Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with undergraduate

Has this question plagued philosophers for centuries?

lhude sing cuccu — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 14:50:59 -0800

UndergraduateFilter: Tell me all I need to know, and more! I know I've been asking a lot of "life questions" lately, but this one is relevant (I love how I will be able to map out all my rites of passage and life monuments later on).

So, I am going to a community college, I have about eight more classes to take, and I am trying for graduation next spring. Applications are going to start being due soon, so I'm thinking about where I want to go and how. And I have three weeks of vacation to think about all this, hence the forthcoming complexities (well, maybe not, we'll see).

I've been looking at William & Mary, Brown, Dartmouth, UPenn, Amherst, and Wellesley. The only ones out of this list which might actually happen are William & Mary and Brown. I'm planning on majoring in philosophy (Plan B: French), and since you can't do anything with a BA in Philosophy, I'm planning ahead. William & Mary pretty much has to accept me if I meet their "guaranteed admissions" requirements. Good thing I'm going to a Virginia community college. So...

1. Any college-specific things you could tell me? I know Brown won't accept writing samples from transfers, which is horrible! I have nothing else to set me apart...the best GPA I can get on my AS degree will be a 3.75, and that's if I get straight A's from now on (got all A's I think for this semester, it was dual-enrollment in high school that ruined my life). Do they want someone who has it all together or would I sound too arrogant to them if I tried? And...has anyone actually experienced the philosophy departments of these schools? Do they have good graduate-school placement records?

2. Do I HAVE to include ALL the colleges I've been to? I went to a really terrible college for one year of which I failed out due to sickness and pure hatred of the school and its methods....do they really need to see my F's there when I'm definitely not even going to try to keep those credits in my name?

3. OK, this is kind of a funny one to me. Is it weird for an undergraduate to mention faculty research? I did look at all Brown's philosophy faculty (and W&M's...and UPenn....blah blah), but should I tell them this? I know and they know I'm not going to be working with these people directly, but maybe it would equal commitment or something. Should I tell them I've developed interests in certain areas of philosophy or should I allude that I am totally open to all facets of everything (I wrote about "motive" and "intention" in utilitarianism, you know...an elementary subject, for sure—will that kind of thing backfire? I'm totally into all the philosophical things I wrote in my "Why This Subject?" essay...but I bet I sound a little pompous?) And...should I do this right after telling them I've only taken one semester and I really liked the teacher and the book....therefore possibly clouding my good judgment of philosophy to begin with?? I mean, how else could I show I think I could fit in with the department?

4. I got a 1940/2400 on the SAT. Should I retake it, or do transfers have different standards? (And ew, does this mean I'm not going to do so well on the GREs either, later on?)

I know I can get good recommendations...and I COULD have sent a good writing sample! But anyway, now that I know all Brown will have from me is my numbers, I don't feel so good about it. I don't know how to explain my high school performance either (3.1 overall, with a lovely 9th grade GPA of 1.3), so I just have the old "There's no use in explaining, just see by my current grades that I'm not rebellious anymore". The only thing I can really do is somehow set myself apart with the Transfer "Why Are You Changing Colleges" essay and the supplement essays "Why Brown? Why This Subject?"

.......

OK, so if you want to stop there, I won't feel bad. The next section is more vague, and all I really need to know right now is advice on undergraduate applications.

......

1. Brown has a 5-year BA/MA program, which I like. I'm thinking about dollars here, so I ask: which would be the best way to go, considering not just dollars, but what would be best in the long run. Should I look for BA/MA programs (if others even exist!), terminal MA programs, or MA/PhD programs? I know I'm not going to be ready for a PhD right out of college.

2. The Philosophical Gourmet, admittedly, is my #1 source for starting out the search for BA, MA, and (if I'm not sick of philosophy by the end) PhD programs. I know that Name counts for a lot, at least in philosophy, and if I do decide to stick with it, I want my schooling to count! Old Leiter also has a lot to say about how I should think about the school's graduate programs when looking at the undergraduate program..."Don't go for undergrad at a Top 25 school, because the graduate students will get all the attention..." etc. It gets to be a little much. Advice about the Prestige Factor?

3. Although, if I went for a terminal MA, I could teach at a community college and see if I hated it, but do they look down on MA students who take a break then try to get a PhD? That question has been swimming around in my mind, not mandatory.

......

That's it, you guys!
Sorry about the superfluous graduate questions, even if I don't go, it's all so interesting and foreign to me. What I really want is undergraduate advice though. And remember, I have way too much time on my hands so not only can I think about issues that won't affect me for years....I like to do it!

PS As of now, I find graduate school highly desirable. The way I know this is...everyone I know is enjoying their winter vacation and complains about their research papers, but I was pretty maternal about my paper...and I can't wait to get back to school, already. I also don't think we do enough important work (like research...we do a lot of short-term assignments, I actually don't like those). And that's my reason.

