MarineBluePsy

I'd rather see the LOR component eliminated completely. To me its as pointless as references for employers. Of course you're going to pick people who will say good things about you, so really what is the point? I think you learn a lot more about someone during the interview weekend.

Interfolio is a good idea if your programs will accept LORs through that service. None of my programs did and their primary reason was that Interfolio didn't allow them to add their own supplemental form for professors to complete.

Yep the more organized you are the easier it is for them to do. Some professors are fine writing one letter and copy/pasting, others want to write a custom letter for each program. It also helps if you give them plenty of notice so they don't have to work last minute when they have other things to do. When I applied all of my deadlines were late November/early December, so I met with my LOR professors at the beginning of September. I had my list of schools with deadline, what info they wanted, any special forms, my CV, my SOP, and how it needed to be sent. Then I followed up every few weeks to make sure everything was going smoothly and that they didn't need anything else. I still ran into last minute hassles (like having to drive 2 hours away to pick up LORs and then getting to the post office 20 minutes to closing to have them overnighted), but it could have been way worse. Also I thanked them constantly throughout the process and notified them when I got interviews and acceptances.

I didn't drink alcohol at any of the socials during my application season and no one said anything. If someone had asked I wouldn't have felt the need to explain myself either. I'll drink what I want, end of story.

I'm all for relaxing, especially in the summer, but I'd suggest paid employment. It doesn't have to be full time, but graduate school is filled with unexpected expenses and it wouldn't hurt to have a little extra money put away. If your summer gig is also something fun then that's a plus. If you have the opportunity to travel (even if just to visit relatives or friends you haven't seen in awhile) that could also be fun.

@GreenEyedTrombonist I shipped most of my stuff through Greyhound which was surprisingly affordable and efficient. It took about 10 days, but that was fine. Amtrak also offers shipping, but they don't offer door-to-door service like Greyhound. If you're determined to get a pre-furnished place then I'd suggest springing for the cost of having all of the fabric furniture and carpets steam cleaned. Not all landlords are required to do this or are willing to spend the extra money.

Whether or not your TA/RA funds are taxable is a question that should be discussed with a tax professional to get the most accurate information for your situation. If your school participates in the federal financial aid program then federal loans could be an option for you to meet cost of living expenses. You can get more information about loan products at studentloans.gov

Each program will have a different process for deferments if they allow them. The best thing to do would be to reach out to your advisor, explain that you've been offered *whatever research opportunity* and are interested in taking it. They will likely reach out to the Director of Clinical Training and the head of the department to figure out how the situation should be handled (if you need to reapply, fill out deferment paperwork, pay a deposit to hold your place, etc). If the program is funding you then you want to find out if that funding will be held for you or not.

GoogleDrive's glitches and limited space drove me crazy. I switched to Mega and love it. More space, not glitchy, and no hassles regardless of which device I access it from. It creates a backup file on both my desktop and laptop as well. My research data is also backed up on my Universities server. I could always add an external hard drive if I needed another form of backup, but right now I think I have enough.

@GreenEyedTrombonist I too am a desktop fan and think its smart to invest in putting one together that will last you through your program. I also have a laptop, but if that thing dies I'll be fine. As for footwear I think it is important to wear well made shoes especially if you are on the go. If you want a dressier but comfortable flat I'd look at Clarks. They have lots of options and good sales too. Also consider waterproof hiking boots for snow days. I find they are more comfortable and breath a bit more. Before you spruce up your wardrobe for TAing, check out what the other TAs are doing first. If might not be worth the expense if no one else dresses up. I'd also look into the kind of bag you're going to carry. If you won't have a car then you'll carry all your stuff with you and multiple bags can get annoying. I seriously took all the stuff I'd need to carry each day into an office supply store and tested out several bags before finding a few that worked.

Funny you mention this. A few graduates from my lab have all ended up at a particular internship site that my advisor has close ties with. I think it was sort of assumed I'd follow in that path, but that site isn't a good fit with my interests so I am not planning to apply there.

Oh sure it was still a hassle. On the one hand it was great that I could order all of the transcripts I needed from each school and have them sent directly to me and then knowing for certain when they arrived at the schools I applied to. But having to do that in the first place was ridiculous when an unofficial transcript would have been sufficient. I just don't see programs changing on this though.

