harrisonfjord

Just for the record, having proof that an idea was yours will do you very little good in the long run. 
 
Journals really don't care who originated the idea, it's the first person to get a publishable manuscript in. 
 
It's why many research groups won't present findings at meetings that are unpublished/not close to publication. I've had friends present unpublished data at a conference, have someone snap pictures of their poster, take the idea and push it through to publication first. 
 
An email record can be nice for, say, convincing your PI that you thought of the idea, but in the broader community it really won't do any good. 
 
Sharing ideas is always a calculated risk... Someone might take your work. Someone might take an idea and develop it. Share ideas with the people you trust, and work with good collaborators. Getting scooped happens. It sucks, but you move on.

I work in a non-academic research position that hires PhDs; one of my coworkers started here before he finished his dissertation and was able to finish and graduate from his full-time job. He hated it, though, and said if he could do it all over he would've delayed his start until after he finished his dissertation. He was also a lot farther along - he was in the thick of it, and he defended his dissertation within 6 months of starting the position (it may have been less than that).
Frankly, if you have not even defended your proposal I think a two-year timeline is kind of fast if you are working full-time. It took me about a year and four months to go from zero (before I started working on my proposal) to a defended dissertation, and then an additional two months to put together the revisions and do a final submission of the dissertation, and I was only working 10 hours a week. Don't underestimate how draining a full-time job can be - I work one now, about 40-50 hours a week (and I also don't have to work from home or on vacations), and I can tell you I sure don't feel like writing a dissertation when I get home from work in the evenings. It also sounds like you will be moving for this position and so on top of getting adjusted to your new job you will also be getting adjusted to a new area. And time isn't just additive, if that makes sense - IMO, you can get more done in one 6-hour chunks of time than you can in three 2-hour chunks of time. That's because you don't have to ramp up every time and get into the swing of things.
You don't think life will get in the way - but nobody does. It has a habit of getting in the way anyway.
The people I know who have managed this successfully worked a research job that was somewhat related to their PhD/dissertation work and were sometimes able to devote some time at work to writing the dissertation. For example, they may have used secondary data sources that were provided or funded by their new employer, so working on their dissertation was directly relevant to the work of the institution and so "counted" as part of their duties.
The positive thing is that you have the support of your committee. You can definitely have an ambitious goal of two years, but realize that it may stretch out to longer (maybe 3) and decide whether you are okay with that.

No one that I knew who left thought they wouldn't finish - it just happens sometimes because priorities change and finishing doesn't seem as important anymore.  It is far better to accept that as a possibility and work to make sure that doesn't happen than to think that won't happen to you because you are more "focused and responsible." I also don't think that people who don't finish are flaky or irresponsible - but that is a whole other discussion...
My suggestions would be while you are still on campus is to meet with all your committee members about your proposed schedule to finish and ask them how frequently they will be willing to read drafts.  I would ask to set up semi-regular meetings at least with your advisor in the upcoming year to check in and discuss your work.  You also really want to think about concrete benchmarks you want to achieve each month (or week) to make sure you are making progress.  If you can find a writing group to attend that might be helpful and an extra support.  
Lastly, to be kind to yourself.  Learning a new job can be kinda exhausting in the first couple months especially if you have never held a full-time job before.  You might want to go light in months 1 & 2 and then start adding in more time to work on the dissertation as you become more comfortable with your job.  Good luck! 

It is fairly common for people in my field to do this (i.e. finish their dissertation from afar while working in the field full-time) after they have reached candidacy (i.e. completed all coursework and passed the comprehensive exam) because they can secure high paying jobs w/o having completed the PhD.  The people that I have seen to be more successful are the ones that secured their dissertation committee and defended their proposal before they left.  They also have partners who are willing to handle all the domestic things (i.e. cooking, cleaning, laundry, etc) while you are focusing on just working and dissertating.  The people that tend to struggle are the ones who leave without having defended their proposal and only a vague idea of their dissertation.  That being said - it typically takes them another 2-4 years to finish part-time with 2 years for the people with defended proposals and 4 years for the people w/o defended proposals.  Some of this is because they end up taking jobs where they have a lot of responsibility and are working 60+ hours a week which makes it difficult to find the time to do the dissertation and the energy especially if you are in charge of all the domestic stuff.  Do you know how many hours typically people work in your position?  
How supportive is your advisor about finishing from afar?  The other difficultly I have seen is people who try to finish from afar and they cannot get the necessary support from their advisor because either their advisor doesn't want their students to do this and/or their advisor is not responsive/difficult to get a hold of which makes it impossible to progress.  
And of course some people just don't finish (I would say about a 1/3) because the job and/or life just gets in the way and the motivation to finish decreases the longer you are away from the program and they have a job that they are comfortable in.  These people end up timing out of the program as we only have 5 years to finish our dissertations after we reached candidacy.  How long do you have according to your school policies?
 

