zapster

Some slump-beaters that have worked for me, can't explain why some of them work though!
 
1. Change the time of the day/night you work - really flip it around. For example if you are normally a late sleeper working late into the night, try sleeping early and waking at a weird 4am for a few days, or take a 3 hour nap say from 10pm to 1am and then start working - something you would not normally do. You don't need to persist with this - just do this for a few days, enough to get out of the slump.
 
2. Start a new mini-project, something that might be useful in the long run. Forget about your existing work to bring back the excitement of "starting" something new. Once you're excited enough - get back to reality [ ]. This way, your time-out is not really wasted.
 
3. Work in micro-sized bits - make a list of say half a dozen things to be done, and keep skipping around all of them. It does not even have to be concrete work - just read a bit here and there, think through what needs to be done for a certain task etc. I have no idea why this works (any theories?) but usually gets me going pretty quickly. 
 
4. Find your "switch / triggers" - certain music/TV programs/activities somehow seem to get me into a mood for working. Many have the opposite effect - know which one is which!
 
5. Try to talk about your work, setup lots of meetings or find new people to discuss ideas with. "Socializing" my work or simply talking about it has been the most effective way for me to get out of vacation-mode.
 
6. Try fuzzy's way - this has worked well for me as well - although I have not always had the ability to completely take a few days off.
 
7. Perhaps the most ridiculous one - start thinking about your research and then extrapolate-fantasize it into game changing breakthroughs that will completely rock your field - quite motivating (if not a wee bit embarrassing, but what the heck!)

Some slump-beaters that have worked for me, can't explain why some of them work though!
 
1. Change the time of the day/night you work - really flip it around. For example if you are normally a late sleeper working late into the night, try sleeping early and waking at a weird 4am for a few days, or take a 3 hour nap say from 10pm to 1am and then start working - something you would not normally do. You don't need to persist with this - just do this for a few days, enough to get out of the slump.
 
2. Start a new mini-project, something that might be useful in the long run. Forget about your existing work to bring back the excitement of "starting" something new. Once you're excited enough - get back to reality [ ]. This way, your time-out is not really wasted.
 
3. Work in micro-sized bits - make a list of say half a dozen things to be done, and keep skipping around all of them. It does not even have to be concrete work - just read a bit here and there, think through what needs to be done for a certain task etc. I have no idea why this works (any theories?) but usually gets me going pretty quickly. 
 
4. Find your "switch / triggers" - certain music/TV programs/activities somehow seem to get me into a mood for working. Many have the opposite effect - know which one is which!
 
5. Try to talk about your work, setup lots of meetings or find new people to discuss ideas with. "Socializing" my work or simply talking about it has been the most effective way for me to get out of vacation-mode.
 
6. Try fuzzy's way - this has worked well for me as well - although I have not always had the ability to completely take a few days off.
 
7. Perhaps the most ridiculous one - start thinking about your research and then extrapolate-fantasize it into game changing breakthroughs that will completely rock your field - quite motivating (if not a wee bit embarrassing, but what the heck!)

My way to get out of a slump: allow myself to go deeper into the slump and recognize that I deserve the time off. My logic: I'm not being productive anyway, so I might as well take the time to recover. I try not to work (for a day, two or three, depending on how much time off I can afford myself) and get work completely off my mind. Go away or stay home, sit on the beach or hike, whatever it is that helps you relax completely. It's important to be conscious about the choice to take time off from work, because it's a way of acknowledging your hard work and that you have a right to some sanity. Normally after some real rest I feel refreshed and I can slowly think about getting my head back in the game.  

It is all hitting me pretty fast! one week from now my life will totally change. Leave my $80k job to be a work/study student... Leave my 4br 3000 sq. ft. house to move to 2 br. 766 sq.ft. Apt...leave all friends and family in Sunny Florida to go to snowy Mass! What was I thinking?!?! I was thinking this is going to be the BEST thing that has ever happened to me! Wouldn't change a thing! Just a roller coaster of emotions everyday with plenty to-do lists!

