beanbagchairs

Hopetully, the strange/rude behavior is just a one-time thing. As others pointed out, he may be busy, had a bad day, just received rejection for his paper/grant/whatever. Although, none of these should justify his behavior. After all, it is his job to advise you in course selection.  But professors are also human: they get cranky, annoyed, stressed, etc.

If the rude behavior becomes a habit, then you may want to seek another professor as an advisor.

Yep...my biggest obstacle was CHASING my LOR writers around to make sure they upload their letters ON TIME. Two submitted hours before the deadline. Boy, I was sure I'd have a heart attack.

Sorry FingersCrossedX for copying your title!

I really like FingersCrossedX thread on the "Applications" sub-forum, where he/she asked about dos and donts in preparing one's applications. I'd like to ask current graduate students if you have advice on first-year graduate students, such that we can avoid to make the same mistakes.

I have read the following document and found it  to be useful:

http://www.cs.unc.ed...uma_guides.html
It's written for CS grad students. I am not in CS, but I think it's useful

I also tried to search for similar threads in this forum. I cant find it. Sorry if this question has been asked/posted before.

Whoa, I think previous posters have covered almost all aspects in preparing your applications. I'll just try to add some more in deciding where to go in the case of multiple acceptances:

(1) Wait until you know all of your options (i.e., you have heard back from all of your schools) before making any decision. I realize sometimes it is not possible. Do not decide hastily! This is a big decision of your life. I ended up making my decision towards the end of April 15th.

(2) Visit the schools, talk to current students, talk to professors in each school to get the vibe.

(3) Figure out their placement records. Where do their graduates go. Are the current grads happy with their program? Current grads are usually honest about the current condition.

(4) Try to talk to the current advisees of your PoIs. I did this and it revealed some "disturbing" facts about some of PoIs. In other cases, it confirmed my intention to work with said PoIs.

(5) Follow the money! Go for funded offers, especially for PhDs! You'll work better if you dont have to worry about money.

(6) Seek advices from your current recommenders about which offers to choose.

(7) Figure out the research productivity of current advisees of your PoIs.

(8) Only talk about your applications to those who understands the competitiveness/stress involved in graduate applications. This saves you a lot from feeling stupid for getting rejected or wanting to go mental towards everyone around you :-)

My LOR writers are my MS advisors too. I already gave them gifts after I defended. I am planning to give them mugs too. One prof that I am particularly close with and had a great sense of humor will be getting a mug with the "world's greatest professor" writing on it. He has been more than helpful.

Follow the money You'll thank yourself when you are debt-free.

I don't want to sound like I am complaining, but I actually was a model, and even without wearing any make-up or accessories (which I avoid like the plague), men in my professional area tend to think I am a fashion obsessed air-headed girl who cannot be trusted. My supervisor has even once commented that I was in fact much cleverer than I looked!

I had a similar experience.
I am very fashion conscious: I read fashion blogs/magazines and dress nicely. I dont do it for other people, I do it for myself. It alleviates my mood if I wear something chic. Men (and women, especially!!!) that are not in my cohort  usually underestimate me; but, once they take a class or work with me, doubts are generally disappeared .  Just be yourself.

First of all, I hope your diagnosis is negative.

I know someone who was diagnosed with cancer whilst finishing her PhD. It pushed her graduation back one year, but, she finished her PhD quite successfully. She was able to snatch a prestigious, merit-based, fellowship during the treatment. It did not hold her back, it actually pushed her to strive. What I can remember about her is that she did not lament over cancer. She fought it while working ***hard*** on her PhD. I think working on PhD helped to take her mind of the cancer.

On top of that, she has a kid and a husband to look after to. ...stong woman.
I think she's cancer free now

Since you want a PhD anyway, I think you should go for UMD. It is just not worthed, in my opinion, for taking an unfunded master over a funded PhD offer when your ultimate goal is getting a PhD.

congrats on the admits

Congrats..

I think fuzzylogician covered all already.. I am impressed fuzzy! I am not sure if I can add anything else.

Well, I guess I can tell you this:
My professor always said that "You are the expert of your talk/particular research; you know your research problem better than anyone else. There's nothing to be afraid of when you talk about it in front of a large audience. You are the expert"

That helps me when I was presenting for my first conference.

I am very informal with my former professors/supervisors. but, living with any of them would probably freak me out.
With that being said, I have a friend, a PhD student, who rented a room in a professor's house. They didnt work for the same department at the time, but definitely for the same university. He lived there during the **whole** duration of his PhD program . The professor is divorced, if that even matters.

Weird

I cant image how their dinner conversations would go:
Prof: "Are you defending yet?"
Student: "No, got any hints? or better can you proofread my thesis?"
Prof: "Sure, I'll come over your bedroom to look over your manuscript"

Sometimes it helps you to figure out what you want to do for a career by actually taking up a career you have in mind. If it feels right, then you have found your career of choice. If it doesnt feel right, keep looking.

After getting a BS, I thought I want to have a career in the corporate world. Did that for a year and a half. It turned out that it isnt for me. I went back to school and got an MS. I've been doing research projects/jobs ever since. I am loving it

Good luck, just go with the flow. Dont feel pressured that you have to find what you want to do in life in 24 hrs!

Things I wont miss:
- Colleagues that thinks that I'll never get into a good graduate school (WRONG!!). I got to one of my top choices, which is ranked 7th in the nation.
- Colleagues that questions why I dont apply to straight-up CS programs?
- Colleagues that questions why I only got 3 interviews out of the many programs I applied
- Colleagues that would not believe I got an interview from a top-notch program b/c it is a joint program (with another less prestigious university)? That does not make a program less competitive

I guess, you all got the idea: I wont miss colleagues that were not supportive during the whole hellish application season.

I once attended a speed reading workshop. I did not find it useful. It's very hard to do speed reading in my field (engineering). You cant speed read through a page of equations. I imagine it works for other kinds of readings. I am not sure.

I know that this thread may be just a hidden advertisement; but, I just wanted to share my experience.

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