Pitangus

Applications are reviewed at the department level first, so applicants are accepted into a department and then accepted into EEBB if they submitted EEBB applications. Zoology reviewed its applications the week of Dec 15th. Fellowship nominations were in the works in late December and may have been ongoing into early Jan. Invites to the recruiting event (Feb 5th - 6th) should be going out soon by email (they usually go out by mid Jan).

Just to add in regards to EEB programs that do first-year rotations: it's still a good idea to contact POIs and get a sense of whether they are planning to take on new students within the next year or so. For example, when I applied, I learned via the graduate director at IU that even though their EEB program does rotations, they still accept applicants based on whether or not there is at least one lab that could definitely take the applicant. And as others have already said, if a program encourages contacting faculty and/or identifying a faculty sponsor, then definitely do so. For example, the review committee for MSU Zoology doesn't even review applications that don't have a faculty sponsor, and faculty are unlikely to sponsor an applicant with whom they have not communicated.

I don't know how representative it is of other EEB-type programs that have interview weekends, but MSU Zoology reviewed its applications during the week of Dec 15th. Fellowship nominations are still being worked out, but invitations to the recruiting event should be going out by mid-Jan (the recruiting event is usually held during the first week of Feb).

I live alone and vastly prefer it to having roommates, but I am strongly introverted and often asocial, so I like to be alone pretty much all the time.

I've taken a few courses outside of my department/program departments because they covered concepts and skills that are relevant to my research. For example, I've taken a couple of online courses from the Geography department because mapping and analyzing geographic data using GIS is a valuable skill in my field (and many others).

My research requires very little lab work, and during the academic year (aka non-field season) I put time/effort into my appearance because I enjoy it. Also, I am not a morning person, so having a routine of clothes, hair, and makeup to go through each day makes it easier for me to get up and moving.

I agree that time frames can vary greatly, and a substantial project is one that would be meaningful to your field (e.g. publishable as a paper), not necessarily one that takes three years or the length of the proposed program. The only explicitly multi-year projects I've seen in Ecology proposals have been ones where collecting a long-term dataset was necessary to address the proposal question. And most of the successful proposals I've read didn't include a timeline. For what it's worth: My proposal addressed a two-part research question and had three related components: an observational study with a timeline of two years (two field seasons), an experiment with a timeline of one year (one field season), and an analysis of a pre-existing long-term dataset with no proposed timeline. Presumably I would have completed this project during the first two years of my program. What questions I would have pursued next would have depended on the results of this proposed project, and I alluded to future directions within a single sentence in my Anticipated Results section.

When I applied there were still three essays: proposal, previous research statement, and personal statement. I used headings for the proposal and previous research statement, but not the personal statement. I would definitely advocate using headings in the proposal, along with judicious use of italics, bold, and underlining to highlight headings and important features in a systematic way. Headings may not be necessary, but they certainly don't hurt (when used appropriately). It is my understanding that the latter two essays are sort of combined now into a single personal statement. If I were applying now I think I still would have used a more narrative style for this essay, but perhaps with headings to separate "Background" from "Future Goals," for example.

I agree that having a manuscript submitted or under review is worth including, particularly for an undergrad/pre-grad applicant who doesn't have a paper yet. I had submitted a manuscript just before applying, so I included it in my research statement and my letter writers (who had reviewed the manuscript) mentioned it as well. Not sure if it made a huge difference in my receiving the fellowship, but one reviewer did bring it up in his/her feedback and gave me "kudos" for it (though the "kudos" seemed to refer to the fact that it was a sole-authored manuscript). I think mentioning the specific journal is ok provided it has been sent out to reviewers and not just submitted, but I'm not sure how much it would matter.

I personally don't have experience with applying at the masters level, but I have a friend who just finished a funded M.S. in Fisheries & Wildlife, and I know my department doesn't accept graduate students (M.S. or Ph.D.) without offering funding (stipend + tuition wavier). If funding is the big concern holding you back then I think you should go ahead and research individual programs and professors to find programs that suit your interests and have guaranteed full funding or professors offering Research Assistantships. I think many, if not most, programs in ecology-type fields offer funding packages, but of course that is just my impression from when I was applying.

