mandarin.orange
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Posts posted by mandarin.orange
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I just spent all day at my parents' house (oooo cable TV!!) watching episodes of "Scared Straight."
But I assisted with a labmate's nastily dirty fieldwork all week. I needed the decompression and don't feel too guilty.
Despite being waaaay behind on the summer writing goals I set for myself.
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"Coastal aspect of things" is HUGELY broad; it could encompass anything from a field/lab sampling study, ecology/biology, human geography/coastal populations, sea level rise, physical oceanic processes, etc. Also area of study is wide open (e.g. east coast, west coast, rocky shore or wetland, abroad...single site or multiple sites?). I agree, you need in-house guidance on this, tailored to your interests, the expertise of your advisor and committee members, and with appropriate background/courses particularly if RS processing or labwork is required, in order to produce something truly novel.
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Don't overthink it. Just do this during the next seminar you attend together:
- Chai_latte, DHumeDominates, Cookie and 6 others
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Of course you should ask about the pay. Are you nuts? When I taught adjunct I received about $4200 per semester class, plus benefits. Some schools pay as little as $600 per class. You should not feel timid about being informed of your renumeration.
Agreed. I just found out my teaching pay for next year will be about $2500 less than expected/led to believe/the fellowship I've been on, and am about to do everything I can to raise hell. As diplomatically as possible, of course.
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Sounds like vanity publishing!
I wonder if this works - if ever a junior prof has paid the fee and published this way, multiple times and perhaps knowingly, to slide an impressive-looking CV by a tenure committee...?
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Unblocking the writer is pretty easy; all you need to do is follow this advice:
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In case titles such as "Business Journalz" or "Wudpecker Research Journals" were not red flags...
OK admittedly I saw those specific ones called out in the CHE thread.
What makes them predatory? Is it authors having to pay fees? I kind of expected to see, say, Elsevier journals, based on their for-profit model (and a whole lot of bad press recently) but none of theirs in my specialty are listed. I published in an Elsevier journal and actually found them very professional, lots of support for authors, and top-notch copy editing, but I believe its more of a problem re. what they will charge univ libraries to purchase their journals (often cost-prohibitive for non-R1s).
Do these journals actually send spammy/unsolicited emails to grads and researchers, in the same way as shady for-profit conferences? (I've gotten several of the latter.)
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Interesting that you mention there is a "culture" among your cohort not to go-get or speak out and ask questions. What do your professors have to say about this in the context of professionalization? What advice is being given to grads on a school-wide level re. career development, the job market, and opportunities? Also, I would point out that your dept's next incoming cohort could introduce a totally different vibe. For my part, I ask questions at colloquium and peer seminars out of interest first and foremost, but I also feel it's good practice for the bravery to ask questions at professional conferences, where it could lead to interesting follow-up conversations.
Regarding labs and research groups: it's a unique work environment. Not sure if you're in an actual lab setting, but I find that with largely solitary and rote tasks, my mind will overthink and speculate on what's at hand. More often than not, it wanders to my labmates, because they come and go, their stuff is around (sometimes in the way), and the lab setting is a trigger to think about work and my last interaction with them. I have little distraction besides my samples, some music, and occasional visitors to keep me from obsessing about it. My mind might go there even if the person is not physically present - long absences I start to interpret as a "bad" work ethic and lack of productivity, when this could very well be unfounded.
Perhaps some similar "overthinking" is going on, on your end? The fact you're interpreting her compliments as some sort of underlying insecurity on her part seems the best example of this.
When I catch myself overthinking, I try to remind myself...I can form an opinion about someone and their motivations, but keep it to myself and maintain an openness to being disproved at any time. If labmates complain to me about other labmates, I try to not feed it but say something positive about the person.
Labmates are a bit like siblings - eager to help at times, driving you crazy at other times, you are all competing on some level for your advisor's attention and favor, as well as fellowships and grants. You can't necessarily get away from them, since you're forced to keep sharing the same space and advisor, at least in some capacity. Out-competing and scooping does happen, though more rare when the stakes are really, really high. I feel it's best to err on the side of (cautious) collegiality, and most of my academic advisors have modeled that.
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Mine are more retroactive. I quit teaching high school two years ago, but will still have the dream about the "mutinous class" from time to time...
I love the relief of waking up and realizing it's not real! But ya, the fact I still have them, and that my subconscious seems to be selectively remembering fears/problem kids more so than the good times, bothers me on some level. -
"Scooping" happened to my MS advisor shortly after I left the program, and with a new project he was starting that had potential to disprove one of the perceived "experts" in the field on the same topic.
Interestingly, conferences were not really where this played out...my advisor tried to collaborate in good faith, visited a few times to share data, and then this guy did some rapid fieldwork on the down-low and surprise! sudden publication where he did his own debunk of his entire career/research trajectory to that point.
