TGCA

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!

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 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!

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!

Hello!

We are interested in recruiting new moderators and area moderators to join our staff. Moderators help their fellow members by answering questions and keeping the forum free from spam.

Moderators and Area Mods are an all-volunteer team.

Description:
Moderators would handle general moderating, possibly results, forum direction, forum admin/approvals/spam)

Area Mods would handle a niche of forums, spam cleanup, and enforcement of policies.
Additional responsibilities of both include answering questions from the community,

Requirements:
Active participation The ability to work well within a team Respect for all users If you are interested, simply send me a PM with the information below.
Essential information when applying:
Let us know your availability Which forums are you most interested in moderating? Explain your experience as a moderator (if applicable) Why do you want to become a moderator?
Your applications will be reviewed; if selected, either @TGCA or I will contact you.

I look forward to receiving and reviewing your application!

Hello GradCafe Community,
I would like to introduce myself as one of the new Admins on TheGradCafe! I’m excited to join the community and serve it in any way I can.
As some of you may or may not have noticed, TGC recently changed ownership. We have long viewed TGC as one of the most valuable communities for future and current grad students. It is our honor to be in a position to help this community continue being a top resource.
In recent years, the forum ownership was unable to dedicate time to help grow the community. We are excited to announce a renewed focus on growth and engagement. We realize the members are what make this community great and it is our intent to stay in the background and provide the resources to allow the forum to flourish.
While we hope for a smooth transition, there are always bumps in the road. We ask for patience as we work through them, but are confident this community will continue to offer tremendous value for years to come.
What to look for:
Reinstate blog posting (look for an exciting announcement regarding awards for top posters) Recognize top contributors on the forum each month with prizes Implement feature requests Improved server hardware for peak traffic season(already complete) Improved look and feel on the non-forum pages(thegradcafe.com, thegradcafe.com/survey/) Adding resources to help potential grad students along their journey(content, faqs, tools, etc.) An open ear to suggestions...we are eager to help and if there is something that can improve the community, we will do our best to add it If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to me and I will be happy to discuss!
See you around the forum!
Thanks,
TGCA

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.

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!

@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.

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.

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.

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).

I have been wanting to blog around here for about 5 years now yet kept on missing the windows...
Not sure which topic I fall under as I am one of the oldest members around here.  As such, I have a different take on the application process and on both life before and after graduate school.  Granted, I have yet to graduate from grad school myself, am currently in an MS program, and will be applying to Ph.D. programs next year, I have been out in the world for longer than, well, a long time.  I also have had to navigate through both undergrad and now an MS program largely on my own with zero help (including financial) from family and/or friends.  I have a lot to talk about.   

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
 

So, I googled tips and tricks for applying to graduate school. Why? Well, I guess I was afraid that I'd miss some special super secret way to make my applications better. Silly? Probably but I was on my third cup of coffee and reading through Hero and Leander by Spencer and needed a break. So far I love it. I could see myself still being here after I get accepted just to help out other people.

Hello! I'm new and nice and trying to figure things out. ^.^
Just from me thread lurking I've noticed that most people are really nice and tend to clarify if you don't know exactly what you're saying. I'm glad I stumbled onto this place.

I think we're in an era of a lot of changes coming to grad schools. Policies are changing due to changes in USA law. Some schools are dropping GRE requirements or are in the middle of revamping how they choose who to admit or how their curriculum to work. Many of us remain active in our own forums. On the Literature forum, there wasn't much of ad admin presence in the past; now there is.There are other forums that lacked much of an admin presence but now have one. I'm wondering if the reason you feel that we're less active is because we're active on different forums?
While the previous admins had a lot of knowledge in the Sciences, a lot of us are more comfortable with the Humanities. As a result, I think the knowledge that we feel comfortable sharing is very different from previous admins. I think we're all making an effort to be active on different forums but we don't want to give any misleading advice.

Hello GradCafe Community,
I would like to introduce myself as one of the new Admins on TheGradCafe! I’m excited to join the community and serve it in any way I can.
As some of you may or may not have noticed, TGC recently changed ownership. We have long viewed TGC as one of the most valuable communities for future and current grad students. It is our honor to be in a position to help this community continue being a top resource.
In recent years, the forum ownership was unable to dedicate time to help grow the community. We are excited to announce a renewed focus on growth and engagement. We realize the members are what make this community great and it is our intent to stay in the background and provide the resources to allow the forum to flourish.
While we hope for a smooth transition, there are always bumps in the road. We ask for patience as we work through them, but are confident this community will continue to offer tremendous value for years to come.
What to look for:
Reinstate blog posting (look for an exciting announcement regarding awards for top posters) Recognize top contributors on the forum each month with prizes Implement feature requests Improved server hardware for peak traffic season(already complete) Improved look and feel on the non-forum pages(thegradcafe.com, thegradcafe.com/survey/) Adding resources to help potential grad students along their journey(content, faqs, tools, etc.) An open ear to suggestions...we are eager to help and if there is something that can improve the community, we will do our best to add it If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to me and I will be happy to discuss!
See you around the forum!
Thanks,
TGCA

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!

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.

August Top Posters Week 1 Update:
1) @Adelaide9216
2) @Sigaba
3) @BabyScientist
4) @Warelin
5) @ResilientDreams
6) @JDtoPhDmaybe
7) @Hk328
8 @bayessays
9) @E-P
10) @kgras13
Great to see a few new members on this list! Remember, top 3 receive a $25 Amazon gift card. The difference between 10th place and 3rd is still quite slim.
Announcement:
I'd like to introduce @telkanuru and @punctilious as new moderators on the forum! Very excited to have them on the team.

August Top Posters Week 1 Update:
1) @Adelaide9216
2) @Sigaba
3) @BabyScientist
4) @Warelin
5) @ResilientDreams
6) @JDtoPhDmaybe
7) @Hk328
8 @bayessays
9) @E-P
10) @kgras13
Great to see a few new members on this list! Remember, top 3 receive a $25 Amazon gift card. The difference between 10th place and 3rd is still quite slim.
Announcement:
I'd like to introduce @telkanuru and @punctilious as new moderators on the forum! Very excited to have them on the team.

August Top Posters Week 1 Update:
1) @Adelaide9216
2) @Sigaba
3) @BabyScientist
4) @Warelin
5) @ResilientDreams
6) @JDtoPhDmaybe
7) @Hk328
8 @bayessays
9) @E-P
10) @kgras13
Great to see a few new members on this list! Remember, top 3 receive a $25 Amazon gift card. The difference between 10th place and 3rd is still quite slim.
Announcement:
I'd like to introduce @telkanuru and @punctilious as new moderators on the forum! Very excited to have them on the team.