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maelia8

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Everything posted by maelia8

  1. As tax season rolls around again, I once again worry about my many grad student colleagues who insist on "gaming the system" by reporting all of their lump-sum disbursement fellowship money (i.e. what they use to pay for their food, rent, transportation, and personal expenses) as educational expenses and thus get a refund rather than paying taxes on it. When someone hands you $12,000 at once to pay for everything in your life for six months, it's worrisome to think that so many are failing to put away 10% or so in advance (anticipating taxes), are left with nothing their account at the end of the period, and then are even willing to falsely report to get a refund at the end of it
  2. maelia8

    Dating

    I dated another graduate student several years ahead of me in their program (he's in sciences, I'm in humanities), and when he graduated, he went into industry rather than academia. It's great because he went through the same process as me and is totally sympathetic as I cram for quals this semester, but he isn't in academia anymore so I get to spend time with cool people from his company and get out of the academic bubble, but still hang out with a bunch of people who have Ph.D.s and are really smart, creative thinkers. To broaden your pool, I'd suggest looking for people who aren't currently in academia, but may have been in it once and know what it's all about
  3. I recommend trying to find gigs on campus. I was a data entry assistant over the summer after my first year for a research center on campus, and did communications for another research institute throughout the semester after that. I became a fellow at the research institute the following year, which was even better since I got a lump-sum fellowship disbursement rather than being paid hourly. There are lots of flexible 8-10 hour/week jobs on campus, especially as GSR (graduate student researcher) funded by a professor in the department with a nice endowed chair. I did source translation from the German for a professor of American history and got paid nicely by the hour to do that as well.
  4. @Horb I know we aren't supposed to hear about research grants til April, but I can't remember where in the portal to look to check application status. Are they just going to email us, or should I re-learn how to navigate the blasted site?
  5. I'l be leaving in September for a research year overseas, and I'm trying to get my ducks in a row beforehand. i live in a shared apartment with two roommates, but our lease bans subletting, so I'm going to lose the apartment when I leave. There's a good chance that one of the current roommates will be moving out in another year for their own overseas research period, but it's not guaranteed. I do have a verbal promise of first dibs on any room that becomes free when I get back if I desire it. I am trying to figure out what the best plan is for storing my stuff and negotiating my return. I have a long-term partner who I'd like to move in with when I come back, but just on the off chance that something goes wrong in the relationship during a year of long-distance, I'm a bit leery of storing all of my things at his place and planning only on the outcome that I will move in with him when I get back. I was thinking of leasing a storage unit with a couple of other grad students going overseas and splitting costs, but as I said, I could probably store it for free with my partner or parents (if I'm willing to drive it six hours in a u-Haul). Anyone who's gone through this process have any advice, tips, etc. for putting your rental life on hold during the year you're gone, or how to slip relatively painlessly back into your old spot when you get back?
  6. They sure have, and all three people in my department who applied got rejected Decisions came out on February the 21st.
  7. I find social drinking in graduate school to be highly enjoyable, as long as it's practiced in moderation (I go out with my cohort for a "stammtisch" about once every two weeks). Unfortunately unless there's alcohol involved, it seems very difficult for many Ph.D students to talk about anything besides their research, and I personally dislike working hard on research all day and then going out at night to talk more about my research I think that alcohol is a poor stress reliever but an important social lubricant, especially among a group of sometimes awkward and singleminded people who have a hard time making friendly small talk about their personal lives/politics/etc. I think it's really important for graduate students to take complete time off to socialize without talking about work, and since many of us have our core group of friends in the department (such as myself), anything that helps us get our minds off research, just every once in a while, is a good thing. That being said, there are several alcohol abusers in my department who are suffering from the culture of drinking, especially the free alcohol available at colloquia and other talks and presentations. Most of them are trying to cut back in some way, and I really applaud their efforts - it's incredibly hard to turn down free wine when everyone else is indulging.
  8. You may be right, it could have to do with private vs. federal loans. Since all of mine are federal, that might have made getting deferral easier.
  9. When I was a Fulbright ETA, I was able to get my loans deferred - there was a certification form that Fulbright Germany had to stamp/sign, which I then sent to my loan provider and was then in the clear. I have Nelnet (federal sub and unsub) loans.
  10. @TakeruK has done a great job of outlining the why of student government, but I'd like to second them in saying that participating in my university's graduate student association/assembly has been incredibly fun and rewarding for me - I've learned about so many resources, met so many fantastic, charismatic and motivated people, and managed to escape the small bubble of my department, which, while filled with people I love, tends to narrow my perspective. I especially love to form connections and pass information between my departmental student association and the broader graduate student community, and it feel great to be able to point my colleagues toward sources of funding and lots o social as well as professional development activities. I'm sad that I'll be going overseas for research next year and will lose my seat - but maybe when I get back, I'll run for a paid executive position
  11. Disclaimer: I'm in a book-heavy rather than article-heavy field, but I use a custom notecard format and save info about books I read in Evernote. It also syncs across all platforms, and allows me to have the book's bibliographic information, my notes taken while reading the book, and any articles or reviews on it all attached to the same document, which I can give an unlimited number of keyword tags searchable across the Evernote program. I tried Zotero, but it's really only great for the bibliography and not so cool for whole books, even if they are scanned PDFs or even worse, ePubs that can't be read or tagged through any program but Kindle Cloud or iBooks.
