one has touched upon this subject. I have to ask this - are there any grad students here who balance a full-time job and go to school? I ask this because this will be me this fall. Also, I plan on still working while I get my PhD (assuming I get into the program I want, etc). I have a friend who pulled it off, but she was ABD at that point. So I’d really appreciate any words of wisdom, encouragement, warnings, whatever.

Well, that’s all. This is my first post ever… Just thought I’d throw that in there for posterity’s sake. Hope to get some replies. Thanks!

posted in Graduate Students - 12 replies

depression

ariana — Mon, 28 Mar 2005 18:56:43 GMT

I'm currently dealing with a nasty feedback loop of sleep deprivation, depression, and illness. From conversations I've had with my peers, I gather that this is not an uncommon state to inhabit in grad school. Still, I'm feeling overwhelmed in a way that is beginning to interfere with my schoolwork and which I don't feel comfortable talking to fellow students about. Sometimes I have stress-induced insomnia, and sometimes I simply don't have time to sleep enough, even if I'm physically able. I can't remember the last time I woke up feeling refreshed. I'm pretty much continually exhausted, have trouble staying on top of my work, then feel like a slacker, then question why I'm here and whether I can hack it, and so on. I'm sick for the 3rd time this month, no doubt a result of my lack of sleep and my emotional state. I'm worried about my ability to do my work and about my health, but don't know how to interrupt this cycle.

Have any of you experienced this? How did you deal with it? Sorry if this seems melodramatic; I just don't feel like I have another forum in which I can be totally honest about this and ask for advice.

posted in Graduate Students - 8 replies

Personal Organization

angelina — Tue, 22 Mar 2005 21:08:37 GMT

The discussion on notes apps got me looking around and I found some interesting stuff:

1. FreeMind, mind mapping software. Free, like it says in the name. Free, also, as in your mind. Organize thoughts, essays, theories, etc. with this "mapping" utility.
http://freemind.sourceforge.net/wiki/index.php/Main_Page

2. That a lot people have dumper their PDA's for paper organization. I am this kind of person. I need a paper date book/calendar and a fresh supply of post it notes to keep on top of things. However, it would be easier if I at leasat kept track of stuff on the computer since I am in front of it all day. If you are looking for great personal organization freeware, essential PIM is the way to go:
http://www.essentialpim.com/

posted in Graduate Students - 0 replies

grad unions?

ariana — Fri, 18 Feb 2005 14:08:32 GMT

Just out of curiousity, how many of you belong to universities with graduate student unions? Do you belong to your union, if you have one, and do you think it's a good thing for you as a worker, and for your institution?

posted in Graduate Students - 1 reply

asking after the interview

jmparker — Wed, 16 Feb 2005 10:38:28 GMT

Hi, I always get the best advice from this tribe, so I thought I'd try again...
What's the etiquette for finding out where a school is on their search process, if you haven't heard back after the interview? Is it cool to write and ask if they've finished hiring? Do most schools let candidates know if they didn't get a post once they're finished deciding? The suspense is killing me. J.

PS - I'm of 2 minds at the moment: getting contacted by candidates might be annoying; on the other hand, I wouldn't mind letting them know one more time I'm definitely interested. I was at an MLA panel this year for hiring committees (yeah, I was evesdropping, just sat in the back trying to look like I belonged there) - it seemed their greatest worry was that they didn't want to pick a candidate who might turn them down and have to potentially start the search process all over again.

posted in Graduate Students - 1 reply

Conference paper ISBN #s

jmparker — Thu, 20 Jan 2005 10:46:47 GMT

This university I'm applying to in Taiwan is driving me crazy. They're being incredibly picky about what writing samples I can send. After a week of fussing over what's acceptable and what's not (they didn't originally want conference papers, but only published work, and published on paper, and not articles for encyclopedias, and published after a certain date.... geeez!), now they tell me they'll take a conference paper, but it has to have an ISBN or ISSN number.
Do conference papers actually have ISBN numbers? What the hell?... Moreover, this job is basically an adjunct position - I wouldn't have thought much publication would be a requirement at all!
Any experiences applying for positions in Taiwan?
- Josh

posted in Graduate Students - 3 replies

Informal Inquiries

jmparker — Thu, 13 Jan 2005 16:16:49 GMT

anyone have any ideas on this - ?

in applying for positions in British universities, in Hong Kong, and especially in New Zealand and Australia, I keep coming across the phrase "for informal inquiries, please contact X".

