mandarin.orange

Labmate overheard this gem in a conversation between two students. One was trying to best describe her film school program to the other, esp. the time commitment: "it's like med school, but for emotion."

I think mental health among graduate students is not spoken about enough; and I personally feel uncomfortable talking about with fellow students and professors. I wish there was more emphasis on mental health in programs.
 
I don't suffer from severe depression, but generalized anxiety. I noticed after my first semester an increased feeling of anxiety all around so this semester I have been taking advantage of the free counseling sessions at my school. Most schools offer at least several free sessions and then can help transition you into longer term therapy if needed. Counseling really helps me and I've done it at various times in my life.
 
Also, I discovered a female graduate student support group that I plan on joining at some point in the near future after I've gone through some individual sessions. I encourage people to check out what your school has to offer. Chances are it's pretty decent.

A defense of the command line (and programming languages).
 
Maybe in fields where you don't have to deal with big data GUI's are OK, but you are sacrificing flexibility for  convenience with GUIs. And even thats a stretch, since once you write a program (and if you do it well) you have it forever, and just have to press one button to get it to work.
 
I couldn't do the statistics I need to do with SAS or excel, there are just too many calculations and too many data points for it to run efficiently. Try loading millions-billions of data points in SAS or Excel, not to mention actually doing work.  I dont want to wait days for calculations when I can do them in minutes in Matlab.
 
R was actually made as a free alternative to Matlab, which is great.  Matlab was made to be an easier (but still very flexible) alternative to Fortran.  The difference between fortran and Matlab is fortran is computationally faster but Matlab is easier to use. They both can "do" the same things. 
 
The real reason GUI's were developed is so people could do simple tasks without having to learn much. As a researcher, you should be thinking further ahead imo, or else you will be seriously limiting the questions you can tackle in the future. I taught a matlab based geophysics course last quarter, and on the first day I gave them a speech (they didnt know matlab at all) about how they will discover a new, quantitative side of themself through learning matlab. All of a sudden, statistics on large data sets is easy. All of a sudden its easy to get numerical solutions to equations that have no solution.  All of a sudden its easy to plot anything in whatever quantity you want. All of a sudden its possible to load any type of data in any type of format.  All of a sudden you have an entire community constantly developing new features that are being added into the language's library every day. 
 
Another thing I want to mention is that eventually, if you use the computer enough, a GUI actually becomes reasonably slower. On OSX, I almost completely live in the command line. I can type faster than I can click (around 130 wpm). There are tons of single button shortcuts you can create. 
 
This isn't actually meant to be directed at you shadow claw, but my frustration with people in general who are completely dismissive of learning analytical techniques. Sorry I am using the literal "you", instead of "people".
 
Even if you never have to do this, chances are you will collaborate with someone who does (or want to  use one of their scripts) and you will need to learn how to use it to be an effective scientist (or journal article reviewer). 
 
/rantoff

My husband and I did the long distance thing for just over two years before we were married...ours was an international romance.  We were about 4,000 miles apart and got to see each other in person about every 5 months.  It sucked.  A lot.  But he was worth the wait, and I wouldn't take any of the horrible, lonely, crappy parts back because we've been married for almost 8 years and neither of us have ever been happier.
 
Tips: 1. Skype, or Google hang-out, or any other form of video chat is your friend, it's a way of feeling like they're there, even if they aren't. 2. Make plans to see each other as often as possible, and then keep them.  3. Rotate visits so no one feels like they're doing all the work.  4. You both need distractions, hobbies, or what have you.  Just sitting and pining after each other won't do either of you any good. 5. Communicate, communicate, communicate.  He won't be able to read non-verbal cues from 2 hours away and vice versa.  You both have to be able to open your mouths and gripe when something is bugging you.
 
Good luck to you!  

A sequel is being filmed right now, I can't wait

This behavior, I would tell her in no uncertain terms to stop. I think that's totally under your jurisdiction as leader of the TA section, and the course professor can't control that (sounds like s/he wouldn't really care enough to micromanage her behavior to that extent). But I think it's also important for the students in class who may not be her neighbors or participating in this -- they may seem under the radar working quietly, but they're observing what you allow/don't allow, standards, and what they're getting out of their education. You can loose their further engagement / enthusiasm in the course if they perceive that your educational standards are lax.
 
