fuzzylogician
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Posts posted by fuzzylogician
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1 hour ago, PhD_hopeful_ said:
Hi. I applied for F1 to do my PhD in Chemistry. At the end of the interview she told me I will have to go through Administrative Processing and I should get my Visa the following week. She did not issue me a 221g slip nor request additional info. She just kept my passport and I20. Should I be concerned?
Sounds like you're in the clear.
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Please don't cross-post. To respond, click here:
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@AstroMason Thanks for coming back to update us, and congrats on your successful interview!
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8 hours ago, Sangria1700 said:
I'm mostly interested in how I'd be perceived on the job market as you stated, and what might happen if a department hires me thinking I'm an X researcher and then I start doing Y research before I'm tenured. I know sometimes hires are made based on research area in order to diversify the department in a certain way, or to maintain a specialty area.
There won't be a uniform answer to this question, unfortunately. It's going to depend on the job. Generally speaking, you're often hired into a particular specialty and that's going to affect your teaching and to some extent, your advising expectations. Research is usually more flexible. It's well known that scholars develop in unpredictable ways, so you may gravitate toward field Y even though you were hired as an X specialist. I want to say that that shouldn't cause you trouble if you are productive in your research on Y, but I think it can be the case in some situations that departments are unhappy with such a development, and it might have some influence on tenure decisions. It's honestly impossible to tell how often that happens and actually causes someone to lose their tenure case. What is entirely possible is that you change your interests but are still expected to teach in your original field and to advise work in that area, maybe even to bring in grant money in that field, if that's something that is relevant for you. Something to keep in mind and discuss with your advisors, if they are open to the conversation.
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You don't have to attend the whole thing, but strategically speaking, it makes a whole lot of sense to show up at least for some events. Your registration fees have been paid for and you live in town, so this is a free networking opportunity. Why pass up on it? For networking, it's less about sitting in on talks (though attending a few talks in your subfield and asking good questions is useful); it's about the times between talks, the lunches and dinners, the poster sessions, etc, where you can meet new people and catch up with people you know. This is crucial. There is a limit to how many people you can know through direct collaboration.
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In that case, your dissertation project might not define the researcher you'll become, but it will certainly influence the way you present yourself when you go on the job market your first few years out of grad school. You'll find yourself saying things like "I am broadly interested in XYZ; in my dissertation, I specifically study ABC and conclude that [blah]" fairly often when introducing yourself to people. Your dissertation topic will obviously change how the ensuing conversation goes and how people then perceive you. It might change what jobs you're perceived as most qualified for. Now, that said, it's also not the be-all end-all of your career. There's something to be said for picking the more promising project, especially if the other project is in a similar area so it doesn't change your academic profile as much. Another important factor is who you'll end up working with. A wonderful topic with a difficult advisor might not be worth it. But also keep in mind that the dissertation writing process is hard, even when you're very passionate about your project, so you should be at least somewhat enthusiastic about whatever you choose now. Something my advisors said to me that I came to appreciate a lot was not to put everything in my dissertation, and instead to have a project that's in earlier stages that could become my first post-PhD project. This was important because it removed a lot of the struggles that I saw some peers go through trying to figure out what to do next, now that this huge project they invested a few years of their lives in was suddenly over. So even if you don't pick a project to run with now, it doesn't mean you can't work on it later. This is an important decision, but it doesn't have to solely define who you become as an academic.
I hope you're noticing from this that I'm not going to tell you what to do. There are pros and cons to either decision and you need to make your own.
- TMP, rising_star and TakeruK
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As a general rule, for a broad audience it's often wise to start out slower, explicitly laying out the basics of your subfield and research question. But you're there to report a new finding, and you should make sure you get to that. Also as a general rule, assume you audience is all smart and well-read, but maybe they're not up on the latest buzzwords of your particular question, so you're there not to educate anyone but simply to make sure you're all speaking the same language at the outset. I'd recommend speaking with your advisor and others who'd attended this particular conference to learn what's expected. Even if the conference is large, if there are multiple sessions you are likely to get people who are interested in your work, hence who have at least some familiarity with your subfield. If that's the case you may not need to be all that slow, though I find it's still often helpful to be explicit about your assumptions, because conference days are long and not everyone will be familiar with everything you say. Think of it as an exercise in being helpful to your audience.
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Are we talking MA or PhD?
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I assume you mean whether you should put the paper with your name on it on your CV, obviously you can't put the other one there however much you think you deserve to. It's your choice what to put on your CV; you're not obligated to put all of your papers on there. If you do put a paper on there, though, I think it's fair game in the sense that you might get asked about it (e.g. in any interviews, or just in casual conversation), and you're signaling that you stand behind the results. If it's a paper stemming from undergrad work where you're a middle author and you're not even sure how your name got on it, personally I would leave it out. I don't think it'll help your career any, and frankly I would prefer not to have my name associated with something like that.
And on a broader note, this practice of putting people's names on papers without their knowledge sounds just crazy to me. Also of not giving junior staff their due credit, but geez. How does a paper go through an entire review process when there are authors who aren't even aware of the paper? I would think at the very least there'd be an email and an opportunity to read a draft and comment/withdraw. I hope this isn't common.
- TakeruK and Adelaide9216
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You're describing a fairly standard situation: you have some strengths and some deficiencies in your application. Play to your strengths. Define your research interests, as they have developed based on [course X, work experience Y, volunteer activity Z, etc] and support your readiness to pursue them by expanding on the experience(s) you have, regardless of where they came from. Choose schools that are a good fit for those interests and explain why that is the case. Pick about 2-3 such interests/experiences to discuss to show breadth but also focus. There is no reason to play down experiences that come from unusual sources (if that's actually true, I'd bet that lots of applicants have such volunteer/other experiences that shape their grad school choices). If you wrote/will write a thesis, that goes under "research experience", too, and should be discussed as well. Remember that experience is different from publications or presentations; at this stage, the former matters much more. It's about showing your potential and convincing the school that you're a good investment. The rest can come later.
