Eigen

I like my iPad a lot, but I got it for about $300 two years ago, refurbished (it's a first generation). I also have a macbook air, and from having had to do it, between the two of them, I can do any work I need to on the road. I mostly use my iPad as a mobile library- reference books, hundreds and hundreds of papers- as well as for displaying my work. I give most of my powerpoint presentations on it these days, and I probably meet with visiting faculty to discuss my work every month or so. I keep nice, neat PDFs of my most pertinent figures and schematics on it, updated, and so I can always pull it out and run through what I'm working on. It also works great for going over data with my PI- we don't have a color printer in our group, and the iPad screen is much brighter than my laptops. It also makes it easy to set a PDF full of data on his desk and pass it back and forth, to show what I've been working on recently, and where I'm going with it. I also read on it a few hours a night- my wife can't sleep if I have a light on, so the backlit reading (quite dim) is a must.

Are you talking about receiving an NSF Award acceptance, or are you talking about the new overseas study abroad portion in Japan? I think you're talking about the latter, but since you didn't specify, everyone thinks you're talking about the base award, and panicking that they haven't heard.

So the only usual exception I've seen is for jobs that are contributing/related to your research. And since you're working at a local university, depending on what you do there, that might be allowed. Usually, you would need to get permission from whoever oversees the fellowship at your university to hold said external job, and they have to deem it worthwhile.

Sniping and personal attacks removed. Several warnings issued. I know everyone is stressed, but that doesn't mean you can't be polite. And no, I don't care if someone else started it. You can stop it. We haven't had this issue in past years, but this year seems exceptionally volatile. Please take a step back and ask yourself if sniping at other people is a better course than ignoring people you dislike, and remaining supportive of the people you do.

We had to go through this with the EPA a few years back. It was bad, but everything ended up coming out OK. Good luck! And clean stuff up fast!

I missed this prior to replying, but I think an older student taking you out to coffee is a great thing. You didn't mention if they were another masters student or a PhD student- if the latter, I would think it's quite common to have PhD students help oversee masters students, especially senior ones. It goes without saying in our research group that the older grad students will help mentor the newer ones. And it's definitely not, imo, a breach of a professional relationship for a PI to discuss, as TakeruK said, generalities about his younger advisees with the senior ones. From my experience, it's actually quite common. It's both a way of preparing the older grad students to be mentors, especially if they're going on into academia, as well as getting their help or input.

I'd wait about 10 days before doing a follow up, personally.

One of the things that I haven't seen mentioned is that I would see a disconnect between what you are focusing on (grades, departmental events, serving on a committee) and what your professor likely is (your research). I've seen a lot of our first years come in and focus way too much on coursework, and other things, and do well- but not get great feedback from faculty. And it's because they're not focusing nearly enough on the research relative to the other things. At least in my field, a 4.0 is nice, but a 3.6 and productive research is much better.

So first off, it should probably be your daughter asking these things, rather than you. Second, there's not close to enough information to go on. Every fellowship is different, and has different terms. As does each school. Generally, grad school is a 365 day per year job. That doesn't mean you can't take time off, but usually there isn't any directly budgeted in. Traditional school vacations are usually more of a time to focus on your own work without distractions rather than take a break, whether it's going home and working for a few weeks, or enjoying how quiet the campus is and staying and working there. A lot of it also depends on what field the degree is in.

It depends where you go. The limitation for most MD/PhD programs will be that you'll need to do one of the "in house" PhD programs- and those are usually more limited to directly medically related fields. For Chemistry, that leaves BioChem, Medicinal Chem, and maybe Pharmacology, although that's really not a Chem PhD. If you're at a school where the medical school and other academic programs share a campus, your options open up, a little, but you'll need to have a program that you can complete relatively quickly due to the constraints of the dual degree. Biophysical is a growing area, but you might have more trouble finding somewhere you can do a PhD in biophysical chemistry alongside an MD. As to whether you need to switch, a lot depends on what you're doing now. From the description of your lab research, it might be well possible that you'll get the exposure you need, but you also might not. Personally, I'd ask the grad students in your lab- they might have some good ideas whether your work will translate or not, or even how to make your work as applicable as possible. That said, have you discussed your future goals with your advisor? Does she know you want to go on for an MD/PhD? If you want to discuss more specific details about what you're working on, feel free to PM me.

I would if I could. And I'm married. But then, we've always been supportive of a multi-family household. And we're close to my parents. If we can save rent by living under one roof, why not?

