Jump to content

mathsnotmath

Members
  • Posts

    6
  • Joined

  • Last visited

Profile Information

  • Application Season
    2014 Fall
  • Program
    Mathematics PhD

Recent Profile Visitors

883 profile views

mathsnotmath's Achievements

Decaf

Decaf (2/10)

0

Reputation

  1. Wish I could give extra +1's for the gratuitous "eh"
  2. I appreciate the insight, but traveling to the city is financially infeasible for me.
  3. Dearest Gradcafe, I have accepted an offer to study in Canada beginning in September, 2017. I live in the US and as such have experienced the difficulties of trying to secure housing from 1,500+ miles away. I found quite a nice place near to the campus which matches all of my criteria. I wonder whether or not anyone has experience in a similar situation. I will almost surely be unable to visit the place before moving to my new city permanently in the beginning of August. I am confident I'll be able to send either my advisor or fellow graduate student to view the place in my absence to verify that the house matches the description and photos listed online. I'm also hoping to arrange for a Skype meeting with the current tenant who's renting the room. Has anyone rented a place from a distance? Did you pay a deposit/rent from afar? Obviously I'm aware of the legitimate advise that one should never rent a place or exchange money in anticipation of renting a place without first seeing the place in person. Thank you for your advice in advance!
  4. Thank you all so much for the insightful replies! A very interesting point about the self deprecating comments about the department-I hadn't thought about it this way. Indeed, it is the case that my present department is not highly regarded whereas the university where he's spending his fellowship year is world class. I suppose that I should re-emphasize that I haven't really been all that concerned about what other people in the department have to say with respect to his staying or leaving (after all, what do they know?) For me the alarming piece of information is that his wife and children are relocating to where he is in January. To me, this seems like a much greater "warning sign" than what people in the department have said in passing. When I first came and visited I asked him something to the effect of "what made you choose to take a position here?" In mathematics there is a (rather superficial) divide between pure maths (maths we do without any immediate application in mind) and applied maths. The department here is very much focused on the applied maths side of the divide, so I felt that my question was a reasonable one to ask. He told me that his decision to come here basically came down to the fact that the university offered his wife a position as well. So when I heard that his wife had a teaching gig (at the university where he is now) lined up in January, that also caused some angst. Thank you for all being willing to hear and respond to my concerns! As I'm sure you will agree, it's probably not a great idea for me to be voicing these concerns to people in my department...
  5. Thanks to both of you for your thoughts! I like the idea of trying to fish for information with tact. On the other hand, might it be the case that direct and straight forward communication is appreciated? From my perspective time seems to be somewhat of the essence-assuming that he is leaving and is able to negotiate some other situation for me (I stress that he is the only person in this department whose research interests me at this point; I accept that this sounds awfully close-minded) will I still need to formally submit an application by the regular application deadline (December 2014)? Will I need to take the GRE again? These are the sorts questions which are on my mind. I'm hoping that you two are right-the relocation of his family is temporary and he'll be back in September 2015 as was originally the plan-I don't want to have to go through the horror that was applying to Math PhD programs again.
  6. Hello friends! Let me start by saying that being a part of this community has been helpful beyond measure throughout my graduate career-thanks for always being so awesome. I chose to apply to the school which I'm currently attending because of the intriguing work of the lone professor in my area of interest. I came and visited the school, got to sit down and talk with my potential adviser for 45 minutes, loved him and his work, loved the department, etc., and decided to attend. The catch: my adviser was selected for a prestigious research fellowship at (one of) the most influential math institutes in the world (not at the school I'm attending, to say the least...) for the 2014-2015 school year. Great! Meeting with him when I visited, he indicated that this was probably not an issue with regards to our working together-pure math requires pen and paper and not much else so (to a greater degree than for laboratory sciences) the distance really isn't a huge issue, and that he would be back in a year's time anyway. We've been having meetings over skype twice a week since the first week of school. Not only is he a "big shot," but he's completely humble, patient, and an excellent teacher. Everything you would want in an adviser. Now...every time I mention to someone in the department that I'm working with this particular professor they say something to the effect of "Oh, he's great isn't he! We absolutely love him. We sure hope he's gonna stay with us..." That last sentence. Now, I should make it clear that he has never indicated to me that he's planning on leaving. He just got his tenure last year. When we talked in April he talked about how the "two body problem-academic edition" influenced his decision to take a position at my current institution, spouse hire, etc. So I've never had much of a cause to allow this comment from people in the department to worry me. Until now. When we were on the phone on Monday, we were talking about "life stuff" (as opposed to "maths stuff"), and he mentioned the fact that in January, his wife and children were relocating to his location. His wife had a teaching job lined up at the university nearby, and his children were starting school there! Now, he didn't say what sort of duration this new living arrangement would have, and in the moment I didn't think to ask. In fact I didn't realize the implications of what he said until later... My question to you is...what do you make of this information? I feel that it would be wise for me to ask him directly what his plans are, but haven't had the courage. I also feel as though it's in my best interest to make an excellent impression on him as quickly as possible. How would you frame this conversation? What specifically would you ask? Should I wait until I've had more of a chance to impress upon him my drive and intelligence, or should I try to clarify as soon as possible? My great apologies for the length, and my great thanks in advance for your advice!
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

This website uses cookies to ensure you get the best experience on our website. See our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use