SeriousSillyPutty

I'm sure that by this fall you will have done some other interesting things. If they do remember your SOP (and they should remember your somewhat from the interview), then the underlying question you'll need to answer is, "Why am I a better candidate this year than last?" (Of course, you may feel equally qualified and know you just screwed up an interview, but they will assume that you were accurately represented in the first interview, so from their view the question still stands.) Part of your answer will be that, over the past year, you have read up on issues in your field, gained experiences that sharpened your focus, and become that much more "mature" a contender. You'll have another year of experience to brag about, so I say make sure to add it into the the SOP.

I'm refreshing this thread because I recently joined LinkedIn. I was trying to get info on potential profs by a google search, and their LinkedIn pages came up, so I decided I should go ahead and join. (I don't know when I'll try adding the profs, but it should be sometime after we have a working relationship, I figure!) I would HIGHLY recommend joining some LinkedIn groups. I joined one for "STEM Educators and Researchers", made a post asking for advice on research topics related to informal science education, and lots of people have given me leads. Especially for niche fields, this seems to be a great way to find out about work I'd never know existed! Plus it's a way to ask people in my field, without bugging any particular individuals. PS- This thread is from 2010. I bet the use of Facebook has changed significantly just in the past two years!

Haha... I haven't had grad school nightmares (yet!) but I occasionally have nightmares that I'm doing a program for my current job and I'm unprepared. The worst though are the dreams that I'm back teaching high school and completely unprepared, then I wonder why on earth I decided to go back to that when it was so horrible the first time around. So work/school related dreams are pretty standard, I'd say. And as for the syllabi: I agree getting last year's syllabi would be best at this point. If you wanted to establish contact with profs, you could ask them to email you last years syllabi if they don't anticipate big changes, just so you can start to get a sense of things. Or just email them asking recommendations for a book or two to read before the fall? I just did that with a prof I'm hoping to work with, and he even let me borrow his copy of a book he recommended!

Are you familiar with Craigslist.org? It has spaces for people to post about rooms, apartments, furniture... all sorts of useful stuff. (Sorry if that's old news; I don't know how widespread it is or where you're coming from.) There's also real estate agents, but young folks on the cheap usually use Craigslist.

I remember a brochure in the undergrad physics office that said, "What can you do with a degree in physics? Anything you want to!" -- Which I later learned meant that you can (a) teach ( work at McDonald's, or © get another degree -- in anything you want to! Is that how it seems in chemistry, too? I imagine chemistry is a bit more practical, and thus easier to get jobs with a B.S. At one point I looked into working with a temp agency that was specific to sciency things. That may be something to look into during leave of absence. There are also lab tech jobs that (I imaginine) a BS in chemistry could get you. Ooh! You could work for a brewery! A lot of times people come to the conclusion that the easiest thing to do with their degree is teach the subject to high-schoolers, and while some are successful at that I would discourage it, as all the nuts and bolts of teaching well can be hard to pick up quickly. (At least they were for me... I love science and explaining it to people, but I crashed and burned as a high school teacher with Teach for America.) On the plus side, I'm always surprised by jobs out there I never knew existed. Did you know that science museums do outreach programs for schools and scout groups? I had no idea before, but now that's my job and I love it. And I second what Euthuphron said. A job doesn't have to encompass all your passions to be satisfying, it just has to enable you to pursue many of your passions. My grandpa liked music and was good at math & science, so he became an engineer (nothing to do with music), but that gave him a regular schedule so that he could sing with the church choir, and provided an income that allowed the family to go on fun vacations. I'm sure you'll end up with something satisfying!

