juilletmercredi

-My first two summers, I worked as a research assistant for my advisor. I had summer funding that paid for me if I worked 20 hours a week. -My third summer, I worked as an intern at a market research company. -My fourth and this (my fifth) summer, I am working as a teaching assistant for a summer program for undergraduates in my field.

It is NOT tax-free. The amount that is tax-free is the amount that pays for tuition, fees, and required expenses. If you get a stipend or fellowship to pay for room and board, you do have to pay taxes on that. If you "avoid" paying taxes on virtually all fellowships in the U.S. used to pay for living expenses, then you're illegally not paying taxes (unless the amount is less than $5,000). Schools generally quote you the untaxed amount, and I've found that they vary wildly in how much responsibility they take over taxes. Sometimes, they hire you as an RA or TA and they take the taxes out of your check. Sometimes, they give you all the money and you have to pay taxes yourself. It's typically about 15-20% of the total stipend.

I think more often than not it's a phenomenon much like "reverse racism" - in that the very people who feel they are being wronged are in fact simply worried they will not get the advantage they feel they are owed. I was trying to say this and/or put a finger on what bothered me about this post/idea and Queen of Kale just hit the nose on the head with this. Why would you even care if certain people think you're a bit ridiculous for getting a PhD? First of all, getting a PhD IS a bit ridiculous (I'm getting one myself). Embrace that you are doing something that is just a bit crazy, and laugh at yourself. Second of all, I don't see how this would actually affect you other than just being annoyed. So I would ignore them. Just chuckle at their jokes, ignore their rants or excuse yourself when they happen. I have family that's kind of like this, although they are changing. Tell me I should've gone to medical school; by this time I could've been a doctor, etc. I just ignore them. I completely agree with Soul - their comments bothered me the most when I wasn't sure of myself and what I was doing, when I was berating my own self for getting a PhD. Now that I am more confident in myself and my life's choices - and have made peace with the things I have done - those comments don't bother me anymore. I just shrug or laugh them off because I like myself and I don't regret anything I've done. And you know what, interestingly enough, they've stopped making them. Third of all, I find that people who have this kind of attitude usually have it because they have been looked down upon by someone with a higher degree at some point in their lives, sometimes multiple times, and they feel (rightfully) bitter about that.

Personally, I would definitely not pay out of pocket for a PhD - not even just the first year. Stepping back a little, I know some doctoral students are comfortable with paying for one semester or one year if funding is guaranteed after that period of time. But you'd have to have strong assurances of being funded.

Universities raise tuition all the time. It doesn't mean that they are trying to raise their rankings or push students out; it means they are trying to increase revenue. Doctoral students should have a full funding package anyway (and I'm pretty sure most PhD students at UVa do). And if you are in the dissertation phase, you should only have to pay matriculation and facilities anyway. The GSBUVA website says that tuition for advanced doctoral candidates increased 434%. Without context, though, that's pretty meaningless. I just looked at UVa's website and it says that PhD students in the Arts & Sciences in years 4 and beyond (PhD candidate status, I assume) only have to pay around $7,000 in tuition and fees. That means that before they were only paying somewhere between $1000 and $1500 a year in research credits. And again, fully funded doctoral students would have that cost covered by their fellowship.

I don't understand how you have a contingent scholarship in a one-year program. Is it like you have to borrow money and they'll pay back $28,000 if you get a 3.5 in the program? Getting a 3.5 in a master's program is pretty easy. Either way, it doesn't matter. I'd take the internship hands down. I would say that even if you didn't have a master's. But you already have a master's; very rarely do you need a second one unless you are trying to radically switch fields.

I feel really bad for him/her. There are so many copies of my dissertation data (it's part of a larger study from my lab) floating around that if I lost my computer, I'd only have to ask my advisor for it. I would probably have to recreate some variables, but that would be like an extra week of work. I also have it stored on a flash drive I never take anywhere (I have also had bad luck with flash drives breaking on me) and backed up on an 2 TB external hard drive that is not portable and never leaves my desk, along with every thing else on my computer. I have a Mac so I simply set up Time Machine with that HDD and it's continually plugged into my laptop. I am paranoid. At my medical center we are not allowed to store data on Google Drive or Dropbox. However, all of my other files are stored on Google Drive - I purchased 25 GB of storage space and all of my proposal drafts, drafts of research papers, etc., are on Google Drive. It has the added benefit of being able to edit it from any computer. Also, jenste, I am always afraid that someone is going to do that - reach under my stall and snatch my bag from the floor near my feet in the toilet. I usually try to hang it up, but sometimes there's no hanger.

