We've wined, we've waited, now it's time to celebrate 2016

[haltheincandescent]

5 hours ago, Pink Fuzzy Bunny said:

Woohoo! Picking out a place is kind of fun, right? Are you going to have roommates?

I'm moving in 2.5 weeks and the thought of packing everything up is so sad... plus, I found out that my advisor won't be at my graduation since he'll be in Germany. I'm much more sad than I care to admit... normally, the professors for your department line up and you shake their hand after getting your diploma, I was going to give him a big bear hug. Fortunately I have two advisors, maybe the other will be there

I'm kind of worried about adjusting to a different professor-student dynamic. One of the students who graduated from here a few years ago gave me an exhaustive list of all the things he tried to do that apparently weren't normal at the new place. Do most students usually not grab drinks with their professor after an exam? Or call them for a ride to the airport? 

I'm decided to stay in the grad dorms, since I won't be able to make the couple of trips out there that it'd take to find a good apartment from afar, so, nope, no roommates! Small room, though, but I'm used to and very fine with that, so

But, yeah, once I signed it and had the move-in date official, I started to feel something like a future-tense homesickness--I just can't believe that I'll be moving away from somewhere I've been for going on 6 years in just 3 months; and the school year's going to be over in just two weeks. I've already graduated, but a friend will be graduating, then leaving (still nearby, but not actually in-town in-town), which will be weird. I think maybe it's friends I'll miss the most, including my old advisor, who's turned into just a friend to grab drinks with. Which is to say, I'm also a little nervous about a different sort of relationship with profs going forward. I've gotten used to the: let's meet to talk about your thesis, but also new good music, everything you hate about your job, other books we're reading right now, new trends in shared research areas, how hard it is to find a new apartment, the new dog I got my kids, etc., over coffees or beer. I never needed a ride to the airport, but think that if I did, I could have asked. I hope I can find something similar, over the coming years.

[Pink Fuzzy Bunny]

19 minutes ago, haltheincandescent said:

I started to feel something like a future-tense homesickness

YES, THIS. I haven't even moved yet and I'm already homesick! I'm so glad this forum exists <3

[MarineBluePsy]

7 hours ago, Pink Fuzzy Bunny said:

Woohoo! Picking out a place is kind of fun, right? Are you going to have roommates?

I'm moving in 2.5 weeks and the thought of packing everything up is so sad... plus, I found out that my advisor won't be at my graduation since he'll be in Germany. I'm much more sad than I care to admit... normally, the professors for your department line up and you shake their hand after getting your diploma, I was going to give him a big bear hug. Fortunately I have two advisors, maybe the other will be there

I'm kind of worried about adjusting to a different professor-student dynamic. One of the students who graduated from here a few years ago gave me an exhaustive list of all the things he tried to do that apparently weren't normal at the new place. Do most students usually not grab drinks with their professor after an exam? Or call them for a ride to the airport? 

I think this level of closeness may vary by professor, program, and field.  It probably also depends on your own comfort level.  I prefer to see my professors as employers.  I show up, do my job, and go home.  I don't bother them with my personal matters, don't care to hear about theirs, and I'd rather not socialize with them.  Now once I've graduated things may be different, but probably not by much.

[Need Coffee in an IV]

10 minutes ago, MarineBluePsy said:

I think this level of closeness may vary by professor, program, and field.  It probably also depends on your own comfort level.  I prefer to see my professors as employers.  I show up, do my job, and go home.  I don't bother them with my personal matters, don't care to hear about theirs, and I'd rather not socialize with them.  Now once I've graduated things may be different, but probably not by much.

Exactly, my boyfriend and I went through the same professors, program, and around the same time. I have a close relationship, a good relationship, and I'm friendly towards my other professors. Boyfriend went to school, did super well, and went home. He doesn't like to stop and chat, plus he views extracurriculars as silly.

[hippyscientist]

5 hours ago, MarineBluePsy said:

I think this level of closeness may vary by professor, program, and field.  It probably also depends on your own comfort level.  I prefer to see my professors as employers.  I show up, do my job, and go home.  I don't bother them with my personal matters, don't care to hear about theirs, and I'd rather not socialize with them.  Now once I've graduated things may be different, but probably not by much.

This is my relationship with the majority of my professors. I've noticed a large increase in their respect for me after I graduated - I still bump into them at conferences and I'll get the occasional "wow you're doing great things" email, but I wouldn't consider them buds.