Ok, so you're applying for a position a school is advertising, so you send your CV, transcripts, writing samples, and whatever else they want, but I'm stumped on this one - what's an informal inquiry???

Josh

posted in Graduate Students - 2 replies

ESL/TESOL/bilingual ed.

Dirtgab — Thu, 06 Jan 2005 16:34:40 GMT

i'm interested in finding some good resources comparing ESL to english immersion programs. anyone know of any?

posted in Graduate Students - 0 replies

Dissertation Hell Blog

porsupuerco — Tue, 28 Dec 2004 19:40:22 GMT

Hi all.... I just started a blog on the HELL of writing a dissertation. If any of you are co-sufferers, I invite you to post on the blog. You could give advice, ask for advice, blaspheme, boast, insult. Anything goes. It's public but it's anonymous! Message me if you'd like info on how to post to it. Here's the blog:

http://disshell.blogspot.com

posted in Graduate Students - 5 replies

Grading!! ^%#$#^$#^

Fri, 19 Nov 2004 00:49:46 GMT

Who else is up to their butt in undergrad papers?????
AAAAAUUUUUUGGGGGHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

posted in Graduate Students - 8 replies

anal question - bibliographies

jmparker — Fri, 03 Dec 2004 15:46:02 GMT

Has anyone ever heard of numbering entries in a dissertation's bibliography?

Like, why would anyone do this???
Josh

posted in Graduate Students - 3 replies

CONFESSIONS

Wed, 17 Nov 2004 21:30:22 GMT

Okay. Let's hear it. What was the fastest turnaround time you ever had for a grad seminar "research" paper!

Mine was bout six days!

posted in Graduate Students - 14 replies

am I anal or... just really efficient?

caneel — Mon, 14 Jun 2004 01:38:35 GMT

Hi all,
I just finished my first year as PhD student at UC Berkeley. I am doing research part-time this summer, but next summer it's COMPS and the 2nd year paper! I'm trying to avoid a repeat of this past year, where I was pretty stressed out, felt a bit scattered, and have heaps of file folders that articles keep bouncing in and out of depending on what I'm working on.

Anyone have a good system for keeping track of all their reading? I want something that will SAVE me time in the long run, not use time up just because I'm feeling anal/compulsive. Maybe a database of all the readings I've done? Then as I re-read them next year in different classes, the database will get more detailed and I will have a good tool to study for comps? That's my hope. Let me know if you have any thoughts on the issue.

THanks
Caneel

posted in Graduate Students - 7 replies

Cheap Books?

edsftwre — Mon, 15 Nov 2004 23:31:33 GMT

Hey everybody,

I am starting to prepare for my Qualifying Exam, and like many of the rest of you have a stack of books I need to get, or get copies of, to read. Has anyone found a good place on the web where you can pick up academic books / texts at really good prices? I can always hit the library, of course, but want to start building out my own collection where it makes sense...

Thanks!

Joshua

posted in Graduate Students - 4 replies

Any post-docs here?

