TGCA

As many of you have reported(thank you), TheGradCafe has been dealing with server issues the past few days. This has been a difficult issue to resolve, but we are now hopeful it has been corrected! We apologize for the inconvenience and thank you for your patience as we worked through the issues. If you notice any duplicate posts, please report them as duplicate and the mods will take care of it.

Hey everyone, We had an issue with a forum software update last evening that caused a few hours of downtime. We also noticed it corrupted some recently updated profile images. If you notice your image is missing, simply upload a new one to replace it. We apologize for the inconvenience!

This is not accurate. Yes, the data provided is the current list in the Submit Your Results form(which is much improved over the previous list), but not perfect. My suggestion was to use data from a singular list. That singular list can be edited and at this point should be. As long as the main sheet is making use of a singular source of data for university/subject, we can easily migrate that to a future tool. If there are university/subject that aren't perfect, by all means, I would suggest an edit to the source tabs.

Got it. As long as there is a process to get new options added, sounds good to me.

It looks like the Sheet was modified from my edits, but the intention was to add new Universities to the Universities tab, which would auto populate the Sheet1 TGA University drop down column. It looks like the Drop Down formula(which pulls in from the other tabs) was removed. Without it, it is difficult to enforce data integrity.

@Ternwild - great job getting this started! For this to work(converting into a useful tool), we need to ensure data integrity. Most importantly, we need a common list of universities and programs. I can provide a starting point, which we can use to populate the University and Program columns. They will become drop downs to ensure everyone is using the same text for Washington University. Furthermore, it would be helpful if we matched on our existing University names for an easy match at conversion time. I will be in touch on setting this up.

Hi Everyone, The server upgrade has been completed. Once live on the new server this morning, we had an issue that took some time to resolve. We apologize for the inconvenience but expect much better performance on the Forum and Results Search going forward.

I'm sure you all have noticed the Error 500's happening more frequently this week. This is due to our server getting maxed out from all of the frantic refreshing! We have tried to optimize the best we can, but we will be upgrading this weekend to accommodate the increase in traffic. This will take place overnight, either tonight or Saturday. The site will be taken offline for a few hours while this occurs.

If someone wants to start a Google Sheet to crowdsource this, we can take the data and create a simple tool which will allow users to easily find app deadlines. For this to work well, we'll need consistent school / program names(which we can provide a starting point).

@Mazinha88 - can you PM me your search query? We are working on a bug and it would be helpful to know what queries are causing zero results.

@sad_diamond - we are working on a bug. Can you provide your query? - PM if necessary and we'll investigate.

Happy New Year! Here are December's Top Posters... 1) @maya123z 2) @ResilientDreams 3) @checkingmyemail 4) @MH13 5) @ASDadvocate 6) @Moods 7) @loffire 8 ) @Bopie5 9) @doctormelody 10) @petitebiscuit Here is the Leaderboard standings for December: https://forum.thegradcafe.com/leaderboard/?custom_date_start=1543644000&custom_date_end=1546322399 Great job - @checkingmyemail, @petitebiscuit, @ResilientDreams and @loffire

Thanks @Warelin - PM sent to @Crucial BBQ.

Here are November's Top Posters: 1) @Psygeek 2) @ResilientDreams 3) @Adelaide9216 4) @psychtobeme 5) @loffire 6) @Stat PhD Now Postdoc 7) @Moods 8 @Warelin 9) @socpsy 10) @civitas Also, shout out the following members for making the Leaderboard for November! @ResilientDreams @Psygeek @Adelaide9216 @Sigaba

Hi @Adelaide9216 It is something we have recently discussed, but unfortunately, the chat solution that is part of the forum software has been discontinued. We would need to integrate a third party solution. If there is interest from the community, I'll revisit with the mods as we briefly discussed a Discord option.