I started my Zoology/EEB Ph.D. program after a year of seasonal field assistant jobs. I already knew that I wanted to go to grad school, so I worked for the experience rather than as a longterm career move. I have been happy with my grad school experience so far: I like that I am being paid to further my education, expand my skill set, and conduct research that is interesting to me. So far I've experienced several benefits of being a Ph.D. student compared to being a seasonal field assistant: there is of course more continuity in the work I do, I get to develop my own protocols etc., and the pay is better (though I should note that I have received fellowships that pay more than the typical Teaching Assistant stipend for my program). I've worked with several people who had worked seasonal jobs for years and were currently either soon starting or planning to pursue a graduate program, so I think it is a common path for field biologists. Of course, a graduate degree is not an immediate ticket to a permanent job; for example, I worked with one guy who had worked seasonal jobs for several years, decided to get a masters degree, and a year after graduating was doing seasonal jobs again (that was a couple years ago; not sure what he's up to now). So I think it is important to be interested in pursuing the graduate degree itself and conducting graduate research, rather than just viewing the degree as a means to an end. I think your experience would be an asset; professors in ecology/wildlife biology understand the nature of seasonal field jobs and will not find it strange that you've moved around. As for thesis ideas: it's good to have areas of interest and to look for potential advisors that work in those areas. As shadowclaw mentioned, the specificity of what professors are looking for will sometimes depend on their funding situation: sometimes a professor will have a grant for a specific project and will want a graduate student to work on that project. In my case, I did not decide on a project until I started the program. I have an external fellowship, so my advisor has given me a lot of freedom in designing my thesis work.

I wear a variety of outfits: skinny jeans or corduroys with different tops (usually not T-shirts though), leggings/tights under tunics, skirts, and dresses. I like wearing jackets in the fall/winter (field jackets, leather motos, all sorts). While it's still warm I'll be wearing dresses often (I wear shorts under my dresses but not on their own). For shoes I usually wear flats or boots, but I will occasionally wear wedges if I'm in the mood. I've seen mostly jeans and T-shirts/sweatshirts/sweaters in my classes, but I haven't felt too out of place. I see plenty of undergrads in yoga pants and athletic shorts, which I haven't really seen among my grad cohort.

I think your application program should be both a top choice and one whose resources you are familiar with, for I think those two categories should overlap anyways. If you don't know enough about a program's faculty and resources to envision a project you could do there, then how can it be your top choice? Name recognition/prestige alone?

I've been in a long distance relationship for two years now. I'm in Ecology and I mostly only do summer fieldwork with very little lab work. My schedule is rather uneven in that I have a reasonable amount of free time during the fall/spring semesters, but during the summer I work 12+ hours a day with maybe four or five days off total. I'm a 15 hour drive from my boyfriend (he still lives in our home state), and I go home to visit twice a year: winter break (for 2.5 weeks this past winter) and after the end of my summer field season (for about 7-10 days at the end of August right before the fall semester starts). He comes to visit me for a week once a year when his work schedule allows; my first year he visited in March and this past year in late October. I still go to classes and attend meetings normally when he visits, but because I don't really do lab work I have time to spend with him. Three visits a year might not work for some couples, but we are both independent people, and we've been together for over seven years already, so we've been ok with it. I think the frequency and length of visits really depends on both the couple and the nature of the grad student's department.

I had a professor who couldn't/didn't drive. I took an evening course that he was teaching, and I would drive him to the train station after class because I lived nearby. I didn't think much of it. He had moved to the US as a college student and since then had always lived in cities where it's common to not have a car. The last time I talked to him he did mention that he was working on getting his driver's license, saying, "I've decided it's time for me to become an adult." He was about 40 I would guess, so I thought that was pretty funny.

Most people who receive the NSF GRF have guaranteed funding from their department/advisor, so as TakeruK points out, getting external funding is good because it means your department/advisor has more money available because they aren't spending it on your stipend. And once again, the freedom of not having to be a TA or RA is a nice bonus, unless you want really to be a TA or want to work on exactly what your advisor is working on.

I'm an ecology student with the NSF GRF, and I have found that it has given me quite a bit of freedom in choosing and pursuing my research topics. By applying for smaller grants for equipment and travel (I do field work pretty much exclusively), I've been able to fund my research almost entirely on my own so far, with only minimal support from my advisor's grants. And of course because I have the fellowship stipend instead of a RA, I can focus on my research all of the time (which is great, because what I am working on is a bit different than what my advisor has been working on previously).

I think my college had a yearbook as well. I was working in a different state during my commencement week, so I don't know exactly what was planned, but it sounded pretty low-key compared to some of the other things my college does (e.g. big summer-camp-like orientation events). From what I read there was just a rehearsal and a dinner event a day or two before the ceremony itself. My parents went to my commencement even though I didn't. They just wanted to see the ceremony and point out my name out to other parents. Apparently my name was called first because of my class rank, so they got to kick things off with "<my name>, in absentia." I was frustrated with my college at the time, so I thought it was pretty funny.

The one thing I do have to be wary of is not cutting my wakeup time too close to when I need to be somewhere, because if I jump out of bed and into the shower after <5 hours of sleep I can get nauseous. I'll usually set my alarm for 5-10 minutes before I plan to actually get out of bed, so that I can take the time to sit up and stretch before getting on my feet. Fortunately I don't drink coffee and don't like to eat in the morning, so I don't need too much time after I wake up.

This past semester I've been sleeping from about 3 AM to 7 or 8 AM out of stubborn refusal to go to bed earlier. I do the bulk of my writing between 10 PM - 2 AM, and even if I don't have anything that needs finishing I just like staying up. I was thinking I might burn out on this schedule, but so far I just like the feeling of having longer days. I do sometimes have a hard time dragging myself out of bed in the morning, but once I'm up and showered I feel fine. I sleep about 8 hours on Saturday and Sunday, so that helps as well. It reminds me of when I worked a dawn-to-dusk field job and preferred to sleep less in order to feel like I had more downtime after work.

There is a whole thread dedicated to Amherst in the City Guide section:

I spend about $25 - $30 a week on groceries (food and toiletries as needed) and $10 - $15 a week eating out. I live alone and don't eat very much, so I pretty much just buy whatever I want that week.

Thank you for sharing your experience. I am always interested in hearing from couples older than my SO and me, who have maintained a childfree lifestyle. Your situation sounds similar to mine, with the exception that I do not have any known medical complications that would affect my physical ability to have children. Also, it's funny that you mention your sisters; I'll admit that I am holding out hope that my younger brother will have kids, so that my mom can still be a grandmother.

I'm only 24 right now, but I do not intend to have children. It is not something I have ever desired and not something I think I am particularly well-suited for. Right now it isn't an issue because I am in grad school and I'm not married. My SO and I are planning to get married when I finish my program, at which point I will be 27+, so I am expecting that the questions about children will start to ramp up at that point. Even my mother, who knows my personality quite well, occasionally says things that suggest a belief that I will want children as the "next step" after getting married and establishing a career. Honestly though, I am looking forward to dedicating my time to my career and my marriage, and I don't believe in having children just because it is the "next step." Like Taeyers, I enjoy the other benefits of hormonal BC and plan to stay on it for now, though tubal ligation is something I would consider in the future if I knew I could pursue it without being hassled for not having children already.

You can reserve any two years out of the five year award period. I was on reserve my first year in order to use another fellowship; it is a pretty common occurrence. You will just have to start a PhD program within 3 months after completing your MS in order to remain a fellow. More info: http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2013/nsf13085/nsf13085.pdf