FishNerd

I don't usually hear of people having graduate degrees before going into programs such as MBA or Law. My best friend just graduated from law school and I'm pretty sure few to no people in her program had anything but undergraduate degrees before they started.

So for those of you on this thread that have found apartments in Denver, how far ahead did you start looking for one before your desired move in time? I'm planning to move in August, but am willing to pay for part or all of July if I can secure something I really like. I don't currently live anywhere near close to Denver and I'm trying to figure out when I should plan my trip to come look at apartments since I don't want to sign a lease without seeing the place in person. When I've looked on websites like craigslist, zillow and trulia a lot of the postings are for places that are opening up very soon (though some say they are available later in the summer), so I'm having a hard time figuring out the best time to try to plan a trip out to Denver to apartment hunt.

Hello and welcome to the forum! So first I would suggest maybe posting specifically in the Biology forum since people on that forum may be able to help more specifically with your questions related to biology and be able to know more about the programs you are interested in (there is even a thread pinned to the top where you can ask questions about the PhD application process), but posting here is a great starting point! It sounds like you have a lot of experience and a lot to put on your application, but I am definitely not as familiar to those applying to more human medicine-oriented biology PhD programs, so I can't speak to how competitive you would be for those programs. I do have a suggestion about the GRE Biology subject test though. I would maybe look at the admission requirements for the programs you are interested in to see if it is required or recommended. If it is required or recommended it seems that you would need to take it, but if not you could get away without taking it most likely. However, if it is common for applicants to have taken it for the programs you want to apply to (even if it isn't required or recommended) you might consider taking it. You could always email someone involved with admissions at the programs you're interested in to see if most applicants have taken it or not, to judge whether it might be something that should be part of your application.

@samman1994 I've personally not seen a lot of room listings on Zillow at least in the location I've been looking, so maybe make sure those aren't just really good deals? That's not to say the location you are looking in couldn't have room listings on Zillow those but that hasn't been my experience with Zillow when I've used it for a couple different locations. They could also maybe be scams though I don't see scams as much on Zillow as I do on Craigslist. One thing you could try on Zillow is to use their filters. You could filter Zillow to specifically only show 1 bedroom apartments since it sounds like that's what you're looking for and that could maybe remove those that are room listings.

Furthering that this is a great think to do before starting a program in the fall! I'm definitely doing this myself. When I was good about staying on top of eating well and exercising during my masters, I was at my peak productivity. So I'm going to try and make and keep healthy habits all summer so hopefully they will stick and I don't fall back into my lazy ways when I move later this summer. As @rising_star suggests slow cooker recipes can be great for grad school. In general if you can find recipes that you can easily make enough of to have leftovers, I find that these really get you through the weeks where you're really busy since you know you have something you can just heat up and eat when you get home and, personally, that keeps me from just getting take-out somewhere. I especially love one-pot recipes so there is as little clean-up as possible. I will also sometimes make meals in bulk that can be frozen and heat up well (I've done breakfast burritos, chili, and more). With these its good to date when you've made them so you don't let them sit in your freezer for too long. For exercise, I would recommend experimenting with different types of exercise and different times of day you work out to see what makes you happy and to figure out the time and type of exercise you think will make you stick to it the best. Once you've figured out a time of day and exercise type(s) you really like I recommend setting a schedule and sticking to it. At least for me this is crucial because I can be really lazy and will never actually exercise unless I have a schedule. But when I have a schedule it becomes part of my day and I feel guilty if I missed my scheduled work out (and will typically make time for that work out elsewhere to make up for the missed one). I also recommend to those that are not morning people (like myself) to at least give a couple morning workouts a go to see how you feel about them. I actually have come to love working out in the morning because it starts my day off with something productive for myself and puts me in a great productive head-space for the rest of the day!

I agree with everyone else who says I don't think it belongs in your application. I also agree with @BabyScientist that if it comes up naturally during the interview or visitation process I think it is perfectly acceptable to mention it then. I say this because this is exactly what I did during my application process with my partner this year. I never mentioned that I was jointly applying with my partner in any of the application stages but if it came up naturally during an interview or a school visit I would mention it then. I did this because I didn't want to be taken any less seriously and I really was most interested in the science I would potentially be doing with that advisor. I did find though when it came up during an interview or visit it was received well and I don't think I was treated any differently afterwards, at least in my experience thankfully. I will say though only bring up that this part of your application process if it comes up naturally and you are the one to mention it. I don't think interviewers have the right to ask what your relationship status is because if they maybe didn't choose you because of the relationship component of the application, you would have grounds for a pursuing action of being discriminated against because of your relationship circumstances. So only bring it up if you are the one initiating that conversation and want to be clear that one of the other reasons you are very interested in a program is the proximity it would put you to your partner.

