NatureGurl

I've been looking at some CVs for graduating students and assistant professors in my field. Some list the amounts of grants/fellowships they've received. Some do not. What do you think? I won two competitive in-school fellowships this year to support my own research. Do I list the amounts even if they're only in the couple of thousand dollars? What is the practice in your field? I haven't asked my advisor about this yet (I plan to). Although he is cognizant of "getting me ready for the job market," he likes to talk mostly research and ideas, and I'm a few years out from the job market (although it's creeping closer every term, and while I'm making good progress in my program, I do worry about how the job market will look in a few years).

Do you all think there could be any disadvantages coming from a top-ranked program? For example, very high expectations? I know we recently had a candidate who looked great on paper but bombed his job talk. It was so bad that even as a new grad student I could tell he was flailing because he couldn't even answer the simple questions. So, I wonder if other people have that impression of graduates from my program, since we are ranked #1 (U.S. News and World Report) in our sub-specialty.

I worry about that sometimes because my advisor has six doctoral students, and we're at an R1! She spends a lot of time commenting on my work and meeting with all of us one-on-one, and I know she works all the time... nights, weekends, etc. I'm aiming for R1 myself, so I'm concerned about how to balance everything. Luckily, she recently got tenure, so she's not as worried about her job, but to my knowledge, she doesn't have any graduated students yet, so I assume graduating all of us would help her for moving up to full professor later.

Kind of funny that your name is "teletubbie" then.

LOL, hardly! At least, I wouldn't classify myself as one (not even sure I know what being a hipster would entail except that I would consider my younger brothers, who are in their 20s, to be hipsters, and that's based on just a surface-level knowledge of hipsterism... skinny jeans, big glasses, skinny, anti-mainstream culture).

Yep, I went to the big island of Hawaii by myself for four days. Treated myself to a luxury hotel (where they all knew my name, weird), rented a car, and loved the freedom of doing whatever I wanted whenever I wanted. Beforehand, I consulted a travel book recommended by some friends who actually lived on the island and scheduled some planned excursions with a travel company to see Volcanoes National Park and the observatories on the top of Mauna Loa at sunset (otherwise, you'd need a four-wheel drive car). I avoided the crowded touristy areas and was able to spend lots of time by myself (literally) hiking down to a black sand beach, wandering along the shore, or eating dinner by candlelight on the beach. There were other people traveling by themselves, too. I sat next to one on the Mauna Loa trip, and we had great conversations on the drive up and down the mountain. Of course, Hawaii is still the United States, so no worries about travel documents or currency, but it was foreign enough that it felt exotic in many ways. Like, when the plane was descending, the land around the airport looked like the top of a pan of brownies. Lava fields, waterfalls, soft white sand beaches... pretty foreign to me! What I liked best about traveling by myself was how much time I had to reflect, think, and absorb the experience without worrying about appeasing somebody else (or taking care of other people, if you're traveling with children). I would do it again in a heartbeat! Not sure about traveling abroad yet, but I'm meeting all sorts of international friends in grad school, so maybe I will visit them one day and have them show me around.

I love LOTRs and the Hobbit! I read the books in middle school before the movies (and Legolas AKA Orlando Bloom) became popular.

I actually really like hummus, but I hate how people are like "I LOVE HUMMUS" and bring it to every class for snack. Reminds me of this: http://stuffwhitepeoplelike.com/2008/10/27/112-hummus/

^^ Ms. D, I like your tagline (or whatever that is called). That's how I'm feeling right now about this one particular member of my cohort.

Good luck! It worked out in my case since my department had extra funds (again, they officially called it a "summer fellowship," not "moving funds"). But, if you are accepted already, then I think you could ask. As another example, when I was an undergrad, I worked for this professor for a couple of years. Finally, one of the secretaries in the office told me that I should ask for a raise. The thought never crossed my mind. But, I did, and my professor gave me a raise! It's kind of like, you'll never know if you don't ask, and the worst thing that could happen is that they say no.

It was the PhD program director. I suppose you could also try department chair. I wasn't sure about asking, but my friend insisted that I at least try, so I did (during a face-to-face meeting on my prospective student visit), and he said "yes" right there and then! I was pretty shocked at how much they gave, too, since I know that some universities give that same amount for new faculty!

Sorry if this is too late... I asked (on a recommendation from a friend) and they gave me a "fellowship" of a couple thousand dollars for moving costs. Other people in my program didn't get this because they didn't ask. Or, it could be that I had another multi-year fellowship so maybe I was in a different category from others. But, I wanted to let people out there know that this does happen (even if it's rare).

Sometimes I have chosen not to actively participate in class discussions as a sort of silent protest/disapproval of the way the class was being dominated by a few "gunner" students. I speak when I have something to say that contributes to the discussion. Otherwise, I keep my mouth shut and my thoughts to myself.

This is totally me. Glad to know I'm not the only one!

Here's my rant. A fellow grad student friend and colleague unfriended me all of a sudden (online and in real life) without any warning, reasons, or acknowledgement. Really? Are we still in high school? I don't know what I've done to offend this person. And that makes grad school feel weird and uncomfortable because I still have to see this person in class and on campus. And we have lots of mutual friends. I can't imagine that I've said or done something that bad. On the other hand, I don't have the time or energy in grad school to repair friendships gone bad. I'm trying to let bygones be bygones and move on.