Eigen

Not positive about Chem E, but a lot of Chemistry programs look at applications as the roll in, and make sure to get offers out to top notch candidates ASAP. Even with Jan-Feb deadlines, I already had finalized offers in hands from all of my schools and visits completed before Christmas.

Wow that's small type. I had to copy it to a word file to even read it! So one thing that you need to consider is how long a masters will take. At my school, it consistently takes 3 years, for people who're working very productively. If you don't like research, that's a long time to stick it out. Otherwise, if you don't like research, you shouldn't go to Grad School. I'm always amazed at the people who do! I fault insufficient prep for undergrads interested in grad school, mostly. If you just kinda like research but really like teaching, it might be worth it to stick it out, but if you don't like research at all, to me, there's no question that you shouldn't stay. Everyone gets sick of their research at some point, but there's a difference between that and not being interested in discovering new things at all.

I think I got 4 or 5 days off last year, between Christmas and New Years. I don't know anyone that got much more than a week. But then, this tends to be more the norm for the Sciences. I think some of my friends in Humanities programs took closer to a month.

My usual crew to hang out with includes mostly grad students, but from 5 or 6 different departments. I have yet to experience difficulty finding something to talk about- it goes from problems with advisors, courses we're teaching, research stress and writing to cooking, current events, art, music, food, relationships, pets, etc. It does take a little work to make such friendships, but I find it really enjoyable to hang out with a range of grad students- a lot in common, but more removed from my immediate issues than the people in my program. Also makes it easy to get feedback on things I'm working on outside my immediate area of study!

I'm not sure if it's a bad advisor, or a bad relationship. But I can advise for any other people who are out there- when your boss is clear that they expect you to work 9-6, work 9-6. If you have someone who's flexible enough to let you work when you work best, that's great. But if, like most PIs out there, they expect you to keep regular working hours, not doing so will likely sour your relationship with them. From your post, it seems like you got off to a bad start (you didn't take things seriously early on), and then once you got serious, you still didn't conform to the work habits of the rest of the lab. Some people will assume that if they don't see you working, you aren't working. And especially so when they tell you they want you to work during the day. I would try to move on, and take it as a lesson that keeping up a working relationship with your boss will require meeting their expectations, not just working the way you work best.

Services like Interfolio are common for job applications in academia, I've never heard of them being used for grad school applications. Mostly, as has been mentioned, many schools have unique forms that have to be filled out, rather than a general letter of recommendation.

Also worth noting that it's important to put in what you will do in each phase if it *doesn't* work. Otherwise, you've stacked up a timeline, and if your first experiments don't work out, they want to see that you have other options and ideas.

I specifically included a section on broader impacts just at the end of my research proposal- single paragraph, highlighting in short form all of the exact broader impacts of my work. I also included a distinct timeline for the project, with what would be done in each phase.

Don't worry about the deal expiring, that's the traditional education price. You can usually get it straight from the company for that with proof of an educational status. You can also usually get it from Amazon for $105-$115. I haven't upgraded from X2, but I will probably switch to X6 sometime this year.

The process will be different at different schools. In my experience, individual professors do have influence and say in what students to accept, but not absolute power. I doubt any GPA above the minimum will get filtered out before it reaches the admissions committee.

Because "google it" is a citeable source? I am in the sciences, and I'm quite familiar with the concept of scientific writing. And I know that nowhere is it proper to cite "google it" as a source. I'm also well aware of the relative importance of primary vs secondary and tertiary sources. I consider reputable faculty and admissions committees that I've talked to reputable primary sources, and anonymous or pseudonymous data on the internet to be secondary, at best. I've got several nice first author publications in top journals. As well as book chapters in some nice peer-reviewed book series. I'm well aware of the challenges. There's also a huge "luck" factor in publications, something that's very well acknowledged by everyone I've talked to in my field. You seem to be having issues with my posts, and I'm not really sure why. I didn't indicate that you shouldn't post here, merely that you're commenting on a discipline that has quite different norms than yours, and you don't seem to be aware of it. If you have some good, legitimate citations for the importance of publications in admission to Chemistry programs, I'd be quite interested to see them. Otherwise, I would prefer to trust the data I've gotten from people I personally know and trust, rather than anonymous or quasi-anonymous sources on the internet.

I'll completely agree that you should have at least one solid publication from an MS. But then, it's not that common for someone in Chemistry to be applying to grad school with an MS, unless they're coming from another country.

I'll also comment that you're from Environmental Engineering, commenting on a thread in Chemistry. Why would I google how important first author publications are, in my field when I've talked to my PI (who's on the admissions committee), and have seen first hand how important they're considered for applicants, post-docs, and faculty. Publications are great, no one's doubting that, but "bad" publications can do more harm than good. You have to not only have a track record of publications, but also be able to talk about them, discuss future directions, etc. There's a lot of realization that publications, especially out of undergrad, have a lot to do with luck and timing. You may be great in the lab, and have had good research ideas, but just couldn't get them to work out in the time you had. tl;dr: Research background is more important than just "publications". And a good track record of research projects coupled with strong letters and a good proposal for your work will get you as far, if not farther, than minor publications.