College Quandary!!

Griffinlb — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 12:01:41 -0800

Help a young boy make the right decision! Any and all advice for a soon-to-be-undergrad trying to secure his future! So, this is a little specific, but here's the breaks. Specific suggestions/advice are ideal, but any general comments are also greatly appreciated.

I just got accepted to Reed (in Portland) on Early Decision. I also applied to SVA (an art school in NYC) as a transfer student for Spring '09, and was recently accepted.

I love Reed and want to go there more than anywhere else, but finances are a big issue, (I would have started school at another school over a year ago had my financial aid package not shrunk dramatically). If I don't get the financial aid that I need, I was planning on attending SVA, which is (just barely) affordable.

So, here's the predicament: Accepted to Reed but waiting on financial aid package (which is a make-it-or-break-it issue). Probably wont get this info until friday. In the mean time I have to confirm with SVA whether I will be attending by tomorrow at latest in order to receive the full-housing-scholarship I was awarded. SVA can't extend this deadline, and Reed can't send my financial aid info earlier via email or anything else due to 'federal privacy legislation' or something or other.

I've been left up the creek before and I really really don't want to make a faulty decision here. If Reed is unaffordable, and I've nixed my scholarship (and potentially my admission status) with SVA by waiting too long, then I'm screwed.

So, what can I do? If you wise metafilter gurus have an answer, lay it on me. Otherwise, wild suggestions, off-topic advice, or just about anything vaguely related is welcome.

Thanks folks!

(This is all rather complicated, so if there's any important info that I left out, let me know)

Rhetorical Theory texts for Undergrads?

BlooPen — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 11:36:36 -0800

What textbooks and/or texts would you recommend for an undergraduate Rhetorical Theory class? I’ll be teaching Rhetorical Theory for the first time next semester and have been struggling to find a textbook or some combination of textbooks for the course. Alternatively, I can choose articles and selections from primary texts to post online, so suggestions for articles and key primary texts are also helpful. The students are mostly junior English majors focusing their studies on Lit or Creative Writing, and this will be their first exposure to rhetorical theory.

This question has given me a good head start, but I'm hoping to find things that are compelling for undergraduates without overwhelming them.

Undergraduate Degree != Career ?

sarahj — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 10:12:20 -0800

What do I do when I graduate if I know I don't want to pursue my undergraduate field? I'm currently a student at a Pretty Good University in the US and I'm (oh my god) going to graduate next year with a B.S. degree in Computer Science, a second major of Environmental Studies, and a minor. I'm doing everything I can to calm my anxiety about this (seeing a therapist, most likely going to get anti-anxiety medication this time), but I am so extremely worried about not knowing what I'm doing next that it's rendered me completely incapable of doing anything without an absolute emotional breakdown (tears, etc).

I decided halfway through my major and a couple internships that Computer Science wasn't what I wanted to do with my life, I didn't want to do research in a mathematical science and i didn't want to make a career out of being a programmer. So I studied abroad, picked a second major that was easy to fulfill and am still kind of slogging my way through my requirements, but I'm going to finish it all.

I overwhelmingly feel the need to be planning my next move. I'm trying to pick up "science-y" lab work to gain experience in something new. Ideally I would be able to find some kind of neat research fellowship for a year or so after graduation, and have that point me in the "right" direction (i.e. any direction), but I don't have the experience, connections, ideas, or anything to make this happen. If I go straight to working, I don't even know what kind of work I would want to look for. I have web programming to fall back on, which I was able to do professionally this summer, but that isn't something I want to make my goal.
I NEED HELP. I have gone to my school's career office countless times, taken one of those 'career advice' exams, which told me I would make a great software engineer (ARGH!), and I've spoken to or emailed almost everyone I can reach who I could get advice from on fellowships and stuff, but it keeps coming back to me needing to know what I want to do. My advisor is an extremely busy person whose specialty falls on the more mathy end of CS, and I don't really have advising- or rec-letter-writing-type relationships with any other professors.

I was advised in the career office that my reasons for wanting to go to grad school are, well, reasonable (I want a degree in something I like and want to use), but I don't know where to start with choosing programs, getting recommendation letters (I only really have my Very Busy advisor and my boss from my summer web development work- not good options), and so on. There are still things I want to try, but I don't have the time - my school created a poorly publicized 'brain science' major that overlaps with computer science, and I likely would have studied this if I had known about it soon enough. But, I don't have any experience or coursework in that area, so it would be kind of out of the blue if I applied for those types of grad programs. I would also lean towards biotechnology, but I don't really know anything about that either. I only really have one semester of 'open' courses where I can choose anything to study, but most of the classes I find super-interesting have prerequisites I haven't had the chance to take, and I will have already applied to grad school/fellowships/jobs by then anyway.

