10 posts tagged “phd”
Had a couple of those unexpected little life lemons recently.
The water heater went out in my house last week. I've been suspicious of it for a while because I ran out of hot water when showering and it's just me in the house. I even had the thermostats cranked waaaaayyyy up to try and make it last longer which worked a little, but I still ran out. That sucks when it's freezing outside. Brrrrrrrrr...
So, that little adventure cost $575 - $300 for the new tank and $275 in labor for the emergency plumbing services. We had to turn the water off to the whole house because the knob to shut it off just to the tank was frozen shut, so we had no water for a while. We were carrying buckets over from the neighbor's house to flush the toilets and bought out the whole supply of gallons of bottled water from the neighborhood convenience store. lol...
Tuesday night I got a flat tire - like all the way down flat. Grumble grumble... Of course I was an hour from home. Grumble grumble... One positive note - Fix-A-Flat is the BEST STUFF EVER. Go out right now and buy a can to keep in your trunk. It is a miracle product. A lifesaver. Absolutely amazing.
So took the car in to get that tire fixed and found out it couldn't be because there was too much wear. It was a 30,000 mile tire and I got 50,000 miles out of it so I'm not complaining. But my car is all-wheel drive and you have to replace all four tires at the same time or it messes up the computer that controls the all-wheel drive stuff. AND... while they were poking around in there they also noticed that my rear brakes were worn basically down and needed to be replaced too. Ha. Of course.
So $100 for one tire turned into $450 for tires and $150 brake pads leading to $620 with tax.
Sigh...
Me poor. Me no want pay lots of money. Me want save for future.
The silver lining is that I won't have to pay for these repairs when I am in school for the next three years making next to nothing. I'd rather pay for this kind of thing now then face it when I'm REALLY poor. And I do have to say I take pride in the quality of house that some lucky person is going to buy. It's a nice house with lots and lots of quality improvements. That makes me happy.
But... then I read my horoscope for today and realized everything is going to be ok. Read and marvel and how the world knows things in a spooky way sometimes:
Scorpio - Someone may have a good money-making plan but it doesn't necessarily mean it will work for you. A change in plans will probably cost a little more but, in the end, you will be better off not scrimping. Ooooooooooo.... Ahhhhhhhhhhhh...
Hello folks. My brother, Ryan, has been in town visiting since last weekend - hence the lack of Voxing... We've been having fun doing stuff.
Here's Ryan while we were at lunch one day...
We went to the Arboretum one afternoon. Just gorgeous. Beautiful weather, baby ducks, pretty trees... A perfect day.
Take Two... Ok, I'm back. Comcast problem turned out to be a caption setting turned on... Weird...
So, it looks like Ryan might be staying here for two months, ergo the title of the post. He is transitioning between living in Washington, DC and moving to New York to pursue his passion of working in the music industry. I am transitioning between working at JMU and going to Penn State to pursue my passion of a PhD in Communications. We decided to celebrate our transitions by making special mugs at the pottery place. New beginnings... for both of us...
Ryan's mug. Symbolism includes a Phoenix - rising from the ashes - and skulls - in Native American tradition, death is celebrated as a new life.
My theme was Spring... bright happy colors, flowers blooming, and my personal motto - Follow Your Bliss as a secret message to myself inside.
I am officially a Nittany Lion. I accepted their offer of admission yesterday morning. I now need to practice my Roar and buy lots of navy blue clothes so I'll be all set for August.
The trip was fabulous. I loved every minute of it and knew it was the right place from the moment I arrived. No red flags, nothing that worries me, it's all good. Yay.
I also accepted the assistantship offer to work with the World Campus (oooooo ahhhhhhh, doesn't that sound fancy?) which I am very excited about. The job will be focused on how technology can be used to make teaching and learning better, which is right up my alley and a huge growth field in higher ed - very cutting edge. It's also one of my potential career paths after graduation so it will be real world experience. Woot woot.
And now, enough of the blah blah which I know no one cares about but me and on to the photos which I actually remembered to take this time. So, without further ado, Penn State through my camera lens... Click to enlarge.
