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XanthusARES

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Everything posted by XanthusARES

  1. Congrats! I haven't been on here for a while, but I love checking in and seeing these posts. It always makes me smile to see profile names that were on here years ago asking for application advice end up getting jobs. Welcome to this side of the PhD program, go grab a drink and enjoy the next few months.
  2. Check out Craigslist for the area you are looking to move to. They generally have a lot of apartments that aren't on the main rental sites (like rent.com and apartments.com). If you're looking to rent from a landlord rather than from a company, Craigslist is a great place to start. That being said there are positives from renting from a company that you won't get from a landlord, so the choice is really yours. As far as timing goes, it doesn't hurt to start looking now. Some college towns expect people to be signing leases now to move in August. Just talk to students in the program and see where they live in terms of distance to the school, parking, public transportation etc... They can also go check out an apartment for you if you can't get to the city to check it out for yourself. One final piece of advice. You're going to be at the PhD program for a minimum of 4 years (although I'm pretty sure that average is closer to 5.5 now). If you have the money and if the market is good, you should consider buying. Again, assuming the market is good, you'll build some, not a lot, but some equity in the house in 4-5 years which will help with a down payment for your house in your new faculty position. There are obviously risks to buying a house and you definitely need to know those and be willing to take them, but I know a lot of students who bought houses during their programs and it hasn't been bad for them. Only do this though, if you have the money, if you can find a house that will give you a mortgage payment on par or cheaper than rent in the area and if you are comfortable with the possibility that perhaps the house won't sell when you move.
  3. Good luck! Be yourself and be as calm and confident as you possibly can.
  4. It's hard right, and it doesn't get any easier. As someone who went through faculty job interviews, I will tell you that the nerves don't lessen. I've had a ton of interviews in my life between a ton of jobs, graduate school and now faculty positions. I've picked up a few tricks which may help you out. 1. Like someone else said, the interviewers want you to do well. They aren't looking for reasons that you'll fail. They want to let people in. 2. No one, and I mean absolutely no one, cares about you more than you care about yourself. I guarantee that you think the interviewers think way worse about you than they actually do. 3. You will ALWAYS do better if you are confident. ALWAYS. In every part of your life. Not over confident, but confident. And, thankfully, confidence is a self-feeding instrument. The more confident you act (regardless of how you feel) the more confident you will feel. That being said, this isn't exactly easy to act confident when you are feeling really really not confident, but hopefully the other tips I'm offering will give you just enough confidence to start the confidence chain. 4. You will not, no matter how great you are, bat a thousand. What that means is that you are going to fail. There will be schools that you don't get offers from. Once you realize that, life becomes much much easier. Maybe you didn't get an offer because you weren't good enough. Maybe you didn't get an offer because someone else was a better fit for any number of reasons that you can't control. No matter what, accepting that there is a place for you, and that you won't fit in everywhere will give you the confidence you need to do well in your interviews. This can be helped significantly with my next tip. 5. Know who you are and what your strengths and weaknesses are. Know where you actually fit. Most people are not good fits for Stanford or Chicago. Be realistic about that, it will keep you from being too disappointed when Harvard doesn't call you for an interview. Obviously, there will be schools where you think you are a perfect fit, but still won't get an interview or offer from them. At that point, I refer you back to point 4. It's going to suck and it's going to hurt when you don't get that dream school offer from the school you thought you were perfect for. Don't let my tone suggest that you shouldn't grieve when you don't get what you thought would be perfect. By all means grieve, feel your feels, but then pick yourself up. 6. The biggest tip I can give you is to act confident, until you are confident. I can't stress enough how important that really is. It will get you through so much in your life. Absolutely do not lie, but be confident that you belong in a PhD program. Good luck.
  5. Yeah, schools are reticent to post their placement rates and I would be very surprised to see any schools post information on those leaving the program. The reality is that schools don't want you thinking about leaving when you are entering a program. Asking students is a great way to get that information, way more than faculty would be willing to share. On average across all PhD programs in all fields, the last I saw the rate was somewhere around 50% actually complete programs. Reports from the Chronicle of higher education suggest that business schools are closer to 75% finishing, but again those stats are really difficult to parse out because they're based on self-reporting. The reality is also that this is really school dependent. I know schools that drop the majority of their students after the first year, and I know schools that basically will guarantee you to finish if you don't drop out yourself. Placements are a little easier to find for marketing we have the who went where survey. Now, obviously, that report is extremely biased, like grossly biased, those who do well are much more likely to respond than those who do not. But even with that being the case you can see where the students who did best in their programs ended up. It's possible that the other business fields have something similar, so check around for that. Additionally, again you can ask the current students, theoretically, they will be honest with you about the program (I hope so at least, the worst thing that could happen would be a bait and switch). Comps are best asked about after being accepted but before accepting their offer. Again, ask the students, not the faculty. They will tell you what's up.
