One Down

My first semester as a graduate student is over! There are so many things I could say about the past fourth months, but I'll start off with this: it was great! The transition from ranch work to back-to-school was simple. Despite being away from school for two years, I was ready to return, and it was relatively simple to slip back into a pattern of research, coursework, and tests. Even my transition from My Home Town to West Coast University went smoothly. There are still adjustments to be made here and there-- cultural differences, climatic differences, staggering differences in costs of living-- but on the whole I settled into living in this area as if I'd always been here.

The people in my program are great. I LOVE my lab. The other lab members have been welcoming, and more than happy to provide advice. Lab meetings are often the highlight of my week-- getting together and discussing literature with a group of people with similar research interests is refreshing. They like the same things I like! They're intrigued by the same things I am! Our perspectives differ enough to keep things interesting. It's pretty much fantastic.

I'm slowly getting to know my adviser, Paul. He was extremely helpful when I wrote my NSF proposal for this year. He read through several drafts, and is good at thinking about the bigger picture. We're both still in a period of figuring the other person out. I'm getting to know him as an adviser, and he's getting to know me as a student. Our relationship isn't nearly as fluid as his relationship with the older grad students in our lab, but seeing him interact with the other students gives me hope that it will come in time. He's a genuinely good person, and I think we'll get along.

He's given me some work to do over break, so I'm going to do my best to make a good impression. I'm often quiet during lab meetings. I like to think extensively about the papers we read before commenting, and I'm still learning to read this type of literature critically, so I'm wondering if he's reserving judgement about my scholastic ability until I prove myself in other ways.

The people in my cohort are great, too. Our core courses have been a good way for us all to become friends-- our mutual complaints about our classes have allowed us to bond. We spend a decent amount of time outside of school together, with frequent happy hours, dinners, and parties.

I'm not too chuffed with the required core courses for the program, but the other classes I took this semester weren't too bad. If nothing else, I've been able to see the applicability of the material almost instantaneously. My adviser's work is highly quantitative, and he expects the same of his students, so I'll be taking a series of applied math courses.

I took the first course in the series this fall, and used the material I was learning right away, in the methods for my NSF GRF proposal. The work my adviser wants me to do over break also utilizes the information from this first math course. That being said, graduate math courses aren't exactly a cake walk! I probably spent more time this semester doing problem sets than anything else. But it paid off-- I passed all my classes.

It feels a little strange being on break now. Although I don't think I was any more busy this semester than I was during undergrad, it's a little odd going from 'full speed ahead' to 'take your sweet time'. I've been antsy-- I feel the need to be doing something all the time. It's not nearly as bad now, however, as it was over Thanksgiving break, when it was almost impossible for me to relax. I've gotten to the point where I actually feel bad not doing schoolwork. One weekend mid-semester I'd caught up on work, and had a day free. I went hiking and spent some time with a friend, but even then I couldn't shake the feeling that there was something school-related I should be doing.

With the semester over the feeling isn't quite as bad, but I have been thinking about the side project my adviser has for me. That isn't going to stop me from enjoying my time off, but I will have to address it sooner or later.

On the whole, my first semester was great. I've been really happy out here. I'm pleased with the program, and I think it will be a good fit for me. I'm looking forward to the next four or five years.

It will be nice to go home for the holidays, to see my friends and family and enjoy my time off. Something tells me, though, that I'm going to miss my new home, too. I guess it's a good, thing, though, that I'll be glad to come back!

Happy holidays! :)

Study Break

I'll admit that I've slacked off on blogging this semester. I often thought about updating-- there has been plenty to talk about. I could have written posts on the challenges of adjusting to a new city, getting used to the program, finding my way around campus, meeting people, finding a place to horseback ride, balancing schoolwork and recreation, and choosing which coursework to complete and which to ignore. Time management is something I've always been good at, however. Although I would have loved to have taken time away from school to update the blog, I know that, in the long run, writing The Wild Life is less critical to my success than, say, writing grant proposals, or completing assignments.

As a result, I've neglected the blog. All the times I could have been writing, I was out doing more exciting things (or doing homework). But for the most part, doing exciting things!

Now the semester is winding down, so I have fewer things on the agenda and have finally had a chance to sit down and address the blog. I wish I could say that next semester will be better, but it won't! I start TA'ing next semester, and along with coursework that should occupy most of my time.

The NSF GRFP: Third time's a charm?

This fall, I applied for the NSF GRFP a third time. Here's how the cards have fallen out in years past:

2010: Applied. Received an Honorable Mention.
2011: Applied. Application was not reviewed.
2012: Applied. Fingers crossed!

I'll have to wait until April to find the results of this latest attempt. I checked and double-checked the application requirements, and since I had internet access this year, I made sure that all of my references submitted their recommendation letters on time. So hopefully I won't receive a depressing email in January this year informing me that my application won't be reviewed.

I feel really good about my application this year. I felt good about last year's application, but that doesn't even compare to this season. Last year I wrote my application over the course of a few days. It went through two or three edits, and I received feedback from my former thesis adviser, Walt, as well as one potential graduate adviser. I felt it was pretty strong.

This year, however, I had all of the glorious resources provided by a graduate program. This included: my graduate adviser, our department's grant coordinator, a class constructed around peer review of grant proposals, and a slew of graduate students. My adviser read through last year's proposal early on and decided I should take a different direction. I was initially a little disappointed, because I had to start from scratch: a different study system, different research questions, different methods.

However, my new proposal targets a question I might actually address in the course of my dissertation. The work I told the NSF I'll be attempting is something I might actually attempt, so although I had to spend more time than I'd anticipated rewriting my proposal, it forced me to think about a study system in which I might actually work.

My proposal went through TONS of drafts. I think in the end I had four different versions, each written from a different angle, and several edits of each of those drafts. I was able to choose the strongest and submit that. I know that a lot of the NSF GRF, like many application processes, has to do with luck-- the random way in which proposals end up in the hands of reviewers; the reviewers' background experiences, familiarity with study systems and terminology; their particular moods when they do the actual reviewing. But I feel confident that I did the best possible work I could on the proposal, and I know it is strong, and should be a contender.

I should have one additional year of eligibility for the NSF GRF. If I don't receive the grant again this year, I'll be able to give it one more shot next fall. But here's to hoping that the third time's a charm!