St Andrews Lynx

Classes at graduate level aren't designed to be too challenging (unless you go to an ultra-competitive school that is trying to weed out new grad students before Comps). Most grad programs (i) assume that in getting into the program you already have a strong background in the subject (ii) don't want their expensive grad students (whose tuition they are covering) to have their GPA slip too low and get kicked out of the program. Other PhD programs might challenge you more with their coursework...but then again they might not. They also don't last for more than a couple of semesters. As soon as you start the research - which is what grad school is really all about - you will get all the challenges you could possibly want! Either way I don't think "finding the grad classes too easy" is a valid reason to transfer grad school in itself. The fact that you are missing a good PI fit is a more serious issue. And that your entire cohort will be competing for a spot in "one or two" lab groups. It could be the case that other PIs are still waiting to hear back about their grant applications and that more labs will be recruiting students soon. Talk to the PIs you are interested in directly to see if they have spots, if you haven't already. At least that way you won't have to waste your energy speculating.

I would say that most people's research & PI interests shift a little bit between the time they submit their applications and when they start grad school. It is also common for incoming grad students to do a lab rotation and realise that they weren't interested in the PI they thought they were. So honestly, I wouldn't worry. Reach out to the PIs you are interested in to determine if they're taking on students and sound interested in YOU.

The way you've phrased it, the arrangement does sound a little dodgy...but it also not clear how the advisor intends to credit you. In my field if Student A "leads" a project while Student B contributes a smaller proportion, then Student A would be the first author on the publication & Student B would be the second...but Student B could still include the results they produced (and analysis/conclusions) in their dissertation. It also depends on how far removed your skill set is from this student's. For instance, in my field one student would synthesise a potential drug molecule...but the biological testing would often be done by somebody else (a collaborator), as would any computational studies on the reaction mechanism. If somebody's research is 95% focussed on making molecules, they wouldn't be expected to "just learn" how to run complicated computational studies to include in their dissertation. However, if a student can't get their act together to write up a journal manuscript...I don't think it is fair to make another student do that for them. As others have said - talk to your advisor to clarify what credit you will receive for this. Get it in writing, too. If you have your own project then I would still focus the majority of my time on that and keep strictly within the RAship hours for this other project. There isn't anything in it for you if you slave away on somebody else's work, neglect your own independent research...and then end up with little credit for all your hard work.

Ahhh, Facebook privacy settings can control whether posts are visible to 'Close Friends', 'Public' or 'All Friends except....'

I thought it was offensively schmaltzy and tacky. Because I'm cynical and British and find that God Bless America stuff embarrassing. The racial, multilingual stuff I didn't even notice, nor would I have been bothered about it. After living in Switzerland for a year I believe that Multilingual Is Good (learning a new language isn't easy, man!) and the more exposure I have to different cultures, the more enriched I feel...

Snow. F*ckin' snow. Can't they do anything about all the damned snow?! Signed, Everybody on the Eastern Seaboard.

* Advisors don't always know best. Sometimes they change their research interests to a more "glamorous" field that they know little about - or they just give advice that they haven't thought through and won't work. It's perfectly OK to turn around to your advisor and say "I don't think that experiment is going to work because of X" - most of the time their response will be "...Oh...yeah." To continue with your PhD you might have to say to yourself that you will be the one with full responsibility for the project, and become more proactive in planning the project and correcting your advisor. * If your advisor doesn't want to be corrected, then that's a more serious problem. If your advisor repeatedly makes the same mistakes (re. the fieldwork) then that is another cause for concern. * Is your advisor an Assistant (pre-tenure) Professor? He sounds fairly inexperienced. * Your own health is really important. Your own happiness is really important. People often sacrifice a bit of short-term happiness in grad school for long-term gain (better professional opportunities). The question I think you should ask yourself is...how much long-term gain do you think will come from this research group & PhD? And is that worth the current loss of happiness & health?

Or they might have had their paper rejected first time around from the ACS journal, and tried again with a European one, then had better luck.

Sometimes new information comes up after your application is submitted that makes one school less or more appealing. It is also rare that you will be *equally* excited about attending the 5 schools you applied to: I applied to all the places that I thought *could* work out if I attended them, but when it came to the decisions I knew that some schools would work out better than others (because of funding, location, PI, etc). On the opposite side of that coin - there were schools I wasn't initially excited that about when I submitted my application...but after visiting my opinion changed for the better. So applying to a variety of schools is something I would always recommend.

