mandarin.orange

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.

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.

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.

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!

If you need to know its projection, here is a resource. (Also, it's definitely not choropleth, BTW.)

Here is some fun for you -- you can play AGU Bingo! I've compiled the following Bingo card from 3 days of observations. In the traditional "free space" I want to include something a little more challenging. To my surprise, I actually saw this yesterday, with a poster from the Heartland Institute!

And so it begins: I traveled in a carpool to the Bay Area today, with others from my program. Someone had the "Symphony of Science" album and we had a sing-along. (For the uninitiated, these are autotuned remixes of Carl Sagan, Jane Goodall, Bill Nye, David Attenborough, etc. See example http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JB7jSFeVz1U.) This was followed by a long discourse on the global outlook of nonrenewable energies, and perceptions of Homer-Dixon among political ecologists. At this point, my seatmate threw her jacket over her head and went to sleep. LET THE NERDERY COMMENCE.

Another thread recently addressed this...putting "in preparation" is "under review" is perfectly acceptable.

Two threads were started for last year's meeting; I wanna know who's going this year! I am going and super stoked! Not presenting...still it is close enough to SoCal (and my family is in the bay area) that this is a no brainer, and exactly the end-of-term distraction I need from how the #%&$ I'm going to write a pair of 18-20 page term papers for my last gasp of coursework, before Dec 14. So who among the geoscientists are going? I will leave you with this pair of .gifs.

LOL. Fortunately the faculty in my department generally don't do this, but we can always tell when colloquium or a job talk is jointly sponsored with other departments because the "others" often engage in exactly this posturing. One job candidate very humbly talked about his experiences with border security in India. A woman from a dept. upstairs pointed out where he was wrong on a few minutiae, scoffing, "How can you say this? I know India." Yes, visiting-arrogant-prof lady... I'm sure you "know" all about a subcontinent home to 1.2 billion people, in all its entirety and complexities...

Advisor fit is important, but I've never heard of someone going quite to these lengths to ensure they end up with a certain PI of choice. Switching PhD programs after a year to a different school is highly unusual. I've found that encouragement to do your MS and PhD at separate places and with separate advisors is widespread in geosciences, but never heard of encouraging transfers after one year. I've only encountered one person during the course of two separate programs who's done it...it was a bit of a stigma and none of her coursework/time investment/credits transferred.

Female Science Professor's blog has a sample essay, with a great quote/opening line here (scroll down past the perfectly legit SoP advice to view it).

LOL. I just PM'ed someone re. her SoP, and it's been a back-and-forth with me trying to impress the value of starting with something straight and to-the-point...which I feel is especially important in STEM fields. Beware of getting overly worked up and riding what you perceive as a wave of linguistic cleverness...this may not leave the impression on the adcom you envision. My opener was something like, "I want to go to graduate school so I can develop skills to work in California's public sector." Not exactly something I labored over, or coveted as "the Precioussss" while high on my own literary prowess. But it got the job done.

I went to my polling location, and found myself punching chads in a basement. Haven't done that in 10 years. WTF, Los Angeles...this state is where the Digital Age BEGAN!

What are your specific research interests? If you could identify yourself by one subfield, what would it be? Also, what do you mean by "huge amount of freedom?" I didn't have TA duties my first year, nor much labwork -- thank God -- but was absolutely swamped with required coursework and laying the groundwork for my project, which entailed lit review, fieldwork logistics, and writing proposals for additional fellowship applications.

Also, it's Newport Beach, not New Port Beach.