What I'm hoping for is an advisor who cares enough to train me right, takes time to not bullshit with me - if it's crap tell me what I can do to improve so it is no longer crap - and one who is human. I want someone to admit they make mistakes, that we all make mistakes and that mistakes are part of learning. Also someone who's not going to demand I be in the lab 7am - 10pm daily. (My current Masters advisor is awesome but he tells me I shouldn't be having days off at the minute as there's lot of work to be done. I absolutely refuse to be working 7 days a week at the minute, I work 6 as it is I refuse to do more with everything else going on.) I think i've found this in my advisor but time will tell if we work well together. I got the impression we would, out of all the advisors I met and spoke with, I think my actual one was the best fit all along. But I'm happy not to have beers or BBQs with him! 

[Pink Fuzzy Bunny]

@hippyscientist Seems strange... I mean, there will always be lots of work to be done, sometimes you just need a day off! Sheesh!

[hippyscientist]

5 hours ago, Pink Fuzzy Bunny said:

@hippyscientist Seems strange... I mean, there will always be lots of work to be done, sometimes you just need a day off! Sheesh!

I think because we have such a tight deadline on this project. But yeah, there's only so much one can work productively. Now I'm being held up on my research by university policies of not installing free-trial software on the computers, we could purchase the software for £300 out of my own pocket, or I could find a work around. My workaround at the moment involves finding someone who has access to a Windows laptop that will allow me to install the trial version of the software for 10 minutes while I finish processing. Such a headache. 

[Neist]

This is how I feel now that this cycle is over. 

 

[MarineBluePsy]

11 hours ago, hippyscientist said:

This is my relationship with the majority of my professors. I've noticed a large increase in their respect for me after I graduated - I still bump into them at conferences and I'll get the occasional "wow you're doing great things" email, but I wouldn't consider them buds.

What I'm hoping for is an advisor who cares enough to train me right, takes time to not bullshit with me - if it's crap tell me what I can do to improve so it is no longer crap - and one who is human. I want someone to admit they make mistakes, that we all make mistakes and that mistakes are part of learning. Also someone who's not going to demand I be in the lab 7am - 10pm daily. (My current Masters advisor is awesome but he tells me I shouldn't be having days off at the minute as there's lot of work to be done. I absolutely refuse to be working 7 days a week at the minute, I work 6 as it is I refuse to do more with everything else going on.) I think i've found this in my advisor but time will tell if we work well together. I got the impression we would, out of all the advisors I met and spoke with, I think my actual one was the best fit all along. But I'm happy not to have beers or BBQs with him! 

^^^This and I'd add doesn't micromanage and trusts me to get my work done around whatever else it is I want to do.  If I want to go on vacation/away for the weekend or take on an extra project I shouldn't have to ask.  I should be able to plan how to accommodate the lab needs in my absence/changed availability (without disrupting others of course) and just be able to say "hey fyi this is what I'm doing."

[hippyscientist]

41 minutes ago, MarineBluePsy said:

^^^This and I'd add doesn't micromanage and trusts me to get my work done around whatever else it is I want to do.  If I want to go on vacation/away for the weekend or take on an extra project I shouldn't have to ask.  I should be able to plan how to accommodate the lab needs in my absence/changed availability (without disrupting others of course) and just be able to say "hey fyi this is what I'm doing."

Oh yes! I forgot the micromanaging. I don't respond very well to it. Also I tend to work exceedingly fast and so I'll often be asked to do something I've already done. Just let me do it and be happy to sit and help me refine my work at certain times. I don't actually see an issue with asking for taking vacation, because that's going to have knock on effects for the rest of the lab potentially, but it should be a courtesy thing rather than "Please sir, may I have some more". 

[Neist]

21 minutes ago, hippyscientist said:

Oh yes! I forgot the micromanaging. I don't respond very well to it. Also I tend to work exceedingly fast and so I'll often be asked to do something I've already done. Just let me do it and be happy to sit and help me refine my work at certain times. I don't actually see an issue with asking for taking vacation, because that's going to have knock on effects for the rest of the lab potentially, but it should be a courtesy thing rather than "Please sir, may I have some more". 

I tend to be the same way. I've only done one independent study, and it was through a faculty member who gave me no strict deadlines. Without deadlines, I flew. It's easy to exceed expectations when there are none, and deadlines imply that a certain amount of work is sufficient, if not desirable. I burned through close to 600 pages a week in reading, and I finished the majority of my project halfway through the semester. I spent the rest of the semester polishing the paper and considering feedback. This was accomplished while working full time.

