hippyscientist Posted March 30, 2016 Author Share Posted March 30, 2016 Wow so much money talk! Undergrad is getting so expensive! The UK has a great system whereby you don't start repaying your student loans until you are earning above an income threshold (~£15,000) which eases the immediate pressure. I still have them, and still need to pay them off, and they are accruing a little bit of interest but not enough for me to be panicking about. In other news, I went to a conference today. A BIG conference (I'm not kidding - that's its title!). It was fascinating - 10 PhD students presenting their work in short 15 minute presentations, one long keynote presentation (on my PhD research area!) and lots of poster presentations. It really hit home how much I've come on in terms of gross knowledge and critical analysis this year - I could pick apart every presentation although didn't feel confident enough to ask any questions, I asked a lot of the PhDs and post-docs I went with stuff which helped gauge whether I was on the right track. Really interesting. There was a girl (VERY southern accent) presenting from NC - Greenboro which was awesome too - everyone kept putting digs my way at how I'll be sounding like that in 4 months time. Guys - I'm not going to get a southern accent in Pennsylvania! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pink Fuzzy Bunny Posted March 30, 2016 Share Posted March 30, 2016 7 minutes ago, hippyscientist said: Wow so much money talk! Undergrad is getting so expensive! The UK has a great system whereby you don't start repaying your student loans until you are earning above an income threshold (~£15,000) which eases the immediate pressure. I still have them, and still need to pay them off, and they are accruing a little bit of interest but not enough for me to be panicking about. In other news, I went to a conference today. A BIG conference (I'm not kidding - that's its title!). It was fascinating - 10 PhD students presenting their work in short 15 minute presentations, one long keynote presentation (on my PhD research area!) and lots of poster presentations. It really hit home how much I've come on in terms of gross knowledge and critical analysis this year - I could pick apart every presentation although didn't feel confident enough to ask any questions, I asked a lot of the PhDs and post-docs I went with stuff which helped gauge whether I was on the right track. Really interesting. There was a girl (VERY southern accent) presenting from NC - Greenboro which was awesome too - everyone kept putting digs my way at how I'll be sounding like that in 4 months time. Guys - I'm not going to get a southern accent in Pennsylvania! You'll be the talk of the town with your (I assume) English accent... here in the US we swoon over them! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hippyscientist Posted March 30, 2016 Author Share Posted March 30, 2016 (edited) 17 minutes ago, Pink Fuzzy Bunny said: You'll be the talk of the town with your (I assume) English accent... here in the US we swoon over them! Lol I have a hybrid accent anyway (Australian, English and some Americanisms already) but I'm TERRIBLE for assimilating other people's accents. Like I'll order takeout and end up talking to that person in their accent - I don't mean to be rude it just happens. So I know I will become Americanised - it happens over Skype and has always happened when I visit. Plus I hate the swooning over my accent!!! Swoon over my brains and lifting skills instead And Penn State have finally got my transcript. Why do universities still insist on doing things with snail mail? What's wrong with a certified copy from the school transcript office?? Please now issue my student number so I can start registering for classes AND start the visa paperwork so I can book flights. Pretty please Edited March 30, 2016 by hippyscientist Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neist Posted March 30, 2016 Share Posted March 30, 2016 38 minutes ago, hippyscientist said: Wow so much money talk! Undergrad is getting so expensive! The UK has a great system whereby you don't start repaying your student loans until you are earning above an income threshold (~£15,000) which eases the immediate pressure. I still have them, and still need to pay them off, and they are accruing a little bit of interest but not enough for me to be panicking about. In other news, I went to a conference today. A BIG conference (I'm not kidding - that's its title!). It was fascinating - 10 PhD students presenting their work in short 15 minute presentations, one long keynote presentation (on my PhD research area!) and lots of poster presentations. It really hit home how much I've come on in terms of gross knowledge and critical analysis this year - I could pick apart every presentation although didn't feel confident enough to ask any questions, I asked a lot of the PhDs and