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This may not be the best place to post, as most of you are probably still in grad school, but I know you can get very good advice here so I am hoping that some will come my way. Apologies in advance for the rather long post from an anonymous handle. I am going to tell my story and try not to embellish or interpret anything.
 
I am a postdoc in the Social Sciences. I graduated from a top school in my field last year and won a nice fellowship that is affiliated with a top program with good funding and minimal teaching. When I graduated, and I think now too, I was considered to be a rising star. I have more publications than some people I know who recently got tenured at good schools. Everything seemed great. 
 
But this last year has been a continuous disaster. On paper, my new school is a great match. Everyone keeps saying how great it is that I got to come here. In reality, I don't like it here. There is something not right about this place. People only care about themselves, and the faculty are openly dismissive of students who they deem "not worthy." One, in particular, acts like I am not worth their time, though thankfully they have no real influence on my life and once I realized they were making me feel like shit I stopped trying to work with them (on paper, we should be collaborating on multiple topics). It took me a whole semester to figure out that this person was making me doubt myself in fundamental ways, because I know others really value this person's opinion. I haven't gotten any new publications, and a key paper has been rejected, after a difficult interaction with a reviewer. The job market ate up all of my time and probably not an insignificant amount of my soul. My relationship ended; she cheated. I kept up with my teaching and got good evaluations, but nothing else was functioning. Overall I actually did well on the job market and had a TT job offer from a good school that made me happy and hopeful again. I started planning how I would rebuild my life in a new job in a new city. But something happened. Those who would have been my future colleagues say in confidence that it is "unheard of, unethical, perhaps illegal." I will not go into details, but next year I will be a postdoc again and go on the job market again.
 
I've been trying to put the pieces of my life back together. I moved to a new part of town, I am spending my summer writing up multiple papers, I started a new collaboration, I got into a few good conferences. And then: I was hoping to apply to a fellowship that would require a sponsor at my new school, but just today I heard back that no one at my school wants to sponsor me. I asked four people. This includes my current sponsor, the faculty member who makes me feel like shit but who shares a lot of interests with me and has a track record of getting these fellowships, and someone I have been talking to about a potential collaboration for months, but we've both been too busy to meet on a regular basis. The email was nice, but said it was last minute and it would be hard without an already ongoing project. They said it would be too much work. I get it, it's true that I don't have an existing project with any of those people. But still I feel so offended, they don't even think it's worth their time to put together an application and try. I have a good track record of winning fellowships, and I know others who have applied and won this fellowship without having had an ongoing project with their sponsor prior to their application.
 
Ever since the job fiasco happened, over two months now, I've been occasionally having mini panic attacks, as diagnosed by mental health services here. I've never before been depressed or needed a therapist, but I feel completely broken. I was doing better, but this email today unleashed a new panic attack. Occasionally I have the following series of thoughts: I want to quit. But if I quit, what will I do? I will have to leave here, because I am on a work visa. I don't want to go back home. There is nothing for me there. I do think I have skills that are transferrable, although I don't have a specific alternative career in mind, but worse, I don't think I could get a job because I have the wrong citizenship. I don't want to go back home. So I have to stay in this field to get to have a life where I want to live. I am trapped. 
 
On better days, I know that's all bullshit. I enjoy all parts of the job. I enjoy the research. I enjoy writing. I enjoy teaching. I enjoy collaborating, mentoring, meeting with students. I think I am respected by colleagues. I even enjoy service-type work. I hate the politics, but I accept that they exist in every job. I know I can make it, I can do more than that -- I would kick ass, but I feel like I can't catch a break. And yes, I know it's only been one year, but feelings and facts don't always go together. Ever since I started thinking about where I want to live and how that could be possible, and realizing that at least right now it means I have to stay in academia, it's messing with me and making it hard to tell myself I enjoy my field independently of all that other stuff. I am damned if I do and damned if I don't.
 
