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What College or University are you attending, what are you studying and why? - MERGED

I'm doing a Bachelor of Arts, majoring in Criminology at a major Melbourne university. I'm looking to go into law reform or research after my degree! And yeah, drugs and criminal justice-related issues are a huge area of interest for me. Hey, I've done all the empirical research! :p
 
ACriminologist said:
I'm doing a Bachelor of Arts, majoring in Criminology at a major Melbourne university. I'm looking to go into law reform or research after my degree! And yeah, drugs and criminal justice-related issues are a huge area of interest for me. Hey, I've done all the empirical research! :p
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Which university?
 
I'm at the University of Wisconsin-Madison studying Social Work. :)
 
I will begin a masters of divinity in buddhist chaplaincy program this year. Gonna be a great fall :)
 
Buddhist chaplaincy, for a specific organization in mind?


Anyway, came to say, I am a FAILED academic, if anyone has questions. Don't worry, I'm not a seething ball of bitterness and rage at all.

Univ. of California, XXXXX, six years doctoral, biochem & mol. biol., forced out (more or less) with a master's. Alcohol played a role, but not in the way you think.

Focus: DNA recombination, replication & repair, specifically meiotic recombination, pachytene checkpoint proteins . . . but in a genetics lab.

I can tell you what not to do in your future academic career.
 
Scrofula said:
Univ. of California, XXXXX .....
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I'm guessing Davis? I am an alumni of UCSC myself. I was both a student and a toilet cleaner at that fine institution.=D I went to 3 colleges and that happened to be the last, thus the alumni part. It was not my favorite but the campus looked like a National Park.
 
UCSC is a pretty campus, but I don't think they tell prospective students how far away the coastline is, though. That's a looong walk up a big hill. AND mountain lions. And walking around after dark on campus.

And the row of drinking establishments is one of the best I've seen for a college town. Nice dives, different moods, not too frat-y.

Yeah, Davis, undergrad too, didn't want to be too easy with search engines and put it all in one post. Nothing to hide otherwise.
 
Scrofula said:
Buddhist chaplaincy, for a specific organization in mind?


Anyway, came to say, I am a FAILED academic, if anyone has questions. Don't worry, I'm not a seething ball of bitterness and rage at all.

Univ. of California, XXXXX, six years doctoral, biochem & mol. biol., forced out (more or less) with a master's. Alcohol played a role, but not in the way you think.

Focus: DNA recombination, replication & repair, specifically meiotic recombination, pachytene checkpoint proteins . . . but in a genetics lab.

I can tell you what not to do in your future academic career.
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My boss was a bitter alcoholic and tried to force me out with a masters at 5 years despite multiple publications in the top journals for chemistry ....just because i didn't work 16 hrs a day like the chinese ppl. academic research is a fucking nasty world where merit and hardwork and smarts come second to politics and looking like you slave the most. not to mention its legal slavery

Anyways the dean eventually got involved, my boss was denied tenure (due to his personality and alcoholism, not me). He actually had an excellent ppublication record at the place, during his presentation for his tenurshop he got in a fight with the dept chair about what research he had chosen to present, while being told to present different research beforehand because the stuff he presented is garbage despite being his claim to fame.
He moved to a lower ranked university, I got my PhD from the high ranked one. I like to think i played a role in him losing his tenure as when this happened i disclosed all of the horrible things he has said about other faculty including dept chair.

i hate my old boss more than anyone on the planet, he tried to fuck me out of my phd just because he never liked my social personality the fact that i was involved in other activities besides chemistry and I think he was prejudice against me for opening dating black women because he said several racists things about blacks which i disclosed to the dean as well. If I ever see that mother fucker again I don't know what would happen...even though he didn't affect my career I still hold a grudge.

I often check the visiting lecturer schedule and the university near where I live seeing if he's coming and I will confront him, don't know what will happen or if it will come to blows as we are both professionals with stuff to lose. Its unlikely that he would be invited as he is hated by other professors everywhere due to his talking shit about them and their work all the time when he gets drunk. I never got to talk to him after he tried tfuck me because he left the university right after. I was his only PhD from that university, his others in my timeframe quit because of his slave driving and one threatened him with assault and was kicked out of the program. I think he wanted to fuck me just so he didn't have a trail of his failed tenureship left behind.


anyways your post brought up some bad memories so I figured i would share my hellish story.
 
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Ouch.
The lore is that the new professor is a crap shoot. Highly motivated but broke. Energy, for good or bad. Micromanaging AND always busy with grant applications

But if he was a drunk already, he was doomed anyway. Sadly, I imagine losing tenure did nothing to help.

I'd always leaned toward chemistry, but my young brain thought back in 1995 that the "future" meant biochem was more promising, as far as opportunity. Nah. Anyone can use a Qiagen kit, even undergrads if you watch them and then do it for them.

(Problem is biochem industries only exist in pockets, and I am stuck living in a not-pocket.)

ETA: funny, also because I was fascinated with drugs, psychedelics. And that involved neurology. Helped with the biochem part.
 
I think neuroscience and biochem are to most interesting. chemistry is quite boring and lots of manual labor...but it seemed to me like it was more useful broad knowlege to aquire...plus the other obvious benefits ;)
 
Well then, I got the manual labor part right. And the boredom.

But see, right now the more-broad knowledge would be helpful with employment--legit employment. There just isn't a single biochem job in 180 miles. (actually some USDA research, but full post-doc level plant genetics). You understand I can't even teach community college (a master's qualifies, but the economy left plenty of higher levels--probably your old professor, eg.).

But in any case, kind of silly, since there's nothing "broad" in grad school anyway. And I'd make more at McDonald's than as adjunct at a community college.
 
