Need Coffee in an IV

I've been working on my birds... really great time waster lol. 

I officially accepted Texas Tech offer! I'm so happy and excited. And it's super nice out today, too bad I have to study for hydro blah. @jlt646 my friends say it doesn't look like a mullet so that's good, enough though it feels like it! My exercise routine is yoga every now and then, plus walking. I'm super un-athletic  haha

I officially accepted Texas Tech offer! I'm so happy and excited. And it's super nice out today, too bad I have to study for hydro blah. @jlt646 my friends say it doesn't look like a mullet so that's good, enough though it feels like it! My exercise routine is yoga every now and then, plus walking. I'm super un-athletic  haha

I officially accepted Texas Tech offer! I'm so happy and excited. And it's super nice out today, too bad I have to study for hydro blah. @jlt646 my friends say it doesn't look like a mullet so that's good, enough though it feels like it! My exercise routine is yoga every now and then, plus walking. I'm super un-athletic  haha

I actually did that and that's how I found my current stylist! I also google "Hair Salons for Curly Hair" and I look at the reviews. My boyfriend likes to call my hair "flippy"

I just accepted my offer to go to Rice University as a PhD student! Exciting!

I just officially accepted the offer to Virginia Tech!

well i've almost officially made my decision! Unless Oxford suddenly accepts me or NYU gives me a whole bunch of funding, I'm most likely staying at Alabama for another two years!! It's hard to turn down the amazing funding offer they gave me, and I love the department and faculty so much. yippee!! can't wait to officially make my choice once NYU gets back to me next weekend 

Gonna hop in on the fun.
Hey y'all! Accepted an offer with Oregon State. So happy to be over with the grad school application process.
Now it's time to plan my cross-country move with my parents...

I think so too, I mean a prime example is the South Harmon Institute of Technology

I think so too, I mean a prime example is the South Harmon Institute of Technology

@sjoh197 @Neist Yeah I think science museums are the best, but I'm completely bias. But in funny/awkward news my sociology professor handed me a typed up letter from their department head saying how my professor has recommended me to be a sociology major. I'm flattered that he recommended me, but I'm graduating..... I emailed him saying thanks and it feels great that he sees potential since I'm planning on using some sociology techniques for my masters thesis. He pointed me to one of their faculty who could actually help me find resources for my masters thesis. And this is why I love my school!

I just signed my GA contract and filled out a rental application so... it's happening! Oof. Overwhelmed. 

Hi everyone! I've been a lurker for a while (I may have posted early in the Wait, Whine, Wine thread). I just wanted to congratulate everyone on their decisions and say thanks for creating such a positive community during such a stressful time! I'll be moving to Irvine in the fall (not very far from where I am now), and I'm really nervous and excited! I met my cohort at recruitment day, and I'm the youngest one (senior in college)!  Also @Pink Fuzzy Bunny CONGRATS! Try not to worry about your hair! It's an awesome opportunity! 

@Pink Fuzzy Bunny Because I suck at technology apparently! It was suppose to be an otter gif, but here's the link. That sucks!
 

@Cat_Robutt I'm not exactly sure what system we are using for registering and the program does have a clear outline! The only mystery is the 12 electives I will have to take but I'm sure my POI will help me out with that. She isn't my adviser yet but she seems really interested in being my adviser so here's hoping. On their webpage it says that my graduate timeline will be formalized through a committee after 9 credit hours. I know I shouldn't be nervous but I always am when going off into the unknown.

I don't think anything is worth staying in a toxic environment. You need to look out for your mental health and happiness. This is definitely not normal and I can see why people leave. I think I would too. I understand grad school will have stress but this isn't healthy stress. Don't let anyone try to tell you this is "how things work".

Hi everyone!
I've been reading the Grad Cafe since last summer, but only recently I decided to register. The idea of getting into a PhD program was still very blurry and distant, that I thought I wouldn't care much for these forums. How wrong I was! Lately, I've been following the "WINE, WAIT AND WHINE" thread (among others). Reading through it have given me the sense of a community and empathy, as I learned about everyone's struggles and victories and see that I'm not alone.
So I guess I finally have some celebration to do as well! Last week I received my first acceptance, great program and great offer, I am really anxious and excited about this! Again, it is really good to read about other people experiences and sharing it!
I wish the best for all of you!

I have things to celebrate! I decided on my PhD program a few weeks ago and yesterday I found out I got an awesome (and very generous) government fellowship.
But.... I'm also still waiting. Mostly on one fellowship, which I'll hear about April 2-4.
It's a huge relief to have those big decisions in place, though! Now I'm moving on to the next stage of deciding if I want to live with a good friend from undergrad or university grad student housing.

I don't think anything is worth staying in a toxic environment. You need to look out for your mental health and happiness. This is definitely not normal and I can see why people leave. I think I would too. I understand grad school will have stress but this isn't healthy stress. Don't let anyone try to tell you this is "how things work".

I don't think anything is worth staying in a toxic environment. You need to look out for your mental health and happiness. This is definitely not normal and I can see why people leave. I think I would too. I understand grad school will have stress but this isn't healthy stress. Don't let anyone try to tell you this is "how things work".

Yeah I kinda felt bad too. In other news, I had an interview for a job today. I scheduled the interview before I got the good news from Tech and I didn't see the point in cancelling. I was hoping that they could do it as a summer position. That was a no go, but I'm happy I went through the interview. I've volunteered/intern at this museum in the past summers and wanted to leave on a good note.

