Chasely

I just got the Nexus 7 and love it for reading PDFs. I had the same question about PDFs and found my answer through trial and error. I use ezPDF for reading/annotation, and use DropSync as a companion app to sync PDFs between the app and Dropbox. As far as note taking, I'm not so sure. Most tablets can't be used with fine-point styluses (like the WACOM tablet ones) so they're not the greatest for jotting down notes. I've heard good things about Papyrus, but haven't used it myself.

Just so you know, if your stipend is part of a fellowship, it might not be "earned" income for tax purposes, and therefore would be unavailable for contributions into a Roth IRA. Chances are, if you don't pay social security or medicare taxes, you don't have "earned" income. I'll also note that the amount of stipend depends a lot on your area of study. My stipend in engineering may be 50% higher than someone in say, history.

Holy smokes, you all live in cheap areas. Jealous over here. I would only save $200/month by owning instead of renting. Not worth the risk for me.

There's nothing wrong with it, but I would be sure to contribute financially to the household (pay your share of rent/utilities) so you don't seem dependent on them. Just make sure the they will be okay with any form of social or romantic life you plan to have.

I'm assuming that your getting out with your MS? A PhD isn't for everyone and I'm pretty sure your PI knows that. Explain your situation and your decision to your PI and department first, then your peers. The sooner the better so that they can make alternate plans. You should have a plan in place though for your departure since you never know how someone might react to the news. I'd imagine this isn't the first or last time that your PI will have seen this happen.

Thanks, the twelve week practicum is a one-time event, correct? You don't have to do that every year you have the fellowship, I hope. EDIT: Found the answer. It's a one-time requirement, to be completed in the first two years of the fellowship.

I'm in the process of applying. Intirb, you noted about the "obligations" in the program. If I read the materials correctly the only "obligation" is the 12-week research practicum, correct? I saw that fellows should "seriously consider" job offers from the DOE and their partners after completion of the fellowship, but you're not required to work somewhere specific upon completion of your PhD. Oh, and there's also the conferences each year. But that's it, right? I couldn't tell if you're then tied to your proposed research topic, or if you can change your research and still receive the fellowship (contingent upon you still doing computational science relevant work). Let me know if there is anything else.

I'm dealing with this right now too. My advisor asked for my CV so he could write me a letter of rec for a small scholarship. Gotta figure out what to do today! I'm going to ask around and I'll report back here with what I find.

Title says it all. I've used Mendeley and it works for a small library, but I'm wondering how it will do as my library continues to grow. Anyone have experience with both, and what are your thoughts?

I've done it as well. But be sure to check the professor's website (if they have one) first. Some choose to put up syllabi and other course materials from previous semesters.

The nice thing I find about grad courses (in the sciences at least) is that as the material gets more concentrated, the likelihood of there being a suitable textbook diminishes. In my experience, this leads to professors copying the appropriate material from other sources and putting them together in a course packet (free of charge, of course). Of the 6 or so grad courses I've had so far, only two of them had a required textbook. On a more unrelated note, to those who use SAS/SPSS: why do departments choose to use that software instead

Friday was my last day at work. I was rueing the job a few times this summer, but left with good feelings for the work and the people. That being said, I'm glad that I'm going to grad school. I start my program in a couple weeks. In the mean time, I'll likely be doing a whole lot of nothing

+1 for this tomato soup recipe, it's fantastic: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/michael-chiarello/homemade-tomato-soup-recipe/index.html

My partner and I spend a lot on groceries, almost $700/month (how did that happen?). Since my income is about to go down by 40%, we need to start spending less money, and groceries are an easy target. Since we eat well (grass fed meat a majority of the time, organic when it matters, etc) and don't want to compromise that, we're trying to go vegetarian ~3 times a week. Another problem is that my partner is hypoglycemic, so cheap foods like rice/pasta can't be eaten in large portions. Our garden is starting to kick in now, which really decreases the amount of produce that we need to buy. It's amazing how much food $3 in seeds can provide. A Costco recently opened up near us. We're debating getting a membership. We'll likely go in there one day to compare the prices on what we usually buy to our other options. We have a house with plenty of storage though, I imagine things would get pretty cramped if we tried storing all that stuff in our old apartment.

Why not read something light/fun? Two more weeks and then the grind is on! I've got a two week break after work ends and school begins. I plan to do a lot of nothing to "get it out of my system."