Stell4, these are good points you raise. I'm five years removed from my undergrad, and the only prof that I felt comfortable using for a reference was the one I worked for; there weren't any profs from classes that I had kept a relationship with beyond when I had them for class. And I remember the dilemma about office hours: I didn't want to go to office hours or ask questions under false pretenses, and it seems inconsiderate of their time to ask for help if I hadn't worked hard to figure it out myself yet. While I was an undergrad, the prof I used as a reference was my honors E&M prof, because that class was so hard we all worked our tails off and STILL ended up in office hours (and thus got to know him well). But I also agree with you about teaching high school and remembering the kids who came in after hours. But probably classes will be smaller in grad school -- so more time for discussion/personality in class -- and presumably it will be hard enough that we'll have the "privilege" of being utterly stumped and in need of guidance, no false pretenses. Plus, like TakeruK said, research will be where we'll get to know people best, I hope. I also followed up with one of the grad school profs I met before and asked him if there was anything I should prep before hand, such as a book he could recommend. I'm hoping that will make it easier to open communication lines come the fall.

Like others, I used my boss as a reference, and I know we're busy, so I gave what will work out to about six months' notice. It probably depends on the job and maybe how niche it is? If it's hard to find/train newbies, there's less threat of getting kicked out early and more pity for how the people "left behind" will transition. I also work with really great, caring, people, which helps immensely of course. I know that, starting grad school, job references probably won't be so important because we'll have profs to use, but it still might be something to consider. When someone gets a new job, those things come up suddenly and start right away, but when someone gets into grad school, it will be obvious to everyone that they've known for awhile, and that could bend employers out of shape a bit. Like I said, I work with amazing people, so I felt a little guilty this week when they were talking about long term plans and I thought, "I won't have to deal with any of this. Heh heh heh...".

Right now I envision myself working at a museum/science center or running an outreach program,. I think my dream job would be running the outreach education for the particle accelerator at my undergrad school.... But, I'm also trying to stay open to the fact that my experience in grad school may direct me towards other avenues. :-)

I'm reading Getting What You Came For right now, and his thesis was on sexual differentiation of swordtail fish -- or something like that. So, while he tries to write the book for all sorts of grad school people, his perspective is from the life science. (And, OregonGal, It also has sections specific to master's degree stuff, but his experience is PhD.)

I'm in an odd (but good!) situation because I'm going to grad school to study the goings-on of what I currently do (outreach education), and I'll be staying in the same city. So, I want to stay as connected to work people as possible because they'll be my best network for research opportunities and jobs after graduation. My current boss leaves whenever her bun comes out of the oven (due date late next month), so I want to (a) help the new boss get her feet under her in our department and ( build up a good enough relationship with her that I can ask her for favors in the years to come. Plus there's the money thing. So, my plan is to take a week off and visit my family then come back and start grad school. I was hoping for a longer break to recharge and get into grad school mode mentally, but I don't think there will be time! It is kind of odd though, to be brainstorming projects with people like normal, then to realize I won't see them through to fruition. Luckily I work with really great people, so I still care about things for their sake.

One of my friends visited Vanderbilt as a prospect in their Education PhD program, and really loved the vibe she got there. The professor that was her main contact took her for a hike and then out for ice cream (both of which are things this friend really enjoys)! They also offered her a really nice financial package. I don't know if that says anything about the likelihood of master's aid packages, though. Best of luck in the decision-making process -- and in your long-term goals!

You might consider emailing a current student at some prospective schools to see what they think. I suspect that if you have a strong writing sample, they would look past your GRE score, but I don't know. Do I remember correctly that, when GRE scores are sent, ALL test scores taken are sent? If so, then the universities will see this first score anyway, and it may be worth telling a prof what your score was and asking for his/her opinions. (Don't do this in the first email, I'd say, but I know the grad student adviser for my program was really helpful as I went through the application process. This was especially important for me as I'm far removed from my undergrad years so I couldn't get help from them.)

What a great thing to do! As for me, I've been working as a science center outreach educator the past 4 years and really love it, but get frustrated with how little investment there seems to be in the educators. Right now, my plan is to get a PhD in Science Ed, so that I can go back into the world of informal science education and hopefully improve it.