Only case where I've really heard of this happening...in my field, many projects require large groups and datasets that I imagine are hard for the lone rogue to steal/penetrate/replicate on their own.
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FYI I just saw this thread on reddit today and thought it was informative for anyone who has to fly with pets too large for the cabin. The original thread is about a mishandled musical instrument, but it branched into a long discussion -- with experienced passengers and baggage handlers participating -- about why checking a pet as "cargo" is a better option than in "baggage."
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I can afford approximately 1400 to 1500 a month.
...you sure you're a "graduate student?"
I have generally found that the rental market here is pretty immediate. No shortage of apts, but people tend to post their calls for roommates or available places to rent less than a month in advance. This makes it maddening and impossible to arrange something from afar, before summer fieldwork (anticipating a fall move), or well in advance.
Westside Rentals is a pay-for service that can help you, and helped us (me + 1 roommate) with our last move. I found their search function, way to contact landlords, quick assessment of walkability of a neighborhood (walk score), much easier to navigate than craigslist. Well worth the $60-70.
I doubt you'll receive any advice on GradCafe about specific profs...try looking them up on BruinWalk or ratemyprofessors.
Palms is acceptable. Culver City is alright, though you're increasing your bus time to get to campus. West Hollywood (WeHo) isn't the safest, also farther from campus. I'd avoid Westwood Village, too many undergrads. Santa Monica is actually better towards the beach/1st street, but astronomically expensive. If you go Santa Monica, I'd stay north of I-10. Also, the area just south of Wilshire Blvd, between Overland Ave and Beverlywood Blvd, is also affordable and relatively quiet.
PM me if you want any more details.
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I can do all of that on my iPad. GoodReader is a $5 app that's great for reading .pdfs, esp. for seminar classes, and you can highlight, use a draw function, and sync to DropBox easily. I haven't used my device for notetaking but no doubt there are apps and styluses (styli?) you can get for those.
BTW, I initially I read your subject heading thought you wanted something for the field and mapping. -
There are indeed some back-posts on this, at least ones I know I've participated in. I like to link to a prof's blog for this, b/c I think she breaks down the faculty perspective quite well, so you'll see that.
went in the direction of disciplinary differences -- in some fields, identifying an advisor is an essential part of the process, for others, the convention is just to admit students based on overall academic record and these emails are seen as rather bothersome. Making contact pre-admission is beneficial and expected in my field, so the latter was news to me!
It's summer, so you may not get much response. Try end-of-summer/fall for best timing.
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So part of my "OMG don't take this personally" post up-thread is that I use "Best" all. the. time. I must've been using it consistently on my weekly email to the lab undergrads, 'cause I just got a reply back from a sophomore about scheduling...
She signed it "Best."
I like to think I've made an impact...
MUAHAHAHA...
Best,
mandarin.orange -
If "Best" bothers the OP, I can only imagine how s/he will react to those emails where profs don't even sign anything at all, just let their email signature (i.e. dump of contact info) do the work.
Or the unsigned ones I get that simply say, "Sent from my iPhone/iPad/http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9BnLbv6QYcA."
Profs, and academics, are busy people with unwieldy Inboxes. My inbox is unwieldy. And many people don't even communicate well over email, or tend to spit back non-capitalized sentence fragments in the interest of being speedy, rather than eloquent. My primary collaborator is like this, and I find the occasional 30-min phone call is often better for us to hash out serious ideas.
Unless a signature blatantly states "Up Yours," I recommend: read absolutely nothing into it and take nothing personally.
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I used USPS for about 20 medium-large boxes, and it cost me about $450. I had an inventory for each box and insured every one. About 4-5 of those were media mail for my books. I had no problems whatsoever with their transit from NC to my family's home in CA; I like to think that the purchase of insurance, plus showing up at the counter super-organized, ensured that they took care of my packages.
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You may not be able to gauge that 100% to your satisfaction until you visit the school. "Happiness" is a hard-to-measure factor, and totally subject to change, depending on whatever dynamics the incoming cohort possesses that you can't plan or anticipate.
I'm very happy at my institution, as well as several of my peers. It's the most collegial environment I've ever worked in. But yesterday (based on an interaction I had for one of my service commitments) I realized that certain people here genuinely aren't, for whatever reason. I think it's more a case that whereever you go, there are bound to be those people that never seem happy, and assume the worst of everyone and everything. So I try to be respectful and kind, but limit my interactions with them.
- biotechie and perfectionist
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Does anyone know if taking one class, even auditing a class, is frowned upon? am I going to be so bogged down that this won't be realistic? I assume that if one can make time for a hobby outside school, one could just as easily do it with a hobby inside school.