I'm sort of terrified how fast I'm going to burn through research when I'm not working full-time. If I have a light GA assignment, I bet I could burn through two books a day.

[hippyscientist]

@Neist yay someone else who's the same way!! I've always been a fast worker - I remember taking an A-level Math exam (last year of high school) and it was a 2 hour exam. Within 10 minutes I'd finished, checked my work and knew there was nothing else I could do. Turns out I got 100% on it. I just process things quickly. I agree that it's a little nerve-wracking the idea of being let loose with research. I'm scared at how much I could get done, even including equipment wait-times and editing. 

[MarineBluePsy]

1 hour ago, Neist said:

I'm sort of terrified how fast I'm going to burn through research when I'm not working full-time. If I have a light GA assignment, I bet I could burn through two books a day.

This worries me quite a bit.  The other day I realized I don't know how to not have a job.  I've been working since I was teen and have often juggled more than one job on top of school.  I keep looking at my GA hours and thinking.....that's it?!

[Neist]

1 hour ago, hippyscientist said:

@Neist yay someone else who's the same way!! I've always been a fast worker - I remember taking an A-level Math exam (last year of high school) and it was a 2 hour exam. Within 10 minutes I'd finished, checked my work and knew there was nothing else I could do. Turns out I got 100% on it. I just process things quickly. I agree that it's a little nerve-wracking the idea of being let loose with research. I'm scared at how much I could get done, even including equipment wait-times and editing. 

I think I'm going to have to be diligent in taking breaks. I know I'm going to work myself into the ground if I don't.  

12 minutes ago, MarineBluePsy said:

This worries me quite a bit.  The other day I realized I don't know how to not have a job.  I've been working since I was teen and have often juggled more than one job on top of school.  I keep looking at my GA hours and thinking.....that's it?!

Insane, right? At one point I was working 70 hour weeks, and I still managed a 15 credit hour semester. I'm not sure how I'm going to manage not being insanely busy. I'm going to get anxiety, I know it.

People say that most graduate students only skim their require reading, but I'm not sure why I'd ever do that. At most, looking at previous syllabi in my program, there's only going to be 20-30 hours of reading a week. Sure, that's a lot of reading, but it's not a lot of reading when I don't need to be doing much of anything else. I've pulled that much reading a week when my daughter was one years old and I worked full-time. Even if I take the weekends off, I doubt I'll need more than 10 hours a day. As it stands, I'm pulling a few hours more than that, and a Saturday with only six hours of homework is a luxury.

[Pink Fuzzy Bunny]

You guys work much faster than I do... Feelings of inadequacy yay! I sort of need to be micromanaged slightly, or nothing will get done. I'll spend a week trying to numerically solve an equation when my PI knows of a trivial method to do so.

[pterosaur]

On the subject of advisors, Ione of the things I'm really excited about is that I feel like she can be a really great mentor, academically and as a role model for how to be a woman in computer science balancing life and research. (She wrote a great article called The Awesomest Seven Year Post-doc, which I'd recommend to anyone thinking about the challenge of balance.) We also really hit it off in the Skype interview and in person, and I can't wait to get started. Plus, there are couches in the lab next to the robot graveyard shrine.

[Neist]

15 minutes ago, Pink Fuzzy Bunny said:

You guys work much faster than I do... Feelings of inadequacy yay! I sort of need to be micromanaged slightly, or nothing will get done. I'll spend a week trying to numerically solve an equation when my PI knows of a trivial method to do so.

Eh, it's okay. We all have our strengths and weaknesses.  For example, I read as slow as molasses. Not a good weakness to claim when one's major is history.

My reading comprehension speed is one of the primary reasons why I listen as much as I do in audio form.

[MarineBluePsy]

5 hours ago, Neist said:

I think I'm going to have to be diligent in taking breaks. I know I'm going to work myself into the ground if I don't.  

Insane, right? At one point I was working 70 hour weeks, and I still managed a 15 credit hour semester. I'm not sure how I'm going to manage not being insanely busy. I'm going to get anxiety, I know it.

