oopalfrootz

So last night, I got the visit weekend schedule from one university, with everyone visiting the organic section that weekend cc'd. Thought I, "oh how lovely! I'll just email everyone else and say hi, seeing as we're going to be spending a weekend together and then maybe several years". I've just been informed that in America, that's seen as creepy. In Britain, that would be seen as a really positive and friendly thing to do if you're going to be spending a weekend with people, and I was pleased I got in there first as I thought it would show that I'm friendly and outgoing and a person you'd want to look out for - as it would in Britain. No. Apparently it makes me look creepy and weird. How on earth do I rectify this? Wait till I get there and when someone says (they will say, won't they? Or is that not something you do in America either?) "oh, you're the one who emailed us" with or without "like a complete CREEPER" tagged onto the end, then make a joke out of it and say 'sorry it sounded weird; that would be normal in Britain'? Or just live with the shame of no one in my year wanting to talk to THAT girl for the next six years? How on earth was I meant to know?! Thought I'd ask you guys seeing as even though I was in America all summer, I can still get the culture so wrong. Also if anyone has any kind of explanation I might benefit from, I'd be glad (if probably completely mortified) to learn... I've found that cultural norms usually seem completely incomprehensible to an outsider!

Oh wow... that's so bad. Purposely badly shimmed?! I'd never even have thought of that...

Thanks so much for all the tips! I guess I'll see how it goes wrt LA. I'm flying out of LAX, but flexible on whether I'll head that way early or late in the day. ESPECIALLY thanks for letting me know about Veggie Grill - I am vegan at the moment, but after my experience in Illinois, was expecting to have to become vegetarian when I got to America. I'm also one of those vegans who is not a great advert for how healthy it can be as I love my junk food a lot more than I should - looking forward to the place! Heard good things about Verano Place from other people too - for the benefit of any other applicants who may read this. Despite being the only one which provides for families with kids (I think), everyone seems to claim it's the quietest.

I am pretty sure they are true. I'm not in any kind of postition to diss David MacMillan (haha), nor do I want to, or think he's guilty of any form of bad science at all (I don't think he is). But look at the hype that comes from his group for example - that's putting a pretty positive spin on things. Am I incorrect in saying that you can safely determine a single-diastereomer NMR yield over 95% (but not over some larger percentage whose exact value would depend on all kinds of things), but not a dr? With a large dr, you're comparing a big peak to a teeny one which is strongly affected by noise. With an NMR yield compared to an internal standard, you're comparing two 'big' peaks with similar, small, error due to noise. You can never *quite* be sure that an inorganic solid hasn't co-precipitated with your product, right?... (Well, you could, but does anyone go that far with every product they label with a yield?)

Hm. Perhaps you underestimate her. My supervisor took only a few days off when she had her kid, and we didn't lose out on her time. Her group is clearly one of her priorities, or she wouldn't be in this job. She's thought about how you'll be doing wrt this! It's misconceptions like this that lead to sexism in hiring, to be totally honest... don't worry!

<Early apology to admins: wasn't sure whether this belongs in Chemistry or Interviews/Visits forum> Hi everyone! I was accepted to UC Irvine and am visiting on the 15th. I said I'd stay with a current student on the nights of the 14th/15th March, and then spend the day of the 16th in LA *how exciting* before flying back from LAX to London that night! So... I assume it's mostly chemists who will be visiting that day. Anyone want to come and hang out in LA with me?! A couple of online friends have given me some rough pointers of the best places to go. Got to be better than doing it on your own... I'm 21 year old female, nerdy, enjoy organic chemistry, Twitter and animals; just really want to see the city as I've never been there before. In case any of you feel weird asking.

This is a great idea! *goes out and buys some stereotypically British tea... the more Union Jacks and red phone boxes on the outside the better*

Same as geitost; I'm international so they offered before I even mentioned it. This is totally normal AFAIK so don't be worried to ask!

