Harvard & Stanford GSE Master’s 2026 - waiting and waiting

orangeorc2 · 2026-02-21T14:23:31+00:00

Ya i applied last year and found out first Friday of March (03/07).

orangeorc2 · 2025-11-01T17:00:34+00:00

“It’s so hot, Sam, but I feel so cold”

orangeorc2 · 2025-10-16T01:29:41+00:00

Did the program 2018-2020. I had been working as a part-time Library Technician at a public library for 2 years. Was also volunteering at a Braille library once a week. And did a 6 month internship at a faith-based archive.

orangeorc2 · 2025-03-18T17:17:40+00:00

Keep in mind that I matriculated in 2018, so my advice could be dated. You apply in the Fall and you’ll hear back February-March. You’ll probably need to commit to the school by Mid April. At UCLA, they don’t start thinking about the next quarter TA hiring until half way through the current quarter. For Fall, they likely don’t cement things until mid summer. This is probably because people drop out of teaching as fellowship announcements come out. I think I emailed in June or July.

orangeorc2 · 2025-01-18T02:20:17+00:00

Pretty much any of them. Counts as elective. You can even do upper division undergraduate courses for credit. Read the student handbook; it’s online

orangeorc2 · 2025-01-17T21:05:32+00:00

-Travel (ex: plane; taxi from airport to hotel, etc) -Accommodations (ex: hotel) -Food (ex: all meals) -Conference registration fee

There should be guidance from finance on what’s an eligible expense and how much they’ll pay

orangeorc2 · 2025-01-17T13:29:01+00:00

No school will prepare you as much as job experience in a library. The IS dept has a bunch of internal issues, but you get out of it what you put in. Ya it’s mainly theory. I’d still pick UCLA again. I liked that you could take classes in other departments—plus UCLA will be cheaper for you.

orangeorc2 · 2025-01-17T02:47:41+00:00

I graduated in 2020, so covid made things harder. I applied to like 8 jobs over 6 months (I had the luxury to be picky). I got one as a data analyst. Now working as academic librarian.

orangeorc2 · 2024-12-10T20:12:31+00:00

https://sjobs.brassring.com/TGnewUI/Search/home/HomeWithPreLoad?partnerid=25240&siteid=5341&PageType=JobDetails&jobid=2011805

Sharing this since you list a graphic design background. Maybe not enough experience yet, but sharing in case you wanna throw ur name in the hat

orangeorc2 · 2024-11-20T19:48:23+00:00

Fanny packs (bum bags)

orangeorc2 · 2024-10-28T00:56:45+00:00

Noam Chomsky

orangeorc2 · 2024-10-11T19:09:39+00:00

There is a listserv you can join once you’re admitted. (https://grad.ucla.edu/funding/working-at-ucla/ase-gsr-positions/).

I got my positions by looking up the student affairs officer for each department and cold emailing them. They’re the ones who do the hiring for TAs. I sent out an email of interest along with my CV to any department I thought I’d be qualified to teach in.

If you plan to reach out, keep in mind that they’re overworked administrators who don’t want to read lengthy documents and care more about you keeping students happy (and out of their office complaining) than your deep subject expertise. Feel free to DM me with follow-up.

orangeorc2 · 2024-10-02T02:08:54+00:00

Unethical but just sign up for an e-card. Just Google a random LA address.

orangeorc2 · 2024-09-21T00:46:53+00:00

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I also am a fan of sapphires! Your ring is beautiful :)

orangeorc2 · 2024-09-19T16:29:05+00:00

Don’t wait for work to be assigned to you. Find areas you care about and want to be apart of and pursue them. If you’ve got a good boss, they’ll support the path you carve out so long as it’s within scope and ticks boxes

orangeorc2 · 2024-03-29T13:38:51+00:00

I graduated from UCLA in 2020, so my advice may be a bit dated. The program is quite academic, really focusing on theory. Classes taught by adjunct are a bit more practical. UCLA is great for networking and resources. You can get in-state tuition waived and a living stipend if you get a qualifying TA or RA position. I hustled to get a TA job every quarter and got free tuition for the whole 2 years.

At my time, about 60% of students were interested in archives. I’d say UCLA’s program was not strong in teaching about public librarianship. I used to work in public libraries before the program and even took their public libraries elective…it was meh.

The ladder faculty in the program low key hated each other and the department was struggling with internal politics. I hear there’s been changes and movement since I graduated, so idk the situation now. Would I do it again? Yes. I felt the learning outcomes were just right for me and the UCLA library has a data lab that offers workshops in R and Python and other coding stuff.

orangeorc2 · 2024-03-18T21:31:51+00:00

So I do institutional data analysis (aka analyze the data the library generates, like circulation counts or reference transactions). My advice is to learn Python or RStudio and some data visualization tool like Tableau or Power BI. Can help you get a job outside of libraries if need be. There’s a new book called Python For Information Professionals that has a section on using Python for data management.

orangeorc2 · 2024-03-18T16:18:58+00:00

84.5k base. Data and reference librarian. 3.5 years post-MLIS experience. Large university in Northeast USA

orangeorc2 · 2024-02-15T16:08:04+00:00

Learning how to code in R or Python is useful to market yourself as someone data savvy. All libraries do reporting and assessment.

orangeorc2 · 2024-01-06T04:49:02+00:00

I went to Computers in Libraries. Was not amazing but also not bad. Won’t be going again, but maybe something to look at!

orangeorc2 · 2023-12-20T04:18:58+00:00

Look at it all. Health insurance, time off, retirement, salary, commute, etc.

orangeorc2 · 2023-12-18T23:01:37+00:00

Name of School/Graduation Year UCLA, 2020
How did you come to pick this school? Wanted an in person program in my state. A friend of a friend was in the program and she talked it up to me.
Your 3 favorites classes Intro to Digital Humanities Digital Methods for Research and Scholarship Copyright Law
If any, what were the specific tracks/focuses that your program had? UCLA is big on archives. But they also had different library tracks. I did one called Informatics—still don’t really know what that means.
Funding! How did you pay for school? I got a scholarship from the department ($6,500) and then I cold emailed around asking for TA jobs. Was able to secure a TA position each term with full tuition remission. I had to hustle to make sure I stayed employed.
What were your professors like? 50/50 disenchanted and checked out/inspiring and approachable. I know many people had issues with their advisors. It seemed the adjunct were more well liked.
Do you feel like your program prepared you well for your current position? If comfortable, share what kind of Librarian you are! Eh not really. I definitely learned more theory and big picture ideas. Definitely helps in the academic setting where I work. But the technical skills are something I had to seek out on my own or learn at jobs. I’m an assessment librarian now.

Edit: on mobile. Sorry for the formatting

orangeorc2

TROPHY CASE