St Andrews Lynx

Gnocchi (mini potato dumplings). They take all of 3 minutes to cook in boiling water. Couscous (usually bought in sachets). Again, very quick. Veggie Stir fry.

I usually keep a couple of jotters. One for 'research scrawlings' that I'll take to meetings with my advisor and write down all ideas/notes related to my research in there. Another is more of a To Do list collection: I'll write up lists of things to do each day/week, record phone numbers/addresses. Basically I try and centralise everything so I don't lose any vital information. I'll also set aside time a little bit of time for planning the week ahead on a Sunday night or first thing on the Monday. I'll sit down with a nice cup of tea and work out what needs to be done and when. The final piece of advice is that (for me) organisational strategies will depend on what "kind" of "disorganised" person you are. If you feel disorganised because you always seem to be losing bits of paper - focus on developing a new filing system. If you feel that you're procrastinating too much - organise your time in a stricter/more beneficial way. Etc.

Well...there is this 1 really accurate way of finding out if someone wants to go out with you or not...

Depends on how long it will be before your first paycheque arrives. Also, the act of relocating is expensive (and unpredictable), so I'm taking plenty more money than I think I need. In the UK you can get "travel cards" from the Post Office which is like a no-frills debit/gift card with US dollars loaded onto them. I will be getting one of those because I'd rather not carry wads of cash about with me.

I think women tend to over-analyse by several factors when it comes to men & romance. From what I've seen it takes a committee of 3-4 to decide which adjective to use in a 2-line text to a crush, or to settle on what colour of t-shirt to wear when an ex says he wants to "meet up to talk".* (Have you ever seen a guy ask his mates: "Hey, this girl I like has just sent me a text with one kiss at the end instead of the usual two - what on earth does it mean!?") Conversely, men on the other hand are - God love 'em - totally useless. Even when there is clearly a level of mutual attraction they aren't necessarily going to do anything proactive about their interest. * OK, I'm exaggerating...but not by all that much. My advice would be to just go and ask him out. Email or text might be better than face-to-face - that way he won't have to feel like he needs to respond *immediately* and as a shy introvert he won't panic/get embarrassed/run away from you. Something along the lines of "I really enjoy your company and chatting to you - fancy meeting up for drinks one evening?" Good luck!

I've been blogging quite a bit in the run-up to my move: what I'm looking forward to about the PhD (Pt 1 and Pt 2) and what the challenges will be (socialising with people once more after some very quiet months). I think my apartment is coming fully-furnished - Ikea will have to wait for a couple of months!

Thanks for the early morning laugh.

It's now less than a month before I move and begin my summer project. Certainly feeling a mixture of emotions - thankfully none too negative. Got unexpectedly excited when I placed an order for my university "linen pack" (towels, sheets, pillow, etc) It's random stuff like that which I'm enjoying a lot.

Like Eigen, I'm one of those unrepentant coffee-guzzling scientists. The first cup of coffee I ever drank (in my 3rd year of university) contained no milk or sugar: ever since I've taken my coffee black, preferably as an espresso (this American preference for filter coffee I struggle with). I don't smoke, drink alcohol, eat meat or take recreational drugs...so I figured I needed 1 half-way decent vice! I agree with Child of 2 that coffee does taste bitter - but it's something your tastebuds get used to. I'm partial to a mocha in winter time, and do drink sweetened ice coffees in hot weather. As a Brit I'm used to drinking lots of instant coffee, which usually tastes more palatable in the UK. The extent of my addiction depends on how close I am to a free coffee machine. Working in industry I was bad because there was a machine just outside my office, I'd be drinking 4 strong coffees a day. That said, I have a strict "No coffee after 4pm" rule, and try to drink more tea in the afternoon. If I go without coffee for a few days I usually feel sleepier, but no headaches or major withdrawal symptoms.

With regards to privacy and opening up. * It's something that varies by culture, by region, by family, by individual. I won't judge someone as "better" or "worse" by what they do and don't share with you. * Different people open up and share things at different rates, and under different circumstances. It might take me a couple of months to a year before I feel happy telling someone something I consider private. Or around another person I will tell them everything about my in the course of a single afternoon. I may clam up when confronted with a direct question, but will volunteer lots if the same question is addressed indirectly. Sometimes it's easier for me to talk about personal things when I'm walking alongside someone instead of sitting adjacent (simply by virtue of the fact that there no eye contact). Folk might prefer to share personal intel over email/blogs/phone conversations etc rather than doing it in person. * Not all people evaluate the quality of a friendship based on the volume of personal info shared. Some of my friendship I value because we have really hilarious banter, others because our life experiences/personalities match. If someone isn't sharing private info with you it doesn't automatically mean that they value your friendship any less. * Not all people make & strengthen personal connections through volume of personal info shared. These people might build their friendships through shared experiences, common interests, etc. I don't have to know everything about a friend to enjoy time their company. * Sharing lots of personal details about yourself does not guarantee that the other person will respond in kind. I could imagine a shy person thinking to themselves: "Gosh, if she's that keen to talk publicly about her own private thoughts & experiences, just imagine what she'll do with mine!" I'm more likely to share personal information with somebody I consider non-judgemental, who I trust to keep private information private.

As a brief & general rule, you should apply to the schools in California that you actually want to attend. Admissions Committees put far less weight onto your "stats" (GRE scores, GPA, type of exams you've passed) than they do on your (i) research experience (ii) perceived fit with the program & faculty.

