astroyogi

Breezyisaa, although our backgrounds are different I was in a similar situation of debating whether or not to highlight the unique challenges I overcame through college in my SOP; I decided to touch on them, but like immunology_nonmodel said, I kept the tone strictly positive and made sure each statement was tied back to the main point I was making about why I would be a good fit for the program or would appreciate the chances a fellowship would give me, etc. I don't think I would make these topics the main points of any essay -- instead, I would use them as bonuses -- like for you, I would say something along the lines of 'look how great I am in this area and this area -- AND I overcame this and am tough as nails, giving me _____(positive attribute) which has helped me succeed in ___.' This strategy worked well for me this application season. As a warning against taking it too far in the direction of hardship/diversity being the main point of your statement, a friend of mine who was applying to the same programs I did crafted his whole SOP around a loss in his family which had affected his undergraduate career. This was obviously a very important thing to mention, but he did it in such a way that any person who read his SOP took away one message from it: "he had a loss in his family." This hurt him in his applications and he didn't end up where he had wanted to be. I think it's important to make sure that the take-away message of any SOP is "we want this person in our program" and not only "he/she went through a lot." It's a tricky balance to achieve, but certainly I think you should at least state that you have not had the cookie-cutter academic background, because it's clear you're a driven and exceptional individual to make it to where you are today! (congrats, btw.)

Hi all, congratulations!! I just graduated from Cornell with my bachelors and am getting ready to move across the country for my PhD. Although I'm not staying in Ithaca for graduate school, I've had three years of experience living off campus in a variety of places so I wanted to offer advice on housing or Ithaca in general if anyone needs it! Feel free to message me. Congrats again! Ithaca is one of the most incredible places I could imagine living, and I hope you'll love it too.

Hi makaay2006, I'm probably not the best person to be giving advice because I'm so far removed from your field, but in my field which is almost purely technical and not english-heavy, general GRE scores (even writing scores) tend to be higher than yours listed to get into the top grad programs (160+ all sections, writing 4+). I can't speak to your chances, but I can recommend that you boost those scores if it's at all possible for you -- adding a few points to those scores is a relatively quick way (if you can afford it financially and time-wise) to help your application.

I'm also not excited. I keep trying to be and feel like I'm not being grateful enough for these amazing opportunities I've been given, but the only feelings that exist for me at the moment are dread about moving across the country and away from everyone I love, worry about finding a livable housing situation, and further dread about starting this whole thing over again -- proving yourself, courses, homework, exams, endless stress... I feel like I just finished all of that. I'm not even interested in going to any seminars or talks in my department right now. I'm thinking I'm just burned out, and will see how I feel when I'm actually in grad school and settled in. But taking that step is gigantic, and not having any motivation does not help.

Granted my textbooks are mostly filled with equations, but I've never wanted to annotate any books or notes because my learning always progresses in such a way that what I want to highlight/learn more about/remember today isn't what I need to highlight/learn more about/remember a month from now. I stick to color-coded post-its or separate notes/study guides corresponding to the text.

I would also recommend speaking to a neutral third party in a higher position (advising dean) or separate office (disability services as mentioned above) before taking any action with the professor on this. Speaking up could also help future students of this professor.

Thanks so much TakeruK! That was extremely helpful

Thank you!

Hi there, I'm off to grad school next year, happily with an NSF GRF, and am trying to create my budget as I look for housing, cars, etc. -- do any of you know how much you actually receive annually after taxes in California (not including any tax refund)? The sticker amount is $32,000/year. Thank you!

I'm not in grad school yet but I spend ~25 hours /week at my computer in my lab and I've found desk exercises to be great at helping to avoid the "shlump" I so often feel after sitting and staring at a screen for a long period of time. If you google desk exercises you'll get a bunch of suggestions about things you can do in your chair. Takes not even a minute to do them

Vegetables. Distant skunk smell.

Kale, mushrooms and red onions stir-fried with red wine, salt, pepper and garlic powder (for dinner). Lunch is easy; wash some greens, and quickly mash up a tuna, chicken, or chickpea salad to put on top. Breakfast: toast. I don't pull any cooking stunts before my coffee.

Thank you!

I was trying to keep this semi-anonymous but I guess that's really not the best approach here. I'll be looking at UChicago, and will be staying a few blocks from campus.