 
I agree with you. Unfortunately, I've also experienced supervising profs that may not care or just don't want to deal with these issues of un/originality...from our perspective, these are things that really have power to change the dynamic of our sections, and are formative experiences for us a fledging educators. I reported an egregious case of plagiarism to my supervising prof last year (student had copied a blog post verbatim and turned it in as her paper). He had a "scary one-on-one" with her (his words, I personally doubt he was that scary) then decided to let her rewrite it. WHAT WHAT. Essentially there was no consequence, and I had the extra work of regrading it for her during finals week with all the other crap I had to do/grade. Sadly we have to take their cue on this.

I think this is universal -- academia has many ways, shapes, and forms in which it'll deliver this message to you on a daily basis. I mean is anyone ever 100% well-read in their field or even sub-field, in terms of literature review? I personally haven't found that white whale. I see a couple who act and talk like they do, but I know they're play-acting.

Most of the academics I see succeeding -- young professors successfully hired in our department (which is highly ranked), post-docs kicking butt and ready to move on to the next level -- are the most honest and upfront with their strong skill sets vs. knowledge gaps. I frequently hear from them, "I'm not a statistician" or "I don't do GIS" or "I didn't know that; it sounds interesting, so tell me more." 

One of the most profound pieces of advice I've gotten from my advisor is "you never get to that magic point where you know and do everything. You just stop giving a shit." So, I try my best to cultivate that.    

Labmate overheard this gem in a conversation between two students. One was trying to best describe her film school program to the other, esp. the time commitment: "it's like med school, but for emotion."

Labmate overheard this gem in a conversation between two students. One was trying to best describe her film school program to the other, esp. the time commitment: "it's like med school, but for emotion."

Oh god, I have so many of these.
 
Freshman undergrad telling his parents about his Sociology 101 class on parents day:
 
"No, mom, it's racist to even call someone black or white. Race isn't real. So we shouldn't even be talking about race, because race is fake and it's racist to bring it up."
 
Conversation between me, my freshman dorm roommate, and her boyfriend, on watching me pull out a jar of peanut butter (context: I'm vegan):
 
Roommate's Boyfriend: "Ooooh! I knew you cheated on being vegan! You're eating peanut butter!"
 
Me: "So? Peanut butter is vegan."
 
Roommate's Boyfriend: "Not-uh! It's called peanut butter. It has butter in it. It's not vegan."
 
Roommate: "Wait, butter isn't vegan?"
 
Me: "No, butter is made from milk. But it's not in peanut butter. What did you think butter was made out of?"
 
Roommate: "I don't know. A butter plant? I guess I never really thought about it before."

I agree with the advice to make the most use of your papers, and use them to fulfill other program requirements as much as you can. However, I don't think it's that bad to have some courses, mostly required ones that are out of your field, where you just write something not great because you have to and you're not really ever going to follow up on it. I also think it's important not to impose requirements on your paper that aren't part of the assignment. Yes, use your paper as the basis for a grant proposal or comp paper, but don't write your paper *as* that proposal or comp paper. I sometimes see people try and make their class papers super polished, beyond what's required, and this ambition/perfectionism ends up slowing them down. Get the class requirements out of the way, keeping in mind how you might be able to build on what you're doing later, but get to work on that bigger project only after you've completed the official class requirement. This is generally my approach to grad school requirements: do what you need to in order to get the requirements out of the way, continue working on a project as you wish after doing that. Things like comps, prospectus, and even dissertation defense are internal exams you just need to pass. You can work on those projects to get publishable papers you're proud of later, but I wouldn't wait to have an accepted journal paper if my program says I can defend the first draft of a manuscript as a comprehensive paper (for example). I'd defend, then work on my paper without the added pressure of the formal exam.  

Labmate overheard this gem in a conversation between two students. One was trying to best describe her film school program to the other, esp. the time commitment: "it's like med school, but for emotion."

Labmate overheard this gem in a conversation between two students. One was trying to best describe her film school program to the other, esp. the time commitment: "it's like med school, but for emotion."

I think this is universal -- academia has many ways, shapes, and forms in which it'll deliver this message to you on a daily basis. I mean is anyone ever 100% well-read in their field or even sub-field, in terms of literature review? I personally haven't found that white whale. I see a couple who act and talk like they do, but I know they're play-acting.

Most of the academics I see succeeding -- young professors successfully hired in our department (which is highly ranked), post-docs kicking butt and ready to move on to the next level -- are the most honest and upfront with their strong skill sets vs. knowledge gaps. I frequently hear from them, "I'm not a statistician" or "I don't do GIS" or "I didn't know that; it sounds interesting, so tell me more." 

