crazygirl2012

Five sections?!? That is a ton of TAing. Does your PI have a grant, or do you mean that the department allocated a lot of money for his students? If he can support you on a grant, you should definitely be able to do more research than teaching. But your assistantship may still be dependent on the department's needs. Rather than asking for a different assignment, I would just start a conversation about it. You could mention that you're concerned about getting off-track with research, and say that you felt that a lot of your time went to TAing. I feel comfortable being open with my advisor because he doesn't take conversations like that the wrong way. But the way you approach the subject should be dependent on your relationship with your PI.

Whoa, that does sound bad. I'm alright with a bit of "initiation", being put in my place if I cross a line, any of that, but your department sounds unnecessarily cruel. Of course there's some variation in personalities in my department, and not all professors in the department are really warm and supportive, but most are. Have you spoken with any older students about this? Maybe they always do this to the first years, and start to accept you as you get older? It's still wrong, but maybe there's a light at the end of the tunnel.

I'm a first year trying to figure out what to do with breaks. I'm taking about 2 weeks off (12/18-1/2). I wish I wasn't going to be gone for so long, but I had some pressure from family to make it a long vacation. Next year, I think I'll tell them I can't take that much time off. There are no explicit rules in my department. The amount of time people take off (or work from home, or "work" from home) varies a lot. I am expected to keep up with my assistantship (not a TAship this semester, but similar) during break, as well as research.

Try not to panic until you're sure you need to disclose it. And even then, it isn't so bad. Hell, I was almost expelled from college entirely as a freshman because I got too many drinking tickets. Nobody got hurt or anything like that, I was just an idiotic (and apparently quite loud) 17/18 year old. When I saw that question on grad school applications, I went to the associate dean at my undergrad university and found out that I was never on official probation and therefore didn't need to disclose it at all. I just read it again, and I am almost certain it doesn't even apply to you. So no need to worry! They'll see the grades on your transcript, probably gloss over them because it was your freshman year, and move on. You're not a criminal. FuzzyLogician-- I don't think the OP actually committed any sort of offense. Academic probation is, to the best of my knowledge, just a semester of really poor grades. I agree that you need to have it addressed in some way, whether in your personal statement or in a recommendation letter, but I really do not think you need to answer "yes" to that question.

Ha, I took Ritalin without a prescription once in college. Once. I decided to try it around 4am the morning of an exam. I crashed in the middle of the exam and got a C. Not a fun experience. I don't know of anyone in my program who takes it, but some probably do.

I understand why you accepted the offer, and I would struggle in that kind of environment too. Is there any chance that you'll eventually be able to work with your interests? Will you get more of a choice as you gain independence in the lab?

Thanks, all! It's easier for me to pick out areas for improvement than to acknowledge taking care of my health and personal life as a good thing to do. I'll try to stop worrying about it.

I have a problem I never expected to have in grad school: I'm not busy enough. My coursework is, for the most part, much less challenging than my second half of undergrad. I am involved in several research projects (including 3 that will hopefully turn into first-author publications for me someday) and my advisor is happy with my progress. But I'm used to being completely immersed in work nearly all the time, and that just doesn't happen anymore. It's true that I've gotten more efficient and I'm much less crazy than I was in undergrad, but I just don't think grad school is painful enough. I know it's my responsibility to be self-motivated, and for the most part, I am. Next semester, I want to do more reading every day and try to keep up the pace. But it's hard to get used to this. A few others in my cohort feel the same way I do. We're not in a bad program by any means-- it's not top-ranked, but it's respectable, and our grads end up with good jobs. Has anyone else dealt with this? I hate feeling like I'm not a real grad student just because I sleep 7 hours a night.

Yes. And many are not. Personally, I'm not lonely in grad school, but I was in undergrad. Things can turn around.

Psychology, 4/5. Really, my only disappointments are classes (most here not as rigorous as I thought they'd be) and department politics (I stay out of it as much as possible but it makes me nervous). Things I like: My current research, TAing, this part of the country. Things I love: My cohort, my advisor, and the directions I hope to take my research in. The people here are really the best part!

If you do notice people treating you differently, I'd advise you to be patient and just keep being as mild-mannered and respectful as possible. You never know what people have been through themselves. Because of my own personal history, I'd honestly be a little wary around a colleague after hearing that news, even though I'd want to treat him fairly. You can't change your past, but you can influence your future. I'm not saying you should have to change your whole personality or act unnatural around your colleagues. Just try to let your conduct speak for itself.

I would have been caught off-guard too, but I think that dropping the class would be a bit of an overreaction. Who knows, maybe the professor was having a bad day and now feels bad about being so harsh. Or maybe not. Regardless, I understand why you're bothered by it, but I would advise you to stick it out.

