turbidite

A little background... I'm a 4th year PhD student who has been ABD for roughly a year - classes, comps, and other requirements all complete. I've done a lot of thinking and have decided I want to propose to my girlfriend of ~3.5 years. I've planned it out, picked the ring, etc but have run into a bit of a problem. First, my SO recently got the job of her dreams in a city that is 4 hours by car away from my university. I don't think either of us has been enjoying the distance and have mentioned to each other in the past that if we got engaged, we would be living together. I feel like since I'm just writing I could work from anywhere but evidently my advisor does not agree. Upon breaking the news to my advisor that I would be moving at the end of the semester, he seemed pretty upset and asked me to reconsider. He's not married so I could be projecting here... but I feel like he can't empathize with this situation. In any case, he gave me a pretty long lecture about how academia is a lifestyle and how changing my priorities at inopportune times could be devastating to my long-term career. I personally feel like this is a bit overboard and ultimately won't affect my decision-making. However, it has been messing with my head and making me feel guilty. My parents unfortunately haven't been too supportive as they are both professors (sigh) who didn't get married until earning tenure. For my friends outside of academia the idea sounds ludicrous but I'm curious to hear opinions from other grad students/budding academics who have perhaps gone though a similar experience or know someone else who has... thoughts?

Hi all, So after completing my MS, I've decided to stay on at the same university for a PhD. In my department, doctoral students must complete 27 hours of graded coursework and can transfer up to 24 hours from a previous degree/institution, assuming those hours were earned in relevant graduate level courses. So essentially I'll only have one more class to take to complete my coursework requirements. My question is: does it make me look lazy/unmotivated to take the bare minimum number of classes? I would personally rather be working on research than taking classes, but I don't want my new advisor to think that I don't care or something along those lines. Any opinions or feedback would be appreciated.

I will never understand why some schools accept people on the PhD level without funding... I could see it for an MS, but for the PhD? No way

I'm confused - you say that you were given a GTA (graduate teaching assistantship), but will have to manage your own living expenses... Surely they will give you a stipend for your TA responsibilities, yes? I'm not sure it's legal to make you do a TA without some sort of monetary compensation.

Which POI's project do you find more appealing? That's ultimately how I would decide - you don't want to go somewhere where you'll be bored out of your mind. OK State is the superior O&G school, no questions there. However, IMO it depends less on the name of the school and more on the quality/skillset of the student.

OP said that he/she was interested in going into O&G. Most feeder schools with connections to industry are located in TX, OK, or LA.

Can't tell if April Fools or for real. If real, congrats!

Sorry to hear that. You going to try again next year?

Awesome! Must have been quite a roller coaster ride going from seemingly rejected to accepted with funding, all within a week!

It seemed like last year around this time people were getting decisions left and right. Weird to have such radio silence in mid-March.

You might get more responses if you put this thread on the city forum under the appropriate city name (i.e. West Lafayette, IN). http://forum.thegradcafe.com/forum/18-city-guide/ Alternatively, there are almost always grad students looking for shared housing in Craigslist. You may want to explore that avenue as well. https://tippecanoe.craigslist.org/search/roo

While I'll agree that this state does not value higher education in the slightest, it's hard to imagine the budget cuts affecting the geoscience department at the flagship university as much as a humanities dept at one of the many (too many in fact) small, public Louisiana colleges. But I don't want to derail the OP's thread, so I'll leave it at that.

1) A 3.2 cumulative GPA isn't great but there have been plenty of people who have gotten into respectable programs with worse. It is however important that you show an upward trajectory on your transcript and have a good GPA in your major (which you do). 2) Not necessarily. A publication would be great, but it's not the end of the world if your work doesn't get published. Professors are mainly looking for research experience. 3) Rice and UT are very competitive programs and would be a serious reach. But who knows, if you have a great fit with your POI anything can happen. Baylor and UNM are probably better matches for you based completely on stats. 4) I'd put OU and CU-Boulder right up there with UT and Rice as competitive programs that are a crapshoot for almost anyone. KU and UNL are within the same range as Baylor and UNM. Hate to be a homer, but I gotta put a plug in for UL-Lafayette and LSU. Both are great programs that consistently place MS students in industry. Only a couple hours away from Houston, so industry actively recruits at both of these schools. Good luck!

Also, I should add that while reputation is fine and dandy, it's not the be-all and end-all. It is probably more important to compare factors such as research fit, POI fit, and funding before deciding on a school.

What kind of job are you aiming for after completing the MS?

Did you get your rejection from the department or from the graduate school? I have a friend whose POI & dept. accepted him, but then got a rejection letter from the graduate school. Apparently, he got automatically rejected because his GRE scores did not make the cutoff (I think 300?). Anyway, the POI sent word to the graduate school that he wanted him, and they quickly rectified the issue. Hopefully this is the case with you as well.

O&G internships will be hard to come by, especially with the recent downturn in oil prices. When I was initially looking for internships a couple years ago, I didn't have much luck with the bigger companies, so I called some small, local companies and simply asked if they were looking for extra help. Seemed like I called nearly 20 of them, and then one finally bit on me. Perhaps go that route? Sorry, I don't really know too much about geology internships in academia or USGS. Maybe someone else could help out with that.

Damn, sorry to hear that. Hopefully one of the two ahead of you gets a really good offer from another school and jumps ship.

1) I wouldn't say it's impolite to ask advisors about your application status; I'm sure most people do it at some point. Being impolite is if you're sending him/her a ton of emails. No one likes to be pestered. 2) I'm not sure what "official credentials" entails, but I would definitely send the school/department everything they ask for. Not completing all parts of the application can jeopardize your chances of admission/funding.

I quickly checked my old emails, and I got my invite to visit and acceptance to OU last year on March 13th, FWIW. Anecdotal, yes, but you might hear back sooner than you think.

Depends on the school but typically sometime in March. Only exception I know is that schools in Louisiana have spring break in April because they get a "mini spring break" for Mardi Gras in February. ETA: I would imagine professors at least check their email during spring break, maybe even more so than usual, because they don't have to deal with teaching classes.

I had an internship with an O&G company from May-August so that took up most of my summer. Managed to sandwich that between a field trip to Glacier NP with my undergrad geology dept. and a trip to Europe with my family. The whole summer was a whirlwind and went by really quick, so enjoy it while it lasts! If possible, I'd definitely recommend taking some time off to travel or at least do something that you otherwise wouldn't normally have the time to do. It may be the last summer where you don't have a ton of work/research commitments hanging over your head...

It depends on the funding situation of the department (for TA's) or your advisor (for RA's). I didn't get my assistantship until a couple months after being admitted, but I would imagine that's not particularly usual. ETA: Congrats on the admission!

Louisiana native here. I personally wouldn't take the chance of going to UNO. If the proposed budget cuts go through (and they will to some extent), I could see the university dropping off the map in 5-10 years. This state does not value higher education. Sad and backwards, I know, but it's the reality of the situation.

I think Geodude hit the nail on the head with this one. I go to a school where not every student is funded and I definitely feel like the unfunded students are resentful of their situation. And frankly, I would also be bitter if I wasn't funded (or more likely, not even in grad school). I would imagine that academia-oriented programs don't have this problem nearly as much as industry-oriented programs because academia-oriented programs tend to have a higher proportion of PhD students (almost always funded) to MS students (sometimes funded). Whether the school is private or public may also make a difference on funding, though I'm not totally sure to what extent.