DrZoidberg

Also the (almost) compulsory happy ending, you know, just knowing that the leading actor (you) will go through a rough patch but then end up in top #1 school and totally WOW everyone and win the Academic Olympics. That part. I wish life was like that part in the movies. Not the, "I barely scraped through and God I worked hard but I did reasonably well and get an ok amount of recognition for my work but totally have to deal with my insufficiency on a daily basis and that'll probably never go away." Probably no one would watch that movie.

@burgundywave Yeah, oh God, there are so many things I wish were like in the movies.

Are any of you surprised by how weirdly unofficial some of these offers are? I was at an interview/just meet the faculty and eat lunch thing last week, I didn't even know whether it was an interview or just a kind of networking day because my supervisor knows them really well. They casually mentioned they'd nominate me for a (absolutely amazing) fellowship if I was interested. I always imagined I would get a letter with a little yes/no box and that it would be super formal, but this was so casual it caught me by complete surprise. Now I am kind of anxious because it feels like it wasn't a real offer and I maybe I didn't show how strongly I was interested in it and it seems like so many things can go wrong. I am continuously baffled by how complex the application process is.

A few of the programs I applied to asked for a GPA conversion from my European grade. Two of them recommended using vhttp://www.foreigncredits.com/Resources/Grade-Conversion/ , which I have used since then. Using WES, I have ~ 3.8 on my MSc, and with foreigncredits I have 4.0. This is fairly consistent with a lot of the scales I have seen, and WES is generally a lot harsher than most other official and unofficial conversions. So please don't let that get you down.

@lewin But how encouraging to know that it is an active research topic, that gives me some hope.

On the bright side, when you move away from the Bay Area you're going to feel like you have so much money you don't know what to do with it.

@TakeruK With great power comes great responsibility! =) This is exactly the reason I am not in theoretical physics anymore, and I am glad I ended up in a slightly more diverse field. It does seem like things are changing for the better, but there are days where I get furious, curse being a woman, and then get really sad. I have absolute horror stories from my own experiences and my closest friends from physics (the above wasn't even the worst*!), and I think part of the solution is just accepting that there is a problem, which is why it is fantastic that there are initiatives such as those at your school. Whenever I discuss this subject with people I meet (and let's face it, it is one of my favourite subjects so I discuss it a lot), I always try to say that we are all kind of sexist, it is something we have all been conditioned to, I also have to make a conscious effort to judge my female peers on their actual work and not try to belittle their achievements. I really hate to admit that, but I do. And @fuzzylogician, that article is terrifying, and one of those things that makes me angry and sad at the same time. I do get that some women chose to leave academia, no one can blame you if you get fed up with a continuously uneven playing field. ------- * Thought I'd do a little anecdotal selection; - Hiring committee of three; two older, male faculty members, and mandatory token, female graduate student (my friend); male committee members start by sorting the pile of applicants in two, men and women, disregard the pile of women, hire only from the pile of men. My friend is mortified but too scared to say anything. - Female astrophysics graduate student (friend) gets her reviewed paper back, reviewer asks in the most patronizing way why her two male co-authors didn't intervene or help her with writing the article. (Why are double-blind reviews not a thing?). - I've had a mentor (double my age) sexually harass me, send me very detailed e-mails, gifts, tried to hold my hand, I was too afraid to tell anyone because he was the backbone of the department and they'd basically never get any funding if he was fired. Everyone loved him, I was afraid no one would believe me. (If that had happened today I like to think I would have handled it differently, but you never know until you are in the situation). - Interview with POI for a research position, asks me if I really want to work with computers, "because I don't look like the type". (?? Is he afraid my hair will get stuck in the keyboard??) - Assistant Professor tells me straight out that he doesn't like women in leadership roles because "they are dangerous". (???) Ugh, it's never ending, and most of it you just learn to let slide because you can't be a one person army.

At the university where I did my undergrad in physics, they held a faculty-wide seminar on "Unconscious Bias." It being physics, the majority of the faculty and graduate students were men, and half of them thought it was a seminar on statistics. It was nowhere on their radar that this was a concept that 1) existed and 2) they should actively address. Most cringe-worthy was my old statistics professor, who got up and asked the presenter "This might all be very well, but it is based on the underlying assumption that women are actually as capable as men?" I am honestly glad I am not in physics anymore.

Can I just vent about having a 1.5 hour commute to work (each way) on subpar public transport? It just sucks the life out of you. My working week is basically; work, eat, sleep, repeat 4 times.

Hi, personally I used the Magoosh vocab app on my phone and memorized most of the words a few days before the test. If I had had more time I would definitely have started earlier, and worked my way through them so I was more comfortable with all of them, but even last minute cramming was very useful. I would really recommend using the app, a lot of the words are what they call high-frequency words that GRE loves to use, and I saw a lot of them on the actual test. If I hadn't used the app I would have been pretty clueless, but I felt much better prepared during the test, and I didn't feel like there were any surprises. I am also a non-native English speaker, and before starting using the app I got ~ 156 on my practice tests, and got a 168 on the GRE. I attribute the majority of that leap to using the app. There's a whole thread dedicated to your question number three, I am sure you will find some good answers there.

@Dishsoap I know! I am mentally rounding up the probability to "absolutely going to happen", makes life much easier to deal with!

@Dishsoap I think you need a bit of an ego boost to 1) get through this in a semi-healthy mental state and 2) do well in whichever interview process might be coming up. My current supervisor mentioned he might offer me funding for a PhD (I am just employed as a visiting researcher right now), and knowing that I *might* have this very good offer, I am mainly just hoping for one particular program, which, okay, is super ambitious anyway. At least for me, a bit of confidence and ego just helps me sleep better and get through the day.

Just recommending this to everyone, and encouraging those who have not done so to set up a reasonable cancellation period. I have needed it a number of times when I have spotted a name spelled wrong or forgotten to attach documents (which I forget all the time). Set it up now so you have it when you need it.

If I can say there has been one good thing to come from the waiting period, it is that I have a much better idea about my priorities. I am applying to six programs, and my prioritized list was much different before I applied than it is now. Kind of like when you flip a coin to make a decision, but you don't have to look at the result because all of a sudden you kind of realize that you certain preference for the outcome. I could kind of sense it when I wrote my SOP's, and now that I am hoping to hear back. Now I have universities where I really, really hope for admission, and some that I would be really okay with not getting into, and they are not what I thought they would be before I applied. So yay, waiting, right?

Does Sharknado count as a wildlife documentary? In which case, I can absolutely recommend this particular movie+alcohol combination.

@pavlovianlove First of all, congratulations on doing well on your application! It is a unfortunate situation to be in, it is difficult to say what she makes of that - if anything. Personally I think the best approach is just to be honest about the situation, re-state your enthusiasm for the program, and arrange a Skype interview as soon as possible.

It might be a good idea. I have not had as extensive contact as you have, mainly over e-mail, but I am sure I left a positive impression so probably no harm in sending a friendly e-mail. Thank you for your suggestion.

I already have contact with POIs at most of my programs, it was more in terms of having had initial contact, applying, and then just kind of letting them know? I can't figure out whether it is decent or pushy. I think I am overthinking a lot of the parts of this process. I also have a difficult time judging which programs require that you have an identified POI and funding, and which are more kind of departmental funding. Guess i will find out!

I have submitted three out of six! I have been really hopelessly late with everything, and just going through this thread made me realize that Stanford actually needs official transcripts (what now?), and my deadline is mid-January, so that might be an issue. I just mindlessly uploaded scanned copies same as the other applications. So, yeah, there's that. Do any of you write your POIs after submission to let them know you applied, or is it kind of obvious?

Thank you so much for your advice, both of you. rising_star, I have tailored my section to be fairly specific about how I would be a good fit and some specific aspects of what I could work on, but reading this I might just slip in an extra sentence or two to make it more clear. TakeruK, Thank you for suggesting it as due diligence. I have had a bit of a difficult time getting over the awkwardness, but of course I am also applying like everyone else, and should treat it as such.

You're right, I just wanted to hear how others had adjusted their applications and maybe learn a bit from it.

Hi, I couldn't find this topic in the previous posts so I hope I am not asking something that has already been answered frequently. I am presently working as a post-MSc research assistant at a university in the US. I intend to apply for their graduate program in the same department, same supervisor - how do I adjust my SOP to this? For example, in my 'generic' SOP I have a sentence like "Currently, I am employed as a visiting researcher at the University of X, working with Professor Y doing [research]", but they already know that I am working with them, so isn't that a slightly strange sentence? Could they get the idea that I just use a mad lib kind of template and didn't adjust it to their application? My supervisor knows very well that I am applying and he is interested in having me as a graduate student, and he is basically the only person in the department who would be a relevant fit, so I am pretty much writing addressed to him. It seems a little strange trying to write the SOP to someone I work with on a weekly basis, he already knows what I can do and what I want. Does anyone have any experience or good advice? I do not intend to make it an overly personal SOP, not at all, it just seems really odd to write it as if I am coming from outside of the department.

I made a lot of those mistakes during practice tests where I didn't really read the question, assumed something that was wrong, answered the wrong thing, made an error, even if it was a fairly easy question. Then I started freaking out and read the questions several times but never really read them, which took a long time and made me really anxious. During the test I sort of forced myself to read the questions very focused and a little slower, making sure I understood each word and sentence before answering. It might take a little longer initially, but for me at least it was a lot faster and calmer overall than panic reading the question 10 times or going back and forth to double check. Good luck!

Which they could! Thanks a lot!

Thank you, TakeruK, it's true that the program is different. And yes, I will be applying for research PhDs. The non-US program has semester start in late February, so I am a little nervous how far I can stretch it, but I think the best idea is to just tell them the situation as it is and hope that they will be flexible. I am guessing you would be a bit unpopular if you accepted an offer, only to turn it down before starting? It is a nice thought, to at least have said yes to a good program and then hope for the really good program to come along, thereby safeguarding yourself. But it is my experience that the supervisors are fairly invested in you and they aren't too happy about it*. Especially if you are going to stay in the same field(-ish) you don't want to burn any bridges. * I turned down a PhD, within the deadline and the supervisor knew I was also applying elsewhere, but he did not take it well and the correspondence was a little bit unnerving, so I feel like I am walking on eggshells.