Eigen

I think we used In Revision on one of ours when we were doing accepted with minor revisions. I'd say an R&R doesn't exactly qualify. Really, most of these don't get used much, since you only need to use them when a submission happens to overlap with a deadline. I've seen it recommended to people applying to faculty jobs (on the chronicle) to have separate sections for articles in prep/in press and those that are published, but opinion seems to be split, as long as you're clear in which are where.

The process depends on where you are in your PhD. What year are you? Usually, for students past cumulative exams and into the candidacy phase, they would go to the new university with their professor, but still receive their degree from the previous institution. It's really, really unusual for a professor to take students along with them and have them receive their degrees from the new school. For the latter to happen, you'd need to apply, and then likely re-take courses, cumulative exams, etc. if there are any differences between the schools, and there almost always are. For a view of it from the PIs side: http://chronicle.com/forums/index.php/topic,83905.msg2019825.html#msg2019825

For my CV, I keep them in the following category: Submitted- submitted to the journal. In Review- out for peer review Accepted- been accepted by the journal, but no publication date mentioned In Press- been accepted and is currently being processed for publication. I'm sure it depends on the field, but those are the norms for my area. Generally, you only put on "Submitted" papers if you want to show you're currently working to get results out on something, as they stand they really don't mean anything- same with "In Review" papers. Accepted and In Press are good to have, since they're "sure things" so to speak.

Keep an open mind. I applied to three schools, and by the time I'd gotten all the acceptances, my opinions about the three had almost exactly reversed from my earlier opinions. I was pretty sure by about January that I wanted to go to one school, but I ended up waiting until the deadlines, and I'm glad I did. My choice stayed the same, but there were some huge back and forths in the middle- fellowship offers, etc. Had I chosen early and then gotten those, it would have made me wonder if I made the right decision. As it was, I could take them into account, weigh all the facts and still feel happy about my decision. It's great that you're having such a nice response from school A, but school B just may not have started going through apps yet- once they do, they may be just as enthusiastic or more. I should add, you're talking about neutrality... What actually made me switch my order of preference initially was that I went into several of the interviews with a strong bias towards the other school... And because of that, the faculty made a lot harder sell of their program, and I asked a lot more pointed questions. It made them work to convince me, but also I felt very good about it, because I got my opinion flipped starting from a bias, which was pretty impressive. That said, if your situation plays out at all like mine, be prepared for both a hard decision, and the possibility of not-so-great responses from the school you turn down. I got told quite brusquely and point blank that I was making a big mistake and the wrong decision when I told one school I was going elsewhere... Ran into that person doing recruiting for my program two years down the line, and they were still a bit miffed that I didn't go there.

Your advisor may also have been saying that she would not keep you on as an advisee if your GPA fell below a 3.0, but I'm sure that will become clear when you hear back from her.

I work best by looking for holes/unanswered questions or extensions of work that I'm reading. The more familiar you are with the field, the easier they are to spot. I jot down anything that makes me think "I wonder if...". Sometimes it quickly becomes apparent why, or why it wouldn't work, but sometimes you find a cool idea. Those that fit in with my current work, I take farther- the others I keep written up for future work- post docs, job talks, etc. Once you've got the idea it's about setting it up into phases- what do you want to show, and how do you go shout doing it? What preliminary work do you need to do? Is the problem a complex one that needs to be broken into several components before a final study? Then it's about the how part- what studies are you going to perform, how do you want to set the up, what do you need? Controls? Then it's about the what if stage- what can go wrong, how can you get around it, what do you do if you can't? Thats how I approach it, at least. If you want to talk about more specifics, I'd be glad to in PMs.

Adding to Gellert's estate, collaborations can be a great way to expand- come up with projects you need help from other areas to work on, and then pitch those. I spend a nice portion of my time now working in other labs to pick up new skills/do work that we arent set up for.