Here are October's Top Posters: @ResilientDreams @Moods @Adelaide9216 @ChaiTeaSLP @Warelin @loffire @Psygeek @JennWilhelm @Stat PhD Now Postdoc @juilletmercredi Users with the highest reputation during October are as follows: https://forum.thegradcafe.com/leaderboard/ @Warelin @ResilientDreams @telkanuru @Sigaba

In case you missed it, shout out to @ResilientDreams with the forum's first blog post in 2018. @ResilientDreams will be posting content under Applying to Grad School and a few other topics. The goal is to have 4 or 5 topics covered where we can share the link and content can easily be consumed on the topic of your choice. If anyone else wants to share their experiences in one of the topics above, PM me.

The top posters report wasn't posted in the slow months in past years, so it seems "slower" as many of the users who only use the site during application season aren't here yet. However, the Community Activity report shows a 15% increase over the first week in Oct 2017, so the forum is actually more active than last year. @Adelaide9216 - what gives you the feeling the forum is less active? I'm curious so we can work to improve it.

All, Forum was upgraded today for a security fix. Let me know is you see any issues.

Here are September's top posters: @ResilientDreams @Adelaide9216 @Bodhicaryavatara @Psygeek @Hk328 @Sigaba @loffire @bibliophile222 @juilletmercredi @high_hopes Users with the highest reputation during September are as follows:(https://forum.thegradcafe.com/leaderboard/?custom_date_start=1535778000&custom_date_end=1538369999) @ResilientDreams @Warelin @telkanuru @Adelaide9216 Great job everyone!

Hello, We are excited to announce the release of a new logo and redesign (of the main site) - https://www.thegradcafe.com This is a much needed facelift and the beginning of more improvements to TGC over the coming months. Please note, this release was limited to cosmetic changes and functionality improvements will be added later. No changes were made to the forum other than the logo.

Final results for the August Top Posters Contest. Congratulations to the winners(1-3)! This will wrap up our contest, but we will still post this report as a monthly highlight of active users. FYI - You can also view the Leaderboard to find top members with the highest reputation during a certain period of time. https://forum.thegradcafe.com/leaderboard/ 1) @Sigaba 2) @BabyScientist 3) @ResilientDreams 3) @Adelaide9216 @Warelin @historygeek @juilletmercredi @Bodhicaryavatara @Hk328 @bayessays

Hey All, We will be opening up user blogging once again with the hopes of creating consistent content around: 1) The application process (how-to's, tips, dealing with stress, etc.) 2) Topics while attending (life in grad school) 3) Life after school (if I had to do it all over again, finding work, etc.) 4) Program specific (if you feel strongly about a program and have a lot to share) If you are interested, please respond with a topic of choice and I'll PM you with more details! For those who aren't aware of the blog ---> https://forum.thegradcafe.com/blogs/ Thanks!

This contest is a way to spur engagement during downtime. If members inflate their post count in a month to win a contest, they risk losing credibility. The Top Poster report has been around for years as a measure of involvement. Adding in a prize certainly leads to some quality concerns, but it is short term and meant to get people talking. Thank you for voicing your concern, it is valid and will be considered for future contests. I can assure you we have. I am very thankful for the current mods/senior members who have voiced their opinions/suggestions for improvement. We are doing what we can to improve, but it takes time. Noted. The point of the contest is to spur engagement. Less experienced users may feel motivated to post when they didn't before. It is possible these users are giving advice they believe is true. I hope if this is happening, regardless of contest or not, more knowledgeable members would also add their opinion. Asking questions is a valuable part of this community! Many lurkers don't feel comfortable asking questions and prefer to rely on others to do it. This contest/report is simply about getting involved! ----------------------- Thank you all for the feedback, it is appreciated.

August Top Posters Week 2 Update: 1) @BabyScientist 2) @Sigaba 3) @Adelaide9216 4) @Warelin 5) @indecisivepoet 6) @ResilientDreams 7) @historygeek 8 @kgras13 9) @bayessays 10) @FishNerd