My Ph.D. Program

[DisneyJamieCA]

I was born in 1978 if that is so important.

Get a life if my age is that much of an issue to you. People of all ages struggle sometimes.

She wasn’t questioning your age. She was making a joke that for many of us 1990 feels like the just the other day. To realize it’s 30 years ago is like a slap in the face.

 

[Rockbro]

She wasn’t questioning your age. She was making a joke that for many of us 1990 feels like the just the other day. To realize it’s 30 years ago is like a slap in the face.

I didn't mean it like that. The slap in the face was for something else

Look, I've gone through more loss in the last month than most people should have to in a lifetime. I've fought through it. Joking just isn't my thing right now. I'm sorry if I've offended.

And, one last edit: You people are my friends. I have no family, friends (and now wife) here with me. So, thanks.

And 1990 is the same for me. I graduated hight school in 1996.

 

[prairie_girl]

I didn't mean it like that. The slap in the face was for something else

Look, I've gone through more loss in the last month than most people should have to in a lifetime. I've fought through it. Joking just isn't my thing right now. I'm sorry if I've offended.

And, one last edit: You people are my friends. I have no family, friends (and now wife) here with me. So, thanks.

And 1990 is the same for me. I graduated hight school in 1996.

I graduated in ‘94...

 

[Pyotr]

It's not a makeshift school. It's the University of South Florida. My fellow students were the best. Most of the faculty were great. In terms of resuming studies, I don't have any desire. I'm disenfranchised. I have a very good idea of what I'd like to move on to. I think I'd be happier in this.

In terms of my wife leaving with my dogs, I shaved for the first time in a month and a half, gave myself a high and tight and got back to my old self. So, yeah, things have gotten very bad, but I'm doing what I CAN to turn them around. All I want from USF is a refund for the two classes that I was not able to finish involuntarily. I don't know where the hell this positive attitude came from!

That totally sucks. I complete both my undergrad and masters at the University of South Florida and have nothing but positive things to say about my experiences. What program were you in? Did you speak with the dean? I have never heard of anyone getting kicked out for having different political beliefs before.

 

[Kitty 34]

I didn't mean it like that. The slap in the face was for something else

Look, I've gone through more loss in the last month than most people should have to in a lifetime. I've fought through it. Joking just isn't my thing right now. I'm sorry if I've offended.

And, one last edit: You people are my friends. I have no family, friends (and now wife) here with me. So, thanks.

And 1990 is the same for me. I graduated hight school in 1996.

Still hiding your age, huh .....my oldest graduated HS in 99 and he just turned 40 but that's besides the point. It's just hard to believe what you want us to believe when you're being a tad deceitful on just your age.......I really don't think we would be able to hunt you down if that's what you're worried about, Sean.

Oops edited to add......I thought you were 30; missed the clarification.

 

[VandVsmama]

The OP has every right to want to protect his/her identity and is under no obligation to give his or her first name, age, or any other info like that.

In my & my DH's experience, unfortunately, universities are not always a community in which diversity of opinion and thought is welcome & encouraged. DH learned in his political science class, for example, to only state opinions on a certain end of the political spectrum because whenever he or others stated opinions in class (or wrote about it in essays) on the other end of the political spectrum, the student would be verbally berated by the professor in class and you'd get a terrible grade on the assignment.

I'm totally dating myself here, but I was in grad school during the height of tech boom and took a class in which the professor was talking about the wonders of Web Van. In that class, the professor also loved to go on and on about dumb stuff like "Maybe companies now don't HAVE to have a positive return on investment for their investors."

My internal reaction was, "What. The. Heck? What planet is he on?" Outwardly, I kept my mouth shut because literally ALL of my classmates were eating it up...talking about maybe this is a "new economy" that's not based on money. These were the same people chastising me for not changing jobs every 6 months because the new tech company down the road offered free massages in the cafeteria at lunch time and other nonsense like that. A year later, the tech boom ended with a huge crash.

Sometimes, you have to decide when to pick your battles. And sometimes, yeah, you CAN be targeted in a setting like this just because you don't agree with everybody else.

You'll figure out the color of your parachute. Maybe this is a sign that the PhD academic career isn't meant for you right now. That's ok. You're at a fork in the road right now and you have to decide which way to go. It's ok to not know which way to go next. Sometimes, you have to stay put for awhile figuring out where you want your life to go.

NOT knowing what you want is the first step of figuring it out. Just like recognizing that you HAVE a problem is the first step in solving the problem.

 

[dclpluto]

So sorry. You have seen so very depressed lately. Could it have anything to do with it?

 

[Allison]

The OP has every right to want to protect his/her identity and is under no obligation to give his or her first name, age, or any other info like that.

Of course he isn't. But to offer up 2 different names 1 day apart, unsolicited, is a bit of a headscratcher.

 

[cobright]

May I ask if your is name Matt or Sean? You have said both.

This made me smile. My friend Aisling's brother's given name is Seanan and he goes by Matt. And for the first year I knew her she had me convinced that in Ireland it was common to shorten Seanan to Matt. And I just ate it, like ... why would I doubt it, they call stuff weird things in Ireland sometimes right?

Ten years or so layer I'm introduced someone named Seanan and I asked him if he goes by Sean or Matt. <crickets> After an uncomfortably long pause I just asked it, "They don't really shorten Seanan to Matt in Ireland ... do they?" ... "No ... we don't."

Turns out, my friend's brother's middle name is ... well you know.

I've been burning with that shame for years now and it's funny to see those names together all of a sudden.

Sorry... Random story break over.

 

[LSUmiss]

Hey,

At 10:12 AM today, I received an email from my department chair that the department has voted to dismiss me from the program. I was given no rhyme or reason, but I suspect it is because my views were different from theirs. Now, middle-aged, I'm stuck with starting over with who-knows-what-else. The reason I am posting here is because I need to vent and I can't bear to do it to my family this close to Thanksgiving.

