robot_hamster

Would you necessarily have to pay them? Could you perhaps get them an undergrad research topic out of it? There was a student in the lab I worked in that wasn't being paid. He helped one of the grad students there with his stuff and he was able to get his senior thesis out of it.

I like the name followed by a comma and M.S. idea.

I was accepted without funding to my program. I decided to go anyway since it was the only place I applied and I couldn't really leave my current location. Everything worked out fine though. I took a loan out for the first semester, but then I was able to secure at TA position for the second semester (which qualified me for the free tuition and a stipend). I will have another TA position this Fall. There are no guarantees for the semester after that though, we will have to wait and see.

Sounds a bit strange to me. I haven't published anything yet. From what I have seen though, advisers will have their name included as the last author on the paper. Some advisers insist on not having their name included. This was true for several professors in a lab I worked in. I haven't heard of a professor taking credit for one of their advisee's work though.

Things were very traditional at my undergraduate institution. You called your professors Dr. ______ (or Professor ______ if they weren't a "Dr."). If you were close enough to a professor where you had a less formal relationship then you would leave the Dr. off and simply call them by their last name. Things are pretty different at my graduate institution and it has taken some getting used to. I want to call professors Dr. _____, but a lot of them will tell me to call them by their first name. This is especially true of my adviser, committee members, and professors I am TAing for. I think it depends on the atmosphere of your school and the individual preferences of the professors. It is totally okay to ask a professor what they would prefer you call them. They will gladly tell you and it eliminates that awkwardness of not knowing what to call them.

I'm just speaking from my own experience, I don't know how it is at other schools. There are not many TA positions available in my program. The TA positions where the TA actually teaches a class appear to be reserved for PhD students (or at least preference is given to PhD students for said positions). I am a masters student and my TA responsibilities so far have been grading and supervising lab activities. I suppose it all depends on the type of program you are in and what they offer for TA positions, so take this with a grain of salt.

I can't remember how much I had to "pay" in the last time a stipend was on my tax return. My deduction far outweighed what I owed, so I still ended up with a tax refund. I remember reading somewhere that graduate assistants are allowed to waive social security and medicare contributions. It was in an email that went out from my school. If you are enrolled in X number of credits and a GA, then you can avoid having to pay the taxes.

I don't know if the rules are the same in every state or not. My stipend just has state income tax deducted from it, which they do automatically. I only get about $900 per month (or at least last semester that is what it was) and that amounted to about $6 being deducted each month.

The same as undergrad GPA? Mine is anyway.

Before I applied, I was contacting people. I continued to contact people after I applied as well. They wouldn't officially admit me until I had myself an adviser.

I just now read through all of these latest posts. I understand what you are trying to get at.

I was always taught that it is best to pick an area of interest first and then look to see what has been done in that area. As you read through papers, you may say to yourself "okay, they did this and this, but why didn't they do this?". You keep going from there until you see somewhere that you feel is lacking and has a question that is worth trying to answer. At my school, you have to write up a proposal anyway that includes a literature review, so you're given a chance to explain why this research is important and demonstrate how other studies failed to address the question you wish to answer. It sounds a lot easier than it really is! But I think that you have a good idea, to look at what others have done in your lab and see what has been left unanswered.

It really depends on your area of study. There are some programs that are only offered as straight through PhD's, while others are Masters then PhD.

I wish I lived somewhere where I wouldn't need my car so much, I would love to lower my carbon footprint. I live somewhere that is extremely bike-unfriendly. The bus system here is awful! My husband was stranded somewhere one time and he was pretty far away from home. It was actually faster for him to walk home (took him about 2 hours) than to take the bus. There aren't very many buses running at one time and you will wait forever just to get on one. And you don't want to stay out too late because they all stop running at 7pm. Gas is expensive, but driving is the only realistic way for me to get to and from school. I try not to make unnecessary trips though. Gas prices will make you think twice about impulse trips to the store.

The announcement that went out at my school said specifically that X number of courses would need to be absorbed by the remaining faculty.

I'm not worried about a professor with tenure being let go. I'm just saying that they may have to pick up some of the slack if a lot of non-tenure professors are let go and they won't have as much time to focus of their advisees.

It may depend on what the fellowship contract considers to be "the department". You may need a signature from a department chair or director. I would ask to be sure.

So you're saying you have a year or a year and a half left? I understand how frustrating it can be, especially when money is tight. I'm not in a PhD program, but I'm working on a masters. That being said, I would say stick it out and get the degree. If you don't have that long left then why waste the time and money you have already invested?

I agree. Wait awhile and keep an eye on it. If no one drops, then email the professor. A lot of times, professors will gladly override your enrollment in their course. Unless there is some reason the class size must be kept at a certain number. For example, some courses require equipment and the number available could be limited.

I don't have gmail, but I have a main email account that I use. I use my school account all the time for school related stuff though. I simply have everything from my school account forwarded to my main account so I'm not constantly checking more than on account. If something needs a reply, then I do log into my school account and reply from there. My school account is also automatically in the system at school, so mass emails about job positions and whatnot come there (which is awesome).

I don't know much about psychology, so I can't speak from personal experience. That being said, I think psychology is just like many other fields.. it all depends on where you live. A friend of mine got a bachelors in psychology and he didn't go on to graduate school. He got a job working at a home for adults (people with mental and psychiatric disabilities). He designed programs for them so the patients there could work on different issues they were having. This was what he considered to be the "best" job that he could get with his degree (his words, not mine). I have always had a sense that it was difficult to get a good job with a bachelors in psychology alone. I never thought that going to grad school wouldn't help someone in finding a better job in that field. But again, it really depends on where you live. If you have a ton of competition, then of course it is going to be difficult. I wouldn't let that discourage you from pursuing a higher degree. One person's bad experience doesn't mean that that is what will happen to you.

I think there are both pros and cons. If you start during the summer, then you will have time to become familiar with the campus (and city) and your adviser (and perhaps some other professors). You will have that advantage over the rest of your cohort because you got a little bit of a jump start. Also, if you have been out of school for awhile, it might be beneficial because things are much slower in the summer and it will most likely be less stressful. The cons would be the fact that you would be there all alone with no one else from your cohort. Also, you would be giving up your "last" summer. This would be especially true if you're going straight from undergrad to grad.

If that were the case, then I would probably go for the internship. But do ask yourself the questions fuzzylogician mentioned to make sure you're not overlooking anything.

To be completely honest, I would stick with the TA position. I am poor and I rely on my stipend to pay the bills. I also don't want to acquire more debt in student loans (I have enough of those already). I really would like an internship that would provide more relevant work experience, but if it's unpaid then I don't know how I would get by. I don't know what your situation is though. If you don't need the money and you don't mind paying for your own tuition, then I would say go for the internship. It certainly sounds like it will help you get your foot in the door. Unless perhaps they would let you do something with them yet this summer? I don't know your field or what you would be doing, so I don't know if that is a possibility or not.

I'm going to have a discussion with them for sure. I was just wondering if this was normal/common and it sounds like it is (at the very least) not unusual. Thanks!