getfiscal posted:Aspie_Muslim_Economist_ posted:
goongrats. What kind of programs are you applying to?
political economy
Is it funded or bust for you, or are you looking at unfunded programs? Getting into an MA program usually isn't too hard, but programs that give you a TA-ship are a real pain to find. Or do you canucks get government support?
cars posted:i decided to watch everything jeffrey combs is in and i was worried it would be bad but surprise: it's almost all star trek
re-animator is cool
roseweird posted:my life is going ok, i am living in the awful town of porkbarf, usa but i am self-supporting and pursuing my ambitions through education, and even tho my job is pretty dumb it at least gives me a lot of downtime to study and a huge tuition break so i should be able to graduate with no debt and some savings. i wish i had more time for my personal life but i'm just dreaming about becoming an engineer and having some opportunities to travel. anyway youre the best rhizzone xoxo roseweird
i would love to do this, the first part not the engineer part. i guess i am doing them in reverse order. but i still have zero savings!!
i guess i suck at money. but what kind of job is it? you don't have to specify exactly but that sounds like an ideal situation
roseweird posted:full time administrative job at the university i am attending. it was a combination of luck and immediate necessity more than great money management. it's ok, it seems ideal sometimes but other times i think i should quit and focus on my studies 100%, especially if i can get some scholarships
well good luck either way. i'm sure porkbarf university is happy to have you
le_nelson_mandela_face posted:dude working on remodeling my office floor just talked about how they've got urine all over the floor at a place they're working on and "there's nothin' more corrosive than urine!" someone get a factcheker on this posthaste
Aspie_Muslim_Economist_ posted:Is it funded or bust for you, or are you looking at unfunded programs? Getting into an MA program usually isn't too hard, but programs that give you a TA-ship are a real pain to find. Or do you canucks get government support?
I'm only applying to a few schools which are compatible with my interests and would fully fund me, my references seem to think I'll get in for sure but who knows. If some unexpected snag happens there are other things I can do to keep in the same general vein of things so I'm not super worried. There are also competitive research grants where I live which I'm applying to which I think I am less likely to get but I might have a chance. Plus there is various extra money available to me for health/disability reasons.
The real confusing thing is that if I decided I wanted to trudge onwards forever into a PhD that I'd have to essentially start applying as soon as I was accepted to my MA, having not done any sustained research project yet beyond undergraduate seminar papers, which is "loony tunes" in my mind.
getfiscal posted:Aspie_Muslim_Economist_ posted:
Is it funded or bust for you, or are you looking at unfunded programs? Getting into an MA program usually isn't too hard, but programs that give you a TA-ship are a real pain to find. Or do you canucks get government support?
I'm only applying to a few schools which are compatible with my interests and would fully fund me, my references seem to think I'll get in for sure but who knows. If some unexpected snag happens there are other things I can do to keep in the same general vein of things so I'm not super worried. There are also competitive research grants where I live which I'm applying to which I think I am less likely to get but I might have a chance. Plus there is various extra money available to me for health/disability reasons.
The real confusing thing is that if I decided I wanted to trudge onwards forever into a PhD that I'd have to essentially start applying as soon as I was accepted to my MA, having not done any sustained research project yet beyond undergraduate seminar papers, which is "loony tunes" in my mind.
Yeah, academia is like that all the way to tenure. Or, more precisely, there is a simple, clear path for a tiny elect, which usually runs from an elite undergrad directly to a PhD, and then directly to a tenure track job (or a postdoc if you were foolish enough to do a PhD in the natural sciences). Applications are simple and convenient, often done through informal channels. However, because the process is designed around catering to this elect, it puts anyone who isn't on this path or has fallen off of it at a huge disadvantage.
For example, job applications are usually solicited about a year in advance, so if you're one of the many people who don't immediately place into a TT position and instead end up as a one year visiting assistant professor (VAP), you'll need to start applying for new employment in the fall, just as you're starting your new job. Potential employers will expect your main reference to be your new department chair, for whom you are disposable labor he'll never see again after a few months and who will have spoken to you two or perhaps three times by the time you need his letter of recommendation. You won't be able to send in any student evaluations from your current job, of course. Because applying for academic jobs takes the better part of a year, you also won't have had time to do any new research.
Generally, to the extent that you fall off the path, you'll be saddled with more teaching responsibilities which will prevent you from doing research that would get you back on track, the job application season will fit more poorly into your schedule, and you'll quickly depreciate as a potential employee. This in turn leads to even more roadblocks, culminating in an adjunct job teaching 5 courses a semester for a sub living wage, with next semester's course load, salary, and even employment at the whim of the department and administration.
While most people who start PhD's end up in this sort of situation or are forced out of academia entirely, the ones who succeed--and thus will lord over you--never fell off the track and have no sympathy. They instead will see you as a lesser person who has been shunted to a job more appropriate to your deficient work ethic and intellect. Once you've been shunted towards instructor or adjunct work, it's virtually impossible to get back on the tenure track--hiring committees will dismiss you out of hand due to your perceived previous failure.