Sat, 21 Aug 2004 02:08:26 GMT

I couldn't find a tribe for us. Wondering if I should start one?

posted in Graduate Students - 6 replies

Catholic Schools?

jmparker — Fri, 12 Nov 2004 23:43:19 GMT

I'm looking at a couple of Jesuit schools as places to teach next year.
Can anyone tell me what to expect?
I'm not catholic (but don't have anything against catholics), am fairly liberal, queer, out.
Is that likely to be a bad fit for me? Or are they going to be more liberal than maybe what I'm imagining?
Josh

posted in Graduate Students - 12 replies

dossier

jmparker — Wed, 10 Nov 2004 17:57:28 GMT

I noticed there are a lot of you studying overseas - anybody else have this problem?:
my university doesn't DO dossiers. you want a transcript, you go into an office and they're like, what do you want that for? we already gave you a diploma! - and then, when you beg, they print out this scraggly looking thing on a dot matrix printer.
I'm applying for about 100 posts this month - when somebody asks for a dossier, I send them photocopies of my diplomas and photocopies of letters of recommendation.
Is that going to pass muster at American universities?
Or are they going to think I'm retarded?
Josh

posted in Graduate Students - 1 reply

writing sample 2

jmparker — Tue, 09 Nov 2004 21:48:18 GMT

this is probably a stupid question, but when you're applying for a job teaching creative writing (which usually also means you're probably going to be teaching composition and survey courses), and they ask you for a writing sample - they want a sample of your fiction, right? not an excerpt from your dissertation?
Josh

posted in Graduate Students - 4 replies

Anyone in Mass Comm and Journalism????

Tue, 09 Nov 2004 03:58:00 GMT

I am a doc fellow in the field...2nd year. Any other First Amendment freaks out there!

posted in Graduate Students - 0 replies

So what do you do to unwind?

craicbaby — Wed, 20 Oct 2004 03:15:41 GMT

What do you do to unwind when the stress and pressure of graduate school begin to get to you?

I'm in desperate need of ideas!

=O

posted in Graduate Students - 5 replies

GRE

ChattyKathryn — Sun, 08 Feb 2004 01:14:14 GMT

Hi all! I need to take the GRE eventually...I'm planning on applying to a psychology masters program in Spring or Fall 2005. I bought some preparation books for the general test and for the subject test, but was wondering if anyone found any test preparation classes that they felt really made a difference for them. Any help would be appreciated!

posted in Graduate Students - 26 replies

applying from abroad

Kristen — Fri, 17 Sep 2004 16:45:42 GMT

has anyone else had this problem?

i want to apply to grad school for fall '05. i'm currently living in turkey, however, and i'm finding the whole process a bit challenging. perhaps i'm just not in the right frame of mind, but...

ok, so applying online is the way to go these days and that can be done from anywhere! but that's not my problem. my biggest worry is coming up with recommendations. most schools require three letters from academic/professor types. i went to university of washington and befriended only one professor who would know me well enough today (3-4 years later) to write anything good about me. so where do i find the other two??

also, i know it's a good idea to visit the universities you're applying to and get to know the faculty, possibly to put a good word in for yourself. how can i possibly do that from abroad? i've tried emailing a few profs, but no replies...

is applying from abroad a good idea? or should i go home and wait another year before applying??

any advice? much appreciated, k.

posted in Graduate Students - 1 reply

writing sample

Tue, 04 May 2004 01:14:21 GMT

Hey all,
I'm looking for advice - I am meant to wheedle down my 45page thesis into a 10-15page representative sample of my writing ability.

I sit in front of the screen and can't even start. Does anyone have suggestions on this process? Excerpts or abstract some parts and show them the whole thing or what?

Stuck,
Aric

posted in Graduate Students - 4 replies

Psych schools, are you in one?

L e x i — Thu, 09 Sep 2004 21:35:28 GMT

I'm applying to several Grad schools for entrance into fall 2005 PhD programs in either Clinical or Counseling Psych, and have a few schools that I would definitly like to apply to-- UC Berkeley (though I doubt I'll get in), Texas A & M, UCLA and ?

As a back up plan, I am also applying to a few terminal masters programs at Phillips Graduate Institute (tho they have a PsyD), Cal State Long Beach and Cal State Northridge.

The questions I have for you lovely people are:

what school do you go to?

what do you specialize in?

do you like it?