Thus far goes the story. It doesn't have a point. I don't even know if I have a question, it's just that I have no one to tell this to. My PhD mentors are amazing and supportive and have dropped everything for months to see me through the ordeal with the job. I don't feel like I can call them and tell them over the phone that I feel like I have nothing to live for now, I want to quit it all. It wouldn't be fair because they couldn't do anything from afar. I also fear that if I do it, I'll lose their respect. I have no one to talk to here. My sponsor and other relevant faculty just told me they don't think I'm all that. I know some other people here but I've lived here for less than a year and none are close enough friends to tell this to. So here I am. Maybe someone will have some perspective or can offer advice. Or, as a start, maybe you can tell me if I am making any sense. Or, if nothing else, maybe you can suggest good music to listen to when I'm feeling down to help me snap out of it. If you've read this far, thank you. 

Those are undergraduate acceptance rates, so to you they are irrelevant.

The following is a recommendation from the business manager of Monarch Books.
"Since its opening in Collegeville twenty years ago, Monarch Books has developed a large customer base due to its reader-friendly atmosphere and wide selection of books on all subjects. Last month, Book and Bean, a combination bookstore and coffee shop, announced its intention to open a Collegeville store. Monarch Books should open its own in-store café in the space currently devoted to children's books. Given recent national census data indicating a significant decline in the percentage of the population under age ten, sales of children's books are likely to decline. By replacing its children's books section with a café, Monarch Books can increase profits and ward off competition from Book and Bean."
Write a response in which you discuss what specific evidence is needed to evaluate the argument and explain how the evidence would weaken or strengthen the argument.
 
Monarch Books, with a new potential threat of a new café bookstore opening, has an opportunity to prepare for the increased potential of competition in Collegeville. Monarch Books is correct to be brainstorming new ideas and business strategy to make sure it can keep is large customer base coming back, even afer Book and Bean opens. However, the current argument to replace the children’s section with a café is flawed in many ways.
 
With twenty years under Monarch’s belt, it has continued to maintain a large customer base because of its atmosphere and wide selection of book on many subjects. Stated clearly at the beginning of the proposal, these two unique qualities are what, in the management’s view, keep the customers returning. First, this argument is weakened by the lack of information on where theses views have come from. Are the two qualities from customer’s comments online, word of mouth, or just the management’s perceptions? To strengthen this proposal, Monarch books needs to have more concrete data and opinions from the customers themselves to better enhance the qualities that attracted its large customer base.
 
However, with the current proposal information, with an emphasis on the wide selection of books on all matters, to replace the children’s book selection would be directly taking away what this proposal cites as one of the top qualities of the company. Again, to strengthen this proposal, specific data or comments from customers about the value of the children’s book selection is very necessarily before this proposal should be considered. 
 
In addition, this recommendation from the business manager gives insufficient data about the decline of children to foster the proposal to eliminate the children’s book section. As she writes, “recent national census data”, is too broad to be used for such a small company in Collegeville. First, because the national census is collected only every ten year, this data may be up to ten years old, too old to be used for such an important matter for the company. Second, national data does not necessarily represent the city of Collegeville.  Perhaps children under the age of ten are increasing in Collegeville because the school system is drawing more and more families to the area. This recommendation needs to provide more recent and local data to strengthen this proposal.
The next flaw in this flow of logic is the statement that assumes that a café in Moarch Book Store, it would “ward off competition from Book and Bean”. This jump in correlation should not be made so quickly. Though providing a cage in Monarch may provide an new place for customers to read and purchase coffee drinks, it does not conclude that those customers would not also be attending Books and Beans. By switching the atmosphere and selection of Monarch, the bookstore may be actually adding unnecessary competition with Books and Bean. By increasing its similarity to Books and Bean, Monarch may be unintentionally loosing its niche in the bookstore market and entering Books and Bean’s niche- making the pool of customers Monarch is attracting the same as the pool of customers Books and Bean is attracting.
 
To strengthen the proposal to replace the children’s book section with a café, this propsal needs to add specific data about the children in the Collegeville, listen to the customers themsleves, and reconsider the assumption that entering the same niche as Books and Bean would ward off competition. 

if you are worried about the numbers, your subject GRE score can compensate your GPA (if you think it is low).

You're going to want to increase your GRE, I do think a MS helps your application (if you do well), but I imagine that the MS did not have a GRE cutoff and the PhD did (probably unofficial). When you're known to the professors involved in the admissions process you'll have a better chance of being looked at, but I still think it would be wise to retake the GRE.
 
