gellert

I have a question that may be kind of obvious ... but I can't find it in the Dear Colleague letter or anywhere else, so here goes. When they talk about the host institution paying a living stipend, who funds that? Is it the professor/lab? The institution? A national fund set aside by the country's own version of the NSF in collaboration with NSF? Edit: I figured it out! It's from the host country's equivalent organization, for anyone else wondering.

It's always a good idea, because you never know if Professor X is taking students this year or if they don't have funding/are on sabbatical/didn't get tenure.... Having >1 POI means that, if Professor X doesn't work out but Xavier's School thinks you're an awesome student and wants to admit you, you could always come work with Professor Y or Z instead. Also, they want to see you'd be able to collaborate with multiple labs in the department. I recommend aiming your app toward your main POI, but then spend some time talking about interesting extensions of your work you could do as collaborations with Professors Y and Z and how excited you are to collaborate across labs in this department where everyone is doing such ~amazing research~.

Nope, they will not know what you did last year, so knock yourself out.

I can see why that might be challenging. Here are my suggestions: 1. Keep being nice. It's possible you're misunderstanding the situation and things aren't as bad as you think. If that's the case, and you start being defensive or accusing people of leaving you out, they DEFINITELY won't want to be your friends. 2. Try and find friends somewhere else. I know it feels like giving up, but hey, not everyone will like you. You don't like EVERYONE you meet, do you? Well, just as you have the right to not like some people, they have the right to not like you. It happens. It sucks that it's people you have to spend so much time with, but it happens. An MA program is short, so you only have to put up with them for a year or two, at least. Try and make friends outside your program and then hang out with them instead. If they're leaving you out on purpose, do you really want to be friends with them anyway? Won't you resent them for having left you out in the first place? Find new people. I do wonder if you are showing them, somehow, that you feel left out by acting defensive. You say you asked this girl in your class about hanging out with people more and adding you to the Facebook group -- depending on when you started doing this, how, and to whom, I could see them being rubbed the wrong way, particularly if they didn't feel like they were leaving you out on purpose.

I did human subject research for my proposal, but in experimental (non-clinical) psychology. Interactions between symptoms is probably too clinical for the NSF -- is there any basic science you could do related to your research? If not, the reason NSF doesn't fund clinical stuff is because that falls under the purview of the NIH. Your study might have a great shot at the F31/NRSA which is aimed toward clinical kids.

No way! I think I started mine this time last year. Go for it.

Thank you! I'm planning on applying in the next year or two so this is very helpful.

I do, but I keep it in a separate section. Headings under Journal Articles on my CV: Papers In Press Under Review In Preparation nb: in that order, too.

Pubs certainly don't hurt, but it looks like you have a clear research focus and lots of research experience. What's important beyond that is to show independence: have you had any of your own projects? I'd say that's the one thing that separates the wheat from the chaff when it comes to reviewing applicants, at least in my department.

^ Tangent, but I highly recommend the Pomodoro method for getting the most bang for your buck productivity-wise. It's good to take small breaks (ESPECIALLY if you plan to or prefer to work long hours), but the first semester I sometimes had trouble keeping those breaks from spilling over into work time. I believe there's a free app, in fact.

No experience with the first question, but insofar as LORs go, on my successful round I used 2 grad school profs and my main undergrad/honors thesis PI.

I mean, it's not great. But like I said, you won't be the first person ever who's switched labs after a year. Give it the old college try and if you really hate it, there's not much else you can do. Just make sure you tell him you want to leave early enough that he has time to recruit a new student for the following year.

Wow. I know you didn't do it on purpose, but I feel bad for your prof ... losing PhD students affects tenure decisions and he's in his first year. Of course, if you're going to be absolutely miserable in his lab, don't let that deter you necessarily. What I'd do if I were you is wait it out one year in his lab. This is for a couple of reasons: 1) You make sure you REALLY don't want to do this work, before going through the embarrassment (for both you and him) of switching labs before the semester even starts 2) You get diverse research experiences in both his lab and new prof's lab which is a mild silver lining 3) You don't completely hang him out to dry by ditching him pre-semester when he's taken you on with his grant. Obviously (I know you know this) your place could have gone to someone else, and you're at this school because of this guy.... If it weren't for him and his grant, you wouldn't have gotten in (probably). He went to bat for you, not some other professor in some other lab. The least you can do is give him a solid year's worth of work. It's not super uncommon for students to switch Ph.D. advisers after a year. What is uncommon would be switching before you even start the semester. So, after a year, if it's just not working out, there'd be significantly less hard feelings than if you leave him high and dry simply because you couldn't be bothered to research how grants and Ph.D. student support work before accepting the offer. You're in a tough spot; I don't envy you at all. You shouldn't spend five to seven years in a lab you hate, but at the same time, you don't want to leave before you even start, either. Good luck?