During my last application season nearly all of the schools required 2 official transcripts and since ordering transcripts from my 4 prior schools would be expensive I insisted on knowing why. Turns out not every school is organized. So even though the application is sent to the Graduate School they may not forward everything (or anything!) to the actual Department you're applying to. So the Department has its own application (sometimes with a separate fee, yeah that was fun) asking for pretty much the same things. I figured that if they couldn't figure out how to move paperwork or an electronic file from one place to the next I'd better forward the transcripts myself as well. I got permission from each school I applied to (Graduate School and Department) to forward my own official transcripts as long as I left them in their sealed envelopes. No problems. This also meant I could attach a delivery confirmation or overnight things as needed. If the GRE allowed this I wouldn't have spent a ridiculous number of hours emailing and calling all over the country to get those located (and its an electronic file so this shouldn't be so hard) and attached to my application. I suspect that schools requiring official transcripts prior to offering acceptance know they don't need them. If anyone is stupid enough to falsify an unofficial transcript they'll be caught once an official one is received. I think this is just another hoop designed to weed people out, because those who can't afford it won't apply.

Yep I agree that my advisor and I are not communicating well. When I look at the list of things that need to be submitted for internship and post doc applications it is very clear that landing these positions does have a lot to do with what you submit and not just who you met from the site you're applying to. Sure it doesn't hurt if your name is recognized and your application is bumped up or if these connections share some insights about aspect of the application that are more closely scrutinized. Since it is still early in my program I've been working on expanding a variety of areas of my CV so that my applications look good when that time comes. As for researchers that I may want to work with in the future, that is still something I'm figuring out, but I do look at who's presenting or doing a workshop at small and large conferences to gauge how interesting/worthwhile they might be. My advisor has made it clear that I'm better off spending my time conducting my own research rather than organizing a symposium so that is not an issue. If poster presentations aren't highly regarded then it would make less sense to invest in doing one at a large conference when a smaller conference is more cost effective and can still demonstrate research productivity which is also important. Now if I were presenting a paper at a larger conference that seems like it would be more highly regarded, lead to more networking opportunities, and therefore worth the expense. Lots more to think about....

Hmmm I hadn't heard of couchsurfing sites, but what an interesting concept. My guess is that sort of thing has been popular in other countries for ages and the US is a bit behind. Couldn't hurt to look into though, thanks @Psygeek @lewin Actually the phrasing regarding internship and post doc was based on my thoughts about it (that all of the contents of the application matter) and what my advisor actually said (that the only thing that matters is who you meet/know from large conferences) so the phrasing was intentional. I am perfectly fine with both being important (as I understand that in plenty of circumstances that is the case), but my advisor disagrees with that and further discussion on this resulted again in my being told that the *only* thing that matters is attending these large conferences to network. Regardless, there have been lots of great suggestions in this thread and I think its better to keep my eyes on a mix of small and large conferences and see what makes works out in the end.

Yes its possible to work full time and go to graduate school full time, you just have to decide what you're willing to sacrifice. You'll have less free time to spend with family and friends, attend social events, or just sit around doing nothing. You'll have to work harder to maintain your self care needs such as sleeping, exercising, eating well, and whatever you do to reduce stress. It really helps to keep focused on what you will do once you finish your program and that your life won't always be like this. As for taking out loans for living expenses, yes this is an option. If your school participates in the federal student loan program there are several different loan products that may be an option for you. You can look at studentloans.gov to learn more about different federal loan options.

AirBnB I'd thought of, but the rest of those suggestions are great as well. I have some time to see if I can figure out an affordable solution, but yeah it would be nice if my advisor remembered the poor student days more vividly.

I did some browsing on the forums and saw that students in the same lab sometimes split travel costs, but that is highly unlikely to be an option for me. There's 4 of us, 2 are married and combine conference travel with vacation and bring their spouse and the other student will be staying with family. I pretty much got an eye roll from my advisor when I mentioned the astronomical cost of these conferences. I remember when this came up last year when I was brand new to the lab and another student was concerned about the expense and my advisor just said figure it out. Maybe all advisors have this sort of attitude and I just missed the memo.

