mandarin.orange

Check out this thread from the onset of summer:

This is telling, isn't it? You're in an Environmental Studies-related discipline now, amiright? The above eerie for me to read, b/c I've found journals from my younger self with similar thoughts. I was obsessed with the "Little House on the Prairie" books...my dad got me out hiking all the time...we moved to the west coast when I was 9, driving through Kansas and the mid-continent, and I lamented the progress of man and that I saw more strip malls and development than the prairie Wilder had described. I also bugged my dad for months afterward, "OK, if we had taken a covered wagon...where would we be now?"

I think these are the three cats engaged in the "Triple Jump" event!!

If you PM me your email address, I can send you a copy. Bro took one class over the summer, which he aced! We are so proud. He even rose to the challenge of the term paper assignment, which was a review and critique of a peer-reviewed article (I thought this a bit much for an intro-level psych class, but he did well). He's waiting until Spring to continue, though. I hope he perseveres; the administrative hurdles are many. Yes, there's keeping up with debate...I do plan to make sure I'm well-informed on every issue on my ballot...but the social media sphere seems more prone to people "liking" stupid pics, out-of-context quotes, and political cartoons...whenever this shows up in my feed, I interpret it as a personal affront to me!

Awhile back, googling my name resulted in a trannyweb.com profile as the 2nd or 3rd result. I think the profile still exists, but fortunately it's sifted its way further down in the search results. My students used to google me all the time, and were pretty unabashed about telling me so.

Ah yes, when all else fails, there is nothing like a little schadenfreude. Seriously, there is some great advice here - both in hashslinger's post, and the rest of the thread. It does get easier with time. I taught high school for several years, and while I don't feel I'm someone with that rare natural charisma needed for young people, with hard work you learn and become more adept. Also, your first day as a TA cannot possibly be as bad as my first day encountering high school seniors. No way, no how! I'm not teaching at present, but when I give talks to my dept. or for class, I still get amped up beforehand. Sometimes it's excitement about the material, sometimes it's nerves; it never really goes away.

Did you read the same article as I did this morning? For Golden State's Public Colleges, No Silver Bullet It's terrifying; all I can think of is 1) my 29-year old brother, who's (finally!) trying his damndest to cope with learning disabilities and get his college degree, and 2) my dream job is one in California! Mostly, though, I keep thinking that the election might be the thing that sends me over the edge in finally disengaging from social media, even if only temporarily for fall semester. Already the tide of angry/ill-informed political rhetoric is rising (along with my blood pressure).

That's pretty awesome. Reminds me of a thread I started during my app season, and in one of the replies, someone (Bonkers) wrote a "I reject your rejection" letter. Not even sure if she participates in these fora anymore, but I thought it was hilarious and epic:

Yep! For my campus, though, you have to imagine more of those guinea pigs on skateboards and t-bar scooters. With half looking like they're riding it for the first time.

So this is the corporate world (pro sports, more specifically), but this amazed me, so felt it was worth a share. A repeat applicant finally had it with her ~30th rejection from the Padres and dashed off this letter. (borderline NSFW) Curious what others think. Grossly unprofessional on her part? Or did the hiring team's blase attitude and gall warrant this? Is it representative of the current job market's unfortunate state of affairs? For my part, I'm rather amused.

Ah man, I clicked on this thread, ready to wax existential about the question seemingly posed in the title, and answer it as a legit question. Little did I realize:

Yep, this will be the first week of classes:

We don't start until late Sept., but I'm already dreading certain aspects of it. I need to finish my coursework, and while the possibilities in the catalog look interesting, I'm so over homework assignments and operating on short-term deadlines. I am looking forward to my cohort returning from the far-flung corners of the earth, and the new cohort (many of which I met during their visits). But, the undergrads will return. Thousands of them, swarming campus and its facilities. I've really enjoyed how low-key the campus is during the summer, and not looking forward to this.

Oh, I asked about this once. Right down to the potential PI returning my initial email in less than an hour: Profs hava a lot on their plate and many, many people competing for their time, so don't take it personally!

I've been reading and enjoying this as well. Thanks for posting. The self-imposed isolation he described at the end of his first year was eerie to read - exactly the sort of idea that would strike me as a "good one" at the time, but would end up totally meandering and unproductive. I doubt I could sustain it for six weeks (!) like he did. A good cautionary tale about the benefits of getting out, taking initiative, and going to seminars.

I applied to 4 for my MS. For my PhD, I applied to 2, largely due to time constraints that app season and preferred geography. I was fully prepared with a backup plan to take time to regroup, continue (grudgingly) teaching, do a few research-oriented teacher workshops to build my CV, and then submit apps to a wider swath of schools. To add to ButterFinger's post above, consider the expense and huge amount of time it's going to take if your # of schools hits double digits. Once upon a time, there was a thread about how much people had spent in app fees; there were some staggering figures in the thousands. Really consider how much of your financial resources you're willing to contribute, just to hit a magic #. I'll see if I can find the thread (if it's not already one of FuzzyLogician's links above). Also consider: do you envision yourself in grad school next year, no matter what? Or are you willing to hold out for the dept you feel is the best fit, even if it takes a few tries? That will also affect # of apps.