I did my undergrad at Michigan State! Great school, great atmosphere. I would recommend researching the websites of the schools you're interested in and finding a few professors whose research seems to align with your interests. What seemed to work well for me was to write a very short email saying something like, "Hi, I am really interested in [whatever interests you about this department]. I have read through the website, and still have some questions. Are you the person I should ask, or can you direct me to someone?" They can reply to this very quickly without much thought, and so they're more likely to reply. Then, if they say they're the person to talk to, you can write them something more like you posted here, explaining your situation and asking their insight on what you can do. Alternately, often websites have contact information for current graduate students. Email them in a similar manner, and then you can get some general information out of them, without the pressure of talking to a professor. If you do decide to write an email to a professor, post it here first and there's a good chance an American student would be willing to edit it or make suggestions before sending it. (No guarantees, of course, but a lot of us like editing other people's work...)

Can't speak to C.S. programs, though I'll be going to WashU for education so I'm in favor of the University in general! Are you familiar with the U.S. News & World Report rankings? According to them ( http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-science-schools/computer-science-rankings/page+2 ), WashU is ranked #39 in Computer Science, which is pretty good considering how many colleges there are in this country. I live in St. Louis, and around here WashU is definitely a big name, but I don't know how well it is known outside the midwest. In the U.S. New's rankings of national universities, it is #14, putting it above schools such as Notre Dame, U.C. Berkeley, and U.C.L.A., which have more name recognition (often because of sports programs). For education, they only have T.A. positions for PhD students, but Ed is also a very small department, so it might vary elsewhere. I really love living in St. Louis. It's not on the same scale as Chicago, L.A., or NYC, but it's big enough to have a lot of the resources of a large city, yet still small enough to be friendly. The economy in St. Louis has not been hit as hard as in other parts of the U.S., and I certainly know computer science people, but I don't know anything about that job market over-all. Best of luck on your decision!

No, haven't been there. I learned about the real Halifax when reading the author bio in one of the Anne of Green Gables books. (Did you know L.M. Montgomery went to school in Halifax?) This is a great place to vent and muse, and like I said: hopefully more informed opinions show themselves soon! :-)

I read it. It was pretty funny (maybe funnier after you've been through what he's talking about) but wasn't actually an advice book, more of a book about stereotypes in academia. It was things like "Identifying different kinds of undergrads - Part 1: The Jock" -- or things like that. This was a good review:http://youngadults.about.com/od/collegelife/gr/survivinggrad.htm Personally, I'd say time is better spent reading the PhD Comics archives. SOoo addicting...

[i'm not informed on this subject, and yet I'm posting anyway. Geeze... I am such a stereotypical American.] If you're talking to the average American student, it's true that Canadian schools don't have the name recognition that Oxford or Harvard have, but what we (generic Americans) know is fairly irrelevant anyway. With PhDs, isn't is mostly about the specific program and professor? It seems to me that if you're hoping for a job in academia, anyone in your field on either side of the border would be familiar with the quality of U of T's program. If you're planning on a job of industry, there's probably enough in Canada that you wouldn't have to move unless you wanted to. But I think I get your feeling about casting a wider net. I had no doubt in my mind that I wanted to stay in my current city, so I only applied to one program -- and got in, thankfully. But then I'd go to the forums for others in my field and see them debate which of these top programs to go to, and it did make me wonder if, under different life circumstances, I could have got in to those. But then I think about the relational/community changes I would have to make, and I'm glad I'm here. (And I'm glad I didn't waste money applying to schools I knew I wouldn't go to.) As a complete aside, one reason I am jealous of those in Toronto is that you are that much closer to Stratford, ON, which is on my top 5 list of best places ever. Their festival is so phenomenal that I think even people who don't typically do theatre should make a go of it. I'm from the Detroit area so I used to go quite often with my mom, but now that I live 10 hours from the border that doesn't happen so often. :-( Stratford is a cute little town with lots of B&Bs and hotels, making it a great weekend getaway. Or you could probably leave early, hit a matinee, and get back to Toronto at a reasonable hour. And their productions are SO GOOD. Plus Toronto puts you close to the Great Lakes, which are gorgeous. Best of luck!