Break it down. Think about it this way: If summer includes June, July, and August, there are 30 + 31 + 31 = 92 days in those months. Writing 50 pages equals less than 1 page per day. If you only wrote 5 days a week, and wrote 2 pages a day, you could write 50 pages in 5 weeks. I know in creative writing, a lot of your writing doesn't end up in the final product. But even if you wrote five days per week, and wrote 2 pages per day for 10 weeks (so the middle of August, assuming you started in earnest in 2 weeks) you would have twice as many pages as you need. I am one of those people who simply cannot shut off my internal editor. I have managed to slow her down a bit. I put a mantra on the wall behind my computer - "Just write." Whenever I get blocked for a moment or start editing, I always end up looking up or around. I see the mantra and it makes me get back to just spilling whatever on the page. I also have set myself realistic page goals. My per-day page goals don't exceed 3 pages per day. That's because I'm the kind of person who HAS to find the right citation right then, the right word at that moment, the correct sentence structure. I've gotten a whole lot better at letting my inner editor go in the last 5 years, but I still can't write mess and organize it later. There's no such thing as a zero draft for me; I have first drafts only. So set yourself lower daily page goals than your peers, and write more often. You have to break it down into small tasks. It's far easier to think "I have to write 2 pages today" than it is to say "I have to write 50 pages by the end of the summer." I also build time into my writing schedule to procrastinate. I know that I procrastinate and for me, it's been far more difficult to try to make myself NOT a procrastinator than to just allow for that time. So I get up earlier. I write best in the late morning and early afternoon, and in the late evening. So I sit down at my computer at 8 or 9 am. I procrastinate for 2 hours - check email, write on here, whatever. Then when I have had my fill, I begin writing for another 2 hours. I eat lunch later, take a break for 1 hour, then go back to writing - or I don't. Sometimes I finish my writing for the day after dinner. Some days I don't even start until after dinner. I kind of have allowed myself to go with the flow a little bit more rather than trying to force myself to write at a specific time. But I do force myself to meet my daily page goals. It's gotten to the point where writing is its own reward - I feel good about meeting my page goal for the day, and that motivates me to write. (And obviously if you work, you'll have to organize your days a little bit better. But honestly, working helped drive me to write. I was so happy to come home, park myself in my little corner and write for a few hours.) Some people don't like daily page goals, and they prefer to set a certain number of hours instead. I don't like that, because of my procrastinating nature as well as my inner editor. Some days I can meet 3 pages in 2 hours and other days it takes me 5 hours (because my mind has wandered or I stopped to clean my bathroom or something). I got some advice from a dissertation writing book - "Always park on the downhill slope." That means that you need to do things to make it easier for you to start up the next time, especially if you are giving yourself small daily page goals. If you only write 2 pages a day, you may not finish a section or scene in one day or even one week, so you need to write yourself notes to remind yourself what you were thinking and where you were going. I put them in italics in line with the rest of my text. I also allow my mind to wander during the writing process, but I put these ideas in other places. see next paragraph. Another thing that has really helped me is Scrivener. Like you and fuzzy, I'm a planner. I need to know what I am going to say before I say it; that's the only way I can sit down and write it. I can't just go, even when I'm writing creative pieces. So I create an outline. A detailed one - my dissertation proposal outline had approximate page lengths of each section. I refer back to this outline when I get lost and it helps me find my way again. Scrivener allows me to store all of that stuff - snippets from prior drafts, my outline, an annotated bibliography - into one project. It also helps me write less linearly, since I rarely write in a "straight line" but write different parts at different times and eventually stitch it together. Scrivener also helps me when my mind is wandering; if I think of something brilliant for a future section/scene/chapter, I can put it in my "random ideas" file within the project for future reference, then continue writing.