I've been told countless times that so so many people wind up in different fields than their undergraduate major, but most of my classmates seem to be on some kind of track already (The Computer Science majors I know are either going to grad school for it, or have their eye on a company they want to work for). I don't know what career I want to pursue, but I have ideas of what I would like to study, but not much more reason than "because a career in that field would be so interesting!" Most jobs I 'fit' the requirements for right now are programming-intensive or software-related and NOT not not what I want.

My question is, what should I do now, if I know that what I want to do after graduation is going to be different from my undergrad degree? What did you do when you figured out that your undergrad field wasn't what you wanted to continue with?

Going to the same university for undergrad and grad-good or bad idea?

pdx87 — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 14:28:34 -0800

Did you receive your graduate degree at the same university that you received your undergraduate degree from? If so, do you regret not branching out and going to a new university for graduate school or are you happy with your decision? Graduate school is coming up. Yikes!

Option 1-Stay in the city that I am currently in and pursue an MS at the school I am currently attending.

Option 2-Move 3 hours away and pursue the same degree at a different institution.

I guess I am worried that I will burn out after going to the same school for so long. I would love to hear from people who went to the same university for undergrad and grad. What was your experience like? Do you wish you had gone to a new institution for graduate school? I'd even like to hear from people who went to different institutions for undergrad and grad. Thanks!

What did you like about your college degree?

about_time — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 20:19:00 -0800

Do you have good memories the department that hosted your college degree? I'm looking for specific suggestions for forming a strong community of undergrad students within one major. What made you feel at home in your own dept? What made it easy to get to know other students or the faculty? For example, were there a lot of events or guest speakers targeted for the undergraduates? Were the faculty particularly good at advising or being accessible? Was there a particular place for you to go and hang out, but only open to your major? Extra points for activities/policies that are appealing to science/technical geek majors. Thanks for your help.

Postgrad.

wayofthedodo — Thu, 14 May 2009 00:14:42 -0800

I have a bachelor's degree in Biology. Is there any way to get a degree in Materials Engineering (or any Engineering, for that matter) without doing undergraduate again?

Seeking undergraduate research advice

nel — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 23:04:41 -0800

Advice on seeking undergraduate engineering research I am an undergraduate student majoring in mechanical engineering. I switched majors, so although I'm technically a senior, I'm really more like a sophomore in ME. I attend a public university, and I would like to go out of state for my masters degree, if possible. It seems to me (from what I have learned/heard) that if I want to have a chance at getting my graduate degree funded as an RA, it is imperative that I have undergraduate research experience. There is a program at my school that allows undergraduate honors students, such as myself, to do funded research. However, before applying for the program, I must already have a faculty mentor and some kind of research idea in mind (i.e., having collaborated with the mentor).

My main question is, if I have a faculty member in mind, how do I go about approaching them? I don't really have any solid relationships with any engineering faculty members, and I feel presumptuous emailing a professor that I don't know and essentially asking them for a research opportunity. Maybe I have the wrong idea, but I don't think I can just JUMP into doing research. I would be very interested to hear about anyone's experiences with doing undergraduate research.

Are expensive American undergraduate educations worth it for foreign students?

Mo Nickels — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 04:44:41 -0800

Is it worth it for a foreign parent to squeeze his budget to manage very expensive undergraduate educations for his children in elite American schools? A respected colleague in Asia writes with this query. It's not so much about how to get financial aid when you are a parent of foreign student seeking an undergraduate education in the United States so much as it is a question as to whether it is worth it at all, even if you can pay.

His words are below, posted with his permission. I have stripped out identifying information. The family is not in Singapore, for what that is worth.

«I have 2 children entering university at the same time this year.

My son has won a partial scholarship to the Eastman School of Music, but even then, the amount we'd have to come up with to send him there is rather forbidding.

My daughter has been accepted into New York University to do Liberal Arts -- but without any aid, which makes it virtually impossible for us to help her realise her dream.

What resources can I apply for in the US or elsewhere to help them? We've tried ones in our country but so far without success.

Would you recommend they take up the places offered them by the 2 schools, given the constraints? Are the schools really worth the astronomical expense? (Well, I know Eastman is about second to Juilliard, and NYU is reputable, although its Arts programme is 15th in the world.)

Would it really count so much that these would be for undergraduate study? Do people look more at one's postgrad pedigree? Would it be just as well that they did their first degree elsewhere (more affordable) and seek to go higher at Eastman and NYU afterwards? (In fact, my son has also obtained a full scholarship to theYong Siew Toh Coservatory of Music in Singapore. But then, what is YST compared to Eastman?)

I'm sorry if I sound inane but this issue of my children's further education has been keeping me from sleep for quite a while.»

I'm famous now!

ttyn — Sat, 21 Feb 2009 13:18:59 -0800

I found out I will be credited as a co-author on a white paper. How excited should I be? I'm an undergraduate student. I've been helping with all the research and preliminary analysis that went into the paper. I'm not sure where it will be published, beyond the university's website, but it is rather related to my field of study and what I would like to do in the future.