I had another 1.5 years. It's difficult to move from one Ph.D. program to another because they prepare you differently for their comprehensive exams, and you have to pass these monsters to get to prospectus and dissertation. As far as university, it's in Florida.

The thing that bites me is that I had the opportunity to go to the #7th ranked program in the country at FSU, but I chose this school. It's over... no more phd. I have some ideas in mind, but I don't make rash decisions. I need about a week to sit and think.

And to the previous poster, I am not lying about this story. I'm not that starved for attention. Also, this isn't entirely bad. I have been stressing over a paper that I had due on 12/1. I don't have to worry anymore. Additionally, I contacted a prof. that likes me and told him I needed a signature for a late drop to try to get a refund and he said he knew nothing about this even though the chair of the dept. said it was a unanimous faculty decision. Finally, I would have never found a committee for my dissertation, so throwing more money at this would have been a waste.

I’m assuming you have a masters degree if you were working on your PhD. Can you just get a job with degree?

 

[bcla]

I'm totally dating myself here, but I was in grad school during the height of tech boom and took a class in which the professor was talking about the wonders of Web Van. In that class, the professor also loved to go on and on about dumb stuff like "Maybe companies now don't HAVE to have a positive return on investment for their investors."

Yep. Webvan, Pet.com, etc. were seminal moments. For a while I thought that Amazon.com might not survive. However, back then their model wasn't to try and build market share while losing money. I seem to recall that a lot of their early business model was that books would be shipped straight from the publisher to reduce their need to warehouse lots of books. They actually took a while to have a national warehouse network.

But yeah that was a crazy time. There was this radio commercial (maybe E-Trade?) where two buddies were talking about the stocks that they owned. They were talking about reporting losses and how the stock prices shot up as a result. It ended with a guy saying that he read that a company he owned stock in just reported a profit, and his buddy said that it was "too bad".

 

[bcla]

I’m assuming you have a masters degree if you were working on your PhD. Can you just get a job with degree?

Some go straight into a Ph.D program without getting a masters. Some Ph.D programs require getting the masters degree along the way, although I'm not sure if the masters coursework might count towards the Ph.D. I see a lot of people with Ph.Ds who don't list a masters degree, but that might just be an oversight or they just don't think they need to make a big deal out of it.

I've seen people who list that they were Ph.D candidates but who didn't complete it. However, that's not going to be useful if the intent was to go into academia. The degree is going to be a prerequisite.

 

[Rockbro]

That totally sucks. I complete both my undergrad and masters at the University of South Florida and have nothing but positive things to say about my experiences. What program were you in? Did you speak with the dean? I have never heard of anyone getting kicked out for having different political beliefs before.

Yeah, I spoke with Dean Bahr and I'm in touch with the Ombudsman. Bud, as I think I stated before, even if I am abe to return, I am likely going to be unable to put together a committee for my dissertation. Additionally, I may have said this, as well: I spoke to a few faculty who like me and they had no idea that this was going to happen, though, in the email from the chair, it was stated that the faculty decided to dismiss me from the program. There is something underhanded going on and if that is the case, I don't have a desire to be involved in this program. The program is criminology.

I've decided to apply to one more school to see what happens. This school is where I got my Master's and they accepted me twice with a tuition waiver and a $17,500 stipend (which I turned down twice). So, things are going to be up in the air for a while. But, hey, at least I don't have a paper due on December 1st

 

[Starwind]

Yeah, I spoke with Dean Bahr and I'm in touch with the Ombudsman. Bud, as I think I stated before, even if I am abe to return, I am likely going to be unable to put together a committee for my dissertation. Additionally, I may have said this, as well: I spoke to a few faculty who like me and they had no idea that this was going to happen, though, in the email from the chair, it was stated that the faculty decided to dismiss me from the program. There is something underhanded going on and if that is the case, I don't have a desire to be involved in this program. The program is criminology.

I've decided to apply to one more school to see what happens. This school is where I got my Master's and they accepted me twice with a tuition waiver and a $17,500 stipend (which I turned down twice). So, things are going to be up in the air for a while. But, hey, at least I don't have a paper due on December 1st

Even if you decide not to return to the program, you may be able to salvage a neutral or positive parting of the ways, which will serve you better in the future, whether you attempt to continue academic studies elsewhere or in the non-academic world. "Have you ever been dismissed" is not a question you want to have to answer "yes" to.

One thing to look at when you consider another program is what are that institution's rules on transfer of credit. They are what they are, but knowing them in advance will help reduce the shock when they say "you can only transfer this many (low number) credits to apply to your program". Some are more flexible than others. There is also their "residency" requirement, which some universities have gotten away from or never had but some still have for their Doc programs - the amount of time you have to spend in fulltime study, generally "on campus".

Good luck.

 

[ShirikiUtundu]

I would suggest your take your full name out of your CV if you are trying to retain some anonymity as you posted on page 1 of this thread. I would never use my full name on a message board.

 

[littlejimmy]

come on dude. I thought you wanted to remain anonymous. and now you post your cv? all we really want to know is did you drive halfway across the country to pick up your wife yesterday, like you told us you were going to? I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say the whole community board is on pins and needles wondering.

 

[okeydokey]

.

 

[VandVsmama]

You shouldn't be posting your resume on DIS Boards.

 

[TippyThomas]

This is a very confusing thread. I thought you wanted anonymity? I said before that you seemed to have a lot of bad luck but I am starting to think it might be self fulfilling. I hope whatever you are attempting to gain from all of this works out for you. You appear to be struggling for something.

 

[cabanafrau]

.

I concur completely.