Okay, this is sort of in backwards order, but... It's much improved in the latter paragraphs -- articulate, clear and specific. The third to last paragraph where you mention specific PIs and their labs is great. The middle of the SoP reads very differently. I know they are asking specifically for achievements and accomplishments, but I can't get over the feeling that this is the type of stuff the CV is for. I guess if they really want replicate information in BOTH the SoP and CV, go with it and just make sure that the phrasing/wording in each document isn't an exact replicate. For example, that bulleted list is very resume-like. If that's how you have it on your CV as well, find a way to streamline/convert to prose for the SoP so there is some variation. Also, in the paragraph before the bullets, there are run-on sentences. The first line and full paragraph is a throwback to your old, initial style that I first commented on, and I still feel it's full of over-the-top language. I still find this opener: ...strangely constructed, and overstriving to be dramatic. It just reads like you are artificially trying to "hook" me to read, rather than being straightforward. Maybe this is just my deal. But if I were applying this year, I would want to eliminate ANY possibility that someone on an adcomm is going to be similarly offput, right at the start of my essay. So in the end, you have an SoP that seems to be coming together, but with three very disparate styles. Work on unifying it more and making it cohesive. Taking a cue from margarets, I've inserted your overstyled initial paragraph below with the words and phrases bolded that I find to be problematic. You mentioned that a couple currently attending this program deemed your essay "alright." I'll ask you this: is "alright" what you want? Is simply "passable" what you're striving for here? Or do you want to stand out? Admissions are so competitive -- my program took 10 of 84 applicants last year. YMMV in a different field, of course, but so long as you have the time, and a receptive forum here with people willing to help, why not take advantage of it? Take ANY opportunity to make your application as top-notch and the best it can possibly be. If you are committed to going to grad school next year, leave nothing to chance. A final word: it's rare that I see someone publicly post versions of their SoPs on GradCafe. Usually these are exchanged via PMs. Just remember that when all is said and done, and your apps are submitted, these are going to be publicly available, and searchable. Anyone googling the specific program and profs you mention is likely going to hit this forum, and this thread with your evolving SoP, in the top ten results. You may want to come through and remove/bomb these in a few weeks -- I believe there is a Hide or Delete function for that. BUT if people quote you, that part of the text is going to persist on les internets for all eternity. What I would change from the beginning - see italicized comments:

I suggest that you cross-post this to the teachers.net messageboards. Many respondants there will be folks actively teaching. Their messageboards are broken down by teaching level (e.g.middle, elementary, high school, etc.), so simply navigate to the one you want.

What you describe sounds horrific, and I definitely feel for you. In high school, I felt one of my SATs was compromised by external noise and an angry, bitter proctor who yelled at us and kept inaccurate time. I did my best to go the complaint route with ETS, which involved writing a formal letter and sending it by either Certified or Express Mail (forget which, but ETS stated it "required" this special -- and expensive -- handling). Months later, I got a form-letter apology and some generic statement that "they investigate every complaint situation." My college apps were long since submitted, I couldn't retake due to time/money constraints, and there was never a mention of, say, refunding my test fee, or what the consequences of said "investigation" might entail. Predictably, ETS makes the complaint process as cumbersome, inefficient and passive as possible, with the onus on you for their shortcomings. I did a brief search for their complaint process, and here it looks like little has changed (except that you can now complain by email) -- note the "must complete within 7 days of test date" and "expect a response in 4-6 weeks." Seeing as you won't get far with ETS, I would contact the testing center directly, and persistently, to reschedule you ASAP and at reduced or no cost. I wouldn't mention it in your SoP. Try to keep that as a stand-alone document about your academic training, interests and philosophy. See if your applications have a "Use this space to share with us anything you feel is not addressed in your other application components" field, and mention it there. If there is no such opportunity, perhaps contact the program's Dir of Grad Students or Student Affairs Officer (whoever your go-to is for application submission and questions) and ask to include a cover letter with your file that briefly describes the situation. And, if you also mention in this letter that you plan to retake the test ASAP -- and, as galling as it is for me to even recommend this, you do it, even if it costs you another fee -- it removes the "is s/he making excuses?" question on the part of the adcomm, and they will know to expect your scores later. Good luck and keep us updated.

I never seemed to have a problem with useless breaks where I aimlessly traveled or idled away time, even if it meant incurring some debt. The recharge was essential, and inevitably, boredom would drive me back to some form of work with renewed vigor. I left my MS program with no plan, except to go backpacking and visit family for 2 months. Not sure what I can offer in the way of advice, other than to get over the "if it's not prestigious, it's useless" conception of your free time. And leave you with this guy's blog, which might provide you with some inspiration. He found a way to incorporate long-distance hiking and travel with his law school plans. Out of Order's trailjournal

In a prior incarnation of this same question, I compiled a few links and resources that address it

Definitely The Chronicle of Higher Education. You may need a subscription or access through your school's proxy server to read, however. A couple recommended books: The Academic Job Search Handbook The Academic's Handbook I also really like the memoir An Unquiet Mind, by Kay Redfield Jamison. Happy reading!

This was just posted in another thread - SoP guidelines from a Duke website. While the department is different, the advice, esp about tone and content, is valuable and spot-on:

Can you be honest and up-front? Emphasize what you have done, but mention, "I'm struggling with time management and getting enough sleep." Don't immediately follow with apologies and promises to work -- see what he says and if he has advice to offer. It sounds like you set an ambitious plan that becomes insurmountable. Is there a way to break it into more doable, day-by-day chunks? On days where I don't sleep well (and there are a frustrating lot of them), I try to take on the more low-key tasks -- like reading shorter papers, skimming/organizing my papers, outlining (but not actual writing), more routine tasks (if in lab), etc.