Do I put this on my resume? How big of a deal is it that I'm a co-author (I assume it's a bigger deal since I'm undergraduate rather than graduate)? I'm pretty proud of myself but I don't know if this is something that calls for all my friends and a bottle of alcohol to celebrate as an achievement.

Just want to know what "getting semi-published" means in the grand scheme of things and for graduate school applications.

Do you know any good undergrad schools for Political Science and Engineering double majors?

shatteredverve — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 13:07:45 -0800

Do you know any good undergrad schools for Political Science and Engineering double majors? hey guys, I need some advice. I'm attending a community college where I'm pursuing an associate degree in mechanical engineering and minor in Political Science. After I graduate with an associate degree, I would like to transfer to a University to finish my bachelor's degree. I would like to double major in Political Science and mechanical engineering. I know that it's difficult to double major in anything when engineering is involved but I think I can handle it. If it comes down to it, I don't mind spending an extra year to finish my degrees.

Can you guys recommend some colleges that I should be looking into that has both my majors? I have 3 more semesters till i finish my associate. My GPA is 3.5 right now but I plan on improving that. Thanks for all your help.

I live in New Jersey and I would love to attend school in California or Florida. I'm sick of this damn eastcoast weather.

Damaged goods looking to finish her BA.

snizz — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 08:57:45 -0800

Once upon a time, I flunked out of college. I’ve been hiding out with a giant stack of books for 5 years, and have developed some pretty specific academic interests. I finally feel ready to return, but I stink on paper and I’ve got caviar taste in schools. Help me explain myself and understand the audience to whom I’m doing all this explaining? I’m a 24 year old lady. I’m writing (and re-writing) (and scrapping) (and writing again) my essays which supplement the applications I’m sending out to finish my undergrad degree. I’m pretty facile with words, but the ghosts of my anxiety and self-doubt are giving me hell; I’m having a hard time understanding what kind of balance I should be striking between the conversational and the pragmatic, where I should allow my words to reflect fully the extent of my enthusiasm and ability (if I even should at all) or where I should just stick to the facts, where being penitent is useful and where it will hurt me. Essentially, I’m having a lot of trouble with the tone of my writing and presenting the information in the most palatable way possible for an audience I don’t fully understand. Also, brevity—what to emphasize, what to ease up on?

I am naturally a very candid person and writer, and I recognize how this has sabotaged me in some past professional contexts, or certainly dissuaded me from certain pursuits where I would have to appeal to any potentially very serious crowd. I am not exactly a very serious person. One of the things I want to communicate with the most clarity is that while I may appear on paper to be a somewhat risky prospect for admission, I am actually incredibly passionate, ambitious, and disciplined academically. I’m scared that any hint of my indelicate, admittedly sort of bawdy nature might read as a liability, but I sound mechanical and oblique when I write it out entirely. How do I manage sincerity without scaring anyone off?

—-

The specifics are these (obscenely long but relevant?):

I was a really lackluster student for my entire life. In 3rd grade they tried sticking me in special ed because I refused to do my homework, but I was quickly pulled (uncooperative, not disturbed, apparently). The homework tradition, however, continued and I was failing various classes starting from 6th grade. I frustrated every parent and teacher in my radius, pinned as one of those “exceptionally bright and lazy” students whom they assumed would come to full bloom in college.

I did not.

In fact, I mostly wilted. I was attending a good but ill-fitting school and found myself overwhelmed by a few things, specifically a new body (I had lost about 100 lbs in the last year), an existential crisis about this purported intellectual largesse of mine which I had never had to flex, and the complete terror of finding that while college was basically just high school with slightly nicer booze and less parents, I would find myself paralyzed in front of my desk trying to juice my brain for a breezy two page paper on something I understood with total ease for like, 8 hours at a time. I often wouldn’t hand things in at all. I had this habit of doing all the required work for a course, never submitting any hard evidence of that other than class discussions, and then imploding at finals, which were generally papers I wouldn’t hand in because I could never finish them, no matter how wisely I divided my time.

I felt stupid. Beyond stupid, and fraudulent. I, too, had given myself the benefit of the doubt and assumed that when “properly challenged,” I’d sprout upwards like a magic stupid beanstalk, but I wasn’t capable of that no matter how much I wanted it. I had also somehow charmed my way out of developing any sort of academic skill-set for my whole life. With my depression and drunken spiraling came some other life traumas, and after 3 semesters I was asked to “withdraw for a semester” to get it together. I had failed 4 of my 12 classes. The others I had done B minus to A minus range in.

I retreat home. Work 2 full time jobs, save $ to get away from parents who hate me for flunking out. Decide to give myself education I had not been able to hack at college, punish myself with French lit theory just to prove to myself that I can. Actually get into this theory. Actually get into a lot of theory, especially of the feminist sort. Move. Have nice life.

