Eigen

So your first post was unclear to me... Are you in trouble for calling him late, or something with the surveys and delay?

In my experience, Psychology will pay lower. All of the other fields seem to have relatively similar pay, at least in the areas I'm looking at. It seems that you're only basing your funding question off of funding students, rather than funding research- or am I missing something? In all of the above areas (in the US, for a PhD), you should not go unless you're fully funded with a competitive salary. The usual reason a school would admit you but not fund you is if they aren't confident in your abilities, and it's usually a hint that you should go elsewhere. If you're talking about a MS rather than a PhD, than all of the above is pretty much out the window. Funding is a lot harder to come by for masters students.

So, is it impossible for you to get trained on this instrument so you can actually use it? I've done that with several "bottlenecks" in my work- I'm in a similar position, being the only one in my biological chemistry group that does cell work. But I found that after spending some time down at our medical school with our collaborators, learning the instruments, and getting people to trust me, I was able to get time to use them myself. Might not be a possibility for you, but it might be worth looking into.

That's interesting about the UK vs US systems- I had thought the Dissertation vs Thesis difference extended from there. You learn something new every day I'll second the others about looking at the areas of research available at schools you're interested in, to get an idea of the area you want to study. Maybe this is just semantics, but when I think of choosing a Diss. Topic, it's very specific- exactly the systems and methods you want to use to find a given answer. When I think of writing a research proposal/statement of research interests for admissions, I think of it in distinctly broader terms- areas and areas of interactions you want to study, as well as perhaps some specific systems, but nothing nearly as detailed.

I guess I'd say there's a distinct difference between a research proposal/statement of research intent and choosing a dissertation topic. Similarly, we have to submit research proposals, but they rarely become our dissertation topics- there are too many variables in getting everything to work out just right. We submit more official dissertation proposals in our third year, after we've actually got an active research program going.

This may be vastly different in marketting, but in most other fields you don't choose a Dissertation Topic (Thesis is for a Masters) before you start. You might have some general ideas, but you usually don't choose your exact topic until 1 or 2 years into the program.

It all just depends what proportion of e-mails are going out to people who know you, vs those who are going out to people who don't.

I'd pick up a copy of "Mathematics for Scientists and Engineers" by McQuarrie. It's what I used to get through grad QM after 3 years without a math class. Very comprehensive, but not overly worry, great as a reference for helping yourself remember math you no longer know.

I don't have a common signature... I type one for each e-mail I send out, if I think it necessary. I have several different categories of e-mail "types" I send out- one is in reference to our student organization, so e-mails to administrators, staff, other graduate students, etc. Those are usually signed with name/department/organizational position. E-mails for research purposes, usually go out with name/research group/degree/department. And to students for things I'm teaching, usually go out signed with just my first name.

My point wasn't about rushing, but at a lack of classes depending on how the program is structured at the 4 year once he transfers. Especially since maintaining 12 credits is important, you can "run out" of courses outside your major to take. In (for instance) physics, you'll normally have one in major course per semester for your first 3-4 semesters. The rest of your courseload is supposed to be gen ed and other pre-requisites. If you've already taken those, you get stuck in a situation where you need to find 3-4 electives to take per semester along with your majors courses, which can be harder than it sounds. Same thing happens in Engineering and Nursing, where the curricla are quite rigid. Like I said, it may not be an issue in communcations so much as other fields, but it's something to consider. It's worth looking at the normal course outline for your intended major at the university you want to transfer to, and to try to make your courses fit as well as possible. I mean, personally I had somewhere around 200 credits by the time I graduated, since I had lots of other interests- but that's not true for everyone.

So one additional thing I wanted to note- and this may not be as much of an issue for communication- be careful of taking too many general ed classes and not enough major classes. It can leave you in a really akward situation when you transfer, if your degree program has a lot of pre-requisites. I had a couple of friends who did this (engineering and nursing), both of whom had a lot of trouble finding 12 hours to take a semester. The major classes were very rigorously tiered, with only one or two a semester for your first couple of years, with the expectation that you'd be taking general ed courses along with them. But if you'd already done the gen ed courses, your options were to either take upper level "electives"- which are harder than you need- or to try to find additional lower-level electives to fill the time. My friends ended up having to take things like Bowling and Golf, since it was either that or upper teir social science and english classes, all of which were not at all what they needed.

I agree with the above in relation to course load. 12 hours is the financial aid definition of full time, but that's set on a course to graduate in 5 or 6 years, depending on circumstances. The average degree is around 120-130 hours, which is 10-11 semesters at 12 hours per semester. I think the lowest I took during undergrad was 14 hours, with most of my semesters around 18-20. This is a lot more typical of a courseload similar to graduate school, and I would think if you consistently took low hour semesters, it might make grad school admissions committees worry that you wouldn't be able to handle the incrased workload. I worked a variety of part time jobs during undergrad, from 10-30 hours per week, as did most of my friends, and we never really had problems making the hours fit, it just takes prioritizing it. This obviously has to balance out with your work schedule, but I personally wouldn't recommend taking less than 4 classes in a given semester. I also find that when you take more classes, the increased work load really makes you have to focus on and prioritize school, which can really help with your efficiency and time management.

