FishNerd

@FreakyFoucault Thank you so much for your congratulations! I have definitely also known some academic power couples and I always try to keep that in mind when I think about my partner and I trying to do this crazy thing together. It's just that some people in my life are eternally pessimistic and have expressed the impossibility of it and it's sometimes very hard to ignore those comments. But now my partner and I are on our way to proving them wrong!

Thank you everyone for the congratulations and kind words! We are so relieved to know that we have both been accepted somewhere. I've been so anxious about us both getting into a school that once we knew we were in together I felt like I could finally breathe! @Warelin he loves being involved in both academic research and creative writing so he is super excited! Denver is definitely his top pick and I think it's mine too (I have another school that's a really great fit for me where I've also been unofficially accepted) so we are thrilled!!! We have been told so many times that trying to do academia together could be next to impossible, so we are just so happy and thankful that we have beat the odds. Each of us has always tried to do the best we can so we can stay together through all the hurdles and we are just so relieved to have passed this hurdle. It'd be great if we get a joint acceptance at our other top school but we are not going to complain because one is all we really wanted. Also super congratulations to everyone else who has heard good news this week (would totally like all your all's posts but I ran out of reactions)! Looks like it's been a productive one for acceptances and I hope it continues to be!

I know I haven't been on here until recently but just thought I would put it out there that my partner got accepted to University of Denver! And I heard back from my POI's yesterday that I am unofficially in! It's such a relief to know we have at least both gotten into one of our school's together.

I would imagine if both students want to attend and are extended official offers then that professor may be taking on more than one student that application season. If there is only one position I think the professor would only send out an official offer to their top pick. So ultimately it depends on how many students that professor is planning on accepting into their lab that season.

I'm now unofficially accepted into my top two places which is super exciting! Unfortunately my excitement is tempered with nerves because I applied to all my schools with my partner and he has yet to hear anything. I really think this is because in this field we have to secure a potential advisor before applying and my potential advisors are the one's who have sent me updates on my application status. I haven't received my official acceptances yet, so it does track that my partner hasn't heard back because his field doesn't really have to secure a potential advisor first and because of this he doesn't have anyone who can let him know unofficially that he's in. I really hope that's the case at least.

I'm now unofficially accepted into my top two places which is super exciting! Unfortunately my excitement is tempered with nerves because I applied to all my schools with my partner and he has yet to hear anything. I really think this is because in my field I have to secure a potential advisor before applying and they are the one's who have sent me updates on my application status. I haven't received my official acceptances yet, so it does track that my partner hasn't heard back because his field doesn't really have to secure a potential advisor first and because of this he doesn't have anyone who can let him know unofficially that he's in. I really hope that's the case at least.

For sure! I'm having a hard time not just assuming things will work (my stupid optimistic personality...) and then thinking about how awesome any of my options would be. My brain is setting me up for disappointment if things don't work out well... Also if I hear something that can even be remotely interpreted as good news I start dreaming about being in that lab, program, and location (I'm really ready to leave my current town!). But then I do the exact same thing in the next place that indicates potential good news! I guess the good thing about that is that means I'm super excited about any of my options if they work out.

@PhD_hopeful_ and @samman1994 I'm not completely sure what your experiences mean but they definitely don't sound like a bad thing! It sounds like in both your cases that you are seriously being considered for acceptance but just haven't formally been accepted yet.

@lovedatresearch23 I think getting more research experience sounds like a really good plan! Not only will it help you as an applicant the next time around, but it may also help you figure out exactly what type of research you really want to pursue at the PhD level which can help you in figuring out what programs may be the best fit for you. From my experience (in biology - ecology and evolution) you might still be able to apply to master's programs if you would be open to trying to get into a master's with funding like you say. I know some programs at smaller universities, especially master's programs, don't have deadlines until Feb. 15th and some have deadlines in March. Not sure how many of these exist with funding in your field but they could be an option. Another option could be finding a website online that lists openings for research assistant jobs in peoples labs (like it sounds like you are wanting to try and get). I know there are websites that advertise for research assistant jobs in biology so that might be a resource in your field and wouldn't require you to pick a city and only apply to that city - if there is a website like this you can look at what positions jump out to you and then move to wherever the position is. I just want to mention that I went into a master's program (funded) before I decided to apply for PhD programs because I wasn't sure if that was the step I wanted to take and knew having a master's would help me whether or not I decided to go onto a PhD or not. Getting my master's showed me that a PhD was what I wanted to do and it allowed me to really figure out what kind of research really appealed to me. If I had gone into a PhD program instead of my master's I may have chosen a program that wasn't a super great fit because I didn't know what research I wanted to do yet. Getting a master's before a PhD isn't always the right choice for every person but it definitely can be. On one last note I hope that this application cycle doesn't end up being a bust for you, but if not I'm glad you are up for persevering and trying again! Your plan of action if everything falls through is very proactive and seems like a good plan. If my cycle doesn't go as planned I have no plan so good for you in thinking ahead!

