ginagirl

Just want to say that in some fields, this may not be that shady at all. It's pretty common in my field for collaborators to be on papers on which they have little involvement with the scientific content (i.e. they would not necessarily know if the lead author is fabricating results). For example, one group I worked in had a core team of people that spent 7-8 years designing, building parts for, launching and retrieving the instruments on a telescope that flew in Antarctica (it was a telescope on a balloon). The agreement for anyone who wanted to use this data in any way was that everyone in the core team (about 15 people or so) must be on the author list (or at least, have right of first refusal). So, many papers that came out of this experiment involved a lot of people that were not directly involved with the data analysis (but did dedicate 7-8 years of their career to make the data possible). Of course, they are still ethically required to read over the papers that came out but since the application of the data might be a different field of expertise than their own background, and because they were not directly part of the analysis, an unscrupulous lead author could still trick the coauthors.

I think this probably just depends on your preferences and the lifestyles of your roommates. Obviously living with 2 roommates who party every night is very different from 2 roommates who are quiet nine-to-fivers. (My two roommates fall into the second category). Just do your best to choose people you can live well with.

People bitching about Caitlyn Jenner. Trans awareness is good.

I would say a thank you card would be fine, and to also thank him for the rec letter. But if you were looking for a gift, here are some really cool brain coasters! (or maybe just for yourself  )

Edit: darn it they're out of stock. 

I would say a thank you card would be fine, and to also thank him for the rec letter. But if you were looking for a gift, here are some really cool brain coasters! (or maybe just for yourself  )

Edit: darn it they're out of stock. 

I would say a thank you card would be fine, and to also thank him for the rec letter. But if you were looking for a gift, here are some really cool brain coasters! (or maybe just for yourself  )

Edit: darn it they're out of stock. 

thought this sounded familiar..

No... “I bought a watch last year”  is actually a slang and has the same "abbreviations" in chinese pinyin with "fak your mother and go to hell". It is pretty popular in Chinese forums. lol

It's hard for me to balance too. I've found that what works best for me is a few things:

1) Setting concrete goals/tasks. It helps me to keep lists of where I am at in different projects and "next steps" so it is easy for me to make progress on the research when I do find the time. If I don't know clearly and exactly what needs to be done I'm more likely to put it off.
2) Having regular meetings with my advisor or mentors (whoever is involved with my research). This keeps me on a schedule and gives me the drive to get the tasks done. Also it keeps my advisor/mentors in the loop and helps the research move forward/gives me motivation if I get stuck.
3) Working on my research first thing in the morning. I'm a morning person so this is a natural thing for me, but I find that if I put it off in the day, other stuff always takes precedence. I try to block an hour or two every morning to do a little, and when I get some concrete things done, I can move to my work for my classes. I know my coursework will always get done either way, but it is easy for the research to fall behind later in the day when I'm tired/less motivated.
 
I'm currently working on 3 research projects and taking 17 credits (and maintaining decent grades) so I would say I'm managing it fairly well, but it's taken me a bit of time to figure out what works for me. It's also important to know your own limits and really not to take on more than you can handle.

It's hard for me to balance too. I've found that what works best for me is a few things:

1) Setting concrete goals/tasks. It helps me to keep lists of where I am at in different projects and "next steps" so it is easy for me to make progress on the research when I do find the time. If I don't know clearly and exactly what needs to be done I'm more likely to put it off.
2) Having regular meetings with my advisor or mentors (whoever is involved with my research). This keeps me on a schedule and gives me the drive to get the tasks done. Also it keeps my advisor/mentors in the loop and helps the research move forward/gives me motivation if I get stuck.
3) Working on my research first thing in the morning. I'm a morning person so this is a natural thing for me, but I find that if I put it off in the day, other stuff always takes precedence. I try to block an hour or two every morning to do a little, and when I get some concrete things done, I can move to my work for my classes. I know my coursework will always get done either way, but it is easy for the research to fall behind later in the day when I'm tired/less motivated.
 
I'm currently working on 3 research projects and taking 17 credits (and maintaining decent grades) so I would say I'm managing it fairly well, but it's taken me a bit of time to figure out what works for me. It's also important to know your own limits and really not to take on more than you can handle.