If you aren't comfortable with being spied on by randoms...don't put the information up on Facebook! The person might well think it is more polite to have a discussion to your face about what's going on (since you presumably see each other every day) than leaving messages via social media. Isn't it kinda weird to be sitting in the same room as somebody but only "talk" online?

It varies from country to country just what is included with the postdoc. Where will you be studying?

I don't think this "reverse snobbery" comes from a vacuum. I think it is less "arrogance" on the less-educated people's part than a defensive response to a previous or ongoing snub against their lack of education. The best approach to alleviating "reverse snobbery" is surely to treat everybody with equal levels of respect & politeness, whether they are a professor or toilet cleaner?

Much sympathy. Leave yourself a week to get/remain pissy, then try to sort this out with your advisor.

I did the same as an11 - my I-20 had the name & address of the head of the university's International Student Centre. The address where I was living on the DS-160 was the university address (given the amount of time I'm going spend at the grad school on a daily basis, it's kinda the truth anyway... )

I would check with an administrator or your advisor first. The information on the website might not be current, or else you might be an exception to some of the stated requirements. Enrolling onto a course at a new school without consulting anyone could lead - in the worse-case scenario - to getting enrolled on the wrong courses and needing the administrators to do extra legwork to sort out the issue. That would count as getting off to a bad start!

Have you tried approaching senior PhD students & postdocs of this advisor and asking for their help? If they've been in the group longer than you they may have picked up some "tips and tricks" for writing dissertations in a way that meets the advisor's approval. Ask if they'd be willing to read & comment on a chapter/short extract of your thesis - repay as necessary.

The only reason I'd end up watching/following American sports is for socialisation purposes: ie, if everybody at school is talking about the baseball league I would want to be able to make knowledge contributions to try and fit in better. I'll see about going to at least 1 baseball and American football game or tailgating party, just to say that I did.

Lacking a car (and indeed a driver's license) I cycle around the place a LOT - although I don't claim to be a bike gear nut. I'm planning to get a bike when I start grad school - probably a hybrid or second-hand road bike (too expensive-looking at it will tempt more thieves). It also depends on the area I live in what type of bike I get. If I'm only 5 miles from campus I won't need anything too fancy to get me around the place. If I end up living 15 miles from campus I'd want a speedy bike for my daily commute.

I consider myself an introvert who likes to keep a lot of my life private. I don't volunteer a lot of personal information: if you ask me how my weekend went I won't be giving you a 30 minute soliloquy on what I was up to. When moving to a new area I factor in 6-9 months to make friends, simply because it takes me that long to start opening up to folk. I also do not necessarily view the people I study/work with as "friends", nor do I assume that I'm going to become friends with them. (Doesn't mean I don't like or don't get on well with them - just that I view our relationship as more of a 'business colleague' one). As an introvert I also dress really scaffily and prefer comfortable, baggy, second-hand clothes to clingy stuff that shows off my breasts. You won't catch me wearing makeup either. It certainly isn't because I'm self-conscious or dislike my body, I simply value practicality higher than personal appearance. Putting on makeup every day is a damn faff, too. So, I don't think it is a sin if there's a girl in your cohort who seems to be that way too. No one should get judged poorly for being an introvert, seeing the world slightly differently & not rushing to become your new best friend. With regards to over-achievement and competitiveness: in a job market over-saturated with PhDs, you do what you can to stand out. Working hard, asking lots of questions to make sure the professors notice you & know that you're thinking critically instead of hiding at the back, going to lots of seminars to broaden your horizons, sitting on committees to network with other academics...I think your colleague is going about grad school exactly the right way. I'd say step back from the friendship a bit if it's making you unhappy: that's kinda the opposite of what a friendship is supposed to do. Spend a bit more time with extrovert folk outside your immediate sub-field.

Every couple of weeks I go onto the website of the largest/most important journals in my field (such as Journal of the American Chemical Society and Journal of Organic Chemistry) and look at the 'Most Downloaded' articles for the past month. This directs me towards exciting papers and keeps me up-to-date with what is currently fashionable in research. Personally, I print out the full article, reading through it several times until I've "got" it. I make a lot of notes in the margins and underline the important bits. On the first page I'll usually write a couple of words indicating what it was I found interesting about the article, or what it's theme was (eg. "Substitutions of pyridyls with Copper reagents"). That helps me find the relevant info again without having to do a full online search again.

If you're having psychological issues/depression in a Masters program then it is very likely they will reoccur during the PhD. I'd advise thinking seriously about how you will cope if the depression re-asserts itself during grad school - it doesn't sound like ploughing on worked as a strategy for you... You can compensate for the low GPA and Masters grades by getting a high score on the GRE...but only to a certain degree. If you undergrad and Masters grades are poor then recruiters will have a hard time believing those marks were "just a one off" and that you're really capable of A grades at an even higher level of education. Taking summer courses or classes as a non-matriculated student might compensate...but of course you would then need to get straight As. I agree that finding a M.S-level research job is hard...but I'm not convinced it will be any easier to secure a PhD-level job. From my experience working in industry I know that M.S entry-level jobs do exist in places like pharma, and the career progression available is decent.

My F1 interview was today at the London Embassy. Things were really slick - from first queueing at the gate to leaving the embassy building with my delivery receipt all took less than 1 hour! I saw two officials who processed my application - the first was a Londoner who typed my details into the system and collated my paperwork. She asked me about my dreadlocks but that was it. Then I went to a second window to speak with an American official who asked a couple of more specific questions relating to my visa (where was I studying just now, how much of my soul I'd sold to the university in question to get the tuition waiver & full stipend...). Whoosh! That was it. I'm now off for a Strawberries & Cream frappuccino to celebrate.