Thought I'd add my info to the thread since there are so few of us EEB people on here it seems and I need to distract myself while waiting to hear back from places! Undergrad and grad (M.S.) Institution: each school is a small state school ranked fairly well regionallyMajor(s): B.S. Biology with concentration in Environmental Science; M.S. BiologyMinor(s): noneGPA in B.S. : 3.98GPA in M.S. : 4.00Position in Class: n/aType of Student: Domestic FemaleGRE Scores:Q: 152 (47%)V: 162 (91%)W: 4.5 (82%)Research Experience: Have been involved with research since the end of my freshman year of undergrad. Did a couple of months on a project that never led to anything (water quality sampling work) but then did two different projects (one that was a mark-recapture study lasted about 2 years and another that lasted about a year that was survey for a species of interest in the state where we also investigated it's preferred habitat) with my undergraduate research advisor that led to many conference presentations (both posters and oral). Master's research on population and conservation genetics of a federally endangered species (about 2.5 years). During my master's I also helped generate microsat. data for pop. gen. of a federally threatened sp. Awards/Honors/Recognitions: Dean's list every year School award for Outstanding Environmental Science student my junior and senior years of undergrad. Competitive 4 year full ride scholarship at my undergrad. I have also won 7 different awards (placing in the top 3 presentations in my section both posters and oral) for my presentations at the many conferences I've presented at (from my first project to my current masters project). The conferences have been of varying sizes (from small state conferences, to regional, and a couple national) if that matters.Pertinent Activities or Jobs: Biology intern for 2 summers where I mist netted bats (also gained some radio telemetry experience) Field assistant for several trips over 2 years surveying for a threatened species Volunteer experience at a nature preserve and for point counts of bird on a master's student's project Club officer for my master's institution's subunit for the American Fisheries Society I have trained new undergrads and grads in methods of molecular ecology and conservation genetics Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help: Have been able to pick up the stats I needed for my master's thesis pretty much independently from my advisor and have been working on learning R and other programs that will be useful for genomic based stats. Have received a grant for my master's research through my school. The first project I worked on during my undergrad. has been accepted for publication (2nd author) and the publication for my master's thesis is in prep. (1st author) Special Bonus Points: I'm confident that my letters of rec should be strong - one is from my undergrad research advisor who I am still regularly in contact with, the 2nd is from my master's advisor and the 3rd is another professor I have worked closely with in a research capacity at my master's institution (she is the one I did the second set of pop. gen. data generation for and I will be able to be coauthor on that eventual publication; she is also on my thesis committee) Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter: I have been in contact with at least one PI at each school I applied to and they all encouraged me to apply and agreed to be my sponsor/prospective advisor for my application and so I mentioned them in my SOPs. I think I fit well in each of their labs either by falling into their research interests well or because I think their research is extremely interesting and close enough to what I would like to do during my PhD. Weaknesses: I do worry that my SOP is lousy but I don't think it's bad - my master's advisor did look over it but I worry that it isn't personalized enough and is just a bit boring. I am also self conscious about my GRE Quantitative score (especially the percentile) and the relatively unknown names of my institutions but my master's advisor has told me multiple times that I shouldn't worry about it because I'm a very strong applicant overall and she said that the names of my schools really shouldn't matter.Applying to Where: Areas of interest: - Aquatic systems and organisms; molecular ecology and evolutionary genomics I really like investigating spatial genetic structure in species and how it might be impacted by intrinsic (life history, dispersal ability) and extrinsic (physical barriers, geographic distance) variables. I'm also very interested in how organisms are adapted to local environments and how genetics/genomics can be used for conservation. Applying for PhD programs in: University of Arkansas - Fayetteville (Biological Sciences program) University of Denver (Biology, Ecology and Evolution program) University of Massachusetts - Amherst (Organismic and Evolutionary Biology program) At Arkansas the PI I have been speaking with there has been in contact with me about the potential dates for their recruitment weekend and he let me know last week that I have been nominated for a competitive higher paying fellowship there. So nothing official there but it does kinda seem like I may be unofficially accepted at Arkansas. I have yet to hear anything after applying at the other 2 schools.

