Eigen

#2. Landing a good post-doc is more about your PIs connections than where you did your PhD. Ideally, by the time you're applying for a post-doc, and then for faculty positions, your name itself will be recognizable to people in your field- they've seen you talk at conferences, they've read interesting papers you've published, and you've met and talked to them at conferences/invited lectures. The last person on a search committee I talked to said that the stuff on your CV matters to get you an interview, but at the interview it's all about how you come across- can you convince them you're a smart, talented scientist with ideas and the background to carry them through, or not? Networking is really important. Where you got your PhD may help with that, but it's not the most important factor. Schools that have a lot of PhDs placed in academia tend to perpetuate that, since new graduates from those schools (should) already have a network built of past graduates that are now on search committees at those schools. Another factor that wasn't mentioned is advisor's recommendations. At the big programs, good PIs will have multiple students graduating and applying for jobs each cycle. While they might give good recommendations to all of them, they will only really be able to give their "top" recommendation to one of them. If you're in for the competition, then you might (or might not) be that person. Whoever gets the "top" recommendation will have a good shot at getting interviews, most likely. The others probably won't. My PI, and most of the faculty in my department, did PhDs/Post-docs at top 5 schools. I've asked them if they would repeat it, and most of them have said they wouldn't. That they thought things would have been smoother and better going to a lower-ranked school with a PI that they really fit with for the PhD, and then going to a top-5 school for a post-doc, based on the work and recommendations from grad school. I'm at a school ranked under 100. But my PI, and other mentors, have good connections to PIs at top 5 schools, and I've gotten to consistently meet with them and talk with them. Coming from here, I think I have a very good shot at a "top" post-doc, and that's what matters more. Most of our previous grads have gone on to top post-docs for what they want to do- either at a top school, or with the top researchers in their field.

I still take notes by hand. I find it's for more effective for me as a learning tool. As for printing- I lament the over-use of paper, but I really need hard copies to read/annotate, and I've tried a number of solutions. As to cost- invest in a good, cheap, black and white Laser printer with duplexing capabilities. Mine cost about $60, and prints for fractions of a cent per page. I can fit 2-4 pages on one 8 1/2 x 11 sheet, depending on the size of the text. That said, digital files have the benefit of being searchable. I usually transcribe my notes over into digital files if I think they're something I'm going to need to access a lot. On the MS side, there's OneNote, and on the Mac side Growly Notes is quite good- and both are practically free, since you'll have OneNote with Office, and GrowlyNotes is a free download as well. They're easy, free-form note-taking software, with a page/section based arrangement. I don't think I'd use them for copious notes, but they're a good way to organize information that I'm going to need to refer to a lot.

Nice way to bring up an old topic without really adding anything new other than some (obvious) frustration to the subject?

The GRE is a *general* test. It shouldn't test discipline specific knowledge or skills. As mentioned, minute differences in scores aren't that big of a deal- admissions committees use the test as general indicators of vocabulary, mathematical reasoning, and writing. Getting excellent scores doesn't mean you'll do great in grad school, but it's a standardizing factor. All other facets of your application are non-standardized, which can make comparing different applicants difficult- GPAs aren't equivalent between schools, LOR writers don't know both students, etc. So in addition to the non-standardized but highly personal and discipline specific admissions materials (LoRs, SoP, GPA, CV), you include one standardized measure that allows you to compare people on an even, centralized footing. And honestly, it's not that expensive. And you can get low-income waivers for the test itself. At a lot of schools, getting copies of your transcripts will be as or more expensive than your GRE! You don't *need* to buy expensive study materials. No one I know in grad school studied extensively for the GRE- it's not necessary. Most didn't study at all, some reviewed the test format, some studied vocab words and brushed up on math a bit the few weeks before the test. They all got "fine" scores, and got in.

I think a PI can be too old, but I don't think 60 is it.

Another vote for PI over project. I was advised to be very flexible going into grad school, because your PhD isn't what you'll do for the rest of your life, but is a starting place. At least in my field, it's very common to stitch together your PhD with a few different (short) post-docs that will define a "new" field and skillset for you to work in. In fact, if you stay too close to what you did in your PhD, you're considered to not have sufficiently branched out!