  6. After 8 years of graduate school, I made it to the other side. Because of anonymity I'm not going to share the school with everyone, but I'm beyond excited about it. It's in a dream location for my family and an ideal environment for my research and teaching. This forum definitely got me through the whole process of applying and even through the first few years of my program. I know I haven't posted much recently, but I still check up on the site every day. Good luck to those of you applying and to those of you in programs, keep your heads down and work hard. Further, and I can't stress this enough, a PhD is not for everyone. Leaving academia is not a failure. I know of a ton of people who left and are happier because of it. I also know of a ton of people who didn't leave and really wish they did. Industry is not a failure regardless of what you think and perhaps what your faculty will tell you. It's your life, you only get one, don't do something that makes you miserable.
  7. I probably wouldn't emphasize it. A line or two at the bottom wouldn't hurt, but it also probably wouldn't help. As far as I know, schools aren't as concerned about getability of students at the PhD level. Sure if you're an all star (i.e. already published, perfect GPA and test scores, coming from an elite undergraduate program with research experience and letters from top scholars) and you are applying to a very low ranked program, you may need some additional reasons that you would come there. Ideally, though, your letter writers will provide those reasons in addition to a line in your SOP. In my opinion, I believe that it is unlikely to inform your packet either positively or negatively. Schools just don't care that much. Good luck!
  8. Go ahead and start it. The administrators will likely pin it once they move the 2019 thread. Good luck by the way!
  9. I have heard of some people moving schools. In general, I've heard that yes you have to start over as a 1st year and take classes all over. I imagine, though, that this is program, school and person specific. Perhaps there is someone on here who has gone through the process. The people that I know who didn't pass prelims, most of them just left their programs and when back to industry.
  10. Truer words have rarely been spoken on here. All of your tier 1 and tier 2 schools will place you well.
  11. A top tier school will place you equally as well as another top tier school. Rankings only matter in terms of tiers. Go with your gut, work hard and you'll do as well at Wharton as you would at Columbia.
  12. Different schools call positions different things. RA = Research Assistant TA = Teaching Assistant PA = Project Assistant The difference between RA and PA is largely meaningless. Technically, I think, a PA is supposed to be for a specific project (and may be funded by a grant so may be specific to that project). An RA, on the other hand, technically could be for various projects. But again, it doesn't matter, it's generally a useless bureaucratic distinction. Feel free to PM me.
  13. If the school is part of the grad council (or whatever the group is called) they're supposed to let you have until April 15. That being said, they may not hold it for you. If it is your top choice go ahead and accept it just withdrawal from the rest. If there is a school you would definitely take over it, then you can roll the dice and decline it. Honestly, though, I'm sorry this happens. It's a tough situation to be put in.
  14. I don't know specifically how things would go down and I get the feeling that it would be different based on the school and the culture. I think you would make a stronger case if you came in with a different offer from another school. Alright if I were you, here's what I would do. I would talk to your point of contact person at the school you are trying to negotiate with. Tell them frankly that you are very interested in their program and that you would prefer them however you have another offer from school X. Let them know that school X is offering $Y and that you were wondering if there were anything that their school can do in regard to your stipend or TA hours. Ask if there is a fellowship you may be qualified for, see if you can negotiate working as a PA (or whatever the school calls it) for your adviser rather than a TA. Whatever you negotiate, ensure that you get it in writing and that the timeline is firm. Basically you don't want to get reduced hours for year 1 only to get slammed the following years. I would also ask maybe about summer support. Then also ask about maybe getting more money for conferences etc... In general there is not a lot of flexibility in terms of real money that schools can offer. Generally that is set by University. But yeah, reduced hours, fellowships, scholarships and conference funding are things that the school may be able to move on. Here's the thing, though, you need to go into this not as a business person negotiating a salary increase (save that for when you're on the market and get a job offer). Go into this as a humble student just trying to make ends meet. There are a few things that you don't want to do. First, upset the department and make them think that you are difficult to work with. They hold your future literally in their hands. Don't make enemies from the start. Second, don't talk to your fellow classmates about any of the things you negotiate. It will only lead to jealousy and won't make you any friends. Trust me, you'll be seeing those classmates more than your family or friends for the next 5 years, don't start off on a bad foot. Finally, I wouldn't ask the school to match another offer, but rather ask if there is anything that they can do to increase your funding or lessen your load. Framing it in that way is a little better. One more thing, if you negotiate stuff with the school, you better accept their offer. It would be a terrible thing to do to a school to go somewhere else afterward.
