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Crystalline_Sunlight

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  • Location
    USA
  • Application Season
    2015 Fall
  • Program
    Earth and Planetary Sciences

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  1. Very good point. Thank you so much for the advice! I think I will try to talk to him about this.
  2. Thanks for the reply! That's a good idea about the professor. Showing is always better than telling. I think where I'm getting stuck with my advisor is that I'm not sure what he could do at this point or how he could help me. I'm worried he's going to tell me that it's my problem and that I have to deal with it (which is true...but...I don't know..)
  3. Sorry, it seems like I haven't been very effective in communicating my problem. I definitely understand that my struggles have nothing to do with my program. I take complete responsibility for my position. I understand that I put myself here, not my program, not my advisor, and not the professor. I don't mean for it to sound like I'm making excuses. And I didn't mean that I expected my advisor to contact me and make small talk, because I don't. I just pointed that out because I know there are advisors who do these things and as a result the student has more of a personal relationship with them. I just meant to say that this isn't my situation. The reason I posted this is because I'm terrified that I'm going to get kicked out of graduate school and I'm trying to figure out what I can do to keep this from happening. Obviously talking to the professor is the first thing. Which I've done. My other two ideas were to either send her a follow up email with that additional information in it and to talk to my advisor about this. I wanted advice from you all about those two ideas. I've been reading some older posts about people in similar situations and many people suggested talking to your advisor. But since I'm not very close to my advisor, I'm not sure if I should... And then I was just looking for any other suggestions people had for actions I could take or anyone who was in a similar position or just any advice at all. I don't want to get kicked out because I really enjoy graduate school and I really enjoy research, and yes, it makes me happy to be here. I don't know why that shouldn't factor in... Doing research makes me happy, therefore I want my future career to involve research because I want to be happy in my future career. And no, your reply wasn't harsh Citizen. I appreciate it!!
  4. That wasn't what I meant to imply. Of course at this moment, I don't deserve a B in that class. But I'm asking the professor to give me a chance to demonstrate that I will deserve a B by the end of the class. Grades are meant to represent how well a student has mastered the material. I know that I'm capable of demonstrating this mastery. I'm just hoping that she gives me the chance to show her. Like I said, I've figured out where I went wrong and now I know what I have to do improve. I'm not trying to be manipulative. I'm asking her for mercy. I've been completely open and honest with her about everything. No manipulative motives whatsoever. Graduate school is definitely where I want to be. This is all I've wanted ever since I did my first REU as a sophomore in undergrad. Since then I've acquired research experience through REUs, Fellowships, and experience at my home institution and I loved every second of it. And clearly my grades and performance in both academic and research settings were up to par (letters of rec) or I wouldn't have gotten into grad school in the first place. I appreciate the response, but giving up is not an option.
  5. So I'm a first year grad student and I'm in a pretty bad situation right now. I'm trying to figure out the best way to proceed and thought this might be a good place to get some advice. (I tried to make it short! but it still ended up a bit long. Sorry! The TL;DR is that I was really unhappy with everything last semester (department, advisor, research, classes), failed a class, got put on probation, switched to a new advisor in a new department, failed a midterm, panicking!) Here are the main points - Got into grad school in geophysics - Realized I hated my department, my advisor, my research and my classes - Sat in on a planetary class in the astronomy department throughout that semester, remembered how much I loved planets - Found a new advisor in the astronomy department--so my office and classes are all in the astro department but /technically/ I'm still in the earth sciences dept. - Ended up failing one of my geophysics classes (mostly because of motivation and depression issues I think) - DGS of earth sciences (also my previous advisor) put me on probation and said that I had to get a B or better in two "real" (non-seminar) courses this semester that are directly related to my research in order to continue receiving funding. - From the start of the semester, I was all pumped, really wanted to do amazingly in my classes so that I could prove to the DGS and my advisor that I deserve to be here. - In terms of department, advisor and classes (for the most part), I'm 100000000x happier than last semester!! This is EXACTLY where I want to be and what I want to be doing and who I want to be working with. Everything was going great!!! For a while... - One of said classes is an undergrad senior level physics class that I'm taking in the physics and engineering department. This class ended up being a /lot/ harder than I anticipated. - I went to a small state school for undergrad, I was top of my class, got all As, etc etc., same story as a lot of people here, and I was treating this class the same way I had treated all of my previous physics classes. But this isn't a small state school and I've come to realize that a lot more is required of students here. - Went to professor once before the midterm for homework help and to express concerns regarding the midterm--she had decided to make the midterm worth what the final was originally going to be worth for reasons I can elaborate on if anyone is curious. - Ended up completely failing the midterm (37.5%) - Took a day to carefully go over each question to try to figure out what happened. I realized that I really just didn't know how to study for it and focused on the wrong