What did you do during the summer right before you started your Ph.D. program?

[yayspace]

On 4/9/2016 at 11:22 PM, MarineBluePsy said:

Am I the only one that finds it really weird that there isn't some sort of pet shipping service?  There are pet resorts and pet restaurants so.....just saying.....  

There actually are a couple pet relocation services. They all arrange for the pets to fly to their destination since this is usually faster and less traumatic than a long car ride. I've been looking into and pricing out a couple companies. They aren't cheap but I think it will be worth it. Driving stresses me out enough already. Combine that with moving, starting a PhD, worrying about everything.... then add two freaked out cats? No thanks. I will pick them up at the airport. LOL

[shadowclaw]

2 hours ago, yayspace said:

There actually are a couple pet relocation services. They all arrange for the pets to fly to their destination since this is usually faster and less traumatic than a long car ride. I've been looking into and pricing out a couple companies. They aren't cheap but I think it will be worth it. Driving stresses me out enough already. Combine that with moving, starting a PhD, worrying about everything.... then add two freaked out cats? No thanks. I will pick them up at the airport. LOL

Something to think about if you did send your cat by plane - you have to get some sort of health certificate from your vet. If your cat is due for its annual exam anyway, then it probably wouldn't cost much more (I don't know if they have to run any specific tests or if they charge for the actual certificate). However, it is an added cost on top of paying out the nose to fly your cat.

Although technically, you also need this when driving to many states, but you probably aren't going to get caught if you don't have it. 

[yayspace]

24 minutes ago, shadowclaw said:

Something to think about if you did send your cat by plane - you have to get some sort of health certificate from your vet. If your cat is due for its annual exam anyway, then it probably wouldn't cost much more (I don't know if they have to run any specific tests or if they charge for the actual certificate). However, it is an added cost on top of paying out the nose to fly your cat.

Although technically, you also need this when driving to many states, but you probably aren't going to get caught if you don't have it. 

Yep - the two relocation services have already warned me about this. Plus you have to buy a special kennel for them. It will be expensive, no doubt. I wish I could just transform them into car-loving dogs for this trip! 

[mrbmrbmrb]

My cat is surprisingly chill for the most part in the car.  She meows a lot for the first 30 minutes or so and then settles in and takes a nap. 

[slawson4]

I didn't think I would be able to attend this fall (I didn't come into funding until this week), so I am currently working an inside sales job that pays pretty well and has commission, so I'll be doing that as long as possible, plus tutoring through June and probably grading SATs. I haven't decided yet, but I may resume my former summer job at a theme park for the extra cash on the weekends. The life of a Ph.D student in the humanities is not a lucrative one, so I'd like to save up as much as possible. 

Fun-wise, I definitely want to be doing as much reading for fun as possible. If I learned anything from my MA, it's that a literature grad student does not have a hell of a lot of time for 'fun' reading. Even if the time opens up, I'd probably prefer to be doing something else other than reading with that time! lol. I really want to take a trip to Baton Rouge to visit my best friend if I can spare the cost. I'll also probably be doing a lot of fiction writing, since that may be another thing that I won't have as much time for when I'm a grad student. 

Mostly I'm just looking forward to being WARM again (I'm from Buffalo, NY, so it's been a while). 

[SJ.Koeh]

I just started the first year of my PhD program, and kept tabs on this thread quite a bit while I was applying to graduate school/this past summer. I took a year off between undergrad and graduate school, and worked at a pretty mindless job for a year, so I was quite excited to start school in August. Lots of people say "just take it easy"... "easy" is not really a speed of mine so this was very challenging. I wish I would've had someone tell me something specific I could do, to help myself out in a few months. Here's some of those things!

- In Political Science (what my PhD will be in), R is the industry standard for data analysis. My BS is in Psych, and I know SPSS well. Learn the foundations/basics of what is common for your industry while you have free time. 
- Learn some other programming languages while you're at it (Java) so that you can run your own experiments when you're ready. 
- Get a handful of the most recent journal editions that are standards in your field. Many libraries have access to BrowZine - use it. 

Good luck!