Another possible explanation is that this PI committed to the new PhD student a while back and then told you that he didn't have any (more) funding. Or else a grant unexpectedly came through. Funding situations can change fairly quickly. There is also sometimes Departmental politics at work - I know of an example where a professor said that he only had funding/space to take on x students this year...but then there were a couple of incoming students left without a research group and so he was persuaded to take on x+1, perhaps unwillingly.

It would probably be easier to reply to the "roommate wanted" adverts placed by people who have a house but need someone to fill a bedroom. That way you can visit the house and the roomies at the same time. They've also done the hard work for you in that they've hunted down & secured the house!

I would discuss with your supervisor the possibility of taking the leave of absence and returning, especially if that's an option that they've presented you with. Ask them directly if they believe you should stay in the program. You've described "insinuations" that they think you should leave, but that might be something you're projecting onto them, or that might not be their intention. Until you talk honestly about it you don't know. I know your pride has been hurt as well as all the other things you are feeling. But honestly it might be best for your dignity in the long-term (if they tell you that you should leave the program altogether) that you accept their recommendation and calmly walk away. There's no pride in begging or desperation, especially if the faculty don't really want you in the program. At least that way you're in control of the decision to leave, not the other way around. And you can tell people that you decided not to continue the program, rather than them kicking you out. Hope things work out OK for you!

A little bit of flippancy won't hurt them, I don't think (especially not if you otherwise get along well with them). It's mostly in the tone - if you sound more joking than annoyed then they are unlikely to feel hurt. "Google is your friend." or "I think you could find the answer to that yourself using a Google search - come back to me in 10 minutes if you are still struggling."

Based upon your previous threads about choosing a thesis topic on firstly "Rebutting Ann Coulter" then "Islam & Woman", it sounds like you didn't really know (i) what would make an appropriate thesis topic (ii) how to go about writing a comparative literature thesis (i.e, that it needs to be based off a few pieces of primary literature). You were also changing your mind pretty quickly about what you wanted to write. I can imagine that if your advisor thought you were ill-prepared to write a thesis he might have second thoughts about advising you.

Never. Firstly because I don't think I could, secondly because I really don't want to. Not doing all-nighters forces me to plan my workload out well in advance. That means I have to start tasks the several days before they are due, and maybe wake up a little earlier to tackle them if I'm falling behind. For exams? Well, I'm fine with getting a good night's sleep - even if I'm under-prepared - and settling for a B+. For me, a rested (under-prepared) brain is always better than a sleep-deprived (prepared) one.

I'd try to focus in on a slightly more general theme, rather than a systematic rebuttal of everything Ann Coulter has said about Islam (for a thesis you want a scholarly argument, not a rant). Something like "The Rhetoric of Orientalism as used by the Far Right" or "Misrepresentations of Islamic Women In American Political Discourse". It will also depend on whether you are writing a Masters or a PhD thesis how broad or narrow your topic is.

I've got several thoughts. A. To survive in grad school you need a thick skin and good self-esteem. The place is full of folk with large egos and poor social skills. When people critique your ideas - sometimes very bluntly - it often sounds like they are criticising you as a person. B. Grad school isn't for everyone. And that's OK. If you decide that it isn't working for you and you wish to withdraw or stop at a Masters...you will have shown a lot better judgement and self-awareness than many. C. Taking time to sort out your mental wellbeing is really important. I don't think the "plough on and hope everything will be OK" is going to work out well. Taking a few years out in your mid-20s isn't a big deal if it means you end up happier in your 30s, 40s & 50s. Grad school is always an option. D. There's a whole bunch of problems out there. Some we can't control. Some we can. Some we can't control...but are only temporary. A class taught by an asshole professor will only last one semester. You may not be able to "control" a bitch in your cohort, but you can control your reaction to her comments and how much they affect you. E. Issues such as favouritism are hard to advise about, because they are very subjective. If somebody is a misogynistic asshole then there isn't really anything you can do to change that - just back away slowly. In other cases it does not require much to level the playing field - showing a small amount of interest in their cat photos/niche field might suddenly win you their "favourite" status. I'd always say 'Go ahead and try to win them over...but also be prepared to drop it and walk away'. In your case I would think about the individual issues separately. What things can you do differently that would improve matters? What things are unlikely to change and which you should disengage from? Which problems are temporary (semester-long) and which are going to be with you for the whole course of the Masters? At the end of this semester, will you have any future contact with the unhelpful faculty members, for example? That might help you decide if you want to give it another semester to see if things improve, if you want to continue to get your Masters, or if you want to quit. All of them are valid options.