You should also have someone designated as a "graduate advisor" that oversees all the generalities of the gradaute program- they'd be a good one to talk to. My PI is pretty easy to talk to, but he really doesn't concern himself much with out progress through the program- that's up to us. Most of the faculty are the me way, honestly- if you really don't understand the requirements, you go to the chair or the graduate advisor more often than your advisor.

Honestly, I wouldnt think it important to mention that you worked your way through college unless the work experience was relevant to your field or you're explaining away some deficiency- low GPA, lack of reach experience, etc. But that's just what I've seen- all my peers worked their way through undergrad, and I don't think any of us mentioned it. With only a page, you want to focus on the things that are the most relevant to your proposed degree.

I would say consistency is far better. Changing labs usually comes with a change in techniques and topical area, which will require another learning period before you get up to speed. One of the major things undergraduate research experience shows is that you know how to run a project- thte more you switch labs, usually, the less "seniority" you will gain in terms of being allowed independent research. That said, its not always a bad thing to switch, either to round out your background or because you've changed what you really want to focus on. I'm sure a lot of it depends on the field as well.

Don't send scores a year before you apply. Very few departments will keep them, and it can cause confusion and frustration on their part. If you take the exam during an application season and send the scores, they will assume your applying that year. Just wait and pay the relatively small cost to send a report to the school when you apply. The only other worry is the scores expiring- some schools do 5 years, but I've heard of others doing 2, which means you'll only get one application season out of the scores and have to retake it if you don't get in.

At least at my school, the biology department is quite formal, meaning they want the PI to do the negotiating on a collaborative venture. My suggestion would be to look at what your biology program has as far as research directions, and find somewhere you think you could add in a new direction. Then talk to your advisor about approaching them. Alternatively/additionally, go meet some grad students in that lab. While all of my collaborative ventures have officially come from "formal" collaborations, they started with me and a fellow grad student or two. We could talk out some ideas, and then pitch them to our respective advisors. And other grad students are often much easier to approach.

Interdisciplinary research can be hugely different from field to field, depending on if it's a common area of study in one subfield, if the overlapping areas are fairly closely related or widespread, and what collaborations exist. For what you're saying, you're more interested in computational environmental science. It's not a huge field, but it's certainly one that I've seen research that could fit into. If you're already attending somewhere, your options will be more likely limited by what, specifically, is available at your current school. Generally, you need to approach interdisciplinary research by gaining a thorough understanding of at least the basics of both fields. I'm assuming your background is informatics, so how well versed are you on environmental theory, biology, etc? You also need a more specific field of interest than "informatics in the environment and nature". Are you more interested in populations and ecology, renewable energy, water purification/preservation, soil and geosciences? Each of these areas will require a different approach and background.

Because it's a test based around the skills commonly referred to as reading comprehension? Technically, the test is called "Verbal Reasoning", with one of the skillsets it claims to test being reading comprehension.

I have to say, Gentlelife, I was giving you the benefit of the doubt based on your original post. Given your clarifications, however, I think you're being both a bit judgmental and a bit oversensitive. You went to bed early when someone asked if you were tired based on a fragment of a conversation you heard earlier that you interpreted as them wanting to "send you to bed". You are upset that she didn't tell you that she hadn't told her parents, because you view this as "unacceptable behavior". What she did or didn't tell her parents was between her and her parents, and not really for you to judge. From what you've written, her family seemed quite friendly and accommodating to you. If they hadn't been due to short notice on your roommates part, I could see a reason for you to get in the middle of it, but otherwise how/when she chose to tell her parents is something between her and them. I'd also say there's a difference between her parents being "unwelcoming" and wanting to get some alone time with their daughter who's away at school. It seems overall like you're trying to apply the cultural mores you're most familiar with to everyone else you're interacting with, and judging their behavior based on that. When you're in a new cultural environment, you should try to learn how that culture operates, and adjust your expectations accordingly. When I'm overseas, I don't expect everyone to act the way I'm used to or would think was culturally acceptable, I try to learn what is considered culturally acceptable where I am. As the saying goes, "When in Rome, do as the Romans do".

