librareality - Tumblr blog

[librareality]

yooo how do u email a prof for a recommendation letter?

Hi Professor!

I am in the process of applying to ____ and they require letters of rec. I sincerely enjoyed your classes, and felt that they gave me a particularly good chance to display my strengths, such as ____ [class participation, writing, etc.] and would love for you to write me a letter, if you’d be willing. The due date is ____, and I can send you further instructions for submission later if you accept.

Attached to this email is ____, the piece of work I did in your class which best showcases my abilities, as well as my current CV [or resume]. If you agree to write me a letter, soon I will also send you drafts of my ____ [statement of purpose, personal statement, application essays, other relevant material] for my application to aid in your writing. I am also happy to meet in person to discuss this with you.

I want to stress that this application is quite competitive, so if you feel you will not be able to write me a strong letter then I completely understand - but please let me know. Thank you so much for your time!

Sincerely, ____

—

a few notes:

- you should have all your relevant materials (app essays, etc.) sent to them *at least* a month in advance to give them ample time to write the letter

- thus, your initial email asking them if they’d be willing to write a letter for you should be sent *over* a month in advance. professors are busy

- if you are applying for a really prestigious position/scholarship/fellowship, or grad school, it’s best to have at least a majority of your letter writers be professors (rather than adjuncts or post docs). ideally you’d want them to be full/tenured professors. in lots of cases, especially academic ones, *who* writes your letter matters - not just *what’s in* your letter

- the reason you send them the piece of work you did in their class that you are most proud of is to remind them of your abilities as a student and the quality of the work you produced for them. they have lots of students. sometimes they need a bit of help jogging their memory of exactly what you did in their class.

- the reason you send them your other application materials (personal statement, statement of purpose, CV) is so that they have information to draw from when writing your letter. they know what you’re passionate about, what you hope to do in the future, other experience you have, and can use this information when writing your letter

- on a similar note, this is also why you’d want to list the strengths you displayed in their class

- basically, you want to give them as much information as you can about your strengths, goals, and intentions - give them prompts they can use to write your letter

- the bit at the end about asking for a “strong letter” is important because some professors can only write you mediocre letters (e.g. “this student was always on time to class and gave their undivided attention during lecture” - what does this tell admission committees? well, it tells them that the professor has nothing positive to say about your *academic* abilities and so they’re resorting to other strengths. it’s a polite way of saying “this student was okay, but not spectacular in any notable way”. big red flag for admissions committees.) if all you’re going to get is a mediocre letter, you might as well not get a letter at all

- if the professor you ask accepts, then be sure to send them polite reminders as the date approaches. (i usually send a reminder at the 1-month-till-due-date mark when i send the other application materials, and then again at the 2 week and 1 week marks, and, if necessary, every day after the final 3 days leading up to the due date

—

i know this was a lot, but i remember being in your shoes and being completely lost when it came to applying for stuff so i know how daunting it can be. i figured i’d just throw all this information at you to be of as much help as possible.

for reference, i’ve applied to graduate programs, fellowships, and scholarships. i have been accepted into several of the top 10 graduate programs in my area, as well as received multiple scholarships and a fellowship, and received honorable mentions for some of the most competitive fellowships in the US. i have also worked with the admissions committee at my graduate program to organize multiple informational events for those interested in applying to graduate school and, in the process, have learned a lot about what makes a strong application.

so while you should absolutely take my advice with a grain of salt (different circumstances call for different standards), i do have quite a bit of experience with applications and what makes a strong letter of rec.

i hope this helped! best of luck with whatever you’re applying for :)

[librareality]

notes from isolation

honestly I stopped counting

it's official, exams have begun. my ass is so overloaded with them. luckily my teas are finally here, and while they are lemme share a tip with you

change energy drinks for white tea!!

I mean seriously. It contains about just as much caffeine, but without an extreme amount of sugar and other chemical stuff such as food colorings. My favourite white tea is Bai Mu Dan with a hint of rose petals :)

Stay healthy and safe out there

[librareality]

please don’t jeopardize your health because of your education. i know technically you’ll have studied more if you just stayed up till 3, 4, 5 am. i know caffeine is an energy booster and you wanna chug 3 cups of it a day, and i know that perfecting your skills gives you a better chance at getting a job in the future. but guess what? all of these become pointless because after a while you’re gonna find yourself in the bottom of a pit. 

an insomniac’s brain isn’t the same as a healthy person’s brain, it has altered to suit their toxic, obsessive lifestyle, and the alterations are no positive ones. 

the energy you get from caffeine, comes from it blocking the neurotransmitter adenosine’s receptors, and overtime that can cause irritability, anxiety, rapid heart rate, and even insomnia. 

i want you to remember that no amount of obsessiveness is going to guarantee you good results because at some point, whether you notice or not, it will become unhealthy, and you will lose sense of any standard for yourself, and you’ll only push further and further until you’re burnt-out and can’t take it anymore

take this from someone who started staying up past 3 am in high school and at 20 can go almost 30 hours without sleep. someone who’s struggling to give up stimulants like coffee even if i don’t get any energy boost from it anymore. someone who was so obsessed with earning a language certificate that studied non-stop for 18 months and now has been crashing for 4 whole months because they just can’t anymore.

you won’t get anywhere by hurting yourself, you’ll have many significant setbacks along the way because you did not learn what your studying style is, you don’t know how much time you need to learn a new concept, you don’t know at which hours during the day you’re at your best. you’ll have to actually sit down and figure these things out for yourself and that’s how you succeed by knowing how you tick, but in a healthy way. so please stop with turning bad habits into “aesthetics” i’m sure you’ll regret it later. 

most of us need a restart, please accept that. 

[librareality]

Dark academia aesthetic inspo (x)

[librareality]

hooolyyyyyyy I didn't even notice it's 17th already, when will I acquire any sense of time

[librareality]

notes from isolation - 16.04.2020

it is so friggin late and I'm still working on a contest memorandum. today left me emotionally drained from all the frustration I hade with unorganized, sloppy people working with me. though I love working fron home, it seems like it makes everyone even looser than before. also, I caught up on One day at a time and forced my mom into getting a face mask with me :3

[librareality]

copying out some old book notes into my commonplace book with my fountain pen!

[librareality]

If you feel like you’ve seen this alread, that’s normal. This list of recommendation has been previously posted on my first account @praestantias which has been deleted for some reasons. So here I am, reposting it. 

Hating how elitist and eurocentric the dark academia community became, I would truly appreciate that you leave some recommendation of book written by people of color, for I noticed that I am guilty of the eurocentric part, but I am really want to educate myself and read more non-white books. 

Thank you for your suggestions!

[librareality]

oh, to be the owner of a small bookshop on a cobblestone street with roses climbing the front of the building, where books are stacked about in piles and there’s always coffee brewing and a sleepy shop dog lifts his head at the sound of the door’s bell and thumps his tail against the hardwood

[librareality]

Saturday morning. We are both working on separate projects but we’re sharing a pot of coffee and some mince pies ☕️🖤

[librareality]

it is the 35th day of my quarantine and I decided I'm gonna post some updates on it to keep in touch with reality. otherwise I'll go bananas

but I also don't want to call it x days of productivity challenge, because I find it extremely toxic (maybe I'll elaborate on it in the future, now that we're grounded forever) so from here on it's

notes from isolation

it ain't toxic

it sounds dramatic

it will still motivate me to post more than one note

so that photo here is a lil bit cheating bc I've gone through this portion of my intro to advanced maths a few days ago BUT gotta start a daily note with sth

i've also had an idea about writing a note about un-studyblrable notes (yeeeah) and how they don't mean you can't do anything nice and should envy guys out there

but yeah, I've got two memoranda to write due this evening (aaaaaaa) and an article to make corrections in also due this evening (AAAA) and I'm probably gonna rip myself here

[librareality]

hiii I’m gonna brag here :D. so, I passed a CPE exam and got an A! say hello to your proficient english user. I’m so proud!

[librareality]

why I don’t attend a class when I don’t feel like it

Note: I don’t mean to say that you should absolutely stop attending classes. What I want to tell you is that you are not a failure, a sloth or a cheater if you skip one from time to time, and moreover, you can actually benefit from that.

Here are my words: don’t force yourself to do anything. if you don’t want to go to this class, then don’t, because you are perfectly capable of catching up with the rest of your year on your own. classroom studying isn’t for everyone, for example I’m always overwhelmed with all these noises, colours and lights. if you feel better studying at home (like me) and are sure that an absence won’t have any negative consequences (such as failing a subject automatically), don’t go to this class. get yourself a hot beverage, watch a youtube video and dive into those books.

because, let’s face it, studying on your own, especially at home is:

faster - reading in your head is an obviously quicker process than reading and discussing stuff out loud. if you actually enjoy studying out loud, you can do it on your own too.

actually more effective - if you want to study something thoroughly, you want to have as little distractions around as you can. when you’re at home, no-one asks you about the date, wants to borrow your pencil, flashes their phone at you or chews their awful gum making an unbearable noise. while at home you can also check something that caught your attention very quickly. not to mention the fact that you can eliminate the stress factor. 