Beautiful Campus... PSU has lots of green space which I love love love. Big trees, pretty buildings, flowers not in bloom yet but sooooooo close...
Wildlife... This is going to sound stupid, but one of my criteria when I was looking at undergraduate colleges was that it had to have squirrels because that made it feel like home. So I was so excited when I saw these guys casually strolling around campus. Yay! Tons of fat, happy squirrels too.
Mass Comm Facilities... There were a few different types of architecture on campus but they blended well - stone, brick, etc... This is the Comm Building where I will be spending every waking hour for the next 3-4 years. It is GORGEOUS. The money was donated by the Carengie foundation and the interior is all marble and hardwoods. Beautiful.
School Spirit... The nittany lion is EVERYWHERE and all the students seemed to be wearing PSU gear. I love love love school spirit and was so excited to see that. All the students I talked to oozed pride.The first picture is a REAL nittany lion... who knew they were an actual type of mountain lion?
Mount Nittany... This is a cool PSU tradition. Apparently the Penn State Alumni Association owns the top of this mountain and you can buy a square foot once you graduate. Ha ha! I'm sooooooo doing that. You can see the mountain from all over campus. It's very distinctive looking. I didn't take this photo, mine didn't turn out so I googled it. Thanks anonymous photo taker!
MacKinnons Were Here... Ha ha... These are our ancestors! The MacKinnon clan from Scotland. They must have know Penn State was a winner too.
First sweatshirt... Reeeaaaalllyyyy bad picture. Ugh. Double chinnage. But my first official PSU gear. Yay.
First....
I got into the PhD program at Penn State!
Yaaaaaaaayyyyyyyyy! Just found out yesterday. As with UConn, I'm on the short list for funding, so I just need to keep breathing and be patient. I'll go visit soon to get a feel for the people and culture at Penn State then I will be able to make a good decision.
UConn and PState are my top two... so I am happy happy happy!
Nittany Lion or Huskie?
Huskie or Nittany Lion?
Second... my house is being shown again on Sunday. Please send ocean's of positive energy to the person/people who are coming to see it. I'm thinking a communal chant like "Cabins in the woods are the best thing ever" or perhaps "You want to live on a street called Casper more than anything on earth" or just simply "Buy Stevie's house, buy Stevie's house". I'm ok with them all. You pick your favorite... 11:30 EST on Sunday.
I will try to be better a better blogger soon. I have been trying to keep up with reading everyone's news but haven't had the energy to respond, comment, or write my own posts. It'll get better soon, I promise!
Welp, my Vox friends... Tomorrow I'm heading up to UConn to visit the Communications Department. These could be my future Peeps! I'm so excited!
I'm being rather obsessive about this visit. I'm already in the program, for God's sake! It's not like this is an interview. But, you should see the binder I have put together.
Ok, let's stop to ponder the fact that I have put together a whole friggin binder for this visit. A big binder with dividers. Fifteen SECTIONS of information. Um hmmm... Can you spell outofmyfreakingmind?
Sigh... I know I'm overdoing it, but it's a big deal to give up my whole life, move 500 miles away, and start over from scratch. I just want to make sure I'm making a good decision.
Ok, so here are some interesting facts about UConn... Not at all related to my program, but fun.
This is the logo featuring a very cute version of the Husky mascot.. All UConn huskies are named Jonathan in honor of Jonathan Trumbull, and all but the first, a brown and white husky, have been white with one brown eye and one blue eye. The current "real" Jonathan is Jonathan XII; he is often seen greeting fans and eating dog biscuits at sporting events. Jonathan is one of the few university mascots in the nation to have been selected by students via a popular poll.
It was founded in 1881 and serves more than 27,000 students on its six campuses, including more than 9,000 graduate students in multiple programs.UConn offers 105 majors, eight undergraduate degrees,16 graduate degrees and five professional degree programs.
In 2004, the University of Connecticut became the first Division I school to win National Championships in both mens and womens basketball during the same year.
