Eigen

There are some legendary stories of multi-million dollar damages following a chemistry talk at Harvard, when there was an open bar. I don't drink much- I like the taste, I don't like being buzzed. So I am typically the designated responsible adult, as well as the story keeper.

I've never met a group of people that drink as hard as scientists. We make frats look tame. I knew a conference that drank a town out of alcohol, and had to have more shipped in by special delivery. Heck, we serve beer at all of our seminars.....

Most financial aid is based off income. When you get married, the income from your spouse becomes shared. Accordingly, you can get less financial aid. How much less depends on the program and how much your spouse makes, none of us can tell you that.

3 vaccines a year- FLV, Rabies, and "4-in-1" that's got Rhino and a few other viruses thrown in. Some vets use 3in1 or 5/6/in1 vaccines, depending on where you live and what they feel is important. Depends on the part of the country, but I wouldn't pay more than $50 for a years vaccinations. I do usually just pick mine up at the vet and give them myself though. Flea medicine during the warm months, as mentioned, and if they haven't been fixed, a spay/neuter. Heartworm medicine if feline heartworms are a worry in your part of the country, but this isn't as common. Occasional intestinal worming, as needed. For emergency costs, it just depends. I'm pretty comfortable self-diagnosing most things based on experience, and have vets that I can call for favors when needed. But you do have emergencies with any animal- one of ours pounced on and swallowed quite a large needle when my wife was sewing one day. She passed it OK, but X-rays and an exam were definitely needed. My bills have always been higher for outdoor cats with emergencies- had 1 that cost over $3k in one year.... 4 different broken limbs, and a fight that resulted in a tendon being pulled out of her tail. I think a young adult is a great age to get- you'll have a better idea of what their personality is like, but they should still be young and maleable enough to bond well with you.

If I felt I needed something, I used "PhD Student". Generally, I think signatures are overused- chances are there's something in the body of the letter that indicates you're a PhD student, or the person you're e-mailing already knows. And for letters, if it's official, I'd put your other qualifications or nothing at all. The only time I'd put "PhD Student" is if it's a letter, say, for student benefits or something that needs the acknowledgement you're a student.

I strongly urge against using PhD Candidate until you are properly ABD. I see a lot of first and second years using it, and it reflects more poorly on them than if they didn't say anything, from what I've seen.

FYI, even completely indoor cats should be vaccinated. If you have an FLV positive cat in the neighborhood, your indoor cat can, and likely will, catch it eventually. I've seen it more than once when I was working in a vet's office. Generally, you should probably also keep up with flea medicine, as well as heartworm medicine now that feline heartworms are becoming more of a worry in some parts of the country. Granted, you are completely right in that you can get a neurotic kitten. I generally prefer genetic neuroses than those that may have been implanted by past (bad) owners that are more likely to crop up when you least expect them.

Agree to disagree, I guess. I've spent years working with rescuing, rehabilitating and rehoming animals of all kinds, and I would still say get a kitten. Should you leave them home for 8 hours straight? No. Can you generally make it a priority to break up your day so you can come home for lunch in grad school? Yes. Is it worth it long term? Definitely. A cat is going to be a pet that you will have for 15-25 years. It's worth taking the extra time early on to (a) get a young one that you will bond with, and ( take the time to make that bond. I find a lot of people that don't get a young cat, especially for a first one, don't end up bonding with it nearly as much, and it either becomes a quasi-forgotten "it's here" pet, or one that they end up trying to rehome when they move, etc. People are more likely, in general, to bond with and commit to a pet that they got young.

When our income was lower and we were on a very strict budget, we kept it under $70 per week at the grocery store (including pet food and toiletries) for two people. We're probably up around ~$120 or so now, mainly the inclusion of more organic produce, and nice things like good cheese and olives.

Personally, I'd get a kitten. Less prior-owner issues you'll have to deal with, and in my opinion they bond to you far more easily. I've got two cats and a dog, and we've always had a mix of cats and dogs. I have noticed, at least in my city, that there are more apartments that won't rent for cats than won't rent for dogs, likely due to bad experiences with non-litter box trained cats. This may not be an issue for you, however. In general, while it depends on the cat, mine are pretty happy to sleep/look intently out the window all day while we're gone. They've been a mix of indoor and outdoor cats, depending on where we live- they were farm cats, the we moved to the city for grad school, and they became 100% indoor cats. It's gone back and forth a couple of times since, and they adjust well. They're definitely more needy with no outside to explore, however. They want attention as soon as we get home in the evening.

I don't even know where to start. First off, why are you assuming that because someone is a mathematician, they have "stuff they like to do in general"? The friends I have in Math couldn't really be more different. They're as diverse as any other set of graduate students, in my experience.

I'm always curious why so many people sign off at the end of a season, instead of staying around and continuing to be a part of the community. You've obviously met people and made connections, and now are going to be studying in the same fields as those individuals. You've gone through the process and have helpful advice to pass on to new people coming along. You'll also likely have questions as you start grad school to discuss, or to get advice on from more senior grad students. So if you don't mind my asking, why the April 15th signoff?

Just to note: It seems like everyone is assuming this is financial. The PI didn't mention anything about funding, they said it would be hard for them to handle another one. Generally, good PIs won't take in more students than they feel like they can effectively oversee and mentor. If the PI is as well published and respected as indicated, I doubt the issue is funding, but the number of new students/size of the lab the PI wants to maintain. In that case, you might be able to convince them or not, but I've found it's generally a pretty set decision.