You say you have a supportive PI. Go talk to her! Ask for help. That's what she's there for, among other things. One month is plenty of time to think of a topic (I've written a full draft of my entire dissertation proposal in three weeks) and 6 months should be enough time to write a research proposal. It's not an actual study, just a proposal. But I am concerned that you are using this as a proxy reason to leave, as it sounds like you may have realized that you don't need a PhD ("I have no intention of being a PI") and are somewhat depressed and anxious about the prospects of finishing. If that's the case, you need to do some soul searching. You may even need to slow down a bit. I "lost" two whole semesters and a summer (not consecutively) trying to decide if I wanted to finish. As a result, I'm taking an extra year to finish, which isn't the end of the world. Oddly enough, my advisors never seemed to notice - they think I'm doing great, and progressing at a great clip. If you can bring yourself to do what you need to do to get by while pondering on whether you actually want to stay…do that. Your advisor has a personality flaw. Everyone does. Ignore his anger and focus on whether or not he can help you. Maybe he will get angry, but that doesn't change the fact that you need guidance. Glad you started seeing your therapist again! Ruminating excessively and setting up doomsday scenarios, as well as doubting your worth, are all signs of depression. The majority of doctoral students experience debilitating depression during their PhD programs - sad but true! You aren't alone, and it's not weird. But you may need help.

One of the most important things I learned in my PhD journey is that I have to live my life (personal and professional) for ME. Not for my SO, or for my PI, or for my classmates, or my funders or the university administration. A lot of PhD students don't want to leave even when they are miserable because they don't want to let down their PIs, embarrass themselves in front of their classmates, let down their families, or make their funding agencies or university/department look bad. But they aren't the ones who have to take your exams, write your dissertation and struggle through your academic career - YOU are. So if you decide that leaving is the best thing for you…then leave. But looking over your post, it doesn't necessarily seem that leaving IS the best thing. You say you aren't sure you can get to where you want from your PhD; I would have a discussion with your PI about that. It's never too early. Explain your goals and motivations and ask him, point-blank, if you can get there from here. If you have another trusted professor or advisor you can ask who will give you a straight answer, ask them, too. Since your PI did his postdoc under a foremost expert, he may have a network that can set you up nicely for what you want to do. If they talk to each other frequently, maybe this expert can be on your dissertation committee. Or maybe you can do a postdoc in an excellent lab that will help you transcend your program. Other than that, it doesn't seem like there is too much else necessarily recommending you leave. Nearly half of your classmates may have been on probation, but perhaps this is a program that has weed out classes and exams - that's not uncommon in natural science classes. You agreed that you weren't prepared for the class you got a C in, but other than that, are you doing poorly? Is your PI pushing you to stay because he needs a grad student to do his work, or because he thinks that you are overthinking things and can achieve your goals and succeed in this program? I'm not in your field. In my field, the social sciences, the reputation of your program is very important in hiring - almost as important as your PI, although not as important as the quality of your research. But that's because in my social science field, research is done much more collaboratively and grad students often work with more than one PI and publish with more than one of them. Grad students come out of PhD programs with only about 0-5 publications on average, I would say. So it may very well be that in your field, your PI and your publications are far more important; in my field, going to a not-well-ranked program wouldn't help you get a job at a top ranked program unless you were a superstar.

I wish I had thought to start a blog at the beginning of my journey that is explicitly about graduate school. I have learned so much over the past 5 years that it would be really interesting (and helpful to other beginning PhD students, I think) to look at my posts during my first and second years of graduate school and see how different they are now - or even in years three and four, when I was really in the valley.

I've been the TA responsible for most of all of the grading in 4 classes to date. 3-4 points for a final grade is actually a lot. You'd have to have a specific reason for the professor to reconsider your grade, such as they graded something wrong or there were extenuating circumstances that prevented you from performing your best (death in the family, illness, etc.) Not doing so well on an oral exam, and hoping to have gotten a B, aren't really compelling reasons for a professor to change your final grade one entire letter grade up. You can certainly ask for explanation as to why you got a C, and ask what your grade for the oral exam was if you don't already know. But it doesn't seem like you actually have a legitimate reason for asking for a grade change other than the fact that you wanted a B.