There are several things you can do now to set yourself up well for your future applications if you end up deciding to apply to graduate school later down the road. 
1. Keep your grades up! This goes for getting a job post graduate school as well, but GPA tends to be a reasonably large factor in the admissions process. The most important classes will be those related to your field of study, but you will also want to have the highest overall GPA you can manage. 
2. Start/maintain strong relationships with a few of your professors. Talk to them during their office hours, go above and beyond in their class, chat with them regularly, create relationships with them. When the graduate school application process rolls around, you are going to need professors to write recommendation letters for you where they vouch that you are an amazing student and have strong potential to succeed in graduate school. The best letters come from professors that actually know you well and can speak to their personal relationship with you. 
3. If you end up in a lab research-centric field (like biology), start in undergraduate research as soon as you can. The best way to do this is to poke around on professor and department websites and search for their research blurbs. Read through those until you get a feel for the types of work that interests you. Obviously your interests are going to be broad and undefined at this point - that is absolutely fine. Just find a few things that sound fun and roll with it!
Reach out to those professors (either by email or by actually going to their office) and ask if they have any openings for an undergraduate research assistant. Be persistent! It is HIGHLY unlikely that you will be able to get into the lab of the first person you talk to (depending on your department/university), but you will get absolutely no where if you don't try.
The easiest professors to get in with are ones who you have had class with and already have a good relationship with (see #2), so you can always start there!
4. Use your summers wisely - do something with your summer breaks that is meaningful. This can be a summer internship, a volunteer experience, an outreach program, a study abroad term, or something similar. Whatever you do should be something that gives you a new experience and helps you grow as a person. Get out there, explore, try something brand new, broaden your horizons, all those cliches. Not only will you grow, but you'll get a better feel for who you are and what you want you want to do, and you'll also have something to talk about in that beast of a personal statement you eventually have to write.
Summer internships are an amazing way to get some research experience. If you are having difficulties getting into a lab at school, look for an internship that typically takes students with little research experience and use that as your springboard into the field. Internships are also a great way to explore research that's different from what you are doing at school and can help you narrow your broad research interests!
5. Do something with the research you're doing. Publications are the gold shining star of a graduate school application, but it can be extremely difficult to publish your research as an undergraduate (this depends on your lab). Whether or not you are going to be able to get a paper out of your research, try to find avenues to present it. Most research universities offer some type of undergraduate research symposium where undergrads present what they've been working on. There are also regional conferences as a part of the big national societies that students frequently present at. You can also present at a national conference (depending on your lab)! This is also an option with any research you do over the summer - be sure to talk to the people you intern/work with to see if that is an option. 
6. Get involved with something you are passionate about outside of the classroom. So now that I've harped on the huge importance of research, I can move on to the other stuff. Do something outside of your classes/research that you are excited about. This can be band, sports, outreach to local schools, volunteering at a food pantry, working for the school newspaper, photography, something.
Get involved and not just on the surface level. Show commitment to the activity/organization. Take on a leadership role, branch out and start a new organization, or something along those lines that shows it is important to you. The goal here is to show that you are a real person with interests outside of school and also that you are committed and motivated. It's much, much better to be deeply involved in a select few things you are passionate about than to be barely involved in twenty different activities. 
7. Look into awards, prestigious scholarships, etc. that you may qualify for. There are tons of awards and scholarships out there that will recognize you for all of the hard work you have been putting in. Depending on what your interests/fields are, you can join honor societies like Phi Kappa Phi or Phi Beta Kappa or field-specific ones. You can apply for the Goldwater Scholarship when you have one to two years of college remaining if you stay in STEM. There's also Fulbright, Truman, Marshall, Rhodes, Gates Cambridge, and a whole slew of other prestigious scholarships that you can look into applying to. A lot of professional societies also have undergraduate awards and scholarships that you can consider for your individual field.
Your university probably has an office/person to assist people in applying for these types of awards, and I definitely encourage you to find them and talk to them about your options! There are also specific awards for minorities if that applies to you and first generation college students. While these are not nearly as important to your application as a strong research background and recommendation letters, they can definitely be extra jewels in the crown. 
8. Keep track of everything that you are doing. You are going to be busy during college with lots of class, activities, research, and summer plans! Start a resume, CV, and list of classes (with course number, full title, number of credits, professor, textbook, your grade in the class, and a one-line blurb about what you did in the class). You can find good templates online for a resume and CV, or you can talk to the career office at your school for help. You will thank yourself later for starting early because it's so much easier to remember all of the details about your involvement when it's actually happening than three or four years down the line! 
9. Keep in mind the components of the graduate school application so you can plan ahead as necessary. For every field, your graduate school application is going to have several key components: GPA (major and overall), GRE scores (verbal, quantitative, and writing), two to three recommendation letters from faculty, a CV, and a personal statement. For some fields, you may also need a subject GRE score, a writing sample, and/or a portfolio of your work. This is why I said keep your grades up (#1), have good relationships with faculty (#2), do research (#3 - 5), and start your CV early (#8). 
10. Do your research! When you reach your junior year (probably the spring of your junior year), you should start thinking about what grad school programs you might be interested in, what you want to study, and what you need to prepare for your applications. You should also think about when you want to take the GRE and set up a study plan. I won't go into more detail here because there's TONS of information about both of these things on the site, and that's still a while away for you. 
11. Take a deep breath and enjoy college.  I gave you tons of advice here, but the last thing you need to do is stress out. By already thinking about what you need to do to prepare for grad school, you're way ahead of the game and you're going to be just fine. Take the time to enjoy your college experience because undergrad can be a whole lot of fun, and you don't want to miss out on that! GOOD LUCK!