Do you wish you went somewhere else? why?

if you recall, what were the schools gpa and gre requirements?

what were some of the deciding factors that you considered in selecting this school?

what was your undergraduate major?

what is your end goal?

Any recommendations or anything else I should consider?

Thank you so much for your help!

posted in Graduate Students - 2 replies

Student Loans

paradigmbrooklyn — Thu, 15 Jul 2004 21:37:34 GMT

Okay, this is not one I have heard a lot about here in this tribe. Perhaps a lot of you have fellowships and are in PhD programs that are paying you for your amazing brains(that is my hope as i apply for doctoral programs), but are all Master's programs a rip-off? There really is no money. I just won a huge scholarship from my school and still have too much to pay, plus taking out loans so I won't have to work...I saw how much I owe on the sallie Mae homepage and nearly fainted.
Anyone else dealing with this?

posted in Graduate Students - 11 replies

I hate grading

melissa_bruninga_matteau — Sun, 20 Jun 2004 07:47:57 GMT

Sorry, this is more of a rant than a thread (or is it?!)

But damnit, do I hate grading. I've spent the last two days pouring over undergrad upper division writing papers...how do these kids get thru 4 or more years of college with the simple understanding that if a noun is singular, the verb should be singular as well? That direct quotes need citations? That really, the margins required are 1" all the way around, not just on the left edge? That they shouldn't use semi-colons without first knowing how to use commas?

Sorry for the interruption, but I figured at least most of you will understand!

posted in Graduate Students - 7 replies

Just sent out my final draft!!!!!

Tamara — Fri, 25 Jun 2004 05:29:03 GMT

ok, i have to share. i just sent out my final draft of my dissertation to my advisor. hopefully, since he's gone over it SO MANY FRICKIN times, he won't have much more for me to change. i cannot believe that i'm almost there.... defending july 20th and then I'M FREEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!

yipee!

posted in Graduate Students - 6 replies

info for family and friends?

edsftwre — Mon, 14 Jun 2004 16:49:28 GMT

Hi,

Has anyone ever seen a really good article or book that explains in plain language the process (and motivation) of getting a PhD that might be used for family / friends? I find that my family doesn't really understand what I am doing / what I am going through (or why for that matter!) no matter how many times I explain things. Seems like an easy read type of book might help give them a knowledge base that I can then add to with specifics of my particular program? Or are there any suggestions of how to get your family on the same page (assuming they seem interested) besides just explaining again patiently and from a different angle etc? Part of it is simply information overload, I think, where having some easy article or book to refer to might really help? Do other people also find that your family doesn't "get it"? Questions like "so... you didn't go out this weekend? Just working? And are you getting paid for this?" Anyhow - all thoughts appreciated!

Thanks,

Joshua

posted in Graduate Students - 3 replies

published!

Thu, 27 May 2004 05:37:30 GMT

When they look at my package, how much do schools weigh a published essay in a journal, as compared with undergrad grades, gre score and letters?

any thoughts? is publishing a big deal? thanks

posted in Graduate Students - 12 replies

Grad life humor

samgrover — Thu, 13 May 2004 00:37:16 GMT

http://www.phdcomics.com/
Just found out about this today. It's pretty cool.

Also seen on kuro5hin.org today:
http://www.kuro5hin.org/story/2004/5/12/21333/7169

If you know of other funny stuff about grad life, please post here.

posted in Graduate Students - 18 replies

Microsoft Word

Sat, 15 May 2004 17:56:47 GMT

Hi all,

So I own a Mac and I usually work in AppleWorks (Mac's word processing application). But I'm doing an editing gig for my advisor on a series of papers all in Microsoft Word. Which I hate.

But this isn't a "Mac vs. PC" debate. It's a more technical question. Basically, when these papers were scanned into the computer and converted into Word, they were all formated with footnotes. But for publication we need the footnotes to be endnotes. So I converted the footnotes to endnotes - no problem. But when I did, the endnote numbers themselves are in 10 pt. superscript. And I've tried my damnest to reformat them (a la Chicago Manual of Style) to normal text, which I've finnaly managed to do (one freakin' note at a time) but when I save the document and re-open it, they revert to the old formating!

