rising_star

I would go with GW, especially given the difference in funding. Whether or not teaching is a "distraction" from your studies will be largely up to you (how much time you spend on it, how you approach it, etc.). I like to think of teaching as another way to learn (or relearn) the material.

Don't just use LinkedIn. See if you can talk to professors, current students, and recent alums from each program to get a better sense of the career trajectory, internship opportunities, etc.

I do schedule time to write but I do it based on knowing myself and my own habits. Which is to say, that I can edit writing in the morning but I'm generally not very productive if I try to write before 10am. Consequently, I don't even try. Knowing yourself is key when it comes to scheduling writing. To make the most of my writing time, I always have a plan. Some of that comes from being the kind of person who likes to create detailed outlines before I begin writing. Some of it comes from making sure that I leave myself with clear notes/direction at the end of a writing session so it's easy (or easier) to pick it back up. I also set goals for the number of words I want to write or the task I want to complete in a particular session. If I'm in the early or exploratory phases of a project, it might be to write 500-1000 words. But, if I have a clear outline, it might be to complete bullets 2.2 and 2.3 of the outline in a single session. Without goals, I find that my writing expands to fill the available time (and then some!).

Spend a day completely unplugged (no internet, no TV, etc.). I try to do this once a week, though it doesn't always happen. I find it helps me focus on things I want/need to do (whether that's cleaning and laundry or reading a book for fun), which really helps with burnout. Vacations or a road trip to visit a non-academic friend can also help with burnout. Yoga, meditation, regular exercise, etc. are a great idea for a more regular way to prevent burnout. If you're already in the midst of it, then triage is the way to go. Give yourself a few days without doing any work, then do a self check-in to see where you are.

They'll ask for all of your transcripts with your application so they will see all of your grades (and thus the GPA from your Pharm.D. program will be seen and could be a factor in any admissions decision).

Yes, I've seen situations like this. It's entirely up to the new school and will probably depend on what funding they still have available. They may have given your offer and funding to someone on their waiting list already. Were I in your shoes, I would not contact the new school yet. Rather, I'd wait to talk to your prospective advisor because they may have inside information on the funding situation at the new school and whether it would be possible for you to join. Until then, I wouldn't worry about it (though I realize that's easier said than done!).

When in doubt, go with the funding!

Is English your first language? My sense is that a strong writing sample is far more valuable than a higher AWA score.

I would do the Fulbright. If you haven't signed a contract, then you haven't committed to the school yet. I view Fulbright as a life changing experience.

Can you say more about your research interests @ClassicalEducator? I ask because I know of various researchers who have studied things like the history of African-American education from within an African-American studies program, for example.

When you apply, people will ask for the transcripts of every institution you've attended so they will see the marks from your MA. You don't say what area you want to go into or anything about your research experience so it's difficult to say what options are open to you as you proceed. One thing you may want to do is take time off before pursuing additional graduate work to gain "real world" experience, which can be advantageous in the application process.

One B+ isn't going to matter. I honestly don't know why academic jobs even bother asking for your transcript but that's a separate issue... See also:

Ummm... if you enjoy doing your own research and want to make a career of it, you may very well need to do the PhD. Check out the CVs of researchers in your field and/or do informational interviews with them to be sure. Also, I just want to share something. When I started my PhD, I had no interest in or plans to teach after graduation. Now, I teach and I love it. Could I see myself doing it forever? No, but I think that's true of just about anything given how diverse my interests are. Is it fun for right now? Most of the time, yes. My point is that your ideas about what you want to be doing can change, especially as life and the job market change around you. Keep your options as open as possible until you figure out how to position yourself for your dream job.

There's a difference between not being willing to buy your car today and throwing good money after bad. As stated above, my car is a 2001. Would I buy it today? No. But am I throwing good money after bad? Nope. My car hasn't needed much other than routine maintenance in the almost ten years I've owned it. That does mean I've done things like have the oil changed, purchased new tires when needed, had the timing belt changed around 75K as the owner's manual specifies, etc. There have been a couple of other repairs related to the age of the car (links that rusted, a thermometer that got stuck and wouldn't work, etc.) but none of those repairs has been more than $300. The main reason I wouldn't buy my car today is because I have more money now and would want something newer. That said, my mechanic is confident I could put another 50-75K miles on the car with nothing other than routine maintenance between now and then. I spend less on my car in a year than I'd spend on car payments for 3-4 months. To me, that means it doesn't make sense to buy a new car even though I wouldn't buy this exact car today (even though I love my car).