Good luck!

I can't answer the concerns about other people getting more experience than you, but part is field dependent. You're working in a PChem lab as a sophomore. Before you've had significant coursework in that area. How capable are you of handling a significant project? People working in organic or inorganic groups will have more related work by the same time. One of the biggest frustrations I hear from peers about the undergrads working with them is the always want to do "important things" before they're ready or able. That said, if you want an MD/PhD, I'm guessing you want to work in Biochem. So why are you working in a PChem lab now?

Please do not feed the trolls. Please cut out the personal attacks. After the issues this season, I'm going to be making more liberal use of the warning and suspension system. That includes people who get sucked in by trolls as well as the trolls themselves. Thread derails removed.

Also worth noting that the April 15th CGS resolution only applies to offers of funding, not to acceptances. And that there is no enforcement of said resolution, other than a possible bad rep for the school.

You don't say what discipline you're in, which might help. Going to conferences is great for networking- go early and often. I wouldn't worry too much about not presenting early on, but later it will really help people fix you in their mind with an area of work. At least in the sciences, you do need to have published to be presenting- not from some internal requirement, but from worries about it being scooped. Similarly, in the sciences, you'll need your advisor's permission to go and present your work, and they should be prodding you if they don't think you're presenting enough.

I've never heard of a "Fellowships Advisor" post that had the power to tell students where they could and couldn't apply. I've only seen these positions rarely, and even then they were there to help review applications, and help the students put their best foot forward. Maybe someone in your discipline can speak to it, but all of the fellowships I'm familiar with are independent, student driven applications, for which you need support from faculty, not an ephemeral staff position. If you want to apply for some of the others, I'd talk to your old faculty, get their support, and then apply directly. Edit: Some quick googling seems to imply that fellowships for study in the UK (Rhodes, Marshall & Reed) do indeed require a university endorsement. In that case, I'd stop worrying about "getting him in trouble", and tell your supportive professors that this guy, acting as the representative of the university, is refusing to endorse your fellowship applications that they think you have a decent shot at, and see what they say.

That's how it happens almost everywhere. You submit your apps to a department, the department reviews, and picks candidates, that they send on to the dean of graduate studies for the school, or to the dean of the graduate school to review. Formal offers of admission then come from the graduate school, rather than the individual department, usually.

So I'm going to ask, politely, that we refrain about talking about others who are not currently posting, and hope that everyone follows that request.

Have you tried an interlibrary loan? Or does your school have a subscription to any of the major thesis & dissertation services (proquest, etc.)?

I think what you're looking for is a D.Eng. degree, rather than a PhD in Engineering. From my understanding, the D.Eng. is a more industry focused degree, usually done while working in your field. That said, most PhDs are predominately research rather than coursework, you just will need to do the research full time, and usually not exclusively for a company.

Long and shaggy is harder than long in the back. Looking shaggy isn't great- but long hair by itself shouldn't be an issue, I wouldn't think. I grow my hair out and donate it to Locks of Love every couple of years, so I go through all of the phases. The head of my department (deep south) from undergrad had a long pony tail, so I never really thought anything of it. A lot of it depends where you're interviewing, I guess, but you also have to ask yourself: If they're going to judge you based on the length of your hair, are you going to feel OK working there for the next 5-7 years?

I wouldn't be so sure that you'll necessarily have to do even a short post-doc, if you want to leave academia. I've had friends that have gone straight into industry, especially those that made connections while in grad school. I really do understand where you're coming from- my situation is very much the opposite. I'm learning lots of new things, but none directly tied to my research, nor is it really going anywhere. On the upside, I'm learning a lot about how to repair broken instruments. On the downside, until I successfully get them working, my research isn't going anywhere. I try to take the time when I'm either not making progress, or when I feel like I'm not learning anything new to make myself go learn something new. I keep a notebook of "ideas for the future" in areas I want to branch out into, or could see myself working in when I finish and am looking for a research area of my own. It keeps me reading things that aren't directly related to what I'm doing now, and it challenges me to get out and learn new areas (for me, in chemistry, that's branching out into cell culture techniques and molecular biology) as well as trying to draw connections between new fields and my current one (putting imaging techniques and chemical techniques into biological systems).

Yeah, we consider it our "close" rate.

I'd recommend McQuarrie hands down. Mathematics for Scientists and Engineers. I'd you need to go beyond what he covers, you'll be at the point you know where to look.