robot_hamster

Okay, so maybe I should study for it this summer then. At least I know now how the test goes and whatnot. Sometimes I choke when it comes to test taking. I do best when I study clear up to the final moments before taking the exam. You know, having stuff still fresh in my mind. Obviously that's not how it works when taking the GRE, but at least I have an idea now of what sorts of questions they have on there. The vocabulary thing is ridiculous though. I was seriously wondering if some of those words were even from the english language. And I have been told that I have a fairly large vocabulary. I don't think I necessarily do. But I do know a lot of terms that are used in life sciences, so sometimes those terms come out when I'm talking to people and then I just see these blank looks on their faces. Knowing that kind of stuff, doesn't really help you at all on the GRE though!

BTW, when I say so-so GRE scores I really mean below the supposed minimum requirements to be admitted to my current program. My verbal was 430, my quantitative was 570, and my analytical was 4. Posted minimum requirements are 500, 620, and 4 respectively. I blame a lot of it on the fact that I was preparing to leave the country at the time and did not have time to study. My undergrad school wasn't very, uh, informative when it came to what you needed to do in order to apply to grad school. I basically had no idea what I was doing and was completely unaware of deadlines. Since I was leaving the country before most application deadlines, I found myself on quite the time crunch. So would it be a good idea try retaking it? Or will having a masters degree be enough?

To answer your question, no I did not have a break between undergrad and grad school. The biggest reason for this was the fact that I started my undergrad late. I will be 30 this year and I am feeling extremely old at the moment. I'm not really asking whether or not I should pursue a PhD. I just want to know what I should be prepared for if my decision is such. The reason I ask about the academic diversity thing is because so many people seem to place a lot of emphasis on it. I have seen many professors' credentials and a lot of the time they will have gone to different universities for different degrees. An example that I can think of right off the top of my head is a professor I knew that had a bachelors in biology, a masters in statistics, and a phd is sociology. This professor taught environmental sociology classes. This is what I meant by having degrees in different, but semi-related areas and all the pieces kind of go together. I realize that if you stray too far though that you may run into problems with not being familiar enough in certain areas and then you basically have to start from scratch each time. So I understand what you're saying. As far as my husband goes, he needs to be okay with where we go. His major isn't something that is available everywhere.

I'm debating whether or not I should pursue a PhD once I have finished my MS (next May if I stay on schedule). Would it be best to apply for the fall following my graduation or wait a year? I was hoping to find a relevant internship over the summer to gain some experience, but so far have come up empty handed. I am going to be working on my thesis this summer, so it sort of limits me since whatever I find really couldn't be full-time. Anyway, if I do wish to pursue a PhD for the fall following graduation, that would mean I would be applying this coming fall. Yikes! So here are my questions: My GRE is kinda so-so. Would it be a good idea to retake it or will the GRE not matter if I have a masters? I was told by several professors that I need to leave the state to pursue a PhD because it doesn't look "good" if you don't have a great deal of diversity. Is this true? I went to separate schools for my undergrad and masters, but they are in the same city. Part of the reason for this is because my husband is "finishing" his undergrad and he didn't want to move anywhere. He still won't be done by the time I am finished, but I have pretty much given up hope that he is ever going to graduate (translation: he has made being a student into a career). What would be your recommendation? How do you go about deciding what degree to pursue? They say you need to have some diversity. So do you look for something that is in the same field, but different specialization/focus? Or do you go for a different, yet complimenting field? Hopefully that makes sense.

I work on the weekends. It's just a crappy retail job. My program doesn't have any restrictions on such things and I need the money, so that is just what I do. Sometimes I wish I had the weekends to recoup though, maybe catch up on some school work. But I know I can always request off if I need to. For example, I knew both of my finals were going to be at the beginning of the week this week so I requested this last weekend off. I needed that weekend to study!

If this was last week, then it is possible that he was up to his eyeballs in term papers or other things that need grading. This week was finals week at my school and most professors were insanely busy last week getting ready for the final and grading stuff. So maybe that is part of the reason why you were directed to the secretary. And if the secretary was wishing to sign you up for classes over the phone, then this person mostly likely knew what classes students in the program normally take in their first semester. Maybe there is a list of core classes that need to be taken and those were the classes that were being suggested to you. Most advisers don't have a lot of knowledge about the classes you should take. They might suggest a class here and there because they think it might be useful with your area of research, but that's about it. My adviser makes some suggestions to me, but also encourages me to talk to other professors since my school operates on a committee system. If you have questions about course prerequisites, then ask the professor teaching the course. They would know better than your adviser.

I'm not a PhD student (currently working on MS), but I think some of this stuff is pretty generic. At my school (and I think most places), full-time is 9 credit hours. I took 3 classes my first semester and two classes plus a thesis credit my second semester. If you don't have funding, then I imagine your first year (or semester at least) will be mostly classes. The way TA and RA positions work at my school is that they go to the "funded" students first. I was admitted my first semester without funding, but I was able to secure a position my second semester simply by being in the right place at the right time. I suppose it depends on how much money your school has and how many positions they are going to make available. If you're interested in finding one for your second semester, then I would suggest making it known to everyone you come across that you are looking. I don't really have any good advice for that part.

