ktel

I don't think I'm very prudish or old fashioned, but I definitely judge a lot of tattoos. That's because a lot of tattoos are bad, and it makes me wonder what they were thinking.

I'm not counting on this week. I found out I received another large scholarship from my home province, so OGS would just be a nice consolation. Too bad they limit the amount of other funding you can have.

Avoid the neck, face and hands. See http://digg.com/newsbar/topnews/Tattoo_Body_Map_What_Your_Bad_Decision_Says_About_You

Your location might really have something to do it. I know from experience that dating a blue collar guy just doesn't work out for me, we have nothing in common, and nothing to talk about. I need someone who at the very least has a university degree or acts like someone who has a university degree.

People who have a "real" job have similar time constraints. I know people who always have to work overtime. I know someone who works in the finance sector who works 12 hour days and then is expected to go out and socialize. It's not like you're working on your PhD 24/7. My life hasn't changed significantly from undergrad to grad school, I still have time for all the things I value. I don't think meeting new people or dating people has ever felt like work for me, and if it does, perhaps you're doing it wrong, and perhaps you value different things. If you value your PhD more than relationships, that's totally fine, but don't be surprised if a relationship feels like work and doesn't succeed.

I really don't understand this outlook. It's not like being a PhD student makes you some sort of abnormal person. It reminds me of a volleyball player I knew who once said to me "I just don't, like, get how people can be friends with people who don't play sports". Strange thing to think. My boyfriend is not a graduate student, but he certainly knows what it's like to work long hours and strange schedules due to his job. The last thing I want to talk about when I come home is school. There's a married couple in my research group, and I'm sure they're very happy, but I could not do the same research as my boyfriend and then talk to him about it all the time. I would lose my mind.

I know I'm not a roommate type of person. I really value my own personal space. I do live with my boyfriend, which is a bit different, and he works a lot so I often get the apartment all to myself. I would not be able to afford a place on my own though.

What makes me hesitant to believe sleepyphd is just common sense. Why would OGS have the results, yet choose not to distribute them for an entire month? It just makes no sense to me

You won't know until you try, I think it's definitely an option.

Beginning to mid May is as precise as we're going to get.

Although I'm only in a Master's, my department is somewhat similar. In our first 8 months we have to do course work, typically 2 classes per semester, and at the end of each semester we have to present on our research to date. I'm also TAing and playing a sport which is very important to me at a pretty high level. It's super stressful and after each of my presentations I've been told that I haven't been making as much progress as I should. It's a bit frustrating as I'm trying to keep up with everything and do my best and the expectations of what is "good" progress haven't exactly been made clear to me. I totally understand I need to pick it up, and will be doing so even more now that I'm done coursework.

I currently live in Toronto, and I have a 40 minute commute by transit to my department. I chose this because I would much rather live in my current neighborhood (downtown, very walkable, green space nearby) than live up by my department (which while at U of T, is closer to York). I live in an apartment building, and I really don't interact with my neighbors very much at all. We're friendly and say hi and talk a bit, but we're not exactly friends. I don't think an apartment complex is any better of a way to meet people than just meeting your neighbors if you lived in a house. I'm sure there are some buildings that might be the exception, but its not the norm.

I think the vibe is correct, companies definitely want to hire potential employees for an internship. I think there are companies that may be able to see your goals to do research as benefiting them in the future, but you are narrowing your job pool, certainly. While I see your point that all the research on your resume may make you look geared towards grad school, I don't think campus involvement is the thing that would make you look like a better candidate, previous work experience is what matters most.

It's hard to say whether they would hire you unless you apply. Being involved in student organizations shouldn't have a very big impact, but having no prior work experience might be.

I think the research projects would be more useful for grad school applications. Since you're graduating in December, why not do the research this summer, apply for grad school, then work from January to September. Or you could delay your grad school application another year to get more work experience.

I also Googled it and there are differing opinions. Although my netbook battery is shot and it's only a few years old and that's the only thing I can think may have caused it. It was fine before last summer when I left it plugged in all the time and used it as a desktop essentially.

Or I could just unplug the laptop, but for some reason I don't. It's purely my fault.

My problem when I forgo the desktop for a laptop, is that I tend to leave the laptop plugged in ALL THE TIME and accidentally destroy the battery life. I've done this to two laptops now. The first one was not a big deal, because it was 5 years old and had lived out its life and the battery might have died anyways, but the second one was my new-ish netbook, which is kind of a pain.

^ I don't think Sigaba was advocating for mandatory office hours for all courses. Obviously this works for small, discussion based sections, but large lectures are a different story.

Just ask. It's perfectly reasonable to inquire about funding, your supervisor or industrial partner won't exactly think you're greedy or anything.

I don't think anyone comes on here expecting anything other than opinions and conjectures. That's what forums are all about. I personally never even used this forum during the grad application process, and I find it helpful as I don't have any close relationships with other graduate students in my department, nor do I see my advisor very often.

I will say there was an element of not wanting to find a job when I was applying to grad school. More of it was I wanted a certain type of job, and thought that this would be the way to get it.

I can't vote because I can't decide. I'm currently in a largeish group (15-20), and my supervisor is department chair. The combination is great, because since my supervisor is so busy (I meet with him about once a month) I can ask anyone else a question. I really like working independently and it works for me for right now. I was offered positions in a number of other groups that varied in size (2-10) and in professors busy-ness (non-tenured to the dean) and I often wonder how different my experience would have been elsewhere. I share a room with students from other groups, and I often see their professor come in to check on them several times a day. I think that would be a bit extreme for me.

Yes I will note we had a tough time with the apartment hunt. Finding something the right size, in the right neighborhood and for the right price and then actually getting it was very difficult. I believe the high cost of real estate is driving a lot of people to rent, and therefore the vacancy rate is fairly low. My boyfriend did the apartment search, as he was already living in Toronto for work the summer before I started (living with his parents). We had issues with picky landlords who wouldn't rent to us because they couldn't meet me, only him. The pickiness only really happens for smaller operations where someone is renting out a basement apartment or something. We had success with larger commercial landlords who only care about if you can pay your rent on time. I love our building and apartment. I have seen some of my undergraduate teammates' apartments, closer to campus, and some of them are REALLY crappy.

But fully expect the what-ifs to come back when the going really gets tough. Only natural.