rising_star

University specific. I transferred in something like 15 hours from my MA, but I think I could've transferred in more if I'd wanted. Different universities and departments have different rules/regulations on how many courses you can transfer in and then count towards your PhD coursework.

Well, sort of what biotechie said. I did a two year MA and applied to PhD programs during the fall of my second year in the program. So, there was no break for me between MA and PhD.

I just make time to do things outside of grad school. I have several friends that I hang out with that I made through various hobbies. They aren't in grad school, which means they can be good to talk to to get out of the "bubble". One group of friends is my pub quiz friends (we play "Geeks who drink" once a week), another group is through capoeira, so I see them pretty regularly because we train together. I also go to my department's happy hour pretty much every week, which gives me a chance to socialize. I'm at the dissertation writing phase, which is probably even more lonely than being in a lab, so I also make an effort to meet other people for coffee shop work sessions once a week or so.

Definitely email to follow up since they haven't adhered to the timeline they gave you.

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If it involves living animals (humans or otherwise), you need IRB approval. Even if it's just to ask them fill out a 10 question survey.

I use two computers, one laptop and one netbook. I use SugarSync (I can send a referral link if you're interested) to synchronize my most important files (research, teaching, grant applications, financials) so that I can access them both on either computer whenever I need to. There are other similar ish options, including DropBox, Box by Dell, Google Drive, etc.

fuzzylogician is right. If you're working with people, whether that will be qualitative or quantitative data collection, you need to get IRB approval *before* you start collecting data.

stereopticons, I'm actually a bit confused by what you mean about an adjunct being different than being a TA. As a TA, I've taught my own courses four times (responsible for everything including the syllabus and choosing the textbooks). How is that different than being an adjunct?

You need to read about interviews and qualitative research methods. The SAGE Handbooks are helpful in this regard. Then, you're going to need to get approval from your school's IRB (Institutional Review Board) before you actually collect the data, assuming you ever want to be able to use it for a thesis, dissertation, or publication.

Seriously? 4.0 million pageviews? That's nuts!!

For reference, my department's deadline is 1/15 and they're just now making decisions about applicants. Also, it's not uncommon for master's applicants NOT to have interviews.

School name matters but who you worked with can matter even more. My university isn't known for turning out top-notch PhD students that get TT jobs at Research 1 schools BUT my advisor's students are. See the difference?

I was in a similar situation eons ago when I was deciding on a PhD program. I chose to go with what would be School A. I periodically regret turning down the money (mostly for financial reasons) but, I went to a better program, have a better known and connected advisor, etc. And while I don't love the location, I also think that location is only somewhat important assuming it's somewhere you can actually live (ie, if you require a gluten-free diet, they have stores that sell gluten-free products at a price you will be able to afford on your stipend).

The closest equivalent here is a pinned topic, which I just did!

I would save up as much as you possibly can. As AbovetheRim said, some of it depends on your other expenses. I don't have any credit card debt, savings, chronic/long-term health problems, or dependents (no pets, no kids) so I don't need as large of a cushion as some of my colleagues.

Yea, the key is definitely different audiences. I presented two very similar papers based on my MA research about a month apart and I did so for a few reasons. First, the research was done and the thesis was submitted before the talks so I knew I had something solid to talk about. Second, the audiences were totally different since one was a smaller, focused conference and the other was a huge national conference. The conferences were oriented towards different fields, so they attracted different people. It was cool because I got slightly different feedback, which can be helpful if you're going to turn that paper into a manuscript since it gives you an idea of what a reviewer coming at it from a different background might say in his/her critique.

It's usually not negotiable because the number of credits you can transfer in is typically capped by the Graduate School and laid out in its handbook. Now, you might be able to negotiate your way up to whatever the max is but, it's unlikely because they want to train you and you want (or should want) to take graduate seminars with the faculty that might be on your committee.

My advisor moved, I didn't. I had already done my exams and fieldwork, so it didn't make sense to relocate just to write.

Depends on the university. At my MA institution, people took research hours over the summer because we had summer tuition waivers and, if you were a TA over the summer, you were required to enroll a minimum number of units. At my PhD university, we don't get tuition waivers over the summer so no one enrolls for research hours over the summer.

FYI- downvoting doesn't do anything and, more importantly, it doesn't alert us that there is a spammer. Please click on "Report" so that the moderating team is made aware of the spam and can suspend the spammer's account. We can't and don't read every post on here, which is why we have the "Report" function enabled. Thanks in advance!

It really depends on your department. A few years ago, grad students in my dept helped organize a grad student protest to our university's funding cuts. One of our students got arrested (charges were later dropped) for his participation and we actually talked about him as a sort of testament to the importance of our work. Both faculty and grad students showed support for him when this happened. But, YMMV obviously and you know your department culture better than the rest of us do. FWIW, my activism is probably less visible on campus but that's just because I'm involved in some national-level discussions about topics that interest me.

YAY, nehs, I'm glad to hear it's working for you. Once you've written a chapter or big section, then you can go back and add in the appropriate references, see where you need support for your argument, etc.

I have a netbook and an ultrabook. I like them both but the netbook is starting to fail after 3+ years of near daily usage. I also have an external monitor and keyboard, which I view as essential for any serious work. For reference, my netbook is an Asus eee pc and my ultrabook is a Samsung Series 5 Ultra.

Yes, pretty normal.