You should look at the handbook for your program to see if it mentions anything about changing your status from a MS to a PhD student. You can also talk to professors there about it, as it is a perfectly reasonable goal, as well as the program's admin assistant(s).

Personally, I do not see the value in doing a second MS in a related field as a pre-rec for a Ph.D. program.  This is only my opinion but I think it would be better use of your time (and money) to simply retake the GRE (while continuing to work in the field, of course). 

Thank you for your insight. I was mostly asking for an opinion from individuals that are already in virology programs whether you believe I would be a strong candidate for certain virology programs and if you could please name them so I can look into them some more. So if you have any information regarding that, I would greatly appreciate it! Thank you for your help

I have recently graduated from undergraduate studies with a BA in Cell/Molecular Biology and a minor in Chemistry and Medical Humanities. I am currently applying to medical school but I am very interested in virology research. Below is my CV and I would greatly appreciate recommendations of virology programs that I would be a strong applicant for. I will be taking the GRE soon but I have not taken it yet, however to give you an idea of my standardized test scores I got a 30 on the MCAT. Any help would greatly be appreciated!
 
EDUCATION
Bachelor of Science in Cell/Molecular Biology. May 2014
Appalachian State University, Boone, NC
Minors: Chemistry, Medical Humanities     
Honors: University and Departmental        GPA: 3.5/4.0             BIO GPA: 3.41            BCPM GPA: 3.38           
 
RELATED SKILLS
MTT Cell Proliferation Assay                      Statistical Analysis
Cell Culture                                               Gel Electrophoresis
Western Blot Analysis                                 Polymerase Chain Reaction
Flow Cytometry Analysis                            Media Prep
Virus Replication                                        ELISA Immunoassay
 
RESEARCH EXPERIENCE
Research Assistant: Thesis Project. Dr. Maryam Ahmed, Department of Biology, Appalachian State University, Boone NC. February 2012-May 2014.
            •  We investigated the use of matrix (M) protein mutants of Vesicular Stomatitis Virus, such as rM51R-M virus, act as selective anti-cancer agents by targeting cancer cells while sparing normal cells.
            •  We investigated the mechanisms of resistance in different cervical cancer cell lines and developing combination therapeutic strategies with natural compounds such as curcumin, resveratrol, flavokavain B, echinacea, and quercetin, to augment VSV induced oncolysis of cervical cancers.
            • Acquired skills include sterile cell tissue culturing (SIHA, C4-2 cervical cancer cells, BHK cells), histology, and infecting cells over a time course for MTT cell proliferation analysis.
 
INTERNSHIP
South Africa Clinical Shadowing Internship May 2012-June 2012
            • Riverlea Clinic (AIDS/TB)
            • Chris Hani Baragwanath hospital (Endocrinology, Maternity)
            • DFC Clinic at Univ. of Johannesburg (Chiropractic, Biokinetics)
            • Johannesburg General Hospital (Podiatry, Spine Specialist)
            • Soweto Children’s Clinic (Homeopathic Medicine)
Zambia Clinical Shadowing Internship May 2013-June 2013
            Ndola Central Hospital (Surgery, Medicine, OBGYN, Infectious Diseases)
            Arthur Davidson Children's Hospital (Pediatrics) 
 
WORK EXPERIENCE
Certified Nursing Assistant, Deerfield Ridge Assisted Living Facility. Boone, NC. Jan 2014-May 2014
            • Assist with resident care with patients diagnosed with advanced dementia/ Alzheimer's.
            • Record vital signs of residents.
 