Now that my research is moving along my advisor and I have been discussing poster sessions and which conferences are a better fit. My advisor is adamant that the only conferences that matter are a few large ones and while I'm open to that experience and the networking opportunity I'm a bit sticker shocked. There's a fee to submit a poster abstract for consideration (and no guarantee it will be accepted), there's a fee to attend the conference (even if you're presenting something), and all of these large conferences are in major cities where I have no contacts so airfare and overnight accommodations are necessary. My advisor will pay for printing the poster and my department offers a few hundred bucks toward travel expenses, but that is it. Am I missing something here or is it kind of absurd to think that grad students can afford this with our tiny stipends? I have done some searching and found several smaller conferences that would be a good fit and don't have fees for attending or submitting, are in more affordable cities, and in driving distance. My advisor completely rejected the suggestion of smaller conferences primarily because the internship and post doc people don't attend them so I won't have any networking opportunities and explained that all of the past students in our lab attended these large conferences, benefited from the networking opportunity, and then landed great internships and post docs. Ok good for them. Those past students also had spouses with great jobs and/or parents willing to pitch in financially or had friends/family they could crash with in these large cities and I have none of those things. I talked with another professor in my department and they basically sided with my advisor, that either I do what everyone before me has done or expect challenges landing an internship and post doc. So was I naive to think that getting an internship or post doc was about all of the contents of your application and not just who you met or know? Any thoughts from those who had similar challenges with their advisor and either found a way to attend the large conferences or put their foot down and went the smaller conference route?

Some schools offer application fee waivers for various circumstances, you just have to ask. I was able to get one and while that didn't drastically offset the amount I still had to shell out I was grateful. I was even more grateful when that school declined to interview me lol.

Ultimately it will depend on the school since there isn't a one size fits all method. Based on my last application season the number of students interviewed was dependent upon the professors funding. All of my PIs had funding for 2 students so they interviewed 4-6 applicants and hoped for the best.

Also if you're going to take Amtrak across country (or even halfway) you aren't just on one train. You have to transfer to another train and if there's a delay that leads to you missing a connector you could be stuck for awhile. MegaBus is an option, but like the train you wouldn't be taking just one bus. It doesn't stop in every city and you'd have to transfer buses at connecting hubs. I considered both in order to go home for Christmas, but it is still cheaper to fly and arrive same day rather than take 4-5 days on the train or bus. For my summer trip its actually faster for me to drive and then I have my own transportation once at home.

My understanding is that if you experience any stigma from your professors or TAs that the disability office is equipped to intervene on your behalf. I'm going to guess that most professors and TAs don't want to make a student feel uncomfortable or singled out and would encourage students who need accommodations to come to office hours or email them about their needs.

I too have never heard of schools saying they won't accept LORs from schools if its been 5+ years since you graduated. Are you applying to programs in the US? If so you would be a nontraditional student, which basically means you aren't applying straight from undergrad and have work or military experience and are likely not in your early 20s. Every program/field views nontraditional students differently. It wouldn't hurt to reach out to some of your old professors and see if they would consider writing LORs for you, but keep your expectations low because its been awhile and you admit not being close with them or being the best student. If you strike out there then think about others who can speak to your ability to handle academic work/research, stress/challenges, and your professionalism. You can speak to the schools you are applying to about your circumstances and see what they are willing to accept, but keep in mind you may have to pitch them your own creative solutions. You don't say what field you're going into, but I'll share what I did if that helps. I'm in Clinical Psychology and had been out of undergrad for over a decade. I did a non research focused Master's and figured I could get all of my LORs from there. Well thanks to unexpected pregnancies, sabbaticals, unplanned early retirement, and job transfers I could only get one LOR from there. Thankfully I had volunteered at a research lab at another University and was able to get 2 others from supervisors there. Some programs wanted a fourth LOR and I asked them if one from any of my community service projects (thankfully these were with populations related to my research interests) would work and they said ok.

You're going to get a variety of answers because we all make whatever decision works best for us. So here's what I've done now that I'm in school over 2,000 miles away. I have a car and I drive home in the summer to see people, handle business, and vacation. Driving is actually cheaper than flying for me even though it takes a few days of solo driving. Why is it cheaper? I'm attending school in a small town so I can't get a direct flight and when at home there is no one to drive me around or loan me their car so I'd have to rent one. In the summer I have more time to make the long drive, stay a couple weeks, and then drive back. Thanksgiving break isn't long enough for me to make the drive so I don't even consider it. Last year I didn't go home because I had too many responsibilities on campus and it was too expensive to fly home for basically a 3 day weekend. This year my schedule was freer so I flew home for a whole week. Christmas break I do have the time to drive home and stay awhile, but I won't because I'd rather not risk getting trapped in some insane weather conditions. Last year my family was driving me crazy so I didn't go home, but instead made plans with friends. This year I won't be going because its just too expensive to fly home for Thanksgiving and again for Christmas. Spring Break isn't long enough to drive home and I know I'm going in the summer so I make plans with friends instead or go see relatives that are closer. Ultimately whatever you decide will be a compromise. You'll have to factor in your campus responsibilities, your budget for travel, whether or not your family is willing and able to help with costs (mine can't), flight options, if you have to take a bus/train to even get to the airport, how the weather might impact your travel plans, and any other things that are relevant to you.