Argh! Does anyone out there work with Word and have any advice for me. This is driving me nuts!

Thanks

Scott

(p.s. This has been cross-listed in MacOSX)

posted in Graduate Students - 0 replies

MFA people

Jess — Mon, 10 May 2004 00:49:52 GMT

Hey all. I started a tribe for people who have or who are working on an MFA. (Initially it's for creative writing, but if there's interest from the other MFA sectors, let me know.) It's under MFA--Creative Writing (in A&E). If you know anyone who'd be interested, let 'em know!

Thanks,

Jess

posted in Graduate Students - 0 replies

balance

Wed, 10 Mar 2004 01:38:58 GMT

Someone e-mailed this to me. Thought others might appreciate.

The Chronicle of Higher Education

August 8, 2003

BALANCING ACT

An Academic Life Out of Sync
Harmony and balance derive from a sense of personal control over our work and our lives

By ELLEN OSTROW

Stephanie had joined the psychology department as an assistant professor immediately out of graduate school. Now she was up for tenure. She had excellent research skills and a list of publications that exceeded the number she had been told would be required for tenure. Most of her colleagues liked and respected her, although many felt that they didn't really know her well. Her teaching ratings were average or above. Letters from outside reviewers suggested she had the potential to make a significant contribution to her field. All in all, she had reason to be optimistic about her tenure review.

Her outlook changed after meeting with the chairman of her department. He went through her CV item by item. Several of her articles were published in refereed journals but not ones that her department considered sufficiently prestigious. Subtracting these from her list of publications left her numbers below the norm. She had several articles under review by important journals, but unless these were accepted and in press when her case came up for a vote, the outcome seemed uncertain to him. If she could get a couple other articles published in good journals, the chairman told her, she might have a chance.

Stephanie was astounded to discover that her prospects were so bleak. She devised a schedule that would enable her to write up new data she had recently collected into articles and submit them to the journals suggested by her chairman. But there was one significant obstacle: She had no interest in this line of research. She had inherited her research program from her graduate-school adviser. At the time, she'd been flattered to be selected as his protégé, and the opportunity to work with him had offset her basic lack of interest in the research itself.

Having endured hard times before, Stephanie had well-honed survival skills. She did what was necessary to avert disaster, and later that year her department, and the university, voted in favor of her tenure.

But the following summer, Stephanie resigned from the university.

In her struggle to earn tenure, she had learned something about herself: She was far more interested in applied research and clinical work. Offered a position at a research-oriented clinic, she took it and gave up her tenure. At the clinic, she'd be able to exercise her nurturing strengths and use her research abilities in the service of goals more meaningful to her than meeting the numerical requirements of a university.

As you might imagine, her colleagues were flummoxed: How could she have managed to grab the brass ring only to trade it in for work they considered far less exalted?

We talk of wanting balance in our lives. And when it comes to balancing work and life, we usually take a time-oriented approach. We think of having enough time to "have a life." We speak of the "time famine" and the difficulty of fitting all the varied demands on our time into the constraints of a 24-hour day.

But there is an entirely different -- and perhaps more useful -- way to think about balance. Balance implies harmony. Biologically, you're in harmony when you are experiencing an optimal amount of stress. Continuous and chronic stress debilitates us. It makes us vulnerable to depression, weakens our immune system, and is associated with early death.

Trying to find balance by juggling the competing demands on our time usually just causes more stress. You may feel bombarded, overwhelmed, unable to focus. Every part of your life is interconnected, so stress in one area bleeds into the others. While the Food and Drug Administration gives us guidelines for a balanced diet, there is no easy formula for a balanced life.