People say that most graduate students only skim their require reading, but I'm not sure why I'd ever do that. At most, looking at previous syllabi in my program, there's only going to be 20-30 hours of reading a week. Sure, that's a lot of reading, but it's not a lot of reading when I don't need to be doing much of anything else. I've pulled that much reading a week when my daughter was one years old and I worked full-time. Even if I take the weekends off, I doubt I'll need more than 10 hours a day. As it stands, I'm pulling a few hours more than that, and a Saturday with only six hours of homework is a luxury.

I'm worried about the anxiety too.  I tend to read 90% of what's assigned plus a bunch of supplemental stuff to answer questions I developed from the assigned reading and my own non-academic personal reading.  I also highly limit work on the weekends.  Once in awhile is fine, but I have no interest in working all weekend long.

[Danger_Zone]

This is my reading style...

I'm going to have a hell of a time at grad school.

[MarineBluePsy]

*sniffle* I vacated my apartment.  Now I'm just crashing with an acquaintance until its time to move.  I miss that place already.

[CornUltimatum]

I'm officially grad as of last Thursday. It's been a rollercoaster of emotion. I'll be getting a funded M.S. in Geology at New Mexico Tech. Hooray!

I think I'm going to be moving in July, but it's not set in stone yet. The one bad thing about New Mexico Tech is finding housing is a bit difficult as a lot of stuff is not put up online. O_O

I'm going to need to figure out how to reach out to current graduates, but that time will come near May since apparently most houses don't go on the market until then. I'm pretty anxious though! I've never lived outside the state of Texas, this is all going to be a whole new thing to me. Also New Mexico has some of the best geology in the U.S., so I'm also just pumped about that!

[hippyscientist]

I'm so envious of you all who don't have to deal with visa situations right now. It's doing my head in and is super stressful - I'm relying on others to help with some elements and they're making things really flipping complicated. At the minute there's a good chance I won't even have a visa so won't be able to start my program. 

@Pink Fuzzy Bunny as neist said, we all have our weaknesses. This sounds silly, but I always aim much too complex for where I'm at. My undergrad project was worthy to be part of a PhD, my masters project is so left-wing of what I'm comfortable with. I'm gunna need to be kept in check with my PhD otherwise I'll be trying to do something crazy complex that it'll take me 500 years to get it right.

@CornUltimatum New Mexico is gorgeous too - I really enjoyed my time there. Yay!!

[MarineBluePsy]

1 hour ago, CornUltimatum said:

I'm officially grad as of last Thursday. It's been a rollercoaster of emotion. I'll be getting a funded M.S. in Geology at New Mexico Tech. Hooray!

I think I'm going to be moving in July, but it's not set in stone yet. The one bad thing about New Mexico Tech is finding housing is a bit difficult as a lot of stuff is not put up online. O_O

I'm going to need to figure out how to reach out to current graduates, but that time will come near May since apparently most houses don't go on the market until then. I'm pretty anxious though! I've never lived outside the state of Texas, this is all going to be a whole new thing to me. Also New Mexico has some of the best geology in the U.S., so I'm also just pumped about that!

I bet your advisor can put you in contact with current students.  This whole moving thing is freaking me out to, I keep reminding myself it'll be an adventure.

2 minutes ago, hippyscientist said:

I'm so envious of you all who don't have to deal with visa situations right now. It's doing my head in and is super stressful - I'm relying on others to help with some elements and they're making things really flipping complicated. At the minute there's a good chance I won't even have a visa so won't be able to start my program. 

It sounds exhausting.  Are visas a requirement when you'll be in any country for awhile?  I've only heard of them for those coming to the US.

[hippyscientist]

@MarineBluePsy Yep. As a non-US person I will have to have a valid visa throughout my time in the US. We have to get authorization from our school to travel outside of the US too. Thankfully my country is one that allows me to apply for the visa once and it remains valid for the duration of my program. Other countries have restrictions like every time you leave the US you have to apply for a new visa (currently ~ $400) each time. It's a pain in the backside and is very frustrating because we're coming for a legitimate reason - to study - and the hoops you have to jump through to convince the US government you're not planning on immigrating there (legally or otherwise) are just crazy. 

[winterstat]

Hi there, 

I've been creepily reading all the posts in this thread ever since it began, but now I wanted to just say: I know how you feel @hippyscientist... I'm trying to arrange my visa (live in the Netherlands) and it's been less than fun. Luckily I will have my interview at the consulate this week, which is also freaking me out, even though I've read that it is usually no big deal. It sucks when you have to rely on someone else to get things done  Hope everything works out for you!