rising_star

I wouldn't mention classes but I would mention research interest alignment with the faculty that teach those courses.

I wouldn't list any of those things in your SOP unless they're relevant for explaining how you arrived at your research interests or the research experience you already have. Instead, include a short (1 pg, maybe 1.5 if you have to) CV with your applications. I assume the Honors College is on your transcript but, if not, you put that on your CV under "Education". That's the same section where you'd list the ESL certificate. Being a member of a club is not really noteworthy so don't bother with that on your CV. You definitely want to put serving as a journal editor, writing s a journalist, and being published on your CV.

Quality over the status of the letter writer, assuming both writers have a PhD.

Another thing in the social sciences (at least in my experience) is that junior grad students often move with faculty if they want to. When my advisor came to our university, he brought along some grad students from his previous institution that were still in the coursework stage and wanted to move. He just moved to a new university and didn't take anyone with him because all of us are in the research or writing phase of our degrees. (Also, yes, my advisor has now moved twice in the last 6 years and he's a full professor.)

I'm intrigued to see how the storm and the related transportation and power issues affect both voter turnout and how Supervisors of Elections handle this election. Any guesses as to what will happen so that voters in hard-hit areas, like coastal New Jersey and Virginia, can vote?

What are you planning to do 40+ hours per week on and why? Because, I think you're expecting too much of yourself. RAs are typically 20 hours/week. Sure, you may have to do more but, 40+ hours in addition to a full course load is A LOT and way more than I've ever heard of...

Weird. When I was finishing my MA, I had to reapply to the PhD program, including getting three recommendation letters. Those letters all came from my MA committee, even though one of the committee members was on the application panel and I was applying to work with the same advisor again. At any rate, based on what you've said, the first professor is the better choice.

Give them a sample, by all means. But also realize that if you're being specific about your topic in your SOP (as you should), they can probably guess where else you are or should be applying based on your interests. And, they may or may not be friends with those folks, which may or may not lead to an informal conversation about an applicant. The relationship *does* start before you've been admitted, whether you see it that way or not. The people you apply to work with will remember your name and may talk to you when they see you at conferences or see your name on a grant application or whatever. I'm still in touch with a few POIs that I decided not to work with and I meet them for coffee at the annual meeting each year. Those are relationships that began before I was admitted and have continued for years since then. Just something to keep in mind.

This is one of those times where your university can really help you. There's probably someone in the Graduate School/College office that oversees fellowships. That person likely has access to and experience with the entire NSF GRFP process. Contact that person and ask your questions, get feedback on your proposal, etc. It will serve you better than asking questions here, especially since you aren't even asking in the main GRFP thread that most people read.

Is it possible, yes. Is it possible if you have other things to do with your life and want all 15 applications to be stellar, probably not. Is it better to submit 10 super-strong applications rather than 15 of varying quality? Probably. But it's a choice you have to make, not us.

I wouldn't bother writing to admissions. They basically expect everyone to waives the rights to their letters and to say that they won't attend without funding. Why do they ask? Because it's helpful for them to know if you might attend without funding, even though many departments wouldn't actually allow this.

Honestly, I wouldn't be able to do that. In the work I do, I deal with sensitive topics that could have repercussions for various communities and, consequently, have not published a lot of the really interesting findings in my data. It's a choice but I'm sticking with what makes me comfortable and doesn't make me feel like a sleezebag. YMMV, obviously.

Seriously! I've been to quite a few weddings of my good friends since I've been in graduate school. In fact, during the first semester of my PhD program, I flew across the country twice in 6 weeks to attend my friends' weddings. My second year, I flew across the country to a close friend's wedding literally one week after attending a conference. Why? Because it was important to me. I wanted to be there. I saved the money from my regular pay for the plane tickets and it didn't impose any sort of undue hardship or force me to eat ramen for months on end. And I am not one of those people with an external fellowship so it's not like I'm raking in $30K/year. I got people to cover my TA classes, worked on the plane, etc. I minimized accommodation costs by sharing with friends and/or staying at someone's house on the couch. You can make this happen assuming you want it to happen. So don't bow out because of circumstances that may or may not exist two years from now. It's also worth mentioning that I have been quite involved in weddings where I haven't actually been in the wedding party. In each of those cases (it's happened 3 times), I ended up helping out a lot because other members of the wedding party couldn't. This included helping plan a bachelor party, folding programs, co-hosting an after party, and generally just being there to do things that people in the official wedding party couldn't or wouldn't. Every time, it has been appreciated, especially since it was a bit unexpected (though really, they should've known since they know me!).

I would mention it. BUT, you are also going to have to outline a plan for how you will acquire the necessary proficiency in the language, particularly since it's uncommon and might not be taught at the schools you're applying to. You could state your intention to enroll in FIU's summer program for Haitian Creole, for instance, or explain that you will connect with some native speakers on campus (name them) who will work with you independently to learn the language.

It depends. It can be both positive and negative. I remember an applicant that visited our department and wanted to work with my advisor. After meeting her, he didn't want to work with her, even though he liked her on paper. And this was before admissions so they just didn't admit her. She wasted hundreds of dollars visiting a program that she didn't even get into. Even before that happened, I always said that people shouldn't visit until they've been admitted. Sure, it might help but, it might not. What if you can't meet with the faculty you want to work with that day because they're out of town, teaching, out sick, etc.? Then it's a waste of a flight, hotel, food. The only exception is if somehow you get offered a paid visit before getting accepted. Then you should definitely go since it's not coming out of your wallet.