I did adjuncting for a little while...sad how horribly they are treated hours andnmoney wise.sure u make 30 to40 per hour....but then there's grading and waiting around for hours for other classes to begin so it comes out to like ten an hour...it is fun no stress work tho
 
I'd love to get a nice tenured position at a JC. But then, so do a lot of other folks. And remember, professors never retire, they just go emeritus. And live to 110.

I didn't leave Davis on good terms, and so I have one high-praise faculty for recommendation, one that would be just "he's great", and my bipolar professor, who has said she would give high marks for teaching, nothing else; but then, she also hears voices. No offense to any folks here who also do, it's just you aren't always reliable in your statements. And it's been too long anyway. Ship sailed.

But, and kids, listen up! Didn't mention I've already worked corporate biotech in the Bay Area, wet lab too, five years exp., at both a startup and the largest pharma company on the earth. And even made actual money. I was hired before I finished my last class, as an undergrad. But, that was also 1999, and you weren't born yet. But it can happen, that way, the way it's "supposed" to be.

(I tried the temp agencies again, but being far away with a mysterious nothing period on my resume has them spooked.)

Mr. Dreamer, what is/was your field, then, in broad terms? Three publications from a top school with support of faculty over one of their own should have entitled you to a comfy post-doc and tenure-track. Every doctoral student's dream.

Unless it's too painful to keep dwelling. I mean, I know the feeling, my professor succeeded.
 
You should maybe move to San Diego? Too bad the cost of living down there is so high (although it isn't exactly that different in LA or SF).

ATM I'm networking with folks at a couple of the major local hospitals. I'd like to work in a more clinic or public health setting. I'm currently working on a little public health based project, but that's multi-year project now.
 
Moving is tough when you spent all your money trying to avoid having to move back home. Plus I couldn't even drive for five years. I can move, but only once I get the job. As always, you need money to make money.

Chaplain in a hospital sounds . . . rewarding sometimes but extremely stressful. Like the officer who knocks on a parent's door.

I'm curious how you handle different sects, since a Tibetan vs. a Hmong vs. white lady in Berkeley will all be very different in beliefs.
 
Scrofula said:
I'd love to get a nice tenured position at a JC. But then, so do a lot of other folks. And remember, professors never retire, they just go emeritus. And live to 110.

I didn't leave Davis on good terms, and so I have one high-praise faculty for recommendation, one that would be just "he's great", and my bipolar professor, who has said she would give high marks for teaching, nothing else; but then, she also hears voices. No offense to any folks here who also do, it's just you aren't always reliable in your statements. And it's been too long anyway. Ship sailed.

But, and kids, listen up! Didn't mention I've already worked corporate biotech in the Bay Area, wet lab too, five years exp., at both a startup and the largest pharma company on the earth. And even made actual money. I was hired before I finished my last class, as an undergrad. But, that was also 1999, and you weren't born yet. But it can happen, that way, the way it's "supposed" to be.

(I tried the temp agencies again, but being far away with a mysterious nothing period on my resume has them spooked.)

Mr. Dreamer, what is/was your field, then, in broad terms? Three publications from a top school with support of faculty over one of their own should have entitled you to a comfy post-doc and tenure-track. Every doctoral student's dream.

Unless it's too painful to keep dwelling. I mean, I know the feeling, my professor succeeded.
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PM sent
 
I just saw that Washington Monthly does a Top Colleges and Universities ranking. (For the USA*)

What stood out is their different take on rankings from your usual "here's a list of Ivies, plus some top State U's":

We rate schools based on their contribution to the public good in three broad categories: Social Mobility (recruiting and graduating low-income students), Research (producing cutting-edge scholarship and PhDs), and Service (encouraging students to give something back to their country). We also offer our “Best Bang for the Buck” rankings — our exclusive list of schools that help non-wealthy students attain marketable degrees at affordable prices. For the second year in a row, we rank the best colleges for adult learners, the first-ever ranking of its kind.
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Which is how a state school in my hometown got into the top twenty, and my alma mater is ranked above Princeton--there are other ways to evaluate colleges.

In any case, there's some interesting new stats for any nervous American high schoolers or adults looking to "go back".

*(Of course, half the grad students at these schools are international, so it applies to everyone . . . )

Link Again
 
That list was interesting. I had to chuckle that my alma mater which always gets painted as the (pejorative)" UC sjw-factory" right below Berkley (which could not be further from the truth either) did not make the list at all.

My son ended up transferring to Cal State Monterey Bay. Their first group to walk at graduation is always the largest group, comprised of "first in family to attend a university". It is something the school works hard at (recruitment as well as support services and financial aid) and it gave my son a great campus culture to study political economy (real world meets academia!). Because it is relatively new and such an undesirable, unsexy school for CA high seniors that are primarily listening to their older siblings relaying tales of partying at places like Chico, UCSB, UCSC etc., it flies under the radar when people start looking at schools. The teaching staff is far more involved with students, the student body is truly diverse and all majors stress civic responsibility both during education and post graduation. My son worked his way through college which would have put him in a distinct minority at UCSC but at CSUMB it was the more common experience. (He also ruled out UC's higher price tag saying, "If you are paying for prestige in my particular undergrad degree, they just don't warrant it." I always feel like he got a double education--one from attending university and the other from paying for it with no loans, financial aid, nor parental help.

P.S. RE your situation. I wish you could get a JC job (I'd take your class--particularly if it were politics!:D), but they offer so little in terms of full-time employment. I have a lot of friends that went that route and it worked out for the older ones that had their careers mostly in the 70's-90's but the younger ones trying to make it work now are getting screwed.
 
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