When does the semester start? I had my first check two weeks after the semester began this semester because we started the 3rd week of January. It would be the same in August for me since we start the 3rd week of August in the Fall. So it depends on when they pay you and when the semester starts. But yeah, saving money for the first month would probably be a good idea no matter what.

Mine is the last business day of the month each month. I'm sure it varies from school to school though.

You need 32 hours total to graduate including your thesis hours? 9 x 4 semesters = 36 hours. I agree with the others about credit hours during the summer. Usually you can't find much except maybe a math class. Perhaps they just expect you to sign up for thesis credits for the summer? The way it is a my school, it is 30 hours to complete the degree. There has to be 24 hours in classes, plus 6 hours in thesis. You can easily do more than that by being "full time" each semester.

I often forget what I'm saying or forget to make note of certain points while speaking because I am so nervous while doing it. I know this sounds terrible (and they always tell you not to do this), but I often have to type out my entire speech (including where to click the clicker to proceed to the next slide if using Powerpoint) and simply memorize the entire thing. People say they can tell when you have something memorized, but I seriously don't know how I would get through it otherwise.

I also worry about professors being let go and the other professors having to pick up the slack. That means less time for advising or working on research-related stuff.

Just a hypothetical question. I was just wondering if anyone was ever worried about budget cuts: potentially losing funding, classes one was wanting to take, or even their department. I've heard some universities have been struggling and cuts are being made that affect graduate students. Is this something to worry about?

Oops, I just realized I wrote $300 each month. I meant $300 every six month period. Gosh! That would be insane if it was $300 a month! LOL! Sorry!

I think you just have to get a new driver's license by going to the DMV and showing them that you have a Canadian license, but it might be different from state to state. As far as insurance goes, this can depend too. Some states require you to have a minimum amount, others don't. Prices are going to vary from place to place and policy to policy. My husband and I insure 2 vehicles for about $300 each month. I think we went with a lower total coverage amount, which probably isn't wise but we can't afford the higher rates.

If there is a class that your really want/need to take that is already full, you could always ask the professor teaching it if they will let you in.

How much extra money do you need? Perhaps she could just get a temporary job somewhere while she looks for something else. I'm thinking like retail or something. Those kinds of jobs have high turnover anyway (at least where I live they do) and the employer won't be crushed if she quits after a couple of months.

I use Turbo Tax and there is a place where they ask for it and you just enter in the amount.

I think it depends on what the state laws are. Some states require certain things (license, insurance, etc) before a car can be registered in your name. Some states require an inspection of the car. If you're looking to buy a car, especially one that is in such a low price range, you need to look out for shady car dealers (heck, even private owners can be shady! LOL) that try to cover stuff up. If you see a car that you are interested, make sure you know what the blue book value is. Some dealers like to jack the price up. If you know what the blue book value is, then you can always try to negotiate a price that is more fair. Typically what you're going to get in that price range is an old car with high miles, what we call around here a "school" car because they are typically what parents buy for their kids as a first car. They can have mechanical problems so it is important to have a mechanic look it over before you buy. I'm not sure how things are where you live, but typically here in the US cars are sold "as is". So if something is seriously wrong with it, you can't simply return it. We also have CarFax reports, which give a car's history. You don't want a car that was, say, reported to have been in a flood. Don't trust what a dealer says, do your own research. That would be my best advice.

I've known a few people who had an iPad that they used for similar purposes. I was sort of jealous, looking over and seeing someone zooming in on something in a PDF file and highlighting stuff. Probably worth the investment if you're using it as a PDF reader and for taking notes.

Not only does it depend on the department, I think it might also depend on the type of university you are teaching at. I went to a small university for my undergrad and I can see a huge difference between there and where I'm at now. I knew of many professors that would leave work early a couple days a week to pick their kids up from school and spend some time with them. Some would not have class before a certain time so they would be able to take their kids to school in the morning, so I imagine their spouse (or a babysitter) was probably the one picking them up after school. Their schedules seemed pretty flexible, but I imagine they probably did some work at home too. I remember seeing kids hanging out in offices after school as well. Hehe, I knew quite a few professors that brought their dogs to work with them too.

Yes! In fact, I just got an e-mail about a funded MS position. It said that a requirement for consideration was to have at least a 3.2 GPA in your last 60 credit hours of undergrad. Haha!

So are you taking a cut in pay by going to grad school? I don't have any experience with that since I went straight from undergrad to graduate, so I'm used to living without much money. I worked retail, part-time all through undergrad. I kept at with my first semester of grad school since I wasn't offered funding. Then I got a TA position for my second semester. The funny thing is that I make more money as a TA than I did working at my job. I still work at my job here and there, but I'm not there very often. They don't have a problem with my working at my job. I am only required to put in a certain number of hours with my TA position. My tuition is waived and I am paid with a stipend. I'm not receiving funding for research though, so maybe that is why they don't care if I have a second job.

It might depend on the professor too. I've had classes where professors will scan entire chapters from books and then distribute them as PDF files via blackboard or other system. No need to purchase the entire book then. This works well if they have a lot of readings, but they don't involve entire books.

Speaking of fashion, I hear that berets are not considered fashionable.