After 2 years, I signed up for some evening classes at the local state school to see if I felt up to the challenge, and to see if I was really meant to be a student—if so, I’d go back for real. I was more secure and decently well read, but very nervous. Shock, horror: same thing starts happening, with the paralysis, panic, papers. I am heartbroken. “These classes were for morons, WHAT WAS WRONG WITH ME?” I ask psychiatrist. He tortures me with the equivalent of an 8 hour IQ test to conclude I have ADD, which I had never believed in and found mostly absurd or environmental or whatever; yes, yes, everyone has ADD, I say. My grades at end of the semester are nothing to write home about.

I sign up for two more classes. I read more about ADD and decide that even if it’s imaginary, I will manage my life as if it was real. Things improve a bit. I write a paper for a grad-level Romantic Lit course, trying to tie in independent interests to my education so I don’t get bored. Professor implicitly accuses me of plagiarism, offering that my work wasn’t undergraduate level even though I was, that she’d like me to resubmit my bibliography, and demands to know how I’d even heard of Lacan (“Are you taking a class or something?”). I decline because my work was all homebrewed. Also, I'm insulted. She does not pursue it further, but instead makes a few good attempts to humiliate me in front of the class. After declaring my presentation on Lamia/Lilith as “ridiculously unfounded,” I, like a cranky baby, tell her in so many words that I think she’s an awful cunt. Do not return to either class because of pride, arrogance, and a lack of will. This was dumb. Criminally dumb.

—-

That was then, however. In the last 3 years, I have learned how to stop fighting against myself, and I am much better at managing and avoiding the consequences of how my brain works. I have done some rad stuff like design and lead an intro course on feminist theory with a class of 15 at a local “free school,” and was teaching kids’ art classes at a museum. I audited a class with a professor from my first college last winter, and last spring took a continuing ed class at a very prestigious school; both professors really liked and encouraged me, pushing me hard to resume my education. Recently, a (reputable!!) literary agent found my blog and wants to develop a book with me (surreal but tentative). I’ve earned my (meager) living freelancing, and as a buyer/retailer of vintage clothing.

Most importantly, though, I really, really want to go back to school. I am focused in a way I once didn’t know how to be, and have followed my academic interests into serious depth entirely on my own. At a certain point, while I believe zealously in learning outside the structures of an institution, a classroom setting can also be invaluable (further elaboration goes on in essays). Here are some things I am concerned about:

1) I do not want to sound permissive or as if I’m trying to excuse any of the really terrible decisions I have made. I am EXTREMELY reticent to make any mention of being diagnosed with/managing ADD. I also do not want to sound like a Disappointed Dad and let on how hyper-critical and in some ways ashamed I am of what a fuck-up I was, as self-depreciation melts nicely into bloated ego. I’ve learned from my mistakes, I’m mostly grateful to have made them, now I want to move on.

2) I do not know how (or if) to put tastefully that, to be frank, I’m not exactly interested in a degree just to have a degree. If I had to endure the assholism of academia without any of the pleasures of being around a bunch of reasonably brilliant people who expect a lot from each other, I don’t think I will be able to tap into the necessary motivation I would need for success. I sound repulsively, grossly snobbish, but I wouldn’t survive any academic environment where a professor is cynical and suspicious that you may have read Lacan independently.

I’d like to study human sexuality and semiotics/sociolinguistics, etc; most of the schools I’m applying to are not messing around, and I feel like a total punch-line even asking them to consider me given my unsavory academic history. I am applying to “safety” schools as well, but my commitment to that is questionable when weighed against how much debt I’d be signing up for. I sound like an unworthy brat. I realize this, but I have never been able to get jazzed on mediocrity. I am not at all as sensitive as I used to be about fellow students or even difficult professors, but without the freedom to chase after what I was really passionate about and a faculty who encouraged students to do so, I don’t think college would be a wise choice for me.

3) I screwed up TWICE. That is really ugly. How might you recommend I spin this? Is it even possible? Where do I explain the past and where do I look towards the future?

Apologies for my neuroses. I am just trying to crack into a world I only really have related to through books and the disappointed undergrad memories of my friends. I’m open to and grateful for any insight you may offer.

Career prospects with undergraduate degree in materials science

martinX's bellbottoms — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 12:57:35 -0800

What careers would be open to me if I had a B.S. in materials science? More specifically, who would I work for, where could I find work, and how would I spend my days? I realize that there are probably a lot of possibilities, but I'm interested in hearing about as many of them as possible. Although right now I'm primarily curious about what I could do with a B.S., if you have insights about options that would open up with graduate degrees, feel free to share.

