MarineBluePsy

Regardless of what the interview sites tell you about having meals/snacks always ALWAYS have your own snacks and water with you!  This is especially important if you're on a special diet, have allergies, or are just plain picky.  Some programs are not very organized and you may have so many things scheduled for your day that you get 5 minutes to scarf something down.  Or you may find that their understanding of your dietary needs is horribly inaccurate or the special meal requested for you is forgotten or still not something you can eat.  Some places also just have terrible food regardless of what is served.  I just carried my purse with whatever I needed in it, but other applicants carried messenger bags or briefcases.  Most programs also load you down with swag.....pamphlets, brochures, random office supplies, water bottles, etc so having a bag is helpful anyway.  Oh and have kleenex, cough drops, and hand sanitizer.

just found out that i might be getting funding for summer/onward! no more TA?? hooray!

I have done several juice fasts while in grad school and the trick is preparation.  I always aim for a 3 day weekend and juice no more than 2 days.  Anything more I think is excessive and I find 1-2 days is more than enough to curb sugar and carb cravings.

And the verdict is in!  My class grade is considered passing which means I am in good standing and my funding is secure.  My department has been unfairly penalizing students and now has to make changes going forward.  I'm not sure if anything will or can be done for prior students, but it would be nice if they were at least informed of the situation and upcoming changes.  Now I can actually start focusing on the current semester and will hopefully not have any crazy situations going forward.

phew! glad that mess has a satisfactory  conclusion

Absolutely not.  I provide them with free labor and that is all the gift they need.

I CAN'T TELL ANYONE BUT YOU GUYS DON'T COUNT SINCE THIS IS AN ANONYMOUS INTERNET FORUM, I'M GONNA BE AN AUNT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Absolutely not.  I provide them with free labor and that is all the gift they need.

Things I asked included:
1) Are you able to live comfortably on the stipend that is provided or are you forced to seek out other sources of income or make sacrifices you would prefer not to make in order to have the basics (food, shelter, clothing, medical care, transportation)?
2) What is the POIs communication style?  Hands on or hands off?  Constructive criticism?  Only points out mistakes, never successes?
3) What is a typical week like for you in terms of how much time is in class, in lab, doing clinical hours, doing homework, etc?
4) Are students supported if they wish to collaborate with other labs or different departments?
5) If students are interested in gaining clinical experience with a population that is not included in the current practicum choices, is the department open to creating an opportunity?
6) What are you expected to do during summers and are you provided a stipend and medical care for that time?

@MarineBluePsy See my dad did offer that but I said no lol. I refuse to be in a car with him by myself. He might kick me out of the car. He's kicked me out the house before. I've learned that I should always have the possibility to have options and not be stuck.
@Pink Fuzzy Bunny Yep! It was so much fun, the road trip of a life time. I highly recommend it!

So I was just submitting an application as I have three more to go and I was having the damned time with this form, and I finally get it right and I go to submit and nothing pops up for payment. I freak out and then I get an email saying I go ta fee wavier for it. I dont know how this happened but I guess anemone felt bad for me and all these expensive application fees I have paid... I feel like I just had a Christmas miracle... 
If anyone is still submitting apps, I hope this happens for you as well...

I agree. I do want to know how they came up with the first episode though. Some bloke sits down in a meeting and goes "I have a great idea for a plot!!"

Read things that are relevant to your field broadly or specific to your career interests.

@MarineBluePsy Congrats on your half point sending the university into an apocalypse!

@MarineBluePsy I mean that's frustrating but fingers crossed they let you go with the cumulative GPA! 
I am pooped this week. Getting lots of work done and getting a ton of spontaneous unintended workouts in too! Just got back from playing basketball with the crew, and the bus schedule is sh*t without undergrads around so I'm walking like 4 miles a day to get to and from my car when it's parked on campus. Yay for random exercise!

Nope! But it wouldn't be surprising, either. I'm not sure how other history departments work, but I don't see a syllabus until the first day of class. And unsurprisingly, we read a lot of books. The faculty members typically only assign easy-to-locate material for the first week or so, but it's a little bit annoying, I admit. If classes last semester were any evidence, I'll need to pick up 12-15 books per history class. Library classes are less. And the history class books, while often cheap when bought second-hand, can be costly. A few in the $50-ish range wouldn't surprise me.
To be honest, my schedule is going to be so different this semester, I'm going to have to readjust. I'm taking two classes instead of three, and like @hippyscientist, I want to be a bit more proactive with my research in this downtime. I want my coursework to be a necessary evil, not a time-consuming everything. I see graduate school as a time where I need to polish my academic voice, so to speak, and I need to do research to accomplish that.
 