The only frown-upon I can envision in this scenario is taking a course way outside your field for a letter grade. Greater potential to get bogged down with doing course assignments that really will take time away from your primary courseload and field of study, and may look like a bizarre aberration on your transcript, like you are unfocused. Art history and studio art don't strike me as hugely unrelated at all...in my MS I do remember one incoming student who was super-excited to enroll in a series of Russian courses, and it didn't have anything to do with her research, field area or even personal travel goals, ancestry, etc. that we could discern. Largely it just seemed a lark and an immature hanging-on to a "take ALL the things" liberal arts education mentality.
Take pass/fail, or audit, or see if these are offered through the student union, recreation center, or extension classes. Art and pottery are offered as recreational courses on my campus...you pay a $30-75 fee for the materials/instruction, its non-transcript, and meets 2-4 hours a week. Rec courses here are mostly fitness activities, but also range to art classes and writing (creative and academic). I've taken ballet, lap swim, and yoga.
Next year I want to do more spin class. Instructors can def. put you in touch with resources or a community of like-minded individuals. -
Craigslist! I've used this for years with great success. It can be time-consuming -- you have to do all your own screening and asking lots of questions. Simply reading through the ads to separate the sanity vs. insanity takes time, and be prepared for some people to not follow up or reply to emails.
I would read and reply to some posts, and then on the "housing wanted," I posted my own ad too, describing myself, habits, what I was looking for (including my price point), and definitely emphasized that I was a responsible, financially-savvy grad student. That last part is important, as many people view a very studious or on-campus-all-the-time person as a fairly low-maintenance potential roomie.
If someone has a bedroom to fill or offer you, it can cut out a lot of the time spent filling out applications, credit checks, and fees. But, never commit without a written agreement. Subleasing has its upsides -- it may be cheaper, require only a short-term commitment, and may include furniture and utility costs -- but make sure you are protected with a sublease, and a way to directly contact the owner/landlord yourself.
Even if you don't contact anyone via craigslist, I found reading the ads to be really informative...gives you a sense of fair market pricing for rents, when things tend to be available (is 14 days out the norm? or more like 60?), and neighborhoods.
I too would let the application fee go. They shouldn't charge more than $50 for a simple credit check; most I've ever paid was $75 for two of us and we walked away from that particular deal (well-worth it). I'd rather lose $20-50, than getting approved and suddenly being solely responsible for the cost of two people's rent.I refused to do graduate housing for the same reason - even before I arrived in the city, it struck me as a huge racket, with prices waaaay above market. I found it suspicious that I kept getting emails about my special "reserved spot" in grad housing, long after I formally declined it.
Don't commit to a place sight-unseen before you arrive...you can always book a week in a hotel or hostel for when you arrive, and search then. Not ideal, but at least you are finally there to see the layout of the city, campus, and apartments first-hand.
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I've kept my car registered in my home state, but that's because they don't require admissions tests or anything like that.
Well, I'd surely be out of luck if my car had to pass an admissions test. Flakey cruise-control is about the extent of its brain power.
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Registration is one really solid way to establish residency for your new school, depending on if they require this (state-funded schools will want to move you off non-resident tuition within a year).
DMV has an online calculator you can use to get an estimate for your registration expenses. Generally you need to note the first day you drive into the state, and do registration within 30 days of that date, otherwise there's a penalty. NOTE: if you've bought the car within the last year out-of-state, expect to pay mucho tax to the State of California on its value! We are talking 100s of dollars! I opted to wait a few months, primarily because after relo costs, I just didn't have $600-700...once I saved enough, 12 months had elapsed and I was off the hook for the tax, BUT did get charged the $75-100 penalty for not registering within 30 days. I advised a new labmate to do the same - wait, then pay the late penalty with other regis costs.
Car will need a smog certificate when you go to register. Use yelp to find a mechanic that can do this without hassle, and for a reasonable price. Rates are not fixed here, so garages can charge wildly different prices for the same emissions test.
Get AAA. Not only will give you peace of mind during a cross-country drive, but in southern California, you can avoid the DMV and register everything at a AAA branch! Learning this was life-changing for me and made an errand I was initially dreading, go amazingly! (I've heard this is not true for NorCal's AAA sector, though...AND you do need to FIRST go the DMV for the CA driver's license, which then takes 4-6 weeks to arrive by mail.)
Finally, my latest registration renewal - sent by mail - cost about $175. -
What I'm more worried about is if I fly home for Christmas... I don't like the idea of taking my cat on a plane with me, even in the passenger area (which is the only way I'd consider it). Even for a short flight, you still have to factor in time waiting at the gate, going through security, etc. And what if my cat has to use the litter or something? Obviously I wouldn't feed him right before we leave or anything, but you never know. If anyone has experience travelling with pets on a plane, I'd be interested to hear!