How to get into Harvard with average-ish grades!

freddymetz — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 04:03:51 -0800

How to get into Harvard with average-ish grades! After a lifetime of british education, i was dropped into the deep end when my parents sent me to a German school when we moved to Germany four years ago.
I've really improved my grades since the beginning, but i've been unable to attain the grades i used to get in England.
This put a considerable damper on my Harvard ambitions, but i have other tricks up my sleeve.
I'm in my last year of high school, but i go to university two days a week alongside school. I also took the SATs and, although not having received the results yet, i think i got marks in the 650-750 area in each section.
I will also try and get letters of recommendations from two professors at university.
Should i even attempt to apply to the ivy league universities, with my momentary average grade being approximately 1.8 (1=A, 2=B)?

This would be for the application for fall 2009, but i also have the possibility of taking a gap year as a social worker in south america next year, and then applying for fall 2010 - this having the advantage of me also having "social" qualifications, which i heard was also important.

What can i still do to raise my chances of being accepted to harvard (or other ivy league universities) and should i wait till after i've done my gap year?

Can stellar MA grades outweigh poor undergrad marks on PhD scholarship applications?

damn yankee — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 19:41:09 -0800

Am I deluded to think I can land a crucial PhD scholarship with abysmal undergraduate grades? It's an Arts/Creative Media degree in Australia. I earned an MA with distinction and was #1 in my masters cohort (of 9, at a so-so-reputation UK university) last year; I've had 12 years of strong and occasionally award-winning professional experience in the field of journalism (so, related–but not an exact match); and it's been 15 bloody years since I tanked my BA studies at Syracuse.

I struggled with an all-too-common situation then: severe, undiagnosed clinical depression combined with a shockingly unsupportive family. I was so up, down and out of it I didn't even realize what was happening to my lfe. Result: extremely erratic and mostly poor academic performance, barely managing to hold onto the prestigious scholarship I walked in with. Final GPA: 2.73 (ug).

I got my act together when I was about 24, and I'm 33 now. Is it worth explaining the situation in my application, or is competition going to be too fierce to make it worth my while? (I'll be applying as an international student.)

Maintaining a NYC college's undergraduate literary blog

omnigut — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 20:10:21 -0800

Deep breath: I am the online editor for a New York college's undergraduate literary journal's blog, and a complete beginner. I'm wondering about increasing net-presence, keeping the site timely, and making it vibrant. Very open to ideas. Hive mind? The website is here. We've been up for about three long days.

At the moment we have about six people posting a week (once a day), with the invitation for more people in our program to post. The three major aims of the blog are to advertise the program, advertise the talents of its students (the same thing as the first), and to give us lowly students a bigger audience.

But how do I go about increasing the traffic to our blog? I know there are many websites out there that list blogs, literary blogs, websites etc, but don't know how to get on their blogroll, or how to excite NY's literary community. I know there are people you can hire to do that, or robots, but not sure of the ethics of that kind of thing. Might be wrong about those anyway.

Here are our current ideas:
1) Organize a competition for poetry and flash fiction. We'll get reputable judges to decide on the winner, and give cash. How much would get people to submit; would $100 bucks do?
2) We'll play recordings of authors/poets reading their work, mainly published authors, but also students who want to read and discuss their work (comments).
3) We have an expensive hairdresser who is going to interview people on camera while giving them haircuts (hopefully big names), which we'll then edit into two or three minute videos.
4) I'd like to get our name out there amongst the web-community of New York. How do I do that?
5) We'll be keeping track of events, and making a calendar of stuff we recommend and are going to/reviewing.
5) Any other suggestions? Thanks!

Readings for a class on adjusting to college life?

biscuitsticks — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 07:49:29 -0800

In the fall I'll be leading a short course for freshmen on adjusting to college, community service, and issues that are relevant to college students. Does anyone have any interesting and fun readings--particularly on diversity, but really on any subject--that they would recommend for this sort of context? I've led the same course for the past two years, so I already have a number of pieces that are required by the program and some that I have collected from newspapers, magazines, and more scholarly sources, but: (1) a lot of the required readings are fairly dry, and as an undergraduate myself, I know how difficult it can be to get students to actually do readings and (2) I'm looking at my syllabus and feeling bored with a lot of the pieces that I've used and found over the past two years, but I'm not having much luck at thinking of replacements.

Anyway, I'm sure that some of you have used--or read--some really interesting pieces that I just haven't stumbled across, and I'd love to hear about them.

If it helps: the course is required for all incoming freshmen and most of the students were fairly high achievers in high school.

Writing a Travel Grant

tickingclock — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 02:34:19 -0800

I am applying for a small travel grant to fund a trip to a semi-local conference. The problem is that I have no idea how to write one! I am interested in presenting the results of my undergraduate research project at a small conference taking place at a nearby province. To help fund this trip, I would like to apply for one of the undergraduate travel grants available at my university -- but I have no idea what I am supposed to say. The application instructions are fairly minimal: "attach a one-page explanation of your role at event and title of presentation."

Some specific questions:
* Do travel grants have a standard format that I should follow?