I widthdrew from two classes in my Master's degree and it had absolutely no impact. People withdraw for all kinds of reasons, as the poster above has said, and unless you have a particularly judgmental department, I don't see it making a huge difference.

Well in that case I'd suggest putting together an email that is truthful, though may not contain the whole truth, and emailing the PI. You can say that you are leaving the lab and state personal difficulties as contributing to the decision. Even if you're not too thankful, I'd still thank the PI for the opportunity they gave you. I don't think you owe anything to the other students or the lab manager, they are not your supervisors. You need to let the PI know, and they can take it from there and find a replacement for the projects you were working on. Since you already know that there is politics involved, keep information to a minimum so it can't be used against you; don't lie, and be very polite and thankful. 

Not-So-Obvious Teaching Assistant Advice
 
There is so much good advice on this thread.   If you do not have a clear purpose or endpoint of your destination than every road sign is irrelevant.  There has to be a practical use that informs information.  Information does not inform itself.  We do it. So here is some advice that might help you find which advice is best for you.
 
For whom it my be worth, here is some advice that I've culled over the years as a graduate teaching assistant in the humanites. 
 
1. top of the list.  Have some clear vision of what kind of graduate teaching assistant you want to be.  Do you want to be liked by your students? Do you want to be engaging? Do you want to enlighten students? Do you want to be seen as authoritative? Do you want to just survive through as you focus more on reserach? If you are fortunate to have had amazing teachers as role models, what qualities do you want to incorporate into the vision you have of yourself as a teacher? Do you want to be loose and free, or does being more reserved work better for you? Do you want to have empathy for where students are in their intellectual journey or do you want to be able to teach to all students?
 
2. Have a clear vision of the kind of classroom environment you want to create (depends on subject area, sometimes).  Do you want more structure and "professional" enviroment? Or do you prefer something more informal?  What works best for your content area?  Do you want an active class, asking questions, engaged and speaking, or a class that is more focused and recpetive (not necessarily a bad thing for certain topic areas).
 
3. Have some clear vision of your ideal student.  Are they enaged? Do they laugh at your jokes? Are they comfortable sharing in class? Can they ask questions without fear of judgment? Does the ideal student respect others opinions in class?
 
4. Take action to make these visions a reality by working backwards from the vision: "If I want a more engaging classroom, what actions can I take to contribute to this?" "If I want to be respected by students, what actions can I take to make this a reality?" How should I relate to students if I want to contribute to creating an ideal student? etc...
 
Keeping in mind that you cannot ultimately control how students respond to you, if they like you, respect you, etc...but you can nonetheless be comitted and focused on achiveing your vision of becoming the teacher you want to be (if you have a clear idea if what that looks like for you). 

Oh, and one other thing. If you don't get a question and you don't know the answer, don't try to fake it. They can see totally see through that. It's perfectly acceptable to say you don't know the answer, but that you'll look into it. They'll appreciate the follow through much more that your winging it and potentially adding to their confusion.

I agree that teaching is never as valued as direct research impact in research oriented fields when it comes to hiring decisions at research oriented universities.
 
I do agree that for my field, if you do want a tenure track assistant prof position at a research oriented university, then yes, teaching should be a very low priority for you. The advice I hear is to have a minimal amount of it so that 1) you actually have some experience and 2) hiring committees who only really care about research but want to claim that they care about teaching can point to something on your CV that says you've taught before. I know that my current school does not consider teaching ability at all when it comes to tenure decisions. One prof at my school who was passionate about teaching was asked to spend less time on teaching because his classes were too good. He is now somewhere else, at a school where he feels his teaching is as valued as his research. 
 
That said, I don't think it's sound advice to actually tell graduate students to slack off on TAing. First of all, that article that was linked in NicholasCage's post is almost 25 years old. I think in general, most schools have begun to shift towards valuing teaching as well, even if it's tiny. There are centres for teaching & learning popping up at various campuses and even my super-research-oriented school opened their own Centre for Teaching and Learning a few years ago. 
 
If a student is absolutely certain they want to pursue a career that is purely research, then it makes sense to devote all of their time into research. However, I think with the current job market, it's a very bad idea to limit your career options so much and to me, it's a far better idea to develop your teaching portfolio as much as possible. Personally, I enjoy teaching, so I don't need pragmatic reasons to motivate me but it's still true that while spending time on teaching might not gain you very much towards the most research-oriented jobs, the little extra effort you can do is probably beneficial in the long run because it will increase your chances at a much broader range of careers.
 
