UnlikelyGrad

I've actually found that my husband is NOT the best person to vent to. I've had better luck venting to girlfriends in the past. (I still don't have a friend close enough to serve this function at grad school. Phooey.) Depression is an integral part of my life. I've blogged about it before (here: http://unlikelygrad.wordpress.com/2009/12/01/depression-and-graduate-school/ and here: http://unlikelygrad.wordpress.com/2010/07/15/depression-and-graduate-school-part-ii/) Sorry I haven't said more, but I am diving into a depressive episode right now and I get really uncommunicative at times.

The best thing my department does is to have a 'buddy' program for incoming grad students. Any grad student who's been there at least a year can buddy a new one. My buddy when I was a first-year is still a friend, and I now have a first-year buddy of my own who has lunch with me once a week. (Neither of us has the funds to actually go out to lunch, so we just bring our lunch to the picnic table outside the building.) If your department doesn't have such a program, just do this informally on your own. Find someone who looks lonely and introduce yourself. It's only awkward once--if the person doesn't mind talking to you, that is. We non-gregarious types really only need one or two friends, anyway.

If you aren't having any trouble with the assigned work (which is a good thing), try to think a step beyond. "Dr. X, the other day in class you mentioned that blah blah blah. I understand the theory, but I'm wondering how you would implement it in a situation where blah blah blah..." Profs absolutely love students who think past the basic material. Look, let me tell you something. I TAed a class of 100+ students last semester. There were four of us offering office hours: the professor in charge of lecture, the professor in charge of lab, and two TAs. Total office hours per week: around 20. On average, maybe ONE of us got a student coming in to talk each week. (Of course it wasn't evenly distributed: we had more visitors right before tests and fewer right after.) I wish this were an isolated case, but all the profs I talk to say the same thing: students rarely come to office hours. And the ones who do show up are usually the ones who don't need as much help. (The students who are really failing never come. This may explain why they're failing...)

Awesome! There's something psychological about going up from 5XX to 6XX or 6XX to 7XX--even if it isn't that many points, it looks so much better. Your scores now look good.

I absolutely abhorred writing my SOP and was very glad when it was over. Sadly, I'm still applying for fellowships (in my 2nd year of grad school), so I've had to write what is essentially another SOP both years of grad school.

All of my acceptances came by email first, and a paper acceptance letter didn't arrive until weeks later (if at all--some schools are all-electronic now). So in the end, it really doesn't matter. BTW, odds of being accepted over winter break are VERY slim, since most adcomms also take that time off.

I visited after my app was already in and had been read by the admissions committee. I was waitlisted because, while I had a lot of good points, I also had some serious negatives. (You can read about this in gory detail on my blog: http://unlikelygrad.wordpress.com/2009/01/08/missionimpossible/ ) I was speaking at a homeschool conference nearby and took the opportunity to visit my sister (who lived in the same town as the school)...the visit to the dept there was an afterthought. The profs I met with reviewed my file before I came, and they each took a different approach to sussing me out. One was a very gentle, laid-back guy who had a "friendly chat" with me...we talked about his lab, his students, my background, why I was in town...He was a very effective (but gentle) interrogator, and even got me to drop names (which I never do, as I like to be evaluated on my own merits): my sister Chrissy (very well known in her field), my dad (not famous but has collaborated with some superstars), the friend who landed me the speaking gig (whose brother was this guy's best friend). The interview definitely swung him in my favor a little bit. The second guy was very hostile and argumentative. I think he was trying to intimidate me, but unfortunately for him, I do best under adverse conditions. After arguing with him for the better part of an hour, he said he liked me and would strongly recommend me to the admissions committee. I was sort of in shock--we'd just yelled at each other and growled and bared our teeth (ok, not really, but it sure felt like it) and that meant he liked me??!! But as it turned out, he DID recommend me to the committee (and sent me an email telling me not to accept any other school, because he was pushing my case through as fast as he could) and he also offered me a summer research job! Lessons I drew from this: (1) Don't assume everyone will take your visit as a positive thing. I'm fairly sure Prof 1 wouldn't have thought as highly of me if I'd visited solely to beg and grovel. I'd mentioned the homeschooling conference to him in my email, but he actually followed through to make sure I was speaking there, and to double-check that my sister did, indeed live in the college town. He talked about this enough that I was pretty confident that he wanted to make sure I wasn't lying--that he didn't like people who showed up just because they wanted to get off the wait list. (2) Don't assume everyone will be nice to you when you come. (3) Don't assume that just because a prof is nice to you when you visit/email, they will push for your admission. In the end, it was the diligent efforts of MeanProf that won my acceptance from this school. My experiences with other schools (which I visited after admission) bear this out: many people were nice to me but didn't push to get me funded; one prof was very nice during the visit and did later secure funding for me; some profs who seemed apathetic during my visit (like my current advisor) actually were really desperate to get me on their team.

