Islamahmed

First you have to get through the stressful process of being a PhD student  

@SarahBethSortino, I can't speak to your specific issue but, I will note that many of the younger members of your cohort are probably constantly being mistaken for an undergraduate (or even a prospective undergrad) student, which brings its own set of issues. Several members of my faculty cohort are frequently mistaken for undergrads, asked what their major is, etc., which leads to some real issues when it comes to getting work done.

I was so nervous!!! 
I thought I was going to be friends with the other international student because, in my stupid head, being both of us new to the country would push us together. As a historian, I should have known not to generalize. I became with the youngest person in the program. My cohort was varied in age too, I think only one person came straight from UG, two from MA, and three others like me had been working before grad school. Age was never a problem for me. In my program (and this is for @kaufdichglücklich) it was a coincidence that the people most obsessed with age were the 25-. And not even all of them, of course, just two or three (I think that when they turn 30 they'll still be obsessed with age hahaha). Anyway, @NoirFemme I don't doubt you are going to be awesome.  
Actually, you need to be professional. If you are building professional networks, I agree with @nevermind that this happens if you approach grad school as a job. From where I see it, you can have a job and then have a life and be successful. Actually, I find it quite comforting to have a handful of friends outside grad school with whom I go out, watch games, rant about whatever, and relax.
Now, @rising_star if you were referring that there are other things you can do as a professional to be successful in academia, I agree. I don't think @nevermind was suggesting that, but based on your post, it seems it was ambiguous. By "taking grad school as a job" I mean do everything you need to be doing to learn, do research, write your dissertation, and become a scholar. Becoming a scholar involves service, mentoring, listening, negotiating, being a colleague, etc. So, yes, there are many other things besides coursework: workshops, panels, mixers, and –recently– unions. 

I really resent the implication by a lot of posters in this thread that "younger" grad students are some how less serious about their coursework and research, obsessed with "bar hopping" or clueless as to how the real world works. My department has a cohort of 10-15 each year, and I would say there is usually 1 recent grad, 2 thirty-somethings, while the rest are between 25-30. 25-27 is also really not that young, and it's a bit patronizing to act like people this age have little life experience and are obsessed with drinking. Lots of us in this age cohort are putting our lives on hold to get our PhDs, which is huge sacrifice and makes us highly motivated to get in, and out and move on with our lives. Just because I'm 27 and like to hang out with my cohort at a bar on Friday nights, doesn't mean I don't work my a** off seven days a week. 
That being said, in my department the social aspect is hugely important, and (with a few exceptions) people in coursework years who don't socialize within the department seem to really struggle. It's important to have people that you can vent to about professors and coursework, share bibliography, get advice on fellowships and generals, introductions to scholars, advice on ins and outs of certain archives, etc...... I guess my point is, if you don't cultivate some type of a support system *within* the department, the next 6+ years are going to be an uphill battle.

The ethical decision the rotation #2 PI should be making is to not bully graduate students. All the faculty in the department should be interested primarily in helping the students in the department to do well. I'm sorry you have to deal with ridiculous people in positions of power. I really hope that the other folks on your prelims committee are more sensible people who will be more interested in your future and less in hers. I hope your PI sticks up for you when this is all going down though. Advisers should fight their students' corners. Period.

The inventory I used is like the following diagram (names are obviously made up):
Scale 
Subscale food (contains sub-subscales fruits, veggies, and meat)
Subscale drink (contains sub-subscales juice and alcohol)
 
Basically, the sub-subscales contain the actual items/questions that were administered, the sub-subscales are grouped into subscales, which make up the total scale.
My question is, I know how to calculate the reliability of the sub-subscales in SPSS, but I don't know if for calculating the reliability of the subscales, should I
1) Include only the sub-subscales as items (e.g., fruits, veggies and meat for the subscale food)
2) Include all the items that measure the sub-subscales (e.g., items that measure fruit, items that measure veggies plus items that measure meat)
I was also wondering the same thing about the reliability for the entire scale, do I include just the subscales or the actual items that measure all sub-subscales?
 
