robot_hamster

Whatever you do, don't walk around in shorts and sandals. You'll look like a tourist! Hehehe! Sorry, this was something a professor of mine joked about when he went to France to do some research. The first few days he was there, he dressed like... well, a tourist. The professors he went to work with there apparently made fun of him. As for the conference, best to lean on the conservative side if you're not sure. Sorry I can't be of more help! Congrats BTW! That is one heck of an accomplishment! You should be proud!

I don't know how it works in the UK, so I don't know how helpful this will be. I was accepted into my program without funding. Everyone told me that I shouldn't have to pay for grad school, but my choices were very limited. So I went anyway, taking out a loan for the first semester. After the first semester, I was able to secure a TA position. So my tuition was waived for my second semester. Now I am currently looking for a TA position for semester #3 so I can continue to have my tuition waived. Perhaps you could ask them what your chances are of receiving some sort of position after your first semester that would qualify you for benefits.

Just a little something to throw out there that may or may not apply to your situation. I have heard of some programs (particularly in biology) where a Masters will not help very much with a PhD. There are some programs that do not take all of the credits from your Masters and apply them to the PhD program. In the end, it ends up being more years and more work than simply going for the straight through PhD. Like I said though, I don't know if this will apply to you. It is something to look out for though.

I personally don't know anyone who has failed their classes or been kicked out for not making adequate progress. I think it is more like what Strange Light said, people just up and quit before it actually comes to that. It also might depend on what kind of adviser you have though too. Some advisers are always checking up on you and wondering what you've accomplished since you last talked. Other advisers aren't so much about the bottom line and are just happy that you are there doing your best.

I have had both. Some classes, the professor takes attendance and gives a grade for "class participation". Other classes, the professor doesn't care if you show up or not and the powerpoint lectures are posted online. Obviously, it would be beneficial to come to class to hear what is being said about the slides... but sometimes you can get by without being there all that much. So if the class does not require attendance, I suppose I wouldn't worry about it too much. If I missed class, I missed class. More important than what the professor "thinks" about your attendance (or lack of attendance) would be whether or not you can understand the material without being there for the explanations that the professor provides during class.

Not necessarily rude. But in some cases, panic might ensue.

Like someone else said, I would just put it on the first slide. I see people do that all the time. It starts looking pretty silly when someone puts them on each and every slide.

Have you spoken with other potential advisers at all? Maybe you could talk with some others to see if anything they are doing would be more in tune with what you would like to do. If you have an adviser for a PhD lined up before you have finished your Masters, then you can simply finish your Masters and then move over to the new adviser. I don't think completing your obligations to your current adviser is going to burn any bridges. If you did your job and did it well, then they can't say anything bad about you when it is time for you to move on.

What do you mean by in your possession? Some places won't allow you to handle your own transcripts. They need to be sent from your school directly to them. One time, I had requested transcripts and they were accidentally sent to my house instead of where they were supposed to go. Anyway, I tried to deliver the transcripts to where they were being requested and they refused them. I guess it has something to do with legitimacy. Like they don't want there to be any chance that you could have fraudulently changed your transcripts or something.

I think this is partly stemming back to all the problems I have been having anxiety/depression-wise. It is true, I simply don't know what it is that I want. I have this fear of going down the wrong path and then being stuck there when it comes to my career choices. I think you're right though, no sense in backing out halfway through. I guess I had it in my head that what I do for my thesis topic needs to be important and to actually mean something. But maybe you're right, maybe I am just setting myself up for heartache and failure. I will be sitting down with my adviser, but not for a few weeks (they are busy too). My biggest obstacle is going to be getting my committee together on time (according to the timeline) because no one will agree to be on it if they don't know what my thesis topic is.

To answer your one question, no I don't have any research funding. I get my funding through a TA position and that's it. If only there was a way to freeze time and then sample various career choices. LOL

I am almost done with my second semester of grad school (I'm currently going for a MS). My adviser wants me to pin down a thesis topic, but I feel like I can't do that because I seriously don't know what I want. I almost feel like I have been traveling along the wrong path. Is it too late for me to change? I need time to think about what I want to do, but I feel like I don't have time to sit down and do any serious soul searching until after the semester is over. I am right in the middle of writing papers, studying for tests, and of course I have all of the papers I have to grade as well (I'm a TA). Has anyone else just up and switched? Can be it done or am I stuck now? I guess I could always finish this degree and if I wanted to go back for a PhD afterward then it could be in something else...