Depends if I've accumulated enough quarters for the washing machines...

I don't think most undergraduates understand exactly what a TA is - ie, someone who has been thrown into teaching a class with no prior training (their teachers up to university level had degrees in education, they assume that their "professors" have a similar background, I think). I was fairly upfront in telling my students "this is my first time teaching" and I think they were understanding of that. Don't let TA evaluations bother you - they are like, the least important part of your TAing. Course organisers understand how subjective they are. A TA who is viewed as "nice" is not necessarily the most effective one: while an unpopular TA might really push their students to do well in the course.

If you like learning, can't you incorporate it into your research? I find the act of learning about a new sub-field of research, surveying the literature, problem-solving my reactions (why is it that this species isn't behaving in the way it ought to?) and maybe doing some background digging on the theory behind a new instrument is all very stimulating and teaches me a lot. In fact it teaches me stuff better than most classes could! If you really enjoy attending classes, then take a second undergraduate degree or something. A PhD or Masters is about getting out of the classroom and focussing on research. While it is your own money, you want to convince your PI that you are serious about the research project they've assigned you to do. Come across as too interested in classes and they'll think your heart isn't in the project, or that you will be too preoccupied to make satisfactory progress.

Firstly, I'd comment that fast isn't always best - especially if you're new to benchwork. Trying to go fast usually means you end up making mistakes...which then have to be rectified and usually takes twice as long as if you hadn't rushed in the first place. And related to that of course...the more experience you have, the more efficient you become. It used to take me a whole afternoon to run a silica column purification - after many months/years of practice I can get one done in about 2 hours. As I get more experience I become more comfortable running two reactions at once, etc. I know that's a bit of a cop-out answer...but trust me, it's true! For me it's about timing. I'm a morning person, so I'm at my most alert, motivated & focussed early in the morning - so that's when I try to get into the lab and get work done. I will also block off that time early in the morning to ensure I get a good amount of research in. The other key is preparation. I need to be thinking at least a day in advance about the reactions I intend to set up. This is so I can prepare the glassware, check that we've got enough of the reagents in stock, think about when I'm going to set up the reaction (if it's a two hour reaction...can I set it up to run over lunchtime?) and if I can run other reactions at the same time.

I would recommend sitting down and having a serious think about what it is you want to with your career, because it sounds like you aren't really sure. What are the things you enjoy doing and the skills you most enjoy using? There are plenty of jobs out there that involve something like "thinking for yourself", "working with lots of different kinds of people" or "always learning new things". Ignore your family when it comes to making a decision about continuing with the PhD. Their possible mild disappointment is far outweighed by your happiness/unhappiness with the current situation. You yourself know what is in your best interests, stick with that. If you do decide to drop out then don't feel you have to find a perfect solution & job immediately. Look for internships in your area(s) of interest. If being in a city is something that makes you happy, maybe move to a city and take some sort of 9-5 job that allows you to enjoy city life while getting an income. You can always reapply to grad school in a year or two once you've better-figured out where you're going professionally.

I've heard that UChicago Chemistry is a very competitive department. The university itself is located in a less-than-nice part of town, which has affected the quality of some student's experiences there. However...it is hard to tell if the professor was basing his advice on how the school was when he did his own doctorate there, if he was relying on rumours rather than first-hand experience or if he was mis-remembering (and just because 1 person found the experience there rough, it doesn't mean that everyone is going to have identical experiences). And also...doctoral training in most places is sink or swim, to some extent. My advice would be to attend the visiting day and find out for yourself. Talk to all the students - not just the appointed "tour-guides" - observe what the atmosphere is like in the labs. Ask a variety of recent alumni about their experiences. See how you find the place and if you'd fit in there.

The Icelandic Saga Age.