TakeruK

Planetary Science. I made my decision in 2012, and out of your list, I would rank them: 1. Program Ranking 2. School overall ranking 3. Weather 4. Cost of Living 5. Prof Status 6. Research Interest 7. Distance from home N/A: Experience with prof (none of my schools had this) Note: I only applied to school where the research fit was really really high. So "research interest" only meant the specific planetary science project I would be working on at each school. I put ranking up high because for the choices I had to make, the ranking was directly related to the amount of resources I needed to do what I wanted to do!

Once you accept their offer, you should still tell them that you won't actually get the physical degree until summertime (which is fine, since it's before grad school starts) But even so, the important timeline is the time you finish all your requirements, not the time you get your physical degree. I got my physical degree several months after I started grad school.

In my experience, ranking and fit are not independent of each other. For example, the best research fit for me is access to telescope time. And whether we like it or not, money is what buys the telescope time and what allows me to do the science we want. And in order to attract big donors to get the big money, you need to be ranked highly. Also higher ranked schools are more attractive for interesting visiting scholars (whether they are here for just a seminar or staying a few weeks/months). Higher ranked schools may also have more resources to properly support you, both professionally (funding for experiments, travel, etc., strong alumni network, attract big companies for career fairs) and personally (childcare, health insurance, support for dependents, good policies for health and personal leave etc.). Also, at higher ranked schools, if you end up finding that you don't like your first advisor choice, there is usually plenty of other people you can work with! Therefore, I don't think it's always "fit vs. ranking" but really, you want to maximize the fit+ranking! I would put them on equal footing, personally. I mean, these high ranked schools are actually high ranking for a reason (this reason might simply be money, but see above for how money is helpful), it's not like people just arbitrarily assign reputation to schools/programs! Of course, rankings are subjective (and some schools might have earned a high/low ranking in the past but perception have kept them at these rankings even though current conditions have changed. So, I would say that you should group school rankings in whatever ranges make sense for your field. For example, in mine, I would say that the top 5 schools are pretty much all the same goodness, and then there's the 5th-20th ranking etc. But in bigger fields, perhaps the top 20 schools are all ranked pretty much the same. **Note: When I say ranking, I mean sub-field ranking (i.e. I would be considering "Physics and Astronomy" rankings, not the general US News rankings, but also not the super specific subfields, e.g. "Particle Astrophysics" would be too narrow in my opinion).

I think this is more true with professional programs than research based PhD programs. At the schools I've been to, a BEd. (the degree all public school teachers in BC must get after their undergrad degree) is a 12 month program and they explicitly require you to not take any time off for weddings or children. However, at the same school, for the research programs, you get vacation days like any other job. You also get up to 1 year leave for each child you have. And some of that leave is paid. In my opinion, I would say that if you are a full time PhD researcher, you plan your academics around your life, not the other way around. If I need to be somewhere for a wedding, I make sure I rearrange my academics to make that long weekend work. If I was TAing, I might trade a shift with a colleague. If I was taking a class, I'd probably ask a friend to take notes for me and/or arrange for an alternate exam date if necessary. If I had a research deadline (e.g. abstract due date), I would make sure I started work on it earlier so that everything would be submitted prior to leaving. When you are in this for the long haul (whether it's just a PhD or staying in academia longer), you can't always make work your #1 priority. There needs to be a balance!

For those moving to a Canadian grad school though, moving expenses for school are tax deductible in Canada! Also, all monies granted to you to support graduate education are not taxable (i.e. fellowships/scholarships not taxable but money paid for TA or RA work is). And, every dollar you spend on tuition is a tax credit, plus $480/month extra tax credit for every month you are a full time student. Not sure why the US does not seem to want to grant the same tax benefits to grad students as they do to undergrads! (And even the first 4 years of tax credit in the US is not very much at all).

Sounds like it went well then Can't expect all the schools to be helpful!