Vader makes an important point. When are you most productive? This is the first question that needs to be answered if you're going to try and "set" your hours. I know that I'm most productive early in the morning. Because of this, I plan to get into work "early" (8) and then work for a few hours. In the afternoon, I'm pretty bad. I'm hoping that taking an hour break late morning/early afternoon will boost my productivity for the rest of the day. This is not something I've been able to try at my desk job, so it will be an experiment for me. So all in all I'm planning on working from 8-5:30/6 with about 90 minutes of breaks sprinkled in. This includes courses so I may need to add some more time to the end of my day. It's hard to get in earlier because the gym on my campus opens at 7 (late by gym standards). I would try and go to the gym in the middle of the day, but then you're dealing with wearing "dirty" clothes for the second half of the day.

I agree with TakeruK. There are farm more PhDs (Drs.) than there are Professors. I think calling a professor Professor is a subconscious nod to all the hard work that they had to do during and after their PhD in order to get a TT job. Of course then there are the real Drs. I doubt anyone outside of academia worries about this too much

I hadn't thought about that. The iPad becomes a lot more flexible with the external keyboards. In order to make me feel better about my choice, a quote from the inventor of the computer: : A cool little story: http://joelrunyon.com/two3/an-unexpected-ass-kicking That being said, people are becoming more creative with iPads and finding ways to be productive on them.

It's not surprising that they'd look up students. I figure it would have to be something really good (or bad) in order to make a difference. I have a very, very, very unique name so I didn't come across an incorrect google result in the first five pages. Luckily, nothing bad except for a livejournal (remember those?!) post my high school friend made with my name in it. Nothing bad about me, but a lot of swearing.

This. I keep myself relatively well informed, but that's about it. I'm not going to waste my energy arguing with people that don't agree with me and aren't going to change their opinion. Politics in this country are toxic, and they nearly all politicians suck. Even the ones I like.

This is what I was thinking/worried about. I'm familiar and comfortable with my advisors so I've asked both of them. One of them "strongly encourages" it, though he admits he's biased. The other one is currently doing research oversees so I likely won't hear from him for another week or so.

I would say that's about right. I can tell when I've moved in my mint.com account because my cash flow for that month is very negative....

Hello all, Like many of you, I'm starting my PhD (straight from undergrad) this fall. My department requires 50-something credits beyond the bachelor's level to graduate. My questions is, do you take the minimum required course load in your program, or do you take (significantly) more classes than are required? I would especially appreciate opinions from those that are ABD or further along in their degree. I think part of my reason for asking this is because I'm looking at all these wonderful classes I'd like to take and things I'd like to learn. This may be quite naive of me right now, and these feelings could change as I progress in my studies. I also did my undergrad at the same institution (academic incest, I know) so I can transfer a dozen credits from undergrad to my PhD program. This is nice because I have fewer classes to take in my department, but also allows me to think of other things I'd like to do that I feel would help with my research and specialization; like getting master's degree in another department, for example. The problem with this, is that I could easily see myself taking one or two semester's worth of classes that I wouldn't necessarily have to do, and these times could be better dedicated to research. At the same time, I feel like learning these things would help me in my research. Any thoughts are appreciated. Sorry for the rambling.

I think the differences depend on the school you're going to. This is how I see it: MEng is considered a terminal, professional degree. Getting this degree means that you have no intention on going on towards a PhD. A MSE means that you may want to, at some point, want to go on for a PhD in the field. In theory, an MSE is supposed to be a thesis(research)-based degree and MEng is a coursework based degree. In practice, I know that some schools allow you to do a coursework-based MSE. My school, for example, the MEng degree requires a minor with a professional emphasis (>=6 hrs), a master's project (3 hrs), at least one class in management, law, stats, economics, etc. I think you could do all of these things inside the MSE as well, but they're not required for the MSE. I would look at the requirements for each degree of your school, and then put the requirements side by side and see how they stack up. I personally would go for a MSE, but I'm going for my PhD, so I'm biased. I highly doubt that there is any preference in industry, as long as you end up getting your PE.

Just finished this last night. I skimmed through some of the parts where he was describing his programs since, as a non CompSci person, it was all greek to me. I'd generally recommend the memoir. It's a quick and easy read and gives a glimpse into the PhD life that (some) of us are just about to start.