I'm not currently a PhD student but I am applying for PhD programs for this fall and am currently finishing up my master's. I have been contacted by other students asking about coming to my current master's institution and it isn't awkward at all and I was happy to answer any questions they had. I have also reached out to PhD students at all the schools I have applied to and they have all answered me super nicely and with a lot of detail when answering my questions. They all say they are super happy to answer questions and have been helpful with any follow up questions I have had since my initial email. They are busy though so some will answer quickly and others will take a bit to get back to you. My suggestion in your email is to be super polite and preemptively thank them for any input they have to your questions. Also one thing I included in my email was something like "If you have any other information outside of the questions I asked that would be helpful to an potential new student in your program I would love to hear what you have to say." Not everyone took me up on that but some did and expressed things that I would have never thought to ask about (like one student letting me know how the dating scene is in the area).

Yeah I had gathered from the 2018 Acceptance thread that UMass had likely sent out their first round picks. And yeah my last comment on this thread on expecting to hear back from a school this week was in reference to Denver. That's both exciting and nerve-wracking to know he should expect a response this week! Thanks for the info on these schools! My partner applied to the Literary Studies (English) PhD. I had gathered from perusing the results area that the English CW PhD is extremely competitive (as I gather most creative writing degrees are?) but we don't know how competitive the Literary Studies is (other than what info the department website says that they accept about 10 people out of 150 applicants) in reference to scores and background and such. Do you have any idea?

Have to agree with Science Vs. It's an awesome podcast and I look forward to every new episode! Some of my other favorite podcasts to pass time to or listen to while getting ready in the morning or driving are Radiolab (pretty popular podcast and almost always phenomenal about a range of subjects), Modern Love (actors read stories published in the NY Times Modern Love column), The Moth (a storytelling podcast), The Story Collider (like the storytelling podcast The Moth but for stories related to science), HumaNature (stories about humans interacting with nature), Gastropod (the science and history behind food), Undiscovered (not many episodes but really cool stories and discoveries from science), Uncivil (another Gimlet Media - untold or poorly known stories about the civil war), Dear Sugars (an advice column podcast-one of the people is the author Cheryl Strayed who wrote Wild) and This American Life (another popular podcast - stories about a variety of things). My podcast list leans on the science side (I'm in the sciences) and story telling side (I loved podcasts that can tell me a story). I also have some recommendations for true crime and other podcasts that only have one season of standalone episodes if anybody likes those types of podcasts. @birdy-bear I love podcasts (they helped me get through a lot of lab work for my master's thesis!) so I will have to give Hello PhD a try!

Thanks for the input @Wabbajack! My fiance and his family are also from Appalachia and we did our undergrad at a university set in the foothills of the Appalachia, so he his very fond of the region and before applications he realized that he would really like to incorporate his roots into his research. I'm glad to hear from everyone that we likely haven't completely shot ourselves in the foot by only applying to 3 schools. We are thankful that fact saved us money in applying because with us both applying application expenses add up quickly! Now to just wait until we hear confirmed results. At least 2 of our 3 schools didn't have deadlines until Jan 15th so we aren't too worried about not hearing back from those, but my fiance should be hearing back very soon from one school who let him know he should have the results of his application by Feb 15th.

