Amogh

I find this interesting. Never had that issue. Most of the profs in my department wear Jeans and a shirt/tee to every event except the HoD. Well, most of my friends are in the Hard Sciences as you call them. I'm in CS. They wear Jeans, sneakers and whatever they can scoop out of the closet for a top. Some tend to dress extra creatively, most just wear a t-shirt with a funny message or something. Most people don't care what you wear to school, as long as you don't stink. Many people don't leave the lab for days and being around their stench can be quite a challenge!

Well, Computer Science is partly an Engineering discipline so I'll take a crack at answering your question. If your peers are anything like mine, they couldn't care less if you are gay or straight. You should just act normal and mention it at some point in conversation like some of the other posters said. Personal relationships are mostly a thing that only come up during the occasional social events so most people don't bother sharing most of the time.

I watched it last Friday. I thought it was pretty interesting. More of a "this is what we think the state of the system is, make your own decisions kind of thing". Didn't do any favors to MOOCs or Udacity, not that I'm complaining. There really needs to be a movie on Grad school though. Ivory Tower should really have been about grad school. Or they should have named it differently.

Wow that's a lot of very useful info. Thanks a lot! I should get down to doing that. That's true, the only reason I haven't got one till now. However, I'm tempted to say screw it and get one to ride on any day there isn't ice on the road (essentially that means putting it in storage from Dec to April). Lol, I wish it was possible to relocate the school. Nice.. That M4 exhaust probably means your ear drums are going to burst, though. Never understood why people change exhausts but to each his own...

How much do you guys pay for insurance! I'm 23 and I will have to get a local license before I buy my car (NY allows me to rent cars on my indian license for like forever so I didn't bother till now). Got some quotes online and boy were did they burst my bubble! I'm being quoted idiotic rates, $200+ p.m. on any kind of car I put in, be it Mazda Mazda3, Nissan Altima etc or a BMW 325ci! I don't see how anyone can afford to pay for that and the car.. Looks like no car for me till I turn 25 then.. Heck motorbike insurance is $20 p.m. in comparison.

The GSX-650F is in the same range as the GSX-R600 etc. The R is meant to mean Racing spec. Those bikes (especially the 600cc ones which is the general engine capacity most races specify) can with very little modifications (essentially safety stuff to meet the requirements) be used to race in MotoGP! Someone actually did recently, last year I think. He even finished in the top 10th. The GSX is just a style moniker. This bike is essentially a Bandit 650 with fairing and sportier setup. So it's in the sport touring category. I'm not ready for a SuperSport. Don't think I'll ever be. They're too uncomfortable anyways.

SV650 is a nice bike. I hope you have ridden quite a bit before because it does put out quite a bit of power and torque. Cracked fairing should be fine. I'm thinking of getting a gsx650f myself. Well there are quite a few other costs (gear can set you back a cool $1000 you know, helmet, gloves, boots and a jacket) Oh and 24k miles means new tires soon unless they were changed very recently. Road trips... Ah, the pleasures of the open road.

@Lifesaver, Didn't look at your profile pic while I was reading through because there were like 40 messages pending by the time I logged in. Hence I wasn't sure who mentioned the Jeep.

Fork bends are indeed risky things to call because there are many ways you can patch up a fork to hold it together but it won't be aligned and won't move freely so if you jam the front brake you can be thrown off the bike due to uneven fork action. However, having said that, if you can find one that had a fork that had a minor bend and that was hammered out, it isn't a complete deal breaker.

bhr and rising_star, 50k for a car? No sir, you've got me wrong I'm afraid. I'm looking at ooooold cars for like 8k. Tons of them on CL from 2002 to 2006! Lol.

That's a lot of responses. From what I can make out the common themes here appear to be: Most people seem to be buying new cars This surprised me. I expected to hear a lot more stories of how people either bought lemons or diamonds on craigslist. Japanese cars seem to be very popular (not surprising) reliable good fuel efficiency More people seem to be buying on loan than cash (again not surprising if buying a new car). Sedans and SUVs seem to be the most popular. I'm really drawn to luxury sport cars like the Acura TL, BMW M3, Infiniti G35, etc used of course. Anyone walked this path before and have anything to contribute? Also, we haven't touched on any American cars, other than one person talking about his/her Jeep. Buick has been getting the most reliable car title from JD Power Auto Surveys for the last 3-4 years beating the likes of Nissan and Acura. That has to mean something I guess? Does anyone drive a pickup? Any thoughts on that? I'm sick of getting into standard cars and not being able to sit straight in the passenger's seat (the driver's seat generally has height adjustment, although the sun visor is just plain useless to me in just about all of them). I hear fuel efficiency is a major concern in this category.

I am looking to get a motorcycle here too. I haven't cos I started off in an MS program and was broke till I converted to the PhD program recently. However, the car seems so much more sensible a decision because of the weather around where I live (frozen at least 5 months a year). But OMG riding again! ( goes off to a corner to drool about riding on the open road again)... Salvage bikes... Hmmm... It's a little hard to say mate. Bikes are much easier to work on that cars in my opinion but having said that, a poorly welded part is also putting your life on the risk more than in a car to some extent. Rebored engines are a pain in the ass because if the rebore wasn't done well or the pistons sealed properly etc you could have a block that will seize up. If you know your way around tools, or have a friend who knows bikes, you could get a salvaged bike and save a ton of money. There seem to be a ton of bikes with clean titles on CL however so might want to just consider one of those.