I'll be getting to Chicago one day before my prospective school's visiting days start to check out the place on my own. What would you recommend I do? I'm looking for low-key, everyday type activities just to feel out the vibes and see the people. Cool cafes? Campus or park spots to look at? Streets for window shopping? Thank you!

Maybe this is different field to field?

It feels close-minded, but I did not know you could get a PhD in geography. I had to look into what geography actually meant. Turns out it's not just where Little Country #47 is located, go figure!

It surprised me just how important undergrad institution and famous recommenders are. Everyone stressed the subject GRE but no one mentions the fact that it tends to be more important for those who go to a lesser known institution (at least in my field). I was surprised how I got into top-5 schools in spite of an awful subject GRE, and how my friends with some pretty bad grades and GRE writing scores got in because they had famous recommenders.

I'm considering a few different schools at the moment and am wondering if anyone has anything to say about the department culture at Caltech. Friendly, competitive, workaholic...? Of course visiting later next month will help clarify this for me but I'm interested to see what anyone here has to say. Thank you! Edit: Should I have posted this in "Decisions, decisions?" I don't know how many physics people are active on this forum.

I would recommend craigslist as it's the only thing I've used to find housing and sublet my own apartment. I don't think June is late to look -- a lot of year long leases begin at the end of July (mine for example).

(Also, don't get me wrong -- I will work 7am - 10:30pm with no procrastination, rest or meal breaks, for days on end. But I need to sleep.)

Similar to those above, never. Not in HS when I took 6 APs at once, not during college when I did honors stream physics at a top-10 school, not when applying to 13 grad schools and taking GREs, and not while working full time. If I lose sleep, I lose health, and then it's really game over. My choice is to work on beastly time management skills, know my own limits and take on only as much as I can at one time. If the situation occurs where I simply NEED to pull an all nighter....I've asked for and gotten extensions. A lot of my friends love to boast about how little sleep they need, but I don't understand the mentality. My only all-nighter in the last two years was staying up all night watching the Perseids while laying in the summer grass, and that was worth it.

My boyfriend is a physicist and he's one of the smartest people I know. My mother is an artist and musician and she's one of the smartest people I know.

Fun facts before I end my posting and response spree: 1) Thankfully SO is flexible enough that he is trying his best to get a postdoc wherever I will be studying next year and/or consider the job market (hopefully he won't have to). He's convinced that the LD won't be too hard or for too long, which is faith inspiring. 2) He's a pilot and flies small planes, so that's really convenient if you live within a 700 mile radius of each other. [insert plane emoji here]

Fuzzylogician, this sounds oodles worse than the grad app&admissions process. I wish you lots of luck, and I'm sorry to hear how much stress this has been causing you. You're putting it into perspective to me, really, I have the better end of the deal here -- he's the one scrambling for post docs. Good luck, good luck and more good luck. I'm sure the dissertation will come out great in the end. Like others have said, this is not always an option. My SO is in his last year of his PhD and he's looking for postdocs. He's in high energy particle theory, specifically string theory, a field in which there might be, in a good year, a very small handful of positions available in the entire world. His brilliant, creative mind and passion for physics is one of the very first things that attracted me to him, and in turn, the excitement I have for my field (right now experimental astrophysics, in grad school I'm looking at experimental cosmology or particle astrophysics) is something that he admires greatly in me. Both of us want to strive for jobs in academia, trying to find the holy grail of the tenured faculty position. I doubt we will both end up there, but for the rest of my 20s, that's what I'll be working towards. I started this thread and called it "relationships in academia" not just because we're both getting a graduate education, but because we want to stay in academia, and that's very difficult for a couple. It's not as simple as finding a job in a different city, unfortunately. One day it might be that simple, but not until one or both of us is/are ready to quit being academics and get a real people job. In my particular situation, I would need to sit out two whole application cycles before I knew where SO would be, and that might not even be in the country. His next position would only be for 2-3 years anyway, so it feels very silly for me to compromise my life and career for 2 years to (MAYBE) be with him for 2 years before starting it all over again. Instead, in those 4 years I'd be most of my way to a PhD, with the chance that SO could even get a post doc somewhere close when I'm in my second year of graduate school. Anyway, point is, this is not always an option (in fact it is rarely a viable option). Yes thank you so much for your kind words and advice. Good luck to you, too! I'm glad you're both making it work and pursuing your dreams. I've been really happy to read all of the great stories on here and it's given me a lot of hope (as well as exciting me about academia as a whole -- there are some kick-ass individuals out there!). You are living the dream, PhDerp!