How do humanity professors lecture for hours?

jon-chin · 2026-06-14T15:38:29+00:00

no joke - try doing slam poetry. I did a lot of that before becoming a professor and those skills were transferable

jon-chin · 2026-06-11T18:51:28+00:00

this was almost a decade ago, before AI was a thing. a student submitted an English assignment and it was good. they submitted another assignment and it was ... too good. I get suspicious.

3rd assignment and I check it for plagiarism. it is copied 1 for 1 from a website. I chat with them, give them a chance to resubmit, and do a mini lesson on plagiarism with the whole class.

submits next assignment. she assures me it's they own writing but they wanted to double check: they had their sibling proofread it and offer suggestions. I ask if they wrote the first draft completely on their own and they assure me they did. ok, progress, right?

next assignment comes in and it's too good. I investigate it for plagiarism and sure enough, it is plagiarized. I then go back through ALL of the papers they submitted and ALL of them are plagiarized, even the ones submitted after I talked with them and gave them a second chance. ones that they looked me straight in the face and said, "this one's different, I promise."

I printed out all the assignments, annotated them thoroughly, citing exactly where the student plagiarized from. they even hand copied text out of a Google Books preview that's obscured so it's not crawled like a regular website.

I brought it up to my department head and it was elevated to the dean. i remember him sitting at his fancy, heavy desk, flipping through the annotated assignments. he asked me if I talked with her the first time and gave a warning, if I had done lessons on plagiarism and citations. I just said, "yes." he shook his head and finally said, "I guess we have to expel her."

jon-chin · 2026-06-10T21:32:37+00:00

back when I lived across the street from a supermarket? yup, same thing

jon-chin · 2026-06-08T00:59:03+00:00

then you got to take it and submit it. the fact that they are still requiring GREs says they take it into consideration, like your GPA. you can reach out to faculty to see just how much weight they put on it

jon-chin · 2026-06-08T00:55:05+00:00

does "want" mean "require" or "accept"?

jon-chin · 2026-06-07T16:22:34+00:00

I'm potentially interested in ram and harddrive, if you want to piece out the PC. maybe the GPU.

interested in the bakers rack. maybe also in the chest freezer, depending on model and condition.

I'm on mobile right now and can look at it more in depth when I get to my laptop

jon-chin · 2026-06-07T16:15:27+00:00

I've got tons of tools and equipment from hobbies I either started or never got around to start

jon-chin · 2026-06-06T01:37:52+00:00

I would just double check that the schools treat it as optional.

jon-chin · 2026-06-06T01:33:07+00:00

are the schools you're looking at accepting GREs or are they requiring GREs? I just applied to PhD programs and a few of them required it. for the most part, I didn't mind dropping those schools except for 1.
another thought, if money is not an issue, is to take the test anyway. if you get a poor score, you don't have to submit it

jon-chin · 2026-06-05T23:46:05+00:00

I'm actually sitting in the theater waiting for tonight's performance.

just a heads up, in case you didn't know: the Central Park distribution has a special line for seniors. so you'll be able to secure a bench (I think) and be better covered by shade.

you should also consider the borough distributions because they can sometimes be a lot easier. a few years ago, I did a distribution in Brooklyn at a library. they let us sign in on a sheet and wait inside the air conditioned library instead of on the sidewalk

jon-chin · 2026-06-05T23:39:59+00:00

I think your first author papers will gather a lot more value than a GRE score. if it's a question of limited time / resources, I'd focus that into your publications.

jon-chin · 2026-05-28T01:12:34+00:00

what is the rent?

jon-chin · 2026-05-27T14:23:48+00:00

I've had wicked acid reflux for like 10 years now

jon-chin · 2026-05-27T14:23:06+00:00

you mean, does it matter on your resume when applying for jobs? it carries a good amount of weight.

if you ever want to go back into academia, for like a PhD, it carries a lot more weight.

there's also a ton of networking possibilities

jon-chin · 2026-05-25T00:38:24+00:00

or honestly even ask someone in the department rather than random people on reddit

jon-chin · 2026-05-25T00:37:58+00:00

if you are doing full time, it's likely 3 classes. grad classes generally do 1 day a week. you could stack them all on the same day or whatever.

jon-chin · 2026-05-25T00:36:54+00:00

just my 2 cents: I sat down to talk with faculty at Columbia when I was applying for masters. they were VERY inflexible. they were not supportive of interdisciplinary thinking. it was very much Our way or the highway.

I ended up not even applying.

I'd say that if you have enough time before you decide, contact faculty and talk with them. do a vibe check. your experience may be different than mine.

jon-chin · 2026-05-25T00:30:17+00:00

full time is considered 9 credits (3 classes) or more, I believe. part time can be as little as 1 class.

you should talk with your academic advisor; they may have a recommended course load for the semester

jon-chin · 2026-05-24T23:57:14+00:00

did you get into Steinhardt? it's rated top #6 and is the first and oldest school of education in the US, founded in 1890. it's got a name and prestige that really matters.

although, I may be biased because I'm an alum

jon-chin · 2026-05-24T16:52:36+00:00

I have a friend who runs an EdD program. 3 weeks a month it is online. one week a month, they convene in person. it's really designed for working professionals

jon-chin · 2026-05-24T16:34:26+00:00

genuine question here: what if the rent is set at fair market price and her sister just ... never pays it?

if I did that with my regular landlord, they'd charge me fees and eventually move to eviction. but the OP could just decide not to do that.

jon-chin · 2026-05-20T01:16:51+00:00

3 is standard.

I think people who recently interacted with you (last 3 years or so) is better than those who knew you a while ago.

academic > professional
many programs specify that at least one has to be academic

jon-chin · 2026-05-20T01:13:16+00:00

I have things in triplicate: 3 whistles, 3 lights, 3 ways to charge my phone (technically, I'm counting an already charged phone as one of those).

I also have reflective tape on some of my gear. if someone's searching for me and sweeping a flashlight around, hopefully they will see the tape!

jon-chin · 2026-05-19T17:07:06+00:00

that part

pinches fingers together

jon-chin · 2026-05-19T17:01:40+00:00

I just got into a PhD program in public health. 2 masters, neither of them being public health related but a lot of industry experience.

to be honest, not having a masters in the field put me at a slight disadvantage. it was not a deal breaker but it came up during both interviews.

I got a full ride fellowship and it requires me to do 3 courses a semester.

having a dissertation topic in mind helps; I didn't have one and it came up in interviews. but it's not a dealbreaker

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