@MarineBluePsy I'm with you on the morning exercise. Plus you feel outrageously productive when you're working out before the sun is up! And that feeling carries over through the rest of the day

The obsession some people have with the classics makes me laugh.  Romeo and Juliet is one I greatly despise.  A love story?  Oh please.  They were two horny teenagers that got pissed their parents wouldn't give them permission to screw and ended up dying in a foolish attempt to teach them a lesson.

This was precisely what I settled on when interviewing last year.  If my wearing a colorful dress, bright nail polish, a cardigan instead of a blazer, darker tights instead of sheer pantyhose, etc was going to lead the program to decide I wasn't professional then I didn't want to be there.  All of those things were uniquely me and yet my hemline was still a respectable length, my cleavage was covered, nothing was wrinkled/stained/torn, and my behavior was professional.  

If anyone is interested Bad Feminist: Essays by Roxane Gay hasn't been a disappointment! I like her style and I find her observations interesting. Also since we are all in grad school Dear Committee Members by Julie Schumacher is a wonderful read and worth the time.
 

I think if the point of grad school is fitting in the program, then people should be who they are right from the start... With some effort obviously (like being clean and not wearing a death metal or Steel Panther tshirt that reads "GLORY HOLE!!!" ??), but their true selves. What happens if you are hired but then feel like you can't be yourself throughout the program? 

This was precisely what I settled on when interviewing last year.  If my wearing a colorful dress, bright nail polish, a cardigan instead of a blazer, darker tights instead of sheer pantyhose, etc was going to lead the program to decide I wasn't professional then I didn't want to be there.  All of those things were uniquely me and yet my hemline was still a respectable length, my cleavage was covered, nothing was wrinkled/stained/torn, and my behavior was professional.  

Things I asked included:
1) Are you able to live comfortably on the stipend that is provided or are you forced to seek out other sources of income or make sacrifices you would prefer not to make in order to have the basics (food, shelter, clothing, medical care, transportation)?
2) What is the POIs communication style?  Hands on or hands off?  Constructive criticism?  Only points out mistakes, never successes?
3) What is a typical week like for you in terms of how much time is in class, in lab, doing clinical hours, doing homework, etc?
4) Are students supported if they wish to collaborate with other labs or different departments?
5) If students are interested in gaining clinical experience with a population that is not included in the current practicum choices, is the department open to creating an opportunity?
6) What are you expected to do during summers and are you provided a stipend and medical care for that time?

Things I asked included:
1) Are you able to live comfortably on the stipend that is provided or are you forced to seek out other sources of income or make sacrifices you would prefer not to make in order to have the basics (food, shelter, clothing, medical care, transportation)?
2) What is the POIs communication style?  Hands on or hands off?  Constructive criticism?  Only points out mistakes, never successes?
3) What is a typical week like for you in terms of how much time is in class, in lab, doing clinical hours, doing homework, etc?
4) Are students supported if they wish to collaborate with other labs or different departments?
5) If students are interested in gaining clinical experience with a population that is not included in the current practicum choices, is the department open to creating an opportunity?
6) What are you expected to do during summers and are you provided a stipend and medical care for that time?

Regardless of what the interview sites tell you about having meals/snacks always ALWAYS have your own snacks and water with you!  This is especially important if you're on a special diet, have allergies, or are just plain picky.  Some programs are not very organized and you may have so many things scheduled for your day that you get 5 minutes to scarf something down.  Or you may find that their understanding of your dietary needs is horribly inaccurate or the special meal requested for you is forgotten or still not something you can eat.  Some places also just have terrible food regardless of what is served.  I just carried my purse with whatever I needed in it, but other applicants carried messenger bags or briefcases.  Most programs also load you down with swag.....pamphlets, brochures, random office supplies, water bottles, etc so having a bag is helpful anyway.  Oh and have kleenex, cough drops, and hand sanitizer.