^^^^^
 
Some people also win the lottery. Doesn't make buying a lottery ticket a sound financial decision.

For the top Universities, your GRE Quant score should be 170 or 99%...or as close to that as you possibly can get. Not that people with lower GRE scores dont get in, but just that there are plenty of applicants out there with even these scores that do not. Having said that, GRE is probably nothing more than a low level hygiene factor when it comes to top tier Universities, and by no means "makes sure" that you do get admitted. Having a top profile from your country is a big positive, a fantastic GRE score will also help, but remember that you will be competing against very similar candidates of whom only say 5% or so will get admitted to a particular top tier school. Ensuring strong LORs, SOP and research fit with the programs will weigh far more on your app than a GRE score or even your GPA will. Highlight your top position / ranks etc. - for international students where GPA etc. can be misleading, showcasing that you have been amongst the top percentile in your class can be a big plus. Is there any undergrad or masters research work, thesis, project etc. that you can highlight. Start writing to POIs early with a brief of your profile and research interests (there are many threads on this forum that discuss this) - this will give you a good idea of where you might stand. In your SOP, show that you are conversant with classical as well as contemporary research in your area of interest.
 
Best of Luck!

Here are reasons not to commute:
 
1. You'll find excuses not to go in and commute less and less.
 
2. You'll get a reputation for not being around, which might be a bad thing depending on the culture of your department.
 
3. You'll miss out on spontaneous social opportunities with other grad students.
 
4. You'll miss out on spontaneous interactions with professors.
 
5. Commuting is bad for your health.
 
6. Big city distractions will lower your productivity. 
 
My advice is the opposite of the above. Move to your small town during the early years when it's most important to develop a connection with your department. If you hate it, move to the city after 2-3 years when you're doing fewer classes and networking, and more independent writing.
 
(I come from a department that's very communal and values face time in the office. Departmental culture may vary.)

The white guy keeps repeating himself and the Asian guy keeps twitching.

As he would by getting asked out....don't overthink it !

It is almost completely impossible to predict PhD admissions, but nothing you have mentioned rules you out for these programs. An excellent GRE quant score would be a hygiene factor. Excellent LORs and the right research fit (SOP) would probably be the critical aspects for your application. Good mathematical prowess is often also used as a proxy for strong analytical abilities - perhaps this can be indirectly addressed by asking your LOR writers to talk about your analytical skills. You might want to conduct a bit more research on the type of programs you want to apply to so as to ensure your research interests match that of the department. Try writing to potential POIs well in advance, this helps a lot and gives you a much better insight of what specific departments are engaged in / looking for (as compared to what is available on their websites). If you get all these aspects right, you definitely stand a great chance in all of the above programs.
 
Best of Luck !

Address it head on...the next time you meet him (to discuss research, of course   ), ask him stuff like what he does in free time, where he hangs out, what he does on weekends etc. Ask him out for a movie or dinner if he dose not seem to have 5 dates packed over the weekend.
 
Best of Luck !

seriously - you became a member to post this ?

1. Highlight your Stats courses - these are pretty important. 
2. Address the issues head-on by stating that you would be enrolling for XXXX Maths courses that you expect to complete by July14. Even if this is discounted a bit by any adcom,it shows you are aware of the requirements and they should take you seriously if the rest of your app is great
3. Ensure you max the GRE quant section as far as possible - a weak GRE quant will make it difficult for them to accept your math potential
4. If possible, take the GRE Math subject test - scoring highly here will be a big +ve, but this could be a double edged sword (in case of a poor score), so only do this if you are comfortable with studying the content.
5. Talk about any self-studies you may have done in math (if applicable).
6. Talk about any projects / papers / etc. you have worked on that may have had some element of quantitative skills / stats required.

Address it head on...the next time you meet him (to discuss research, of course   ), ask him stuff like what he does in free time, where he hangs out, what he does on weekends etc. Ask him out for a movie or dinner if he dose not seem to have 5 dates packed over the weekend.
 
Best of Luck !

Behavioral Economics is a very natural overlap b/w Psych and Eco, so a perfectly justified move - but note that there are various routes you can take to study the same basic area from different perspectives and with different implications for your future.
 