I think this is a really tricky situation. I also know that in some fields (particularly the science ones) in Canada (if that is where you are applying), admissions is made on the professor level, not the department level. So it's more like a job. That is, whether you get in or not depends on whether your potential supervisor decides to hire you or not. For example, when I got into a MSc program, one school accepted me before the application deadline because I opened a dialogue with a potential advisor, sent in my materials, visited the school in person, talked to professors there, and got a decision before the application deadline. In programs like this, the application deadline is only there to encourage applicants to get their materials in by a certain date, but professors can choose to make a decision whenever they want. So, if your program is like the above, it is totally appropriate to contact the school with updates and especially to contact the professors you might have contacted prior to application. But the above doesn't apply if you know your program and/or field does not work this way. Another reason to contact them is yes, I think your updates are significant enough to make a difference. In any case, it might jog someone's memory that your file is pretty good and perhaps updating your information gives them another reminder to take another look at your application package. One reason to not contact them is that you might annoy them, especially if they have policies against contacting them. I think you can mitigate this downside by 1) making sure there is no such policies, 2) do not ask them for a decision timeline or otherwise appear to rush them, and 3) as fuzzy said, don't overdo it, just state the facts. All things considered, I feel that you have the potential to gain a lot and actually have very little to lose by sending them a quick update email. And especially if your program/field treats this like a job hiring instead of how US school treats admissions, then updating your programs with new developments and/or just keeping in touch with potential supervisors is something you should really do! Edited to add PS: Despite all the advice given here, only do what you are actually comfortable doing. You know your situation best, and you got to where you are now based on your knowledge, experience and instinct. Let our posts add to your thought process but don't let a few random strangers override what you feel is right for you!!

I think it's important for you to do what makes you happy. I just want to say that from a stranger's point of view, your definition of an ethical company sounds kind of arbitrary and it also sounds like you are saying all academic jobs are ethical. I feel that for most big organizations, if you look deep enough, you can find something that will not jive with your own moral code. Also, your title kind of implies that academic jobs are ethical but this is not always true either. For example, many universities invest in these unethical companies you mention, and thus your pay and research funding comes from these places. Is this acceptable to you, or is it disconnected enough that it does not bother you? I'm not just stating these questions to mess with you--I think these are important questions to answer when on the job hunt. It's important to know which practices are against your moral code enough that you won't work with them and which are disconnected enough that you'll still be happy. Maybe you have already thought about this though. (Personally, my answer is that as long as what I do does not directly hurt people, it's okay with me. For example, I won't do research on a weapon. However, if my work on some other goal somehow becomes useful in building a weapon, then that is not against my personal moral code. I am using a weapon as an example of something that is against my moral code but there are others, such as knowingly taking advantage of people etc.) As for suggestions, I don't know any specific organizations. What about working for a non-profit that is well aligned with your worldviews? If you like teaching, what about working for a "education technology" company (i.e. one of those companies that create online question databases for instructors like "Mastering Physics"). In Canada, many science graduates with a MSc will work as some kind of education or science director for museums and other public education type work. Just a few examples!

Most people tire of their PhD thesis topic after working on such a small scope for 5-7 whole years. Or at least, when you are only a few months away, you definitely feel that you just want to get it done with and move on to different interests. In my opinion, academia is a workplace and a thesis is just a work assignment. So it's not really being "bullied" into a thesis, but when I chose my thesis advisor, I talked to a bunch of profs, asked what they would want me to work on, and then picked the thesis topic based on these priorities: 1. I think I would enjoy the prof's mentoring and work style. 2. Working with this prof would result in strong LORs, good opportunities to travel and network. 3. I think the project would develop skills that matches my career goals. 4. This is a project that will result in papers and other things I need for jobs. 5. This is a project I can do within the time to graduate. 6. This project is a topic I am interested in. To me, being interested in your thesis is the least important part. For many academics, what they do in grad school is very different from their main career path. I don't think graduate school is a place to follow your passion, instead, it's a place to get the training you need and get out. Bonus points if the topic interests you but I don't think it's necessary. Luckily, I am still interested in my topic but it's only halfway done for me. Finally, for my MSc thesis, it was only 2 years, but I definitely felt the same way as you do near the end (i.e. just want this stupid thing done with). I wasn't even bullied into it at all, in fact, I was given a choice of several topics by my supervisor. So, I think it's possible and normal to hate your thesis by the end, even if you were originally interested in it and chose it yourself!

Well, first things first, what is the deadline on the first offer? If it's not until April 15, I would just say that you are very interested, thank you for the offer etc. and you will let them know as soon as you make your decision, which is not until you hear back from all schools. You can also ask some questions about how RA and TA works in their department. That is, can you still choose to take on extra TA assignments later (and get paid for it)? Does being an RA still mean TAing once in a while? If you choose TA, then what happens in the summer when there might not be any classes? Personally, I think it's best to have the option of TAing when you want it but not have to depend on it for funding.