This building is the Chemistry Building... it is designed to resemble an old New England mill from the outside. However, students refer to it as "Auschwitz" for its dour exterior and chimneys. Yikes...
UConn Student Traditions:
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Midnight Breakfast: An end-of-the-semester stress buster which occurs the night before final exams. Students share music and good times while their professors serve them breakfast snacks and other brain food.
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One-Ton Sundae: The UConn Dairy Bar satisfies your sweet tooth by combining their signature flavors to create a giant hot fudge sundae. During Winter Weekend students, staff and faculty line up and pay a few dollars to receive as much ice cream as their giant buckets can hold.
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Ooozeball: Students splash around in 600 gallons of water and 60 tons of dirt during our annual mud volleyball tournament
And, at least in higher ed circles, UConn is also famous for several riots in the 90's... Good times... Not the university's proudest moment. There's a surprising lack of photos from it online. Very effective PR management by the UConn administration, I suppose. But found these two on a blog from a person from Rutgers. Enlarge the first photo to see the "I Love UConn" sign in the background and take note of the surprisingly happy rioter holding the sign in the second...
So... This may be my future home... I'm excited! I'll be there Thursday & Friday. Yippee!
Yaaaaayyyyyyyyyy!!!!!!
What a fabulously wonderful piece of news this evening. After I bounced around the kitchen for about 5 minutes I called my mom (of course) and now I'm telling you guys.
I am EXTREMELY happy about that. I really like the program and it's a rural campus which I am also looking for. JMU plays UConn in several sports so I can stay plugged into athletics at least a little.
I am so excited and happy right now I could just pop.
Still waiting to hear from 5 more. I don't know about the financial package yet either, so still have to wait a while longer.
Life is good.
---
EDIT
Ok, now that I've calmed down enough to communicate effectively, here's a bit more about the UConn program. Yes, it is one of my top choices. There is one other that I am really interested in, so I need to be patient till I hear from them. I've also applied to three other programs that I would be happy to go to, but either the location or the research streams are not exactly what I am looking for. So, this moment in time life looks really good for the next five years.
University of Connecticut
http://uconn.edu/
School of Communication
PhD in New Communication Technology
Program Description: strong
emphases on communication theory & a wide range of research skills. The
goal is to provide students with a rigorous course of study that will prepare
them for careers in the academic, commercial, or non-profit spheres. UConn
Communication Ph.D.s are found teaching and conducting research in
Communication departments, schools of Journalism and Mass Communication, and
schools of Public Health. UConn Communication Ph.D.s are also valued in
industry and government, for their skills in research on mass communication and
new technology effects, advertising, audience analysis, evaluation, and other
areas of communication.
Primary Faculty:
RB: Evolution of human behavior, communication, and social structure. Social development of emotion expression: Overt, nonverbal, cognitive, and physiological aspects. Nonverbal sending accuracy: Gender and personality differences, relationships with right vs. left hemisphere brain functions.
JF: Research on small group communication, with particular attention to intergroup communication and identity formation.
KF: Research in the area of effects of the mass media on individuals. Specific interests include the effects of the mass media on adolescent socialization. Current research focuses on the effects of televised portrayals of sexual intercourse on young people and the effects of different contextual features of violent video games on aggression related outcomes.
KN: how people use computer media, with particular attention to the influence of different types of avatars on the person perception process. Her work also evaluates the extent to which computer media influence people's satisfaction and effectiveness in reaching communication goals.
AW: Dr. Wang researches how consumers or audiences process information. His research focuses on information processing psychology, integrated marketing communications, and Internet advertising.
Research Labs
Alcohol/Media Lab
Emotional Communication Laboratory
Ethnic and Women Audiences Lab and Field
Human Computer Interaction Lab
Media Effects Lab
Holy guacamole, Batman, these have been a doozy of a couple of weeks! The classic sign that I'm sliding down the hill towards exhaustion is when I stop communicating and I hit that point about a week ago. Don't worry - it's nothing bad and nothing that I'm complaining about, just a LOT of life and stuff and happenings.