Please don't hesitate to ask me to clarify anything. Thank you in advance for your help!

I feel so incredibly selfish and confused that I am about to write this, but I am wondering if anyone else is going through/has gone through something similar. I just finished my first year of my phd program.....and I feel horrible. It's been a long, confusing road to get here. To explain, I focused full force on this goal of being accepted to a phd program and it was a long 3-ish years of hard work. One round of full rejections, but the second time getting multiple offers. That felt like the hardest decision of my life, and to be honest, I made a small mess of it. However, I ended up going with my brain and accepting the offer at a school where the program and lab were a great fit and really are the best decision for my career/training. However, I was tentative about location and the "quality of life" side of things. In the end, I pushed all that aside and told myself I had to do what was best for my future. (As a side note, I was also entering a grad school-forced long distance relationship, and this decision helped there as well). 
Well now, one year in, my relationship completely imploded and I feel isolated and very unhappy where I am. I have learned a lot in my classes and feel that my research is going rather well, but without that "life anchor" keeping me grounded, I keep dwelling on the fact that I am not happy where I am in the world, and I have years before anything will change. My unease of location and "quality of life" has ballooned so much recently. I keep playing back in my head that I had options in places of the world where I'd feel more comfortable and would have more of a support system, but I know that I would have found what was lacking in the program or lab fit (depending on the option) to be similarly distressing. 
I know I'm not the first to find myself living somewhere they only went for the school/lab. I know I'm not the first to have grad school and distance destroy the relationship they felt would endure and saw as their future. But has anyone else found themselves in this position and have any advice? I don't want to be upset for the rest of my time in grad school. It was such a huge goal I was so happy to have the opportunity to take it on. I feel SO fortunate that I was given an offer in this program, and feel really guilty that I am letting other life issues make me miserable. Especially when so many others did not receive offers...because I know how horrible that feels as well! 
People in my life who don't know how grad works keep asking me if I can "transfer". Even if I could, I don't know that I would because my lab and program really are great. It's just the thoughts of "am I burning years of my life just waiting to move on?" that are torturing me. I don't really know what advice I could even be hoping for here, but if anyone has gone through a similar situation, even some experiential support would be appreciated. Should I have put more weight into "life/location happiness"? Did I let my intellectual side of the decision have too much weight? Or am I just feeling something that is common early on in a big change like this? 
I'm thinking about looking into doing some visiting researcher time for maybe one of my years (I saw other grad students do this in the lab I worked in before getting accepted) and wonder how common that is....

I just kinda wish fries tasted as good reheated as they do off the grill, you feel me?

Is it normal to get a rejection letter from the department secretary where the letter is typed in the body of the email and has someone else's name at the bottom with no signature?
This seemed bizarre to me, rather than getting an attached letter or something from the official graduate division. And frankly, this secretary did not like me because I occasionally had to ask her questions and follow up questions during the application process because she did not communicate clearly.
So yeah, while the institution in question is highly selective and I'm certainly not above being fairly rejected... I see a possibility of foul play here. I'm sort of joking, sort of not.

Ouch!!!  That sounds painful... buy something on Amazon and pretend it took longer to get to her than you expected

I'm going to diverge from the theme here because I have a sadness vent. I've always wanted to go to grad school and I'll have to move away from where I am now in order to do so. I am starting to become depressed over this.... because weirdly.... I'm really going to miss one of my professors. He's taught me so much and has helped me through so much.... but ultimately he has been my friend in am world where I don't have many of those. I always look forward to our meetings and am just genuinely happy whenever I'm around him. We always have fun and it's nice knowing someone else thoroughly enjoys my company (although he's almost an emotional robot and I can't imagine him flat out saying he enjoys my company, I know it's true because we can't help but smile together- like we have a good secret that we can't share with anyone else yet).
I have always felt like I was ment to know him. We started off on the wrong foot but my instincts told me to give him a chance and I'm happy I did. I truly believe he was ment to be my friend and I love him very dearly and I have no doubt he is fond of me as well. 
Someday I'll probably tell him I'm going to miss because I've always been pretty open about how highly I think of him (probably won't tell him I love him though because could go into a whole 'nother world of awkwardness and misunderstanding- I'm certain he knows how much I care about him, though). I'm just sad now because I know my days of seeing him are numbered. 
 