I like it. Maybe not here, but in my program I know a lot of people who do stuff like hydrothermal alteration of minerals and such. Well, after I found MyU's awesome geochem program (2 years ago, when I was applying) I went around looking at geochem programs...and I couldn't find a single one that didn't insist on a BS geology. Maybe I was looking in the wrong places? The guy who teaches the intro geochem class at MyU once told me that it's easier to make a chemist into a geologist than vice versa. I can see how that would be true.

I would definitely go with #2. BTW: I LOVE the pseudonyms. :-)

Hi waddle, The problem with being a biogeochemist is that you don't fit anywhere. There's a great interdisciplinary program at my school which *likes* turning chemists into geochemists. (Most geochem programs grumble about this--they prefer geologists.) PM me if you want details.

I don't think that there's anything wrong with going to meet with prospective advisors--I visited a school before being admitted, and my visit DEFINITELY influenced them in favor of admitting me. Are the schools you're thinking of nearby? How much of a financial hardship would it be for you to visit?

YAY!!! I nagged bgk to get this done. I'm only sort of a geologist (aquatic biogeochemistry), but I have enough friends who are REAL geologists that I knew they needed a home.

You know, I've never had a problem fitting in with my cohort, despite some rather radical differences (10-15 years older, on average; married with kids; experience outside academia; and, like you, a lot more money in the bank). I think that the reason I can get along with everyone is that I don't put too much emphasis on our differences (though I don't hide the differences, either); instead, I always try to start off looking for commonalities. Of course, we do talk about classes a lot, not to mention other grad school conversational staples (research, professors, TAing, committees, qualifying exams...). I've also found a lot of other things to talk about with them--trying to squeeze exercise into a grad student routine, cool books we've read, fun things to do on the weekend, and stuff like that.

I would reword it this way: When I first came to America at age 10, I was the first Asian student in my class. I attracted a lot of attention, but my inability to speak the English language and my lack of knowledge of American culture were steep barriers to making new friends. Both of my parents had begun working full time at a laundry [or dry cleaner, not laundry cleaner]; so when I wasn't facing the challenge of American elementary school, I was left at my aunt's house. Here, I watched children's shows like "Arthur" and used the internet to look up unfamiliar English phrases. Technology expanded my intellectual horizon. Thus began my passion for the communication field.

In my program, the only grad students who aren't in a long-term relationship are those who just arrived on campus this year. (Some date other students, others date non-students.) People don't seem to have any problems finding people to hook up with.

I agree with fuzzylogician--don't mention it. Better to write an SoP that really kicks butt--that will show them that you actually *can* write well.

No matter what research you get into, you will find yourself falling short. You should expect your first year of research to be full of stupid blunders, frustration, and feelings of rank stupidity. This is normal. My first research project (before grad school) was working for a theoretical biochemist. He needed me to program. I'd failed the only programming course I'd ever taken, AND I'd never even heard of the language he wanted me to use. Nonetheless, I learned to program, though I admit I was tearing my hair out the whole time. Grad school (and beyond) is all about learning things *on your own*--that is what research is, after all! It doesn't matter that you don't have the course background to do what you need to do: you can learn to do it anyway. So explain to your advisor that you aren't as good at programming as you need to be, and make sure he gives you appropriate reference books. If he doesn't have them on hand, he should buy them for you. Compared to some costs of research, this is minimal. Math classes: go to office hours as much as possible. Find friends in the class who understand things better than you. Grades are less important in grad school than in undergrad, so don't get too worried if you don't get an A in the class--just get through somehow.

I always study the night before the test, but I don't cram--just do a quick review of things I've already learned. Eat a high protein breakfast the day of, and (as others have already said) TAKE A WALK. Just enough to make you slightly short of breath--that will get the oxygen up to your brain in just the right quantity without making you tired.