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What I am confused about is whether the opportunity to work in this lab (beyond the summer) actually exists or if the OP just hopes that it is. OP, you need to speak with the PI about this option and about your future goals, and whether/how this position would further those goals. I'm also not sure I understand the plan of going from biochemistry BA to an infectious diseases and global health MA and what the PhD would then be in. It's hard to weigh these two options against each other when it's not clear that both are actually options and what the broader end goal actually is. If you want to show an improved GPA, clearly that's something only the MA will give you and a lab tech position will not. If it's research experience, then the lab position will likely help more. If it's defining your research interests, then each option will take you in a different direction and you need to decide which one is better for you. There are ways of leveraging both options into a stronger application next year.
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I don't think that there is any risk of being taken less seriously because you start out your first few conversations talking about logistics. I think this would be a good opportunity to get a feel for this potential advisor and see how you get along when the stakes are low, which is a net positive. You should -- at the same time -- also keep your options open and meet with other people. You never know how relationships develop; your potential advisor may not be available for some reason (illness, moving to another school) or just not a good match with your personality. Or, your interests may shift, etc. Take this as a positive starting point, but remember that it's just a first-year advising commitment at the moment on both your parts, so you don't need to worry about it overmuch.
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Outside perspective: 12 credits of grad courses can be very different from the same amount of undergrad credits. Some people can do it and some can't. Over time, it can easily lead to burnout. To the extent that you can, I would suggest starting with the recommended number of credits and seeing how you cope and adjust. You could also see if you can track down current students in your program who are trying to do the same thing to get a first hand account of how doable it is. Since you're suggesting this, I assume it's a possibility and at least some students take advantage of it. Ask the department admin or the chair (or whoever you're in contact with) to put you in touch with some of them.
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1 hour ago, laekkauai said:
... it was worded along the lines of "we would like to offer you admission for the ... degree program" if I was interested. My response was that I was excited but that I wanted to visit and learn more before making a decision.
Oh well that sounds a little different. That doesn't sound like an offer yet, but more like a "would you be interested" preliminary step. Given your response and the fact that you visited only 4 business days ago, I'm not too surprised that things aren't finalized yet. It doesn't actually sound like you got a "congratulations! You've been accepted" email yet. I hope you followed up with whoever wrote you and expressed your enthusiasm for the program after your visit. Writing the admissions person might have been skipping a step.
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16 hours ago, laekkauai said:
I was offered admission via email on June 1 by the dept head. Visited the school/program on June 6th.
When I contacted the admissions person, I was told that she was not aware of this communication, so I had to forward her the email I received. If it's not a formal offer, do they still have a chance to not offer me admission? Are they accountable to the offer they made via email?
The chances that you won't receive the official offer exist but they are diminishingly small. Admissions may or may not go through the admissions office (those usually deal more with undergrads) and may take a bit of time to finalize, even if decisions do through that office (that is, the process may still be stuck department-internally for whatever reason, e.g. an admin who's on vacation). I understand the anxiety, but I don't think you have anything to worry about at this point.
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"abroad" is a pretty large place. Different schools will reach their admissions decisions differently, so it's entirely possible -- in fact, highly likely -- that some might care about specific grades in specific courses and some might only look at your overall GPA. I think that a safe bet is that you want at least decent, if not good, grades in your in-major courses, because low grades could be a red flag. That doesn't mean that any single low grade is a kiss of death (it's not!) because it's just one factor in an entire application, but you probably want to keep your in-major grades, especially in the higher level courses, relatively high. You also want to show an upward trend, in case you had lower grades earlier on. And if need be, you may consider explaining why there is a dip in your grades in a certain semester or year (e.g. because of a medical condition or a problem at home, ideally something that's now resolved or under control).
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If you search "impostor syndrome" you'll find that it starts early and stays with people throughout their career. You are not alone, this is completely normal.
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It sort of depends on where your strengths and weaknesses are. If you are lacking strong letters, a writing sample, or more experience to clearly define your interests, this might be a good idea. If you need to make up for low UG scores, that might be another reason. But keep in mind that MAs are often not funded, so you may be taking on a lot of debt, and that's not necessarily worth it. You might also look into post-bacc programs, or working as a lab manager somewhere.
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No. Once you have a statement from the school that your finances are sufficient, that's all you'll need for the interview. What might happen is that your assistantship doesn't pay enough and the school itself asks you to show additional funds before they issue you the I-20, but then they'll just show this additional funding on the document they produce for you to show you have enough funding to obtain the visa. At the interview itself, this document should be enough.
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As someone with a non-western name, I would agree, but sadly that’s not how life works right now. (And of course we could have a longer conversation about many other forms of discrimination.)
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48 minutes ago, Adelaide9216 said:
Yes, and I believe this was precisely due to potential for discrimination that it's not the case in North America, am I correct?
Indeed. It’s also the reason you’re not supposed to put your age, marital status, etc on there.
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It’s common in some parts of Europe but it’s never done in North America.
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Good luck!!!
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This will depend on the school so it's a bit hard to say, but I can tell you that at least for the schools I've studied or taught at, it wouldn't have made any difference. Applications are reviewed on merit and independently of any funding issues. The only way I can see it helping is if you were borderline or on a waitlist (so independently judged as good enough), in which case I can imagine this pushing you over the line. But for any strong school, I think what will really matter is your application.
Administrative processing
in IHOG: International House of Grads
Posted
They said your visa was approved, they didn't give you the 221g, they took your passport and told you'll get it back with the visa stamp in it in a week. That sounds precisely like how an approved visa application goes.