Eigen

As to whether the department books or not, that will also depend on the program. One of mine booked the entire trip through a school travel agent- flight, shuttle/taxi, room, etc. Another handled lodging reservations, but not the flight. I'd give the graduate admin a call, and see what they say.

I think a lot of this depends on the program, type of visit, and level. If this is an interview or a post-acceptance visit, etc. I was up front about being married, and all of the programs suggested accommodations for my wife with ease, a lot even asked if she would be applying/interested in grad school and offered to set her up interviews/visits to those programs.

This was a very interesting post to bump up from almost a year ago.

I think in general you should be getting As in almost all of your classes in grad school. But a B+/A- here or there isn't a big deal, and an A+ isn't really that big of a deal. Additionally, your interactions in the class are far more important than the grades you make. Do you bring up good discussion points? Do you have a rounded view of the literature? Can you place work in its importance in the field? If you get all really high grades, but aren't doing research, you run the risk of being identified as someone who's not making the grad school transition well. I've seen it mentioned by PIs in my departments when first years are spending too much time studying or focussing on courses. You want to do well, but you're expected to do well without devoting a lot of time to it. Also, I'm not familiar with any programs where you won't be doing research your first semester. Some won't require it, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't. If a department doesn't organize official rotations before selecting a group, it's well worth your time (and your reputation) to ask a professor you're interested in if you can work in their lab. And from then on, it's going to be entirely your reputation as a researcher that will matter. So yes, professors don't have a lot to judge you on before you start working in the lab, and yes you're expected to get good grades, but classes are still of minimal importance, and something that most first years focus way too much on.

It's not an exact science. But generally, I find trends in where papers of a particular bent are published. Maybe not the general field, but a specific interrelated area of work. Most PIs also have journals they like. And never underestimate picking one based on how smooth the publication process is!

The literature review : six steps to success- Lawrence A. Machi Good General book. The literature review : a step-by-step guide for students- Diana Ridley More basic, one I've given to undergraduates working for me/just getting started with academic writing/research. At the helm : a laboratory navigator- Kathy Barker Less writing & more STEM research, but really useful. It's one of my go-to gifts for friends just starting lab research. Writing Your Journal Article in Twelve Weeks: A Guide to Academic Publishing Success- Wendy Laura Belcher Great advice for putting together journal articles. A PhD Is Not Enough!: A Guide to Survival in Science- Peter J. Feibelman Great advice for anyone in STEM. I'll add more as I think of them.

Thanks for the reminder. Been ut of town the last few days. I'll get you some titles tomorrow.

Or the other way around. I find there's a strong preference for European groups in EU journals. I think a lot of it also depends where collaborators are. For instance, there are far more EU groups working in my field than US groups, so a lot of people tend to publish in RSC journals more than ACS journals.

You seem like a very abrasive person, at least online. And yes, those were all pretty necessary questions to know the answers to to give advice. I didn't think they needed to be restated, as they were already quite specific.

So you want advise, but are too busy to answer the questions we'd need to advise you?

I'm being vague on what positions I've held on purpose. I'm visible enough on this board as it is. But sure, I think I could be president.

I got both phone calls from one program on a weekend. Got e-mail acceptance at an odd time for one other, as well. It just depends when the person sending them out happens to have time that week, and what their work schedule's like.

Food for thought, if you're currently anxious and trying to not contact the committee/faculty at your institution too much: http://chronicle.com/forums/index.php/topic,158253.0.html Pat yourself on the back for showing restraint, and realize how it looks on the other end.

Sure. But I don't get to eat breakfast and lunch a large number of days, and work weekends and late a lot of nights. There's no way you can spend a significant chunk of time on something without it effecting something else in your life, it's just to what degree and whether the specific tradeoff is worth it. It's also going to be very personally dependent, I've seen a lot of people that can't balance the two (or 3 or 4). Good time management skills help.

I am. Didn't do anything my first semester, but I started serving on our graduate student association my second semester, and have since. I've held a lot of leadership positions since, and it's been a fantastic look inside our University- I'm a familiar basis with a lot of our senior administrators, and actually feel like I'm in a position advocate and help our graduate students. That said, it's a really large time commitment, in general. I tend to take the time out of my personal life, to a degree, and being externally funded makes me feel like I can take more time to do things that I consider career development that aren't directly related to how I get paid, and I think the administrative experience will be valuable for what I want to do down the road. I do get a big of friction sometimes when I have a really busy week of meetings, but I've started being able to bring information back to the department that they aren't getting from other sources, and that's eased things a bit. As it is currently though, I probably spend 10-25 hours a week between meetings, contact time in answering e-mails or reading documents, and more meetings.

I have and have read both Bolker and Silva's books, and they are commonly recommended. I'll post some other recommendations from my shelf later, when I have time.

Not really. It seems pretty similar to the policies in my program/at my school.

The biggest challenges I've seen for our first years in general are: 1. Presenting themselves as professionals rather than students in interactions in the department. 2. Transitioning from classes being important to being minimal, and your research and grasp of the literature becoming primary. 3. Time management in general, and treating lab work as a consistent job.

Neither of the schools I turned down took it particularly well. Both tried to argue the point with me. I would personally e-mail, and specifically e-mail not just the department coordinator, but the PIs you had a relationship with, if you had any of those. But yeah, there's definitely the question for future applicants to ask themselves: Why apply to schools you will not have an interest in attending. I encourage all of the undergrads from my department to apply selectively, to schools that they are sure they'd want to go to if they got in. It makes the choice hard come March or April, but it saves time and stress in the long run.

Oh, I may have misread then. I thought they were getting a 12mo stipend. So no tax differences. Don't know the program, though, I know all grad students at my school register for Thesis research in the summer.

The tax implications are if you're being paid a summer stipend but are not enrolled as a student. I gathered from the OP that her stipend continues for the summer. IF she's not enrolled as a student, her employment status would change from a student employee (no tax deductions for SS & medicare) to a regular employee, with a corresponding change in taxes. But yes, my guess is that the OP did not understand "no classes to take", and is thinking that there aren't normal courses offered, but is likely going to be taking a 3 credit thesis course.

When my wife and I did our applications, she decided to take a year off while I applied. We evaluated all the schools I applied to (and then which one to go to) based off of them being viable and interesting choices for her, and she even went and visited and did informal interviews at the programs when I did. We did end up in a city with several possibilities for her, and she ended up having no problem getting accepted mid-year when someone dropped out. They knew she was in the city and wanted to start, and offered her an early acceptance. Once you're in a program, especially if there's any inter-relation between the programs, it can help- it's similar to a "spousal hire" down the road. They know you're both more likely to stay if the other one is in school at the same place. I also found out that half my department's faculty had spouses in similar fields, as did hers- so there was a lot of sympathy to trying to make it work.

Depends a lot. Mine is close to 100%- they want to accept anyone they invite, they just want to check them out in person, first. So you might get dropped based on interview performance, but not otherwise. It used to be they simply accepted everyone at the interview, but just didn't offer funding to those that really bombed out, but then we had people trying to take out loans to attend, and so the process changed. And by bomb the interview, I mean tell all the grad students and half the faculty that you meet that you're smarter than all of them, and working here would be beneath you. Or saying you don't really have any areas of interest other than "science", but you figured our city would be a cool place to come.

I actually didn't use the site at all during applications, and didn't start posting here until I was in grad school. Definitely not transient for me.

Depends. If you're being reimbursed directly by the school, most schools will probably require a boarding pass to process the reimbursement.