While an app without GRE scores is considered incomplete, my experience has been that most schools will give the student at least some benefit of the doubt that ETS screwed up and contact you. I had ETS not get my scores to Vanderbilt. Twice. They (Vandy) were really nice about letting me know, and helping me getting ETS to ship new scores free of charge.

I actually had several faculty ask me if they could come once I'd been doing mine for a bit. They said they'd appreciate the drive to keep up with literature, as well as being exposed to things they might not otherwise find. I ended up doing mine in a conference room in our department- it was the easiest place to get everyone together. I asked our department if I could have a key, and signed up for times on the shared calender. I've found doing things off campus can be more dicey- everyone can get to campus, obviously- but we have enough bike-only or walking-only people that everywhere else I ended up picking invariably left someone out because they couldn't get there. Of course, I'm in a strongly experimental discipline, so it was also a boon for us to hold it in the department so if someone had a reaction going they could leave to check on it and come back as needed. But then, it also worked for us to hold it at 8pm on a Friday night or 11 am on Saturday/1pm Sunday because of that, so ymmv. What you might do if you aren't sure about inviting faculty (but wouldn't mind them coming) is get the department secretary to send it out to the whole department including faculty, but not targeting them specifically. Then it doesn't seem untoward (you're targeting mostly grad students) but if some are interested they can get in touch with you. If you've got 4 people ready to read and pretty committed, I think you'll have a much easier time than I did- having a small core group that will consistently attend really makes all the difference. If you have fringe people that come less consistently, then it doesn't make as big of a deal if you have several people that are nearly always there.

There's also the chance that the adcom might refer your packet to someone not on the admissions committee that might be better placed to judge your application- either someone you mention by name, or someone closest to your area of interest if they don't feel any of them are close enough.

To some degree, any research experience is good research experience. While the exact methodologies and techniques wouldn't always carry across fields, many of the less specific details would. The ability to collect and synthesize data, how to design studies to answer questions, searching and reviewing literature, etc. Just focus on the more general abilities in your SoP. Focus on the skills you gained (learning how to run an independent research project), more than the details of your research. Then segue into why you're interested in switching to sociology, your specific interests, etc.

Just because it's something you wouldn't do does not make it rude, and from the information we've gotten so far, there's nothing to indicate that the parents found it to be so. If the family had a history of bringing people home with little notice (it wasn't no notice, they called to inform the parents before arriving), then the parents would not have construed it as rude. It's also a bit unclear to me what exactly is meant by "sending her to bed after dinner". Did they straight out tell you "you should go to bed now so we can have fun" right after dinner? Did they ask if you were tired and wanted to go to bed early? Did they simply stay up after you went to bed and have fun? At least when I bring international students home/invite them over on major holidays, I tend to treat them like I would any other guest- spend some time specifically focused on them, try to make sure most of the group activities are things they can participate in, and keep an eye on them to make sure they aren't being too left out. I don't expect things to be tailored to me when I'm invited into another home, nor do I do the same when I invite others over. If there are some things that I can't participate in, I don't feel that it's rude if the majority can. In fact, it's often quite interesting to sit and watch the interactions, especially if it's another culture or something new to watch. Similarly, if I'm not always included in the conversation, I don't take it as being rude, but rather something that comes along with being a single person mixed in with a large group. I think there are multiple ways you can look at the events from the original post, and that the view being taken by Gentlelife is one of the most negative. Andsowego- I'd be interested to hear you expound on your reasoning for the "rudeness" of the housemate in "many other ways". It really wasn't apparent to me when I read the original post, and since it was to you I would very much appreciate your perspective. To me, it seems like the housemate is trying to be inclusive to Gentlelife, and while there are ways she could improve on it, it seems like she's gone out of her way to be inclusive. Not doing as much as she could isn't something I would label as rude, or even unapproachable. Unapproachable and rude would, to me, be not extending any invitations/reaching out at all to a new roommate, whereas showing a new roomate the town, introducing them to friends, inviting them to shared meals, bringing them home to meet family, etc. are all things that I would consider to be quite inclusive rather than exlusive.