It's hard for me to balance too. I've found that what works best for me is a few things:

1) Setting concrete goals/tasks. It helps me to keep lists of where I am at in different projects and "next steps" so it is easy for me to make progress on the research when I do find the time. If I don't know clearly and exactly what needs to be done I'm more likely to put it off.
2) Having regular meetings with my advisor or mentors (whoever is involved with my research). This keeps me on a schedule and gives me the drive to get the tasks done. Also it keeps my advisor/mentors in the loop and helps the research move forward/gives me motivation if I get stuck.
3) Working on my research first thing in the morning. I'm a morning person so this is a natural thing for me, but I find that if I put it off in the day, other stuff always takes precedence. I try to block an hour or two every morning to do a little, and when I get some concrete things done, I can move to my work for my classes. I know my coursework will always get done either way, but it is easy for the research to fall behind later in the day when I'm tired/less motivated.
 
I'm currently working on 3 research projects and taking 17 credits (and maintaining decent grades) so I would say I'm managing it fairly well, but it's taken me a bit of time to figure out what works for me. It's also important to know your own limits and really not to take on more than you can handle.

Dear mailman,

Thank you for putting the junk mail into the mailbox and dropping my W-2 forms into the snow. I think it's especially awesome that you then ran over them with your car and ground them into the snow really well.

When's the last time you emailed the ones who haven't yet submitted? If it's been a while since you've emailed them, I don't see anything wrong with a "friendly reminder". You can also use it as an opportunity to thank them for writing one, etc, since it's almost the end of the process.

This is tricky: does he say "statistically significant" or just a "trend" in the results? Precise language is important here, because if they claimed there is, for example a P<0.05 when there isn't, that's lying...BUT he can say there was a possible difference based on the graph and it merits further investigation. 

Love to hear other's thoughts! I was always taught the discussion is the place for philosophizing but the results should reflect only what was found.

Just the department's address should be fine

This has been discussed pretty extensively here: 

Conferences should always be business casual attire, in my opinion. The only exception I've seen so far was at a conference in Hawaii, where some people were SLIGHTLY more casually dressed. But really you should look nice.

^ Gnome Chomsky in 3..2..1..

Not for nothing, but what does your boyfriend think about all of this? Is he jumping on the bandwagon for you, or does he actually want to/has the means to travel internationally for an undergraduate degree where no one speaks his language? Sounds a little one sided to me.

I used Manhattan prep almost exclusively, and would highly recommend them. They have vocab flashcards (basic and advanced sets) and also a couple verbal strategy guides. As a note, each strategy guide gives you online access to 6 of their full tests, which is a pretty good deal for 20 dollars. So you could pick one in an area you want to focus on and still benefit from full test practice.

http://www.manhattanprep.com/gre/store.cfm

If there are other universities you think you might be interested in but they are out of state, you should look on their websites or ask if they have reciprocity agreements with Colorado, meaning as a Colorado resident you might still be able to get highly reduced out-of-state tuition or even in-state tuition in that state. I am an AZ resident currently and I was offered in-state tuition at CU-Denver as part of this agreement. I don't know much about it other than this, but I think it probably is most common in neighboring states.
 
Of course this only lessens the financial burden and might not help the personal aspect you mention, but it could be something else to consider.

Congrats on getting into Hopkins!
 
I strongly recommend focusing on research and trying to publish. If you have knowledge and experience in data analysis, you might look into working on an applied statistics project either in biostatistics or in a department like epidemiology or environmental health. For the purposes of publishing, steer clear of research projects that are still in the early stages of data collection, or projects that primarily involve data entry or data cleaning.
 
Consulting and publishing can go together nicely. If you can find work in a consulting center, there may be an opportunity to get on some papers.
 
Personally I don't think networking or TAing are that important. Everybody TA's these days so it won't help to distinguish you from your peers. Networking can't hurt, but I don't think it should too big of a priority for you right now. Better to focus on coursework and research. Volunteering is always a good thing, but I would not expect it to help your job prospects very much after graduating.
 
Good luck!

I think only you can really answer this question. One thing I would point out for you to also consider, is that a happy student produces better work. If being apart from your girlfriend is going to lead to you be very unhappy, having no fun or social life, then this would likely affect your research, and perhaps the lower ranked department would in fact be a better place for you to achieve more. However, if you can live apart from each other and still be happy, social, and have a fulfilling life outside of work, then you probably have your answer.

I'm unsure if Canis' reasoning is related to your specific field or not, but as my boss says "There is more than one way to skin a cat". If you love the program and are willing to deal with lack of funding to have a better shot at being admitted to their PhD, I don't see why you shouldn't go for it. Waiting until next year to try again is only beneficial if you know you will be able to improve your application. Otherwise you'll end up in the same spot. It's such an individual decision though, and is not one-size-fits-all, by any means.

Getting rejected by your bottom choice program.