In experimental psychology PhD, my schedule looks like this: Go in at 8 am on days I have class, 9 am when I don't. Work work work Meetings meetings meetings Go home at 6 pm Keep working Stop working at 10 pm Bed 8 am - 10 pm day On weekends I work from maybe 9 am to 6 pm. I work the LEAST out of everyone in my program. (Or, idk, do I? I don't have to TA or RA, so I spend most of my time doing my own research. The people who work longer than I do are usually juggling TAships as well, so that eats up a lot of their time.) Basically, ymmv. In grad school, you get out of it what you put into it. I want an R1 TT job, as do the other people in my program, so I/we work hard. If I didn't, I could get away with 9-5 or less. Students from previous cohorts worked 9-5 and got jobs at teaching colleges just fine, but they weren't competitive for the jobs I want. It also partially depends on what kinds of experiments you run. Experiments that take less time to run result in less time spent in lab.

I still have another ... five years .... God, that's intimidating to think about. First year went well, have five publications under review, so we'll see whether or not I can keep it up this coming year I guess. I'm doubling the number of projects I'll be working on, at any rate. Good luck to everyone thesis-ing or thinking about PhD apps! Keep us posted.

I agree with the others that it's perfectly okay to ask for a letter to use later on; doesn't sound super atypical at all. Could you sign up for Interfolio or some other such service, perhaps, and have him submit the letter to a dossier there for later use?

Sure it is. I studied for just 2 weeks after I got back from a foreign country before my tests. 4 hrs a day, and didn't study at all the 2 days before the exam. I got a near-perfect score on the old test. I think the reason this worked so well for me really was because I just ... didn't freak out about it. I didn't have time to. I signed up for 2 exam sessions ahead of time so that I wouldn't be so nervous the first time around because I'd feel like I had a second shot at it before the test type changed and before due dates. For me, what would trip me up a lot was when there were multiple answers and you have to logic your way to the right one. Being relaxed made this sooooo much easier. Other random tidbits: don't drink caffeine day of test, even if you usually do. You'll have more than enough adrenaline. Also, smoke one cigarette before going in, as studies show nicotine enhances memory retrieval and other measures of cognitive performance. (Not to suggest you start smoking all the time, because that's stupid, but a single cigarette ever won't kill you. Alternatively, nicotine patch.) It's not the amount of time you have, it's how you use that time. Be planful about it, and don't overstudy. I'm sure natural test performance ability will play a role here too. ETA: This might not apply if you struggle with verbal, which takes longer to study and master. I was fine with verbal so I didn't study it at all, just quant. YMMV.

I really recommend the Barron's vocab lists. What seems to be giving you the most trouble on a question by question basis, though: reading comprehension, fill in the blank/rote vocab memorization, or what? If reading comp, I recommend getting a subscription to the WSJ or the Economist or the Atlantic and trying to read articles and come up with questions you can ask yourself about the argumentative points, etc. (read: GRE questions). Otherwise, just memorize all the 'most common words' lists you can find and learn the basics of Greek and Latin roots. Vocab is nearly impossible to study for, though; far more than quant, it seem as if you either know it or you don't.... Good luck!

Heck, maybe it's even early enough to start a new one for 2016, OP. Fwiw, I got the NSF and no one mentioned my GPA. To be fair, my GPA was pretty good, but I did have some oddities on my transcript due to medical withdrawals. Your research experience/LORs/statements = a million times more important.

I don't have specific experience in these courses, but I imagine your adviser suggested them because he sees them as foundational for the work in his lab. Have you considered taking undergraduate biochem (etc) as refreshers first, and then take the others next semester? Obviously you don't want to fail out, but presumably your research will suffer if you don't at least touch up somehow, and advisers' suggestions tend to be more than just 'suggestions' if you know what I mean.

I'm a runner thinking about doing a marathon next year. I'm also a Ph.D. student taking quals that same summer. Has anyone successfully integrated Ph.D. programs and athletic training? Marathons in particular? How'd that work out for you?

Yeah, I have. It's not a problem. In fact, interdisciplinary work generally only helps you on the job market, because you can fill more niches than other candidates who are purely disciplinary.

This all sounds very typical. I, and most people I know, manage to live frugally off a graduate stipend. (Also, none of us receive any aid from our parents -- I think it's very unusual that you know people whose parents help at all.) In fact, I haven't even taken out any loans. You might not be able to maintain the lifestyle to which you are accustomed, but that's one of many sacrifices you make in pursuing higher education. I won the NSF GRFP this year which will give me a federal stipend next year. I had an internal fellowship from my university that covered my tuition and stipend. I won't be getting paid double, though -- my external funding replaces my internal funding. That's just how it works.

I'm probably the mental breakdown person in my cohort. Well, not really, but I've definitely been much more irritable the past few weeks and easily-frustrated. I'll be glad to finish this last paper. Still have some research stuff to do for my adviser before I go on a brief week-long vacation in June, but I can handle that just as soon as I don't have this last project hanging over my head.

I did, and I took the advice from my reviewers and also beefed up my proposal to be more rigorous, commensurate with my greater experience. As far as chances being better after HM ... nope, no better or worse than anyone else's. They don't know if you got HM last year unless your letter writers tell them, and even then, I doubt it makes a significant difference. I have friends who got HM only to never again receive an HM or award. Then I have myself, who got HM and then awarded the next year. It depends on your application.