I haven't started yet so I don't have anything valuable to contribute, but since you said you're new I wanted to say "welcome!" :-) Also, seeing your location makes me happy. When I was little and my mom went out of town, I'd repetedly ask my dad where mom went, because I never remembered. So he'd just say "She's in Halifax." I knew he was making that up, but the result was that I was 14 before I realized that Halifax was a real place! A friend of my recommended that it is more important to get A dissertation done -- and do it in an efficient timeline -- rather than attempt to do THE dissertation that will revolutionize the field. A dissertation is proof that you can generate new knowledge, but it doesn't have to define your life's pursuits. (At least, that was my friend's advice.) So, I think whatever your project is, you have the potential do do what you're passionate about after the fact. Of course, it would be hard to find the motivation for a project that doesn't interest you, so I get that too. Best of luck! (And I hope someone with more informed opinions posts soon!)

Thanks for all the tips -- I really appreciate it! (And I'll always accept more!)

My score on the new test was Verbal=164 and Quant=162, with writing of 4.5. I got into a PhD in Science & Mathematics Education (at WashU in St. Louis), and part of the Math & Science path is that you have to focus on quantitative research methods. In the interview, they didn't say anything that would at all suggest that quant score wouldn't be sufficient for doing a quantitative strand, so I wouldn't worry. And, like others said, Education programs seem more focused on experience. I think WashU was receptive to me because I was using what I'd experienced in the working world as the motivation for the type of research I want to do. (Of course, I only applied to one school, so this is hardly a controlled experiment!)

From what I've picked up on (and I haven't started grad school yet, so take this for what you will) programs that people tend to do right out of undergrad tend to be more cut-throat, whereas programs that appeal to people with work experience tend to function more like the work environment -- where some people may be cut throat, but most people are trying to work together to get things done. In that sense, if you were with 22-year-olds, they may feel insecure that someone young is as successful as them, but if you're with older people, they probably care more about their own progress than how they compare to you. The other thing about the working world is that there's a lot more interaction among people of different ages, so you classmates may be used to working with younger people. You are exceptionally young for grad school, so people will comment on it probably, but don't take it as a bad thing; it's just interesting to people. For instance, I was with a group of peers and somehow the "hanging chads" incident of the 2000 election came up, and I mentioned that I was too young to vote at the time. One of the other people in the group (who I hadn't really thought about being 10 years older than me) said, "You were still in HIGH SCHOOL?! I feel so old!" -- but it was all in good fun. Just don't act like you know everything about the world, and try to accept "mothering" with grace. If you're not put off by asking people about their kids, it's a topic most parents are quite adept at carrying on, and could save you some conversational burden. Congrats & good luck!

Parking passes at my school are $480 a year! (And this is not downtown NYC/LA/Chicago, where parking everywhere is at a premium.) Fortunately I live just 1.5 miles from campus, so I'm planning to bike. A few miles is nothing on a bicycle, but I've always been a fair-weather rider: Currently, I'll ride my bike to work (5 miles away) IF it's not too cold and IF it's not raining and IF I don't have to wear anything special and IF I don't have to go anywhere after work and IF I'm not in a rush. (So, like, once a week, during the summer.) Any tips on bike commuting in less-than-ideal conditions? I was thinking about keeping a gym bag at my desk, so I can change on days where the ride makes me wet. I could wear gym clothes to school every day then change, but it seems like a short enough trip that I could get a way with regular clothes most of the time. For rainy days, I was thinking about getting one of those rain suits that comes with "rain jacket" pants... is that overkill? And biking through snow just seems like an accident waiting to happen. (I could walk to school, too, I suppose...) And do you think a backpack will do, or is it worth investing in a rack for my back wheel and a bag that attaches to them. (Saddle bag? See, I'm not even a legit enough cyclist to know what the accessories are called!) Thanks for the tips!