They didn't even collect data from my school. Worthless.

I have a bachelor's degree in chemistry. I took a class in geology last semester and this semester I am doing more geology and microbiology! Yes, it is hard. I find that I absorb things better if I don't study in big sessions--so, for example, I spent much of my bus ride last semester memorizing mineral formulas. For some reason they 'stuck' better on the bus than they did in my office or study space. Also, when I'm studying hard and find my brain getting tied up in knots, I go for a walk by the creek. Sometimes I try to think a bit about what I've just read as I walk, other times I just don't think about anything at all. Either way, I come back with a fresh mind/new perspective, and the exercise has helped me de-stress a bit. Hope this helps.

Well, it takes 6-8 weeks to get official scores. Counting back 6 weeks from mid-Nov gives you late September. I would take it a couple of weeks earlier to be on the safe side. Are you still in school? If so I would take it before the start of the fall semester so you have less to worry about.

And this isn't about geosciences, but I have to say that in engineering it's definitely ferocious. My sis is an eng. prof at a top-10 university, and she says almost all of their admits have 800Q... I am in geosciences, sort of, but it's an interdisciplinary program where each of the associated departments has different entry requirements (!) so I'm not much help. Also, it's not a top-10 school (though also not down at the bottom of the charts, geoscience-wise).

I'm going to disagree with MedievalManiac: I don't think you need to address it if you have a more recent academic record. As I've mentioned before, I totally, utterly, completely screwed up my first two years of undergrad. My GPA after sophomore year was 1.9. And only because I took a "leave of absence" right before the end of the last quarter--if I'd stuck around for grades, it would probably have dropped to 1.5 or so. After this I got married, changed schools, and changed majors; thereafter my GPA was reasonable (~3.6) but of course my overall GPA was never salvageable. 15 years after graduating, I did some work as a postbac and got a 4.0. I applied to grad school. At first I tried to address the GPA issue in my SOP (along with all of the other inadequacies I had) but this only made it sound whiny and apologetic. I scrapped that draft and started again, completely ignoring the herd of elephants in the room. (Most schools didn't have the option for a supplemental essay, so I didn't include the info anywhere.) I got into 4 out of 9 schools so evidently some people didn't mind the fact that I did crappy work as a very young adult. What really clinched it for me was receiving the evaluations of my EPA-STAR fellowship proposal last year. Two of them were terse but one was very, very verbose. For the section on academic preparation, the reviewer said something like, "Lousy performance at BigNameU doesn't bother me. Applicant seems to have matured into a diligent student." Before this I suspected that most people would view my transcripts this way, but this was concrete evidence. So I say don't bother addressing things. Your subsequent performance speaks for itself. Adcomms know that real life interferes with academics sometimes; they don't need to know the details of your particular case.

I know what you mean about sounding like a politician; I feel like that all the time. Establishing connections is important, no matter what stage of the game you're in. Don't just get professors to think you're a smart person--you want them to WANT to bend over backwards to help you out. How do you do this? Mostly by volunteering to help them out. (Since I have limited time as a grad student, I try to do this selectively--I help in ways that will advance my career. Like subbing for them when they have to be out of town, etc.) I also try to help out the administrative staff when I have the chance, because they are good at pulling strings when push comes to shove. This sounds very self-absorbed--like I only help because I want to get ahead. But that's not really the truth: I also do these things, in part, because I genuinely like them. (I have yet to volunteer to help the one faculty member in the department who I strongly dislike.) You need to have the goal in mind at all times. What do I want? A career in academia. How will I get that? By publishing; by having good recommendations; by having a well-rounded CV. How can I get good recommendations? By befriending professors and helping them out. How can I get a well-rounded CV? By getting the right work experience (my politicking landed me a prime TA slot last semester) and impressing the right people (yes, I impressed the people who are in charge of picking the TA award--completely intentionally). When I got my TA award, one of my officemates said: "Wow. If I'd known it came with money, I would have tried a little harder." I didn't know it came with money either. I did know it came with prestige, though, and would look good on my CV. And that's why I worked so hard to make sure I got it.

It's okay if the project you write about wanting to do (in your SOP) is not the topic you end up writing your thesis on. You wouldn't be the first person to do this and you certainly won't be the last. I think probably at least half of all grad students end up working in a slightly different field than they originally intended.