I'd recommend searching- this has been brought up several times, and the past discussions will probably be quite enlightening to your situation. My PI is an Assistant Prof, he's going up for tenure quite soon. I've found the process enjoyable, and he's very fired up about his projects, which I consider worthwhile to me and my career.

Wait, why is it the universities responsibility to not accept students for which there is not a sufficient chance of a career? Isn't that the responsibility of the student? It's not the universities responsibility to make sure at all undergrads are going into majors for which theres a good job market. Why should it be a responsibility at the graduate level, when students should be even more prepared to make the call on their own? The university provides the education, it's up to the student to decide if that degree is worth their time and/or money. Similarly, it's up to the student what they choose to do when they graduate. If there wasn't such a large supply of people willing to teach at such low wages rather than working at another job, than schools would be forced to stop relying on such labor. Adjuncting was never meant to be a full time occupation, and shouldnt be used as such. It's also worth noting that if schools stop using adjuncts, the job market is just going to get more competitive. Better jobs, he, but a lot fewer of them.

I'm coming in late here, but I would say that the prof's approach is perfectly natural for graduate work. You're supposed to learn how to deal with and learn from your peers, as well as examine each others work. I wouldn't have thought Environmental Science was such a competitive field, at least not based off of the department(s) here. And I would say that I have found (by and large) graduate school and my peers to be very much more collaborative than competitive. I think one of your issues (as inferred from your posts, and already pointed out) might be that you're looking for someone else in the class that "knows" to help you. Instead, why don't you find someone else who is also struggling, and the two of you get together to work it out?

The Chem GRE isn't that big of a deal (there's another thread on that already), but the lack of any publications from your MS is a bit more worrisome. It's more understandable depending on what area of medicincal chem you're in- NP synth or total synth always have lower publication records than other areas.

You still didn't answer my question. Have you contacted a *department* administrator? The school admin isn't going to know anything about your situation. Also, are you contacting professors you've been in touch with, or the graduate coordinator?

I don't know of any profs that are consistently reachable by phone. And this time of year, a number of them may be out of office. I don't know what you mean by a school administrator, but the department admin should definitely be able to help you out.

The irony of that string of uncapitalized text speak in a thread about grading writing assignments just strikes me as hilarious.

I've gotta ask, what is it with you up-rating all of your own posts? As to funding, have you called the department? Who in the department have you called? I have a hard time believing yo can't get through to any of the department administrators, and haven't been able to for weeks....

I'm not sure what you're looking for. The overwhelming consensus has been that they probably won't inform you if you don't get funding, only if you do. Past that, no one but your program can answer.

Almost nowhere is over 20 minutes, honestly. Even uptown to UNO is right about 20 minutes for me, assuming I'm not in the thick of morning traffic and I choose the right route. Make sure when you ask people about the FQ and safety they're talking about *living* there. It's safe most of the times there are lots of people around, but that's not all the time. More than that, it's the crowds of tourists down there that would drive me nuts, though. I think you might like the Bayou St Johns/City park area- might be a nice compromise. It's definitely got an interesting culture. If you have more specific questions, feel free to PM me.

There's a road that goes straight from uptown to UNO too, but that doesn't mean it's close by. Marigny and Uptown are about equidistant from UNOs campus, practically. It depends on what you're looking for, but I really wouldn't live in Marigny, or the FQ, myself. They can be fun to visit, but crime rates are much higher than the rest of the city, and you have to deal with a lot more crowds. About half of the people I know who's bikes have been stolen have been stolen from the Marigny- most of my friends now keep a spare "trash" bike to ride when they go down there as a result. As for the area being "artsy".... I guess it is, but you could argue the same thing for the Lower Garden District/Warehouse District, and I wouldn't want to live there either. If you want convienient to UNOs campus (and cheap rent), you want to live in the Lakeshore area. If you want a nicer place to live, I'd choose the Uptown/Fountainbleu/Upper Garden District.Nice areas, lots of stuff to do and culture, and not too expensive rental prices. The other alternative that can be a bit more hit and miss is the Bayou St Johns/City Park area. There are some really nice places, you're very close to NOMA and City Park, and the area is pretty "artsy". Honestly, it's hard to find a place that isn't "artsy" in New Orleans. The suburbs, not so much, but in New Orleans, most places are pretty artsy.

Depending on what part of the country you're living in, a 50k salary is quite nice. It's not going to make you rich, but it's certainly a comfortable income to live on.

I've seen people get lower grades, and even fail, so it's definitely not causing grade inflation, at least in my program. Rather, it's due to the fact that all of the graduate students are supposed to be doing "A" quality work. That's why you were selected, and that's whats expected. Hence, A/B are the two commonly given (and acceptable) grades, with Bs often given for what's considered "below par". It's not grade inflation, so much as increased expectations. For a related conversation, see http://chronicle.com...ic,88469.0.html on the CHE forums for the faculty perspective.