I'm reading the A Song of Ice and Fire series (the series that the popular television show Game of Thrones is based upon). I finished the first book and am into the second, and am actively avoiding spoilers. I also really loved A Dog's Purpose and the sequel A Dog's Journey, both by W. Bruce Cameron. Both are fun, light summer reads. I'm also planning to read Khaled Hosseini's new book And the Mountains Echoed, which is being released on Tuesday. I preordered it to be delivered to my Kindle the day it comes out - I loved Hosseini's other two novels. I also plan to re-read Night by Elie Wiesel and perhaps the other two books in the trilogy, Dawn and Day. Books I started and plan to finish: My Beloved World, Sonia Sotomayor (I haven't finished it yet but I love it so far) The Price of Inequality by Joseph E. Stiglitz Freakonomics by Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner Other books that I liked: Life on the Tenure Track, by James M. Lang The Feminine Mistake: Are We Giving Up Too Much? by Leslie Bennetts (about why women should work) Mommy Wars by Leslie Morgan Steiner (^similar to the above) Mama, PhD: Women Write about Motherhood and Academic Life, edited by Elrena Evans Opting Out? Why Women Really Quit Careers and Head Home by Pamela Stone Ask Me Why I Hurt: The Kids Nobody Wants and the Doctor Who Heals Them by Randy Christensen. It's about a doctor who runs a mobile clinic for homeless teenagers. Being able to begin about 20 books is the reason I love my Kindle app on my iPad. I do eventually finish everything, but I can easily switch between books and read what's on my mood.

Why drop out? If you love physics and want a career in it for sure, then why not just take a leave of absence? I don't think you will burn any bridges if you leave for good though, as long as you leave gracefully. Only weird people take offense to a person leaving a program to focus on their health. I also personally don't see any reason to take a leave of absence if you know for sure you won't return to your program, but if you're not 100% sure than I would still take the leave.

Not really, no. I mean it can be nice to know that you've organized a conference and done some service - especially if your goal is to end up at a small school where faculty are very involved and do a lot of service - but I don't think it really makes a significant difference on your CV. Around these parts, people try to avoid those kinds of commitments because it cuts into research time.

For a PhD in regular traditional history, the research is probably better. If you are interested in public history and aim towards being a museum curator or something, then the internship is probably better. And yes, of course you can do research for more than one semester, and should. I did research for 5 consecutive semesters in college.

First of all, congratulations! I know that this was unplanned, but you plan to keep the baby and so it's a celebration Second of all, this is tricky but I think this is about your comfort level. Like you, I believe that a pregnancy (and any other health issues) are private and really only the PI's business to the extent that it affects your health. Personally, I would wait until I arrived on campus, got settled in, and had my first meeting with my advisor. I would mention it very matter-of-factly. "Professor X, I just want to let you know that I am pregnant, and due in late December. I'm just letting you know so we can discuss my plans for spring semester 2014." And then begin discussing how you plan to handle the spring…don't let the conversation derail from being about how you're going to work your pregnancy around working (unless it turns into positive baby-talk, which is okay if you want!) For what it's worth, I had a woman in my cohort get pregnant in our first year (maybe it was the beginning of our second year, I don't remember, but it was definitely during the coursework phase and our coursework here lasts 2-3 years). She has since had another baby, and she's still here, trucking along and being awesome. It can be done, so don't let people discourage you. Only you can decide what you can and can't handle and do. Lots of people do PhDs with children.

Did you not do well in the classes because you didn't understand the material, or was it because you didn't spend enough time on the coursework because you were too busy in the lab? If you just got the NSF GRFP, they may be willing to give you another chance. It doesn't look good for the university to kick out a new NSF awardee. I agree with the advice to sit down and speak with your PI. You need him or her on your side.

Okay, so his characterization of "lifestyle PhDs" is totally off base. I'm in a social science that's structured like a lab science (research labs, PIs, government grants, NIH money, the whole nine - I'm supported by an NSF grant, for example) but we definitely do not work only at our own pace, nor do I have any intentions of being a poor bohemian scholar. I also wouldn't say that my destiny is completely out of my hands, though, nor that my life is at the mercy of one taskmaster and that my time is controlled by my advisor. None of those things are true. I also highly doubt that econ PhD students have that much more free time than we do. Government agencies, think tanks, universities and hospitals hire my kind. Business schools also hire social psychologists to teach their management and marketing classes, since both of those fields are just applied social psychology, and they pay more than psychology departments do. I'm also not sure why he thinks finance and consulting are not jobs where you have to work 80-hour weeks and are stressed out, because those kinds of jobs are pretty notorious for being 80-100-hour-per-week jobs. Your job prospects are partially determined by your broad field and more determined by what you DO. I'm a social scientist with pretty strong statistical skills and I've picked up funding and part-time work by using those. The other thing is that in order to keep a centrally planned job market with lots of opportunities, econ PhD programs have to limit demand. Therefore, econ PhD programs are very competitive. You typically have to have a strong mathematics background - three semesters of calculus, linear/matrix algebra, a semester or two of mathematical statistics and some research experience in economics or a related field (psychology, sociology) - not to mention some foundational economics classes. If you weren't an econ major, you'll likely need an econ MA first, which costs $$$. It's not like you can just walk into the program from a different major. You also have to LIKE thinking very quantitatively and about economics. Which is fine if you like math and statistics, but not fine if you don't. Right now it appears the best fields to get a PhD in if you really want a tenure track job are accounting and nursing, and maybe management. There are a shortage of accounting and nursing professors such that even PhDs from middling universities can easily get tenure-track jobs, and even top nursing programs have perpetually open tenure-track positions in nursing that they advertise on their main nursing websites. But that's because those are fields in which it is often more lucrative to work in the private sector or non-academically than it is academically. A PhD in nursing with experience can become the head of nursing or director of research at a hospital, or even do primary care if she's licensed to, and easily make six figures. She won't if she's a professor.

