ron_swanson

So, about grades... I honestly don't understand why it's still a big deal in grad school. Isn't grad school more about research? Pass classes, pass quals... getting A's is for undergrad Plus, this semester is starting off with me scheduling appointments with the counseling center. Fun. I got my third paper submitted in Sep., but haven't respond to referee reports. Got a book deal and have to produce something by Dec. 2016, but work has diminished to 10-20 hours a week. We'll see how this plays out.

Google Maps was my guardian angel many of late nights in Lower Eastside and East Village, as I stumbled back to the subway to get me home.

Maybe I'll break out one of Griffiths books and lie down on the lawn outside my office at 3 pm. That'll surely get me some rest. Maybe I'll get one of Griffiths books put on my iphone and listen to it once my head hits the pillow. Who doesn't want Griffiths whispering in their ears at night?

No, I just zone out for a good 10 minutes daydreaming about what life would be like if I did this or that differently years ago... then suddenly an entire alternate reality plays out in my head. Suddenly I snap out of it and forget where I am and where the keys to my mercedes and why my wife hasn't called... then I realize I have neither. Yeah, I am definitely not doing my 20+ miles per week anymore. I just did a 10k and injured my ankle... not sure if I give the credit of tonight's rest to the run or the painkillers. I think my issue is relaxation. It's a struggle to slow my life down. Right now I'm trying to build a routine that doesn't involve bar hopping and/or parties. One thing I found out is reading my kindle for 30+ minutes a night puts me out.

Yeah, perhaps it's just the rapid transition for me. It is summer, so that might be a factor in the low student population and loneliness. I'll also need to expand my network here (it's only been three weeks). No negativity just yet. I do get a bit exhausted by 3 pm (more so than usual). It's just annoyance with lieing in bed for up to two hours before popping open netflix to go through several episodes of scrubs/mad men/etc.

Who here has dealt with insomnia? Or at least is dealing with it? Before moving across this little country last month my life was moving at 100 mph. Living in one of the largest cities, I was attracted to late-night parties. I was always a part of a group of friends in some downtown bar and the only thing that balanced my life was me training for a half marathon and the frequent use of sleeping pills to give me much needed rest. Now I live in a little suburb that's more than a 30 minute walk to the nearest nightlife. I also left my entire social group thousands of miles away. My goal was to enter grad school for early admission and start research to become acclimated, establish myself, and pump the brakes on my bad habits. In some sense it's working. I've made my name known in the department, am circling a new publication through the collaboration here, and already feel settled. Problem is the lack of intensity and things to do here. Now I find myself getting 4-5 hours of sleep. Even if I try to get more rest, I can't seem to. When do I start my own fight club?

In my experience long-distance relationships very rarely work out. After my first, I decided to no longer do long-distance. But I traveled a lot and in my experience, when in any major city, you're pretty much guaranteed to find strong, meaningful relationships. With relationship potential that high, why limit yourself and stifle your growth (both personally and academically)?

-"Why do we fall Bruce? So we can learn to pick ourselves up."

I just have it on my CV and mention it on the front (about me) page of my website. I think having a website is a great idea (especially for science) and maybe include the URL on your business card. I ended up purchasing the domain name of my website so the URL is pretty much just myname.com

Don't do it. You're a robot. Don't have fun. Publish or perish, concentrate only on your career, and when you're 35 with full tenure you can start dating.

That's the internet.