Apart from Eco programs, you could also study decision making (and I am excluding OR programs with decision analysis) under some of the foll. programs with different niche areas. 
 
1. Psych /Cognitive type programs: e.g. CMU (Behavioral Decision Research), Caltech (BNS program), UCI (CogPsych), Rochester (Brain & Cog Sci program), UCSD (CogPsych)
2. Business programs: e.g. Rady (BE focus), INSEAD (Decision Sciences), UCLA-Anderson (Strategy track has some Behavioral focus), Duke Fuqua (Dec Sciences), MIT Sloan (Focus on collective intelligence / group decision making),  

I used the same basic mail with the significant tweaks on the reason for contacting the POI including briefly talking about specific areas of their research. However depending on what they mentioned on their web profiles (e.g. specifically looking for students) I would tweak the structure as well and move the contents around. I always ended with a short-form profile / achievements. As fuzzy said, avoid a very standard form mail and telling all the profs. they are your favorite! I realized the POIs within a department definitely talk wrt prospective applicants / queries received. It may also be useful to highlight why you are interested in a specific department in general that justifies why you are writing to multiple POIs within this dept.

In Anthropology we have to read so much, and from experience I can tell you that heaps of reading can also get your eyes really tired, so don't rely on that keeping you alert without the coffee.

You need to elaborate a lot more...try picking up each individual causal effect assumed by the author and examine it by analyzing what the implicit assumptions are for that to hold true, what data might be required to support such a position, and what proof might falsify such a position.

Hi all, 
 
I'm new to the forum (so forgive me if this is not in the right place) but have been trying to find some success stories (or warnings!) about moving to the United States with dependents - for me this is a husband and a child. 
 
I'm doing a Masters in my home country at the moment and am getting decent grades so I figure it might be worth looking abroad for higher ranked PhD programs when the time comes.
 
Anyone out there done it? How do you manage visas, housing, schooling, money(!!!), and everything else?? 

I have actually received communication from schools that they have not "received my scores yet" and they usually "expect postal delivery in XXX days". Also, ETS clearly talks about postal delivery time, and that sending scores outside the US take more time (which should obviously not be the case if this were an electronic process) - I have also experienced this where it took forever for my scores to be sent to a school in UK vs when the US schools received it. Having said this, it is also possible that ETS makes scores available electronically (certainly should be the norm in this day and age if you ask me!!), but some schools only accept scores sent physically?

That's basically what you want to say, but with more details. Name the professors whose interests overlap with yours and explain how. Outline how they might support your research. If there are courses, facilities or collaborations that this program offers, say what they are and why they will help you. Basically, show that you've done your homework about each program, be precise about why each of them would be a good place for you to do a PhD in the area that you're interested in. 

Yes, definitely include such relevant information - you could do this in a CV, or add a sort of appendix sheet at the end of the CV, or some apps have space for "any other information" where you could include this. Additionally, you could also include it into your SOP, if you can weave it into your overall "story".

Yes, definitely include such relevant information - you could do this in a CV, or add a sort of appendix sheet at the end of the CV, or some apps have space for "any other information" where you could include this. Additionally, you could also include it into your SOP, if you can weave it into your overall "story".

Drop all references to childhood aspirations etc. This is probably #1 on the list of common SOP aspects adcoms are tired of hearing.
 
I would suggest starting straight away with your research interests. Unless you have a really unique high-impact 'story', get into the details of your interests straight away, and I suggest you elaborate on these a bit more than what you have.
 
You could follow up on these by then talking about what you have already done, your experiences, and how they link back to your interests.
 
Be more specific about the nature of the "pioneering work at UNT", and how this links in to your interest.
 
Best of Luck !

Mini wine-bottles; vacuum pump storage may help
 
 
Also, don't know enough, but aren't a lot of the economics of wine production are driven by an active trading and futures market? Some of these capture future expected crop trends etc., and I suspect cultural trends are probably "manipulated" by underlying production trends rather than the other way around ?