Do you like your grad program so far?

[Chai_latte]

I feel like a number of posts relate to people being unhappy in/with their respective programs. I just wanted to get a sense of how "gradcafe-ers" feel, in general.

I wish I knew how to make a poll, but what's your field and are you pleased with your program/overall grad experience (scale: 1-5, 5= extremely pleased)?

Me:

Chemistry

3.5-4

[fuzzylogician]

Linguistics, 5.

I love my program. I love my professors, I love my colleagues (cohort and other years), I love the city I'm in, and I love the research I do. This is not to say that there are no difficulties, but so far they are more than worth it.

[SymmetryOfImperfection]

Physics (condensed matter physics)

2/5

classes are hard as hell taught by professors that say "I have no idea" when you ask about homework; the classes have nothing to do with materials or even physics. Feels like pure math.

[R Deckard]

1

[Quantum Buckyball]

4.5 ! Love my professors, new advisor and fellow classmates from my cohort class

[Chai_latte]

Maybe I should revise my rating. I love my research advisor, professors and city. My classmates seem nice. However, I came in mid-year. I didn't have an orientation/ real cohort (only 1 other person entered w/ me) and I wasn't on campus over the summer. So, while there are many friendly faces, I can't say that I have friends yet. But, I'll work on that next semester by getting more active. I think that'll be easier once coursework, TA-ing etc. are behind me. Maybe then I can give a Buckeyball/Logician 4.5-5 rating.

[lilgreycells]

Education Policy-4.5

I love my cohort and am very thankful for the willingness of my faculty to support me. I do wish some faculty were better at giving feedback but *shrug* pretty sure I'd find that at any instiution. In fact, this would probably be a 5 if I wasn't about to pass out from sleep deprivation over final projects (and really that's my fault for not managing my time better).

[kyjin]

East Asian Studies- 4

My advisor is fabulous, the classes are great, and I really love all the staff and faculty in my dept. Only disappointments are the city (it's really really cold and not a very exciting place to live) and the lack of comradery in my cohort. (Basically, I am close to a couple people, but a majority of my cohort are Chinese and don't tend to speak English when they're in the office.)

[Mneme]

Statistics - 1.5

It's not a bad department...if I wanted to pursue statistics. I'm not terribly fond of my cohort.

[Shelley Burian]

Art History-5

Love my department and my adviser who is one of the most supportive and kind professors I've ever met. The classes which are not in my field of ancient American art are hard, but I'm learning a lot from them and I hopefully will turn in decent papers for them. Not crazy about Atlanta but its growing on me.

[SeriousSillyPutty]

Science Education - 4.

Great people, interesting classes related to the sociology and politics of education, but, contrary to everything in their grad student handbook, they don't actually offer courses related to science education.

[Arcadian]

4/5 - cognitive science (2nd year)

+I like my research

+I like my adviser

+It hasn't been as exhausting as I thought it might be. I still have some free time, and I still get to dictate how I spend my time with work to a large extent.

+I normally struggle to make friends (extreme introvert), but I am lucky to have made a few already.

+I like my living situation, and my location is good with respect to both my campus and research center.

+Basically, my department is pretty chill. People just take it easy and don't give each other a hard time. Thumbs up to that.

-Most of the classes I've taken have been disappointing. I haven't learned as much as I thought I would.

-My research interests have evolved since I started, so sometimes I wonder if I started grad school too soon. If I had waited an extra year, I might have joined a lab that fits my interests better. (That said, it's still a good fit...just not perfect.)

-I don't enjoy seeking funding for research. I wish money didn't exist and we could just focus on pure knowledge.

-I don't really like being a TA most of the time. It's pretty much a drag, and this semester in particular, I got a shitty professor to work with.

-There's this constant feeling that I'm not producing enough, and it seems like "everyone else" is doing more...but I understand this is pretty typical.

Edited December 4, 2012 by Arcadian

[crossedfingerscrossedeyes]

art history, 4

[meowth812]

2/5 - Animal Physiology

Most of the rating comes from the fact that I just don't fit into this program -- I am finding out the hard way that I really should have just waited and applied again to programs that better suited my interests.

