ktel

I sleep between 8-10 hours a night and am definitely not constantly on the go. A lot of my work involves long computational simulations though, where you kind of just have to sit and wait for it to be done. Once my code is fully developed I can have a better workflow going, but right now it's very stop and start.

Engineering 3 I like my department, but not its location (isolated from the main campus and downtown of this city) I like my supervisor, but am often not too enthused about the research I'm doing. But I like the CONCEPT of the research I'm doing, just not the process I suppose. So I really enjoy when we have conferences and guest lecturers and whatnot. Lots of pros and cons. I think I will be satisfied when I finish and won't go on to do a PhD, but I don't think I regret coming here.

Yikes. This is the last thing that I would do if I were in his situation. This would ensure that the gossip would spread.

Glad to hear you sent the e-mail asking why he wouldn't write you the letter. It's pretty much a no lose situation, as he was not writing you a letter in the first place. Now you might at least know why.

I really don't see anything specifically wrong with what she's doing. You say you want her to see you "objectively", but that doesn't seem like the real issue here. It sounds like you want some sort of personal (albeit still professional) relationship with her and are annoyed that it isn't happening. For example, why would you divulge personal information to someone like that, especially via e-mail?

There's nothing that you can do but hope that people are rational enough to not listen to gossip. And perhaps take this as a lesson about sharing this story. I don't understand how this became a men vs women thread. There are men that do rape. There are women that falsely accused. Summary of the story? People can do bad things regardless of gender.

It definitely could be a red flag, and is a red flag to me that he wouldn't write you a letter with no explanation why. That implies no close relationship to me. I wish I had better news for you, but your concerns are VERY valid.

I've had some peers who have received papers back from reviewers and they were forced to change all their Canadian spellings to American ones.

Sounds very similar to all the conversations I had with POIs, and I applied only within Canada. I had a several offers from professors, all the ones I specifically spoke to gave me offers. Probably looks good.

I am an engineer, so I definitely know what engineers do, I was just saying that there are jobs other than being a rig pig that you could do with a chemistry degree.

Another letter that shows why grad school is probably not for me. Once I graduate I think I will be out of here, at least for a while. Besides, I don't really follow this notion that you can only do something if you are so passionate all that you can do is focus on that thing. That's a compulsive behavior. That's not healthy. I find a lot of things interesting enough that I could probably spend a career dealing with them, but probably nothing so interesting that I would lose all concept of who I am as a person and other aspects of my life. I realize there are a lot of people like that in grad school, and I think that's part of the reason why I don't like it.

Couldn't you just go into the petroleum field with your chemistry degree? Even engineers receive a LOT of their training on the job. I'm originally from Alberta, and for a lot of jobs that pay in the oil field you don't even need any degree. Something to think about.

I really doubt that order matters as well. I didn't even think of that when I was applying, it obviously didn't matter.

I will note that our health insurance is also similarly bureaucratic. Because there is a somewhat lengthy opt out period, students are not able to make claims against their insurance for several months, while it is sorted out who has asked for coverage and who hasn't. But we are still covered, we just have to pay all the costs up front.

I use my boyfriend's desktop at home and it has a huge screen. I really don't like using a laptop, I much prefer desktops. We also have a tablet that I like to use for reading papers. I also try to avoid working at home but if I need to do some serious reading I just can't get it done in my office

I only tutor, where I control my own hours, but even then sometimes I find my schedule overwhelming. Mostly because it eats into my evenings and weekends free time, but it pays really well and I really enjoy it.

I don't think it's worth mentioning at all. It's also not that uncommon. I was 17 when I started university. There's also some threads around here that suggest not mentioning your age if you're really young. You may be proud that you started college so early, but some adcomms might question your maturity or ability or whatever. You want your work to speak for itself.

My supervisor has no restrictions on when I can take time off or how much time I can take off. I play high level rugby so I am often going away for tournaments and stuff. Every time I ask to take time off he has absolutely no problem with it. I will note that he is a very hands off advisor who I see about once a month and all my work can be done from anywhere, since it's all computational simulations. Since I've joined (Sept 2011) I've taken 27 days off for rugby tournaments, 25 days off to go home and 11 days off for miscellaneous vacations (these include weekends and days where the department would be closed anyways, I'm just going by actual raw time).

I recently started tutoring a number of students. Some of my clients I obtain through a service that I'm a part of, and as such I typically have to hand over up to 1/3 of my hourly pay. I also have a few clients I have found on my own, and hope to find even more. I love it. I love helping students with whatever problems they may be having. It's also an amazing mental break for me and gives me a boost of confidence after a long day of research because it reminds me that I am indeed smart and capable. During midterm season last month I made just over $500.

BEDMAS is how I learned it (Brackets, Exponent, Division/Multiplication, Addition/Subtraction). Weird Americans

I would agree with using Columbia's system. At my school an A+ was only ever a 4.0. Sometimes wish it was a 4.3

I think you're focusing way too much on how long you should be working, rather than the quality of the work you should do. I know some grad students who may sit at their desk for 10 hours a day but frequently gossip, go on Facebook, read the paper, etc. They are "working" for 10 hours but it's certainly not quality. I assume you're pretty early on in your project, which can make it tough to work a lot because you're still feeling things out.

2 hours? You logically know you should be waiting a lot longer before stressing. I know some people (like me, and my supervisor) typically respond to e-mails instantly, others don't. And yes, it was a beautiful day here today. I definitely was not at the office, was working from home and going outside whenever possible.

I don't think the difficulty is in the amount of time, but in the quality of the reference letter. That is what I think is implied in that statement. I would find another letter writer if possible

I have dealt with a lot of anxiety during my time in grad school about feeling like I can't accomplish my work or feeling that I'm not doing enough work. I have a feeling of panic before just about every meeting with my supervisor, yet every meeting so far has been great. He has no problems with my progress that I know of and seems to find the work I've done so far useful and interesting. I assume you've just started. You're barely 2 months in, I don't think the expectation is that you should know everything and have accomplished so much so far. Relax.