[Getting a Job unrelated to your Ph.D.]

Read Versatile PhD

http://versatilephd.com/

[Research Paper-will someone please review?]

Do you have a writing center at your school that you can use? Can you meet with your teacher and ask for verbal feedback?

[ph.d.topic]

which fungi?

which algae?

which insecticide?

which proteolytic enzyme?

which pollutant?

which habitat?

which niche?

which ecosystem?

[A bird in hand or two in the bush]

Ask Germany for an extension. Tell Denmark that Germany is pressuring you with a deadline for a response, especially if Germany won't extend your deadline to respond. That may get things moving faster in Denmark. Good luck!

This.

[Brandeis or Baylor College of Medicine]

It really depends on the POI - what is her/his reputation? publications? funding? alumni - where they are and what they are doing. And most of all, with whom you can get a good vibe/lab mates you would enjoy working with.

[Virginia Tech vs OSU -MS Mech [Auto] - Help !!!]

Guys ?

• check your POI's publications/funding.
  • job scenarios - depends on where you want to go - once you decide that - search for trends in jobs in that sector

• Chk NRC ranking for the different schools for the area of study
  

[Scared and Confused]

Are any of the offers funded? Partially or fully? When you say you talked to a senior - is that an undergraduate senior or ...? Are they in the field of nanotechnology or mechanical engineering? You will have to do your homework to find out what the trends are for jobs in nanotechnology and mechanical engineering fields across different countries. Additionally, do you know if UPenn is good in nanotechnology or are you going by the US Reports for rating? Is your advisor known in the field? trying our something new? Is he funded? Lots of publications?

Unless you are independently wealthy, I would go for funded offers or options where I will be paid either as TA/RA combined with a tuition waiver. Taking on debt, especially if all I am interested in, is a job after my degree, is not my cup of tea, YMMV.

[Urgent help needed....CMU PhD partially funded]

<br /><br /><br />

Thank you all of your advice. I had actually contacted the prof. about the funding aspect. He told me that:

"If we get new funding in your project, you would be funded after 1st year for sure. But, I can't promise funding after 1 year right now since funding situations are very tough in USA these days and it takes long time to get new funding. Therefore, it is your decision to take that risk or not, and you should have a financial backup solution yourself if there is no new funding."

I had actually told him that I am trying to find out alternatives for funding and that I am ready to accept his offer.

Can I drop out with an MS after 2 years in case of lack of funding and then continue when I get funding? Should I tell the prof. at this point of time about my MS/PhD plans (or) will he understand my position if I let him know of this after my 1st year of study at the university? (He is ready to fund me fully for the first year).

Please reply soon.

Truly,

Chaitanya

Dropping out after an MS, would require you to go through the entire process of getting into a PhD program and it is not automatic that the same professor will take you as a student. He might, but if his funding dries out then, he will not be able to take on any students. The funding cycles vary, depending on where the professor has applied for funding. There can be a time lag from the time you finish your MS and wait to get into a PhD program and if you are an international student, I don't know what impact that has on your visa.

Typically, there are TA positions that you can apply for, but you need to find out from the Graduate Student Office of any available and put in your application for that asap. There are also other jobs on campus, but they are highly competitive and if you plan to finish your PhD in 4 years, you will not have the time anyway, because your program of study will be very intense.

You can find out if the professor has grant applications for which he is waiting for funding. You could check with him about the options of doing a master's given the funding. You could check with him about the options of doing a master's given the funding situation. Your question of job prospects and being able to pay off a large debt, if difficult for any of us to answer. Who knows what will happen in a year's time let alone 4 years. Besides as an international student, I don't know what the implications are for visa, don't you require a different kind of visa?

[4 UNIVERSITIES..REAL FIX..CALLING MECH SENIORS]

BUMP

please don't increase the font size so that only one word fills my Android! Thanks

[Visiting OSU]

I assume that I will be wandering around campus until 5ish. Then I suppose things will start to close and I have nothing to do until I catch a Greyhound out at midnight. Any suggestions as to places I could hang out (coffee-shops that stay open late, bookstores, dive bars) would be great.

Nothing closes in and around OSU - it is a HUGE campus and there are hordes of peeps around all the time. The main drag is a happen'n place and most all coffee shops/bars/stores stay open real late, so you will be fine. Midnight! night is still young

Enjoy your trip! Hope the weather stays good.

[Tenure Track Position or PhD Program?]

I'd take the TT position, but would check for sneaky clauses that require PhD after X number of years or how the review for the TT position would be done. In the humanities, TT positions are not that easy to come by, I am told, so if my MA got me the TT position and there weren't any "pull the rug out from under you" type of clauses in the contract, I would take it. Most universities have educational credits that you can use to get the course work towards PhD taken care of, while you are working your b&^% off during the tenure review period and then take a sabbatical and finish your PhD You of course, will not spend any time on essentials like sleep or eat, and but of course, no socializing.

[Too old for a PH.d?]

Depends on how you classify poverty level . Granted, the funding is not anywhere close to what I was making as a full-time employee but the stipend is enough to keep me and my 2 pampered dogs and 3 felines, well-fed and housed. I don't party much (who has time for it anyways), drive a jalopy and buy local foods from farmer's markets and cook my meals, so don't spend much on pre-packaged foods. My fur-friends eat premium raw food that I get at the local butcher, or from hunters who have additional meat. In short, we live and eat well. But for someone else, the stipend may feel like poverty-wages, to me, it gives the freedom to study and explore, but YMMV. Oh and yes, I don't live in a pricey city like Boston/NY, which I am sure helps stretch my stipend further.

[Too old for a PH.d?]

Long time lurker, decided that I should respond to this query. From my handle you will have guessed that I am old - waaaaaay too old! I was 50 when I began my graduate study, in the sciences and yes, I am fully-funded. And, I left a well-paying job to begin graduate study - just to clarify, that I was not running away to academia due to job-loss and/or the recession.

My experience with the application process was, to say the least, very "interesting". I had a very strong application, most schools and POIs I contacted were very interested in getting me in their program, till they saw my age on the transcript and after that it was dead silence. I had a suspicion that it was an age-bias, but could not get a straight answer, for obvious legal reasons. Fortunately, for my sanity , a couple of professors at interviews blurted out, that I was being silly to try for a PhD at such an "advanced" age . They went as far as to suggest that if I was interested in 'doing Science' I should become a technician, and that there was always a need for good technicians, so I would not lack for job offers. Needless to say, I was not accepted at those schools.

However, a couple of state schools were more than happy to ignore age and accepted me. And I am doing fine at school work and my research.

Yes, there will be some ageists (adcomms and wannabe adcomms ) who will think you are too old for a PhD. But there will be others who will not be ageists. btw, there are a couple of other 50+ folks in other schools, who I have met at conferences, so it does happen. I also know of a couple doing their master's in humanities in the same age-group.

Good Luck and Illegitimi non carborundum