  12. If the grant does not specify that the money must be used for air travel, and you are able to find another way to spend the money on research-related expenses, then I think you're good. If the grant does specify that it's for travel and you aren't planning on traveling at all, then I believe you must inform the foundation of this fact and check in regarding whether use of funds for other research needs is allowed. I had the experience once that I was given a travel grant, then found out that I could use frequent flyer miles to pay for about 80% of travel. I submitted the flight ticket purchase receipt promptly, and asked if it was alright for me to use the rest of the grant for ground travel and lodging - in this case they said yes. It can't hurt to check in - and it's much worse if you get caught hiding something later.
  13. They specifically said in the email I got that they won't notify you if they do receive the transcripts, only if you get chosen and they didn't receive them (they'll tell you they still need them).
  14. Caffeine. It actually hurts my focus by causing sweats, fidgeting, and heart palpitations, no idea how so many people use it to help them work. Anniversaries. So much pressure, so much room for error.
  15. I'm sorry, I just assumed you would know about everything since you seem so knowledgeable! I only knew about it because my advisor here is from Germany, Berlin specifically, and knows about all the stuff that's city-specific as well as the national competitions. I will most certainly be in Berlin starting in September regardless of whether I get the Fulbright (my department has a designated research year, and if we don't get an outside fellowship we get [less, but guaranteed] funding from the department), and meeting up could be feasible. I'm not sure I understand ... I thought applying for research year fellowships in the last year of coursework was normal? Does your department advise multiple years of research before writing the dissertation? For us it's as follows: first 2.5 years are coursework (roughly), then end of third year is quals, then fourth year is overseas research, and years 5 and 6 are for writing. We can take an additional research year though if we get outside funding for it ...
  16. @Horb by the way, did you apply for the Studienstiftung des Abgeordnetenhauses? Just curious. It's Berlin-specific, and I don't know if your research is centered on that place. I already heard back from the FU Berlin Program (negative) and the Chancellor Fellowship (negative), so I'm keeping my fingers crossed for Fulbright or DAAD.
  17. @Horb that's the date my computer shows me last modifying the form requesting a particular state in Germany (for ETAs, you get to list priorities for state placement after you hear you've been accepted), so I'm not sure how it could have been any later. Unfortunately I no longer have access to the email I was using at that time, so I have no way to go back and check for the primary notification ... could it be an ETA thing rather than a research grant thing? I know there are a lot less people applying to be ETAs around here so maybe the check-ins on GC are from research grantees?
  18. Aaagh it's so hard to wait until April to hear about the decision for the Doctoral Research grants! Do we get notified by email, or do we just have to check the submission portal?
  19. @Horb Germany ETA notification used to be a lot earlier - when I was an ETA in 2012, my records indicate that I got notice of admission by February 23rd! Glad to hear that the last two years it's been later (mid-March), since I was starting to worry that I hadn't yet heard anything. Is it a problem that I wasn't able to ensure transcript arrival in NY until the day OF the 21st (i was waiting for a very slow prof to remove an incomplete)? In the email asking for the updated transcript they said that it won't affect the decision-making process, so I hope that's true.
  20. Was super excited last week when I got notification of having made it to the second round (i.e. recommended to the host country)! I need to send those transcripts soon, but I'm still waiting on a professor who hasn't filed a grade to expunge an incomplete from last semester. He's had the last assignment for two weeks now, would it be appropriate to send him a gentle reminder that I need the grade soon?
  21. I wouldn't date within my department, because I'd be too afraid of possible fallout in case the relationship ended, but several people in my department do, and all the couples I've heard of (four couples in total, out of about 140 graduate students) have gone on to get married/last for the long term. I know several more cases of hookups within the department, but not actual dating. Many more graduate students in my department date students from other grad departments tangentially related to ours (ex: English, Economics, Political Science, Film & Media, or area studies) even in the same building, because then it's "safe" as you could break up and not have to see the other person if you didn't have to.
  22. Anybody have ideas about footnotes/bibliography? The research proposal guidelines say max. 5 pages, but there are no specifications about whether you can/should use footnotes, and whether a bibliography, if included, is not considered part of the 5 page limit. Thoughts?
  23. @Horb Yeah that's what they wrote me back - they have no requirements as to spacing or formatting. I guess one could theoretically write in 24 point comic sans ... though I wonder if that would be seriously received.
  24. I mean a divide primarily in the way that the two groups structure their time - although both groups go to departmental events and have overlap in their social and cohort circles, those with partners tend to go home earlier and come to campus earlier in the morning, matching their partner's 9-5, while those who are single will often stay later and keep less regular hours. Also it seems that those in relationships are a bit move likely to bring a bag lunch/go home for dinner rather than eating out 1-2 meals per day (this may also be somewhat gendered). I guess what I'm saying is that the two groups seem to have different rhythms, though they do overlap somewhat.
  25. I've noticed as well that there seems to be a bit of a divide between the grad students in my department who came into grad school with a long-term partner/spouse (i.e. in committed LTRs), and the other group, roughly equal in size, which consists of grad students who seem to be perpetually single. Most of the single ones claim that they don't have time or energy to deal with trying to find a partner (and a few say that they have no interest in doing so regardless, as they see it as something to work on once they are more settled and out of grad school). I know only one single grad student in the department who actively goes on dates and is seeking an LTR, and he often admits finding the time commitment of early-relationship dating to be stressful with his schedule. Grad students more often talk about which of the folks in LTRs (most have been together 3-7 years at least) are going to get married next. A lot seem to do it after qualifying exams, or in the last year of dissertation research, as a sort of celebration.
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