Jeenyus, like the others said, the most important thing is to do enough research on the prof that you you can have some good questions to ask. If he/she has a website, you can also scope out some general background (not necessarily related to your research) and think about how any of that relates to something your interested in. (Example: For my school's interview day, one of the people I met with didn't have much in common with me or my research interests. But, she'd worked with kids on poetry slams, and I've done "story slams", so I made a note to put that into the conversation. She'd also done research on new media stuff, so I asked her her thoughts on kids & video games.) The good news is that this person already LIKES you, which is why you're meeting. We academic types aren't known for our social skills, so I doubt you can do anything that will be new to your supervisor, and doubt even more that a social faux pas would be enough to hurt your relationship. A while back I noticed that, when making small talk with all but the closest of friends, I had very deliberate thought patterns. I decided to try writing an algorithm of my small talk conversations. Not all of it will apply to your current situation, but I'll include a version of it below, in case some of it is useful and/or amusing to anyone (sorry it's so long -- but conversations are hard!): Conversation Generator 1. Have you met The Other Person (TOP) before? I’M NOT SURE – Go to 2. YES- Go to 3. NO – Go to 4. 2. Establish past history. If, given the social context, there's a good chance you might have met TOP before and don't want to make things more awkward by introducing yourself to somebody that already knows you (funny story there...) squint your face like searching your memory and say, "we might have met before, but..." - at which point TOP will usually either say, "no, I just moved to town yesterday," or "yeah, we met at that one thing." If spontaneous conversation does not occur, return to 1. 3. Ask an introductory question. (Old acquaintance version) To determine an appropriate question, think about what you know about TOP. The more recent information the better, as he/she probably has the most (new) to say about current events in his/her life. Example: Thought process- The last time I talked to A, she was going to have a job at a school... but I don't remember what. Now school has been in session for a few weeks. Question - "How's your new job going?" If you only know general things about TOP, ask about that, or state a fact as a question, as if asking for elaboration. "So, you're a grad student...?" If possible, avoid asking questions with simple yes or no answers, as these only advance the conversation by one syllable, and then you're back to square one. (Or point 5, as the case may be.) If you've only met once and don't remember anything, it's usually okay to ask something that will hopefully jog your memory, such as, "now what do you do again?" or "remind me: how do you know A?" Listen for response. If spontaneous conversation does not occur, proceed to 5. 4. Ask an introductory question. (New acquaintance version) Although you don't know TOP, still think about what you know, given the context, and create a question from that: If you meet at your friend's party, there's a good chance TOP knows your friend, too: "How do you know M?" If you're on an airplane, there's a very good chance TOP is traveling: "Where's your final destination? Work or pleasure?" Then there's the standard identity questions. For kids, it's usually, "Where do you go to school?" and for college folks it's "What's your major?" The standard for adults is, "What do you do for a living?" or "Where do you work?" The trick is that, with so many people in school, out of work, or stuck in a job they'd rather not talk about, this can get a bit awkward. Thus, I've created a variation: "So what do you do when you're not [insert current activity here]." This opens people up to talking about their job or studies, or if they're not in a position to talk about those, they can describe their hobbies, or what they do with their kids, or their favorite tv show, or whatever. I don't actually care about someone's occupation (or lack there of). What I really want to ask is, "What can I ask you about?" but so far that's not socially acceptable. If you've exhausted all your options, think of potential shared experiences; weather and current events are the classics here: "So what do you think of this heat wave?" or "Have you been watching the playoffs?" Listen for response. If TOP asks a question, go to . If spontaneous conversation does not occur, proceed to 5. 