ADDITIONAL EXPERIENCE
            • Volunteer at Avante Nursing Home: January 2009-May 2009
            • Volunteer at Brian's Center: January 2009-May 2009
            • Apprenticeship at ACCU at CMC Northeast Medical Center: January 2009-May 2009
            • Apprenticeship at Neurology Unit at CMC Northeast Medical Center: January 2009- May 2009
            • Volunteer at ER at CMC-Northeast Medical Center (150 hrs): May 2010-May 2012
            • Shadowing Experience: ER physician, Cardiac Cath Lab (80 hrs): May 2010-May 2012
            • EMT-Basic Training at Caldwell Community: August 2012-December 2012
            • Human Pathogen Transmission Course Training August 2012
            • Volunteer ASU Science Festival Volunteer February 2013
 
LEADERSHIP ACTIVITIES
            • President of BBB Honor Society at Appalachian State University August 2011-May   2014
            • Member of Health Professions Club at ASU Homecoming Committee September 2011
            • Camp Open Airways Camp Counselor Summer May 2011-June 2011
            •Member of South African Exchange Student Welcome Committee November 2012, November 2013
 
PUBLICATIONS AND PRESENTATIONS
Response of Cervical Cancer Cells to Infection with Vesicular Stomatitis Virus (Poster)
                                    • 2012 NC American Society for Microbiology Meeting
                                    • 2012 State of NC Undergraduate Research and Creativity Symposium
                                    • 2013 Science in the Mountains Workshop
                                    • 2013 Student Research and Creative Endeavors at ASU
 
The Use of Vesicular Stomatitis Virus and Natural Products for the Treatment of Cervical
Cancer (Poster)
                                    • 2013 NC American Society for Microbiology Meeting
                                    •2013 State of NC Undergraduate Research and Creativity Symposium
                                   
The Use of Vesicular Stomatitis Virus and Natural Products for the Treatment of Cervical Cancer (Presentation)
 • 2014 Student Research and Creative Endeavors at ASU
The Use of Vesicular Stomatitis Virus and Natural Products for the Treatment of Cervical Cancer (Thesis)
                                    •Completed May 2014, Appalachian State University, Boone, NC
 
HONORS
Member of Beta Beta Beta Honor Society     Member of Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society
Member of Pi Gamma Mu Honor Society      Member of Omicron Delta Kappa Honor Society
Member of Dean’s List 2009-2014                 Member of Chancellor’s List 2009-2010, 2013
Member of Honors College at ASU                Member of Biology Honors at ASU
2013 College of Arts and Sciences Advisory Board-Biology Representative
2013 ASU Quality Enhancement Plan Student Representative 
 
SCHOLARSHIPS/GRANTS
 
2013 Office of Student Research at Appalachian State Travel Grant
2009-2010 Biology Alumni/Faculty Scholarship
2011-2012 Lloyd L. Hobbs Memorial for the Physical Sciences Scholarship
2011-2012 Ida Bell Ledbetter Scholarship
Summer 2012 Williamsen Study Abroad Scholarship
Summer 2012 Honors Study Abroad Scholarship
2012-2013 Lloyd L. Hobbs Memorial for the Physical Sciences Scholarship
2012-2013 Biology Alumni/Faculty Scholarship
2012-2013 Peggy Harmon Health Care Scholarship 
2013 FND-Study Abroad Scholarship
2013-2014 Biology Alumni/Faculty Scholarship
2013-2014 Derrick Biology Scholarship

Without much knowledge on the program, I would go to UT Austin for my MS.

Without much knowledge on the program, I would go to UT Austin for my MS.

Based on ranking alone, this is Berkeley: #4 in biology, #5 in biochemistry/biophysics, #1 ecology/evolution, #3 genetics, #3 microbiology, #1 molecular biology.
 
I don't think there will be a different in searching for a tenure track position with a PhD from UC-Berkeley compared to Harvard. Go to where you think you can do the best work.

Here's two cents from someone who did a Ph.D. in the Immunology program at Berkeley: I had a really great experience there. Yes, it's a small department, but the training program is excellent and the professors are very well regarded in the field. As several people have mentioned, Berkeley is much more student-oriented than Harvard, and in many ways the small size of the Immunology group was a plus--I got to know several professors very well, not just my own mentor, and benefited from their expertise (and recommendation letters!) throughout grad school. Also, with regard to 'virus guy's assertion that there is little Virology research being done at Berkeley--this just isn't true (maybe his info is out of date)? There are several Immuno professors doing virology (Laurent Coscoy, Dave Raulet) as well as several more professors (like Britt Glaunsinger and Jennifer Doudna) who are primarily in other departments but are affiliated with MCB/Immunology, so MCB grad students can work in their labs.
 