Wow this post got a lot darker and rantier (word?) than I expected. Academia does kinda suck, though. Make sure you have a backup plan. Getting a career in academia means winning a half dozen coin flips under the best circumstances, and your advisors and faculty mentors will typically exaggerate your chances because they base their expectations on their own lucky draw and because they want their favorite students to become academics like them.
Bablu posted:in irl news i attended the local marxist leninist maoist party's friday dinner and seemed to have impressed them by correctly identifying a lot of capital cities
Keep it up!
getfiscal posted:Aspie_Muslim_Economist_ posted:
.
A few years ago when I was considering my life options I kind of wanted to continue 2 a PHD & I looked into what that actually looks like as far as jobs and discovered basically exactly this & realized that the chances of ever making any money in comedy, a stupid career path for idiots, was probably much better than my chances of doing anything but being an adjunct for six dollars an hour (effective).
Bablu posted:in irl news i attended the local marxist leninist maoist party's friday dinner and seemed to have impressed them by correctly identifying a lot of capital cities
"Hey bablu, I'm glad you could come and have dinner with us tonight. Do you have any particular skills or achievements you would like to share with us?"
"Yes"
*clears throat*
"Afghanistan Kabul
Albania Tirana
Algeria Algiers
Andorra Andorra la Vella
Angola Luanda
Antigua and Barbuda Saint John's
Argentina Buenos Aires
Armenia Yerevan
Australia Canberra
...................
Vanuatu Port Vila
Vatican City Vatican City
Venezuela Caracas
Vietnam Hanoi
Yemen Sana'a
Zambia Lusaka
Zimbabwe Harare
"
"uhhhhh. neat. thanks for that. I guess it's time for dessert"
are they?
roseweird posted:if i quit my job at the beginning of the semester i can still get my tuition break, then i can do work study, hopefully tutoring, get food stamps, hopefully some scholarships, and (again, hopefully) still not have to take on much/any debt at the beginning of fall semester. but even if i did, taking on some debt doesn't seem like such a terrible idea long term if it frees up my time to take more classes, graduate faster, and pursue internships and industrial/academic contacts.
will start doing a little research and gathering materials on my own soon but if anyone has some advice on getting started as a tutor (for now probably just in algebra, trig, calc 1, physics 1--i've met a lot of phds and grad students who forget a lot of the basics of these classes since they took them so long ago, so maybe i'd make a particularly good tutor for them? i've been getting some practice helping out one of my classmates already) i'd appreciate it.
PhD students are bad prospects for tutees. They need more expertise, so it's harder work, but at the same time need you for fewer hours--they'll figure things out themselves most of the time, and don't need hand-holding. Most importantly, they don't have any money. It's much better to tutor rich lazy undergrads or rich lazy MBAs and bleed them dry. Because they're lazy, they don't know shit and will want to be hand-held through even the simplest tasks, so you can bill multiple hours a week per tutee showing them how to apply the power rule for derivatives or rearrange a linear equation. Sometimes they'll just want to you sit there with them while they do their homework so they can occasionally ask you questions.
Rich undergrads don't care about your hourly rate because mommy and daddy are footing the bill. These kids will just pull out a wad of cash at the end of the session and ask you how much they owe you. MBAs are used to making and paying high hourly wages, and are already paying like $90k a year in tuition, so they're also willing to pay top dollar. It's easy to pull in 30 or 40 dollars an hour, sometimes up to 80 an hour with MBAs (this figure comes from MBAs at a highly ranked US program, YMMV).
A few years back my wife was tutoring the incomprehensibly dumb and lazy kid of the CEO of Lenovo. He didn't want to do any work so she basically got paid $40/hour to babysit him while he watched hentai on his laptop.
In terms of finding tutees, your school may have a website for students to post tutoring requests or offers.
1. A lot of universities now offer free tutoring programs for undergrads where they set them up with peer tutors. This obviously undercuts the price point of the private tutors. I did this during undergrad, and I was being paid like 12 dollars an hour, which is decent money, but the hours are frequently both very limited and awkward. Usually, there are also many study halls run by natural science departments.
2. If you are at a university, you are also competing against a good amount of graduate students. If someone goes to a department's website they can usually find a list of tutors, and they are much more likely to choose to go with a graduate student than an undergraduate. Instructors who have a student looking for private tutoring are also much more likely to pass them off to their colleagues in the department.
3. Depending on where you are at, you may be competing against private tutoring companies or former students who live off it, and are much more willing to advertise.
4. It's true that most undergrads who are willing to pay 30 an hour are willing to pay 40+ an hour, but unless you are at particular private colleges, there is still a large part of the student body that works for at least their living expenses and for whom paying even 25+ an hour is not possible.
Basically, it does not hurt to put your name out there and take what students come to you, but do not expect tutoring to pay your rent.