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Oh well we are all striving for something.

Well I did Mechatronics engineering. I was worried the other way around, that the fact that I am not a chemist or a material engineer will affect me. I did have a very broad formation and I had around 5 related to materials science during my undergrad. I also have a master in material science in the UK. I got a reply from a program at Imperial College London and I was told that I was not a competitive student based on my qualifications, so rude. I just hope that people in other unis are not so closed on what they want.

My mother was a straight A chemistry student at UCSB and dreamed of being a chemist. She did research in a lab, and one day her PI told her that she just wasn't smart enough to get a PhD in chemistry. Being the fragile person she was, she became a pharmacist. Its probably not a good excuse to pin it on that one point, but the fact is that the only reason she was told she wasn't smart enough is because of his impression of women. This kind of situation does not happen to men as frequently as women. 
 
As a male in STEM, it is imperative that we be empathetic to the difficulties that women have. We need to be an open tent. I am very happy to be at a department that is waaay ahead of the curve in gender equality. The problems that we find interesting are difficult to solve, we shouldn't be hindering ourselves by oppressing an entire gender.
 
Women do worse in graduate school for the same reason women are paid less; societal bigotry. I believe this is true of standardized test scores. There is no biological evidence suggesting that men are able to test better (in fact, there is more to the contrary). I'm sure you would like to see more ladies in your mathematics office than you currently have, as that is one of the most male dominated fields there is. 
 
Just because it didn't affect you does not it doesnt mean it does not affect a majority. Sometimes we are privileged, and lucky. 

Yeah making your own tomato sauce is ridiculously easy (and cheap!) - all you need is tinned or fresh tomatoes, chicken stock, garlic and olive oil (plus salt and pepper obvs). You can add fresh basil and/or parsley if you have it too.  I've been making my tomato sauce from scratch since undergrad. Prego and all the rest of the jarred sauces are nasty as all hell, I don't how how anybody finds them remotely edible. 

People: So... what is Materials Science/Engineering?
Me: You know... it's where you learn how to make stuff...
People: ... Okay....
Me: Honestly, I don't even know how to explain it.

if (accepted)
    if (funded)
        attend;
else
    cry;

I am convinced that I wrote horrid SOPs, and that my lack of publishing is going to bite me.  Sigh.  Once I was a happy, carefree person, full of joie de vivre . . . and then came the day when I decided to apply for my PhD.

Deadline for my top school was yesterday. It's weird: I submitted the application about a month in advance, and all the pieces seemed to fall right into place. LORs, SOP, GRE, transcripts, writing sample---I felt good about it all because I spent nearly a year putting it all together. And everything was sent and received smoothly, too. No complications whatsoever. Supreme confidence. Ecstasy. 
 
Now here I am, one day out, and all that confidence just vanished. Overnight. At the beginning, it felt as though I was floating on Cloud 9... now I feel as if I'm floating on a wing and a prayer.
 
I keep thinking: "Gee, that all seemed to go by just a little too easily... something's terribly wrong here." 
 
I'm so f'cked.
 
Man oh man. 
 

... ok then. Maybe it's just me but I wouldn't ever take off time for that or have an extended weekend or whatever for that reason. Maybe my program is just important to me.. or shorter than yours? Either way doesn't matter I guess.

Thanks for the advice, folks, you're making me feel a little less afraid to take the leap The thing is that until now, I've always gone into relationships knowing that I was probably going to be leaving within a year and have been okay with keeping it casual and low-commitment (I've been going back and forth overseas a lot in the last few years and moving between home and school as well, with an average stay of 10 months or less in each place).
 
Maybe it's because I'm finally settled in one place for a few years, or maybe it's because I'm getting a bit older and starting to seriously consider the possibility of marriage and a family a ways down the road, but I'm noticing that my priorities are starting to shift and that I really want a relationship that has a chance for the long-term and is less casual. I've always been dead set against long-distance before, but now I think that for the right person, I might be willing to try it. Recognizing this shift in myself is as terrifying as it is exhilarating, as for years I've been the type of person to guard my feelings somewhat to minimize impact in the case of a breakup. I realize that being truly in love with someone and maturing into a potential long-term partner involves a whole different level of honesty, openness, and willingness to expose the more delicate parts of your heart, and I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed right now as I contemplate this.
 
I just hope I'm brave enough and honest enough to lay my cards on the table when the time comes.

Same. My parents are encouraging of me going into higher education, but very discouraging when it comes to me living on my own and are pushing for me to pick a school that's close by. My mom thinks I can't fend for myself despite going to a university out of state for my undergrad.

"wait, but isn't society biological? like social norms are based on biology right?"