I'm glad I was able to help and that you are excited about everything coming up for you! No problem about speaking frankly about receiving some financial help from my parents. I think if they are willing and it is financially feasible for them and they aren't paying all of your expenses, then you can think of your masters as a route to becoming truly financially independent from them - this is how I approached it. My parents helped with stuff like car insurance, cell phone, and health expenses but otherwise I covered all of my other expenses (rent, bills, groceries, car maintenance, etc.) and now that I will be moving onto my PhD I will be covering all of my expenses so I'm glad I was kind of able to be weaned off of their help during my masters. It means I'm not carrying forward debt from my masters and it meant that I could live semi-comfortably on the piddly stipend I got during my masters. I really appreciate it and they're happy they were able to help me meet my goals. It sounds like your parents feel the same and I'm glad you feel comfortable receiving some help from them because I truly don't think it is anything to be ashamed of.

Hey guys I just wanted to say thank you again for all the tips and give an update. I'm not done yet with my written thesis but I did just successfully defend it with my committee and got their comments back on it. They provided really good feedback that I think is really gonna help improve the final product. Apparently one of my committee members who rarely hands out compliments on peoples writing told my advisor that he was impressed by it, so I guess I did something right. I'm going to take their edits and start working on them now before it gets submitted to the graduate school, but also while I'm revising still I will keep all of your all's wonderful advice in mind as well!

I just wanted to update and say that everyone's tips really helped me in pulling together a really good, solid seminar this past week! Everyone who I've talked to complimented my presentation so I guess it went pretty well. I think the only thing I could have done better was to have maybe have had one more day of practice, but unfortunately less than 48 hours before my presentation my PowerPoint turned all my pictures into red X-es so that unforeseen mishap took away a few hours I had been planning on practicing during (and I had some personal stuff come up that previous week that made me less productive than planned and meant that I was doing final practice runs later than I had planned on). I think the tips on focusing on practicing and fine-tuning the rough areas/slides were the most helpful because that meant that I definitely felt fairly comfortable on those and it meant that I wasn't practicing the whole presentation over and over and over. I should also say that I successfully defended my masters thesis with my committee on Friday! Now I just have to modify my seminar into an ~25 min presentation that we need to give in front of the people who helped fund and provide permits for the project for this upcoming week. Hooray!

So I think @TakeruK covered a lot of what I was going to contribute (their point about microaggressions really hit home for me as a woman in STEM) but I also wanted to say that these statements above don't really match up with what I and other women in STEM have experienced, especially the latter statement about sexist behavior being constrained to the older generations. I actually experienced behavior by male graduate students that are approximately my age (mid 20s-ish) during one of my prospective school visits that frankly can be considered sexual harassment, and unfortunately this experience made my school choice for me. If I experienced the type of behavior I did during a short visit, that made me highly concerned on the type of environment I would be in for my time as a doctoral student. I was so surprised and disappointed by this because luckily in biology I don't experience a ton of sexism and never before from peers my own age. The experience left me drained and feeling like I was treated as so much less than a colleague. It was unprofessional and extremely insulting to me as a highly qualified prospective student. Before this experience I was always aware of possible sexism from the older men in my field, but now I realize that it unfortunately is still found in younger men. And I also realize how being treated as less than a colleague can make you feel worthless and can make you feel like the science that you do doesn't matter one bit. Also I would like to add that even if there isn't "active discrimination" occurring, the passive and unconscious discrimination that women often experience can itself make you question whether or not you belong in the field or make you feel very frustrated that others still see you and your work differently because you are a woman. One example I heard from a colleague was that after her presentation a male professor came up to her and complimented her on the fact that she didn't do several things he was on the lookout for (such as not using the word "like" too much). While she wasn't completely sure that this was said because she was a woman, it did make her feel that the only reason he felt he had a right to say this was because she was a woman and the presentation behaviors he was on the lookout for were generally associated with feminine mannerisms. This, I think, relates back to the statement you previously made that "masculine qualities" are preferred in STEM. So just because a woman presents in a fashion that may have some uniquely feminine mannerisms/speech patterns, that makes her presentation less than (at least in this example)? That is sexist - even if it isn't "active discrimination."