So... drumroll please... all my PhD applications are finally finished and officially in the mail. For all the stress this process has brought me, it was amazingly anticlimactic yesterday when I mailed the last two.
For those of you who are familiar with the Meyers-Briggs (MBTI) personality inventory, I am a significant "P" which stands for Perceiving. There are four pairs of preferences in the MBTI and they can help explain how and why you operate in the world. In my job at JMU I find them to be very helpful in understanding relationships/skills in the workplace and students' study, social, and work habits. None of the preferences or types are good or bad, they just show how you prefer to make choices, how you gather information, how you gain and expend energy, and how you choose to work/act/behave. If you want to learn more, just google it, it's everywhere. I found a page that does a pretty good job explaining the differences in the pairings, you can see it here.
I am an INTP (Introverted iNtuitive, Thinking, Perceiving) or INFP ((Introverted iNtuitive, Feeling, Perceiving). The T/F is borderline and switches based on the circumstances. The "I" has been getting stronger as I've gotten older. I'm a very strong NP.
Anyway, back to the PhD process and my preference for "P"... P's tend to look at the world as big picture and live in the realm of ideas, brainstorming, and possibilities. Not so much on the "J" tendencies of planning, structure, and organization. Um, yeah... The only thing I can say about applying for PhD programs that is universally true no matter what discipline you are studying is that it requires extraordinary attention to detail, planning, and organization. Sigh...
Each program's application process is different. Some parts are online, some are on paper. Some require GRE's some don't. Some ask you to submit transcripts directly to them, some need to be sent to and submitted by you. Every personal statement requires its own spin. Some require two recommendations, some three, some four. Every deadline is different. Specific pieces get sent to different offices at each school - program of study versus graduate school. So many details to track. So many I's to dot and T's to cross. As a poor little "P" all I can say is Aaaaarrrrgggghhhhhhhhh!
There were many many times I went back over something I thought I had finished only to find yet another piece I forgot or step I skipped. I even forgot to order transcripts from one school that I took one class at over one summer 22 years ago. That mistake could feasibly cut me out of the running for one program I applied to because I missed the application deadline by one day waiting for the final transcript to arrive in the mail. Sheesh.
Well, I am very pleased to say that I finally... I think... have everything done.
Mind you, I started this process back in October when I took a week of vacation to focus solely on the organization and planning process for applying. That week I worked a minimum of 8 hours every single day and got a pretty good jump on things, but it still required many many more hours evenings and weekends in October and November to get things wrapped up.
I imagine there are still things I will need to re-submit or details I forgot. Of course there are. But I'm pretty sure 90% of everything is done. So now begins the waiting. I expect I should know by March which ones I got into and can then focus on the decision process.
So, can I get a Woot Woot? Yippee yahooey and three cheers.
Schools & programs I have applied to:
Carnegie Mellon - Human Computer Interaction
Cornell - Information Science
Indiana Bloomington - Informatics/Human Computer Interaction
Penn State - Media Studies
Quinnipiac (Master's) - Interactive Communications
UConn - New Communication Technology
UMCP - Human Computer Interaction
Any of my neighbors have experience with any of these schools? I'll take any and all advice, feedback, words of wisdom, or "wish I had knowns".
The question I get asked most often is which one is my favorite. I can honestly say I will be happy to go any of these. I actually narrowed the list down from about 20 to this final 7, so all of these are strong programs at schools I would like to attend, with research streams I was excited by.
I included the Master's program at Quinnipiac because it is a program I found really interesting that kept popping back into my brain. I can be somewhat impulsive and so I have learned when it comes to buying things that if I'm still thinking about whatever it was two weeks later that it's a safe bet to buy. Quinnipiac was the same thing - even though it's not a PhD program I kept thinking about it so I feel good about keeping it on the list. It would give me the training to move into a practitioner role in the information science/design/communication/technology world. The PhD programs will give me the foundation to move more into the faculty/researcher roles.