I also dislike numerical references because I think a statement like Smith et al. (2012) argues Method X is the best way to find Y. is stronger and flows better than a statement like X is the best way to find Y. [13] But sometimes they are a necessity! I am curious about what you mean by "full citations" though. Even for the back-end material, I use full but heavily abbreviated citations. From my example above, it only adds 2 "words" to the in-line citation (journal abbreviation and volume/page number). First author name, year, journal, volume, and page number are the only critical elements needed and would only "cost" 4-6 words. Actually only journal, volume and page number are required to uniquely identify the work, but name and year provides valuable context!

Oh, definitely use very short citations when writing proposals with this kind of limit. In my field, I use "Smith et al." to refer to 3 or more authors and sometimes might even use it for a 2-author paper (although I try to use Smith & Jones, etc.). Use standard journal abbreviations for your field. For me, a citation can be as short as "Smith et al. (2007), ApJ, 720:13." Also, if it's a page limit, not just a word limit, don't put each citation on a separate line. In the proposal I just wrote, having each one on a separate line would have taken up 90% of my final page. I just put them all into a paragraph form, bolded the first author's last name for easy finding, and put a separator between each entry so that they don't just all blur together. This only took up 7 or 8 lines. Another colleague used numerical references, so that the in-line citation might read as "The Earth is round [14]", and then each reference is numbered at the end. This is not the standard way to cite in my field, but it's not unheard of. I guess what I mean is that for these types of proposals, unless otherwise stated, you are not generally going to be judged on whether or not you format according to a certain set of rules. Especially since each journal/publication has different rules anyways. So, my advice would be to use the most compact notation you can that is still obviously understandable. But this might be field-specific because my field does not have a standardized style format (i.e. nothing like APA). Maybe fields that have a national standard might expect every piece of work to be written in that style.

It's incredibly hard to create these itineraries. The grad students here run our department seminar series and when it's my week to create the visiting scholar's day schedule, I normally do not get everyone finalized in their time spots until the afternoon of the day before the visit! I can't imagine how much work it would to coordinate a large number of visitors at the same time!! Just another way I learned that the administrative staff are amazing!

My department does this. I know another applicant that asked about this 2 weeks later in the past and found out they were rejected. I think it's about March when they officially tell everyone else the status (after the visit weekend). As far as I know, my program only does one round of acceptances and takes whoever chooses to come. There may be a waitlist, but there are years where we get zero or only one new student because everyone declines. No big deal because it all averages out. But perhaps this school you're thinking of does have more than one round. If so, I would keep waiting. I would never ask them to clarify unless you need the information to coordinate a visit or something (or to make another decision). However, in my application year, in all cases where this happened to me, I got rejected. But, none of those schools are the schools in your signature so maybe that doesn't mean anything to you.

For the first school, since you know you have an unofficial offer, you can just tell them what you said here, that you have visited before and know the school well. So you are still interested but do not have time to visit. However, I would say that a visit for prospective graduate students is very different from just a regular visit because the focus is different. It's important to go and ask questions about professors and meet students and even meet the other students that potentially make up your cohort. For the second school, you can let them know that you would not be able to visit under the expense cap. Maybe they will make an exception for you. I agree that it would be sucky to pay $100, spend the time visiting, and then not get in. In addition, it doesn't sound like you will get another chance to visit later on, so this would be your only visit opportunity. In your shoes, I would tell them exactly that -- you would prefer to visit after you know the admission decision. Maybe they will clarify what the visit is for. Overall, sometimes you end up with a lot more offers than you expected! I think it would be really tough to visit more than 3 or 4 schools. If you have more offers/visit requests than this, I think at this point, you should know enough to pick out your top 3 or 4 schools and only worry about visiting those. You can decline/withdraw your application from the rest. (**of course, exceptions apply if you have special circumstances, like needing to be in a specific area, or two-body problem etc.)

I agree with the above. If you have said yes to a school for that weekend already, then reschedule the other school. If you have not yet committed to either school (i.e. they both asked you about the same time), then rearrange it to best fit your schedule. In my field, you can also just ask for a different day because it fits your schedule better. For example, if I stuck with the original dates for some of my visits, I would have flown across the country, visited for a few days, flown home for 3 days, then flown across the country again to visit another school. So, I moved the first visit a few days later so that I only had to fly across the country once. It saved me time and saved both schools a bunch of money!

Maybe it's a date and someone's initials?