things. I also realized that I should have been attending the professor's office hours throughout the entire semester, as soon as I realized I was struggling. - Went to see professor the next day. I told her where I thought I went wrong (everything I said just above) and then I explained my situation to her (about the probation) and basically broke down crying in her office :-/. She definitely seemed sympathetic and told me that she wished she would have known earlier. She said that normally what she'd do is wait to see how the student does on the final and then adjust the weighting. But when I told her I needed a B, she seemed to think that would be enough. She told me she would have to think about it. (I did calculate out my grade, and as of now, I would need around a 140% on the final to get that B :-/) - That was yesterday. Since then, of course I thought of a thousand other things I wished I would have said to her, things that I thought would maybe help my case. - But most significantly, I think I really identified where I went wrong. In retrospect, I think I had been focusing too much on just getting the work done (of which there was a LOT) instead of focusing on making sure I understood the concepts on that deep fundamental level that grad students are expected to achieve. Soooooo here are the two things I'm debating. 1. Should I email the professor about my realization? So that she's convinced that I've identified where I messed up and that I know what corrections to make from here? I just don't want to be too pushy... 2. I was debating telling my advisor about what's going on. I know people always say that your advisor and your department want you to succeed but I'm just having a hard time fully believing that. My advisor is a very hands-off advisor (which I generally like) but that means he's on trips a lot and doesn't always have time to meet with his advisees. I'm fine with this so far as research goes. I like the freedom and I'm fine with just dropping him an email when he's unable to meet with us in person. But it's not ideal for building any kind of relationship with him. He never asks me how my classes are going. Or really anything at all. I generally initiate all of our communication. He's a very busy guy. So. I don't know. If this all goes south, it probably would be good if I talked to him now. Instead of at the end of the semester... But I guess I still feel like I have to prove myself to him since I didn't enter in through his department. I think my primary fear is that he regrets taking me on. Especially since I haven't been able to make a ton of progress with research this semester since I've been so overburdened by this physics class. And if he knows that I'm struggling.... you guys can fill in that blank... So anyways... Any thoughts? Suggestions? Questions?
  6. I had gotten to class early, no one else was in the room, I looked at my phone to check my email, saw my acceptance letter and began jumping up and down like a crazy person, doing the happy dance. Though I was alone in the room, the door had a window and a few people walking by definitely caught me in the act Luckily I managed to regain my composure before any of my classmates walked in
  7. Oh and I should mention that UCLA is sort of hanging out there in the mix as well. It used to be the lowest on my list, but unlike with Cornell and Maryland, I don't strongly dislike anything about the program there (except maybe the weather hah but I can deal). It's got a decent immediate environment, I thought it was pretty cute. The campus isn't bad, the research isn't bad, and there's the opportunity to do experimental work and to pursue some planetary research as well! I LOVE my potential advisor there. Only thing is, the only time I visited was over the summer when no one was really around. So I haven't gotten to meet the rest of the faculty or the grad students (couldn't make it to the visiting day weekend :-/). Part of me is so sick of this back and forth between Maryland and Cornell that I'm tempted to just pick UCLA and be done with it.
  8. So I'm having the hardest time making my decision. It's basically come down to two schools--Cornell (seismology) and University of Maryland College Park (for planetary geophysics). After having visited both places basically it comes down to me deciding what's more important, being happy and comfortable in my environment vs. being happy with my research and advisor. I fell in love with Cornell's campus and the dept. building and Ithaca as a whole right off the bat. I was really happy when I was there, it felt right, it felt like home, I didn't want to leave! But the research is iffy. Conceptually it sounds interesting but I've never done research like this before so I'm not sure if I'll like it. The department is also relatively small and focused and so most other faculty are doing similar sorts of research. My potential advisor is also just ok. He seems nice and I'm sure we'd get on well. With Maryland, it's basically the opposite. I fell in love with the research and the department's research is all so interesting and diverse and there are so many opportunities for collaboration--within the department, with other departments and outside of the school at places like NASA Goddard, Carnegie Institute, the Smithsonian, Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Lab, etc. This is huge for me. I also absolutely loved my potential advisor at Maryland. If I had to describe my ideal advisor, he'd be it. Plus Maryland has opportunities to do planetary research and experimental work, both things that Cornell wouldn't really be able to offer... But problem is, I really really hated the environment! I hated the town, I really disliked the campus and I really disliked the department building--where I'll be spending most of my time... Walking around campus, I just felt like I didn't really want to be there... plus it's much more of a frat-social atmosphere as opposed to Cornell's more intellectual atmosphere. I've been asking around for others advice (friends, professors, etc.) and they all emphasize the importance of being happy in your environment. But. What about being happy with the research? Planetary science is what I originally wanted to do and I have actual experience doing that sort of research. But I'm not so sure about seismology... is it worth the risk?