Instead of a time-oriented approach, try to think about balance in terms of what would need to happen for you to feel in harmony -- i.e., for you to feel that you're at your peak, experiencing relatively more positive than negative emotion, feeling in control of your life, focused on meaningful goals of intrinsic importance. There may be considerable juggling going on, but from moment to moment, this is how balance feels.

From this perspective, it's easy to see why tenure wasn't a sufficient reward for Stephanie. She had made time for everything, but the motivations for her work were primarily external. The connection with her adviser, although satisfying in and of itself, was not intrinsic to her research interests.

Her chairman's emphasis on counting publications gave her little satisfaction and provided her little support in the face of meeting the tenure challenge. Instead, it simply created additional pressure -- distracting her from her goals rather than helping her accomplish them. When we operate on the assumption that life is about the struggle to survive in a world of limited resources, we're unlikely to experience much balance.

Fundamentally, harmony and balance derive from a sense of personal control over our work and our lives. By personal control, I mean the sense that you can influence the outcome of significant events. Feeling like you can choose among outcomes and cope with the consequences also defines personal control.

The common perception that academic life grants enormous autonomy often creates public confusion about the difficulty of balancing work and life demands in academe. Yes, academic freedom allows you to study what you choose, but sometimes politics are involved in the choice. Areas of research wax and wane in popularity, and a once-prized research program can fall out of favor with the addition of some new faculty members with very different views about what constitutes worthwhile scholarship.

There is no life without adversity. How, then, does one bounce back and regain balance? Resilience is a fundamental part of balance. Resilient people experience a sense of personal control about their lives and their work. They are engaged and committed to their work. Their focus on self-chosen, intrinsically rewarding goals allows them to persevere and adapt when things go awry.

When we experience negative emotions like fear and anger, our thinking is limited to what is essential for survival. In this "alarm" state, we assume a narrowed and intolerant view. When life in the academy becomes a win-lose battle for tenure, power, money, or allies, then negative emotions are a likely consequence. A department in the throes of such tension is not a good place to experience balance.

Positive emotions, in contrast, broaden our intellectual, physical, and social resources. When you're feeling positive, you are expansive, creative, tolerant, and open to new ideas and experiences. Students as well as faculty members are likely to absorb, discover, and communicate more knowledge when their emotions lean in the positive direction.

We often think that our emotional state is dependent upon external events. But one way to strive for greater control and balance is to work at generating more positive emotion in yourself. Appreciating and savoring the good events in your life can broaden your thinking and build reserves that you can draw upon during difficult times. Instead of moving on automatically to the next thing on your list, savor the moments of completion and accomplishment. They may not be the kinds of things you can list on your CV, but appreciating the good events in your life will lead to greater balance.

Even tenure wasn't enough to compensate for the absence of opportunities for Stephanie to use her strengths and talents. Being aware of our strengths and being able to use them every day is an essential component of a balanced life.

The academy will define you according to what it values. In this way, it is no different from most work environments. It's incumbent upon you to keep in mind that you are much more than the person represented on your CV.

Balance, then, comes from your vital engagement in, and personal striving toward, goals that give your life a sense of meaning and purpose.

When I ask myself what makes my role as a parent meaningful, I think of giving my son opportunities to discover his strengths, to be grateful for the good things in his life, and to be able to form close and loving connections to others. What makes my work meaningful is the opportunity to empower the people I counsel, to balance setbacks with successes and adversity with gratitude, optimism, and engagement.

When I am doing these things, my life is balanced. When I'm distracted by what is ultimately trivial, but seems momentarily urgent, I lose my balance. Fortunately, balance is a process. I can always shift my focus -- and thereby regain my balance.

So can you.

Ellen Ostrow is a clinical psychologist and founder of Lawyers Life Coach, which provides coaching services to female lawyers trying to balance professional success and personal lives. She has served on the psychology faculties of three universities and as a staff psychologist at several university counseling centers.

posted in Graduate Students - 1 reply

CV or not to CV what should be counted

Katie — Wed, 31 Mar 2004 19:03:16 GMT

I am in the process of updating my CV for an upcoming conference. I usually stick to the big three in terms of content (Education, Research, and Service) is there anything else that should be put into a vitae?

posted in Graduate Students - 3 replies

Shopping?

