I think I'm ready for my trip to visit graduate schools. I leave tomorrow, and apart from packing (which I never do until last-minute, anyway) I'm set. I've spent the past few weeks finalizing my travel plans, and I've managed to set up several meetings. I'm really looking forward to seeing some of these campuses and meeting professors face-to-face. Hopefully I'll be able to impress some of them. I've printed out several of each professor's most recent publications to read on my way to each city. That way I can be as informed and enthusiastic as possible about the current research in their labs, and hopefully be able to tailor a few rough PhD thesis ideas to fit well within the lab's specific areas of study.
In addition, I've also set up meetings with grad students working in the labs that interest me. A professor may think he/she is easily accessible, but his/her students may think otherwise. Every professor is likely to think that their lab is a good one, but the students will have a perspective closer to what your own might be, and they're really the best source of information concerning lab (and even departmental) dynamics. They'll likely be more willing to share what it's really like on the 'inside'-- who gets along, who doesn't, who's difficult, how accommodating certain professors are, what teaching loads are like for TAs, how much assistance you're likely to get choosing a thesis topic and pursuing research funds, etc. It should be interesting to see if and why students like their schools, departments, advisers, and cohorts.
The trip should make for an interesting week, and I'm definitely ready for a break from work. Luckily, the last school I'm visiting isn't far from where a friend of mine lives, and I'll be able to make the last couple days of my trip into a mini vacation of sorts.
Saturday, September 18, 2010
Thursday, September 16, 2010
Crisis... Averted?
I mentioned a few weeks ago that I'd suddenly been informed that I was going to lose my job at the barn. The announcement really came as a shock to me, and I've spent the ensuing time trying to dig up a promising employment opportunity that pays more than minimum wage. I'd managed to secure myself an interview with a local non-profit environmental group, and was hoping that, even though the pay wasn't great, the job would provide me with good experience and solid networking opportunities while keeping me employed through the end of next summer (when I'll hopefully definitely be going off to grad school somewhere).
Then, just as suddenly as they'd announced the need to let me go, they announced their intentions to keep me on. Er... what?
One day at the end of last week, Debbie approached me about tutoring Trina next semester in some classes she's planning on taking at a community college. Tutoring Trina is something I've done for years now, helping her work her way through various science courses in high school. It can be incredibly frustrating, but it pays well.
Although Debbie has sworn that she wants Trina to be completely independent in college, evidently she's decided that community college isn't quite the same, and that Trina needs a full-time tutor next semester to help her complete her assignments, study, and generally stay on-track. She asked me to fill this position.
My answer? "No."
Debbie was extremely confused when I told her no, having the impression that I just love tutoring Trina and I have a special gift for getting through to her and helping her understand difficult subjects. I told her that when I had to quit working in the barn in October, I was going to find a full-time job somewhere and work through to next July or August, and that there was no way I was going to work for a few months and quit the job just to come back and work for her in January. Her next suggestion was that I not get another job, and just wait around between October and January for her to employ me again (did I mention she's crazy? Yes?).
Finally, when I pointed out to her that it really wasn't fair to expect me to try and support myself, unemployed, for a few months just so I'd be available to her next semester, she conceded that the only way she'd have me as a tutor for Trina is if I continued to work for her until that point. So just as suddenly as I lost my job, I got it back.
Part of me really wanted to tell her off, not accept her offer of a tutoring job, and go and find myself a real job in the real world and be done with her insane little universe. But there's something to be said for job security, and the idea that my job is likely safe now through May or June is a strong draw in a downed economy.
Even if there is a possibility that she'll change her mind. Again.
Then, just as suddenly as they'd announced the need to let me go, they announced their intentions to keep me on. Er... what?
One day at the end of last week, Debbie approached me about tutoring Trina next semester in some classes she's planning on taking at a community college. Tutoring Trina is something I've done for years now, helping her work her way through various science courses in high school. It can be incredibly frustrating, but it pays well.
Although Debbie has sworn that she wants Trina to be completely independent in college, evidently she's decided that community college isn't quite the same, and that Trina needs a full-time tutor next semester to help her complete her assignments, study, and generally stay on-track. She asked me to fill this position.