Did you move to a new area for grad school? I'm originally from New York, but I've lived in the Midwest for many years. People here are much more polite and less straightforward than they are back East. It would be harder for Midwestern students to criticize each other's work. I agree with Eigen that a discussion about personal attacks vs. constructive criticism is in order. The book that SeriousSillyPutty recommended sounds good too! I don't agree with your student either, but I give you credit for taking his words into account and thinking about your approach. It surprises me that he's having this strong of a reaction and he's not even critiquing his own classmates' work yet. Critical thinking is one of the most important skills to develop in college!

It sounds to me like you'll turn out just fine! What you're feeling is very common, and from what I've been told, it passes. Maybe your undergrad program was easy on you, maybe you're just struggling in a new place-- regardless, you have the right attitude and it sounds like you'll catch up soon enough.

Your scores are almost identical to my own: 162 V, 152 Q, 6.0 AW (plus 760 psychology subject test). I'm in a social psychology PhD program and had interviews at 3 others. My GPA was 3.72. Your GPA and GRE sound just fine to me! I struggle with math, but other parts of my application made up for my middling quant score. Nothing is guaranteed, but assuming you have research experience, a decent personal statement, and strong letters of recommendation, your GRE should not hurt you.

It sounds like you're doing just fine! I'm straight out of undergrad as well. I've always been very prone to comparison, but I'm learning that constantly worrying about how you measure up to others is no way to live. I don't know for sure about end-of-year evaluations (just that we get them too), but I'd be very surprised if they compared you to others. That would just be incredibly awkward to write... "____ is pretty good at ____, but ____ is much better!"

I'm in the same field as newpsyche, and I was also told that first year is the worst. There are some spikes in stress and workload throughout grad school, of course, but it gets easier to handle.

I was only accepted at one, so there was no decision to be made, and I still sometimes have my doubts. I wonder if I should have taken a year off and tried again, hoping to have more options. But really I know that I'm in the right place, and you probably are too. It sounds like you were choosing between two great programs, and that must be tough! Just keep in mind that no place is perfect. The other one would have its downsides as well.

In my program, it depends more on the advisor than on the program as a whole. One of the full professors is only in the office 3 days a week, so his grad students don't really have to be there all day. (Some are anyway.) My advisor doesn't have tenure yet, which may be part of the reason he is there 9-5 M-F. The understanding is that his students will be too. I follow more of a 7-4 schedule (because I've weirdly turned into a morning person), which seems to be close enough. I prefer to work at home, but it helps that I have my own office at school. It's a pretty nice perk, especially for a first year!

Most of my colleagues come from working-class families, the rest are probably from middle. As for me, I'm an only child from an upper-middle class family. Although I live off the same stipend as everyone else, I am fortunate to have no student loans to pay off. I do feel incredibly lucky for that. Maybe there are others in my department who aren't in debt, but I wouldn't know because I don't mention it. Ever. To answer your question, I would say that no, most grad students probably are not from upper class families, but some are. Some who come from money are going to flaunt it more than others. Your post definitely didn't come across as judgmental, but just because we're on the topic, I'd like to ask everyone to try not to make assumptions about people's personalities or values based on their family's income. There are plenty of grateful, down-to-earth grad students who do come from a privileged background.

I've been very lucky in this regard. My colleagues have been very welcoming to the first years, and I really like my cohort. There is definitely some drama in the department, but a lot of it is actually among faculty rather than students. Although I consider myself to be an introvert, I am talkative and outgoing and I love my social life here. I think I was just lucky to stumble upon a good group of people with whom I fit in well.

I can understand and appreciate your thoughts on this, but I don't view it as a negative thing. It just helped me to keep track of everything in my mind and to let other forum users know where I was at in the process. My place in the process at any given time affected my thoughts, feelings, and words. I knew there would be at least some rejections, and as you can tell by my signature, there most certainly were! I never had trouble accepting that. Everyone's situation is different. Some can reasonably expect zero rejections. I was not one of those people. However, I never posted the names of the schools to which I applied. I want to preserve some degree of anonymity on here. (But I did figure out that I had met someone from Grad Cafe at an interview, and it was nice to talk to her!)

162 (my score) is 90th percentile, so mid-160s would be quite high! What field are you in? Does it need to be that high? It's great to aim high, but don't let it discourage you if you can't quite get to the mid-160s. Being really good at reading comprehension will help you a lot. I used the Princeton Review book as well but I didn't really study vocabulary much. Gaining a solid understanding of Latin roots and reviewing prefixes and suffixes will serve you better than memorizing a bunch of words. You can usually deduce the meaning of a word, or at least eliminate some answer choices, if you can identify and understand the root of each word.