@cinderellasyndrome I have to agree with @SomeoneThrewMyShoe that from the outside you really seem excited about School B and I think being excited can go a long way. It really sounds like you want to branch out away from your alma mater and experience something new (new area, new colleagues, etc) at School A. That could be a really good thing for you because living in a new area can really help you grow as a person and help you figure out that you may want different things out of life than if you hadn't branched out and gone to that new place. Also if you plan on staying in academia you usually have to be willing to make some sort of move to find a good PhD program or to find an academic position eventually. I've also heard that having diversity on where you have gotten your different degrees can look really good on future academic job applications (I guess because it shows you have a broader network of colleagues and you haven't exclusively been educated by the same group of people?). Honestly it sounds like your biggest hang up is the money difference and I don't think you should let that hold you back from choosing School B if that is where you prefer to go. You could get out small loans like @SomeoneThrewMyShoe suggested or have your parents help you since that seems to be on the table for you. I know you say you are reluctant to have your parents help, but maybe have a frank conversation about this and see how much of a burden it would be on them to help somewhat? If they are more than willing to help and it is financially feasible to do so I don't think you should discount their help. I personally received some financial help from my parents during my masters for which I am eternally grateful since it did allow me to attend the school I really wanted to attend. I am so glad they did help me because otherwise I would have had to take out some loans to help with cost of living so I am very thankful they could help me and were more than willing to do so. Edit: Also if the cost difference between School A and School B is because you would be living at home for School A and not paying rent or groceries I think you should maybe consider that if your parents are willing to keep helping you out with those things at home or away (since you say they could help you with some costs of living at School B ) then I really don't think you should overlook the help they have offered you if you go to School B. They would be helping with your costs of living at School A anyway and they seem to maybe want to keep helping you at School B. However, if this is a complete misinterpretation of your situation then just ignore this lol

So most schools have a minimum GPA you are required to be admitted so as long as your GPA doesn't fall below that (which is usually a 3.0) I highly doubt they would rescind your offer, and frankly even if you did fall below that minimum I don't think many schools would rescind their offer. My advice would be to look up the admissions requirements for your school/program and as long as your GPA is going to stay above or very near that minimum I think you will be fine.

Honestly your first statement sounds like a perfect example of confirmation bias. You, and the others who pay attention to it, expect to see women getting into "higher tier programs" since you think they are getting chosen because of their gender, so you do and because you are looking for this "evidence/pattern" you focus on it to strengthen your argument that this trend is occurring even though it might not actually be a real trend. Have you looked for evidence that contradicts your belief that women get an advantage getting into higher tier math programs? Because recognizing contradicting evidence is one of the best ways to thwart confirmation bias tainting your personal view of something. But since you are so upset about people citing your lack of evidence for this trend, I will also address your question as to whether this trend (if it is occurring) should be happening. Women are routinely told they shouldn't/can't excel in math and often get harassed in these "boys club" type settings, so maybe it is okay if they are getting chosen because they are women. If women aren't encouraged to be in this setting, maybe having some opportunities that are open to them that are not open to similarly qualified men is not a bad thing since this can lead to changes in the system as these women enter the field which will then hopefully make the field that much more open to women following them.

I'm in a similar place with my Master's thesis! Sent my thesis to my committee Monday of this week, giving my seminar and defending next week!!! The end is in sight! And then I can start worrying about housing in my new location and getting my thesis ready to be sent off to journals...

From my experiences so far in grad school (finishing up my Master's and just finished the decision of where I will attend PhD) I don't think it matters maybe what kind of research you have done as long as you have solid research experience. I definitely applied to labs where the research being done isn't necessarily things I have done before and I was a very competitive applicant based off of the fellowships I received and such. Do you have publications that are going to come from your time in that research lab? Or presentations? Because I think those things go a long way in showing you are familiar with the workings of science and academia and greatly improve your application. Also you will have someone who has done research with you who can write you a letter of recommendation and that should help too. I think most professors understand that not everyone is going to have experience in the exact subfield they want to do their PhD in so I ultimately don't think it will hurt you. Some professors might not be as keen, but they might not be the type of professors you want to work with anyway.

I wholeheartedly agree with this! My partner and I were definitely dissatisfied with the area we did our Master's at and we know for sure that this affected our happiness and productivity. Once we realized this though we did our best to do things that made us happier and more productive. So there is a component of making your own happiness if the area isn't ideal, but if you don't actively try to do this it is easy to get really dissatisfied with your life because of the area. Also we worked really hard on our PhD applications to ensure that we would get out of our current area. And in looking for schools for PhD we factored location in pretty heavily and it was pretty influential in our decision of where we are attending this fall. But ultimately if you recognize that the area may be a bit of an adjustment, start early in your time there if you choose to attend IU-Bloomington to make sure you find things to do in the area to make you happy and I think you'll be able to stave off those feelings of dissatisfaction.