And before any assumptions are made... I am not seeking any sort of romantic relationship or anything. We have just grown close and I care very deeply about him (Plus we're both married). It's more like having to give your dog away because of moving. You're used to seeing the dog all the time and it makes you happy and you love your dog... but you can't take it with you.

Of course I'm the only person who would have down votes on my venting haha of course!!

Anyways my real reason to vent today.. I'm freaking out about starting a new job!! I'm not mad, I'm happy but it's scary like I want to make a good impression. I also hate when people talk to me about all the bad things about social work. Like seriously come on! I got into the programs I am obviously doing it, I've done my research! You don't have to tell me the pay, you don't have to tell me about how I need to use it as a stepping stone to "bigger and better things" I am obviously going to school to work in this field that is the stepping stone into this field. I just wish I don't have to constantly explain my decision. I'm an adult I can figure it all out on my own.

oof, this thread is beautiful and so necessary. i'm dealing with a breakup + i keep having dreams about getting accepted into grad school and dreams about getting rejected from grad school and i can't even tell which one makes me feel worse when i wake up because i still don't know anything :/

I'm crotchety today.  I need to vent.  You don't even have to reply to these things or read them.  But I just... gotta... 
 
1. I have been getting phone calls to my desk phone from some fax machine at a nearby hospital. Like... 10 in a row.  Multiple times a day.  My voicemail box keeps getting full. I called IT here and they can't do anything.  I called the delinquent hospital FOUR times and talked to their IT but it keeps happening. About to change my number. 
 
2. My lab mates mumble quietly when they try to have a conversation with you but PHONE conversations are LOUD and last FOREVER.  I'm trying to write a manuscript and somebody is walking around the lab on the phone. But seriously, even the mumbling thing gets old.  ENUNCIATE!!
 
3. I submitted a grant about 6 months ago, and should have heard by now, but then the government shut down.  And good LORD I GOTSTA KNOW!
 
4. The fridge in my lab (for human food) stinks. And my desk is right next to it.  And every time somebody opens it I want to gag.  And I can't clean it anymore because I SWEAR THERE IS NOTHING IN THERE.
 
5. I spent $160 this morning to have somebody fix my water heater and he doesn't think he successfully fixed it. 
 
 
... I feel better.  Seriously, I like grad school, but it's just one of those days.  
 
next? 

Hi All,
I am currently in the process of selecting fellowships to apply to for my dissertation research years, and also scouting fellowships for the dissertation completion year. My advisor has encouraged me to apply widely, and to include diversity fellowships on my list. I am a first-generation/non-traditional student and overcame significant economic and social barriers to get where I'm at today, but do not identify as a member of an underrepresented racial or ethnic group. My advisor has pointed to several fellowships that do, however, encourage applications from first generation students.  I do think my present institution (an Ivy) sorely lacks any conversation about economic diversity and the way it intersects with other underrepresented categories.. It has been a brutal process acclimating to the norms and unwritten/unspoken rules of this place coming from where I come from, In my (fingers crossed!) future in academia I hope to use those experiences to serve all students who do not traditionally end up in academia. At the same time, I know my experience has been different, and I would say easier, because there is not anything that immediately marks me as "underrepresented." I am just curious how others view the possibility of diversity fellowships being given to first-generation students who do not identify as members of underrepresented racial and ethnic groups? Is it fairly common for first generation students to apply for these? Can I just add this to the list of things no one ever tells you but everyone seems to know about academia?
Thanks!