* What kind of information are they looking for in the grant proposal? My role at the event and title of presentation will not take up a whole page -- what are they actually asking me to say?

* There is a separate application cover sheet that contains the important information such as the name of the conference, the amount of money requested, as well as the proposed dates of travel. Should I repeat this information in the proposal?

* Should I attach some documents that are not explicitly requested? I am thinking of things like the abstract, a proposed budget, and my resume.

This is my first time writing a grant, travel or otherwise (see: undergrad), so any advice is greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!

LSATs during freshman year?

aleahey — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 17:44:02 -0800

Taking the LSAT Freshman year? I'm an anxious-undergraduate, considering taking the LSATs now (freshman year), and attempting to apply to law schools ASAP.

Essentially, I'm looking for anyone with experience, knowledge, tips, etc. Is this a good idea?

I have a 4.0 GPA thus far, and am not particularly worried about the logical aspect of the test. I feel like I can do relatively well...

My worries are, what if I do poorly? What are the upsides to taking it now? Downsides?

Thanks hivemind.

I know it will be worth it at the end...but how do I pay for it now?

Asherah — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 12:23:20 -0800

What steps would you recommend to prepare for financing expensive education costs? I am returning to school to gain another BS/MS at Johns Hopkins in September 2008. The approximate cost of the first two years (BS portion) including living expenses will be $80,000. As a second degree student, I have several questions as to what steps are recommended to begin considering financing options. I will not be receiving the custom financial aid package from JHU until late April, so unfortunately I will not know what I will be receiving from the school in the form of scholarships/grants, nor will I be aware of what Federal loan aid will be offered to me, if any. I have already submitted my FAFSA online.

I have read conflicting information regarding Stafford loans (or other Federal loans) being available for those students returning for a second Bachelors, is such aid available? (I was granted $11,000 from a previous Stafford loan during my original undergrad.)

Also, in terms of private lenders, which I understand will likely make up the bulk of my loan balance, do you have any experiences with specific lenders, or recommendations for reputable lenders. I have an excellent, well-established credit history so I suspect that I will not need a co-signer.

Finally, I will be using a list prepared by my specific program to apply for scholarships of various dollar amounts, so I am prepared to work as hard as I can in the next 6 months to get as much free money as possible!

Any advice navigating this would be much appreciated! I can't yet feel fully secure in my excitement to begin my program until I realize that it can be paid for, reasonably!

Please note that I realize I am attempting to finance an expensive education, and I would appreciate refraining from comments that suggest that I go to a less expensive school, thanks.

How do I get funding for summer history research?

slowcat — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 08:33:28 -0800

How do I get an undergraduate summer research grant in history? I want to spend my summer working on my senior thesis without going completely broke. I'm a 2nd semester Junior history major at Columbia, looking to write a thesis next year. I'd like to do as much research as possible this summer, while also bumming around with my boyfriend in Providence (where I would have access to Brown University's libraries). Is there any way to have someone else pay for it, ie, are there any fellowships or research grants I could apply for? Columbia offers two fellowships, but they're very competitive. Where else should I look? I've never applied for a grant, written a proposal, or really done anything in this vein before, so I'm not sure where to start. Any advice would be much appreciated. (Also, I'm not sure if it makes a difference what my topic would be, but I'm thinking about something on the Spanish Civil War and its influence on American intellectuals. Or possibly something relating to environmental history).

Mama needs a new laptop

kelseyq — Sat, 04 Aug 2007 21:22:58 -0800

Does my computer matter for studying CS? My iBook just died and I'm in the market for a replacement laptop. I'd like to get a monitor/keyboard setup for when I'm at home, so I'm sort of leaning towards a PC right now since they tend to be cheaper.

Here's the one wrinkle in my research so far: I'm beginning an undergraduate computer science program in September. The department's teaching language is Java, at least for lower division courses. Should I be outfitting my new computer with anything particular? Does the OS make a huge difference? Are there any non-obvious accessories/modifications you'd recommend?

Should I rewrite my undergraduate thesis?