Thank you! It is exciting to finally know. During my visit I unfortunately saw some behavior by some male graduate students in the department that made me uncomfortable and while I recognize that this behavior is probably not representative of most people in the department these are students who I may have to work closely with if I chose to attend this program. Considering this, I just did not feel comfortable looking past these things since these are things that if they happened regularly would make me unhappy and unproductive in that department. I am still trying to figure out how to best approach this in real life (I have reached out to my PI there to let them know what happened) so I don't really want to be more specific other than in a private message, which I can do if you want.

I have finally made my decision which is a HUGE relief! The only downside is that I did have my decision kind of made for me since the environment in one of the departments I was accepted at and visited is not an environment I would be happy in for 5-6 years. But that does go to show that if you have the ability to visit a department before accepting you really should since a visit can help you be aware of major red flags you might not know about unless you visit.

Hello again everyone! After making visits to the two schools I was accepted at it made my choice very clear since the departmental environment at one of the schools was not the type of environment I want to live in for 5-6 years. So knowing that I am really excited to say I will be attending the University of Denver! I loved my visit there and think it's a really good choice for me. Plus I get to live in a completely new part of the country and I am thrilled about that! Also I finally heard back officially from UMass and it was a nice enough rejection letter. I wonder if that was their true decision regarding my application or if my PI had let them know already that I was planning on attending elsewhere and that's why I was rejected. No worries though because it was my least favorite of my options. Lastly, related to things I have mentioned before I just sent my thesis off to my committee today in preparation for my defense and seminar next week! So that hurdle is done and just a couple more hurdles to get past until I'm free to only look forward to this fall (with fewer big things to keep my mind occupied until then).

Go for the adventure! I'm in a similar situation and if you are really wanting to experience a new environment you really should try it out or else you might regret just staying in your comfort zone and not branching out. Because that's kinda how I am viewing my decision. Also I have heard that some people view moving to a different area of the country for your PhD as a really good thing, especially if you are planning on staying in academia, since it shows you are able to make and handle a big move like that. Also if you get to experience a new area you will have more information about that new area that can help guide you the type of area you want to live in when you are applying to jobs after PhD. I do agree with the other suggestions that you do research to make sure that you can afford living there on your stipend and that there seems to be stuff you would enjoy doing in the area as well since that can help you figure out if you would enjoy living there.

I would just kindly email your POIs at LSU and SIU and let them know the situation so they are on the same page as you. They will completely understand that you applied elsewhere and if you can let them know your situation that could maybe help get things settled and maybe even hear back from LSU about funding more quickly.

Hi! I have been applying with my partner and we are also lucky to both have offers at more than one school! We are in a bit of a different situation because we applied to completely different programs (Biology and English) but we do have some mismatch about research interest/fit between us for the schools and unfortunately I don't have a great answer to that since we are still working through the decision. But I did want to let you know that I commiserate with the difficulty of trying to make a joint decision! It's hard because you want to make the decision that is best for you but also you want your partner to be happy and thrive as well. We both are making our last visits this week and we are really hoping this will help clear things up for us. If you all have visited I would definitely recommend taking both of your experiences into account quite a bit since that is what we are doing. Also we plan on making a pro and con list between our two schools and will probably use that as a way to solidly view the all the benefits and negatives that we have gathered from each place. Not sure how helpful it will be or not. Honestly I really hope our last visits will make it pretty clear where to go, but we shall see. I hope you and your partner figure out a good option for you! I would also like to add that it makes sense to wait out the GRFP results and if you get the GRFP and that makes school 1 the best I think you should go for it since it does sound like you are most excited about it. If you do worry about comparing yourself with those in the group that got university funding, just remind yourself that you won a highly competitive national level fellowship! Of course you have to hear back on whether you get it or not before you can really worry about the self-comparison concern!

@rising_star thank you! that is always one of my go to's when practicing a new presentation! I will be practicing it several times with my advisor as well to fine tune it.

@Psygeek when I was figuring out my structural issues/redundancy I printed out a copy and that helped a lot. I agree that seeing it on paper somehow helps. Also I like your point about maybe finding the paragraphs that are extra long and figuring out if they really need to be that long. That makes a lot of sense and will be something I look at in the next round of revisions.

Wow thank you so much for all of this! This will really help me when I am preparing! Also I really appreciate the info on how to make it approachable to a broader audience. That really helps me figure out how I need to structure the overall talk. I luckily have an extremely solid and well-practiced conference presentation that I have been expanding off of so I have some great slides that will remain unchanged and a great source of already made figures.