magnetite
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Posts posted by magnetite
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On 4/9/2019 at 1:03 PM, moltenvolta said:
Finally heard back from UNLV, got rejected. CSU Fullerton offered me a TA position though!
Weird. I still haven't heard anything from UNLV.
Did they email you?
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I've been out of college and working in an unrelated field for three years. My knowledge of most of my undergrad material is a bit hazy at this point.
Is it usual for students entering a graduate program to need to go back and review undergrad material, whether or not there's been an extended period of time between graduating and starting grad school?
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Mine will be taxed as well. Both federally and at the state level.
I've also read that if your funding package includes payment of tuition, it's possible that could be taxed, too. See the article below:
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Using everyone's first names seemed to be the norm for this department when I was visiting, but I'm still addressing the professor as Dr. in all correspondence so far. Even though when asked on the visit who I was wanting to work with, I'd use her first name. I even had a conversation about how to address professors with a current grad student in the program; he thought it was very odd that my physics professors didn't go by their first names.
The next time I see her in person I think I'm going to end up asking. This is only because on the visit, there was another student who wanted to work with the same professor. When leaving for home, he addressed her as Dr. in front of a few other professors and students, which seemed very out of place.
With the professor I'll be working with, I met her a few years ago and was introduced by her first name. So, maybe I should have been using it this entire time.
I feel like the new thing where people add their pronouns (he/him/his, etc) to their twitter profiles should extend to how professors prefer to be addressed!
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34 minutes ago, gutbuckethero said:
I just had a skype interview with a new professor who had seen my application during the review process and wanted to pitch a project to me if it doesn't work out with my original POI there. It sounds like they were still ranking potential students as of last week. Haven't heard anything since.
Ah, hey. Thanks for the update about UNLV. I emailed them last week about my status and got a response that I'm currently waitlisted. They said they made a few offers, that there were a lot of excellent applications, and only a "very limited number" of spots available.
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I"m currently looking for an apartment within a mile from campus, if anyone has suggestions. I saw Campus Hill mentioned a few years ago. Is that complex still a decent option? I'm also looking at Waters Edge and Bethlehem Towers across the river from campus.
I'm leaning toward renting a place by myself, but I'd potentially be interested in living with a roommate. I should mention that I will be bringing my cat with me.
@sarahchristine Did you end up finding a decent place to live in Bethlehem?
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2 minutes ago, Nothingtown said:
UT's probably stressed because of all the SXSW-goers wanting to move to Austin.
They don't want to come to Dallas, either. Housing prices, and by extension apartment costs, have increased tremendously in recent years.
Not that I care much anymore, since I'll be moving north of the Mason-Dixon line pretty soon!
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If you're interested in a perspective from an astronomy department, the following article is a really good read:
- Slpstudent2468 and Toya
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25 minutes ago, Nothingtown said:
When I was moving my stuff cross-country, I checked into PODS and Penske was more cost-effective than PODS. I didn't check U-Pack. However, I was moving my stuff from Austin to an undisclosed location on the east coast (lol) so, had it been in the other direction, I don't know. I did just run a quote on U-Pack's website and it's about 2x what I paid for my Penske 3 years ago. I hear you on the not wanting to tow your car behind you though.
You can also look into getting a trailer to attach to your car and tow some of your stuff in, rather than towing your car. I know U-Haul has those; I don't know if they charge by the mile on their trailers though.
My best advice is to use the website quotes and call these places asking for quotes. Calling is nice because you can usually negotiate a little, but the web quotes will give you a ballpark idea.
Twice the cost of U-Pack, including gas, too?
This is going to be a hard decision. I've got a one bedroom apartment full of decent furniture, all of which I was planning on moving. Maybe I'll try to downsize enough to fit things into a small trailer.
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My cat is currently having some health issues that could cost quite a bit of money to address: $2,200 just for a diagnostic. Then even more for treatment, assuming the diagnostic finds anything wrong, which it might not. I've already spent about $2,000 trying various prescriptions and treatments with no luck. She's only 7 years old, so assuming any issues aren't too severe, she should live for quite a while longer.
If I weren't going to graduate school, I wouldn't hesitate to pay for whatever treatment is needed for her. Unfortunately, since I know that money will be tight while I'm working on my PhD, I'm very reluctant to schedule the diagnostic.
I originally adopted her from a no-kill shelter that has veterinarians on staff. I volunteer there, too, so I'm considering returning her there because I know they'd be able to take care of her. I also think that her health issues are behavioral and may go away with a change of location. I'm still not sure it's worth the risk of moving her 1500 miles across the country in case she still has the issues after the move.
Has anyone else been in this situation? I'd hate to return her back to the shelter, but I need to make sure I do what's best for her. I don't think I'm going to be in a very good situation to provide care for her after the move, which wouldn't be fair to her.
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@Nothingtown do you know how Penske compares to a service like PODS or U-Pack? I'm moving 1500 miles away by myself and I'd rather just drive only my car. It'd be great to not have to drive a huge truck that's towing my car.
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I emailed the two programs I hadn't heard from, letting them know I was evaluating other offers and would like to make a decision soon. They both got back to me reasonably quickly: one waitlist and one rejection.
I think it's definitely worth contacting them to politely ask about your status, assuming you have genuine interest in attending their programs.
