katiegud

Hi, might not be relevant anymore, but does your university have a translation department? I needed some translations and found master's level translation students to do them, with the agreement that profs would check them over when they were done. Might be cheaper.

I started a doctoral program straight out of undergrad, hated it, finished a year and dropped out. At first I had to explain it to people, but now that it's been a long time, and I've had jobs and obtained other degrees, no one cares. I don't even put it on my CV. If it comes up to haunt you later just explain what happened and say that the program was not what you were hoping for and you wanted to go in another direction with your career. They won't hold it against you.

I don't know if anything is wrong with secondary data, I'm just not sure if collecting data is a key feature of the PhD. The proposal process is different here (in the UK), so aside from the proposal I wrote to get in I don't really have another one. I just have to turn in a plan, literature review, and methodology by the end of my first year.

The topic of my PhD is currently quite broad. I have a ton of secondary data, which I was planning to use alongside interviews for a mixed methods study. Now I'm wondering how to narrow down the data and was considering an entirely quantitative project, but it would all be analysis of secondary data. That's not acceptable for a PhD right? Or is it okay if the analysis is complex enough? My supervisors aren't quant people, so they haven't been much help on this.

Hi, I didn't thoroughly read all the comments, but I have family in Bloomington so I thought I'd chime in. My uncle lives there and loves it. He's very liberal politically and he has mentioned that Bloomington is an anomaly for the area (as far as liberalness).

I turned in a long piece of writing on Monday and all I've heard so far is "got it" from my supervisors. I have a meeting with them next week, so I'm sure they'll tell me what they think then, but right now I'm just freaking out that they'll hate it, or think I misrepresented someone's ideas (lit review), and that I'll have to rewrite the whole thing. How do you deal with the waiting for feedback stress?

I watched Horrible Bosses and took a nap. It was glorious!

Turned in my first 10,000 words to my supervisors yesterday. Now I don't feel like writing more in case they hate it and tell me to rewrite everything. It's the first piece of writing they've actually read from me, so I have no idea what to expect. I guess I should probably read, but instead I'm just frozen in waiting-for-feedback mode. How's everyone else doing?

I'm 1000 words behind where I was hoping to be today, and I'm incredibly unmotivated. I don't want to write, I don't want to read, I just want to go back to bed.

Thanks for the input! I wouldn't hide it from them certainly, but I don't want them to think I'm slacking on my required work. This would be my first publication (obviously), so I'm just trying to learn the process.

While working on my literature review I came up with an idea that I thought might be publishable. Part of it would be necessary to write up, but to complete the article I would have to do some additional work that would not end up in my PhD dissertation. I emailed an editor to see if he was interested, and he said that I should submit it when I'm finished. So, do I talk to my supervisors about this now and risk them telling me not to take the time out of PhD work to finish the article? Or do I just write the article quietly on the side and not tell them about it until I'm finished? I'm in the UK, so I also asked on TSR, but I'm not sure if that makes a difference. How involved are supervisors in publishing? If it would be a solo article by me do they really need to be involved?

I have heard from more experienced PhD students (I'm in my first year) that book reviews are a good way to get started in publishing and get to know editors. I recently read a book that has never been reviewed, so I emailed an editor and asked if she would be interested in a review. Is there any other way to do this? Can I just email the book review editors to see if they have any books that need review? I am in the UK, where PhDs only take 3-4 years, so I need to get started on publishing ASAP. Thanks!

I stupidly thought I would give up diet coke - my only source of caffeine. Yesterday the only thing I did was go to Staples to buy a white board, then I slept all day. Today I have a splitting headache, but at least I made it to the university! This is probably not the best time to be messing with my caffeine intake!

I know that is a very general question, but I am completely at a loss. I'm in the UK, so my research is very much on my own, and I therefore don't know what to do. About how many articles do you all read each week? (I'm in my first year working on literature review, if you are wondering.)

Wow, you are all way ahead of me! We don't officially start until tomorrow. I had orientation, and there's a TA training tomorrow, but I can't go due to a scheduling conflict. Luckily I don't have to TA this year, so it isn't really an issue. All I've done so far is gather articles to read. I have a ton collected, and now I feel overwhelmed and the program hasn't even started! Currently working my way through a huge report that is only marginally related to what I want to do (hence gradcafe), but I have my first supervision meeting next week and he wants to know what I've read so we can discuss it. What do you think would be a reasonable amount to have read? I don't want to show up with a disappointing amount of work, but I honestly have no idea how much I'm expected to have done.

Social policy programs are relatively rare in the US, so you might try looking at other countries. I'm going to be studying Social Policy in the UK, but I know that in the US a lot of people didn't even know that was an option for a PhD.

I haven't talked to my supervisor since I got accepted. I feel kind of weird about this. Is it normal to wait until you actually start the program to talk to them? Or should I be contacting him now about what I need to do before fall? Since I have a big move ahead of me and I'm still working full time, I haven't had my mind on my PhD topic lately, so now I'm worried that I'll be behind everyone else when I arrive.

I would think you would only take vet med jobs after that program. However, if you want to study parasite genetics, isn't that where you were planning to be? The only way I could see it being viewed more broadly is if you focused on zoonotic parasites and tried to expand into human public health. (I studied vet med before I turned to public policy, so I knew the grad students in the vet school. They were all planning to continue with veterinary science in some way.)

I got an Asus Zenbook. I have no idea when the best sales are or anything, but I figured the prices wouldn't change too drastically before the end of summer. I just want to get everything ready, I'm a bit of a planner, so I'm buying everything now.

I think I might be more excited about the new laptop and messenger bag than I am about getting my degree. I never buy big things, so I'm way too happy about this and had to share it with people that might understand!

Hi UNL people! I live in Lincoln now, but I'm moving for grad school. If anyone is interested in buying a house message me! I live in a really nice neighborhood and actually did several thousand dollars of upgrades, because I never thought I'd get a funded PhD place in the UK. It's big though, so better for people with families/spouses.

I'm going to the University of Leeds. Technically it's a PhD in Social Policy, not criminology, but I'll be studying drug decriminalization and transnational organized crime.

I would like to work in a think tank. Mostly because I'm on the public policy side though, not anything theoretical.

I'm excited, but I'm so stressed out by everything that needs to happen in the next 4 months! I have a family to coordinate, too, so I've got to deal with passports and visas and moving for 3 people rather than 1. I really want to start selling all my furniture, but then I won't have anything to live with for the next couple of months. It's kind of overwhelming.

It went really well! She didn't fire me! We have to rearrange some projects now, so she was glad to get a few months notice. I can also talk about it openly now, and take a week off to find an apartment without having to make up an excuse. I did say that I was sad to leave, but couldn't turn down this opportunity. I think she understands. I'm just so glad it's over!