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Teaching Faculty Wannabe

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Everything posted by Teaching Faculty Wannabe

  1. @sgaw10 I am so sorry. I think I remember you talking about your parents, especially your mom's, misunderstanding of grad school and the finances that come with it. I think what your family needs to learn is that you are an adult now. You have your own life. You can't stop everything for them and they should get that. I am sorry they don't and make you feel guilty, especially during the start of grad school which already has multitudes of stressfullness in of itself. I wish I could provide a solution, but I don't think there is much you can do per se but be honest with them. Once you do, then your family has to change. You can't change them, sadly.
  2. Check out this website: https://sweetpeasandsaffron.com/ There are other websites that have tips and recipes on meal prepping. I hope this helps!
  3. Taking a gap year was worth it! I went into the internship I am doing now refreshed and ready to work!
  4. Nope, but I believe last week I got an email saying to fill out the info for my internship in a Google Form. Did you get that?
  5. Does anyone who got the award have advice to give to those that were not recommended, but have the opportunity to apply again? What do you think made your application stand out?
  6. They had a seminar for the Full Fellows (or maybe everyone, not sure) I believe last week and they said that they are trying to confirm people this week, but it seems like it is taking longer than they thought. We should be getting a letter or something in the mail from them confirming the fellowship. Additionally, I think they are supposed to send out an email when they are finished with the confirmation process.
  7. Nope. I am thinking it will show up next week, i hope.
  8. Well, the thing about engineering is how interdisciplinary all of it is. They are all connected in one way or another. However, of course, you will learn specific and different things in each one. So, when you are trying to decide on what you want to do, first think about your interests in general not based on the engineering fields, themselves. Then combine those interests to see what engineering fields fit them. You will have to look into the fields themselves to see what they focus on more and decide from there which curriculum you like better. For example, I like biology, chemistry, polymers, most materials science, biomaterials, math, and some physics. I like them all on their own, but especially like them together. When I combine them, I could either do chemical engineering, mechanical engineering, biomedical engineering, or materials science/engineering. However, I chose materials science/engineering at my undergrad degree because I liked the focus it had on chemistry, physics, and materials. However, I have decided to choose biomedical engineering for my PhD because it has more of an empathize on biology, polymers, and biomaterials while still being to focus on materials science, and chemistry. I never chose to do chemical engineering because even though I could combine all of my interests in this field, the work in it was too focused on the chemical side of things rather the materials and biology sides (which I like more). I also didn't do mechanical engineering because it had too much physics for my liking. I hope this helps and make sense. It is kind of like putting a puzzle together. Good luck!
  9. Sending good vibes and love! Hopefully one day it will feel worth it!
  10. I am so sorry about your parents, especially your mother, for not understanding. I hope one day they do!
  11. I think you did the right thing. I told someone I liked them a semester and a half before both of us graduated from undergrad. They were in the relationship at the time (I hadn't known because I wasn't super close with them, but had talked with them many times and taken many classes with them AKA we were in the same major). Two weeks before graduating, they kissed me when we were both really drunk (our classmates were out drinking together to celebrate the semester before graduating). FYI, they were broken up with their partner at the time. That was the worst thing they could have done because my feelings got deeper but they weren't ready to be in a relationship (although, they got back together with their ex a few months later, ugh). It took so much time to get over them, and we kissed one last time after that night as a stupid goodbye, I guess. So, what I am trying to say here is that it was good that you didn't string him along. The timing doesn't seem to be right for the both of you, and it was good that you acknowledged that instead of ending up hurting each other more in the end. I am sorry you are in so much pain right now, but I promise you it will get better.
  12. I think this is great! Your post is inspiring me to do the same before I start in August. For me, I think I am going to had another category: Communication. This can connect with Professionalization in the sense of presenting at conferences, and writing research articles. Personally, I want to learn how to present to crowds with varying amounts of knowledge of my topic. I think it's important to be able to relay information to people with different backgrounds, but especially to the general public. Scientists have a hard time trying to make the public understand their research and the importance of it, and that's definitely a skill I want to work on while doing my PhD. Additionally, another category I would think of adding is Volunteering. I plan on doing outreach programs with my department and college. I am not sure if you find this important for your goals, but it is something to consider. I am not sure if you are really overthinking or overly complicating things, but just be prepared to not accomplish everything you want to accomplish since being a grad students is a very time-consuming task. It is a good thing to keep in mind, and you shouldn't beat yourself up for it if some things don't happen like you want them to. Getting a PhD is not about becoming a perfect researcher--that's impossible, but it is possible to try your best, learn a lot, and use those things you learned to grow as a researcher and as a person.
  13. I haven't gotten anything official from GEM, but I will start my internship at the beginning of June (which is so soon, ahh!)! I have been doing a lot of paperwork for my internship and such.
  14. @palyndrone@bibliophile222 1. I think the above two users did a good job of this. One thing I will point out is that if you are looking at apartment complexes, the leasing office will show you their best place. It will be like a showroom sort of thing. So, whenever you move, don't expect it to be that pristine, clean, and put together like the place they showed you. Also, ask what utilities (gas, electricity, wifi, heat, water, sewer, trash, recycling, cable, etc) are included and excluded in the rent? 2. 9 months would only be better if you are unsure about the place, but then that means you have to move earlier. So, it's up to you really. Be aware that the rent might be more expensive if you do a 9 moths lease. 3. and 4. It might be more expensive to live on campus, but if you are worried about loneliness, then this might be the best option. Living on campus connects you to the university and you can easily go to public places filled with students and go to school events. I hope this helps!