I flew from the southeast to my family's home in CA a few times with my cat. She came with me for 6-8 weeks in the summer a couple times, and then I eventually relocated back to CA for grad school. I flew out to CA once for a week, about mid-summer to take her on the plane to stay with my family, and do some early residency stuff and apt-hunting. I flew back to NC and prepared my stuff and car, and spent a week driving out to CA a month later. (The initial plan was for her to go back with my mom after a visit in the spring, and all arrangements were made, etc. However, kitty had had a recent tooth extraction and was taking meds and a long time to recover from it, so I opted to wait and take an extra, later trip.)
I figured a week with my cat in the car was too long a distance, despite my initial enthusiasm of writing a "Cross-Country with a Cat" blog about our journey. I envisioned extra hassle to book a pet-okay hotel each night, pay their fees/deposits, etc. I also was staying with friends two nights, who had pets of their own. I didn't know at all how my cat would react to an overnight in a hotel room, with strange air currents and smells. The initial move to NC (with a BF at the time) had involved a UHaul, 2 travel days with an overnight stay, and his cat. She basically growled, paced and meowed all night long in the hotel room, and we hit the road extremely sleep-deprived the next morning, à la Allie Brosh.
If you make a special trip to fly with your cat, a few things I learned:
• It's expensive. There will be a pet fee (I paid between $75 to $150, each way). Also, a few times I paid for cabs to/from the airport, rather than public transport. And below, I made a case for paying extra for nonstop fares.
• Book your reservation by phone. You can't simply book online or travelocity (my preferred method) -- you have to call the airline for the reservation directly and ask for one of only a few allotted spaces for online pets. I had friends move internationally once with their 4 cats, and finding a flight where they could get all the spots was by far their biggest challenge in booking.
• You need to carry the cat through security. I didn't know this the first time! Mine always had to be forcibly extracted from the carrier, and, once out, wanted to squirm and dart off who knows where. Trim claws the day before travel! Also, I got a leash and harness for future trips.
• Carrier lining - something soft, comforting, and absorbent. I used a favorite quilt, once I was certain she didn't have accidents. If you're unsure of accidents, maybe sleep with a towel for a week so you have the double benefit of absorbency + your scent.
• Family restrooms - I would seek these out during long waits or layovers in the airport, go in, and secure the door. Then I could open the carrier and give her an opportunity to roam, offer food and water, etc. for a few minutes. [This almost backfired once when she tried to jump down into the restroom trash, which was an opening cut into the sink countertop.]
• Preboarding - never hurts to ask...I always did...though there seems no policy about it and airline staff were very inconsistent in their response.
• Know your cat's disposition as much as possible. My cat seemed to do okay with car rides, after some initial meowing. If she'd been like my childhood family cat - who peed, foamed at mouth, and yowled mournfully even on short car rides -- I would never have tried to fly with her. I got lucky with current kitty in that she kind of went mute and still when in her carrier, probably from the anxiety. She never ate, drank, or slept, which was worrisome, but she always recovered quickly once settled at our destination.
• Food and water - have it available and offer frequently. I bought a hamster bottle for our first trip, and filled it once beyond security. I figured I could reach my arm down from my seat and point the nozzle through the carrier grate for her during the flight. That part worked, but she would never touch it.
• No "first-time" pills - I'd heard mixed things about that from friends and even the vet. Truth be told, adding a new and unknown med to the already disruptive mix of travel, noise, airports and planes just didn't seem a good idea.
• Fly nonstop. I did this for our very first flight together. It went well enough that I got brazen and for future flights, I reverted to my cheap-ass self with insane departure/arrival times and connections. One of the worst days of my life was spending all day at an airport in Nowhere, Middle America, delayed with my cat. We'd already been on a redeye flight that departed late, and the next connection was not until 6pm the next evening. While I can deal with my own personal sleep deprivation and boredom, I worried constantly about my cat having to spend essentially 24 hours traveling, most of that in a carrier...and she stubbornly refused food, water, and relieving herself the entire time. Phrew!
Hope this helps! Glad to see everyone's thinking ahead so much about what's best for their pets, and getting them settled in new places. Nothing beats having a sweet, sleeping kitty nearby on those dissertation-writing days at home!
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If you need to know its projection, here is a resource.
(Also, it's definitely not choropleth, BTW.)
Do I talk about my research in a statement of purpose?
in Biology
Posted · Edited by mandarin.orange
Sorry for the recycle, but I don't want to type all this again, and would encourage you to search and dig around old threads. This is a post I wrote last fall to someone that I think will address your questions, with resources that will certainly clarify things...it was under the thread ""
Much of what I wrote then IS targeted to that person's specific SOP (which...is kind of a good example of what NOT to do
). I did make some comments about award-mentioning that may be relevant here.
Katherine Sledge's resources (I linked to them) are invaluable to assembling a grad application, esp. in science and STEM.
1200 words is overly long, IMHO.