One of the most profound pieces of advice I've gotten from my advisor is "you never get to that magic point where you know and do everything. You just stop giving a shit." So, I try my best to cultivate that.    

I didn't get a single paper back from any of my grad coursework, so par for the course, at least in my program. I had brief chats or compliments after the term in maybe two cases, but other than that, I felt these things were submitted into a void.
 
Then at some point during my quals, I began to wonder if my committee was even reading anything, ever, or if these were just onerous checkpoints for the degree program. So a labmate / friend and I conspired to put "Easter eggs" in our lit reviews. She copied Angry Bird cartoons onto some charts and figures, I had a 1-paragraph tangent about my search for Bigfoot during fieldwork. Neither were ever mentioned to us. 

I think this is universal -- academia has many ways, shapes, and forms in which it'll deliver this message to you on a daily basis. I mean is anyone ever 100% well-read in their field or even sub-field, in terms of literature review? I personally haven't found that white whale. I see a couple who act and talk like they do, but I know they're play-acting.

Most of the academics I see succeeding -- young professors successfully hired in our department (which is highly ranked), post-docs kicking butt and ready to move on to the next level -- are the most honest and upfront with their strong skill sets vs. knowledge gaps. I frequently hear from them, "I'm not a statistician" or "I don't do GIS" or "I didn't know that; it sounds interesting, so tell me more." 

One of the most profound pieces of advice I've gotten from my advisor is "you never get to that magic point where you know and do everything. You just stop giving a shit." So, I try my best to cultivate that.    

Labmate overheard this gem in a conversation between two students. One was trying to best describe her film school program to the other, esp. the time commitment: "it's like med school, but for emotion."

As a graduate student, your primary responsibility is TO YOU. You should hold your office hours when they are most convenient for you. This has nothing to do with which students are "worthy" of you. As an underpaid TA with limited funding and precious little time to get through school, you need to do what you need to do to get through your program. That doesn't mean shirking your duties or shafting your undergraduates, but it also means setting clear boundaries and making it clear that you don't offer your services on demand. There is a difference between being hostile to undergraduates and simply prioritizing your own work. You are not a bad teacher or a bad person if you prioritize your own work. No graduate student is called upon to be endlessly accommodating and giving while they are collecting a stipend and trying to get through school.
 
When I was a graduate student, I would personally have never polled my students to ask them when I should hold my office hours. My time was precious, and my office hours unfolded on my terms. I certainly wouldn't go out of my way to hold hours when they were completely inconvenient for students, but I also made it clear that students needed to work around my schedule, not vice versa. If someone could absolutely not make my hours because they had an immovable commitment then yes, I would do my best to meet them at another time. But I certainly didn't tell them that they were the ones who had the power to set my schedule.

I didn't get a single paper back from any of my grad coursework, so par for the course, at least in my program. I had brief chats or compliments after the term in maybe two cases, but other than that, I felt these things were submitted into a void.
 
Then at some point during my quals, I began to wonder if my committee was even reading anything, ever, or if these were just onerous checkpoints for the degree program. So a labmate / friend and I conspired to put "Easter eggs" in our lit reviews. She copied Angry Bird cartoons onto some charts and figures, I had a 1-paragraph tangent about my search for Bigfoot during fieldwork. Neither were ever mentioned to us. 

I had a professor who would do this, entirely on purpose. He would schedule all his classes at 8am, so only students who were really interested and dedicated would show up. Made for better classes, and less work for him because fewer students would enroll.

It takes me 10 cookies to substitute a meal using seminar food...

It's the start of my first finals week as a doctoral student and I suddenly find myself with the attention span of that dog from the movie Up.

In my opinion, PhD programs are a lot better (not sure about easier) after classes are done. Research is hard but personally, I feel a lot more motivated and excited to do research than I did in attending lectures and completing problem sets. Also, I feel that now I don't have to spend 20-30 hours per week on classes, I have a ton more time to do things I am interested in. For example, attending seminars is now enjoyable and a nice break from research (as much as I like it, I need variety!). During the first year, it's just another hour where I am stressing about research and classes in the background. I also have time to do other things that I care about like extracurriculars on campus etc.
 
Overall, my workload has decreased. During my years in class, I spend probably 50-60 hours per week working. Now that classes are over, I only spend about 40-50 hours per week on just research (to be honest, probably more like 35-40 hours of solid focussed work).