Time management is essential in grad school and I'm not saying to say yes to every teaching opportunity. I'm also not saying you should say no every time either. The best answer, I think, is to advise grad students to think about what kind of careers we want after the PhD and to make sure almost everything we do, whether it's teaching or research or otherwise, is a step towards these goals.

The term "bae"
People who abbreviate everything ("That is totes adorbs")
High-waisted shorts/pants
Crop tops

The term "bae"
People who abbreviate everything ("That is totes adorbs")
High-waisted shorts/pants
Crop tops

I took a gap year after high school and realized my life outside of the academy is well lifeless. The academy might give me a whole lot of stress but, for some odd reason, my body loves the stress and cannot seem to live without it.
 
I also really love the idea of researching about topics that I like and being on my own, especially away from these general education classes that have nothing to do with my field (yeah, I know well-rounded student).
 
Also, student loans... (this was a soft factor but still mattered).

Without a doubt, Beyonce. 

Just curious to hear what everyone here has to say! I see some really experienced members on these boards and think we all could benefit. This was my first semester teaching and it definitely opened up my eyes.
 
My pieces of advice (maybe they are already obvious, but I learned a lot of these from this semester):
 
-I would say that no matter how much time you spend outlining and writing a rubric for a paper or project, be prepared for students to ignore it (and to inevitably be upset when they get their grades)
-Never assume that upper-level students know how to write properly
-Include a section on the syllabus about how to email professors/TAs/other administrators at school appropriately 
-And most importantly I think next semester I will make a syllabus/policy quiz mandatory so everyone knows exactly what is expected of them and so they are all aware of exactly what plagiarism is (I was a TA for an upper-level course but apparently it is still not a known fact what plagiarism entails even as a junior)

Hi everyone, I'm a Winter Park native and a current grad student. Winter Park is a lovely area, but you are right, it is about 15 minutes from campus (depending on how close to downtown winter park you go and sometimes more during peak traffic times). The trouble (with east Orlando) is that there are 3 major schools all within a very close proximity: Full Sail, Valencia College and UCF. Because of this, traffic can get crazy. That said, Winter Park and Oviedo are some of the nicer areas. Most graduate students I know tend to find houses in these areas and split them with roommates since its usually cheaper than renting an apartment (Winter Park is kind of a pricey real estate area, but there are also some not-so-nice parts of Winter Park). I also suggest looking into the areas known as Avalon Park and Waterford. These areas tend to have great housing options for graduate students and you can sometimes bypass peak traffic by taking the back roads to campus. 
 
Orlando is super sprawled. Unless you live in student housing, it will be hard to walk to bars, the grocery store, etc. It's not a pedestrian friendly city and 4 of our students have died this semester alone trying to cross some of the major walkways to get to campus (granted some of these accidents involve drunk drivers, etc.) but I just wanted to emphasize that its not the most bike or pedestrian friendly city since some people aren't aware of that. Waterford has a pretty big outdoor shopping center/"mall" so to speak and there are apartments/housing in the middle of Avalon Park that are within walking distance of the grocery store, etc. 
 
Hope this helps! Feel free to message me if you have any questions about UCF, Winter Park, etc.

I would ask for confidentiality and explain that my current employer is not aware that I am applying for other jobs. You will not be the first person in such a situation, so they should know how to handle it. I'd offer the names of other references for them to contact. They want to talk to people who know you, which is legitimate, so you just need to make some such people available to them. It gets tricky if this is the first and only job you've ever had; in that case I guess you will have to give them academic references. 

Amen. 

I just want to know where I'll be in 6 months. I. Just. Want. To. Know.

I definitely did in my second semester of my first year in the PhD program (I came in with a MA).  I was taking four courses- 2 reading courses, 1 independent study, and a research/writing seminar.  They were all necessary for my exam fields and dissertation.  It was just one of those semesters where I didn't have a class where I could take a bit easier than others.  I ended up crashing at the end and took extensions for all of my courses except for one.  I felt very embarrassed and like a failure because I had never asked for an extension before in graduate school (except for once because of eye strain) and was usually able to cover up anything I didn't get caught up on. Depression and anxiety also got the best of me- took over my life.  That semester was a wake up call for me and my adviser in context of better management and recognizing my limits.
 
You should reach out to your professors and let them know what's up, particularly if you see that you're not going to be able to deliver good work.
 
