Jump to content

Cass

Members
  • Posts

    21
  • Joined

  • Last visited

About Cass

  • Birthday 04/16/1987

Profile Information

  • Gender
    Female
  • Location
    Knoxville, TN
  • Application Season
    Already Attending
  • Program
    med. vet. entomology

Cass's Achievements

Decaf

Decaf (2/10)

8

Reputation

  1. The school I'm at now offers 16 weeks, but barring any serious medical issues requiring long recovery periods, I don't imagine I'll be able to handle much more than 12 weeks without work, anyway. I will definitely look into the specifics of the school I end up going to, though. My adviser here has also agreed to look through a list of potential PIs with me and if there are any that she knows definitely would or would not be supportive, she'll let me know. And my wife and I can adjust the timeline depending on how the program is structured. A friend of mine went on to start his PhD last year and had no classes the first semester, it was all just research planning and he did a lot of it from home. If that's the case, earlier is probably better. But if I end up in a program where lab-rotations or anything equally strenuous are part of the first semester, then we can push it off. If worse comes to worse, we can wait until later or we can try putting our names down for adoption, I'm just worried we'd be leaving again before it lead to anything. We'd like to do foster-to-adopt in the future, but not until we know we'll be in a place where we'll have ample time get through that process without interruption. A baby is the most practical option right now and I feel like it's only fair to at least look for a way to make it work. The fact that others have done it successfully is definitely encouraging. And, like you said, I have the unique option of having a spouse who works from home so we won't need to deal with daycare.
  2. Thanks for the advice and for sharing your stories. It's definitely encouraging to know other people have done it successfully and I'll be keeping some of the specifics in mind, for sure (hands-free pumping bra sounds like a great idea). And I think the fact that I'll need to schedule myself pretty tightly could actually be good for me. I work best under pressure, so having a lot of things to get done at once is generally where I thrive. I think my biggest fear right now is not getting enough time to just hang out and chat with my wife. Hopefully we'd be able to get a babysitter every once in a while for dinner or something. I, very tentatively, brought up the fact that we were thinking of having kids fairly soon with my advisor and told her I wanted to take that into consideration when applying to places for a PhD. She was very supportive, more so than I expected. She seemed to think it was perfectly reasonable to do that and she even started suggesting labs in places where she knew the laws would be on our side, for the most part, and that were nearish to where she knows I have family. She suggested some really good schools, too. Cornell, Rutgers, Johns Hopkins. I feel very encouraged.
  3. I think you make the mistake of believing that the idea behind feminism (or gender equality, if the word makes you uncomfortable) is 'equality' in the sense of 'everyone is the same' rather than equality in the sense of equal opportunities. If we lived in a culture that allowed everyone equal opportunities based on interests and merit, but men happened to be statistically more likely to be interested in/good at certain things and women happened to be statistically more likely to be interested/good at other things, but there was 0 discrimination of outliers, that would be great. That is, however, not the world we live in. And that is a problem and one we shouldn't be ignoring because "omg men and women are different, get over yourselves!"
  4. A+ Combining discussion of personal experiences with studies (and, as you say, there are many) that demonstrate the existence of gender discrimination in the sciences is extremely useful, especially on the internet (http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/womens-blog/2015/feb/06/sharing-stories-of-sexism-on-social-media-is-21st-century-activism?CMP=share_btn_tw) where it feels less risky and where others are more likely to feel safe enough to speak up. I try to be as outspoken as possible at school, but it can be hard. Some friends and I had a blatantly sexist professor last semester who also happens to be in a position of some authority in the department. Warranted or not, a lot of the girls are afraid that he'll be able to ruin their careers if they say anything to make him angry. He's already gone out of his way to make things extremely difficult for one of the girls and it scared everyone else so much that a couple people wouldn't even write anonymous evaluations for fear that he'd be able to tell who they were. So, it's difficult for anything to be done about the problem because the voice of 1 student isn't really enough to make a difference against the voice of a distinguished professor. But we're not going to get to the point where others feel brave enough to add their voices officially to a situation like that if they're afraid to even discuss their experiences, casually. Knowing that others have been through similar things really helps soften the blow. My own advisor, who often side-steps conversations like that, finally told me some of her own experiences (I think she finally started to see what a hard time I'd been having with that professor) and it was terrifying, but also extremely refreshing. I don't think anyone here is suggesting that anecdotes are science or that there is no element of bias when women are adding their personal experiences to the discussion, but 1) where there's bias in women saying sexism exists, there is just as much bias in men saying it doesn't and 2) as mentioned above, a variety of studies have demonstrated the existence of sexism in science, so even if some of the personal anecdotes are not actually the result of sexism it seems likely that many of them are exactly that and knowing that there's at least a possibility that you're not just paranoid is an extremely positive thing. In fact, the paranoia itself is the result of sexism. Because we know sexism exists, we know it could be affecting us, but we can't always be sure that it is. So, people are sometimes afraid to speak up because they know there's a chance they're wrong and if nobody else is speaking up we have no way of recognizing when patterns emerge or any way of dealing with them.