So one thing that I wasn't sure about: Are you looking for a desk chair, or something else? Because when I'm at home, I much prefer a comfy plush chair with my laptop in my lap or a lap desk than sitting at my desk. It's been a few years since I shopped, but most stores (for office chairs) should have ratings based on how many hours a day you "should" sit in them. It's worth it to spend the money for something that will fit that time-frame for you. I think it's easy to underbudget on a good mattress and a good chair (and comfortable shoes), but I probably spend 1/3rd of my day in either a chair or in bed. Good chairs will also last a number of years- the chair in my office at school is one I bought for my desk at home as an undergrad, and it's showing it's age but is still very comfortable, and very supportive.

Having outfitted 2 labs and 3 hoods with glassware and I think you're highly overestimating the cost. I don't think I could order enough glassware to make $100k- heck, even a good Buchi rotovap and pump is less than $6k, and a good 5 place schlenk line is under $800. Add in a good cold trap and dewar for ~$300. Everything else is quite cheap- I just ordered all the stuff for a new post-doc and a new grad student, and the whole order was under ~$800. And that should be enough glassware for years. Also, from the accidents I've seen result from improperly "repaired" glassware, I don't think I'd ever consider it worth the risk. It's not hard to stop the glass from leaking, but it's quite difficult to completely erase that area as a weak spot in the glass. And if I'm heating something highly explosive or toxic, or plan to subject it to extremes of temperature or pressure, I want to be very, very sure that it can stand up to them! Practically, I can think of 1 university in our state that has a glass repair shop. Maybe another two in the surrounding states. And maybe two universities I know of that currently offer a scientific glassblowing course? And while you can do repairs with a bunsen burner and/or oxy acetylene torch, they're a lot harder, especially when you have no one to help out in learning the techniques. Round bottom flasks are usually less than $15 (size dependent). Compared to the cost of your time, and the cost of the reagents going in those flasks, it's a minor expense. Also, when your first topic is removed by the moderators, it might be a reasonable idea to ask *why* before you just repost it.

It's been a while since I posted, and this has been bumped up several times with long gaps, but I feel the need to respond: It's not "well known" that graduate school is a relationship killer. It can be, just like any other stressful intense situation can be. But it's definitely not common, nor should it, in my mind, be "expected" that it will be. My wife and I were married before grad school, we moved when I started, and she applied the next cycle. We've experienced life without grad school, with one of us in grad school and with both of us in grad school. Grad school isn't a relationship killer unless you suddenly decide that it's more important or of a higher priority than the rest of your life. And if you decide that, it's not going to stop with grad school, but will just continue through post-docs and tenure track positions.

You don't mention your discipline, which would help a lot here. There are a number of sciences that don't usually have writing samples as part of the application, so you definitely wouldn't want to attach one there.

Also keep in mind that if you use what other people are using, you have a lot more resources when it comes to troubleshooting.

$10k sounds really low, even for English. I wonder if it's lower (as mentioned) since its an MFA program rather than a PHD?

Our TAs are assigned by classes, but it's been made very clear on a few occasions that it shouldn't exceed 20 hours per week on a regular basis. We had it brought up at a Dean's Forum with the graduate students, and our school's Dean made it very clear that if departments were assigning work that regularly exceeded 20 hours per week, he would very much like to know about it, and would be willing to intercede on the graduate student's behalf. That said, I know in the sciences it's a challenge balancing teaching, research and classes, and I can't imagine trying to throw an outside job in the mix. But I know a lot of my friends in the humanities routinely work part-time jobs in addition to TAing, so this is probably something a lot more discipline and school specific. As mentioned above, all of our contracts say we can't work an outside job without the permission of our advisor and department chair, at least while we're receiving any school funds.

He can always split the difference- tell them that he'd like to stay the extra night, but he'll be glad to cover the cost if they can't. I did that for one visit when we wanted to stay around the city longer and get to know it a little bit- we told them how long we'd like to stay, and they told us what nights they'd cover.

I know that anyone could pretty easily find out who I am from my posts on the forum, and I've told other posters who I am as well. And since I share pseudonyms here and on the CHE forums, you could use either source to figure out who I am. It's easy to find out what school I go to, and what department I'm in, and my research interests are out there as well. The best advice I've seen is from the CHE forums, where it's mostly faculty complaining about administration, students, other faculty, job searches, etc. The same issue applies there as here- nothing you post is truly anonymous, it's pseudonymous. The rule I use is to not post things that I wouldn't want people who know me to read. I don't act in a way that I wouldn't want permanently associated with my name and career. I think those are generally good rules to have for online interactions on the whole- you never know who, exactly, is reading what you post, so make it things you don't mind the world seeing, so to speak. I wouldn't worry about posting things about insecurities, worries, problems, etc- I'd worry about posting scathing rants about admission committees, though. I'd also worry about posting that you were dishonest in an application, cheated on an exam, etc (although you shouldn't be doing those things to begin with either way!).