That aside, I feel kind of neglected in my program so far. I'm still in my first semester, but I haven't taken any courses yet (strange, I know) and my prof has been too busy to teach me any research techniques or discuss a project with me, so I am bored out of my skull every single day. I am currently being babysat by another professor whom I asked if I could help him and another student with their project because I was just so tired of counting the flecks in the ceiling tiles every day. We only do research once a week, though.

The plusses here are that most of the people are nice and the hospitality has been good. The weather is great and the town isn't half bad. But my overall experience is not a great one and I'm looking forward to something better. Keeping my chin up.

[Sparky]

This year gets about a zero, perhaps a negative. My first two years were awesome, even the hell that was my first semester. I expect that if I make it through comps, it will return to being awesome.

(FWIW--comps in my dept are much more fearsome than even parallel departments at my school--and are openly acknowledged as such. Also, professors enjoy failing students, in some cases at apparent random--also openly acknowledged.)

[emmm]

4/5

I have a nice department and a decent, though not overly social, cohort. I can email anyone in my program, my cohort or others, and be almost 100% guaranteed of a response, but people are busy. Profs are pretty supportive and friendly, though also busy (of course). Feedback is sometimes minimal.

Classes have been a mixed bag. I think most people don't have the time to put into teaching. However, the ones who do put in the time are appreciated :-)

It's not that I can't learn from a mediocre class (or on my own), it's just more fun in a well-designed and well-run class. Exams haven't gotten any less painful since last time I was in school -- if anything I seem to dislike them more the older I get. But learning new stuff is great, and I keep reminding myself that that's why I am here. Overall, it's definitely worth it, but the end of the term if perhaps NOT the best time to ask such a question ;-)

[Chai_latte]

Overall, it's definitely worth it, but the end of the term is perhaps NOT the best time to ask such a question ;-)

Haha, good point. Let's all pretend it's October...err, but not near midterms!

[LinguisticMystic]

I'm doing a Master's in linguistics... and I'd give it a 4.5/5. I really truly love the program, the work I'm doing, the classes I'm taking, my colleagues, etc. My only major complaint is that the professor I TA for is ... not good and is sort of an outsider even within the department. And as a perfectionist, it's been driving me insane all semester! I also wish this were a PhD program because it would make for a blissful 5-ish years. I'm disappointed it will be over in only a year and a half and I'll have to apply to other schools.

[phonology_rocks]

Linguistics 4.5

* The work is hard, but the professors could not be more supportive

* I am getting great opportunities and exposure to other areas (I will apply to SLP programs in a year)

* it took a while, but slowly as my classmates become closer its getting more and more enjoyable

it took me a while to adjust to it, but I have learned to love where I am and what I am doing

[ktel]

Engineering

3

I like my department, but not its location (isolated from the main campus and downtown of this city)

I like my supervisor, but am often not too enthused about the research I'm doing. But I like the CONCEPT of the research I'm doing, just not the process I suppose. So I really enjoy when we have conferences and guest lecturers and whatnot.

Lots of pros and cons. I think I will be satisfied when I finish and won't go on to do a PhD, but I don't think I regret coming here.

[especially]

2.5-3. Just finishing my first semester of the master's and have found it really hard to integrate or even make friends in such a small department, don't feel like I have any stronger relationships with profs and I still have an 'interim supervisor'.

[Miro]

3.5

I have lots of TAing to do, my classes are really hard and my lab is super competitive. Hopefully next semester i can make real friends and next year do not have to teach.

[Chande]

4-4.5

I enjoy TAing a lot more than I expected I would. My classes are really challenging me so I don't think I will have a very good GPA this semester, but it will hopefully be good enough. I don't have a project yet and am looking forward to starting research in January. I am enjoying myself socially as well and am making friends much faster than I did in my first year of undergrad.

[crazygirl2012]

Psychology, 4/5.

Really, my only disappointments are classes (most here not as rigorous as I thought they'd be) and department politics (I stay out of it as much as possible but it makes me nervous).

Things I like: My current research, TAing, this part of the country.

Things I love: My cohort, my advisor, and the directions I hope to take my research in. The people here are really the best part!

[emmm]

All I know is that right now there's nothing I'd rather be doing -- despite the stresses and bumps in the road...