Takeruk I understand where you're coming from. It is sad stipends are considerably lower in certain fields than others. But it seems equal pay across the board for every graduate student is not justified in the sense that it should reflect the value and significance of the student's work/field. For example, students researching cures to vast numbers of diseases should be given preferential treatment (in terms of funding and support) over students studying dead languages or poetry of the middle ages, which I believe is the focus of many government and private funding grants, fellowships, etc. There's a lot of application to human advancement in the sciences and engineering sectors, possibly a factor for such a vast wage gap. I support this imbalance in that it makes such areas of focus more attractive to future generations (this may just reflect the selfish, narcissistic idiot I really am). When I say I can't fathom anyone living on such an income, I mean it with regards to my current, modern lifestyle. I was actually raised in a household hovering just at the poverty line, so I know the hardships, not just as a student, but as a lifestyle. It is my belief that academia is in fact not just for the upper middle class, but for those whose career is a major priority. Not the only one, but major. It was my understanding early on (first and second year as an undergraduate) that if I wanted to advance myself in any capacity with my education, I had to finance it on my own and maintain this single, seemingly selfish, lifestyle. In addition, there is no safety net under me and no one was going to help me get loans or assist me in paying them off. I acted accordingly. There are a lot of funding opportunties that are need-based in certain fields, they are ubiquitous in STEM fields. I agree, pregnancy and other health (physical and mental) concerns should be allowed a "stop" in their push through the academic pipeline with no bias or damage to their progress and reputation. I feel biases and other unforeseen issues will be, or is, prevalent in this scenario. I believe this is done already (at least in my field). It should be left to the student to allow work to coincide with the academic environment, it is up to the student to take the initiative to maybe tutor or get work as a researcher. I had to tutor basic math courses for four years, worked unpaid in research for a year before receiving a grant to complete my project and publish. Again many fields do this already. I believe most graduate programs mean it when they say they treat the applications holistically. If they don't, then maybe that graduate program isn't for you.

Putting aside stipend levels for now I'll just say that having a kid during graduate school isn't bad or wrong, but in some sense just naive and premature in one's chosen career path. If the kid came before, then I'm also not sure if the parent(s) should get an additional stipend. Yes this is a barrier in the academic pipeline, but the choice of grad school and having a kid is exactly what it is... a choice. Taking a year on leave during grad school by possibly working lesser hours, or with less demanding work (i.e., not requiring you to churn out proposals/papers in one week), would also be harmful. Especially later in the PhD or Masters program, since this would hamper one's publication record and likely cause one to fall out of the loop at conferences, etc. Overall, the same number of hours per week should be worked (nothing less), albeit with more flexibility in schedule. Although, such practice may portray these students as unfavorable to a PI since one's presence would be seen as uncertain and erratic (most likely a current bias). I do agree with having grants (federal or private) designed for parents during their travels for grad students, post docs, and faculty. But we're all adults, decisions like grad school (and kids, marriage(s), etc) are what we must face by weighing the odds and taking chances. Also, Takeruk mentioned the issue with university/department reimbursements moving at a snail's pace. They are the bane of my existence (I'm not even a grad student yet, I'm just a lonely research staff member... but still). As for the original topic of discussion, the grad student wage gap... I'm sorry to say that I stand at a privileged position (see note below). I cannot fathom spending several years at around $15k a year. But I do enjoy reading this. Personal note: As a B.S. degree holder my current research staff position offers me a modest annual pay (this is in the "hard" sciences at a more selective university) with a small research allowance. My current fellowships will likely meet or exceed my stipend offer from the grad school I'll be attending (possibly maximizing to $40k/yr for five years if I can properly leverage the three fellowships I received). In all honesty, I am not ashamed of where I stand. My push for grad school was well planned and very calculated, I even turned down offers from financial firms and start-ups to put me in the best possible position for success. My choice was because I wanted to build a stronger foundation in my education to qualify me for positions that'll, once I get a PhD, pay up to three times the amount offered by these same companies.

Dinosaur handler/trainer/hunter (been training my whole life) Tenured faculty member at prestigious university in my field (after I finish my PhD and have a couple post-docs I'll make a push for this) Researcher/analyst at Google or Bloomberg (not qualified for the position I'd like, but I'm sure I'd be able to work my way in) Quantitative analyst and risk assessment at financial firm (I've turned down a couple jobs with financial firms so far)

Gives me comfort to know I'm not the only one. Yeah, I might send emails soon if no updates come soon.