I have two advisors, and a great relationship with both. Primary advisor: an associate professor who's up for tenure this year, and is probably about 10 years older than me (which to me, isn't that much - I have cousins his age). He's really excellent. I meet with him every other week normally, but given that I am currently working on my dissertation proposal he has made weekly meetings with me. He gives pretty prompt feedback (usually within a week or two if he is really busy); it's helpful and constructive; and he's very encouraging and upbuilding. He's just a generally nice person, and is really interested in my career and what I really want. He also doesn't try to stop me from doing things when I want to - like the corporate internship I did one summer, or the part-time work I take up, as long as it doesn't interfere with my own work. Secondary advisor: a full professor who is currently chair of my department. He's also excellent. He has great statistical and methodological knowledge and is well-known in the field; his network has been helpful to me (helped me get a postdoc, at least!) I meet with him every other week as well, and he's also very encouraging. He's a bit more "space cadet" like but is great to talk to and generally accessible. I just really like both of my advisors and they've helped make my experience really enjoyable here.

I have a friend who lived in I House for three years and he loved it. I wanted to live there my first year, but stopped the app process once I realized how expensive it was. It's pretty expensive, but I suppose it's worth it for the built in gym and computer labs and all of the amenities.

Agreeing with backtoschool13 here. School B just sounds like the better overall option. I think someone said before, on a different threadm, that a lot of people panic or have decision regret not because they feel bad about their decision, but just having made ANY decision feels anticlimactic because before, you had opportunity. Now, things are finalized, and you feel…a let down. After months of planning and burgeoning oppoortunities ahead of you…you've decided, and it's over. Apparently, this POI really wanted you, and so did the department. One way could be to connect with your POI and see if she has suggestions for readings or other preparation you can do over the summer before you come (I did this with my current advisor before I began my program). …hey, I recognize you from another thread. Your advisor is an AMAZING researcher and she is right in saying that she will place you somewhere great. I'm in social psych, but interdisciplinary with a completely different field (public health) and even all the public health researchers know about X and Y's big 2005 paper - I'm using it in my dissertation. This is a really great opportunity you have to look forward to. Your career can be really great working with her. In social psych, the name of your advisor matters more than your university. It's more important to say that you worked with Professor X at SoCal U than it is to say you worked with a relative unknown at Canadian U. THERE IS NOTHING WRONG with seeing yourself being happy and productive in grad school. In fact, that is the point. If you feel happy and fulfilled, you will be more motivated to work on your work and get done. And I go to a prestigious university, but man, I wish I could hang out on the beach during the summer.

It's too late for a fully funded fellowship for a PhD program. Most of those applications come due in October and November. The next grant deadlines may be in August/September, but you can't hope to get a grant by throwing something together over the summer (and few people get funded on the first try). Really, your best chances now are the TAship and the GRAship. Just be patient and see what your advisor comes through with or whether you get a TAship. If not, you may just want to reapply next year.

OMG, go work with Brenda Major and take some stats classes in the stats department. In this field, your advisor can be more important than your department. Toronto has a great social psych program, but if Brenda Major is your advisor and you do good work, you'll be very well off.

All other things told, it is probably easier to get a job in North American with a North American PhD. But it really depends on your field - ETH Zurich may be one of the top programs in your field, and in that case, it may trump the NCSU program.