A few things come to mind. 1) Your choices only narrow if you want them to and if you let them. Remember that. Many PhD students think they've totally killed their chances at getting a job because the academic market sucks and the hyper-specialization of the PhD means they don't have the broad set of skills employers may seek. Right now, you've avoided that. Try to think of the positives and all the potential doors available to you, rather than just the negatives. 2) The PhD is never really closed. There were people well over 40 when they started the doctoral program at my institution. And, you know what? It was fine. They brought valuable experience to the classroom, succeeded, and found jobs after graduating. The idea that you can't start grad school after working for a while is completely insane. I'd say that until the last recession, it was actually more common to find people who had been out of school for several years then returned than it was to find someone who went straight from BA to PhD. 2a) In addition, realize that the tone of the last line I quoted above suggests a negative attitude toward older students who return to pursue a PhD. Drop that ASAP! If you want to get disavowed of the idea that being an older student is awful, check out the various threads for older students on this board. 3) An MPP will give you skills which can help you get a research job. If the program is funded and if you've been having trouble finding a job, why not do the MPP, gain additional skills, maybe do an internship on the side, and then hit the job market again with a stronger set of credentials? 3a) I see no way in which this would hurt you for the future, whether you want a research gig or to go on to do a PhD. 4) Think about the huge difference in effort and time commitment between a MPP and a PhD. MPP = 2 years. PhD in political science = 4-7 years.

I've never heard of this rule before and, to be quite honest, I don't entirely trust it but that's because it assumes we all have the financial means to upgrade to another vehicle whenever we may want. Also, just want to say that depending on where you live, uber/lyft, car rentals (whether traditional or Zipcar), and taxi rides may not really be an option... I currently live in a place which has a total of 3 taxi vehicles and none of those other services. People do live here without owning a vehicle but it presents a set of complications and involves frequent vehicle rentals from a major car company (of which there is only one in town so you pay whatever they want to charge you).

Why wouldn't there be enough time? If you think about it, you'll be taking seminars on a variety of topics (in terms of region and in terms of time period), which means there will be opportunities to write final papers on a variety of topics. During my MA, I wrote a number of papers on various aspects of my MA thesis topic, which worked because I was in an interdisciplinary program and because my thesis topic overlapped with several broader subfields. Let's say my topic was Golden Delicious apple production in WA state. I wrote papers about apple production more broadly, farms and ag policy in the USA, migrant labor and apple production, pesticides, climate change, industrial ag, etc. Related but not identical to the topic of my thesis. As a PhD student, I actually wrote more diverse papers which didn't even all connect to what I thought my dissertation would be on. That came in handy when I had to scrap my proposal a few weeks into data collection... The question about time is really one about how you see this other topic fitting into your broader research agenda. Could you pursue it in one or two class papers at first or do you want it to be something you spend 50% of your research time on going forward?

Okay, I'm only including this part because I think it shows that you really aren't in the right place to make a decision about this just yet. Why would you even consider doing an EdD program if you aren't sure if you want a career in education? Also, it's unusual to be considering an EdD alongside considering a MS/PhD in another field... Why? Because the EdD is a practitioner's degree and the PhD is a research degree. The skill sets you'd develop and the tasks you're asked to do are pretty different between the two. You may want to read more about the two different degrees and the career paths people take upon receiving them because you'll probably find it helpful. Consequently, as a first step, I'd advise thinking about what it is you actually want to be doing career-wise in 5-10 years. Then, once you do that, take the time to look up people currently in that career and see what credentials they have. Do they have a PhD, an EdD, or did they get there without the doctorate? If it's the latter, then you may realize that the doctorate isn't needed (at least at this time) and then you can do informational interviews to better understand how to get yourself to where those people currently are. More school isn't always the answer, especially when you aren't really sure what it is you want to do.

1) ABDs can apply but you should be close to defending. 2) It depends on the fellowship. But many prestigious postdocs require you to have a PI who has agreed to supervise you. I don't know how you'd do that without being in contact with that person in advance. 3) This question is field specific. Do you know any grad students (even those at other institutions since you say those at yours don't do this kind of thing) who would know more? Conferences might also be a good place to learn about potential postdocs. I get the sense that a lot of people get their postdocs through networking at conferences so you should make that a part of your plan. 4) Check chronicle's Vitae and Inside Higher Ed for what goes in these statements. Plenty of advice on these is available on the internet. FWIW, I'd highly recommend that you search through higheredjobs.com and Inside Higher Ed to get a sense of what the ads for postdocs look like, the materials they ask for, etc. If you're not doing that, you aren't really helping yourself prepare to apply for these positions. While there may not be many biophysics-specific ads, there are plenty in other areas of biology and physics which will give you a sense of the requirements and materials. Also, that will be more helpful than asking a bunch of strangers on the internet who aren't in your field.