I’ve heard a lot of people say that there’s one particular drawback to it and it’s the fact, that you can’t talk to the teacher. However, I think they’re wrong. You can always write an email to your teacher/supervisor or see them at a consultation at your school. They will pay much more attention to you one of these ways, than they would in a rush during your class or in a rush after a class finishes and they still need to go to another building or get themselves a coffee. Also, it will definitely make them remember you.

So - if your period today is an extreme pain in the arse, your SO has dumped you recently or you just feel like spending a day under a blanket, don’t go to this class, because studying at home is just as valid.

[librareality]

I came across a post on reddit that said students were faking mental illness to get out of class because the students were never mentally ill before. The post claimed that only people born with mental illness were truly mentally ill. The poster made it clear they’re not a mental health professional. So they’re not qualified to say if someone is truly mentally ill or not. Only a psychiatrist or psychologist can diagnose someone with a mental illness.

While there might be a few students faking mental illness, I doubt all of them were pretending to be mentally ill. Many mentally ill people are often bullied for their mental illness and face a lot of discrimination finding jobs. And there are mental health professionals who can tell if someone is faking a mental illness. So I doubt that most students claiming to have a mental illness are faking having mental health problems.

Also, not everyone is born mentally ill. There are plenty of people who become mentally ill through traumatic events, the deaths of their loved ones, drug use, brain damage or dementia.

[librareality]

How to know which language level you’re at and tips for improving your skills - divided by proficiency level!

These are all my personal thoughts and experiences from reaching a proficient level in one language, and an intermediate in another!! Feel free to correct me or add whatever you wish<3

 1. A0 - Knowledge Level: Nothing

At this stage, you have absolutely no knowledge or very little knowledge about a language. My advice is to start out slow: the alphabet, pronunciation rules, basic pronouns, colors, etc. At this point, there’s not much you can improve on (Reading/Writing, Listening and Speaking) since you’ve got no actual knowledge to expand upon. Try apps like Duolingo, have fun with translating words such as your favorite animal, plant, or swear word. Don’t put too much pressure on yourself at this point, it’s all in good fun! Try starting a notebook in which you write down new words, (i.e. all of them) or watching a couple videos on Youtube, even if you don’t understand much.

2. A1 - Knowledge Level: Just a Bit

This is when you slowly exit the stage of “is this even a language” and enter the “beginner” world. You know a couple basic verbs (to be, to have, eat, sleep, walk, talk, etc) and some sets of basic nouns/pronouns. (weekdays, months, numbers, colors, objects you find around the house, and all that fun jazz.) You can string together a couple sentences you’ve heard twenty times on Duolingo! Regardless of the fact that “The boys drink milk” is not really something you’ll need in irl conversation, it’s good that you’re getting familiar. By this time, you should start looking into proper grammar rules such as verb terminations, tenses, noun declinations, pronouns, etc. Children’s books are a good way to learn a lot of stuff you’d need. The language is simple and it goes straight to the point, which is the only type of writing you understand, mostly. Right now, speaking is not really an option aside from learning to pronounce words right. Listening, on the other hand, can be done really easily! If you find that Youtube channels in your target language are boring or too hard to understand, music is the way to go. You’re especially lucky if you’re a Disney fan, because most of their songs are easy to remember and are dubbed in a lot of languages, so have fun with finding what fits you best!

3. A2 - Knowledge Level: Basic/Preliminary

Now we’re beginning to see some major improvements. You pick up words easier, you can read almost perfectly even if you don’t understand everything, and you can form really basic sentences by yourself. For speaking, by now you should be able to say your name, the place you live in, and maybe talk about your hobbies or your favorite stuff! It depends on if you’ve worked with a teacher until now or not, so don’t worry if you’re still struggling. As a stepping stone between beginner and intermediate, this level can either be the one when you slowly improve or make a really big jump in your skills. Listening to songs and youtube videos should be easier, but nobody is expecting you to actually comprehend everything. As for vocabulary and reading, learning new words should come more intuitively by now, but again, you’re still in the early days. Writing is still something that can be difficult, so try maybe linking a couple sentences together to make a short story and translating some simple texts. But it you don’t find it difficult, writing a hundred words once a couple days may be the way to go.

