hippyscientist

Yes! I love the weird discussions. Discussions are awesome! Weirdness is awesome too. Weird discussions - even better

@janetjanejune I LOVE your attitude. Life would be so much easier if everyone acknowledged that not everything has to be politically correct all the time. Guess what? I don't care if you're a blue smurf from the planet Zogg, if you are a cool person we'll be friends. If you're the best person for the job you'll be hired. If you've got the right attitude, you'll go far. I just wish more people had that outlook. I genuinely don't factor in outwards appearances in my interactions with people (well I mean if you're wearing hideous clothes I might cast judgement silently) but it's all about personality. Right, bathrooms. I pee in the guys toilets if the girls is occupied (there's one female toilet and 5 guys ones in my building). I pee in the guys toilets if the queue is really long for the girls. I invite guys to pee in the ladies bathroom at male-dominated sports fixtures. There I've told the internet. There's certain situations where I'm less okay with this, but more ANY person rather than mens/womens divides. One is in clubs/bars etc. Add alcohol to the equation and I've seen some pretty horrible stuff happen to people of all genders. Having a safe place to do your business is paramount. Maybe we just have toilets that are self-contained. Problem sorted. Completely switching tracks. I just discovered mug cakes. I've made them high protein, gluten free and they're amazing. I just needed to tell you all

Yep! I've been told specifically I can apply for specific diversity scholarships because I'm female. Let's take stock for a minute. The only things that I am "diverse" on are being first in my family to graduate (including aunts and uncles and parents and grandparents), being female and on-paper poorness. So the heck what?! That means diddly-squat (to me, others may have different opinions). Recruitment should be based primarily on terms of ability and interest, and only consider diversity as a last resort. Also, no special treatment just because I'm female please - any thing considered "female" should be accessible to all. By that I mean things like emotional support & parental support. I dunno, just gets my knickers in a twist and I'm not going on any more of a rant on a public forum!

I'm in one of the "bad" disciplines. We didn't have any female members of staff in my department until February! When you mix sports, surgery and engineering - it's not exactly traditional female subjects, whatever that means. I love it though, because it means theres a lot of work to be done to shift the paradigm and I'm looking forward to being a part of that. Also, really interesting about legally being able to see your admissions documents. I don't want to do that!! I know I wasn't the strongest candidate on paper, but I also know that meeting me people are almost always pleasantly surprised. That's why I find it so funny that out of the 3 schools I heard from, it was the one that interviewed me that I didn't get!! But I don't care about my background - I will walk into a place a blank slate of expectations, and I will prove myself from the ground up, regardless of what they thought of my application.

@Neist I think you might be right. The system was historically set up as an old boys club, and it's ridiculous that recruiting female PhD students in some disciplines is considered diversity. It's definitely changed, but not at the same pace as society has, leading to crappy stats like @pterosaur's fellowship ones.

MY I-20 ARRIVED This is exciting. @pterosaur that's less exciting. That's totally acceptable to feel a bit miffed!!

You have awesome food tastes might have stolen a few of those

@winterstat good luck with your interview today

Awesome - that's the attitude I took. It's really difficult to find goal-oriented people online when talking about grad school. Everyone seems to talk about the drifters, the ones who wait until a week before graduation to start the job hunt etc. There should definitely be more positive things on the internet about grad school. Yes it's challenging, yes it's not easy and yes you're going to have moments when you question why you're there, but the news shouldn't ALL be doom and gloom. I get the sense students/people who didn't find academic jobs take to the internet to vent (which they're more than entitled to) but we rarely see the other side of the coin. Jumping in on the low SES thing. To look at my family you would not consider us low SES (my dad drives a Porsche for crying out loud), and I was very lucky growing up to be able to go to good schools. But I got cut off at 16. No financial support or anything. I had to pay rent. I had to buy food. So I have funded myself through my last two years of school, travelling, undergrad and masters. It's nothing new and it's nothing special but I really hate the comments that come "but you're family is rich, just ask them for help." No. I can't and I won't. I am the poor person hiding in plain sight lol. 150% agree with the ignorant comments. So frustrating.

