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Is there anything else I can do? If not, help me let it go.

Anonymous — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 15:34:41 -0800

Is there any further action I can take to recoup the financial loss and and deal with the emotional frustration resulting from my university's swine-flu-panic decision to cancel a much-anticipated field research opportunity? For over a year, my fellow grad students and I had been planning for a month-long field research opportunity in [foreign country]. For several of us, it was part of our motivation to attend this university – research opportunities in our field for non-PhD grad students are rare, and this is a small and amazing program to benefit a community in need. The summer research has been going on successfully for several years now. Our professor works unbelievably hard to arrange this...it takes an amazing amount of coordination and resources to make it all come together.

A few days after swine flu was initially announced in the media (late April) – and almost two months before our research was to begin, this June – I received notice from our professor that our trip had been canceled by a [certain office at the university in charge of assessing risk]. Upon hearing this, we all made many attempts to salvage the situation on many fronts, to no avail. Because swine flu is no longer a major threat, the tickets are booked through online travel companies, and the flights are international, none of us are able to reschedule or refund our tickets. Even with insurance, which I bought at booking. We also can't afford to take a "forced vacation" (ie. taking our flights and spending a month playing in [foreign country]). For me, this is $600 of sunk cost. Additionally, this research would have provided us with a summer opportunity to earn a necessary 3 units towards our graduation. Without it, many of us must spend an extra unplanned semester at our university, including the cost of tuition, books, and time spent. And of course, not to mention missing out on the experience of a lifetime, which can't really be compensated for any other way.

Two weeks after the decision, I contacted the person at the university office that made the cancellation, and sent them a very professional yet personal email explaining how this negatively impacted us students, and that we are unable to resolve things. He ignored all that, and replied with a generic response and blamed the State Dept. for the decision. This prompted me to send a follow-up email, calmly expressing my frustration with his manner of communication, lack of concern, and the financial cost and emotional distress his/their decision has left us with. He remains unconcerned, and frankly, somewhat hostile with his minimal replies. This all has left me feeling bitter, disillusioned, and now angry.

My flight leaves this Friday, without me on it. As it approaches, I feel increasingly helpless and frustrated. I cannot seem to let this go. Especially if there is something more I could do to resolve the financial or emotional aspects of this unfortunate situation.

Are there any things I can do, big or small that will:
a) Make me/us feel better.
b) Get the university to acknowledge us and/or take some positive action, however small, to help us out and/or prevent their lame handling of a situation from happening again. I do not wish to start controversy or create problems however.
c) Help recoup the $600 airline cost – even if it has nothing to do with the airline, flight insurance or booking agency. I've tried calling all places, several times. There is no getting the money back. I can however dump an extra $200 + additional cost of airfare to take a flight I don't need anymore to a place I don't want to go to (and can't afford to go to) in the next six months, if I so wish.
d) Help me just let it all go, if that's where I really should be focusing my energy.

The positives from all of this are helping somewhat...I do get to do some important things and attend some events that otherwise wouldn't get to (since I would have been out of the country). However, I keep thinking about the lack of concern by the school and missing out on this amazing experience. What can I do?

Who studies the university?

Dr. Send — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 14:18:36 -0800

Are there any academics who specialize in criticizing/studying academia? What are their names? I'm not necessarily looking for left- or right-wing crackpots who have a beef, or academics who vent about academic issues on the side, but rather social scientists who focus on academic issues like affirmative action, job markets, academic freedom, publishing practices, theory/practice, academic politics and so on in their research. In other words, social scientists who do research about academia. Thanks.

Two Master's Degrees... What are my options?

msposner — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 10:57:38 -0800

This spring I will be finished with my second Master's degree. I've been at my current job for almost three years and while I enjoy it immensely, I am wondering about other opportunities that having two graduate degrees might open up for me. Am hoping to obtain answers especially from individuals who have multiple degrees and have gone into somewhat different career paths. My first graduate degree is a M.S. in Secondary School Education. I am qualified to teach in public school (context area: Social Studies). I also am certified to teach at schools for the deaf but that is not something I want to focus on because of how such institutions are being shut down at an alarming rate.

My second graduate degree is going to be a M.S. in Professional/Rehabilitation Counseling, which I'll be obtaining in May of 2009. I'm not going to be pursuing my Certified Rehabilitation Counselor (CRC) certificate because I was recently on their advisory panel and signed a waiver stating that I promise not to take the CRC test for at least five years due to first-hand exposure to potential test questions. This is perfectly fine with me because I'm not planning on having my own independent counseling practice and I have no desire to work for any of the major insurance companies around here.

I currently work at a state agency as a vocational rehabilitation counselor and while I do enjoy this job very, very much, lately it seems as if I'm often hearing from people (respected professionals) that I should be doing something "better" and so forth.

For me, "better", would be to obtain employment as a researcher (researcher scientist?) or a professor at a college/university, which is actually my ultimate goal but I'm also open to acquiring other, relevant experience that might enhance myself as an educator. I'm a voracious reader and I'm always conducting research- I'd really like to go into education/rehabilitation policy if the opportunity ever presents itself.