My answer? "No."
Debbie was extremely confused when I told her no, having the impression that I just love tutoring Trina and I have a special gift for getting through to her and helping her understand difficult subjects. I told her that when I had to quit working in the barn in October, I was going to find a full-time job somewhere and work through to next July or August, and that there was no way I was going to work for a few months and quit the job just to come back and work for her in January. Her next suggestion was that I not get another job, and just wait around between October and January for her to employ me again (did I mention she's crazy? Yes?).
Finally, when I pointed out to her that it really wasn't fair to expect me to try and support myself, unemployed, for a few months just so I'd be available to her next semester, she conceded that the only way she'd have me as a tutor for Trina is if I continued to work for her until that point. So just as suddenly as I lost my job, I got it back.
Part of me really wanted to tell her off, not accept her offer of a tutoring job, and go and find myself a real job in the real world and be done with her insane little universe. But there's something to be said for job security, and the idea that my job is likely safe now through May or June is a strong draw in a downed economy.
Even if there is a possibility that she'll change her mind. Again.
Friday, September 3, 2010
Submitted
Earlier this week my co-author and I finally submitted an article (based on my senior thesis research) for publication. The editing process has been both long and painful, not because my thesis needed a great deal of work to be reformatted for publication, but because my co-author, Walt (my thesis adviser at CLAS) is just about the worst type of person for getting things done. I never would have finished my thesis were it not for my academic adviser, Alan, and an extra-large helping of independence in my genetic makeup.
Unfortunately, submitting the paper to a peer-reviewed journal was not something I could do without him, so I had to grind my teeth and, over the last couple months, email him mercilessly to coax him into completing his part of the process. I had my initial revisions finished and on his desk a week after I graduated in May of 2009, so it's taken 15 (!) months for him to get his stuff together. He openly admitted to me a few weeks ago that he sees little incentive to publish now that he has tenure, even though he understands how important it is to individuals (like myself) who are just starting out.
This has been a particularly trying process since the beginning of the summer, because: 1) I talked with several graduates from this years' class who had work In Press (already accepted for publication), or, at the very least, in review, and 2) I know exactly how important a publication on my record is going to be for graduate school admissions this year. In fact, having some of my work published is the one thing most often stressed by potential advisers with whom I've been in contact. No one, thus far, has said I need additional research experience or fieldwork, but they've all said that a publication in the works would go a long way toward making me an irresistible candidate for admissions.
Nonetheless, the paper has finally been submitted. Now I just have to hope that it goes to review! I feel like the odds of the paper going through the review process and being accepted for publication before I send in my graduate school applications this fall are against me. I'm just going to hope for the best (and speedy reviewers), and keep my fingers crossed that even if I don't manage to have In Press on my CV by the time application deadlines roll round, professors will still look more favorably on something in review than something in preparation, or nothing at all.
Unfortunately, submitting the paper to a peer-reviewed journal was not something I could do without him, so I had to grind my teeth and, over the last couple months, email him mercilessly to coax him into completing his part of the process. I had my initial revisions finished and on his desk a week after I graduated in May of 2009, so it's taken 15 (!) months for him to get his stuff together. He openly admitted to me a few weeks ago that he sees little incentive to publish now that he has tenure, even though he understands how important it is to individuals (like myself) who are just starting out.
This has been a particularly trying process since the beginning of the summer, because: 1) I talked with several graduates from this years' class who had work In Press (already accepted for publication), or, at the very least, in review, and 2) I know exactly how important a publication on my record is going to be for graduate school admissions this year. In fact, having some of my work published is the one thing most often stressed by potential advisers with whom I've been in contact. No one, thus far, has said I need additional research experience or fieldwork, but they've all said that a publication in the works would go a long way toward making me an irresistible candidate for admissions.
Nonetheless, the paper has finally been submitted. Now I just have to hope that it goes to review! I feel like the odds of the paper going through the review process and being accepted for publication before I send in my graduate school applications this fall are against me. I'm just going to hope for the best (and speedy reviewers), and keep my fingers crossed that even if I don't manage to have In Press on my CV by the time application deadlines roll round, professors will still look more favorably on something in review than something in preparation, or nothing at all.
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