pterosaur

It's got its own youtube playlist! They're pretty adorable, in my roboticsy opinion:

My advisor will be on vacation when I start, but I've already got my first task for when I arrive: "learn to control the swarm." The post-doc will be teaching me the basics of how to control the 1,000 robot collective, and then I get a few of my own to program/play with for my first project. But with all of that I'm looking forward to, I still have to try to focus on finishing my masters thesis. asdfoyulrofypaudn.

Currently living in a sea of half-packed boxes. Except I don't have that much space, so it's more like a small but deep pond of boxes. Really worried about the airline weight limits. :/

Mozzarella?? That's not poutine!!

I'm currently looking at potential courses for the fall, and one of them the recommended prep includes two engineering courses I've never had ("signals and systems" and "mechanical systems"). I come from a neuroscience/computer science background and haven't gone anywhere near these courses before. But I looked at the descriptions and thought, "Eh, looks like I've kind of vaguely touched on something related to these topics in a bit of my research. I'll be fine!" I might regret this.

Well the entire thing appears to be bilingual, so that's some serious double-length resume padding right there.

There was also a thread on reddit about this recently: https://www.reddit.com/r/GradSchool/comments/4k3fwh/title_for_grad_research_position_on_cv/

Also note that you can have residency in different states for different purposes. For voting and in-state tuition purposes, I'm considered a resident of my parents' state, because that's what I consider my "permanent" address and it's where I say I have intent to return. (Intent is important for the purposes of residency here.) However, for tax purposes, I'm considered a resident where I'm going to school (even during undergrad) because of the very specific way that that state's tax laws are written. It's super confusing. I think I'll probably change all the legal residency stuff to the state of my PhD at the beginning of January for simplicity's sake.

This topic makes me think about something that's recently come up as I've started to get emails about the graduate students trying to unionize (and waiting on a ruling from the NLRB to find out if they can). This is one of those aspects that's often ambiguous and anxiety-inducing: how is vacation handled for graduate students? There's usually no written policy, and the policy can vary hugely between advisors. I guess that's one of the goals of a union like that would be to get all of the policies down in contractually-binding writing so students know where they stand, because we're treated like employees even if they refuse to consider us that. (I'm pretty sure my advisor-to-be allows more vacation time, since she told me she won't be around when I arrive because she always takes the last two weeks of August to go on holiday with her family!)

When I was preparing for applications, I asked some top notch professors how important publications were for them, looking at PhD applicants (this is in neuroscience/bioengineering/computer science, for reference). They said they didn't put a ton of weight on it, for a couple of reasons. The first is that, from seeing a publication and even reading the paper, they can't tell what work the student actually did, as opposed to the other co-authors on the papers. Also, some professors are more willing to put undergrads on publications than others; sometimes they'll get on for just running the data collection, but other professors won't make the student a co-author unless it was basically their brainchild. Thirdly, undergraduate research doesn't always lead to publications for a huge variety of reasons that are outside of the student's control, such as an experiment just not working out (often undergrads are put on the pilot projects, which might not give promising results), grants running out, time limitations, etc. So the professors I talked to put a lot more stock in letters of recommendation as indicators of what work the students did, how well they did it, and how that translates to potential as graduate students.

Check with each school specifically about what they allow in terms of apply to related programs. Some schools I looked at specifically forbade applying to multiple programs at the university in the same year. In contrast, I went on my post-acceptance visit to CMU (for bio eng), they asked why I hadn't applied to the robotics program there as well. Given the big time gap between your first go at university and your current success, if I were a university I would have no problem with it. With very high recent grades and research experience, it's clear that you've matured, become more responsible, have fewer other distractions or responsibilities. Whatever the case, something clearly changed drastically for the better. I would put a sentence or two about it in a personal statement: a very brief explanation (without making it sound like an excuse), framed in terms of how things have changed and led to this improvement. I don't think it has completely destroyed your chances of doing a PhD. Honestly, I think you're doing everything right to compensate: research experience, high grades, broader impacts (to use the NSF term). The big two things that you can affect now are your personal statement and letters of recommendation. From my experience, admissions people put a lot of weight on letters of recommendation. I would definitely recommend sitting down with your letter writers when the time comes. As professors themselves, they're the ones best able to assuage any fears of professors handling admissions that you wouldn't be successful. If you haven't started building those relationships with professors yet, start doing so now. I have some experience with 2 of these schools - I did undergrad at Northeastern and I'll be starting at Harvard SEAS for my PhD later this month. You specifically mentioned fit, which is good. Honestly, that's the thing that's make or break for getting into PhD programs for qualified candidates: do they think your research interests align with theirs so that it would be mutually beneficial to have you. Part of the way they did this at Harvard was with informal Skype interviews arranged by faculty. The first interview I had was with someone who did really cool work, but was much more on the mechanical engineering side (I felt under-qualified and I was kind of embarrassed and awkward), but he ended up passing my info on to a professor who I hadn't put down on my application (because she's in CS and I was applying for bioengineering). Long story short, we hit it off, her research is awesome, she's the one who emailed to tell me I was accepted, and she'll be my advisor. Sorry for the tangent, but that was my experience with one of the schools you have on your list! Fit is really big, so make sure your applications are framed to show why you and the program fit together like puzzle pieces.