For now, my intention is clearly to "stay put" because as I mentioned, I love my job and I enjoy working with my colleagues, however, I have my goals outside of this field and have oftentimes thought about returning to the classroom as a high school teacher.

In a nutshell, my inquiries are defined as follows:

(I) I've been told that having Master degrees in both education and counseling will make me very attractive to school systems. True?

(II) Will the fact that I do not have terminal degrees in either fields (education and counseling) hurt my chances in obtaining research-based positions and/or work as a college instructor?

(III) For someone with two Master's degrees, what are the other fields I could go into when I have specialization in both education and counseling?

(IV) Has anyone experienced negative pitfalls of having multiple graduate degrees such as frequent rejections on the basis of being overqualified?

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Caveat #1: I am profoundly deaf. This, unfortunately, creates a lot of barriers for me in the workplace. Many schools have refused to hire me because in order for me to instruct in public schools, they would have to also pay for a full-time sign language interpreter since I communicate primarily in American Sign Language. In their eyes, I'm not cost effective- I'm a budget burden. As I mentioned earlier, I do not want to work at schools for the deaf because of the lack of job security and their notoriously low salaries.

Caveat #2: I've mentioned that I love my current job. However, I am also trying to plan ahead (1-3 years) and have always been open to other opportunities.

Caveat #3: Not really looking to relocate anytime in the near/distant future. Wife loves her job and is pregnant with our first child. We also put a lot of work in our present home.

Caveat #4: I'm 27 years old.

Caveat #5: My current job is paying fully for my second graduate degree, which is really the only reason why I went back to school after I completed my first Master's.

Thanks in advance for all of your suggestions/insights.

Youth Passions Research in Montreal

divabat — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 14:11:25 -0800

If you had one year to dedicate yourself to researching how young people's passions and interests can be supported and encouraged, what would you do? Bonus points for Montreal-related responses. I'm planning to apply to the Sauve Scholars program, a one-year fellowship based in McGill University in Montreal, Canada, where you are given full support and resources to research, study, and work on a project of your choice. I would like to use the year to come up with a project plan for resources that help young people find support for their passions and interests - mainly from a Malaysian perspective, as there's nothing there, but involving research into how young people are supported in other countries.

We need to come up with a plan for our project - what we want to investigate, how we're going to go about it, how we can use local resources to help us. With a topic like this, it can be pretty broad, so I'd like some ideas for actions I can take to support my research for this one year.
I'm planning to apply to the Sauve Scholars program, a one-year fellowship based in McGill University in Montreal, Canada, where you are given full support and resources to research, study, and work on a project of your choice. I would like to use the year to come up with a project plan for resources that help young people find support for their passions and interests - mainly from a Malaysian perspective, as there's nothing there, but involving research into how young people are supported in other countries.

We need to come up with a plan for our project - what we want to investigate, how we're going to go about it, how we can use local resources to help us. With a topic like this, it can be pretty broad, so I'd like some ideas for actions I can take to support my research for this one year.

If you had one year to dedicate yourself to researching how young people's passions and interests can be supported and encouraged, what would you do?

What sort of research would you do? Who would you want to look up? Where would you volunteer or work? I don't expect specific names (Though that'd be great!!) but things like "You should look up what their relevant youth policy is and find government agencies that work with young people" or "Find a Malaysian Students Society to interview" are the things I'm after. If you've worked in a venture that does exactly this (support young people's passions), what sort of work did you do to form and maintain your venture?

I've been getting a lot of "ask the young people themselves", which is what I'm doing too, but that's not something I need the fellowship to do. I'm more interested in finding out what resources are available in Montreal/McGill that I can tap into.

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!

Am I just nervous?

Anonymous — Tue, 29 Aug 2006 08:57:55 -0800

GradSchoolAnxietyFilter: I have no research experience. How do I describe my research plan? Please describe in detail the research plan you wish to pursue at Institution including the theme, approach and methods, etc. which you intend to use.

That's just one of the various questions on the application. Problem is, I've never really done any graduate level research, and though I have a few different ideas for a "research plan" rolling around in my brain, I'm not feeling very confident about committing to one in my application, considering I am unfamiliar with the faculty (and have no geographic access to them). I really don't know what they are looking for here, or if whatever research plan I come up with would jive with their experience. I just don't know how to approach this. Writing a statement of purpose doesn't scare me at all, writing this does.

The program is for an MA in international relations at a school that is incredibly attractive to me, but I'm nervous. I have a general feeling of anxiety due mainly to two things: my lack of undergraduate research experience and the fact that an MA in IR will be a somewhat significant departure from my undergraduate studies (I have a BJ in news-editorial and a BA in international studies). My undergraduate education has left me feeling unprepared for grad school, particularly with questions like these on the app. I feel like my lack of independent research experience is going to really hurt me--all I've ever really written has been in the form of term papers.

It feels like they are expecting me to know a lot more than I already do.

So, the question(s)... basically two part:

How should I approach this essay question and what kind of things will the university be looking for here? I'm particularly concerned about the "approach" and "methods" they ask me to describe.

And

Is my anxiety about school normal, or was my undergraduate education truly bankrupt?

Any general grad school applications advice is also welcome.