"Affect" is correct. Nope! Though this may be field-dependent. If anything, I think it will open up more options for you. I think that doing the project you described sounds like a great opportunity, any way you slice it. Adcomms will likely focus on these facts: you will have experience in a high-powered research group, and will you have demonstrated a long-term committment (2 years is impressive for an undergrad). The possibility of publications as an undergrad is pretty exciting and will make you very competitive. And, hopefully a solid LOR from your supervising professor, attesting to your research abilities. Your SOP will be an opportunity to describe future research interests (if that ends up changing), and how the research you did complete has influenced that decision. My own interests have gone from archaeology (as an undergrad) to glacial geology (MS) to paleobotany and environmental policy. One piece of advice I recently got from a junior faculty member at my current institution is that even in the job search, a "personal narrative" about how your research interests have evolved can be a positive thing.

I am late to the conversation here, but think you have chosen wisely. I would have recommended the Air for what you want to accomplish. I have a MacBook Pro (from 2010) which I love, but I do illustrating and a couple other things besides that make me want the slightly larger display and the extra power. It is a pain to haul around all day, doesn't fit well into my satchel (I need a backpack on days I use it) and I sometimes eye my labmate's Air rather enviously... When I read the subject heading of this thread and saw the first few posts of people wowwed by the new model + retina display, all I could think of was this:

"Absolutely vital"...probably not. But recommended, esp. for those references you've been out of touch with for awhile. Good luck with this application season, and everything else you're coping with right now.

TakeruK makes some excellent points and describes very well the dynamics of publishing as a student. Typically, your name on a pub doesn't just "happen" because you are in the lab. At best, you may get a nod in the "Acknowledgements" for field or lab assistance. For authorship, you need to be involved in or oversee some major component of the project. Why (or how) does your advisor "make you feel insecure?" Why was the past student fired? I suspect that if you are working hard on your own project, while keeping up with literature related to it so you have some perspective/context, you'll have plenty to discus with him in your meetings...and, be on the path to ultimately getting published.

It really sounds like the west coast may be your thing. Asheville and perhaps UK/northern Europe come to mind. Have you explored these possibilities? Southeastern climate is brutal; I lived in NC for 7 years and hated the summer heat, humidity, bugs and allergies. I escaped north or to the west coast for the summer at every available opportunity. Now, despite being sympathetic to climatic preferences, I read (esp. in your last post) a whole lot of energy spent overthinking weather nuances - disproportionately so to the amount of thought/research you should be putting into what program is the best fit for you. I think you are going to be hard-pressed to satisfy ALL quality-of-life parameters (small city + transpo friendly + climate) AND be in a program that is helping you towards your research interests and professional goals...the latter being what grad school really is all about. Yes, quality of life is important, but so is being jazzed up about your work. You're going to spend the majority of your time in grad school doing your research, interacting with the people, and tailoring your specialities for the career you envision. And if you want to ultimately be a TT prof, that goal is always going to be at odds with geographic preference. So decide which of your quality of life (QOL) requirements are non-negotiable, and which ones you may let slide a bit. If you have ideal climate + awesome program, are you okay with a car commute as part of your routine, or being in a small town or huge metro area? I applied to one school that was all about the QOL I envisioned for myself (and it was strikingly similar to your ideal of cool climate + no car + largish town), but fitting into their research program was a massive stretch for me...and I was rejected. If you're more of the QOL mindset and place these above the grind of work (YOLO and all that), then determine your ideal area and consider ALL avenues of how you're going to get there and support yourself (job, internship, barter, crash with friends, etc) with grad school as just one possibility among many. I have a couple friends who essentially did this with Portland, and others who moved to a small NC beach town and eventually worked their way into ideal jobs. This may be helpful: http://www.findyourspot.com/ Good luck! ETA: I just realized findyourspot won't give you an answer unless you enter your personal info. That's been changed from when I first heard of the site a few years ago.

I would explore ALL these options at this point with some "feeler" emails and conversations - your old profs, the research sup who saw mediocre work, and your current boss. Don't get bogged down with lengthy explanations or excuses; just be up-front about your goals, the specialty of the program you are applying for, and your strengths that you feel a LOR from that person could attest to. Offer to send a draft of your SOP. I wrote LORs for my high schoolers and the more specifics they gave me, the better my letter - even if I didn't know them well before the request. Go with whomever is most responsive. And I wouldn't rule out your boss...two of my three LORs were from non-academics. While I was confident there were at least 2 profs from undergrad that could write me fantastic letters, I asked supervisors because I felt it was more recent, and they could speak to my current skill set. The danger is that you may get a "faint praise" or nonspecific letter, and if the AdCom's decision hinges on that and this app season is not successful...then you may have to consider the route of taking classes again to build better relationships.

San Diego weather/climate patterns are very different from Miami. Florida is surrounded by warm ocean currents and has that gawd-awful humidity. Coastal California has cold currents from the north, and a good bit of upwelling, producing ocean breezes and a significant cooling effect, esp. at night. Can you tell it's my favorite climate? ;-) If heat is not your thing, you need to rule out Davis.

I would go with the two you've mentioned so far - the one you found on LinkedIn, and then the adjunct. I think good rapport with the adjunct trumps tracking down a prof who may or may not remember your coursework. Then, try harder to sleuth out where the retired one is. What about calling the dept's admin staff at your alma mater? Contacting his/her peers at said institution, who could possibly still be in touch? How competitive is admission to your desired program, and what do grads of it go on to do after? Do you have any sense of that, and how much the letters matter? I've had jobs where the letters/refs were a formality more than anything. Now, I've learned letters of rec in my current dept are weighted very, very heavily, but it's also an environment that favors high-level research and training MOAR ACADEMICS.

Keeping with the cat theme, this was my day: