onceinalifetime

The best advice I can give you is treat is gently and don't open/close it more than necessary. I had the plastic brackets holding one of the screen hinges together break on mine, so now the screen is only connected on one side! It may very well be something mechanical that breaks down before you run into internal issues, and I think a lot of people overlook that. So again, just be gentle.

Since you created this topic, I'm guessing you're facing this problem currently. Am I right? If not, then I'll still leave this advice for anybody who is in this situation I know people who faced this issue, and it's a very serious one. In fact it's probably one of the worst problems you can face as a grad student. If it's at all possible and you feel that you're in a severe situation, you should switch out of your current lab to one with a better environment. That's what my friends did and they're all extremely happy about it. Grad school, especially a PhD, is a long haul type of deal, so you shouldn't be afraid to sink several months and go back to square one if you are facing a really dire situation. Some PI's can put incredible demands on their students while being emotionally and/or verbally abusive about it. We even had a psychologist come in to evaluate the mental health of one PI's students because word got around that the environment in his lab was absolutely unbearable due to emotional abuse and insane demands. Aside from this one PI, there are a number of others known for being utterly awful to work for, but I can't point to any specific incidents involving those labs. And you're right, this is not rare; I'm sure there are several examples in every dept at a given school. To a large degree, the way your PI treats you is going to dictate your quality of life during the years you spend in graduate school, so ensuring that your personalities mesh and that working for them is a pleasant experience (asking current students is a great way to do this) is essential.

This doesn't make much sense. I sent very short emails to my potential supervisors and got replies to probably 8/10 of them within 24-48 hours, and sometimes almost immediately. My emails weren't even that great, just good enough I'd say. Its very odd that no one is replying to you. This will sound stupid, but have you checked your Spam folder?? Maybe there are some replies in there. Or maybe there is a problem with your email server and the letters didn't go out. Makes no sense that 0 of 17 people responded to you, espcially since your letter must be good if you even had a professor look at it. Its def not hopeless -- everyone has conversations with potential PIs. There's either something you're doing wrong or something wrong with your email.

Is that the guy from Deus Ex in your profile pic? I love that game

So in general, why do so many people get depressed and drop out? This is really alarming what i'm reading here. I just got my first acceptance to a PhD last week. So I rode that wave of happiness for about a week and now I'm seeing this and getting worried again already lol. And this isn't the only thread/article I've seen with this tone. I've seen many.

Did anyone else apply to the UCLA Biochemistry, biophysics, and structural biology (BBSB) program? I don't really know when their interview dates are, just that there are two different ones. I last heard from the program on Jan 4 that many invites had already gone out, and also heard from a POI that the admissions process was "very far along". Does anyone have more detailed info on this program?

Lol yea I heard the winner was from CA. The rush hour sounds exactly like what I'm used to here in DC, and I've gotten very used to - and good at - working my life around it. It sounds manageable. Is there a metro system running from the Chino area to central LA?

Yea I was looking right around chino area and pomona. Like I said i know nothing about those areas, i was judging solely on location relative to LA and riverside. How long does CA rush hour last? In am and pm. Cus I googled directions from Pomona to Riverside and Pomona to LA during the middle of the night basically, and it was like 28 mins for one and 30 something for the other. So during what periods would it take 2 hours? I'm from Wash DC, which has ridiculous traffic too. In fact, I think the only place that beats us for worst traffic in the US is usually LA haha. Kind of ironic I might end up in the only other town in america with WORSE traffic

Guys I just want to say congrats on all your acceptances! I wish you much luck during your grad school journees!

I applied to Caltech biology, but at this point am not feeling confident about my chances. I got an email from the coordinator (I think Liz Ayala or something) saying that all interview invites would go out by Jan 6...and I didn't get one. Where did you hear that they don't do interviews? I've seen plenty of people post on here that they got int invites for caltech bio. I hope what you're saying is right, but from what i've been told, things are not looking good.

You're gonna be fine, just get the application submitted. For most programs, that's all you need to get your foot in the door, and then the rest can be accepted within a reasonable time frame (I'd try not to push it beyond a week though). But, I've also seen people post that their application was not even up for consideration due to just one LoR being a day late, so I'd do everything you can to get the letters in before deadline. Don't by shy about sending your letter writers multiple reminders.

I got an acceptance to UCR this week. There's a decent chance I may end up going there too, so I'm trying to roughly plan how to situate myself. I'll be coming with my girlfriend and definitely not living on campus. She'll need to be commuting into LA every day for work and I'll be going to Riverside. Is this doable if we live somewhere between the two areas, like Pomona or something? I don't know shit about southern CA. I'm just basing this idea off what I see on Google maps... What area would you recommend to a couple where one person is commuting to Riverside and the other to LA? Can anyone estimate a best- and worst-case scenario travel time?

Results search shows many UCI chem acceptances going out between mid Jan to mid Feb last year. They dont do interviews so it'll just come out of the blue lol

Nah still just says being reviewed for mine

Ok im about to check. I'm nervous as hell!