With regard to the overall reputation of the program--all I can say is that I had no trouble getting a postdoc and am now at UCSF. 

This is nothing inherently unhealthy about Chinese food. It really depends on what you are choosing.

I'm reading this while eating Chinese food. Sigh...

Hi, my name is Stephanie and I am currently a first-year PhD student in English Literature at UBC. My life right now is basically seminars, papers, reading, presentations, bibliographies, yoga, dancing, walking around and enjoying the beautiful city of Vancouver. I'm lucky to be living in such a lovely place, to have the chance to pursue higher education, and to not have to worry about money for the next few years.
 
I am, however, looking for something more, which is why I decided to make an account here. I'm approaching my mid-twenties now and very much aware that with each passing month I am only going to get older. I am at the prime dating time of my life, but I'm just not meeting anybody I like because my day-to-day life is so filled. I have lots of friends and acquaintances, but many of them are at a transient or uncertain period in their life now. There doesn't seem to be anyone on the same page as me in terms of life-goals.
 
My parents are immigrants, so I have to build my local connections almost entirely on my own. I also don't have a religious affiliation, which means I'm missing out on a lot of networking that happens at religious gatherings. I would identify myself as a Third Culture Individual, my three cultures being China (where my parents are from), Singapore (where I spent the first part of my youth), and North America-- Canada a bit more than the States (where I spent the latter part of my youth). In terms of citizenship I am American by birthright, but looking to obtain Canadian citizenship soon because I enjoy living in Canada more.
 
I speak perfect North American English, and am also fluent in Mandarin, meaning I don't have to translate in my head before I speak. I am however a bit stronger in English than I am in Mandarin. I also speak a little bit of French, but not fluently, and am open to learning other languages. I pick up languages quite easily.
 
I'm looking for someone who:
- is also in Vancouver and planning on living here for the next few years
- is either in academia or sympathetic to academia, and who ideally has at least a master's degree
- ideally comes from a different discipline, so we can have more dynamic conversations
- is of a totally different ethnicity than me. This is important to me because I want to have mixed-race children for personal, political, and philosophical reasons.
- is open to starting a family together in the future, in about 8 years or so
- is attentive, warm, thoughtful, hopeful, and kind
- has a good life of his own and isn't looking for someone to "complete" him or whatever, but rather someone to share life's adventures with
- has travelled extensively, read extensively, and has a broad, open worldview. Appreciative of the beauty of diverse languages, religions and cultures.
- communicates candidly and enjoys talking about a variety of topics
- holds a passionate, celebratory, exploratory attitude toward life
- is healthy. Close to average height (5'8'' or so?) and average build (neither too macho/big nor too weak/skinny) is best.
 
Language and religion does not matter at all to me. I'm willing to learn Hindi or Urdu or whatever the case may be, and possibly even convert to a religion if I like you enough, as long as you practice a contemporary, relatively open-minded form of religion, and are willing to learn about my cultural backgrounds too.
 
Please let me know if this is off-topic for this forum, and where I should go. I've tried places like OKCupid and Plentyoffish but they give me too many irrelevant matches. Coffee Meets Bagel would be much closer to what I'm looking for, but it's not available in Vancouver yet.
 
Thank you   Also, feel free to ask me any questions about UBC, Vancouver or whatever. I'm happy to help. If you want to friend me on Facebook, please send me a message first to introduce yourself.

I'm an American who will be attending UToronto come the fall for my masters. Canadian unis are fantastic and I've found the U of T, UBC, and McGill students to be of a similar calibre as students at Berkeley, Cornell, Brown, Michigan, and Carnegie Mellon. Their reputations also hold up quite well globally, and employers recognize their value in the states. With that said, is it better to go to the 2nd/3rd best Canadian uni than the 20th best American uni? I'd say probably 

I would go to McGill personally because of the reputation of the school, lower cost of living, and it's also a much safer city than NYC. Montreal is definitely cold though. I'd recommend living walking distance to campus and a metro station if you do not drive and getting a Canada Goose winter coat. They're pricey but will keep you toasty warm.

