rising_star

Well, you need to tell them that you already have interviews scheduled on those dates but are still extremely interested and would like to plan for an alternate date. You aren't the first person this has happened to and you won't be the last. They know it happens and will be prepared to deal with you not being able to make either the official or the alternate weekends.

I doubt they're going to Google your letter writer to find out their credentials if they don't already know them. It wouldn't make sense unless they think there's something fishy about the letter. The scenarios described by isilya and shadowclaw are different though. If your letter writer is someone known to them (big name in subfield, went to grad school with them, has been on a grant with them, etc.), then that's a different story. The informal call for additional information is talked about fairly often around here and I certainly know it happens. In some cases, those calls extend beyond your letter writers to others in the program that might know you (which is why it's good to be on favorable terms with as many people as possible!). As an aside (just to make your head whirl more), it's possible that the adcom reviewing your application will know this person's (your letter writer's) credentials because they served as a reviewer for a grant the person I applied for or as an outside reviewer on the person's tenure/promotion case. There's, of course, no way for you to know this. Which is probably why you shouldn't worry about this one (but you probably will anyway).

Some systems send out reminders automatically a set number of days before the deadline. The writer may be annoyed but, if it's beyond your control, then it's beyond your control. All you can do is apologize for the number of reminders, which probably isn't worth doing.

runjackrun, Indiana always comes to mind when I think of natural resource policy. So does Wisconsin-Madison (Nelson Institute).

Oh man, there was a really great conversation about this exact issue last year. Eigen, do you remember it? OP, if you can find it, there are definitely some suggestions that have been made about how to manage a situation like yours. Good luck!

National Science Foundation Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grants? But, also, what Eigen said. I know of a handful for the social sciences but they're completely not applicable for the "natural" sciences.

rlywrmn, it's okay to send a reminder one week before the deadline. But, don't lie and say the programs want the letters 4 business days before the deadline. Everyone knows that isn't true, including the people writing your letters, and they may question why you'd be deceptive about this.

I wouldn't include that letter. Include one strong letter of recommendation. The internship should be listed on your CV, so they will know you did it. That will be better than a neutral reference, which could be mistaken as an indication that you were an unmemorable/unremarkable intern (which is not the image you're trying to convey in an application).

You could definitely ask. You could say that you want to use the time to explore the city on your own if you feel weird about telling them the real reason.

Why not ask UCSF if you can interview a different weekend, since you'd already made arrangements for the others?

Sometimes, rather than staring at a blank computer screen, I freewrite. (I actually wrote my MA thesis almost entirely by hand and then typed/edited it later.) I'll also sometimes just make a list of everything that needs to be done for the project, with as many detailed bullet points as I can. That can help because sometimes just writing everything out helps me realize what else I need to do and can get my mind whirling in the right direction. But, as fuzzylogician says, there are times when you just need to take a break. At one point in my third year, I took something like a month-long break from everything except teaching responsibilities. Yes, a month is a long time. But, by the time it happened, I was already over a month behind on things. It was the best thing for my mental health even if it delayed my productivity in the program.

No, they don't remember how stressful it was. Most of them haven't been grad school applicants in a long time. And really, until you have a prof miss a deadline for a national fellowship/grant where letters cannot be late but for which you submitted everything (this has happened, including to me), you don't know what stress is. By contrast, grad school apps where they know they can submit late? Definitely less of a priority when time is crunched, which it is this time of year.

I received this information via email and am posting it in case someone is interested. Please use the contact info below for more information. ============ Master's Student Opportunity at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, CA to understand the impacts of parrotfish grazing in the Caribbean. The Ruttenberg Lab at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo (http://www.marine.calpoly.edu/community/faculty/benjamin-ruttenberg.php) seeks a master's student to work on a project examining the impacts of parrotfish grazing in St. Croix, US Virgin Islands. The student will be based in San Luis Obispo, CA, on the California Central Coast, with some travel to St. Croix required. The team also includes collaborators based in Santa Barbara (UCSB and SB City College). More information about the Cal Poly Biology Graduate Program is available here: http://bio.calpoly.edu/content/grad-degrees The primary goals of the project are to understand the grazing impacts of different species and size classes of parrotfish on benthic communities (including algae and corals) in St. Croix, including some observational and experimental field work and analyses of grazing videos. In addition, there will be opportunities to explore questions related to these issues. Funding for the project includes tuition, costs related to field work, and the student will be able to obtain a stipend as a teaching assistant/lab instructor in the Biology Department at Cal Poly. This is a specific project, and therefore the ideal student would have many/all of the following qualifications: 1. Knowledge of Caribbean fauna, including fish (primarily parrotfish), algae, and corals. 2. Research dive certification and/or extensive dive experience, ideally in the Caribbean. 3. Experience conducting field work in remote locations from small boats. 4. Experience managing students/assistants. 5. Minimum 3.0 undergraduate GPA (higher strongly preferred). 6. Availability to participate in fieldwork in St. Croix during June/July 2015. Interested candidates should email Dr. Benjamin Ruttenberg with a *brief* description of his/her qualifications, interest in the Cal Poly MS program, and the project, as well as a short CV. Application deadline for Cal Poly is Feb 1.