4. B1 - Knowledge Level - Intermediate

Finally, we’ve reached the intermediate stage! By now you should be able to hold very basic conversation and reveal information about yourself. You should be able to pick up words you know from the people around you, and understand mostly everything if spoken slowly and clearly to. Reading light books or magazines should be challenging but okay, while you should be able to remember certain words without making too big of an effort. By this stage, active learning is still essential, as you probably have a lot more ahead in your language learning journey. I encourage you to write short stories or several sentences about your day in a diary, depending on what works for you. Watching Youtube videos should be something you do often, because it improves listening skills greatly and gets you accustomed to informal speech patterns and filler words.

5. B2 - Knowledge Level - Advanced Intermediate

Yay! You have officially reached the advanced intermediate stage! You should be able to hold everyday conversation without too big of a headache, listening probably isn’t a breeze for you but still, if you watch a basic youtube video you can pretty much get all of it. YA books should be a regular part of your reading, since they’re not too hard to comprehend but still a good reading exercise. Vocabulary probably isn’t a bother anymore, since you know most of the words you need and the ones you don’t, you hear them once or five times and they stick to you. At this level you can probably write some basic fanfiction, or anything that doesn’t require advanced language skills but is still challenging. Congrats! You’re almost at an advanced level!

6. C1 - Advanced

If you’re still here, means you’ve got a strong sense of dedication. C1 is the advanced level, where you have pretty much everything that you need to comfortably live your life in a country which speaks your target language. If you’re already here and most of the above things seem far, far away to you, then maybe it’s time to get down on some serious reading. Look up local classics, or contemporary works that stimulate your mind. Writing essays, reviews, reports, etc, should be something you are able to do, as you have a good grasp on both formal and informal language, both literary concepts and idioms/phrasal verbs/slang. Listening should come easily, with the ability to understand everything that is spoken to you without worries, as long as they don’t have an alien accent. Speaking, too, should be a breeze by now, with everyday conversation being a piece of cake and more formal conversations not posing too big of a challenge. If you want to reach the next– and last– level, it can be done through thorough preparation of skills that are usually required by exams or for language-related jobs. If you don’t care about either of these, congrats! You learned a language! 

7. C2 - Proficient

Long past fluency, you now wish to master a language, down to its very core and history. Pick up some of the big classics to read. Watch a bunch of those complicated videos explaining complicated concepts. Write poetry and prose,and speak to people in contexts which require more than the average range of vocabulary. If you’re still not satisfied, get a damn teacher. Tumblr can’t help you now.

[librareality]

three things I wish I knew starting uni

1. you don’t have to be ultraproductive to be a good student

every teacher in my high school tried to make it look like the studies are a torture scene filled to the brim with pain and hard work. this kind of thinking made me feel as if I needed to work my hardest since the very beginning of the year and do it on all the subjects, including some basic introduction classes (like history of Polish law). and when I obviously failed at it, I immediately thought I will never be a good student. the truth is, you don’t need to revise stuff every day to do well, at least in the first year. you don’t have to revise any more than you feel the need to. you can do well both studying the whole year and binging through your notes three days before an exam and you are free to choose any studying style that suits your needs.

I’m actually going to write some more about it and the toxic productivity culture.

2. don’t combine your first year at uni with a time-consuming extracurricular activity or another faculty

university is a kind of environment that you probably have never encountered before. even if your high school was super casual about attendance etc., it still doesn’t even remotely compare to the reality of studies. and the point is, you need to get accustomed to these new standards. and the worst thing you can do is making this experience hard and tiring. when I was starting uni I also took up a music school and it resulted in a depression episode in December&giving up on said school. I fell behind in some classes and Iacked the knowledge from the beginning  until the very end of that year. so - make the first year of uni all about yourself by getting to know the environment and your mental&physical limits. you’ll feel much better about all these new standards.

3. you really can talk to the professors, they’re human beings too

I know that in some places the professors try to blur the barrier between them and the students, take them out for a beer etc, but well, in most universities (especially the p R e S t I g I o U s ones) this is not the case and the teachers may seem cold or simply scary. but the thing is, they’re people too. talking to the full auditorium they’re stressed as fuck, self-conscious about their appearance, the way they talk and the way students see them. treating them like the human beings they are (BUT with some basic respect obviously) and not like some heartless monsters will not only make them like you, but also will help you in many hard situations (changing the group you’re going to, postponing your test after a long absence).

-

so this is it my babies, and remember, university is about finding yourself in a place you want to be and unleashing all your inner potential. if it makes you uncomfortable in any way, you’re free to change the faculty, the school or even just drop this and move on, ‘cause none of these makes you a loser. have a happy monday.

[librareality]

professors range from “i’m cancelling class to DJ at an EDM festival” to “if you are .000001s late to my class, I will use the power of God and the Ivy Leagues to ruin you” and there’s really no in between