Distracting yourself with something new like the others have suggested may or may not help you get motivated. For me, I think it would have just been something that would enable me to procrastinate even more. I had some serious senioritis my last semester of undergrad. I only had two classes too. One was a missing requirement and the other was a class that I thought would be fun to take. When it came to sitting down and writing papers for these classes though, it was pretty much forget it. Any excuse to do something other than what I was supposed to be doing was accepted by me with open arms! I got through it by sitting down and forcing myself to work on stuff bit by bit. I wish I could say that things will be different once you get to grad school, but it is very possible they may not be. I guess it depends on how excited you are for the classes and what research you will be doing. It is possible that the cycle will just start all over again once the completion of your program starts to draw near.

At my school, everyone pays a student fee that is meant to cover the costs of using the facilities on campus and this includes the health center. As long as you have paid the fee (and just about everyone does because it appears on the tuition bill), you can go to the health center. Seeing the doctor is free and tests/lab work/prescriptions are all at a nominal fee. So really, the only thing to worry about is a major illness or serious injury. There is a such thing as just accident/serious illness insurance though and a lot of students get that. There is also an option to buy the "health plan" that is offered through the university, but it really isn't worth it if you actually have to pay for it. Since I'm a grad student that is on the payroll though, I get it for free as part of my package. Anyway, you might want to see what your school has in the way of a health center because you may just want to buy accident insurance.

My program includes offers of funding along with the acceptance. So if you don't see any mention of $$$ then that means they aren't offering it to you. Sort of annoying actually. I have heard that other places are different and that funding offers are sent out after the acceptance letters.

They take state income tax out of mine. I believe my stipend is FICA exempt, so I don't have to pay into social security and whatnot. Last time I received a stipend (while I was an undergrad), I never filled anything out and just got a 1099-Misc form during tax season. It was listed as Other Income (Box 3), so I didn't have to pay in for social security then either.

I just wanted to update on this. I haven't heard anything back yet from any of the people that were suggested to me. Would it be completely inappropriate of me to try calling them? I only have e-mail addresses for them, but I might be able to find their phone numbers in the directory.

Of course this happens. But it is less likely to happen during a formal club meeting since we have a dry campus and they wouldn't be able to hold such a gathering in public. My experience with undergraduate clubs (I was an undergrad once) does not involve drinking. I didn't say that there wasn't, I said that it is always the same people that go to these things and that is what those people like to do. They hold these gatherings off campus, either at a bar or a restaurant. And yes, it usually results in quite a few people getting drunk. This is just my experience though, this may not be the same other places. Really, all I was trying to do was share my experience here. The OP asked a question and I gave an honest answer based on my own personal experience. Different people have different experiences for whatever reason.

I didn't say never, I said I usually don't. It's not like I don't talk to people, I enjoy talking to people for the most part. I have gone to several of these things and it has always been the same people. It didn't take long to figure out I don't have much in common with them. Perhaps we could find some small things that we have in common, but I usually don't stick around long enough to find out. They all seem to like to drink a lot, which is something I am not interested in at all. Hmm, maybe that's my problem. I don't like being around drunk people. Maybe hanging out with undergrads that aren't old enough to drink would be better.

I had something similar happen, although I had already been accepted. They actually lost the copy of my acceptance letter that I had to sign and return to them. I kept looking at my status online and I was still listed as having "applicant" status. I waited, thinking that they would notify me when it was time to register for classes. Then one day I was thinking it was getting pretty late and shouldn't I be registering. I contacted them and it turned out the registration period had already started. By the time they got it figured out, most of the classes I was interested in taking had already been filled. I wasn't happy.

What is the club? Is is major-related?

Haha! No, it's more like "what's this old person doing trying to hang out with us?". I don't think grad students shouldn't hang out with undergrads necessarily, but I think the stigma can go both ways.

So how much luck have people had with finding groups at their school? There are tons and tons of clubs at my school. I have checked several out, but they are made up of entirely undergrads. See, I think this is where my problem is. I just don't relate very well with undergrads since there is such a huge age difference. Okay, maybe not that huge (it would be around 10 years in most cases), but it is enough of a difference where I find I don't really fit in with them. Does that make sense? Has anyone else had the same experience?

I have no social life. My problem is that I have nothing in common with anyone. Or it least it seems that way. I wouldn't say I am anti-social, I just don't wish to hang out with people that I have nothing in common with. They have little get-together things all the time, but I don't usually go to them. I guess what I'm saying is that sometimes the atmosphere has a lot to do with your social life experience as well.

Most of the banks around here are pretty much the same, most offer free checking accounts. Just be careful of those that require you to have a line of credit (in case of an overdraft) and charge you a fee for it. My husband ended up owing the bank money because they kept taking the fee out of his zero balance and charging the fee for the line of credit against his line of credit. Ridiculous! I think they are the only bank in our area that does this, so he didn't have a problem finding a different one that had totally free checking. I agree about most large schools having a bank branch on campus. Mine does and it also has its own credit union.