Eisenmann
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Posts posted by Eisenmann
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I am a first year Phd student in chemistry and I am having a very hard time in my courses in grad school. I did pretty badly in my midterms despite studying really hard. In one of my classes I am so lost, I don't understand anything at all and I am certain that I will fail it. I need to maintain a B average, otherwise I will get kicked out of the program. I had a near perfect GPA in undergrad, got accepted into most of the top ranking graduate schools that I applied to, and I thought I was smart enough for grad school but now I feel like I am very under-prepared/ not smart enough for grad school . I went to a small school and did liberal arts, so I think my background is not strong enough. Has anyone been kicked out of grad school after failing to maintain the minimum grade point average? I asked a couple of people at my school and most of them say that it is pretty impossible to fail out of a Phd unless you deliberately try to. I really don't know how true that is.
I am in the same boat as you. I need a 3.2 to even take the qualifying exams which students usually take after their first semester. I have heard that it is damn near impossible to fail since the professors will try to help you out. My professors will forget about the midterm if significant improvement is shown on the final.
On a similar note, I too feel extremely underprepared since almost everyone else have taken the classes I'm taking already.
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Yea...if grad school doesn't work out, I already have a BS degree and can very quickly get a high paying engineering job locally, so...yea. Suicide is the coward's way out.
On the plus side, if I get kicked out, I get to go home and play with my e92.
I also have an engineering BS so I could find a decent job. -
As a reminder to everyone on this board, a test is just a test- it's not the end of the world. I completely bombed my midterm, but meh. We had a suicide this weekend at Columbia.
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I didn't read all the replies, but my suggestion would be to wait a little longer. Maybe you are still new and haven't really learned the area of develop a close group of friends. I think that at any prestigious university, the reply of why people chose it is "its x". Everyone that I know said "It's Columbia!"
As a Columbia student, I can say that while Columbia is great, it's actually not too much different from my undergrad institution; in fact, I had a lot more fun and enjoyed my time there more. I am also new (lived in NYC for about 1.5 months now) and am still finding a group of friends to do stuff with.
The school is what you make of it! I will be able to answer general questions about the school or the city, but I'm still new too so I may not know.
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I just came out of a midterm and I know I did very poorly. I honestly am not sure if I will be here next semester. Will schools kick students out or will they give me a chance? I am first year phd and I am funded.
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One minor detail of graduate school that I am looking forward to is slumming it---clothes-wise. Unless you are giving a presentation or attending anything that would require professional attire, slumming it with sweat pants in class and around campus is fine. I have this UFO/pyramid/camel knitted sweater that I have been wanting to wear out in public. When I had a job, this would have been frowned upon. With the advent of grad school, I am going to get it washed and ready because come fall I will wear this mad crazy UFO sweater all of the time always forever all the time everyday.
My cousin has a plants vs zombies shirt that I think will be hilarious to wear to class.
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Yes, I asked professors directly about funding and they gave me funding.
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To be brutally honest, your GREs are a bit low, but it depends on many factors such as grade trends, major gpa, related courses, school business model (yes. I feel like some schools just want money). Try to improve that quantitative score if you can.
Also, which rankings are you going by? US News, National Research Council, yours? I wouldn't look too much into rankings since I was accepted to a top 20 school, but rejected from a top 60 school. I ultimately chose a top 40 school though.
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Hi all,
Moving to NYC in about three weeks to attend Columbia. The apartment search seems pretty daunting, so I'd appreciate any advice on what I'm facing. In brief:
- I'm moving with my girlfriend. We're looking for a 1br or a Studio, preferably in Manhattan (Upper West Side or Morningside, ideally, but maybe further up in West Harlem, depending on safety) but we'd consider Brooklyn as well if it's more convenient.
- We'd like something around $1500 or less... could maybe be convinced to drop a little bit more for the right place. Between my stipend and her part time job, we're looking at $3,000 / month. So <$1500, we can cover the first month's rent and sec deposit.
- Now here's where it gets a little more difficult. Her credit history is solid, but mine has a dent in it over a payment I accidentally missed a year or two ago and a credit card I was consequently denied. On top of that, we can't depend on our parents as guarantor's, so we don't really have anyone lined up... possibly a former Professor, but he's in another state and not necessarily rolling in cash or anything.