My partner (who is a hopeful English/Lit. PhD applicant and why I've been lurking on this forum haha) and I have been pursuing our masters at the same time and it definitely takes a while to figure out how to make grad school and a healthy life work together. When we first started we definitely didn't manage our time super well and got fast food/take out entirely too often, which led to me gaining a decent bit of weight which I unfortunately have yet to lose. This past school year we've really been doing a lot better but we haven't been perfect. Food wise we have found that if we have certain days of the week where we have a bit extra time and we use that to cook relatively healthy but filling recipes that will allow us to have enough leftovers to get at least 2 meals out of it if not more (so kind of meal prepping in a sense). However, for us to make this system work we have had to be proactive enough to go to the grocery regularly and make a point to not put off cooking if we don't feel like it. Sometimes we still put off cooking but we really have been better to say "okay we have this food at home we need to cook" and if we can cook it we can eat off of it (for lunch or dinner) for several days depending on how many servings we make. But for us to succeed in doing this we need to be proactive enough to have the food at home so we can just go home and cook it since we definitely don't have enough time most days to go to the grocery and then prep. Also you have to make recipes you know you wouldn't mind eating the leftovers of. On the days we know we have the time to cook these relatively large meals if it is during the week we try to make a point to get home earlier so we can start cooking before 6 p.m. If we get home any later we just know we won't have the energy and willpower to cook. We have to do this on days where we can leave school earlier though, but this means that we should have food to just reheat when we have to get home late other nights of the week. We haven't followed our plan perfectly but since August we have eaten out so much less than we had previously (and as a result saved so much money!). As for exercise we haven't been quite as successful haha! But we do know things that do and don't work for us on that front. We have to hold each other accountable for working out because if not neither of us will want to exercise so I definitely think @FreakyFoucault's advice of finding a workout buddy is a great one. Even before grad school if I had someone to help hold me accountable I was so much more likely to work out - but for me it definitely needed to be someone I was super close with and wanted to spend time with exercising. My partner and I also have figured out we are much less likely to work out at the end of the school day than at the beginning. It took us a while to figure this out because I am not a morning person! I eventually got to the point where I was just DONE with being out of shape and sucked it up and started getting up at 5:30 a.m. (ughhhh...)This allowed us to fit in eating a small snack, warming up, going for a run, stretching afterwards/doing core exercises, and getting showered before needing to be into school by 9 - 9:30 a.m.. In this process I had to figure out that I had so much more energy for my run if I had a small snack (like a granola bar) that I let settle in my stomach a bit before getting out for the run. Previously when I had tried to be a morning runner I found that I was just so fatigued when I hadn't yet eaten that it was absolutely grueling to run in the morning. But now I find that having just that little bit of carbs to get me going after a night of no food helps so much! Another thing I found that helped was that while I ate my snack and let it settle we usually watched a 20 minute episode of something on TV and that gave me some motivation to get up so early. I enjoy TV quite a bit so getting to watch an episode when I wake up super early and have to run gave me motivation to get out of bed. We have had much more trouble sticking to our exercise routine because I had something I had to do on one of our weekdays we usually came into school at 9-9:30 which led to us trying to fit in the run we did on those days at the end of the school day, and so by that change in our routine we started sticking to our exercise routine less and less. We haven't even worked out once yet this year... But we are now back on a schedule where we should be able to return to our routine so we hope to start back up this week (we both just have to find the motivation!). When we were able to keep our routine I mention above we had been doing it for almost 2 months. When we were sticking to this routine I actually started to quite enjoy getting up super early and getting something productive and good for me done early in the day. It really made me super productive the rest of the day! I want to get back to that feeling of productivity and accomplishment so here's to getting started this week! So I guess in terms of self care around food and exercise what's worked for me and my partner during out masters is making a routine and sticking to it. Also the big thing with us is being proactive enough to go to the grocery regularly - it does take time to plan meals and then go to the grocery so we really have to make it part of our week to get these things done. Also changing little things here and there have helped us - we didn't implement all these changes at once but rather over a 6 month time period or so. Figuring how to balance a healthy life and grad school isn't easy but I'm sure it can be done because we are definitely in a better place of self-care than we once were.

Baked potatoes. Anything cherry, grape or orange flavored (always remind me of liquid medicines).