Okay so housing - Oxford might have an off-site housing website, but Spareroom.co.uk is great for finding housemates/a room in a house. A lot of students live Iffley Road/Cowley area (but that might be more Oxford Brookes students). Avoid Blackbird Leys at all costs. Tips - talk to people, use skype, get them to show you around the place, or at least take time-dated photos. When I was in San Diego I managed to sign a house in the UK with Spareroom this way. Clothes: it's going to be colder than SoCal and NorCal. It's not going to be 6ft snow-drifts cold though. Be prepared for rain. And wind. But the UK doesn't really have temperature extremes. In summer it will hit highs of ~ 25C, with an average of 15-20C, nights ~10C and winter averages about 5C with nights down at freezing. General wear: jeans, t-shirts, jumpers/sweatshirts, hoodies, jackets, (waterproof jackets), trousers, thick dresses. Basically layers are your friends. You're not going to need anything too drastic - just make sure you have cardigans/jumpers and a coat to go over the top. Moving from the US: Voltage is different. That means things like your hair dryer may not work properly over here. Other than big-price items, it's more effective to buy electronics over here. Cell phone (mobile) networks are also run differently, so you won't be able to buy a UK sim card and put into a US phone. In Oxford, Vodafone, Three, O2 and EE all have good signal (these are mobile companies). Oxford colleges are gorgeous but the town itself isn't amazing. You do get musicians come play in local venues though which is pretty cool. Lots of hidden pubs (check out the Jericho Tavern - it's a local favourite). Remember to put "u" in words! Let's see. Although our countries share the same language, there's a lot of differences - if you're open to these and happy to laugh off Americanism's and adopt a few English phrases that's cool (I would expect the same of any Brit going to America). Cockney rhyming slang reallly isn't that much of a deal but sometimes we forget that we use it in daily phrases (e.g. I'm having a butchers = I'm having a look) but people might ham it up a bit initially. Also, we use Centigrade not Fahrenheit. We use miles on the road. We use kg or stones and lbs (only for body weight though) for weight. We're not very consistent. Be prepared to have strong opinions over all sorts of trivial things (which brand of tea bag for example). Sorry I can't help for the more specific university things and contact points for incoming students, but if you have any more questions about Oxford the place, living in the UK, doing a transcontinental move ask away Finally, congratulations!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY FOR YESTERDAY!!! Ugh 4/20. I'm not opposed but my entire town has been covered in a haze of blaze today. It's not cool turning up to a meeting smelling of the stuff at 9am. @Effloresce hi hope you're doing good!

Classmates - let's see. As a whole I treat them as a professional group, but I would always be open to working together for classes and helping out on each others research, so long as it was two-sided. We all have such different backgrounds, it would be great to learn from each other, but I refuse to be the only one helping and getting nothing in return. Unfortunately (or fortunately) I have a knack for statistic and so everyone always comes to me to ask for help with it. I'm happy to do that, as long as that person might help me out with a technique or bouncing ideas off. As for friends - I never actively search for friends. It would be awesome if a member or two of my peers within department become friends, but equally I am more than happy to make friends through lifting, yoga and hiking. Diversity is key! I just remembered that when I visited PSU back in September, I met a lovely lady in my department (although separate field) who said she would happily mentor me as a woman in the sciences - help me overcome any challenges, and go to yoga with me! Yay. I look forward to building up that relationship because she was lovely. I think she'll really help me navigate the intricacies of building a scientific career from a female perspective (including dating, kids etc), which will be a nice change from my current department. Relatedly, are you all going in with a set outcome in mind? I have a very clear path I want to be following and I want to use all my connections and time at grad school to ensure I end up where I want to (admittedly that might change, but I have to be super focused).

Oh wow that sounds awful. I'm really nervous about registering for classes - it's not something I've ever done before and things like this just make it sound like hell. How do you even know which classes to register for?!?

It always happens that when I complain on this forum about something it happens later that day. I got the signature! yay. I'm the same, not announcing until I got that visa so I feel your frustrations and excitement. Glad to be of a little bit of help. It can be pretty intimidating - make sure you don't have any cuts or blisters on your fingers before you go otherwise they can't take your fingerprints. Also, treat the officers as people - they can be pretty scary but they're just like you or me.

Oh man so jealous! When I had my interview for my J1 (I worked at a summer camp) it was really quick - they just asked a few questions about what I was going to be doing over there, why you want to study in the US over your home country and why you'll be coming back to it after your program is over. You'll be fine Good luck!!! I'm still waiting on my I-20. They won't issue it until I prove I have funds for years 4 & 5 (of a 3 year PhD). So now I'm waiting on family members to sign something to say they'll cover those funds. Despite the fact the likelihood of them being needed is small to none (and I would walk away from a PhD before putting my family in that kind of debt) no one is willing to sign the form. So no I-20.

@MarineBluePsy Yep. As a non-US person I will have to have a valid visa throughout my time in the US. We have to get authorization from our school to travel outside of the US too. Thankfully my country is one that allows me to apply for the visa once and it remains valid for the duration of my program. Other countries have restrictions like every time you leave the US you have to apply for a new visa (currently ~ $400) each time. It's a pain in the backside and is very frustrating because we're coming for a legitimate reason - to study - and the hoops you have to jump through to convince the US government you're not planning on immigrating there (legally or otherwise) are just crazy.

I'm so envious of you all who don't have to deal with visa situations right now. It's doing my head in and is super stressful - I'm relying on others to help with some elements and they're making things really flipping complicated. At the minute there's a good chance I won't even have a visa so won't be able to start my program. @Pink Fuzzy Bunny as neist said, we all have our weaknesses. This sounds silly, but I always aim much too complex for where I'm at. My undergrad project was worthy to be part of a PhD, my masters project is so left-wing of what I'm comfortable with. I'm gunna need to be kept in check with my PhD otherwise I'll be trying to do something crazy complex that it'll take me 500 years to get it right. @CornUltimatum New Mexico is gorgeous too - I really enjoyed my time there. Yay!!