I can completely understand wanting to talk to some of the female students at a program, it's one of the reasons I make sure to balance the sexes every time we do recruiting in person. Being able to talk to someone who might have your same perspective/difficulties is a great thing. It's also the reason if I can I like to have grad students from different backgrounds (small vs large programs) and from different sub-specialties available. But it seems like highlighting the fact that females aren't treated poorly in a brief graduate recruiting e-mail is taking things a bit too far in the other direction. Almost a "doth protest too much" type of thing. If you're making such overt statements about not having a problem, it would make me wonder why- have you had a problem with it in the past? Is it something you're still struggling with? Wanting to talk to current grad students and make sure the labs you're interested have good working conditions, etc. is always wise before you select a grad school- whether you're female looking for sexism or not. Some advisors treat their male students better. Some treat their female students better. Some treat international/domestic students better. Some are just really horrible to work for no matter what your background is! It seems to me, however, that this is something that the applicant would be best to search out on their own- it's a more personal and discreet inquiry, and not something I'd be likely to advise anyone to trust based on statements or metrics given by the departmental recruiters in an e-mail, either. To reinforce this, every applicant, male or female, should check out the programs and PIs they're interested in to make sure the work conditions are such that they can comfortably work there. As to whether numbers biased towards women imply lack of sexism- not at all. They do, however, imply that there is a decent cohort of other female students- for support, or other reasons. I would think it also indicates that the admissions committee isn't biasing their admissions too heavily towards one sex or the other. A lot of people talk about STEM fields as male-dominated and quite sexist, but I have yet to see this at any of the institutions I've encountered, or heard even wiffs of this from any of the faculty that I've dealt with, whether at my institutions or nationally. My wife is a graduate student in Neuroscience, and has yet to experience any gender bias at any of her institutions or at national conferences, meetings, etc. That's not to say it doesn't exist, but rather to say that it's not as all-encompassing and pervasive as some people seem to suggest. Quite honestly, there's a lot of focus on gender bias in STEM fields, but it seems that many of the humanities have just as many if not more problems. I think one thing that tends to help STEM fields is objectivity of research- it's much harder to put down/cover over ideas that can be objectively shown to work really well and have long term potential.

Isobela: you're making a lot of generalizations that aren't necessarily generalizable. Our adcom sees the packet as submitted. Our admins wouldnt toss the app because of an added CV, but some of our faculty would. Some admins have explicit instructions to rtosa any additional materials. If you keep up with the Chronicle of Higher Ed forums around this time of year, you can see the most common complaints from adcoms, and one of the most common ones I have seen are personal statements that are longer than requested and additional materials. Starting things off by hitting a pet peeve of some of the adcom members is rarely helpful, hence, ask the department. Also, it's not recommended to send your CV out to prospective PIs in all fields, and is strongly contraindicated in some.

Some adcoms will view you attaching additional materials as you trying to gain an additional advantage over the other applicants. If you send in a CV that was not requested and no one else does, you have a full additional document with which to sell yourself Call the department and ask. The risk of coming across like you can't follow directions or are trying to gain an unfair advantage isn't worth it. After all, they're the ones that don't feel like they need the CV to decide

I have to say, I really don't see how inviting you to thanksgiving dinner without aking her parents was rude to you... Ive done it lots of times with a variety of International students. As for them canceling games on your account- that could be viewed as either rude or quite accommodating to you, not doing things that you couldnt participate in. As to it not having to do with culture shock- it really does. You see it as a large deviation to have brought you without asking her parents, but it doesn't seem very out of place to me. Just my thoughts. I enjoy it when my Chinese lab ages invite me to do things with them, and I don't consider it rude if they only talk in English half the time or less. I still appreciate the invitation, and the time during the activity that they do spend talking in English so I can follow the conversation

This is really, really good advice. I highly recommend all the people currently applying read it.