Aldi is German! So it's a place you can actually get good chocolate in the US! (My high school German teacher, who's from Germany, still does all her shopping at Aldi.) I'm currently obsessing over the best way to get bedding upon my arrival back in the states so I don't have to sleep on a bare mattress on my first night. I was going to order it and have it waiting for me, but it turns out the mail room isn't open on weekends, which is when I arrive. I think I have to get my friend (who is an amazing human being and agreed to pick me and all my crap up from the airport) to make a stop at Target on the way to my new place.

@hippyscientist - your dad wondered if something would be open on a Sunday? You're in 'Murica now - home of the 24 hour Walmart! You'll never go hungry again! But you might get mowed down in Walmart by someone on those electric mobility scooters.

@MarineBluePsy. - I have a wrench because my then-boyfriend gave me one as part of my valentine's day gift, so I wouldn't have to keep borrowing his to work on my bike.

A secondary question to this: how many courses are you taking? I've now been in touch with my advisor, and she recommends taking 2 classes the first semester so there's time to get started on research. (My program requires 10 courses total, I'm guessing the pace has to pick up after that.) And she also confirmed that the first week is spent "shopping" for classes, which I guess is kind of nice from the perspective that I'll have a better idea of what I'm getting into.

@MarineBluePsy - you could get some of those stick-on press-button lights that run on batteries. I've seen people use them a lot for dark places like closets. Or small LED night lights. LEDs are really low power, so you shouldn't even notice a difference on your electric bill.

@lovekilledinos - I think it's because they have a sort of taster week where you can visit the classes without signing up. I don't entirely know. Harvard's weird.

It is definitely doable. I went from neuroscience to bioengineering, which is a pretty similar shift. I did look at the requirements of different programs, though, and tried to align my remaining electives with that. For me that meant calc 3, diff eq, and lin alg. (I took IB physics but didn't take any in college, FWIW.) I did also work in a lab with a lot of bioengineering grad students for 4 years in undergrad, which I think helped show that I could handle that type of research and the quantitative aspects that you don't necessarily encounter in a biology program.

I concur with everyone else: Budget Bytes is awesome When you don't have a lot of time in the evenings, slow cookers are your best friend Freezers & bulk cooking. I'm only cooking for myself, so a meal from Budget Bytes will make like 6 meals worth of food. I divide it up into individual containers, freeze some of it, and stick some in the fridge. Always a variety of meal options handy that way! (Requires more investment in food containers, though.) Also possibly check out something like "meal prep Sunday." (I think it's got a subreddit.) I haven't done it, but it looks interesting; make all your meals for the week on Sunday afternoon and enjoy a stress-free food week.

I'm starting my PhD in biomimetic collaborative (swarm) robotics. "Are you going to, like, build a robot army?" "Yes."

I have no idea what classes I'll be taking. I don't think you decide in my program until basically the first week of classes. Which is stressful since some of my courses have to be approved for my external fellowship.

I don't think it's a total waste to apply for things like Rhodes (and Marshall and Fulbright). It depends on your background, goals, and experience, but I didn't think I stood a chance and was pleasantly surprised. The application process is also very self-reflective and informative to go through. There are generally a lot fewer scholarship/funding opportunities for masters programs than PhDs. The most obvious way to find some is to broaden your search to other schools, if finances are a major limitation. I also think the NSF GRFP *might* allow you to apply for doing a masters, but that's only useful if you're looking at taking a research route.

You do not have to do sports to be qualified for the Rhodes. They've reinterpreted that section of the goals to mean that there are other ways applicants can show "vitality" like being active in community service, etc. That said, they're still generally more athletic than Marshall Scholars, but I wouldn't let it turn you off of applying. (Also, if you're considering this sort of fellowship, also look at the Marshall, Mitchell, and Fulbright scholarships.)

I had the conference for my DOE fellowship last week, and now I'm wondering who thought it was a good idea to give me a fellowship for high performance computing (aka supercomputers). Welp. Meanwhile I'm also trying to get my masters thesis finished and submitted. I already defended before submitting, due to the fact that both of my advisors are gone for the entire month of August, including my primary advisor being in rural Russia with limited internet access. I was hoping I was at the point where I could focus on writing and get that finished in the next 3 weeks before I leave. Then when I met with my advisors yesterday (right before they left), they came up with loads more stuff they want me to analyse, and one of them ran another experiment he wants me to analyse and include. It never ends! As someone said at that conference last week, "The best thesis is a finished thesis." And I just want to finish this bloody thesis. I don't want it hanging over my head as I start my PhD.

I find tipping incredibly stressful. Eating out and haircuts I'm comfortable with, but that's about the limit of my routine. Outside of that, I still feel like I don't know when tipping is appropriate. I'm frugal, but I don't want to be that jerk who doesn't tip when they should. I wish that everyone actually got paid a living wage so it was a more of a non-issue.