@Neist yay someone else who's the same way!! I've always been a fast worker - I remember taking an A-level Math exam (last year of high school) and it was a 2 hour exam. Within 10 minutes I'd finished, checked my work and knew there was nothing else I could do. Turns out I got 100% on it. I just process things quickly. I agree that it's a little nerve-wracking the idea of being let loose with research. I'm scared at how much I could get done, even including equipment wait-times and editing.

Oh yes! I forgot the micromanaging. I don't respond very well to it. Also I tend to work exceedingly fast and so I'll often be asked to do something I've already done. Just let me do it and be happy to sit and help me refine my work at certain times. I don't actually see an issue with asking for taking vacation, because that's going to have knock on effects for the rest of the lab potentially, but it should be a courtesy thing rather than "Please sir, may I have some more".

I think because we have such a tight deadline on this project. But yeah, there's only so much one can work productively. Now I'm being held up on my research by university policies of not installing free-trial software on the computers, we could purchase the software for £300 out of my own pocket, or I could find a work around. My workaround at the moment involves finding someone who has access to a Windows laptop that will allow me to install the trial version of the software for 10 minutes while I finish processing. Such a headache.

This is my relationship with the majority of my professors. I've noticed a large increase in their respect for me after I graduated - I still bump into them at conferences and I'll get the occasional "wow you're doing great things" email, but I wouldn't consider them buds. What I'm hoping for is an advisor who cares enough to train me right, takes time to not bullshit with me - if it's crap tell me what I can do to improve so it is no longer crap - and one who is human. I want someone to admit they make mistakes, that we all make mistakes and that mistakes are part of learning. Also someone who's not going to demand I be in the lab 7am - 10pm daily. (My current Masters advisor is awesome but he tells me I shouldn't be having days off at the minute as there's lot of work to be done. I absolutely refuse to be working 7 days a week at the minute, I work 6 as it is I refuse to do more with everything else going on.) I think i've found this in my advisor but time will tell if we work well together. I got the impression we would, out of all the advisors I met and spoke with, I think my actual one was the best fit all along. But I'm happy not to have beers or BBQs with him!

I feel you Neist. I live in gym kit - exercise leggings, sports bra, muscle tank and big oversized hoody. Every day. My school is cool with it, my lecturers are in sweatpants half the time. I'm apprehensive about 'levelling up' in terms of smartness in clothing. To talk to me I pretty much come across as a surf bum who's smoked too much, then people talk to me and think I'm stupidly ditzy. I explain concepts in simple, silly analogies. I do show my understanding but definitely don't come across as your typical academic. I will critique papers by first saying things like "I liked it. I didn't like the way they described that. It was rubbish" and my previous colleagues have learnt that I do those things to get them out of my head so I get to the good stuff. But it doesn't help initial academic conversations. Hopefully people in PhD-land will be chill with everything!

While this is great advice, you will be unable to build your classes in the UK as it does not work that way. There is a set curriculum of classes (called modules) that you take, and maybe one or two elective choices. This is for PGT programs (taught masters) such as the one it seems the OP is talking about. A

@SNpa17 I am from the UK too, and will be moving to PA (although not Phillly). I will be living off $20,000 net for just myself, and I can't imagine only having a bit extra (taking off taxes) for kids. Yes the deal is a lot better than it is in the UK, one of the many reasons I'm going, but there are many considerations. One is the UK stipends are not taxed whereas American ones are. As you rightly say, the experience your kids have will be very important, and unfortunately $30k isn't much to play with in Philadelphia. Some schools are generous and include dependents in their health insurance (or at least a proportion of it) and this is a conversation you'd have to have with UPenn. Are you accepted yet? There are many great schools with great research and funding in cheaper locations so it might be worth having a look around and seeing if any other programs suit your interests. In terms of Philadelphia itself, it's a pretty cool place but I was definitely a little freaked out by some of the sketchiness of neighbourhoods when I visited. Mind, I don't know where you are in the UK but homelessness, crime etc are generally much greater in the cities in the US than they are where I live in the UK (but I'm not in a city). I've spent a lot of time over there (I had an American boyfriend for 5 years) so if you want to talk more about UK perspectives in the US feel free to drop me a message.

Okay 2.5 weeks?!? Man I'm so envious of you all moving so soon!! I've still got 3.5 months left of my masters (and organising life to move). Also - bear hugging advisors?!?! The closest advisor I have was an American professor who came over and taught at my undergrad for 2 years. When I drove across the US he put me & the then boyfriend up for the night, we went out for mexican food and he showed me his lab at his new university. He used to take us out for cocktails in undergrad too. He was awesome. But getting rides to the airport? No way Jose! That's awesome that you have that sort of relationship though. It's something I'm really looking forward to - building a relationship with my new advisor. We "clicked" when I visited so I'm hoping eventually beers and airport rides might be possible in the future! But definitely don't expect that straight up!!!!