Is there a way you can cut back on your job for a few weeks?  I did during my MA for a few weeks and it was really helpful (I did eventually quit).

Hi harrisonfjord!
 
I had a totally overwhelming 2nd semester of the first year of the PhD, punctuated by some of the things you describe. I was taking too many courses (mandatory ones offered once a year and best completed early on in the program that were also a total time-suck - stats, in particular, which didn't come easy to me). I was also TA-ing too much. The breaking point came with a death in the family in April, as I was rushing to complete my marking and my own final papers/projects/exams. Something had to give, so I took a SHORT course extension (1 month) for one of my courses, so I could complete everything else without worrying about the final paper for that class, which I eventually knocked out by the end of May.
 
I think that there are some periods of grad school that one just has to "take as a montage" (like, bursts of 3-6 weeks were one is totally overworked, but you just imagine it like those studying montages in movies, where the protagonist is at the library day and night). You can do these and recover, but burn-out happens from too many of these stacked back-to-back over time. And crisis can occur if you don't leave any room for "life" to happen (like illnesses or deaths in the family). So, my advice is to (1) initially, take this as a montage and buckle down and try to get 'er done while practicing some self-care (lots of rest and trips to the gym and tea, for example) and (2) have a contingency plan if "life" happens and something's got to give and then don't be afraid to take the "out" and ask for help. It really can make all the difference in the world to your mind-set just knowing that you've got an "out". The course extension might be worth looking into - I found my admins and the prof to be very understanding - but I would recommend that this should be (i) a one-time thing (ii) for ONE course (iii) that is a SHORT extension (maybe to write a final paper over the holiday break and have it done for January, you don't want this over-lapping with whatever you have next semester and it'll just get harder to wrap-up as time goes on). Again, I think you should look into it and having the strategy in your back pocket might on its own make all the difference.
 
Talking to the grad admins and colleagues can help as well, just to figure out what the culture of your program is and what people typically do - grad students are often an overachieving bunch, and I remember that semester as being kind of a profound moment where I was staring down a situation that I maybe couldn't negotiate without some help, a circumstance that had been foreign to me at the time, where all challenges up until that point had just been rectified by my working REALLY hard. It's actually good to get a sense of your limits to know what that landscape looks like, but you need to know when to pull back, and if you get a sense of prospective "taking something off your plate" strategies before you're in crisis and actually need them, then this will help to make it feel more manageable, and you'll have an "out" if needed. I'm sure you're not the first in your program to feel overwhelmed, and give yourself a break - get acquainted with your limits, flirt with them a bit, but don't walk over the edge, ask for help!
 
HTH! Good luck!

I have a lilly pulitzer one and I love it. It's more expensive than what I used to pay, but I use it everyday and i'm able to fit everything in that I need to!

A similar thing happened to me. I was at a conference and speaking with some professionals in the field and they asked for my card. I was so embarrassed to say that I didn't have one, but I had my advisor/PIs card and wrote my name/email on that. I'm not anticipating that I will use many, it just seems nice to have them in those situations. 

For websites, check out Reclaim Hosting. It's specifically targeted at "students" trying to develop a web presence, but they're OK with other academics using it as well. 
 
I'm slowly building mine on there, and it's quite interesting to build one completely from scratch. 

This is definitely really specific, but for me the homesickness comes from feeling like I'm missing out on something back home. It helps to remind myself of why I am where I am. Also strangely enough, the more often I visit home the more homesick I get. I had a long distance relationship for 2 years in undergrad and I won't be continuing the long distance relationship in grad school largely because I felt like I missed out on a lot of socializing during my undergrad years by focusing so much on what was waiting for me back home. It won't be the same for everyone but for me it seems silly to continually put myself in a position where I make myself miserable (visiting home and then being heartbroken when I have to leave) so I've chosen to discontinue that part of my life during grad school. I don't mean I wont visit home, but I'll definitely limit my visits (I used to visit home at least once a month). How does this apply to the general population? Focus on what is happening to you right now. I try to think of it like an adventure. When I'm feeling sad, it really helps if I try to imagine projecting myself into the future and looking back on that sad moment to see how insignificant it will actually be to future me. I mean, its definitely easier said that done. I realize that.

I definitely did, and do especially now during my year of research abroad. I make the best of Skyping with my loved ones and also try to enjoy what my current city has to offer in terms of entertainment and bars/dining, although going out alone isn't always fun. I was lucky to make several friends in my programs when I first started, which made the separation from my family and home more manageable, but now living abroad for a year is a different story. Hang in there. Remember that this is an investment in your future.