post-docs I went with stuff which helped gauge whether I was on the right track. Really interesting. There was a girl (VERY southern accent) presenting from NC - Greenboro which was awesome too - everyone kept putting digs my way at how I'll be sounding like that in 4 months time. Guys - I'm not going to get a southern accent in Pennsylvania! There's several government repayment plans that base one's payments on one's income, and these programs excuse debt after you've paid long enough, assuming you haven't already paid off said loans. However, your loan amount that's excused is counted as taxable income the year its eventually excused, so if you have 100k excused, you're going to have to pay a lot of taxes. Hopefully this is reformed 20-30 years from now, because it's going to crush people. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rhombusbombus Posted March 30, 2016 Share Posted March 30, 2016 @hippyscientist I def sent an official e-transcript to Penn State. I wonder why you couldn't do that? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hippyscientist Posted March 30, 2016 Author Share Posted March 30, 2016 22 minutes ago, rhombusbombus said: @hippyscientist I def sent an official e-transcript to Penn State. I wonder why you couldn't do that? Intl. school. They won't accept it unless it's a proper paper one with stamps and all sorts. Right pain! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neist Posted March 30, 2016 Share Posted March 30, 2016 20 minutes ago, hippyscientist said: Intl. school. They won't accept it unless it's a proper paper one with stamps and all sorts. Right pain! At least we're not in the arts/architecture. They have to sometimes send entire physical portfolios in the mail. Can you imagine how expensive that'd get? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hippyscientist Posted March 30, 2016 Author Share Posted March 30, 2016 30 minutes ago, Neist said: At least we're not in the arts/architecture. They have to sometimes send entire physical portfolios in the mail. Can you imagine how expensive that'd get? Ick! This is expensive enough without that on top! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sjoh197 Posted March 30, 2016 Share Posted March 30, 2016 I'm still waiting for funding info from UH. I emailed them like a week and a half ago and haven't heard anything back. April 15th is creeping awfully close. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pterosaur Posted March 30, 2016 Share Posted March 30, 2016 (edited) @hippyscientist- at least you have a transcript to send them. I'm doing an MRes at Imperial and won't actually have a transcript until the end of my program (since we only get a final mark), but Harvard refuses to understand that there is no official transcript for me to send them. It's so frustrating! Edited March 30, 2016 by pterosaur Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Need Coffee in an IV Posted March 30, 2016 Share Posted March 30, 2016 I'm so tired, I spent 2 hours sweeping our museum. I'm super excited about us opening! A lot of people ask me where I'm from because I have an "unusual accent". Its weird because no one else in my family sounds like me. @pterosaur my school also doesn't send official transcripts until I graduate so I have to send those to Texas after my ceremony! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neist Posted March 30, 2016 Share Posted March 30, 2016 1 minute ago, Need Coffee in an IV said: I'm so tired, I spent 2 hours sweeping our museum. I'm super excited about us opening! A lot of people ask me where I'm from because I have an "unusual accent". Its weird because no one else in my family sounds like me. @pterosaur my school also doesn't send official transcripts until I graduate so I have to send those to Texas after my ceremony! So, I'm not sure if this ever came up, what sort of museums do you like? Or would like to work at? If you ever manage your way to Oklahoma, we have some pretty quirky museums. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Need Coffee in an IV Posted March 30, 2016 Share Posted March 30, 2016 Just now, Neist said: So, I'm not sure if this ever came up, what sort of museums do you like? Or would like to work at? If you ever manage your way to Oklahoma, we have some pretty quirky museums. Mainly science and interactive museums! I've been working/interning/volunteering at museums for around 2-3 years now and I absolutely love it. My undergrad is in geology and I would like to get people super excited about science. But just to visit? I pretty much like any museum, I think they are very unique in a way because they can be about anything really. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neist Posted March 30, 2016 Share Posted March 30, 2016 Just now, Need Coffee in an IV said: Mainly science and interactive museums! I've been working/interning/volunteering at museums for around 2-3 years now and I absolutely love it. My undergrad is in geology and I would like to get people super excited about science. But just to visit? I pretty much like any museum, I think they are very unique in a way because they can be about anything really. We have a decent science museum, and it's been around for quite a while. http://www.sciencemuseumok.org/ We also have the American Banjo Museum, Museum of Osteology, American Pigeon Museum (yes, this does exist...), and the 99s Museum of Women Pilots. There's also a whole bunch of smaller museums that probably aren't worth mentioning. Maybe you and some of your cohort can visit Oklahoma and go museum trolling. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Need Coffee in an IV Posted March 30, 2016 Share Posted March 30, 2016 1 minute ago, Neist said: We have a decent science museum, and it's been around for quite a while. http://www.sciencemuseumok.org/ We also have the American Banjo Museum, Museum of Osteology, American Pigeon Museum (yes, this does exist...), and the 99s Museum of Women Pilots. There's also a whole bunch of smaller museums that probably aren't worth mentioning. Maybe you and some of your cohort can visit Oklahoma and go museum trolling. That does look pretty awesome and those other museums sound great (not sure if I could survive the American Pigeon Museum, might die from laughter). Thanks for the suggestions! I may suggest a funded field trip....for research purposes of course. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neist Posted March 30, 2016 Share Posted March 30, 2016 Just now, Need Coffee in an IV said: That does look pretty awesome and those other museums sound great (not sure if I could survive the American Pigeon Museum, might die from laughter). Thanks for the suggestions! I may suggest a funded field trip....for research purposes of course. I have really fond memories of the science museum. I did a boy scout lock-in there when I was young. Memories. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Need Coffee in an IV Posted March 30, 2016 Share Posted March 30, 2016 1 minute ago, Neist said: I have really fond memories of the science museum. I did a boy scout lock-in there when I was young. Memories. That's exactly what I want to give people, knowledge AND fun memories! I also love how there's no set formula on how to design a museum, I find the architecture just as interesting. The ones that definitely stick out in my mind are the Perot Museum and Salvador Dali Museum. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pink Fuzzy Bunny Posted March 30, 2016 Share Posted March 30, 2016 So, I'm getting interviewed for being the first from my school to win the GRFP. Which would be great, if there weren't a color photo being taken. Which would be great, if my hair weren't just dyed a crazy color. Which would be great, if my parents weren't going to kill me if they find out. WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOPS Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rhombusbombus Posted March 30, 2016 Share Posted March 30, 2016 1 minute ago, Pink Fuzzy Bunny said: So, I'm getting interviewed for being the first from my school to win the GRFP. Which would be great, if there weren't a color photo being taken. Which would be great, if my hair weren't just dyed a crazy color. Which would be great, if my parents weren't going to kill me if they find out. WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOPS WHO CARES! ROCK THAT HAIR! You'll be super memorable! Levon3 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarineBluePsy Posted March 30, 2016 Share Posted March 30, 2016 20 hours ago, Pink Fuzzy Bunny said: Can you not defer them? For most (I thought all) student loans, you can defer making payments and the accrual of interest until you graduate grad school. It depends on the type of loan. Federal loans can usually be deferred, but private loans don't have to give you that option. This is why financial experts always say to never take out private student loans because deferring may not be possible and they often have little to no affordable repayment options. 19 hours ago, Pink Fuzzy Bunny said: Also... real talk though. One of my friends is really trying to get into grad school... he applied to 16 places and got rejected from all but one, where he was put on a waitlist. It looks like he isn't going to get in there. He's so much more passionate than I am and I know that grad school is his one dream... anyone have any clues for what I can say to make the road a little less rough for him? He's older (mid 30's) and so I know his timeline is constantly on his mind. I just don't know what to say... it's gone from "hang in there" to "maybe look for backup plans". Help? I would tell him to ask himself if this is really what he wants to do and if so then buck up. Yes reapplying sucks (I've done