Glad I could help! I also agree with @hurryskurry because I also have interviewed with professors who have switched model organisms and that kind of switch seems to be super common because they basically can transfer the research areas they're familiar with into other model organisms. However, I do think learning specific skill-sets is necessary and common part of science at least in the fields I have been exposed to. I really like applying genetics/genomics to questions of spatial ecology and conservation but am still learning genomic methods and to be able to do that in the future I will need to continue learning those methods. I unfortunately couldn't apply to a lab I was excited about because I don't know genomic approaches to the extent some of the other potential applicants did. So if in the future you are applying to positions you are interested in you will want to ensure that you gain the type of research experience you need to gain the type of positions you want (which is why I am planning on furthering my education into genomic approaches at the PhD level). But as said above sometimes just showing that you can do science (in whatever field) is enough to get you where you need to be.

You're welcome @inneedofadvice2018 ! I hope you figure out what's best for you going forward! If you think leaving your current program is best and you stand a shot elsewhere I think you should try because it just sounds like your experiences with getting your experiences will be night and day if you make a change. Good luck to whatever you decide!

I really think what @hurryskurry said is a good point. I don't think you wouldn't be able to live a comfortable life on a professors salary (also long as your are not an adjunct professor) even with student loans (my current masters advisor is doing it). However you do have to take into account how competitive these positions are as hurryskurry says. I come from a conservation, ecology and evolutionary biology background and I know for a fact professor positions in these fields are competitive because there are fewer positions and fewer grant opportunities for this type of research. I am currently applying for a PhD in this type of work and that alone has been very competitive and I know it is going to be even more competitive trying to get a position as a tenure track professor and I'm going to work my butt off to be as competitive as possible. Also if you are geographically limited by where you would want to pursue a PhD or eventually live as a professor academia can be very difficult because many academics have to be willing to move across the country for positions sometimes for even only 1-2 years for those working as postdocs--which by the way most people I know who have graduated with an degree in ecology, evolutionary or conservation biology have to pursue a post doc. I know it's gonna be a long path for me to eventually get the job I want but I am willing to move as much as necessary and try over and over to eventually get the type of position I want. It can be done but sometimes it just takes time and who knows exactly how much time. As for working for conservation organizations I don't know a lot but I have heard they are also hard to break into (again there is always less funding for conservation biology compared to medical based biology) -- see https://news.mongabay.com/2017/08/a-rich-persons-profession-young-conservationists-struggle-to-make-it/ I'm not sure how much people in conservation organizations make once they're in but when you read the above article it can be very difficult (and sometimes very expensive) to break into those type of organizations. The only other job prospects I know of with people with PhDs in this field is government work but again there are relatively few positions compared to those that want those positions. I don't think these jobs are poorly paid (salary may not be enormous but most government work comes with a lot of really good benefits - good healthcare and such) so if you were able to obtain one I'm sure you could pay off your loans. I know this all sounds kinda doom and gloom and super competitive but I just know that this is what I have always been told and have personally experience through friends and acquaintances and I'm still crazy enough to try. So it can be done but it does take hard work and persistence and if you are extremely passionate about this type of work the long road can be worth it. It will be financially hard though until you secure one of the competitive positions. Hope my insight provides a bit of help and feel free to ask me any more questions you have @lionqueen.