I guess what I'm saying is, how difficult will my credit and lack of guarantor make finding the kind of apartment I described above? Are they all so strict, or could I get a decent place with just the things I have at my disposal?
I am not sure if it is too late, but try applying for Columbia University Housing. Couples get priority and you will most likely get a studio apartment in the $12-1300 range (according to when I applied at least).
thrilled to see a new york forum here
.i just realized that i have one class that runs upto 10 PM and I live in queens ( near the 7 line). so are the grand central terminals and times square stations safe at night(11pm or so)? I'd leave from my school at 10 pm and i figure that it will take me 40 mins (or longer) to reach 42 street. eventually, i may consider moving closer to my school but for now i have to travel!!
For my extremely limited experience, most places are "safe enough" as long as you are smart. Don't walk around with you iDevice and headphones. Also, I would put my stuff in normal looking backpacks, not laptop looking bags.
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pharm- I guess I'm similar to you in that I that I don't usually get crushes or find girls I think I'll like. However, when I do find someone I am attracted to, I just go for it.
You may find that you just want to be friends with him and nothing more. (Thats what usually happens to me anyways).
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Did you meet many friends through clubs or things like graduate student union? I know that I'll get to know everyone in my class well since it's so small, but being close friends with them is entirely different.
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How do I ship stuff to NYC if I don't have a doorman? Will they just leave it in front of my door?
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If you have microcenter nearby, I would highly suggest you buy from them since they are by far the cheapest. To the person who suggested to buy refurb- refurb is $1019 for the 2.3 i5 and microcenter is $999.
I have a 2011 13" 2.3 ghz i5 (bought at microcenter) and it's plenty fast for normal usage and probably enough for 90% of computer users; however, it is not that fast for video/photo editing. 4gb ram will not be definitely not be enough as I routinely use all of it during processes.
bottom line: the computer will be plenty for word precessing, web browsing, music, occasional/light photo editing. If you use photoshop, iphoto/aperture, imovie/final cut then you may consider the 15" mbp or even a mac pro.
for reference, it takes about 5-6 hours to compile a 25 min long 1080p video with imovie and takes about 20-30 sec to export a 10mp jpg in aperture.
edit: do not get the i7 13" since there is a problem with the turbo boost and you will not be able to take full advantage of its processing power. at least that is what i have read.
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I got information about my roommate. However, I sent the guy an email and he never replied (been almost a month already).
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I was seeing someone in my undergrad class and eventually didn't work out, but it was not awkward at all. It may not be the best idea, but we just pretended like nothing happened and continued being friend. It did, however, take about half of year of awkwardness, then everything was back to normal.
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My Asus W7j is 5 years old and still going strong. This laptop is heavily used, photoshop, simulations, programming, etc. I also bring it to school almost every single day, but I do take special care for it.
I also have a macbook pro and the durability is even better than the Asus, but it was much more expensive so it better be.
I highly recommend Asus.
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I'd highly recommend for most of you to fall in line w/ the hipster crowd and simply go with a 'fixie' road bike. I've fixed bikes for years when I was younger. The more moving parts a bike has, the bigger pain in the ace it is to fix it. Fixing something simple like a chain popping can be a huge pain on a bike that has multiple speeds. A fixed cog will be fine for probably 90% of people simply using a bike to just commute and get around town.
If you are new to this, I'll advise you to get front brakes.
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I've been looking at my apartment and scouting out nearby restaurants.
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For beater watches, I'm a huge fan of G-Shock watches. They are relatively cheap, have tons of features (solar, atomic, water resistant, shock resistant, super though) and are well built. Depending on features they start at about $45. They are also "urban" cool imo. But if you are using the watch for a "professional" look, you should probably skip my suggestion.
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Hi everyone. got an admit too 4rm SEAS. can you pls. tell me how you're getting funded for your programs?
4rm? from? Using real words would probably be a good start if you want funding.
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UPenn
them: "Penn state is a great school!"
me :
Columbia
them: "that's great, but where and what is that?"
me:
i was shocked how many people do not know what upenn and columbia is and think all my local schools are FAR superior.
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Don't know what kind of car you have, but I would imagine some cars may be more difficult than others. We don't have some models here eg skyline, focus rs. those cars may not pass smog.
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I have submitted my official papers today. see you guys in the fall!
Are anyone else's classes much harder than they thought they would be?
in Coursework, Advising, and Exams
Posted
Fail part 2. I am seriously getting murdered here.