  9. Both great ideas! I like the idea of proposing a specific project; that would really ensure to minimize any misunderstanding, and she would probably ask for an example anyways. And MathCat, that makes a lot of sense. Rather than saying "here's what I dislike" I should phrase it in a way that says "here's what I would like". No need to bring up any negatives here. I can also mention that these interests came up after talking with her--else I would have mentioned them during our conversation last summer. I definitely know how to write this email now! Thank you thank you thank you to you both!
  10. Hello all, So I've recently been admitted to this grad program. The school is within top 15 in the field, higher ranked than any of the other school's I've been accepted to so far, and the acceptance came complete with a very tempting financial offer, also the best I've been offered thus far. In addition, I met with my POI at this school before applying and had a wonderful afternoon with her--I think we would match very very well. The only issue--perhaps the most important consideration in this process-- is the research. It's not exactly what I'm looking for. I like what she does but I would want to take it a step further and collaborate outside of her focus. However when I spoke with her before applying, she said that she didn't collaborate very much and that collaboration wasn't very common within this department--though she did mention wanting to work to change this. The only way I'd accept this offer is if she agreed that some sort of collaborative project could be arranged. Specifically, her research is very narrowly focused and I'm interested in connecting it to bigger picture implications. I'd really like to contact her and ask her about this, since now is the time to be completely honest and up front about everything. I'm just not sure how to approach this in an email without sounding like either a complete moron or a jerk: "While I'm really interested in your research (which you already know since I said as much in my SOP and wouldn't have applied otherwise...) it's just not quite enough..." "I know I said I liked your research...but here's the thing..." or "Your research is too narrow. Here are my conditions if you want me to accept:" (<<---joking. I would never say it like that haha). Clearly none of these are very good. I didn't want to be too blunt and risk coming off as rude or demanding but maybe bluntness is the only way to go here... Any suggestions?
  11. Thanks for the advice all Looks like I'll be visiting after all. In other news!! Just received an invite out to Cornell's Visitation Days for Prospective Students :DDD It's definitely not an official acceptance, I don't think it's even an unofficial acceptance. Anyone know what this means for my chances? Surely they don't invite all prospective students... Will this mean that depending on how the visit goes, it could influence whether I get accepted or not? Cause that puts a lot of pressure on it!
  12. I was accepted to UCLA! Yeaahhh!! Received an unofficial email from POI a couple days ago and then the official acceptance email the next day. Fully funded! I have a dilemma though. Their open house is on February 17th meaning I'd have to miss 3 days of class. It wouldn't be the end of the world, but I'd be missing some important stuff. Is it worth it to go? I've already visited the campus last summer when I first met with my POI... Also I live in a town whose airport literally has one gate so I'd have to drive 5 hours to the next big city to get a reasonable flight...Worth it? They want an answer today :-/
  13. I was worried about this as well (one of my letter writers was extremely late). I did a bit of research on it and from what I've read, schools tend to be pretty understanding about that. They know that you can't completely control these situations and I can't imagine they'd penalize you for your letter writer's lack of time-management abilities I think a lot of schools even anticipate that many of the letters will be sent in late. So long as it's no more than a week or two, I think you'll be just fine.
  14. I think I'm applying to 6 as well! (still iffy on one... but it has a late deadline so I have time) My first go through researching schools left me with 13-14 programs. Then I narrowed it down to 6 (or 7). Any more than 7 and it would have been too much time and money. Plus I can't imagine having to deal with keeping up communications with any more POIs than I have right now (and I'm terrible at responding to emails as it is! ).
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