I'm not an expert of academia by any means but it sounds like I am in a similar position of being a PhD applicant of EEB labs and would like to gain more field and wet lab experience during my PhD and thought I might throw out what I have been told by my current MS advisor. I don't think that if you decided to join this lab you would be "the stats and popgen guy" forever because I have asked a similar question to my advisor and she said no one is indefinitely defined by what they do during their PhD. However it is important to remember that your post-docs, advisor (and maybe committee members?) and other lab members are likely going to be the people that will help you with networking in the future. If their network is solely made up of mainly modeling folks then it might be hard to find potential next steps outside of modeling through those you have networked with previously. But if you make an effort to include people on your committee of diverse research interests (or just make a point to network with people of more diverse backgrounds) then you could maybe go to them to help get experience or future possibilities of doing more fieldwork and wet lab experience possibly. You may very well have to be the one to do this networking though so you don't only have possible connections with only modeling folks. Also I think if you decided to pursue this lab (which as you said will really be an amazing opportunity since modeling experience is highly valued in EEB) it wouldn't hurt to maybe pursue side projects that allow you to do the fieldwork (and wet lab work if you desire to) that it seems like you really want to be able to do in your career. A PhD is a big commitment and you want to be happy so if you would really be upset not being able to do fieldwork during your PhD and decided to go to this lab I think you should look into the possibility of pursuing a side project with fieldwork. Also if you already have a decent amount of previous research experience and connections with those that do fieldwork I really don't think you wouldn't be able to incorporate fieldwork and modeling into your career after your PhD. To just throw in a couple of my experiences you might find useful when I started my masters I had only ever done research that was very fieldwork intensive and I really wanted to continue that into my masters; however, I took on a project that was 10% fieldwork and 90% lab work (population genetics) and at first I really struggled with finding the motivation to want to do my lab work since I really wasn't sure what I was working towards (I had no popgen experience previously and my only experience with genetics was a very human oriented genetics course) so it was hard to be motivated at times. But once I started getting data back I really started to enjoy my project and even found ways to enjoy lab work quite a bit (listening to podcasts helped a lot haha!) and now I am trying to get into labs where I can do molecular ecology and evolutionary/conservation genomics work because I have enjoyed my projects so much. So I guess what I am trying to say sometimes going into a project you know could be very beneficial career-wise (that's why I ended up in my masters project-I knew popgen work could be very beneficial to my career just as you say modeling could be for yours) is that you may really enjoy it and may even want to stick with it. Also my advice on the networking comes from personal experience - my current advisor has been extraordinary and extremely helpful in so many ways but because she is mainly a taxonomist in background and training I haven't been able to network through her too much to find potential PhD opportunities in what I want to do just because she doesn't really have too many connections with people who do that kind of work. But I have been able to still find opportunities even without that networking connection so while I know I mention the networking stuff above (because I know networking can go a long way - it is how I got my masters position) I don't think without networking you would be in a bad place either. Sorry for the long response but I hope it's helpful and if you would like me to clarify anything let me know.

I'm not in Psychology but I happened across this thread and thought I might throw out my two cents because at least in my field (Biology) being able to do the type of research you want during your PhD not only helps make you stick with it but it also really helps with your job prospects in the future (it sounds like your externships supervisors comments about getting you presenting and publishing is really good advice from where I come in biology - presentations and publications show that you have been active during your academic career and will make you a competitive applicant for whatever step you take next after your PhD). If your leave/transfer of another PhD program is brought up in your applications (or you address it in your application materials) you just be honest and say when you first went into that program you were really trying to break into the field which led you to accepting and unfunded position in a lab that has few research opportunities. Then you could mention that you have now had more research experience during your externship which led you to discover the type of experience and research you want to pursue at the PhD level which led to your transfer and application to another PhD program. I agree with @letstrythiswinston that maybe don't emphasize the problems of your current situation but I do think there is a way to talk about your experience honestly and show that your experience has led you to discovering the type of experience you really do want out of your PhD.

I was in contact with all of my POIs before applying because in the type of programs I'm trying to get into (Biological sciences - ecology, organismic and evolutionary biology) you have to secure an advisor who can and wants to take you on in their lab. In my case I chatted with all my POIs over Skype before applying (and usually in these chats they encouraged me to apply and mention them as my prospective advisor in my SOP).

Honestly I see no harm in reaching out to someone in the department (probably the head of grad admissions for the department I would think). I would just approach it from the stance that you have seen your acceptance through the online portal and say that you are inquiring for more information (about any funding offers and visit weekends like you mention). I really don't think it would be viewed as anything other than interest in knowing more.

@Warelin Thanks for the info - I honestly didn't really know waitlists were a thing until I started lurking on here. @Yanaka Yeah I think my POI really wants me in his lab by how communicative he has been with me, which is super flattering and will definitely influence decision making over the next couple months!

@OceansAreBlue Thanks for the info! I kinda figured as much so it is really just a relief to know that school is likely off the table (even though any rejection is going to hurt of course but I guess we don't know if waitlists might happen or not). Congrats on your acceptance! I know unofficially that I've been accepted at one of my schools since my POI has been emailing me about recruitment weekend dates and he also let me know a couple days ago that I've been nominated for a competitive higher paying fellowship. Now here's to hoping my fiancee hears something good from that school soon!