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I'm experiencing a considerable case of impostor syndrome. I'm well past 30 years old and, after a very mercurial existence since high school, I graduated with a bachelor's degree about 10 years late. To this point, I've never committed to or been interested in one particular thing long enough to excel and attain mastery.
I also just got my first acceptance to a PhD program. It's in a different field than I studied as an undergraduate, but the opportunity is perfectly aligned with my interests and my goals. I'd just be going in without a lot of experience and therefore a lot of catching up to do. Having a prolonged interest like this is new to me--7 years and still going strong. I'm just really afraid that I'm too far behind and I'll be wasting peoples' time and money if I accept.
There's also a lingering feeling that I've accomplished very little to date. Most if it relates to my net monetary worth, which is far less than a lot of people I know. I'm not in the best position as far as retirement; the opportunity cost of five years in graduate school is sobering in this regard.
Is anyone else's impostor syndrome motivated by similar experiences?
That summarizes most of my worries, but here's what I'm excited about: As I mentioned, this really is the perfect opportunity for me. I'm incredibly excited about the field of study, the professor I'd be working with, and the area I'd be living in for the next five years.
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11 minutes ago, FutureEdPHD said:
Do their websites have any information about when decisions should be expected? If the information is posted on the website, just stick to that deadline. However, if it's after the posted deadline or close to it then go for it. I totally get the desire to narrow things down and find a place to live.
Their website doesn't have an estimate for when to expect decisions. My POI there has only said that they start reviewing applications right after the deadline, but it always takes a lot longer than he likes for them to make decisions.
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Would it be considered bad practice to email the graduate coordinators at a school I haven't gotten a response from? There haven't been any updates posted on the results page yet for this school and history has shown that they usually send out acceptances very late -- end of March, to even late April in some cases.
I'd really like to make a decision sooner rather than later, so I can get my affairs in order where I am now and find a place to live in the new city.
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The second and third options sound nice, but I'll probably work until August then move to be there just in time for orientation. I get a bonus at work at the end of our fiscal year, which is June. It usually takes at least a month for it to actually be deposited, so I may be cutting it close.
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2 hours ago, goosejuice said:
You know, I don't think I've paid much mind to this sort of thing as I should have. I'm curious about your undergrad experience with this, since we both come from earth science backgrounds.
In my department, unless you were addressing them in class or speaking with them for the first few times outside of class, everyone seemed to be on a first name basis. I was pretty involved with some of my classwork and research interests, so I would talk to my professors quite a bit, and as a result I quickly became more comfortable with them outside of the classroom setting and thus referred to them by first name. In addition, I would be around their grad students a lot, who would always refer to them by their first name. I don't think I've ever consciously made that decision, though. It just seemed natural.
Regarding your last point, I think that if someone introduced themselves to you as a certain name, it would be fine to call them as such. I'd also find it weird that if a professor signs their emails with their first name, they would expect to be called anything but.
Well, I only just applied to earth science departments. My degree is in physics, where every professor definitely wants to be addressed as Dr., even by their graduate students.
It did seem very relaxed in the department I just visited the week before last. I only heard one prospective student address any of the professors by something other than their first name. All the professors I met individually for the first time introduced themselves by their first names, too.
For the professors I had been in contact with previously, I managed to not address them by any name at all. Simply a "Hello" or something of that sort. So there's a lot of ambiguity for me now (as well as some potential awkwardness), but I won't address them by first name until they explicitly tell me to.
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That was an incredibly helpful post, @Moods. I'm not sure how I'm the first upvote!
I found the following two individual posts in those threads particularly useful to get an idea of how much in taxes I'd be paying:
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@Camillalxy Sorry, I was editing my post as you submitted yours. Got a response a lot faster than I thought I would!
My first rejection, but already having an acceptance at this point has dulled the pain somewhat.
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@Unconsolidated_Regolith Think there's any chance you could be an RA for Professor 2 after the first year? Maybe you can get an idea of that on the trip. If you want to end up as a professor, having the experience as a TA could help, too.
@Camillalxy How did the open house at Georgia Tech go? Did you get the feeling that all acceptances had already been sent out? I emailed the department's grad info address, but I'm not too optimistic of getting a timely response.
Edit: Well, I shouldn't have been so pessimistic about getting a quick response. All acceptances to Georgia Tech EAS have been sent and the department doesn't send rejections until the end of April (?!).
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I've heard that a good rule of thumb is to initially address professors by last name, prefixed by either Dr. or Professor. If, at that point, they say it's fine to address them by first name, then, well, it's fine to address them by first name.
That's a rather straightforward example. But what if a professor introduces himself or herself by first name to a large group of students, as recently happened on an interview weekend I went to? Is there then a tacit understanding that it's fine to address that professor by first name from that point on?
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3 hours ago, carolina89 said:
HAHAHA omg, I shouldn’t be laughing but this is the best reaction ever!
I applied to Arizona State a few years ago and didn't even get a rejection email from the department. I'd have gladly taken a rejection from everyone else on that list because I wouldn't have spent all summer thinking there was still a chance I'd get accepted.
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Shower power
Rules about addressing professors by their first name?
in Officially Grads
Posted
I did just that!
And it's been a first-name basis ever since.