-
Posts
284 -
Joined
-
Last visited
-
Days Won
2
Everything posted by Queen of Kale
-
Now I can think of nothing else. Day. Ruined.
-
wrong headed
-
Take the classes that excite you the most and which have the greatest overlap with your interests. I think for many of us, we will end up with a higher grade in the harder but more rewarding (for us personally) course than an easier but less substantial course. Plus, I don't think most POIs nitpick your grades so much as they want to see that you have some breadth in your field and some depth of coursework in your chosen research area. Or, if your undergrad institution doesn't offer courses in your research area, that you took as many complimentary classes as possible.
-
I never knew someone could get a PhD in....
Queen of Kale replied to starofdawn's topic in Waiting it Out
I knew someone who had a PhD in Turf Grass Management from Virginia Tech (might have the school wrong). Made pretty good money and seemed to have a good quality of life. -
How many prof can I meet in one visit ? advice please
Queen of Kale replied to Cup Cake's topic in Interviews and Visits
For all of my (seemingly infinite) interviews I met with 4-8 professors, usually for around 50 minutes each, and often scheduled back-to-back (with a luck break) in one day. This might be field specific. Or, some sort of hazing process? Possibly both. -
Without a doubt leave out the fact about being a cousin. Otherwise it just looks like a family favor.
-
I quit smoking since I began grad school. I felt like I was in a fog for the first month or so. Now it's been about 6 months & I've replaced smoking with going to the gym more regularly. The fog has lifted & I am more focused than before. You do need to find rewards for meeting small milestones that are not taking smoke breaks though. Otherwise you will find yourself on pinterest or Facebook or shopping online or eating constantly or anything else to bribe yourself.
-
I do 30-45 minutes at the gym on the way into work, usually 4 or 5 days a week. Luckily my gym is literally on my way to work and I never sweat (even though I usually run) so my post-gym routine is like 10 minutes and I can leave the house only about an hour before I usually would. I find I'm more productive on the days I start by working out than the days I sleep in anyway.
-
captain crunch (my fav)
-
That girl (like the TV show)
-
My husband is a coffee roaster (professionally) so he roasts the beans & grinds them at work, brings them home, sets up the coffee pot in the kitchen which has a timer every night, and in the morning at 6am the coffee exists like magic for me. Strangely he doesn't drink much coffee, so I have almost the whole pot to myself. Later, when I get to work, my PI has unfailingly already made a pot of coffee. Really, based on these two things alone my life is pretty sweet right now.
-
Most POIs reviewed my (freakishly early) applications before the deadline, often months before, but perhaps only because I had been in contact with them. I do know that my current program will match applications to POIs pre-deadline and before the formal review. But the actual graduate advisory board meeting is a few weeks after the deadline. My POI has been complaining for two months about how few applications he's received versus last year and our deadline in still two months away or so. Conversely, one of my lab mates is a real fly-by-the-seat-of-the-pants type and squeaked her applications in at the final hour. And she's still here working beside (neurotic) me. For the programs that review applications early, I think it's unlikely they wouldn't save room for later candidates (although certainly some POIs might jump the gun) but rather the advantage is that you are sharing the spotlight (or desk space) with fewer applicants at the beginning.
