Twenty years from now, I'm going to be able to tell the story of my last day of classes at Baylor and how that day was marked by Prince William and Kate Middleton's marriage. It'll be a good story. Since my only class was canceled, I was perfectly alright with staying up until 12:30 in the morning and then setting my alarm for 3:30. Let the party begin!!! That's when Kimberly, Valori, and Jennifer showed up. Amanda even woke up and we had coffee and cinnamon rolls and strawberries while we watched the BBCA (totally legit coverage guys, totally legit). We hung out until the kiss at 8:00 when the girls left and Amanda and I went back to bed. I slept 'til 12:00. Why? Because I can. I don't have to be anywhere or do anything until next Friday when I have my last finals.
Aside from Kate and Wills' exciting news I have a formal announcement of my own, well most of you will know already, but I'm going to tell you anyway....
I'm heading to the University of Alabama in August to study history. Yay! Also, I filled an application for an apartment last weekend and am signing the lease tomorrow. Double Yay!! More news on this and my thoughts later. For now, I'm going to head back to the royal wedding coverage. Cheers!
Friday, April 29, 2011
Saturday, April 16, 2011
Scholarships, Fellowships, and Assistantships- oh my!
Amidst the haze of confusion that was applying to graduate school, gaining acceptances, and trying to figure out what to do with all of them, I determined that I really, really wanted to write a post about money. It's perhaps the most important factor in judging whether or not to accept an offer of admission, yet it was the one I had the most questions about. So here's what I learned, maybe it'll help you sometime in the future.
1. Never EVER accept admission without financial assistants. This is my first rule of life. It stands particularly true if you're going into the humanities (i.e. English, History, Philosophy, etc.) because the last thing you want is to a.) not finished your degree or b.) not be able to find a job in the field you're going to school for and be stuck with the loans. A department's offer of financial assistance is often related to their confidence in your abilities. You are a gifted and talented student: don't underestimate yourself, and don't let others do it for you.
2. Schools will always fund Ph.D.s before Masters programs, so you have to look extra hard for funded Masters, especially with the economy the way it is now.
3. You remember that children's song about God answering prayers? "He might say yes, He might say no, He might say wait?" It's the same things with graduate schools. I've heard all three through this process. I've gotten notices of rejection because certain programs couldn't fund me. I've gotten acceptances to schools who admit "while we can't fund you now, we might be able to in the future." And, most importantly, I've gotten schools that say, "please, come! We'll pay you to do it!
4. Financial assistance is usually talked about in packages. One of my offers that came through had three components. 1) tuition waiver- yes please take my tuition away, especially since it'll be out of state 2) stipend- think of this as annual income. It can range anywhere from a couple of thousand to 25K+. 3) health insurance. This is more helpful for older graduate students trying to support a family.
5. There is a variety of things you may have to do for this money. No, I'm not talking about that. One of my offers is a fellowship, i.e. I don't have to do anything for this money. It's kind of like a scholarship, only that's not what its called. Not sure why, but that's not the important part. The important part is that later when you're trying to compile a C.V. make sure you include the fellowships, it's a rather prestigious vote of the department's confidence in you. Other offers include teacher assistantships, which range from anything between grading papers to teaching classes. Also there are research assistantships, which I believe are more common in the sciences, therefore I have a small working knowledge on this.
Ok, so there you have it, a five point crash course on understanding graduate school funding. Of course, there is a lot more to it than what I've written here, but these are the basics. It's a really interesting topic if you really think about it, and if you happen to have more questions, I may be able to find you and answer.
1. Never EVER accept admission without financial assistants. This is my first rule of life. It stands particularly true if you're going into the humanities (i.e. English, History, Philosophy, etc.) because the last thing you want is to a.) not finished your degree or b.) not be able to find a job in the field you're going to school for and be stuck with the loans. A department's offer of financial assistance is often related to their confidence in your abilities. You are a gifted and talented student: don't underestimate yourself, and don't let others do it for you.
2. Schools will always fund Ph.D.s before Masters programs, so you have to look extra hard for funded Masters, especially with the economy the way it is now.
3. You remember that children's song about God answering prayers? "He might say yes, He might say no, He might say wait?" It's the same things with graduate schools. I've heard all three through this process. I've gotten notices of rejection because certain programs couldn't fund me. I've gotten acceptances to schools who admit "while we can't fund you now, we might be able to in the future." And, most importantly, I've gotten schools that say, "please, come! We'll pay you to do it!
