Tuesdays

So, I just finished my first year of coursework on a PhD two days ago. Expecting good grades on everything, have established good rapport with my advisers and other faculty members, preparing for field work later in the summer, and starting a part time gig as a research assistant to a faculty member I really admire--should be super exciting, right?! But I've been majorly down in the dumps since I turned in that last final paper. All I want to do is eat, sleep, and zone out. I could probably just do that for a while, except that I really need to get my butt in gear as an RA. Anyone else get in a funk at the end of the year? Suggestions on how to break out of it? I think part of it might be that it's the first moment I've had all year to sit back and think about where I'm at, and mostly what I see is that everything I care about that isn't grad school is going to have to be on hold for a few more years. I've got the "who even am I?" sads.

I'm in! So, classes start on Aug 30th, right? When are y'all planning on moving to Prov? I know the area pretty well as I've lived there before, but I'm moving from London this time around. Thinking I'll head over early-mid August to get settled.

I spent a total of 7 years in ithaca between undergrad and sticking around in town. It's my favourite place in the world! The winters can be rough, so invest in a good coat and gloves--but the buildings are all equipped to keep you warm no matter what it's like outside, unlike most places I've lived. The summers are lush and green and lovely with reliable thunderstorms in the late afternoon that cool everything from a sweltering midday to a breezy and comfortable evening. I would say it's not particularly bikeable because of the hills, but it's very walkable. That said, I did have a prof in his 60s who rode to school every day up the steepest hill in town. Most of us thought he was crazy, though.

Hi folks, So I am deciding not between multiple programs, but between a PhD course at an ivy league university with a pretty cushy stipend and staying in industry overseas where I have been for the past three years with a career that is really starting to take off. I believe I could have a good life taking either path, but grad school is the only way to the ultimate goal of teaching at university level, researching, and writing. I've been anticipating the visit day for a while, thinking that the right decision would be obvious when I'd met the profs and current students in the department--but last week I visited and I just feel more confused than ever. Pros of the visit: Beautiful campus, warm welcome, social students, high achieving department with excellent placement rates and nearly all students graduating on time, great support for students and individual attention from profs Cons: Not really an excellent fit academically, though they encourage interdisciplinary work with other departments--they want to do more in my area of study, but that's aspirational and dependent on new hires over the next couple of years. they are in a period of high turnover at the moment, so the department could change a lot and in unpredictable ways. Mostly, though, I was expecting to feel totally at home and right about it, and I don't. It's just a feeling, not really something that's reflected in considering the choice logically. And I don't know how much of it is that I am uncomfortable with the idea of returning to the US. It was like instant culture shock coming back and I feel like such a foreigner! How sure are you all about your choice? How right does it have to "feel" in order to be right?