-
Just because you waive your right doesn't mean that the professor won't offer to show you his/her letter. About half of my LORs over the past few years (for internships and grad school alike) were emailed to me at some point. Some were great, some were good, one was terrible (and from someone who offered to write a great letter). One was two sentences, also from someone who offered to write a "solid letter". So my opinion is you have only an educated guess until you read the dang things and hopefully by the time the letters are for really important things (which keeps changing; internships seem important until grad apps, which seem less important when chasing fellowships) - by a certain point you know who will write the best letters based on either reading them previously or having people tell you what a great letter they read about you from that person. (based solely on my personal experience)
-
"Playing" departments against each other
Queen of Kale replied to Captain Crunch's topic in The Bank
I voiced concerns over the huge disparity in health insurance costs between my two top schools and the POI at the institution with the higher cost was able to swing a few thousand extra bucks to even things out. And he did it in under 12 hours. Needless to say, I was impressed. Not simply with the money, but that a POI was that on top of taking care of things and willing to invest in having me in his group. I committed (basically) immediately and he's been as effective, generous, and organized in our interactions since. I'm not someone to rock a boat needlessly; but if you have a concern about something which might be easily fixed, there is no harm in asking about it considerately and while it can still be easily fixed. -
My referral code is: https://www.stitchfix.com/referral/3364651 Once I get my first Fix, I'll put my feedback here or PM interested parties. And again, if anyone else wants to tell about their experiences I'd love to see them. I've seen lots of blogs about Stitch Fixing but it would be nice to see feedback from someone here (since we're obviously not here to sell anything) just to make sure it's as awesome as everyone says.
-
adult movie
-
Good Advice for Visit Weekends
Queen of Kale replied to UBackwardsChemistry's topic in Chemistry Forum
Don't get drunk! At least, don't get drunker than the graduate students hosting you and only on your last night. (This is what I would tell my friends, maybe not the most professional advice, but realistic) -
I know it will torture some of you that I'm posting in this thread with no real news to share, but I had to say two things (to people who would understand): 1) Every time I see the NSF DIGG thread my heart skips a beat and for a moment I think a miracle has occurred and our decisions were released early 2) Today I was so distraught when that happened I calculated how many days between today and when I expect our decisions based on last year (March 31st is my guess) - 77 days. Groan. I am going to be unbearable for my poor husband & lab mates.
-
I'm in the Earth Sciences and I was offered stipends ranging from $15-30k. I have friends at smaller schools who are unfunded in Earth Science, partly-funded, or "fully-funded" but getting under $10k a year. It really does vary wildly by school, discipline and program.
-
This is a little random & not very grad school related, but I wondered if anyone here used Stitch Fix? I realized as soon as I signed up that I should have checked here first and given some worthy (and poor) grad student the referral credit. But although that ship has sailed, I thought I'd just test the waters (I have a nautical theme going here I guess ) and see if anyone wants to weigh in with a Stitch Fix experience. While the Stitch Fix demographic seems to be more young mothers than students; I myself feel like I have better things to do than shop (make the science!) and I figured I wouldn't be alone on that. So please, I'm all ears, tell me your Stitch Fix experiences!
-
Gifts for LOR writers - the best of the best
Queen of Kale replied to Vader Was Framed's topic in Letters of Recommendation
I gave my local LORs beer and my long distance ones fruit from Harry & David. I kept the amount of $$ under 25 in both cases. -
I'm also Black Irish on one side of my family and we have plenty of Ciarans in my family tree. Unlike, danieleWrites, I never thought of the term as insulting so much as a cop-out. In many cases the term 'Black Irish' is used as a euphemism for "your people messed around with gypsies". It's certainly been proven to be the case in my family tree once people looked into it & now that the older generation who were ashamed of it are deceased we basically have stopped even using the term 'Black Irish' except to describe the phenotype, as opposed to denoting some implied ancestry. As to the original post by Michigan Girl, the problem I see with pointing fingers is that "we judge ourselves by our intentions and others by their behavior" (the famous Stephen Covey quip). We just don't have, or will ever have, enough information to judge the intentions behind this adoption/name/photo. And it doesn't matter IMHO if we ever do. There are enough other issues which are systemic, fixable, and quantifiable problems which we can focus our attentions and efforts on fixing. There's no reason to squander our energies on this sort of did-she/did-he amorphous maybe-offensive crap. (Again, just IMHO)
-
What age will you be when you finish your PhD?
Queen of Kale replied to med latte's topic in Applications
Over 30. But I really, really, really enjoyed my 20's too. Maybe too much. -
devil food