eco_env

I took 3 suitcases and a backpack on the plane (southwest, so it was all free), and shipped the rest through USPS. the boxes were i ntatters when I got them, but amazingly everything was still in them, probably because I lined the boxes with palstic bags. I spent about $100 on 9 boxes, I think, 2-3 books, so those were media mail.

Maybe you should get her something like this: http://www1.lifestation.com/

Slim. It took a week for me to get an official pdf after unofficial acceptance.

Luckily, I'm not like that- I'd rather stay at home and work on my computer if I don't need to be on campus, even now when my commute is only 40-50 minutes. I've done commutes that are more than 1 hour long before, but that's by train, which is not the same as driving for more than an hour. Actually, if I'm driving it will be better for me to stay a little late and come in very early, because then I can avoid traffic. Thanks. It won't be my first year, at least. By the time this happens it will at least be late in my 2nd year. I'm hoping to finish most coursework beforehand.

I don't actually live that far from campus now, but I'm trying to decide if I should put myself in the position where I'll need to live far from campus. Let's say I have a spouse that is thinking of applying for jobs 40-70 miles away and needs to live very close to work, and the qustion is whether to apply for those jobs. (That's not actually the case, but my real situation would be hard to explain). I guess being an ecologist means it's less likely that I will have to work in the lab late at night- my field work is best done during daylight hours, and I don't expect my lab work to be too time-sensitive (I'll probably be able to leave it for the next day), but I'm a first-year grad student, so it's hard to know what my schedule will be like in future years as my research progresses.

Yeah, that's what I would have wanted to do, except that I always got my list of interviewrs last minute. I read papers by prospective advisors much earlier, of course.

I'm wondering about the feasability of doing very long distance commuting as an ecology grad student, with my research being on campus. Very long distance=40-70 miles. That's a 45-70 minute drive (with no traffic, which doesn't actually happen here during rush time), 2-3 hours by train and bus (one way). There are carpools to campus which might be useable, but the carpools and trains would require that I leave at 5pm. Are there other science grad students out there that have a commute that long? I'll likely be working as a TA in future years, too.

Haha. I'm from Boston, and moved to someplace that gets in the 90s+ for about 4 months in a row for grad school. I'm terrified of the prospect of living here in June-Sept. (I survived one Sept, but I hear it's not the worst part). Wear turtlenecks, sweaters, warm, waterproof coats. Buy boots that have a waterproof layer (not Uggs!) and warm lining inside. Busier streets will get plowed/shoveled pretty quickly after snow, so you may not need to wear your boots so much. You may not want to spend a lot of time outdoors (except for the occasional snow fight) in the winter, but it's not that bad if you are dressed warm. If there's a big snow storm and the snow doesn't melt for a while (which happens many years for several weeks/a month at a time), it can get a little annoying to walk places, because the snow gets piled up at street corners.

I don't think that's true. My school offers health insurance, including dental. If you take thier insurance, they give you extra funding to cover it. I got the impression that this is pretty standard, but maybe I'm wrong?

browse this list: https://listserv.umd.edu/archives/ecolog-l.html

the average pay for an administrative assitant in you area is about $18/hour, so $20 seems reasonable.

Depends on where you are moving... most places I called (in a not-really-college town) about an apartment told me to call later- about 1 month before moving in. They'll ask for your current pay info.

In that case, I take it back. Sounds like you are living somewhere amazingly cheap. A higher stipend somewhere else may actually be worth less.

I read papers of the people I'll interview with.

Look at evolution job boards and see what kind of jobs are avaiable for people with MS. In ecology, there are plenty of opportunities for people with a MS and some experience. BTW, "environmentalist" is not a job: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Environmentalist. Maybe the word you are looking for is environmental scientist/consultant.

Depends on where you are living- some places this would be a bad offer, others terrible. OK, it might be good for a MA in French, but you'll probably have a hard time living on that. Is it $1050 per month on 0.5FTE or 0.3FTE?

Depends on whether you are talking about looking sexy or professional.

Yes, we are awesome outliers. Though I tend to be overdressed for an ecologist, except shoe-wise- I wear sneakers or sandals all the time.

that's a bad thing? dishes and laundry need to get done. I don't think you need to feel guilty about that.

It depends on the type of program- there are plenty of grad programs designed for people that are also working. I know someone with 2 children, working full-time (I think), who was working on a PhD long-distance. This was in math education. If the program is OK with you working, and other students inthe program are working too, it's probably the type of program where it will work out, if you are willing to put a lot of effort into it.

who cares? the bottomline is that we still need to wait until April before we get results.

Hard for me to imagine living on 15K in Boston, but 20K could be enough. If you are renting alone you'll probably have to pay 1K per month in rent.

once it becomes a job it's not so fun anymore. I save the journals I get in the mail and browse through them for fun, but when it comes to assigned reading, or more focused research reading, the same material isn't . it's kind of sad.

Isn't that 6 pages too many?

Aren't most schools (public or not) allowe to do whatever they want with funding? But they want good grad students, so that's their incentive to provide good funding.