  5. I'm a married female MSci student in an entomology program. We've been thinking about having kids and exactly how we're going to make that work. Considering the intensity of my chosen career path and the fact that I'll be the one to carry any biological children (we may adopt, later), timing is important. My wife will be the one to stay home and care for the kids (she's a writer and works almost exclusively from home, so it works out well) but I will still require some amount of recovery and bonding time after giving birth. I've heard from some people that having a baby in graduate school is actually easier, in some ways, than waiting until you're on a tenure track. That makes some sense to me, but I've also heard people say it's insane to even think about it until you're completely through school and in a steady job. The problem is "steady job" is a relative term and I'm not sure how long we'll want to wait considering my wife is 36 now. So, what have other people done? What would you do differently, if anything?
  6. I'm currently in my second semester of an entomology MS program and I intend to go on to do a PhD after. I would really like, if possible, to be able to find out where I'll be going before the summer of 2016, which means I'd have to apply early. I'd like to know if anyone has experience applying early to PhD programs. How common is it? Are there schools that don't allow it? How good or bad an idea is it? How much will it limit my options? I'll be attending/speaking at two conferences this year, including the AMCA National Meeting, so I'll have some opportunities for networking outside simply emailing professors. Any advice anyone might have that relates to applying early to a PhD program would be very much appreciated. Thank you.
  7. I'm not worried about rowdy. I've lived in various parts of Boston for the past 3 years and I grew up just outside right next to the runway of a small airforce base. I'm used to city noises and Knoxville, even Market Square is no comparison. I actually can't sleep if it's too quiet, which is definitely a factor in my decision making. I'm also not worried about snow. I know the south is less prepared, but I know how to handle bad conditions. Anyway, still, if anyone knows of specific places that allow more than 2 pets I would definitely appreciate the info.
  8. I'm a slow reader, too. I've actually gotten pretty good at strategic skimming, over the years. I usually read the beginning and end of everything and then skim the middle for key words and sentences that look like they might be important and then go for the questions. Once I've read the questions I'll sometimes go back and skim once more just to be safe, especially if I'm confused. It's not entirely fool-proof but I've never done poorly on reading comprehension exams and I got into grad school so that's something. I agree with ginagirl, too. A good GRE prep book is always a good idea. Good luck!
  9. Thanks, everyone! So, I have to include the paper in prep because my PI told me to and, well, she's the boss. I have the papers I was acknowledged in under an "acknowledgements" heading. I wouldn't be deceptive about it, I just wanted to know if it would be helpful or harmful. Anyway, this has been a very helpful thread
  10. I'm working on a CV for a fellowship application and I was told to include the paper I'm currently working on. The problem is that I have no idea how to include a paper that's only in the early stages of being written. I'm not even sure if the title we have now is the one we're going to end up using. How should I include this? Also, should I include papers where I've been acknowledged but I'm not an author? Thanks.
  11. Hi, We were actually in Knoxville for a few months while I had an internship there. I went out early and she came a couple months in and we left the cats in the care of my sister so we were within the pet-limits of my current apartment. We were actually living in the Fort, which we loved but the apartments there do have pet limits and it definitely seemed to me more under-grad friendly. We've heard good things about Fourth and Gill, but still finding pet-friendly housing is difficult. The only pet-friendly place we've found that doesn't have a limit is on Gay Street, which is decently pricey (although, coming from Boston, even those apartments seems cheap) but we could probably manage it if we really need to and if anything is available. But, I'd still like to have more than one option and, while we could probably be sneaky about the cats since they're indoor cats and don't tend to make much noise or scratch furniture, I'd rather not risk it. Anyway, thanks for the advice/info. I will check out Cherokee Ridge and some more places in Fourth and Gill for sure. I think my PI lives in South Knoxville so I might avoid that. She's a great boss, but I don't really want to run into her while I'm walking my dogs.
  12. I'm starting school in Knoxville in the fall and I'll be moving with my wife and our 4 pets (she has two cats and I have two dogs and so put it altogether and we have a lot of pets). I'm looking for apartments that are pet-friendly and don't have a limit of just 2 pets. We would ideally like to be closish to Market Square if possible, but all suggestions are welcome. Thank you.
  13. Thanks! There is supposedly a queer student group, but I emailed them when I first arrived for the internship and never heard back so I'm not sure how active they are. Or maybe it's more for undergrads? I'll see if I can find out whether there are any others. Do you know where the bookstore was? Market Square area or closer to the Old City or somewhere else?
  14. I'm not working with her in the Fall. I'm working with the professor I did the internship with in the fall for my MS. For my Ph.D. I want to go to another school with the professor I'm thinking of emailing. If I work with her, which is definitely not a sure thing at this stage, it won't be for at least two years.
  15. I'm gay and attending school in Knoxville, TN with my wife in the fall. I was there for an internship and, so far, only had one negative experience. That said, finding other queer people was like pulling teeth and the few that I did manage to find were other transplants. There was also a very eerie feeling of invisibility that was a lot more uncomfortable than I expected (I guess I've been spoiled). Any chance there's any other LGBTers in the Knoxville area that would like to chat?
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

This website uses cookies to ensure you get the best experience on our website. See our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use