I wouldn't bother printing out papers. You should make yourself a sheet of notes for each professor where you have some bullet points about their research and how it might intersect with yours. You can then use it as a cram/crib sheet at night or first thing in the morning to refresh your memory before you go in. I wouldn't sit there staring at the sheet during the interviews though. And definitely bring a professional looking notebook to take notes in throughout the interview weekend.

agrizz, your situation is quite different from that of the OP, it seems. The lab experience and publications should help outweigh your previous PhD experience. I certainly wouldn't try to hide that PhD experience in your applications though! Someone may still contact your former PhD program and former PI but there's really nothing you can do about that now. Good luck!

The social interaction/meeting people thing really depends on your program. The incoming cohorts in both my MA and PhD programs were about the same size (13-16/year) but the social interactions varied widely. In my MA program, most of us were new to town so we did a lot of exploring the area kinds of things (hiking trip, camping trip, going out to bars and restaurants, going to concerts/shows) that everyone was invited to and about half the people would show up for. We also took a required course together, which helped us bond as well. In my PhD program, only a couple of us were new to the area and everyone else already had partners, friends, etc. established before they began. So, it was harder for those that moved to make friends and connections, though we did connect with one another as the "outsiders". When folks would try to arrange for people to go out for drinks or dinner after required courses, hardly anyone would come. I ended up making great friends in my PhD program but most of them were from outside my cohort and outside my department. Obviously, that took longer to work out but I ended up making some awesome friends by pursuing and getting super involved in a new hobby, which also was great because none of those people ever tried to talk about work.

It's unlikely he's expecting a definitive answer during a Skype conversation. It sounds like this POI wants to get to know you and your interests better (including a potential thesis topic) as well as give you the chance to learn more about him and his lab. The reason I say it's unlikely he'd expect you to make a decision is because it's incredibly unlikely that this POI will have the information you would need about funding to be able to make a decision. After all, they know you won't go without a good funding package and people don't generally make snap decisions like that via Skype (there are exceptions but, again, these are rare).

I would try to take the prerequisites before you take immunology a second time. Having a solid foundation in cell biology and genetics will help you in the long run anyway.

There's definitely no need for an index. You can include an abstract if you'd like, as it's pretty common in the social sciences and "natural" sciences to do so. I think an abstract is less common in the humanities. To me, having the abstract makes sense when your writing sample is an excerpt of a longer piece since it will help the readers understand the overall argument and content of the paper, even if they only have 10-15 pages of it to read.

I wouldn't upload a new SOP with only that correction. It seems like they only want an updated SOP if something important has happened (better grades, publication accepted, grant received). Especially since they'll be sitting side-by-side, the adcom may wonder why you wasted their time uploading the same file twice.

There was a student in my PhD program that had some trouble getting a visa initially. What happened is that instead of starting in the fall, he started in January. His visa was delayed due to area of study and country of origin issues in all likelihood, even though he had previously earned a bachelor's in the USA before returning to his native country for a master's and to work for a while. So, if your visa is delayed or rejected initially, you may be able to negotiate a different initial enrollment date with the institution just like the student in my program did. Good luck!

A lot of what happens in PhD Comics happens to grad students. After all, that's the point, right? There are quite a few about grading student work that are so, so true of TAing, for example (here's one: http://www.phdcomics.com/comics/archive.php?comicid=974 ). As are ones about working odd hours, getting frustrated by your advisor, and clamoring for free food. Is graduate school always difficult, aggravating, or no fun? Of course not! If it were, fewer people would be enrolled. But there are definitely frustrations that go with being in graduate school. Do your best not to let this one be true: http://www.phdcomics.com/comics/archive.php?comicid=124. Or this one. I've definitely done a version of this one: http://www.phdcomics.com/comics/archive.php?comicid=847 And this one is sadly true quite often: http://www.phdcomics.com/comics/archive.php?comicid=1431

Cpoco, it depends on the master's program. Mine required research and writing a master's thesis based on original research I did. It's true that research is less of a focus in a master's program but that doesn't mean it doesn't happen at all. byakkoshe, check the threads on "Contacting a POI" for information on how to write to professors. Basically, you'll want to look for someone that's already doing research with drones and contact them about their current and future research plans. You'll also want to ask them if they're willing to supervise a master's student and if they have funding available to support you as a research assistant. Good luck!

Yugioh, in the USA, most adjunct professors work on semester-long or year-long contracts. Some are not even able to say right now, in January, whether they'll be employed in August, much less whether they can supervise a PhD student. You should not apply to do a PhD supervised by an adjunct in the US. Emeritus professors have retired and generally do not take PhD students since they are no longer full-time faculty.

It's not that you should only mention people with tenure, just that you should only mention those who might be there long-term.