Yes. I have, and would continue, to pay more to live in the non-undergraduate areas. I know you're talking about on-campus housing, but my philosophy extends to off-campus housing as well. In general, you'll find distinct areas that are more typically graduate vs undergraduate in accommodations, and the former is definitely preferable.

I deferred my first year to keep using a University fellowship, so yes, it's possible.

You can ask, but I'd say it's unlikely they'd let you defer significantly past April 15th. They likely have a waitlist as well, and they risk losing people on that waitlist the longer you wait to give them a decision. You have a right to ask, you don't necessarily have the right to an extension. Also remember that basically what you're telling them is that you want to hold out even longer on the chance of getting off a waitlist somewhere that you really want to go. That said, in either case you aren't funded, which makes the deadlines (maybe) less of an issue for the school.

This would be more likely to screw over another applicant than to "show" the professor. Seems kinda unprofessional to sit on a decision and risk someone else not getting funding just to prove a point. Also, I know this has already been resolved, but the April 15th resolution is only as binding as any individual school wants to make it. There's certainly nothing legal about it, nor are there any direct repercussions for a school not following it. The CGS resolution is a gentlemen's agreement, so to speak, from a group of schools to help make recruiting more uniform and less cutthroat. I think what the professor did was in bad taste, but you can't know all of the circumstances surrounding why they're pushing it this way to make a judgement call on them as an individual. Realize they aren't someone you want to work with, politely decline, and move on. As has been pointed out there's nothing to be gained from parting shots.

I would say tutoring high school students is never as good as some more in depth outreach. Not to say tutoring isn't good, but lots of people do it and it doesn't help you stand out as much. I talked a lot about developing science enrichment programs incorporating hands on demonstrations and field trips at a number of local schools, and that seemed very popular. I think another under-utilized category for BI is outreach to undergraduates/younger students. I talked a bit about mentoring undergraduates through programs on campus, especially targeted to getting women involved in STEM & leadership. Also, things that help get your work out to a broader audience- I ran an interdisciplinary graduate colloquium series that was great for that, and I started a similar interdisciplinary undergraduate research conference when I was an undergrad. Traditional outreach (ie, tutoring) is great, but there are also lots of other way to show the impacts of your work that you may not think about when writing an NSF proposal. I would consider developing a toolkit for other researchers something central to the intellectual merit of your proposal, but not broader impacts. Generally, healthcare tangential projects (mine was one) that apply to NSF funding (GRF or other grants) focus on the development of a toolkit for probing basic scientific understanding of the target disease. Enzyme inhibitors become tools for understanding signaling cascades, etc. And then NIH gets the application (can be on pretty much the same project) that discusses the direct healthcare benefits of the system.

I wouldn't try the Bywater until you're a bit more familiar with New Orleans. Bayou St John is a wonderful area, but the rent prices have been going up there a TON lately. I was looking to move there a year ago, and couldn't find anything that I considered affordable- highly competitive too. Everywhere I went, things were being rented within a few hours of posting. Be careful of some Bayou St John tangential areas (ie, east of Broad, south of Banks). That will be a really nice location for SSW- parking is a nightmare downtown though, and it gets a bit sketchy around that area at night, if you have to work late. It is worth noting that if you do live uptown, Tulane has a very good shuttle line that goes from the commuter parking lot on the Uptown campus to the downtown campus. It's about a 20 minute ride, but it goes all day, very reliably. Most of the downtown students I know either buy parking downtown, ride a bike from Uptown, or walk to campus and take the shuttle downtown.

Strange, do they say where? Either way, chances are you'd want to live uptown- most downtown grad students I know do, and prefer it.

Just FYI, a large portion of social work is uptown. Most people I know live uptown, and most of the day-to-day classes and such are up there. Public health is downtown, and some specific programs may be, but I'd soluble check before you decide where to live. The main department is definitely uptown, it's right across from my lab. Relevant section from the programs website: Tulane School of Social Work is located on Tulane University's Uptown Campus. Our building is on the section of campus between St. Charles Avenue and Freret Street. If you are walking from St. Charles Avenue toward Freret, our building is the fifth building on your left. For driving directions and parking information, please call the school at 800-631-8234.

One other thing to keep in mind: It's all about how you frame and explain your experiences. Schools are as much as possible looking for new students who can come in, and be productive as soon as possible. That's a combination of experience with the basic necessary research techniques and experience with the overall flow of research- time management, problem solving, writing, etc. So you want to make sure the way you portray your research experiences convinces schools that you have a background in both areas, and that you can "hit the ground running" when you get there.

Please stay on topic and be reasonable with your responses here, all. I know everyone's stress level is high at this point in the season, but there's no reason for rants, tirades, or name calling. Warnings issued for inappropriate behavior.

Yeah, you're not compared to everyone in a given year. You're only ever compared to applicants at the same stage you are- ie, 1st, 2nd and 3rd year applications are considered as different pools.

There is a very sharp upward trend. Your first year, it's an 'empty' proposal for a school you may or may not go to. Your second year, you should be in a group working on the project you proposed. By a third year, you should have significant preliminary data showing that your proposal is sound, workable, and capable of generating results. It's a bit discipline specific, but the general trends are sound. Similarly, it's much more strongly considered that you have some publications/presentations showing expertise in what you are proposing by your second/third year.