  15. @dalamplighter Well, let's compare the two even further. NSF 3 years of support $34,000 per year plus $12,000 towards tuition Get access to supercomputer/massive database (or something of that sort) No service obligation Can apply to NSF GROW and NSF GRIP (only for NSF GRFP awardees) More known in academia NDSEG 3 years of support $4,000 per month ($48,000 per year), $5000 travel budget, $1200 towards health insurance, all tuition and fees are paid I imagine, access to DoD facilities (some researchers might not like DoD bc they don't like working with the military maybe???) No service obligation More known in industry and engineering (this fellowship is highly known in the engineering fields, but it seems less in neuroscience) So, I am unsure if you have to pay tuition and fees in your program. I will only have to pay fees when I start in the fall. If you do have to pay tuition, then that can help you save a lot of money! But if tuition isn't an issue, you would get $14,000 more per year ($1,167 more per month) with the NDSEG + a travel budget + money to cover health insurance if your school doesn't cover it for you. So, here is my two cents. NSF will give you less money but will provide you more opportunities because you get to apply to NSF internships that are exclusive to NSF GRFP Fellows. However, if you don't think you will use those opportunities and would feel better about having more money, then NDSEG would be better. I hope this helps! Good luck!
  16. There really is no way to shortlist without missing out on some schools because there are so many. But you first have to start looking at a lot of schools and then narrowing down that list until you get to a point you feel good about. Just as a warning, this can get very exhausting. This is how I chose my schools. 1. I excluded all schools that were in areas of the country that I didn't want to live in. For example, for me I didn't want to live in the South (I lived there my whole life) nor the Midwest. I also limited the amounts of schools I applied to in California (only one) because it is very expensive to live there. 2. I then excluded more schools by whether if they are in small towns, big towns, or cities. This part is really difficult (I ended up picking a place that is in a small town, but it is close to a small city and easy to travel to big cities that are a little further away). However, you want to be happy where you live. Figure out what sort of environment you like living in. 3. Look at the list of rankings of schools for your particular field. Rankings shouldn't be your top priority when looking at schools, but they provide a good list of schools to look into. 4. Read research papers on projects you find interesting, and see what schools the authors are at. By doing this, you will at least have a long list of possible schools. In order to reduce it down more, you need to do some in-depth research on most of the schools on this list by going to their websites. When you are doing research on the schools, you should pay attention to these factors: 1. Research focuses. Most departments have research areas they focus on. Make sure they have the research area you are interested in. If not, get rid of that school immediately. 2. Potential advisors. Find at least two people you would like to work with at each university. I aimed for three, but two should be good. If there is only one person, I would eliminate that school because there is no guaranteeing you will work with that person. 3. Tuition scholarship/waivers plus funding. You want to make sure that you will have your tuition waived along with getting funding at the school. This is usual for PhDs, but not as common for Masters. However, some schools might not support PhDs in that way, so make sure they do. 4. Application fees. Applying to grad school is expensive. If you have a hard time choosing between applying to schools that are similar in nature, maybe eliminate the ones with higher application fees. I hope this helps! Good luck!
  17. Thank you so much for this! I know a little bit of Spanish, and I think have heard that phrase, but I had to look it up to remember, haha. I am going to write it down to remember! I am proud of everyone else in the BME/BIO chat! I feel like we sort of became an online family and some from that chat are going to be in same cohort as I am at UConn, which is exciting! It has definitely made me thing about my work, and I will grow from this. Not all of it, but some of my reviewer's feedback were useful. I also thankful for the GEM Fellowship since I get extra money and an awesome internship this summer! Thank you for offering to help! I might take you up on that!
  18. I am very proud of all of those you got the award! That's awesome! However, as a "Not Recommended" person with some conflicting reviews and I think a bit nitpicky at that, I feel defeated. The thing keeping me going is the fact that I got an internal fellowship and an external fellowship and I have an awesome PhD research advisor with great project ideas, which I feel super lucky about. Also, I can't let this experience as well as my successes define me, just have to put a little bit of effort into getting over the reveviewers' words. I guess you can't win them all. Also, I am proud of myself for a good application in general. I didn't have a mentor to help me, and I wasn't even currently working on research at the time, but I did get help from two people, which I am super thankful for. Good luck to everyone on their future endeavors!
  19. Yes...I feel bad about that.....I shouldn't have used my desire for a different reality to justify my reasoning/ horrible advice...It is wrong and I shouldn't have let my optimism blind me... I apologize @bric for giving you and others unrealistic advice. Getting a professorship is not an easy thing to do at all, even if you get a degree from a top-ranked program. If you still feel like applying to professorships anyways, then do so because you never know, but the reality is that you, just like the rest of those who want to be professors, will have to think of things to do outside of being a professor when it comes to your career. Despite all of that, congrats on getting into grad school! You should be proud of yourself!
  20. I see. I agree with all of your points. I know entering into academia is difficult, especially now. My mom are and her parents were university professors. I am sure it was easier for them back then to get jobs, but since my mom is still in that world today, I have gotten exposure to the current difficulties of academia. It is hard to even get the job, and then it is even hard to get tenured once you have gotten the job. I know working hard won't get you into a professorship. I know my beliefs are not reflective of reality. I just wish reality weren't so based on prestige and who has the most money. Not everyone can afford prestige, and because of this, it can greatly prevent them from achieving their dreams of becoming a professor. I just wish the world wasn't the way it is. I know I can't personally change that. Maybe that can't ever change, which makes me sad.
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