Get a master's in sociology first. Or, at least take a few graduate level courses in sociology so they can see that you're serious about this.

There are a lot of good ideas already but I'll throw in a couple more. - global issues/current issues type course where students learn to critically engage with topics important to society - 5-6 semesters of a foreign language or, ideally, 2 - mandatory study abroad in a non-English speaking country or a country in the global South - geography! seriously, learn where places are since people didn't in high school - research, writing, and presenting. basically, a course that combines public speaking and writing to teach different forms of writing and presenting material

virmundi's advice is sound. I want to add that you might want to rethink how you're explaining things if you can't explain them in a way that other people in your lab understand. At some point, you'll be speaking to a broader academic community about your research that largely does not have training in structural biology and it will be your responsibility to make your research comprehensible to them. How you do that is up to you but you'll need to figure it out if you plan to write grants, present at conferences, etc.

MoleMocha, It's hard to give advice about specific people you should read without knowing your area. Send me a PM and I'll see what I can do to help. The advice given to me for my comps was to make sure that I'm not only explaining what other people think or the major trends in the field but also what my take on those debates is and which aspects of those debates my research will address. But yea, it is a bit of academic hazing and it can be difficult when you're used to being able to easily search keywords or tags for that reference but can't recall it off the top of your head.

Okay there are a bunch of separate issues that you've brought up and I'll give you my take on them. Coursework: You don't actually have to take what your advisor tells you and you shouldn't waste your time taking courses that duplicate what you've already learned. To be sure that you already know the course content, check out the syllabus since you're likely to be responsible for those readings for your comprehensive/qualifying exams. If indeed you've already covered that material, take something else that will help you with your research and/or with someone that you want on your committee. For your first semester, focus on taking courses in your department so that you have a solid foundation. Then in subsequent semesters, you can take classes related to your area that might be outside your department. Research: It's your first semester. No one expects you to be bringing a list of ideas and talking points to every meeting. Take this semester to read the broader literature in your area and identify the major areas that scholars are discussing/debating. Read any general lit reviews and take notes so you can reference them later. The best thing you could do is read enough that you can write your own literature review of your area, which will be a solid foundation for the research you decide to do. Try to identify unanswered questions, figure out whether those questions are important, and how you might answer them. Then, put all of this in writing and submit a brief summary to your advisor at the end of the semester. If you have questions along the way, then ask them. But otherwise, there's no heavy research expectations in your first semester, especially if you aren't in the lab sciences. Read, write, refine, figure out what's interesting/new and where the field is heading. If you can do that, you can position your research so that you'll be on the cutting-edge and people will want to hire you when you graduate. Service: That conference organization assistance? That's called service. We all get asked/told to do it, whether we volunteer or get recruited into it. My first semester I had to help my advisor plan/organize a 2 day workshop. I got to meet and wine and dine with several big names in the field in ways that no one else in my department did. Huge boon for a first year PhD student when you've got top scholars willing to listen to your half-hashed out research idea and tell you what you might want to read or where you might consider going with it over a cocktail and some good food. Don't look down on this opportunity and take it for what it is: a chance to meet other scholars in your area, experience with organizing/planning a conference (something you will be doing later in your career on numerous occasions), and the chance to get to know your advisor better. Hopefully this helps. Let us know if you have any more questions. Good luck!

Yes, you're approaching this from the wrong angle. You don't actually need to read the entire paper. Just read the abstract, intro, methods, and conclusion. Also, you can list faculty that you haven't directly communicated with provided you have one POI that you have communicated with and that you know is accepting students. Good luck!

The first year really, really sucks. I promise. (Trust me, I did my MA at one school and am doing my PhD at another so I can confidently say that the first year can suck twice.) If you're excited about your work, then you should be fine. If you're really concerned about your performance, go talk to the professors in office hours and ask them what you can do to improve. One semester isn't enough to make anyone regret having admitted you and you'll be better off if you stop thinking that way ASAP. Good luck!

I would use "Instructor" rather than "Professor" to describe the teaching you're currently doing, unless "Professor" is what it says on your contract. Also, typically academic experience is divided so that your education (degrees you've earned) is separate from the paid work you've done.

Yes, I've dealt with this. One thing you should do is meet with the Disabilities Center on your campus. They will have specific knowledge of how to deal with autistic students, even if you can't discuss that specific student. On our campus, students have to self-identify, at which point you can have a consultation with the Disabilities Center Advisor/Counselor, you, and the student to discuss learning strategies, classroom behavior, etc. In class, the thing I did most often was encourage ze to ask the more advanced questions outside of class (afterward or office hours), to let others ask and answer questions, and to be brief and to the point when speaking.

During my MA program, the person I was dating lived an hour away. One of us made the drive basically every weekend. This was especially reasonable when you consider that there were people that lived in my city and commuted daily to work in my partner's city. That said, I had family and friends living 6 hours away during my MA and only drove to see them for the holidays and in the summer. Honestly, I don't often have totally free weekends with no plans, so that makes me less likely to just drive to see friends or family that live a few hours away. I'd rather spend that time at home, cooking, cleaning, getting work done, etc.