4. Financial assistance is usually talked about in packages. One of my offers that came through had three components. 1) tuition waiver- yes please take my tuition away, especially since it'll be out of state 2) stipend- think of this as annual income. It can range anywhere from a couple of thousand to 25K+. 3) health insurance. This is more helpful for older graduate students trying to support a family.
5. There is a variety of things you may have to do for this money. No, I'm not talking about that. One of my offers is a fellowship, i.e. I don't have to do anything for this money. It's kind of like a scholarship, only that's not what its called. Not sure why, but that's not the important part. The important part is that later when you're trying to compile a C.V. make sure you include the fellowships, it's a rather prestigious vote of the department's confidence in you. Other offers include teacher assistantships, which range from anything between grading papers to teaching classes. Also there are research assistantships, which I believe are more common in the sciences, therefore I have a small working knowledge on this.
Ok, so there you have it, a five point crash course on understanding graduate school funding. Of course, there is a lot more to it than what I've written here, but these are the basics. It's a really interesting topic if you really think about it, and if you happen to have more questions, I may be able to find you and answer.
Friday, April 8, 2011
The First of the Last ( also known as "aren't my friends beautiful?")
Live from the red carpet: it's the **th annual Sing Alliance formal!
Q: "Tell us Jennifer, what would you like to say about your dress this evening."
A: "Well, the first thing you should know is I got it for a steal. I love a good deal. This would be the dress I wear to go clubbing in if I ever went clubbing. At first, I was going to pair it with black patent pumps but at the last moment, I made a dramatic wardrobe change-- which meant I had to paint my toenails with breakneck speed. I kept the hair and jewelry simple to let the dress shine.... and I really want World Peace!"
Q: "And what about you, Valori. Tell us about your ensemble this evening."
A: " Um.... I spent more for it than I really wanted to. I left all my jewelry in Houston so creativity had to be used in the construction of the outfit. I found the earrings in my purse. Lindsay think they worked well with the dress. In fact she said I was very "artistic French." I was going for a classic look in all."
Q:" Lindsay, please elaborate on your look this evening."
A:" Well, I was going for 50s/60s vintage, complete with the slightly bufont hair- which took a bumpit, 20 hairpins, and half a can of hairspray to complete. I found this wonderful little number on a clearance rack at Dillard's, according to the label I am wearing,"Made in Vietnam." My shoes (unavailable in the picture) are ones I picked up in Austria, adding a slightly European flair to the look. After an hour, I'm proud to announce that my feet were in fact completely numb, and I managed to dance the night away without much difficulty."
Can you tell we had fun with this post? Really though, last night was the Sing Alliance formal, and it was so much fun! Chocolate Fountains, fresh fruit, pastries, cupcakes, cookies.... and dancing. What more could a girls ask for? The Macarena... and we had that too. It was good to see all of my friends -most of which are seniors like me- and to hear about their plans. Last night was just the beginning of the end, however. Last Sing engagement. This coming week I have three banquets: Two Honors College, One Phi Beta Kappa, and a History dinner. It's busy, but exciting. And I have plenty of dresses to carry me through.
Q: "Tell us Jennifer, what would you like to say about your dress this evening."
A: "Well, the first thing you should know is I got it for a steal. I love a good deal. This would be the dress I wear to go clubbing in if I ever went clubbing. At first, I was going to pair it with black patent pumps but at the last moment, I made a dramatic wardrobe change-- which meant I had to paint my toenails with breakneck speed. I kept the hair and jewelry simple to let the dress shine.... and I really want World Peace!"Q: "And what about you, Valori. Tell us about your ensemble this evening."
A: " Um.... I spent more for it than I really wanted to. I left all my jewelry in Houston so creativity had to be used in the construction of the outfit. I found the earrings in my purse. Lindsay think they worked well with the dress. In fact she said I was very "artistic French." I was going for a classic look in all."Q:" Lindsay, please elaborate on your look this evening."