Jaffa — Sun, 26 Oct 2003 02:27:53 GMT

When I was looking for phd programs I developed this list to ask professors, or to research through university web pages:

do you have any research projects in the area I am interested in?

is there a phd offered in this area?

do you or other faculty have experience in my specific research/interest area?

which cmapus is the program located at?

when are their deadlines for entry?

what are teaching duties, if any?

what's the conference policy?

would there be opportunies to take classes or learn while doing research?

what's the international sutdy policy?

what are the major sources of funding?

what is the typical style of research, the program, project guidance?

are there scholarships available or how is my tuition and living expenses paid?

How are new applicants judged? Is more emphasis put on some areas than others?

Do I need to choose advisor at beginning?

- I also strongly recommend meeting the professor you would like as an advisor in person or having a phone discussion with them. You will learn amazing things in a half hour about whether you could work with that person or not.

posted in Graduate Students - 9 replies

Grad school teaching stipends etc

Dugmoore — Thu, 19 Feb 2004 05:11:10 GMT

I'm considering graduate school for my MA (or MS, depends on the program) in Mass Communications and / or Journalism. It seems as if none of the schools I've contacted have anything with regard to finacial aid packages outside of small grants and large loans. Anyone out there have any experience with this regarding the fields I'm interested in studying?

posted in Graduate Students - 4 replies

For those on a quarter system...

eulergonzo — Mon, 15 Mar 2004 19:59:45 GMT

Good luck on finals, mine and the entire city of Seattle's all seem to be this week, so just passing the good cheer on.

posted in Graduate Students - 0 replies

Graduate Students's topics - tribe.net

Professional Development

Taking "time off" the failure way

In The Meantime...

is it just me....

... Beauracracy Blues ...

Dissertation problems

Writing problems--to disrupt or not?

oooh, annoying

Generic "Study Tips" Question from someone new to the Tribe.

advice and/or kick in the pants from those who know ....

Virginia Tech

re: standardizing writing ... *sighs very heavily*

The Hidden Crisis in Graduate Education: Attrition From Ph.D Programs

Harvard's First Female President

Can we get a school shout out?

procrastination: URGENT

Week number three and I'm exhausted

What am I getting myself into?

Naughty... but nice

Changing your name.

plagiarism

grading, grading, grading

yay for me!

Heroic Computer Dies To Save World From Master's Thesis

I need some cheese for my whine.

Scholarly Contribution??

Biotech @ North Carolina?

All But D....?

juggling duties

dealing with burnout

Southern Californians - Free Museum & Special Exhibition

Introduce yourself! =)

Educational Leadership

Complete lack of motivation

when is it time to let go?

finding data

Bioengineering / FEA Tribe

Damned Microsoft!

NYU Graduate Strike

Study Abroad

Fellowship

NYU ITP and Question

take away my degree now

my critical theory blog!

teaching interests

wannabe

NSF Graduate Research Fellowship

Call for Papers--Pacific Sociological Association

done done done done

fall semester

publishing the diss.

Advice on where to stay in Rome?

To hell with our professors at the end of this quarter (or semester, whatev)

Orals are OVER!!!

Internship Prep Hell

I am Graduating!

'Endnotes' program for citations

Letter for professor's tenure

cold feet

job offers

grad student/worker bees?

depression

Personal Organization

grad unions?

asking after the interview

Conference paper ISBN #s

Informal Inquiries

ESL/TESOL/bilingual ed.

Dissertation Hell Blog

Grading!! ^%#$#^$#^

anal question - bibliographies

CONFESSIONS

am I anal or... just really efficient?

Cheap Books?

Any post-docs here?

Catholic Schools?

dossier

writing sample 2

Anyone in Mass Comm and Journalism????

re: standardizing writing ... sighs very heavily