Thank you so much, guys! I really appreciate your replies! In this story the main question for me is money, I`m not sure if the salary they will pay me will be sufficient for me to live in the city where university is located. So I`m thinking about risks "What if...".
 
1. How do you think, guys, would that be rude or impolite to ask my university regarding consequences of leaving, particularly about whether I have to pay them or not if I leave?
 
2. And how do you think, guys, could I continue my education in the USA, being enrolled into MSc at the 2nd university, right after leaving PhD at the 1st one?

Hi everyone,
 
I accepted the PhD offer to my most favorite program of all I applied to a month ago. The program gave me around $19/year with tuition remission. I was pretty naive about the financial situation that I was in and had accepted the offer. Now after talking to several current students there, they said that usually my advisor will fund me at least until I attain my candidacy, but it's very uncertain after that. I talked to my potential advisor and he said he'll try his best to fund me with his grants (if they are approved of course) but there's no guarantee. And now I'm very worried about what I had got myself into.
 
I have other offers from programs of lower ranks but guarantee me full funding for my entire degree that are still waiting for my decision. I know backing out an accepted offer is very very bad but I'm so depressed thinking about not being able to finish my PhD because of funding cut short and I don't have any saving aside to cover tuition for 3-4 years.
 
Do you have any advice for me in this situation? Thanks a lot.

@TakeruK I'm not sure what Aroma Black's specific situation is, but in a lot of fields if you hope to go into teaching, it may be hard to find an academic job for a while and/or you may spend several  years in poorly paid adjunct/postdoc fellow roles that don't include benefits. I certainly hope I'll be making more than my stipend after graduation, but it wouldn't be a bad idea to prepare for the worst. 

Impossible to answer. Some lucky people may have 0-5 interviews over just a few weeks before finding a job; others may have dozens over several months or years before finding one.

If you want to find out how is your PI's funding going on, you could look at: http://grantome.com/

It's not really up to date but useful nevertheless.

NIH and NSF also have searchable grant databases you can check- will show you total funding, per year, and how long the grant will last.

Please could you look as i am not native speaker ?
 
“The only source of knowledge is experience.” Albert Einstein
My long term goal is to study how neuroendocrinological changes may affect behaviour and cognition. As a child I felt in love in “small thingy that changes everything” - endocrinology as my mother and I often visited clinical endocrinologist due to her illness- Addisson's Disease. Over the year I begun to observe psychological and cognition changes developing in patients with endocrinological diseases. In search for responses I decided to studying Medicine first, but as my interest in research grow, I transferred to Biomedical Sciences. Seeking Additional experiences and elucidation to some of my childhood questions I stumbled upon studies of Professor m and it pounded me that neuroendocrinology is what I have been looking for. My driving motivation in pursuing career is passion for science amd teaching, transition of “bench science” to clinical practice.
The words of Alfred Einstein, “If you can't explain it simply, you don't understand it well enough.” inspired me to challenge myself by teaching some lay- back audience neuroscientific concepts in Famelab competition, where I became a Scottish laureate. It was a great joy to fascinate public with neuroscience and possibly implant future passion. Althouht the road to Academia is often long and rocky I would like to become in future become a good professor with equal pleasure from teaching as from research. In order to pursue these long term goal I have decided to contact with professor M strengthen my lab skills and knowledge irreplaceable in pursuing PhD and later post-doc.
This research grant would allow me to gain essential experience in a lab setting among magnificent faculty, necessary to pursue future career in academia. This experience will teach me various scientific techniques in practice such as immunochemistry, western blotting, data collection and analysis, which will be substantially benefiting me in my future research career. 

I actually did get a couple of I-20s in the mail from school that admitted me before I accepted their offer (and in both cases I ended up declining). It wasn't a problem, because I didn't initiate a visa application based on those I-20s. If you did start an application and then want to change the school, then it's different and I'm not sure how you'd go about doing that. I guess you'd either be able to change the details of the I-20 on your application or you'd have to start a new one. It may have implications for your SEVIS number and payment, too. I wouldn't be surprised if you'd have to pay twice. So bottom line, I'd suggest not starting your visa application until you're sure which school you're going to go to, and only using the I-20 from that school. If you do that, there shouldn't be any problems.