eco_env

maybe that works in undergrad, but not graduate school. I did have a professor in undergrad who had us write our name on the back of our tests so he wouldn't see it when grading. I found it disturbing that knowing the identity of the student would somehow affect his grading.

Don't know when it started, but it was like that when i downloaded it- I think in early summer.

Bad idea, but you are kind of stuck; as soon as he asked you on a date you were put in a bad situation with no good options, and saying yes just made matters worse. Is there any way you can pretend that it isn't a date? Make it seem like you think it's just a casual meeting or something along those lines? In any case, I think you should get a new advisor if you can.

I also look at the price/unit when I'm shopping, which means that I often buy store brands or larger packages, as long as it won't spoil before I finish it, and if it's not too big to carry home on the bus along with all of my other groceries. The problem is, I find that cheaper brands are often cheaper for a reason (terrible quality), so I'm starting to switch to more expensive products for some stuff (coffee, for ex).

The gates by John Connolly.

Peanut butter sandwich, crackers, and fruit for lunch. cereal and orange juice for breakfast. Dinner is where I get more fancy. I make big recipes (often 3-6 servings), so one dish lasts a while. That's my main time-saving tip. I save money by making my own food, for the most part. Other than the lunch/breakfast items that I buy prepared, I tend to buy minimally prepared ingredients: vegetables, rice, pasta, beans (but sometimes canned). This week, for example, I'm having dinner from food I prepared last week (2 dinners), cooking rice tonight, ahead of time, and preparing a stir fry of broccoli and tofu to go with it tommorrow (2-3 dinners), and might have the leftover rice with leftover tomato sauce and cheese if I need it later in the week.

what's the most annoying ad you've seen on GradCafe? I hate the GRE ads- they make it seem as if grad school is a good idea for idiotic, immature college students that don't know what they want to do with their life.

Pretty good quotes, not so impressive delivery. there's also:

you can buy gluten and make your own seitan. and tofu is available in most grocery stores. (Though I don't know how easy gulten is to find, and the texture of tofu isn't as good, at least in my opinion).

wow. quite an outburst over some innocent questions. I also don't think it's neccessary to reply to responses to your own question, though it might help with getting a better response sometimes.

Sounds to me like the typical bashing of big, famous programs- every dept has problemtic professors, but stories about prestigious programs are more likely to get around. Just talk to a variety of grad students when you visit (assuming you get a chance- some programs will keep you running from one professor to the next all day) and decide for yourself.

If you are going for an interview/admitted students event, the program might pay for your hotel, or arrange for you to stay with a student.

email the administrative person for the program. Sometimes they don't have the info avaialble, though- for GRE scores and funding, for example.

Depends on the person. If I was able to find a good ecology research assistant-type job or get a paid MS, it might have been good for me (as opposed to going straight to a PhD from a BA), but I found the "regular" job I had during the summer boring- the only things it was good for were making money for my move across the country and having spare time to read papers.

in my program you just get fewer credits than advertised if you take an undergrad course. But I registered for an undergrad stats class and found it too boring, and based on the syllabus, tedious.

decide which programs you most want to go to and setp up interviews there during the interview dates. For others, try to get an interview at a different time. though if you already rsvp'ed for interviews it might be too late to change you mind.

The 2 most important rules for people who would be working in a lab are: 1. closed toe shoes 2. long hair should be out of the way. You need to look ready to work in the lab safely. or so I've heard.

priceline.com, if you aren't very picky about the location of your hotel.

I also majored in enviornmental studies and am in a PhD program in ecology. I think stats in the most important course to take- a stats background from research would work i ntheory, but they will probably want proof in the form of coursework. I took 2 semesters of basic chemistry and one of organic, and one semester of physics. With your minor, you probably got enough chemistry. I don't think most programs will care about the number of physics courses you've taken, as long as it's not relevant to your research plans. The real question is how much background you have in relevant research.

People often use methods develoepd by others (with citation), but I imagine your research is supposed to be original in some way, so if you do everything exactly they way the other person did, just in a different place, will there be anyting original about your research? what will you be contributing to your field? If the methods work well, there's no reason not to use them, but think about how you can build on previous work and make an original contribution.

I wouldn't recommend shipping furniture- the cost of shipping from Israel would defintely be more than buying cheap used or new furniture here. But I'm assuming you don't own any nice furniture and/or aren't interested in buying anything too fancy here. Appliances would require an adapter, and those don't always work so well. Personally, I think I'm going to be too mobile in the next few years to acquire too many belongings and drag them around wherever I move. This is esp. true if you are planing to move back to israel whjen you are done with your PhD. You might want to ship books and clothes, though, if you don't need them in the next few months, and the price is right.

How can people afford so much travel? or how can their schools afford to pay for so much? I don't think I'd be able to get enough funding for more than one per year... maybe not even that. I'd pay the rest, though, if necessary- 1/year seems reasonable in ecology- there's only one ESA conf/year.

as an ecologist I find this whole discusion a little absurd. The people interviewing you are likely to be wearing sandals, faded jeans, and a Hawaiian shirt if you are an ecologist .