So the thing that jumps out to me, is that you're assuming he's not being honest. It seems more likely to me that he's being quite honest, and when he got back the department told him he couldn't take any more students. I'd go back to him and tell him that there really are no other good fits, and you're considering leaving since you can't join his lab. That might put some incentive on him and the department to allow you to join. I think this is a problem more often than not- good labs fill up fast, and most PIs can only take on a few students, if any, each cycle. So there's something of a first come, first served mentality. I'll also add that you might consider the possibility of transferring. The fact that there are no available spots in your specialty is definitely what I would consider a good reason, and you might approach Dr X about writing you a letter of rec, since you got along well and he just can't take you. He might also have some suggestions for other good research groups that he's collaborated with.

When you say that your percentile scores have changed, what exactly are you basing that on? From my understanding, your percentile scores were set from when you took the test, since they were relative to other people taking the test at the same rough time. Did you get a new score report from ETS that's making you think your scores have changed, or just looking at score to percentile conversion tables on the ETS website?

I haven't posted here since the beginning, but it's been an interesting discussion. I think a lot of the confusion surrounding the use of "privileged" comes directly from the original post, where "privileged" is conflated with "born with a silver spoon in their mouths". I don't think anyone will disagree that there are different levels of privilege- my wife is the first bachelors degree in her extended family, and was raised below the poverty line. Never the less, she had parents that valued her education, took her to the library often and early, etc. I wouldn't classify my family as hugely financially privileged, but I definitely come from a family where education was hugely valued, and I while I'll be the first with a PhD, I won't be the first with a graduate degree, by several generations. We both worked to put ourselves through college, and neither of us has much in the way of a family safety net financially. That said, I have a lot of friends who definitely had it harder than I did- as Koolherc points out, there's a difference between 25k a year and 100k a year, and there are a lot of gradations in between. But I think a lot of the posts in this thread specifically referring to "excessive" financial privilege are directly in response to the "silver spoon" statement in the OP- I know mine were.

Please don't double post topics.

Prestige and higher pay.

It's funny that it was my mention of an undergrad perspective that started all this. It was obviously taken as a diminutive, when I meant it purely as a frame of reference. The fact that you're 18 or 45 really has nothing to do with it. Most graduate students teach, the more senior grad students have taught more. The more you've taught, the more you look at an unprepared or not-great teacher, and think about the situation from their perspective. I've also never heard a grad student use phrases like "We don't pay to teach ourselves, we pay to be taught by him", especially since most realize how very, very little of their tuition goes to paying their professors to teach.

I'm a proponent of Endnote, mostly because it's stable with good customer support, and really, really wide compatibility. Also by far the largest database of citation styles, and it's really easy to modify them. But that might not be as big of an issue for other disciplines- every paper is a different style for us, so being able to just select and go is great. I have friends who use RefWorks, as well as Mendeley, but I just haven't been too impressed. Besides, all my references are in Endnote, and it works flawlessly, so I have no drive to change. Also works great between Mac and PC for me, and I can keep my library in Dropbox for easy syncing. I've got about 500 references, many with multiple attached files, and it's stable and quick. And I'm using X2, I understand it's improved considerably since.

I'm sure it will have an effect on your current professors. After all, they choose you and put funding into you. That said, most will likely be understanding if you explain it properly. I would advise against doing the process in secret. For you to be competitive for a transfer, you'll need good recommendations from your current program and advisor. You should explain it by being honest- two body problem, and changing interests. As for transferring your program within the department, that may or may not be possible, or at least easily possible, depending on how they're structured.

I realize you're approaching this from an undergrad perspective, but I really don't see what the problem is with him doing his own work while you're doing the workshop bit. Did you go ask him questions? How did he respond to those questions? Did he tell you he didn't have time, to go figure it out on your own? Did you stop and ask questions during the lecture if he was going too fast? I don't personally think its necessary for him to wander the room seeing if anyone has questions, as long as he doesn't completely rebuff you coming up to him and asking him things. And personally, I definitely wouldn't approach him with the attitude that seems reflected here. I don't think it will turn out well, or come across well. From your posts, he doesn't seem like a "bad" instructor, he just doesn't seem like a really good one, either. Coupled with the fact that you can't find reviews of him on RMP, I'd guess that he's a very new teacher. Give him some time to adjust. No one is great when the first start out, for the most part.

My boss has that many grad students, plus a post-doc and undergrads, and he's able to be our go-to for training, advice, etc. We all meet with him at least weekly, if not more often, as needed. I would e-mail the first professor and let him know that there's another project more in line with your research, but thanking him for his time. Polite, concise, and takes care of wondering whether you're in the process of joining two groups at once. Personally, I would have done it before you agreed to work with the second professor, but I'd just go ahead and get on it now.

I can't imagine a lecture format class lasting for 3:45... A typical evening class is only 2:30, and it's still really hard to lecture that whole time. But since this is a continuing ed class, I'm sure it's structured a bit differently from normal coursework?

Interesting to see how old that data is. It's based on conorts starting in 1992-93 and 1995-96. Also interesting is that in most fields, there was a significant drop in the 10 year completion rate (1-3%) going from the former to the latter.