I've been a motorbike guy most of my driving-age life (not here with all this snow). Looking to buy a car now. Did some googling and I'm surprised that there isn't a single post relevant to buying a car in grad school. Tons for undergrads and new grads though but I don't feel like we are well represented by either group. SO lets make one here. What do you guys and girls look for in a car (in grad school of course)? How much did you spend (or are considering spending/ think you can take on comfortably)? anything else you think is relevant.

I'm joining a new lab. We literally got our lab space allocated to us today! My advisor was asking me what I want in the lab so I figured I'll sample what cool stuff people have in their labs and compile a list of what this room should have. SO, What do you have in your lab? What's cool about your lab?

Short version: Nope. Long version: As long as you don't mind sitting in a class with people 20 years younger, no. The flip-side is that you bring experience to the table, something none of us have, so you will soon see yourself treated as a sort of a guru on all things 'work'. . I think you should go for it if you want to but is there a really strong motivation behind this sudden decision? An MS mostly doesn't add much to your profile given (i'm assuming) you've got at least 10+ years of experience as a programmer? Most Master's degrees are academic not industry oriented so you'll find that things that you may not have used in your work for the last couple of years are suddenly the focus of study and it may or may not exactly be beneficial to you. That said if you are interested in moving to advanced development jobs, an MS may be the way to go. Think your options through and if you think it will be rewarding go for it. Age is not a determining factor at all.

Hey Pas, Before you read my reply, I'd like to inform you that this is all second hand information. I will start grad school this fall and can only tell you what I've seen through others. There is no perfect graduate student. Graduate students consume copious amounts of alcohol as do quite a few professors (I can link you to a paper by a professor in a big university who wrote that the best advice she received from her advice in her first year was to buy a large bottle of vodka and use it well. lol.). Smoking, swearing and getting laid are all personal choices. Moral grayness is a very valid school of thought, ask any philosophy student. All these things don't make or break a graduate student and there is no image of a grad student that shuns all these (I think you've been watching too much big bang theory ). Your life, you lead it as you wish. Having said that, there will be people who disapprove of your behavior but hey that's a given in life isn't it. Don't care about them. You are not alone, each year there are thousands of students entering grad programs with very varied lifestyles and that is the fun of grad school, it's a melting pot. I'm sure you'll meet many people like yourself. What I am, however, concerned about is the fact that you aren't interested in the furthering of knowledge/intellectual pursuit. If you are enrolled in a MS program that's not an issue. If you are going for a PhD I think you should seriously sit down and reconsider it. It isn't worth it if you aren't in it for a specific reason. Judging from other posts on this forum, I think the going gets really tough at a point and you'll only persevere if you are there for a reason. I mean generally a PhD makes you overqualified for most jobs except research jobs, academic jobs and other cutting edge work. You should really think about it. Also, grad school isn't anything like undergrad. There are no fixed schedules and all that. It is what you make of it. Academic settings needn't be sterile, they can be a lot of fun, you just have to find the right crowd that suits your definition of fun and trust me you will. The only thing is you need to figure out what you are in it for.

Well that actually depends on the PI and how he argues his case to the new university when he decides to move. Generally speaking, I've seen that most of the time your PI takes you with him if you are quite far along with your work. They might leave behind the first years unless the said first year has made a mark on him. Hope that helps.

I would advice you to go the MS->PhD route. It is the only option you have actually, based on my over-simplified analysis of the data you have presented about yourself.

Also, you need to talk to your seniors, many of whom, I am sure, have gone on to pursue a PhD after graduating.

Do you guys agree that most CS departments are taking forever to give their decisions compared to last year? This might not be the case with PhD admissions but from where I sit looks like that for MS admissions. Ugh.

newms which did you pick up? How unbearable is the weight? If I was thinking about it yesterday and I figured that the tablet would be really pointless considering that I can't program on it only read or watch movies. Might as well buy a (much cheaper) Kindle fire. Ok so now my question is a laptop vs a desktop. I am currently leaning towards the laptop because it is portable and powerful. Eigen, I have no idea on how much heavy processing I will be doing on my personal computer. I probably should wait till I arrive at whichever institution I pick and then decide huh? I'm still waiting on replies from 5 universities.

What do you guys recommend, given we are all CS majors? 1) Heavy duty Laptop say a gaming laptop like SAGER 2) Heavy duty gaming Desktop at home + Tablet to lug around Which combination do you prefer and why?

I'v applied there and really liked a project being carried by one of the professors and would love to go there if I'm admitted, so I was wondering what the college's reputation is like since I intend to apply for PhD after I'm done with my Master's degree. I'v received rejects from UCSB, U Wisc-Madison, U Maryland-CP and Purdue University. Hoping to get in here. What'r your thoughts about the place?

Wow that is an exhaustive filing system! sorry about the nonconstructive comment but had to compliment behavioral.

go to the dalhousie university website and check out the program. why spam a discussion board about this. how lazy of you.