5. Ask a follow up question. (This is a newish step for me. It’s a keeper, but it can be tricky on the fly.) Think of a question that relates to what TOP just said, ideally connecting what was just said with something else. Let’s say the introductory question was a less-than exciting, “What do you think of this heat spell?” and TOP responded, “Oh it’s horrible.” Here’s some sample follow ups: (a) Connect with something known about TOP: “You’re from Minnesota, right? Does it ever get this hot that far north?” Connecting past knowledge with the last part of the conversation reflects a degree of care, since it shows that you were listening to TOP on two separate occasions. ( Connect with something about yourself: “In Michigan, we’d have occasional days in the upper 90s, but they were rarely in series; is this weather normal for you?” By sharing something about yourself, it can give TOP a branching off point to start asking you questions, which can ease pressure. © Connect with something in the world: “I read that severe enough heat spells can decrease mosquito populations; do you think there are fewer of them this year?” This strategy makes more sense with more personal introductory questions. For instance, I met someone at a party who was doing neuroscience, and had just read an article about these things called mirror neurons, so I could ask him what he thought about that research. It turned out he knew a lot! If the answer doesn’t lead to spontaneous conversation, repeat. If you can’t think of a question, proceed to 6. 6. Give follow-up information. This used to be what I always did, but since it’s not a question, it risks the other person not having a way to respond to it. The advantage is that it’s easier to come up with, because it doesn’t depend at all on knowledge of the other person. For me, it’s like I take a key word in the preceding conversation and do a Google search for it in my head to find related points. These can come in different forms. Instinct is to go with the first thing that comes to mind, but if you can filter for topics that have follow up potential, this will be more likely to spark spontaneous conversation. Let’s say you just learned that TOP is taking a British Literature class, asked what book TOP is reading, and find out it’s Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice. (a) Personal anecdote: “It’s strange – I love the movies based on Jane Austen books, but I’ve only read one book. “ If you can get this far, can you figure out a way to bump this up to 5(, a question that connects something about yourself? Again, the advantage of connect to yourself is that it gives TOP a baseline for asking you questions, so try to give them facts/stories that beg for follow up. ( Current events: “I just heard a story about some of Jane Austen’s personal letters being found in an attic.” (I made that up, BTW.) I used to always start things like this by saying, “I heard on NPR that…” but I listen to public radio so much that all of my conversations became based on NPR, and I was sounding like a broken record. Plus, in some company, you don’t want to advertise right away that you’re an NPR nerd. © General Trivia: “Did you know that Bridget Jones’ Diary is loosely based on Pride and Prejudice? I never would have noticed, but my mom pointed out that Colin Firth’s character is even named Darcy, just like in P&P.” Some people love trivia (myself included) but some don’t get the point of random facts, so this should usually be saved as a last resort. Plus, it can be hard to respond to trivia, making spontaneous conversation less probable. Pause to give TOP time to respond. If spontaneous conversation does not occur... Is it important to keep talking to this person? YES – Return to 1. NO – Go to 7. 7. Politely part ways. If both parties have been trying to strike up a conversation and it’s just not happening, at some point you have to stop beating a dead horse. Instinct may be to just walk away and pretend it never happened, but this is generally frowned upon in our culture. By narrating my way out of a conversation, there is often a subtle opening for them to do the next thing with you, if they really want to, so you’re not abandoning them. Some possibilities: (a) Food: “Well, I’m going to go see if the snack table still has some goodies.” I like food, and so do most Americans, so food is usually around and can be a good distracter. ( Another person: “Oh, I see John. I should go say hi.” If you’re lucky, someone walks by that you can pull into the conversation, doubling your chances of getting a conversation going. © To-do list: “Well, I should probably get going. I have a lot of laundry I’ve been putting off.” Use this when it actually makes sense, like after church, not when you’re at a late-night party. Sometimes, it’s possible to add, “Do you want to come with me?” and get the same effect without actually parting ways. Once you are both on your way to the buffet table, you’re excused from conversation and can put off talking until you can comment on the food, for instance. Now, am I actually think about steps 2,3, or 4 while talking to people? No, but I do often have to think about what I can say to people. For some people, talking to others is automatic, and like a car with an automatic transmission, they are able to change pace or terrain, and even start on a hill, without thinking about it. While I do have friends that I can talk to quite naturally, conversations in general are more like a manual transmission. I used to not know how to drive the conversation at all, but once I learned the basics I could shift gears and make it around the block.

That's an interesting issue. For undergrad, I could say that I graduated with honors (cum laude and all that) without listing my GPA... is there an equivalent in grad school?