Hmm okay, so the early fee is $395 (not judging you, doesn't sound like you knew about the early rate in time to make a decision about it, but I think this is the rate we should consider if it is "absurd" or not). It's too bad that it includes the banquet dinner, I almost always decline this when I register because it adds about $100 to the fee. So given that the proceedings is included, and the dinner is included, I think this rate is okay (i.e. not blatantly ripping anyone off). But I agree that whether it's worth it or not depends on its prestige and maybe a CS person can answer that! Although it seems like these proceedings do get a lot of citations: http://academic.research.microsoft.com/RankList?entitytype=3&topdomainid=2&subdomainid=12&orderby=1

In that case, you should look at the school decision deadlines and add 2 weeks to the last date listed and ask your first school for that extension. Unless your top choice is the last school and you are afraid that they might release their decision a little late (then maybe add 3 weeks).

Usually when schools say "continued funding dependent on satisfactory progress" means that as long as you don't flunk out, you will be funded. I think it is pretty rare (and highly unethical) for a school to say that "you're not good enough for funding this year, but you can still stay". It's a really good idea though to ask the school what happens after X years if they say "funding provided for X years".

I agree with the above, especially fuzzy's recommendation to ask for old grant proposals. I have sent others my old materials for entry level graduate grants in the past. And today, I just submitted a proposal that would hopefully (mostly) fund me until dissertation (my entry level fellowship ends this academic year). To help me write this, a former winner sent me their entire application package! Really helpful. So, here are my answers to your main questions, keeping in mind that any specific experience should override this: 1. Always include references in a research proposal. For 750 words, that is 1.5 pages, which is probably enough to merit 3-5 references (you don't want the references to take up a disproportionate amount of space!). Normally, (warning: potentially field dependent advice here), I cite a couple of references when describing the research problem / motivation (to show I'm not just making things up) and when I describe my approach, I demonstrate that my project is feasible by citing a couple of other papers that proved something similar worked in the past. Another field-dependent statement is that in my field, references always count against the page limit...a 5 page limit is 5 pages including figures, tables and references, usually. 2. I agree that you should describe the entirety of your project. And I agree that for grants like this that, the point is to demonstrate that your work is interesting and worthy of the money. Therefore, it would not be a good idea to go into depth (the audience probably will not care / get excited about it). Instead, you want them to see the big picture and realise that you're awesome and your project is awesome and your results will be awesome!

Wow, that is a little higher than the rates I'm used to seeing. I'm coming from a field where registration is usually fully funded. Also, our field generally will provide free registration for invited speakers! Here are some factors that would generally increase cost (i.e. if these are true then the higher cost is more justified): 1. How big is it? I usually see student registration fees around $300-$400 when it is a small meeting (<200 people) and student fees around $150-$200 for large meetings (>1000 people). 2. Where is it being held? If it's in a hotel or a convention center, then expect to pay more. If it's on a school campus then it's weird to see such high fees. Also, if it's in a nice location (e.g. Hawaii), then fees are generally higher. 3. Are drinks/meals included? If lunch and 2 coffee breaks + drinks at evening poster session are included, then expect to see higher costs! 4. Proceedings generally raise the cost by about $100-$150. 5. How many days? If this is not at least a Monday to Thursday conference, $470 is quite steep. Most meetings in my field are Mon-Thur or Mon-Fri. 6. Is this meeting independent of an academic society? Most academic societies can reduce rates for its members. Usually the most expensive meetings are the ones that are run by groups independent of the national society. All of this usually means a meeting that is between 200 and 1000 people are the most expensive because it's not quite big enough to take advantage of economy of scale but too big to do cheaper things like use a University auditorium. Overall, I would say that if this is a big influential CS conference, and most of the factors above apply, then $470 for student registration is fairly reasonable. I know that in CS, conference presentations/proceedings are more valuable than published papers. In my field, a published paper costs about $1000-$1500 in page charges so $470 for a presentation+proceedings publication would be considered a reasonable expense. But maybe someone in the CS field can compare this rate with what they normally pay!

You should be fine because it should be clear from the context and most of the world is familiar with American culture and American terminology. Also, academia is very international, I'm sure there would be at least one American there that can help explain the words if necessary.

I got notification of the dates about 3-6 weeks ahead of time. Usually 1 week prior, we get general information like where we are staying, what time to arrive on the first day, asking for dietary restrictions, and asking us to make choices with regards to meal options, tour options, list of names of people we'd like to talk to etc. Then the night before or the morning of your first day, we get the finalized schedule with actual names and room numbers.

In my experience, at almost every collaborative/work lunch meeting like you describe, the professor (or department, if they are a visitor from a department seminar program) pays!