Recommendations for schools

[Justine+David 218]

David is applying for graduate school at the moment (teaching) and it has been stressful and hilarious getting the recommendations completed...

Basically he has a physics degree, worked at HSBC in IT for awhile, and in his free time he did piano and had a tutoring business.

-His physics professor wrote up a recommendation and told David to have his American wife to read it because he didn't know how much "American" cheese he needed to put in it

-His HSBC boss wrote him one that had to be approved by the department head, which basically got whittled down to 5 lines in which the boss wasn't allowed to say which company they worked for or what the boss' job was, but that David was a member of the nameless team who was good at his job He actually got another professor to do a recommendation so he will probably not include this one.

-His piano teacher is writing one, which I balked at because piano playing is more of a hobby unless it's professional. Not so, says David, as he has passed something called a Grade 8 Examination (virtuoso?? ) which apparently more than half of Britain knows what it means and why wouldn't admissions folks know it? I convinced his piano teacher to actually write what it means since this average non-music-knowledge American has no idea and doesn't want admissions to get the wrong idea.

Additionally, I convinced David after some cajoling that he has to have some volunteer experience in academics here in the states because American applications are about the rounded "whole" person. He was not overly thrilled (said that you only had to do that kind of stuff if you were gunning for medical school in the UK), but seems to be enjoying it now.

Anyone else helping their UK spouse with getting into school?

[Gemmie 142]

I was going to apply to graduate school but decided not to because of the new job offer. But I did find it all quite stressful, I had no idea it would be so frustrating to fill out an application. Some of the websites are a maze of instructions and forms. You'd think that doing the immigration process would've made me immune. Does he need to take a GRE test?

I informed my lecturers that I needed letters of recommendation, but the thing is that some schools wanted an actual letter and others wanted a specific form filled out, which meant I couldn't do anything until I'd looked at the requirements for every school I was interested in (to save sending over a million different documents). Not to mention the expense if you want to apply to more than one school. Some of them wanted over $100 for the application fee!

Good luck with it anyway, I'm sure you'll do fine. My husband was quite useless in helping me, he just nodded and agreed with whatever I said.

[Justine+David 218]

Haha, oh man. He started looking at the program back in February and by the summer started talking to the recommendation folks, otherwise I'm not sure it would have ever been done! Trans-atlantic recommendation planning is no fun because it's not like he can just physically find the person and ask them or bug them about it. His old boss doesn't respond to e-mails efficiently and actually went on maternity leave in August! I'm very happy for her, but she probably doesn't care about work very much right now (and rightfully so!)--something I reminded David about so that he could get the letter in early.

Didn't take the GRE, but something called the praxis which is for teachers. He did pretty well and said it felt great to get such a high score because of the different testing techniques...like getting a 40% is still a pass. I have to admit-I wish the US was tougher on the exams so that getting an A means more.

congrats on the job, btw!

[TBoneTX 45,394]

My husband was quite useless in helping me, he just nodded and agreed with whatever I said.

How is this useless? You obviously married well. The most useful phrase in the English language (besides "Si, man") is "Yes, Dear," si man.

(Partial retraction: Actually, even more useful is: "Anything that you have to say to me, please restrain yourself until the next commercial or official time-out, si man," si man.)

[Nik+Heather 121]

Actually, if the letter from his manager still says it's from his manager, and it's positive, I would definitely include that. The problem with a lot of places in the US is that managers are prohibited from providing any letters like that. On the other hand, maybe schools don't care so much about his professional abilities - and you'll want to save it for when he's looking for a job.....

[Gemmie 142]

Didn't take the GRE, but something called the praxis which is for teachers. He did pretty well and said it felt great to get such a high score because of the different testing techniques...like getting a 40% is still a pass. I have to admit-I wish the US was tougher on the exams so that getting an A means more.

Thanks on the congrats! I guess the praxis is similar to the BA scoring in the UK. When doing a Bachelor programme, a 40% is a pass. And then anything about 70% is top mark / A. I think when the Americans hear that, they assume it must be easy to get an A but I think the grading is a lot more stringent. Hardly anyone in my class got over 70, and when you did, it was pretty fabulous. In comparison to over here where I hear that almost everyone gets high scores.

How is this useless? You obviously married well. The most useful phrase in the English language (besides "Si, man") is "Yes, Dear," si man.

I married a smart bugga'.