@maelia8, having the conversation here is fine so no worries there. I do wonder though if there might be a reason to actually have a discussion within the grad association about serving alcohol at events. Just because only one person has a public issue with alcohol doesn't mean that there aren't others who also have issues with alcohol but are better at hiding it. Again, this may be based on my own experiences but I've known a number of alcoholics who you wouldn't guess have issues with alcohol at first glance. Would people be upset about eliminating their free biweekly alcohol? Sure. But, if I were a nondrinker, I might prefer that the department spend less money on booze and more on better (or more frequent) food, an additional invited guest speaker, etc. I've actually had conversations about reducing alcohol served (or whether to serve it at all) as both a grad student and a faculty member. The conclusion in both cases has been that reducing or eliminating served alcohol can have a big impact on the budget, which makes it an easy item to cut when you need to save money or shift money from one area to another. I'm not sure how much alcohol your department is serving but, if you think of it as $150/event then you're talking about ~$2400 over the course of an academic year, which is enough money to bring in another speaker, have a special workshop, cater lunch for the department, etc. If you stop thinking of it as losing free alcohol and start thinking of it as all the other things which could be done with that same money and benefit all of the graduate students (and eliminate the issue of needing to sanction one particular student*). What you have right now is the makings of a situation where someone, necessarily, must lose because you've framed it as a group of people that will avoid going if Heavy Drinker is there versus just telling Heavy Drinker they can't attend. Both of those scenarios involve professional harm. But removing alcohol from all the events isn't going to cause professional harm to anyone. Just wanted to throw that out there. *BTW, I really, really don't think it's the place of a grad student association to force a student to get alcohol treatment or to otherwise be ostracized from departmental events. Despite what you say you know about this person's awareness of the issue, you really don't know whether they're receiving counseling for this issue, if this is a symptom of other mental health issues, etc. I would say that even those in a clinical psychology program should avoid that sort of thing. Similarly, faculty and administration can't force a student to seek treatment for mental health issues. (I'd argue it would be inappropriate for them to do so given the stigma associated with mental health issues.) So tread lightly as a grad student and as a student association when trying to figure this kind of thing out.

You really should be talking to the professors in your MA program about the best path to a PhD program. Can you take quantitative courses at UChicago as part of your MA?

This post is now awesome because there are two totally separate conversations happen. And I'm not helping by replying to both in the same reply but, it is what it is. I agree with TakeruK that de-romanticizing the idea of academics drinking together is ideal. Want to know why? Because it's exclusionary even beyond thinking about those who may struggle with alcohol. In graduate school, I had several classmates who were Muslim and whose religious beliefs meant they did not go to spaces/events where alcohol was served. As a department, we had exactly two official events with alcohol each year and both of those were wine and cheese receptions after a major invited lecture. In other words, all classmates could attend departmental events (colloquia, workshops, symposiums, etc.) without having to choose between their religious beliefs and their professional development. I truly believe this is an approach more departments should take. I included only this part because I want to co-sign and agree with absolutely ALL of it. If you file a Title IX complaint, they probably will decide to open an investigation. At the same time, if you truly believe Carol is a danger to Alice or other students, I'm not sure why you're trying to bend over backwards to protect Carol. I can see wanting to protect Alice but, having been in a similar situation at one point, I decided to prioritize the safety of the many, file the report, and deal with the friendship consequences when they arose. Was it the right choice? Maybe, maybe not. But I've also witnessed what happens when no one reports and the attacker goes on to find other victims when perhaps they could've been stopped sooner. It's a tough decision. And, actually, @falala, you may want to speak to a confidential counselor yourself to run through the options available and talk through what you might want to do. And definitely stop including Carol in your stuff. She's clearly not a good friend to you or anyone else in your friend group. Inviting her to avoid her wrath/ire is silly. We're all adults so just don't invite someone you don't want to spend time around.

If you don't want to attract that kind of attention, change in a location away from your building. You're a grad student so 99% of those on campus won't recognize you. Choose a building near-ish by and use their bathrooms to change. Or change in the campus gym.

@sjoh197 has given you some great advice. To this, I would just ask whether the two of you live together full-time because, if you don't, then the obvious solution is to spend fewer nights together. If you do live together, you may want to ask your gf to sleep elsewhere one or two nights a week so that you don't have to sleep on a friend's couch and can get the sleep you need. I don't know that using a sleep aid is the way to go as those can be addictive... But perhaps you could develop a different nighttime routine where you go to bed earlier so you're able to get more sleep before your gf comes home and interrupts you? Honestly, @justjen, I'm wondering if some of the communication issues about sleep are emblematic of other communication issues in your relationship. My partner and I have very different sleep schedules and they also sleep much more soundly at night than I do. What helps for us is that we don't live together so, whenever I need a solid night of sleep, I can just stay at my place. But, my partner also totally understands that they wake me up with the littlest of things and there's a lot of check-ins about whether I'm getting the quantity and quality of sleep I need. When I'm not, then we stay at our own places for the night, rather than together. I miss them but I also really like getting an uninterrupted night of sleep!

The downside to this approach is that it means that you aren't necessarily prioritizing self-care, which everyone needs to do. It makes sense to potentially reduce a 10 hour a week commitment to 5 hours a week, at least at first, but cutting things out altogether could actually make it more difficult to later figure out how to do those things.