it) and casting a wide net (did that too) is costly and time consuming, but if he's determined then he'll get that acceptance. Without knowing his field its hard to say how competitive things are, but it is possible that he wasn't competitive in terms of research, GRE, experience, GPA, etc. Although I would say it is even more possible that his SOP/PS needs work. Nontraditional students often struggle with showing how their unique path is a benefit to the department and field in general. So that is probably where I would tell him to start. Pink Fuzzy Bunny 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hippyscientist Posted March 31, 2016 Author Share Posted March 31, 2016 8 hours ago, pterosaur said: @hippyscientist- at least you have a transcript to send them. I'm doing an MRes at Imperial and won't actually have a transcript until the end of my program (since we only get a final mark), but Harvard refuses to understand that there is no official transcript for me to send them. It's so frustrating! The transcript I'm sending is only my undergraduate one as PSU will only accept those from degrees that are conferred. It's been a bit awkward because my MSc will not be conferred until December, but they're basically admitting me off my undergrad and then excited when I get my masters transcript in like January (they get conferred December 22nd). @Need Coffee in an IV I'm sorry - your own museum?!?! What is this magic? I'm finding an appreciation for museums as I get older. When I visited Washington DC I was gutted because I didn't have enough time to look around the Smithsonians. I was very lucky that I grew up going to the Ashmolean (http://www.ashmolean.org/), a Natural Sciency one (don't ask me the name but it had a dinosaur skeleton, lots of bug stuff and lots of cool other skeletony things), and the Science Museum in London. Those were my 3 favourites for ages. It was a common birthday party to have sleepovers in the museum and the staff would put on educational games for us. It was pretty cool in hindsight although trying to sleep under a dinosaur creeped me out!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Need Coffee in an IV Posted March 31, 2016 Share Posted March 31, 2016 @hippyscientist Haha, sorry! I've been working on this for 4 years along with my mentor so I think of it as my museum. But its actually the university's museum! And that sounds like so much fun. I wish I went to museums as fieldtrips, we mainly went to jamestown, colonial williamsburg, etc. We went to a petting zoo once! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hippyscientist Posted March 31, 2016 Author Share Posted March 31, 2016 Just now, Need Coffee in an IV said: @hippyscientist Haha, sorry! I've been working on this for 4 years along with my mentor so I think of it as my museum. But its actually the university's museum! And that sounds like so much fun. I wish I went to museums as fieldtrips, we mainly went to jamestown, colonial williamsburg, etc. We went to a petting zoo once! Still, working there for 4 years, that's impressive! I can understand why you call it yours!! Wow like every christmas we did carols in the museum for people, we used to go on school trips all the time to museums and places! One of the perks of living in Europe is the history and the accessibility - in Year 6 (~10 and 11 years old) we went to France for a week and did a lot of the old war stuff. My undergrad university wasn't too far from Stonehenge either so we actually had some awesome trips! We had our high school leavers dance in a zoo!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sjoh197 Posted March 31, 2016 Share Posted March 31, 2016 13 hours ago, Pink Fuzzy Bunny said: So, I'm getting interviewed for being the first from my school to win the GRFP. Which would be great, if there weren't a color photo being taken. Which would be great, if my hair weren't just dyed a crazy color. Which would be great, if my parents weren't going to kill me if they find out. WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOPS My mother is very opinionated and at some point I realized that I am a god-damn adult making my own god-damn choices and I wasn't dependent on her anymore, so she didn't have the authority to decide things for me or to try and make me feel bad. If your parents see that interview and get "Shit... crazy hair" instead of "Yay, my kid is so awesome, look at what they did." then you need to put your foot down on where you stand in that relationship. But also... congrats That is super awesome. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hippyscientist Posted March 31, 2016 Author Share Posted March 31, 2016 @Pink Fuzzy Bunny not sure how I missed your post but YAY On the GRFP! Congratulations And screw the crazy colour - own it!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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