All I need is one "Yes" and I'm on my way. Right now, I'm ok with the waiting. I'm not counting any chickens because from what I understand the decision-making process for PhD acceptances is very unpredictable. So hopefully one of these schools will look at my background and think I'd be a good fit for their program. Ideally I will be able to choose between 2-3. Positive energy, positive energy, positive energy....
Big smiles.
Today was supposed to be my day off anyway, but my original plans fell through. So I slept in extra late for me (10am - woot woot) and have been poking around, avoiding my application files, and feeling guilty ever since.
To be honest, I only feel guilty because I know how frustrated I will be later if I don't make good use of this week. I have plans all day Friday and Saturday, so they are out. That leaves today, tomorrow and Sunday to make some good progress. Once normal life kicks back in next Monday I know I will have a hard time dedicating much time or energy - physical or mental - to the process.
So, maybe some realistic goals will help...
Let's see...
Today I want to:
1) Compile the instructions for all the personal statements into one place;
2) See how much overlap there is and start a rough draft; and
3) Drum up 2-3 people to read and provide good criticism for my personal statement.
Hmmm... I think I can do that.
Go team!
No, I'm not sick.
Perhaps sick in the head, but that's a different story.
I am on vacation this week and have officially started the PhD application process. Yesterday I spent quite a few hours in organizational preparation. Digging through old files to find dusty copies of ancient transcripts. Collecting a variety of office supplies such as file folders, stickies, and a label maker. Finding and bookmarking the online application websites and program application checklist sites. Digging through the kitchen junk drawer to find the GRE report sheet from 6 months ago. Collecting contact information for jobs and folks writing recommendations.
Today I had my GRE scores sent to all the schools I'm applying to and have been busily filling out the online applications. I found a few things online that were very helpful that I thought I'd share...
First, a GPA calculator. The one linked below from Iowa State will calculate your overall and major GPAs for your whole college experience and/or for the last two years. I had to do all four calculations for various applications.
http://www.iastate.edu/~registrar/gpa-calc/gpaCalculator.html
Second, a tool that counts both the number of words and characters. I misread one application section thinking I had 320 words to explain my various jobs. Nope... 320 characters. Do you have any idea how hard it is to narrow something down that far? Of course you do. You've already been there.
http://allworldphone.com/count-words-characters.htm
Tomorrow I plan to get transcripts ordered and get a good start on my personal statement. After that I need to revise my resume, tinker with my writing sample, and get packets together for the people writing my recommendations.
Wow. Written in a list like that it does not seem so bad. I'll come back and revisit that statement in a few days as I'm using the word count tool to revise and revise and revise my personal statement for each school. Fun!
From my good friends at I Can Has Cheeseburger Plz...
I do not know if I can do my day justice.
Best...
Day...
Ever...
For context, you have to understand that I am planning to start a PhD program next fall in programs with names like Information Science, Informatics, Human Computer Interaction, New Communication Technology, New Media, etc. Basically it's people and technology. Information, communication, technology, and psychology. In my world, those four ingredients together make up the best chocolate ever created.
Today, I attended day one of a conference about technology in teaching/education. The programs I am looking at usually have tracks or specializations some of which include health/medical, politics, business, social, and learning.My background is very strong in education and teaching and I feel like it is something in my soul that will always be a part of my life. But in the past 2-3 years I have "discovered" all the social technology out there and have found an area that challenges, fascinates, and intrigues me so I've naturally been thinking I would lean towards the social tracks of the PhD programs.
But today might have changed that because MAN was I having a blast. All day long I could not sit still. I was bouncing out of my seat. I even - true story - gave an "Amen" during one person's presentation. No lie. I am a big geek. I love technology. I love teaching. I love game playing. I love social platforms using technology in creative ways. I loved every moment of today's conference and I know know know know now for sure that I will love every moment of the PhD program. Even statistics.
Wow. Just wow.
My head is going to s'plode.
Some geekiness to entertain you...
I am sooooooooooooooooo happy!