A:" Well, I was going for 50s/60s vintage, complete with the slightly bufont hair- which took a bumpit, 20 hairpins, and half a can of hairspray to complete. I found this wonderful little number on a clearance rack at Dillard's, according to the label I am wearing,"Made in Vietnam." My shoes (unavailable in the picture) are ones I picked up in Austria, adding a slightly European flair to the look. After an hour, I'm proud to announce that my feet were in fact completely numb, and I managed to dance the night away without much difficulty."Can you tell we had fun with this post? Really though, last night was the Sing Alliance formal, and it was so much fun! Chocolate Fountains, fresh fruit, pastries, cupcakes, cookies.... and dancing. What more could a girls ask for? The Macarena... and we had that too. It was good to see all of my friends -most of which are seniors like me- and to hear about their plans. Last night was just the beginning of the end, however. Last Sing engagement. This coming week I have three banquets: Two Honors College, One Phi Beta Kappa, and a History dinner. It's busy, but exciting. And I have plenty of dresses to carry me through.
Monday, April 4, 2011
Thesis Days
I look terrible today. Really it was just one of those mornings: it was raining when I woke up to go to the gym. It's a little cold outside. And its a thesis day. Therefore I had little incentive to take a blow drying to my hair and try to make it do something. Same goes for the clothes. I'm currently sporting a pair of Baylor sweatpants and a fleece. I'll likely wear it to band this afternoon. If you were to see me on a regular basis you would know I'm not the pajamas to class kind of girl.
Oh well.
Today's a Thesis Day.
Since the beginning of the semester I've been using the four hours between History and band to work diligently on my thesis. That's nothing special, but as of two weeks ago Wednesday I was done, done, DONE! As far actually writing at least. Now it all has to be edited. Chapters need to be woven together and holy cow if you could see my rough draft- they're unorganized messes of information just waiting for me to put them in an order that actually makes sense and conveys a meaning. Good news though, I've nearly finished drafts of the Intro and Chapter 1 (pending the ok from the Big Editors: Mom and Dad) and am starting Chapter 2 as we speak. If all goes as planned I'll have a polished draft to my adviser by this weekend, which means a week to prepare the draft with her for the rest of the committee before my defense. Haha, three more weeks and if all goes well I'll be done by Easter.
Easter needs to get here soon.
But not too soon.
I could easily be loosing mind in the midst of everything that has to get done. Should prove for some interesting posts in the future.
Oh, and in case your interested. My thesis abstract (read: summary):
“All the Attributes that Distinguish such a Life:” Family and Society in the Antebellum South
The Family unit is perhaps the single most important structure in Southern culture, particularly within the paternalistic world of the nineteenth century planter class. Not only did the concept of family provide the groundwork for a popular argument in favor of slavery, but also supported the cultural foundation of public honor as well as enforced the genderization of southern youth. This thesis examines the relationships southern men and women shared within their family first as children, then as young adults seeking to start families of their own, highlighting how men and women identified themselves within their families and, by default, larger society differently. Finally, it looks at how the American Civil War threatened to shake the traditional views of southerners and drive the family into a more modern institution.
Oh well.
Today's a Thesis Day.
Since the beginning of the semester I've been using the four hours between History and band to work diligently on my thesis. That's nothing special, but as of two weeks ago Wednesday I was done, done, DONE! As far actually writing at least. Now it all has to be edited. Chapters need to be woven together and holy cow if you could see my rough draft- they're unorganized messes of information just waiting for me to put them in an order that actually makes sense and conveys a meaning. Good news though, I've nearly finished drafts of the Intro and Chapter 1 (pending the ok from the Big Editors: Mom and Dad) and am starting Chapter 2 as we speak. If all goes as planned I'll have a polished draft to my adviser by this weekend, which means a week to prepare the draft with her for the rest of the committee before my defense. Haha, three more weeks and if all goes well I'll be done by Easter.
Easter needs to get here soon.
But not too soon.
I could easily be loosing mind in the midst of everything that has to get done. Should prove for some interesting posts in the future.
Oh, and in case your interested. My thesis abstract (read: summary):
“All the Attributes that Distinguish such a Life:” Family and Society in the Antebellum South
The Family unit is perhaps the single most important structure in Southern culture, particularly within the paternalistic world of the nineteenth century planter class. Not only did the concept of family provide the groundwork for a popular argument in favor of slavery, but also supported the cultural foundation of public honor as well as enforced the genderization of southern youth. This thesis examines the relationships southern men and women shared within their family first as children, then as young adults seeking to start families of their own, highlighting how men and women identified themselves within their families and, by default, larger society differently. Finally, it looks at how the American Civil War threatened to shake the traditional views of southerners and drive the family into a more modern institution.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)