surfgirl87

So more or less forever. Great. The lack of funding in my program and school of choice is going to kill me / my dreams. Thanks GeoDude!

Hello all, Wondering if anyone has any knowledge as to how long it takes to hear back about grants? Like NSF grants. My PI at the University has my application on hold (will not take students if they don't have a clear funding path. Said they were resubmitting grants in both February and April. Told me they would admit me if they get the funding. So can anyone tell me perhaps when I should expect to hear? Maybe I can be less anxious/obnoxious until near time to find out. Any knowledge would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

Sigh, this is what I thought. GeoDude, yeah at the school I went to, you had to do something AMAZING to earn an A in all of the classes. a B was like, you tried your hardest but still... and they did give out Cs all the time. I know people who failed the core courses. They were intense. So yeah, I am proud of my 3.5 :-) I think I am leaning towards applying and letting the chips fall where they may. I wouldn't go to a different university. My marriage is pretty important to me, and we just bought a house where we live currently. I would maybe drive farther if I only had to go a couple times a week.

So I am in a predicament with my Doctorate. My husband is military, so I can go to approximately 1 school for my PhD. Everything was going great, spoke to a faculty member I wanted to work with, he was willing to take me on. However, funding is an issue here. It is a geological oceanography (paleoclimatology) program, there are no undergrads at the College of Marine Science so no TA positions (too bad, I already teach at a College). Funding is solely based on research grants and school scholarships and stipends. So the faculty I was talking to did not get his grants. So he has no money. He told me I was not scholastically strong enough to really get a school scholarship. What do I do? Is there a way to make my application stronger? My undergrad is pretty terrible scholastically, but I did my masters at a top 5 institution for oceanography and have a 3.5 overall Grad GPA. Would GRE scores matter? I did pretty well (80% quantitative 5.5 written, 60% on that other section), but I am not against taking it again if it would strengthen my application. Would taking a class at this college as Non-degree seeking in the Spring help my application for the fall? I don't want to spend that money unless I know it will help me. Any input is welcome.

My vent for the day: The undergrads I am teaching complain that I don't give extra credit. When I give extra credit, they complain ABOUT the extra credit. WTF?! Either do it or don't do it. Just stop complaining. They whine about everything that isn't spoon fed to them. I don't remember being like that in UG.... am I going crazy? Who actually complains to the teacher about extra credit?

I didn't know where to put this so I figured the TA section would be good. I adjunct teach at a community college for science classes. This is my first semester doing so, and as such I am sure I am making at least a couple of mistakes. While I was given the books and someone else's syllabus, I have to come up with lectures, quizzes and exams (not a problem). It has been brought to my attention that my students expect a study guide for my exams, that there is "too much information" that I expect them to know. I let them make up points after the exams by giving half credit for every correct answer they can give me for every originally wrong question. Are study guides the norm now a days? I don't remember EVER having a study guide in UG or HS for that matter! I don't want to cave (because its just like 2 students out of 26), but is this really what happens in colleges now? We spoon feed them information? Do any of yall give out study guides? If so, are they exactly what is on the exam? Or are they like an outline of your lectures?

First of all Gneiss1, I love your username. :-) Geology puns are the best. A little bit of a different path for me, I graduated from a Marine and Atmospheric MS (focus on Geo Oceanography). So I am not your typical Geologist. I have worked mostly in the field of hydrogeology and my master's thesis was on Permeable Reactive Barriers. Trying to sneak my way into a PhD program down in Florida for Geological Oceanography and work on Snowball Earth events. Anyone ever have a situation with a (non-academic) person who doesn't listen to what you have to say, even though it is your field? I had a neighbor try and tell me what was wrong with the yard (he assumed sprinklers were problem...) I told him the soil wasn't very permeable, he waved me off as a stupid girl who doesn't know what she is talking about...fast forward a week, low and behold, soil problem. Just listen to the geologist the first time. Lol.

I have always cold emailed the POIs I have wanted to work for. I find the person at the institution I am looking at, research them as much as possible, read a handful of papers they have written (if I haven't read them already...), and then email them. It has worked pretty successfully for me, what field of Oceanography? I do Geo, which doesn't seem to be as popular so maybe they respond more? I have also been pretty lucky in regards to POIs and graduate admissions recently.

I am probably in a different situation, but my husband is military which more or less dictates where I can apply for schools, after initially contacting a potential advisor, he asked when we could meet to discuss, and then never got back to me. So I showed up in his office after I was done working in the area of the school. It worked out really well and we have emailed back and forth a couple of times. He gave me a bunch of research papers to look over and told me he would take me assuming I got in (waiting on that now). I have been keeping up with him by asking him questions about the grant applications he put in for. I suppose this shows initiative and willingness to work? But again, my situation is unique in that I am applying to 1 school because it is the only school where I live with the program I am interested in. It just worked out that they have someone doing research in what I am really interested in.

Undergrad Institution: Hawaii PacificMajor(s): Environmental SciencesMinor(s):GPA in Major: 3.3Overall GPA: 2.7Position in Class: Struggled, worked full time in addition to going to school full time and was 3,000 miles and a body of water away from my family.Type of Student: Female (and technically a minority at HPU, hahaha) Grad Institution: Big State school top 10 in fieldMajor(s): Marine and Atmospheric SciencesMinor(s): Geological OceanographyOverall GPA: 3.4GRE Scores (revised/old version): old versionQ: 720V: 540W: 5.0Research Experience: Have held jobs as a hydrogeologist and in water quality. Did my thesis on groundwater remediationPertinent Activities or Jobs: In addition to jobs mentioned above I current teach Earth Science at the local Community CollegeSpecial Bonus Points: I'm a female, have extensive field work and a master's degreeAny Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter:Applying to Where: University of South Florida, College of Marine Science -- Ph.D. Geological Oceanography -- Snowball Earth Hypothesis