General grad student questions and advice thread

[ec86]

Curious to know: does workshop participation have a place in CVs? My hunch points to no (because you are just attending), but I have seen professional CVs with them. It does make sense as a form of continuing education/professional development type of thing, but I'm not sure it's CV worthy. Any thoughts on this issue?

[purplepepper]

I would think that just attending would be a no. The only reason why I would think to add it, is if for some reason you were selected to attend. I have seen some CVs with workshops attended listed on them, but really, serious involvement in your studies necessarily includes workshop participation.

Obviously, if you presented, organized, or served as a discussant, etc. you list it.

[ec86]

hi mims, thanks for your response! I agree, simple attendance is not enough to list on a CV.

I changed the thread title to be more general so I can keep asking questions that I and others may have about, I guess, "professionalism" rather than opening up new threads.

My next question is about memberships in professional societies/organizations. I apologize in advance as this is another one of my "is it CV worthy?" questions (CV is all too important and I don't want to miss anything to include but I also don't want to give off this desparate-to-extend-CV-length vibe to future employers, grant committees, etc.). Anyway, are there any merits in joining these societies besides the obvious discounts for conference registration and/or journal sent to your address?

Again, I observed that some academics have a HUGE list of memberships to these professional groups. Some of these are obviously subscription based (e.g. you pay a fee and you're in) while some are by induction (?-not sure about details, but I'm guessing a panel reviews your membership application. So it's more or less a peer-reviewed process for admission). Of course the latter sounds more impressive and is prestigious to a certain extent. However, why bother listing all the other fee-based memberships? To fill up space on the CV? Doesn't it look bad if you only have fee-based memberships?

tl;dr: I would love to read your opinions about professional memberships be it fee-based or "peer-reviewed". For the former, are they worth the money and are they CVeable? Thanks.

[Phedre]

I would only put things that I would be proud talking about or discussing (even just a few short sentences).

I don't think that professional membership would count. But I did attend a women's leadership series of workshops and I could, in an interview, tie that into academic professionalism, being a role model and a minority, etc. So add things that you would ONLY be proud of talking about.

I also had to review a bunch of CVs when part of a committee hiring for summer interns. It's VERY, VERY clear if you add just to fill up space. Even if you think that the CV-reader couldn't kow the difference-- he or she will. I promise.

[ec86]

I would only put things that I would be proud talking about or discussing (even just a few short sentences).

I don't think that professional membership would count. But I did attend a women's leadership series of workshops and I could, in an interview, tie that into academic professionalism, being a role model and a minority, etc. So add things that you would ONLY be proud of talking about.

I also had to review a bunch of CVs when part of a committee hiring for summer interns. It's VERY, VERY clear if you add just to fill up space. Even if you think that the CV-reader couldn't kow the difference-- he or she will. I promise.

Phedre, I agree with your comments. Substance is certainly more important than page length.

[ogopogo]

I think sometimes membership to a professional association can be something you want to mention, depending on your audience. It doesn't just say 'i got in because I'm good' (which obviously isn't the case in fee-based ones anyway), it can also say 'i support the institutions that support my field, and I am up to date with the activities of other professionals in my field'. I think that's why some people put it on their CV, particularly if they have been a member for a long time - shows commitment. Or if the person reviewing your CV is heavily involved in the association they might wonder why you are not if you don't list it.

[belowthree]

i support the institutions that support my field, and I am up to date with the activities of other professionals in my field.

This is why I list some of mine. It's a "hey I care about these things and I work with these groups of people."

At some point in academia a lot of people share the same groups and it makes less sense for awhile, but then usually at that point you're participating in them in more defined ways and your affiliation changes simply from "I'm a member of this" to something more.

So in my mind it's reasonable to list them. Just don't expect anyone to care about it.

[sonnyday]

I have another question related to CV's: How much of your undergraduate information is expected on your CV? In other words, can I name honor societies, awards, presentations, undergrad publications, etc. that I received during undergrad, or does that just look like filler?

[fuzzylogician]

I'm not sure about honor societies, but awards, presentations and publications you had during undergrad should appear on your CV and I don't think they would be considered fillers.

[ec86]

I have another question related to CV's: How much of your undergraduate information is expected on your CV? In other words, can I name honor societies, awards, presentations, undergrad publications, etc. that I received during undergrad, or does that just look like filler?

I included scholarships, awards, and graduation distinction (e.g. summa/magna/cum laude) from undergrad. If I had undergrad presentations/pubs, I would include those too.

Honor societies and extra-curricular activities (such as club, sport or student politics involvement) I would not bother with. However if you were involved with organizing student conferences, that should be included under "Professional Activities".

[edsocguy]

Please advise:

So I received full PhD funding with 14k stipend to University of Pittsburgh. Further, that is where I will be attending. The issue is I also applied for a 20k internal only graduate school grant -- which I just found out I have been selected as an interviewing finalist. My question is can I have the full funding and the grant to supplement the stipend?? Should I ask the school now? Should I wait till I know whether I get the grant?

[purplepepper]

That information should be listed in your graduate strudent handbook, which you are more entitled to see if you ask. There should be concrete rules about that kind of thing, so it wouldn't hurt to ask in advance. Or, you could just wait to cross the bridge until you come to it--either way, you should receive a fairly straight forward answer from your DGS. I'd be surprised if you ran into any trouble from simply asking.

[edsocguy]

It is not listed there .... that was my first recourse

[jasper.milvain]

Have you checked the handbook from whoever administers the grant? Oftentimes the Dean of Graduate Studies office (or equivalent) administers larger awards, and they have their own rules about which forms of funding can be held at the same time. My suspicion would be that you can't hold both... that the department will want to offload the expense of funding you onto the university so that they can fund someone else and share the wealth. Definitely worth asking, though.

Maybe an e-mail to your department's DGS along the lines of

"Dear Professor GradChair,

I'm writing to share the good news that I've been selected as a finalist for Awesome Fellowship. Do you know who I should contact with questions about whether it would be possible to hold Awesome Fellowship and Department Stipend concurrently, should I be successful? Thank you for your time, and I look forward to joining your department in the fall."