Anonymous — Sat, 30 Dec 2006 11:20:26 -0800

I studied philosophy in college. By my senior year I had decided that I wanted to pursue a career in academia. I had co-founded a conference. I was writing a thesis. I had intentions of applying to graduate schools. However, during my last semester I experienced a crisis of faith and delayed my thesis for six months, eventually earning a "C". I want to go back and do the job right, but I don't know how. The thesis was a disaster in part because I had not developed the necessary skills to conduct basic academic research independently. My college is exclusively seminar-based and most of the "research" I used in my papers was gleaned from my participation in class. Paper-writing for me was typically an intuitive affair wherein I would try to come up with complex interpretations of the materials provided in class rather than seek out new information from new sources. This approach gave me a false sense of security in my supposed ability to find connections between anything, conveniently ignoring the fact that all of the materials were connected by virtue of their inclusion in the course. Nonetheless I succeeded in my endeavors and held excellent academic standing until my last semester when I crashed on the thesis. Suddenly I wasnt being handed assignments anymore and I began to doubt the relevance and quality of my work. I fell into the rut of deleting chunks of text and rewriting everything until it became dense and esoteric. I was also reading hefty courseloads of Heidegger and Wittgenstein at the time and I precociously felt inclined to emulate their writing styles in combination, which further drove me into protective esotericism. I eventually abandoned my bibliography altogether, instead opting to rely upon the whimsy of my own thoughts as the basis of my research. My advisor was aloof throughout this catastrophe although in hindsight I probably should have been more insistent on demanding his time. When I finally handed in a stack of papers six months after the original due date it was clear that the project was a failure. I immediately moved from NYC to Providence and began an entirely unrelated creative project that is just now, one year later, beginning to wrap up.

Now I want to go back, write the thesis properly and start working towards graduate schools or at least to just write productively in any context, but I don't exactly trust my workflow management, research methods or organizational techniques. I also have less of an advisor than I did the first time. WHERE TO BEGIN?

Will an individual major be taken seriously?

bookish — Mon, 16 Oct 2006 15:09:40 -0800

I am an undergraduate student considering entering my school's Individualzied Major Program. Is this a good idea, especially w/regards to post-graduate work? I know I eventually want to work in international public health-- hopefully with an organization that focuses on the health problems of the poor and approaches those problems from a multidisciplinary perspective, and hopefully living or spending a lot of time abroad. I will probably do some graduate studies first, maybe a masters in public health.

I've looked around at my large state university, and have checked out a number of majors that relate to this goal (public health, non-profit management, applied health sciences), and I really don't like any of the programs. They're not very rigorous, the professors aren't terribly impressive, they focus predominately on the US, they aren't particularly interested in the social landscape of disease, and they seem to be preparing me for a career in the administration of a large hospital. And they're boring, too.

What I've been thinking about doing is creating an individualized major, which I can do at my school. With the help of a faculty member I put together a proposal talking about what I want to study and why, and develop a curriculumn. Before graduating I do some sort of special project. All of this gets approved by a faculty commitee. It sounds like a good chance to move things in my own direction, take the classes I think are important, learn what I really want to learn. I'll probably also pick up a minor in history and one in social science and medicine.

My main concern with the idea is that I don't know how potential employers/grad schools will look at an 'individualized major.' This plan doesn't give me a firm disciplinary background-- in fact, it's kind of intentionally structured not to. It doesn't require me to live up to a set of fixed university standards. Is this going to look like a flimsy degree? Is it going to make me look flaky? Or, will it do what I would like it to do: highlight that I am a curious, self-motivated, passionate student?

I'd particularly like to hear from people who have done this kind of thing. How did it work out, and what kind of responses did you get?

Post-Baccalaureate College Admissions in Biology

palmcorder_yajna — Thu, 05 Oct 2006 12:11:45 -0800

Does anyone have advice for a thirty-something with an art history degree who wants to go back to school for a B.S. in biology? Having reached the rather advanced age of 33, I have come to the realization that I have missed my calling, and that life simply cannot go on without my going back to school to pursue a career in biology. My research tells me that, in order to take the classes that will allow me to make the best possible choice w/re speciaization, and in order to get the kind of research experience I'll need for grad school appliactions, I need to matriculate as a Bachelor's degree student. The trouble is, I've already got an undergraduate degree in art history. I've also got a Juris Doctorate, which I'm only sort of using at the moment.

I want to go to the U of Washington as a post-baccalaureate student, but I know that post-bac admissions are highly competitive. Does anyone have any advice for me? I'm particularly interested in hearing about experiences that the people in this older thread may have had, subsequent to posting. (The old thread's about -whether- to go back for a science post-bac. I'm past the "whether" point, and need to know more about "how.")

Here are some other things it might be useful for you to know:

(1) I'm currently taking classes at the community college. I've completed the last two quarters of the majors' biology series, and I'm in the middle of taking the first. I've also had the prep class for the majors' chemistry series. My GPA in this stuff is a 4.0.

(2) I plan to take majors' chem, microbio, math through calculus, and physics with calculus through the community college system before I start classes as a B.S. student at U-W (or wherever).

(3) My law school GPA was rather sucky, but in the classes I took between getting my J.D. and starting the majors' biology series, I also have a 4.0. (If it matters, the other classes were: An upper-level literature class that I took for fun, an education theory class, a quarter of nonmajors' biology, and 4 post-bac classes in teaching English as a second language that I took with my husband so that we could work abroad for a year.)

(4) I am in the process of joining the Puget Sound Mycological Society, which I hope will allow me to pick up some useful research and volunteer experience.

(5) I'm also a fiction writer, and some of the fiction I've sold has to do with natural history and related disciplines.

Thanks, all!