cajunmama

I used PowerPoint for my poster. I set the dimensions and off I went. Use lots of images, no long sections of text, try to make it somewhat symmetrical. Use an appealing color combination. A poster is a great way to ease into conferences and begin networking.

There is someone in a not unrelated field with almost the same name as me, with just one letter off. Most google hits for my name turn up as her.

I began undergrad at the age of 31 after 12 years as a stay home mom. Just graduated, it took 6 years due to a couple of years going part-time, the other 4 working part-time, school full-time. I am beginning my graduate studies (going for a PhD) this month although I have been working on my project all summer.

Age is just a number.

Same here! OP, ask yourself all the questions Dal posed, and more. I have an extremely supportive spouse and I couldn't do it without him. I'm doing this for us, not me. With all the time and energy it will take, it has to be a "we" thing, not a "me" thing. Make sure your wife is on board.

My uni, as well, has a set minimum stipend, but some students get more depending on funding source.

Or engineering. At my uni, there's usually enough projects to fund everyone.

I too am eager for opinions on this. While I'm not my advisor's first graduate student, my PhD program is very new so I am his first PhD student.

This time last year, I was doing some lab work for a prof, planning on taking the GRE and the FE (engineering exam), and planning on doing an MS (now doing PhD instead).

Well, then try to find programs that have some sort of focus on that and that aren't in the northeast.

I don't know much about any of those. Many of the universities you mentioned in your original post are in the 20-50 range. I don't know what qualities in a university are important to you, like location, cost, size of program, etc.

I'm saying you should consider and compare career opportunities post-MS in each of those fields- mechanical, chemical, civil and petroleum- and make whatever decision is best for you. I have classmates from each of those fields currently working in the petroleum industry and classmates from each of those fields working in their specific fields. I initially considered petroleum engineering for undergrad but then realized I didn't want to be locked into one industry. I went civil instead.

You may be accepted but have to take "leveling courses". One thing to consider about Petroleum Engineering is that you pretty much only work in petroleum-related industry. I know that many people working for petroleum companies are actually mechanical, chemical or civil engineers. One of those fields may give you more career opportunities later on. Just something to think about.

I agree with Cup o'Joe. Communicate individually and as personally as possible (phone call is better than email). I was in this very position not that long ago. I went to the professor I was turning down first. We had/have a good relationship since he was my undergrad advisor and I had done small amount of work for him. I had been very open with him all along about my situation. I doubt we will collaborate, the sub-disciplines we are in are very different, but it is a small department.

I've gotten an early start, too. There have been a few hurdles and a steep learning curve, but going well.

Just got some news. Two guys I graduated undergrad with have now joined the PhD program, although both of them are in different concentrations but still in the same program. So that makes five coming in with three direct from undergrad.

My only ambivalence came from the homefront. Hubby has worked so hard and so long that even in undergrad, sometimes I felt guilty about being where I loved to be while he worked in a salt mine (literally, no joke). But like a friend told me, it's not like I was playing around. I graduated at the top of my class and going on to graduate school is all in an effort to make a better life for us. I could have gone into the workforce but getting my PhD and going on into academia will get us further, faster and I'll be doing what I love. Hubby is behind me 110% and once we made the decision to go for it, there's been no turning back.

I've heard that, too. and if you separate out master's and Phd's as categories, the trend continues.

Definitely check on it, but my uni has a deferment option for those getting financial aid and such since the tuition payment deadline is before the first day of classes and financial aid isn't disbursed until after the first day.

This is very similar to my situation. I think I'm one of three coming in but the only one directly from undergrad. We are more or less "arranged" along the lines of advisor, with each advisor having an office for their grad students to share. And I'm my advisor's only PhD student, the 3 others in my office are all doing their masters.

Luck played a lot in it, I'll admit. I was in the right place at the right time. Post- bachelor's butt-busting to get in was very little, for me it was all done during undergrad, but I gotta bust butt to keep it now. I applied before I even graduated and was one of the first students accepted into a new PhD program. I have many things making me a highly desirable student, some of those things I did myself, like grades and GRE, but others I had no control over, like being female, etc. And, FWIW, I'm at the same institution and department where I did my undergrad. That probably had something to do with it, too.

I had a moderately crappy first year in undergrad, took 12 years off then went back in a different major, and ended up graduating 2nd or 3rd in my class. I did well on the GRE, got great LOR's and got accepted with full funding into the only PhD program I applied to. So. It can be done, it just takes a ton of butt-busting.

I'm in grad school, in engineering, a woman, have five tattoos and they are all easily coverable. Tattoos are not the taboo they used to be, but in some circles, it doesn't look "professional". That said, synorg, if it is a concern of yours that the tattoo may impact your future employment, then put it somewhere inconspicuous/ easily coverable. That way you can have what you want and at the same time not run the risk of endangering your employment prospects. We can discuss how skills should outweigh body art, and all that should/shouldn't be, but in the end, we have to deal with the reality of the world we live in. If you really want a bada$$ tattoo of a dragon on your neck, then you implicitly accept ALL of the consequences of having one. It all depends on what is important to you.

I'm a fully funded PhD student, my husband works full-time and we have four, yes four, kids, 17, 15, 13 and 9. Hubby works shifts, we have family close by and we are both committed to my education. The kids have chores, extra-curricular activities are limited for them, and its never easy, but it works.

I only applied to one school and got in with funding. It was either the one school or industry.