It's also worth mentioning that there's a difference between a 1 year, coursework only MA and a 2 year comprehensive exam based MA. If the only difference is the Thesis, it's less of an issue- but that's not the question the OP proposed. Also, as to how the admissions committee would know- usually thesis hours and the title of said thesis are denoted on the transcript, at least everywhere I've seen.

A lot of this depends on what type of statistics/data analysis you want to do. I use Origin and Prism for most of my data analysis, and they do all the statistics I could ever see myself needing, but there are a lot of specialized packages (as mentioned above).

As to your first question, it would completely depend on how you asked them and how well you knew them as to whether or not it was appropriate. If you couldn't make 1/3rd of the schedule classes, I don't see how you could have done a reasonable job of the TAship. Personally, I would have seen if there was another you could take. I don't see anything that indicates him talking to you about his dissatisfaction with your performance that wasn't appropriate, but as with your first question, tone and manner is where it would really come into question anyway. As to his grounds for a formal complaint- what happened to the labs you skipped? Who covered them? Was that arrangement made and agreed upon well in advance? I wouldn't let a student pass a lab course if they missed 2 out of 10 sessions. I don't see why it would be any different for a TA. It's a completely different matter if you were able to get someone to cover for you without disrupting their schedule, but I'm not sure that was the case here. Bottom line, TAing a class is a job that requires 100% attendance. If you can't make some of the sessions, you need to realize you're asking someone for a *huge* favor to cover for you. 2/10 classes at $6k per semester means that you're getting paid ~$1200 for work that they're covering for you on. That's a big favor. Similarly, having someone else cover your classes isn't ideal for your students. If you don't have someone you can ask to cover your classes without too much of an issue, than you really shouldn't take the TA. All that said, you're in Canada, and I have no idea what the difference in norms is up there. Some of our regular posters from north of the border might be better able to answer it.

The conference submission guidelines should say, but from what I've seen in my discipline, when you submit your abstract you certify that this is the only place you're submitting it.

So was the class Synthesis? Sounds very much like our synthesis class that everyone in my program is really happy to pull a B in. And similarly, most of the material was found in papers not discussed in class, and there was no book. Our tests were around 4-7 hours, though. If it's an option, I'd see if you can just take one class each of the next two semesters. It will give you more options, and you'll only have to focus on one class in addition to research I wouldn't let this tint your view towards grad school too much- everyone has things that they have a much harder time with than others. You also mention that this is only tangentially related to your research. Not everyone likes or does well in synthesis. I don't really like it, and know only enough to get by with what I have to do, and I'm fine with that. There's a good chance that many of the other students in the class had an advanced synthesis class already as undergrads, and you've been away from school for a while. If you want to talk more specifically, feel free to PM me.

I'm not sure what you meant to link to, but I'm not finding anything relating to conferences, per-se, on that site. Aside from the fact that the first post has a heck of a lot of bitterness to, well, pretty much everything. But to the point, I think some women dress like that in every slice of life, and some men stare like dogs at every female elsewhere as well. In other words, why would you expect academic conferences to be completely exempt from such behaviors?

Oh, I think it's ultimately quite productive. I can't count the number of fantastic ideas that I've heard start this way- you get a bunch of really intelligent interested people drinking and drawing diagrams on napkins, and ideas flow and collaborations start.

Conferences in the sciences, if you're lucky, are one of the few chances you'll have to get drunk with nobel laureates and other such impressive figures. But yeah, most people go to one or two sessions that they're speaking in/know someone who's speaking in, and the rest of the time is spent networking and catching up with people you get to see only at conferences, frequently over copious amounts of alcohol.

Why wouldn't you be able to defer the NSF? I deferred my first year of fellowship to use another year of the fellowship I was currently on.

10-20%? Somewhere around there. At least if we're talking first submission. Most papers, you can probably eventually get published "somewhere". At least in my field. Papers that you're using to help you get into grad school should come from work done with undergrad professors, usually.