Teaching Faculty Wannabe

That is a good question. I am guessing it depends on a lot of things. Funding, the amount of people coming into the departments, colleges, and the university that got the GEM Fellowhsip. Also, the size of the school might play a role, but who knows. I feel like funding plays the most important role when it comes to this.

That's amazing! With mine, they are just dreams and hopefully one day will happen! But you are actually going out and doing THE THING! I hope you have a wonderful time exploring Asia!

Thank you! Congrats on being accepted to the University of Delaware! Also, I hope your other two interviews went well or go well!

I got my first in-person interview! I am sooooo excited! YAY! I was definitely losing hope there.

...I do some yoga and/or binge watch movies and shows.

Oh my goodness! I relate to this so much! I applied to nine, nada from any of them so far. I have looked at the results and people are already getting interviews, acceptances, and rejections from some of the schools I applied to. I just want to hear something. ANYTHING! I wasn’t eating all that well either nor sleeping well. I have to force myself to relearn self-care, like yoga and meditating and drinking tea and getting enough sleep, but it’s still hard.? Good luck to everyone, though! ??

Nope :(.

Bummer :(. Oh well. It’s kind of sad because I got a travel grant to visit UMich for a recruitment weekend with the College of Engineering in October, and thought I had a chance because of that. Darrrrnnnn.

Oh, I have soooooo many places I want to visit, I could on forever. But I would love to travel around the US more. Visit some national parks (Yellowstone, Grand Canyon, Yosemite) and big cities (Boston, Seattle, Portland, San Fran, Philly, Chicago), eat delicious food at mom-and-pop places, and make memories with the people I am with. My dream trip, though, is either exploring Europe by train or go to Japan, Singapore, Thailand, and Korea all in one big trip.

@sirTintin Congrats on those amazing replies! I actually did a combination of the two last night. Most of them I emailed directly since I already had their emails already after asking for the fee waivers. However, there were three that I used to contact through the GEM website. One of those people have already contacted me and three other people that I contacted directly have replied back as well. So, I think both ways is fine, but I think if you already have their email, you might as well email them directly. Also, as mentioned above by these two wonderfully helpful people, I highly suggest contacting the GEM Reps about getting an internship. Two of them are telling the departments for me and the other two are telling me to update the department about the internship. They all seem very excited for me, which not only makes me feel good but also gives me some hope that I might still have a chance of getting in! I am really thankful for all the people who have helped me during this entire process, especially you all on this specific forum! Thank you! Good luck everyone, and to those waiting to hear back from employers, I hope you hear something soon!

I feel like I have been lucky to have a mother is and grandparents that were university professors. I’ve seen all they had to deal with as not only the cultures of their departments, but also the struggle of being minorities in such work environments. If I wanted to get a PhD to become a professor, I honestly would not have applied because not only is it difficult to get a professorship, it’s hard to get tenured, hard to juggle everything that comes with being a professor (advising, teaching, research, etc), and dealing with the toxicity of some departments. It’s not always bad, but it’s definitely not the greatest, especially the tenured process. However, I agree if you are so passionate about a field that the poor prospects you may face after getting a PhD are not deterring you, then it is what you were meant to do. Getting a PhD is pretty much a leap of faith, in my opinion. But hopefully worth it!

I think I would try to work at a university or company as a research assistant or lab tech. If that doesn’t work, at least get a job in retail until I get a science or engineering job. Work for a year or maybe two in order of get some experience. I might travel if I get a enough money at some point. After that, I would apply again. But I would want to get some more research experience under my belt since I am already taking a gap year and I wouldn’t want to look like a slacker. My dream is to travel more, though, if admission this time doesn’t work!

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So, I am assuming if we hadn't gotten an interview from UMich by now, then that's no bueno??

It was about a month ago when I accepted, so I don't remember all that well. I think there is a link at the top of the page that takes you to where you accept/reject, like @ray92 said.

Thanks! That's a good point.

Do you think it's a bad idea to contact the grad admissions person for the specific departments I applied to as well? Telling them that I have been selected? Or do you think telling the GEM Rep is good enough?

I actually haven't heard anything either, and I am wondering the same thing. I was think of contacting each school saying that I have been selected for as a full fellow, but I don't know.

Phone case

I hope this helps! Good luck!

Very neat! Some cool research being done in these areas! Please find better ways for these things! They are so cool, but need a lot of improvements as well! Make some super earth-friendly batteries!

I forgot to mention this when I first replied to you, but your name is cool. Very material science-y! I love it!

It was mostly a Q&A call, but at the beginning they mentioned the things you need to do in order to confirm yourself as a GEM Full Fellow, such as send in your transcript, post the professional photo, get a letter from your employer and give it to GEM, and accept a university. All of that stuff you can find in the email they send a few weeks ago. Also, a couple answers they gave that I found useful. 1. If the schools that you applied to haven't verified that you are an applicant by Feb. 1st, contact GEM and let them know. They will try to get you verified, but there are no guarantees. Also, a week or so before this due date, you can contact the GEM Rep for that specific school to ask about your application's verification. 2. GEM is stackable with other fellowships. You have to ask the other fellowships you may receive if they can be combined with the GEM Fellowship. 3. The only way you can become a full fellow is that you have both a employer sponsor and a university sponsor. If you don't have an employer, then you still have a chance of getting the other two fellowships. However, if you don't have a university sponsor, you can't get any fellowship and have to give up your internship. 4. For the first year, PhD students get a $16,000 stipdend from GEM, which will be given directly to the university and will be paid out to the student in two terms. The university gives you the money the form they want, such as cash, check, or direct deposit. The university can give you more money than that stipend amount your first year, but it all depends on the university and your agreement with them. Years 2-5, you will receive a stipend from the university only. If your a full fellow, tuition and fees will be paid for those fives years. 5. Make sure that you stay in good standing with your university. For PhD students, the minimum GPA you need in order to keep the GEM Fellowship is 3.0, however the minimum GPA you need to stay in good standing with your university may be higher. If you aren't in good standing with the university, you can't keep the fellowship. I hope this helps!

@sgaw10 So, I have some advice from my experience with visiting the University of Michigan in October. It wasn't an interview, just a visit weekend, however I still had many awkward moments. The first hour is going to be awful because you have to continuously convince yourself to interact with people. You don't have to be the person talking all the time, but engaging in conversation can be tough since you barely know anyone. However, once you get over that, I feel like it gets better. You will start finding people to connect with, and wouldn't mind being quiet around, especially if they are introvert themselves. As people said, it will be exhausting. When in Michigan, grad students took visitors to a bar after dinner and some ice cream. Once we arrived, I was really not feeling it, especially after waking up at 6:30am that morning, visiting various labs, talking with faculty, touring the campus, meeting a lot of new people, and going to presentations. I was exhausted, but then these two other visitors I had talked to throughout the day asked if I wanted to head back to the hotel. I was like, "yes!". However, I feel like since where you are going to is an actual interview, I would have stayed for a little bit before heading back to connect with grad students and other applicants, if I was in your position. Don't push your limits, though. If you are tired, go to bed. It's good to make connections, but you also want to be well-rested during your interview weekend. Also, remember that you aren't the only one who won't know anyone nor the only introvert that will be there. Everyone has to get over that initial hump of introductions, and sadly extroverts seem to have an easier time at this, but you totally got this! Good luck with the interview!!!

This conference call is so informative. If you have been selected and got an email about this call and have questions to ask, you should join it tomorrow.