I wouldn't ask! Like woosah said. Trawl this forum for outfit ideas

Cool, hi! I'm going to visit UIUC on 8th-9th March. Champaign is very cheap; I know people there too. Especially compared with Oxford..... Yeah, it all seems fine actually. Now I just have to pick a place... and then even harder, a group..... Are you an inorganicker? (guess)

This is one of the most important things about a chem PhD! Remember to think about how many researchers there are in the building(s) compared to how many spectrometers or other machines. My current department has more NMR spectrometers, but more people - and you have to book two days ahead, as if anyone has any idea in org chem what they will really be doing in two days. There are also autosamplers, but it's not rare that the queue's over 14 hours. The place I worked over the summer, it was an annoyance when you rarely had to wait half an hour for a booking! Fewer spectrometers of roughly the same level, but shared between fewer people.

Hey, don't lose hope yet! I was going mad because I hadn't heard from anywhere, till just a couple of days ago, when I heard from four places pretty much at once. I've still got one to go yet! And I sent off applications fairly early...

I am currently studying for a Master's in the UK, and have been accepted into US unis for PhD studies. If it's somewhere respectable like Edinburgh, Glasgow, St Andrew's or in certain disciplines Stirling, you shouldn't have a problem. The above person is mistaken. Else why do the postgrad classes in one US uni I've applied to have the same content as my 2nd year of undergrad? Remember British undergrad is 3 yr Bachelor's usually, or 4 in Scotland. Perhaps this is true in some special cases. A UK Master's is as different from a US Master's as the PhDs are.

Sounds like that is true - prof clarified to say tuition paid for by dept in Y1 and then from research grant afterwards. It does add up - and looks like in both places I've been accepted to so far, there'll be a reasonable amount left after cost of living, housing etc so I can get flights home and still have some left over. That said, I'm an organic chemist, so in reality I'll never leave. Hey, hope you enjoy Oxford if you come here! It's a very lovely place, and I suspect better for postgrads than undergrads ^.^

Organic for me... I was one of the big bunch rejected on 01/02. Edit: I mean 02/01 in the American system.....

In most places in the US, you seem to be able to choose whether you graduate in 'inorganic' or 'organic' very late in the day. I'm pretty sure you will be fine! When I was on placement in the US last summer, as the new grad students were arriving (UK terms start later) then some of them were applying to labs in totally different areas - some were looking at both organic and physical, or organic and materials, at the same time. While this is, er, bizarre at best, it at least shows that the different labels don't usually mean much when applying. I wouldn't worry!

So one of the places I've been accepted at says on the website that all students will be "fully supported" and that you're being "paid to study". However, when I work everything out from official figures on the university website deducted from what they're paying me... it looks like after a five-year degree I'll be nearly $20,000 down. Which, er, is not possible/ideal. I took this from salary - fees - tax - international tuition fees, which I have to pay. New info suggests I got the tax slightly wrong, but not by more than a couple of hundred dollars. Fellowships (outside or internal) are hard to come by for internationals, according to everybody under the sun. The above deal already includes four terms of teaching... What I'm asking is, can I believe the website where it says I'll be fully supported, or half way through my PhD am I going to find myself down the shitter? (And yes, I will email the dept to clarify. But it's worrying... particularly as I'll need to fly back to the UK every so often and that does not come cheaply at all).

Thanks! Made the call; was decidedly non-stressful. For anyone else wondering, he talked about visit days and amount of reimbursement I could get for them as an international. Not so much of the above, but for this particular place most of that information is given in good detail on the website, so would have been unnecessary anyway.

Hi! I recently found out that I've been accepted somewhere - after what seemed like a long wait (but is probably perfectly normal for an international)! Unfortunately, my silly phone isn't working at the moment - great timing, right - so when the prof tried to call me, he couldn't get through. He asked me to call him back to discuss things. I was wondering what these acceptance-type phone calls usually entail? I'm not sure they're as common in Britain, and I've definitely not experienced anything similar before. I do have a couple of questions I wanted to ask anyway, so that gives me material. I think the hard part is going to be not getting over-excited: first acceptance means I'm definitely going to 'grad school' in America!

Big question - my phone is currently out of action. If any universities try and phone me and can't get through, they will then just email to check - right? RIGHT?! Because this is really worrying me now... I've heard nothing from any of the five places I applied to yet, and I applied in early December. Other people have heard from these places according to this website. I emailed to check whether they'd received my application info, and the ones that have so far responded have it all. What does the wait mean - anything? Apparently my mother has forwarded me a letter from MIT, and my American boyfriend says if you get a letter before email, it means you haven't got in (I'm British & live in England). Is this generally true? (I didn't expect to get in there anyway.)