  15. Yes 30-40K is a good offer, 25-35ish is what I think is the average. I'm not positive that absolutely true, but I believe that it is. I know that funding during a PhD program is a big deal. Being able to live comfortably without worrying too much about paying rent and buying food is incredibly important. I don't want to downplay that in the slightest. But finances should be one of the last things to consider when making a decision. Did you vibe better with a program than another? Is one school significantly higher ranked than the others? Is there a certain faculty member you'd really prefer to work with? Is there a city that you would prefer for whatever reasons? Basically there are a lot of questions that you need to ask before you think too much about funding. The thing to keep in mind is that each school has PhD students who are surviving, so you can survive. Now if you're asking whether or not you should ask for more money that's a different question altogether. There isn't a correct answer to that question. But you need to understand that there is likely not a lot that a school can do in terms of offers, so they may not be flexible on their offer. That being said, what's the worst thing that can happen? They say no and you aren't out anything.
  16. I guarantee the majority of faculty don't even know when you submitted at all. As long as it was in before the deadline, no need to worry. Good luck!
  17. It's school specific to be sure, but on average a school will interview about 2X the number of applicants that they want to accept in any given year. So if they want to bring in 2 students they will normally interview 4. I cannot be more clear, though, that this is an average. I've seen schools interview 5 people and bring them all in. I've also seen schools interview 5 people and make no offers. The best thing that I can tell you is that if you have an interview you are more likely to get an offer than someone who does not have an interview. Just work hard, be friendly, do your best and you will get in somewhere.
  18. First of all, congrats! That's a big deal. Wear a suit and prepare the same way you would prepare for a Skype interview. If it's all day it will likely be individual sessions, but you'll be answering the same questions each time. Just prepare to be nice, friendly and able to talk about what you want to do in a PhD program. Honestly that's kind of all they are looking for. The more competent and collegial you sound, the better.
  19. For CB you'll hear between now and the end of March. Don't be discouraged if you don't hear anything for a while, there are a lot of applications to get through and each school does things differently. But yes to answer your question, things normally start happening around the second or third week of January once faculty get back from break and have a chance to read some applications. I have no idea about Haas.
  20. I mean it is what it is, right? If you can't make full time work for your family, and let me be clear, there is absolutely no judgment from me who has a wife and a child, then you can't make it work. All you can do is ask and cross your fingers. Worst case scenario is that they say no and you can make your decision from there. For the record I have known a few people who have tried to ask about this. None of them were able to successfully get the school to let them do it. That doesn't mean it's not possible, but I do want to be honest with you that this will be a long shot. I have heard, but not from anyone personally who has done it, that at some lower ranked schools this is possible. Like schools outside of the top 80 might be more amenable to this type of thing. Again, though, I've only heard rumblings that this is possible, I've never actually seen it done. On the flipside I've also known a few people who probably would have excelled in a program if they were able to do it on a part time schedule. However because that wasn't an option they tried it full time, and when that was taking away too much time from their family, they made the wise decision to choose their family and aren't in PhD programs anymore. Here's my final 2 pieces of advice, if I were you, I definitely wouldn't mention this or ask about it until after you are accepted into a program. Wait until you have an offer in hand before discussing this with the department. You have some more flexibility at that point and some power. If you talk about it before an offer it might preclude you from getting an offer. Second and final, I know that a PhD program is very difficult. Balancing family and school sucks. Sometimes you have to choose school over family and nothing tears you up inside more than that, nothing. There are other times, though, when you have to choose family over school and that is never the wrong decision. I've never once regretted choosing to spend time with my family over getting something for school done. So my advice is this, it might seem impossible before you actually enter a program, but I suggest that you give it a shot. If you have a significant other who is willing to go through this with you and willing to take on a lot (and believe me they take on a lot), I suggest you really try to make full time work. The idea of staying for more than 6 years isn't ideal for many reasons. Good luck and let us know what happens.
  21. In my opinion, I think that they do it this way for a few reasons. 1. Schools a bureaucracies, and inertia in a bureaucracy is the most powerful force. So it's always been done this way, it will continue to be done this way. Note that this is not because they necessarily want it to be like this, it's just requires nothing to continue the way things are, and requires some effort to change. 2. Faculty don't think about applications until they think about them. Basically once they're in a PhD application mindset, they want to get it all done as fast as possible, then go back to not thinking about you until August. 3. How much time do you really need? If it's a Skype interview for at most an hour (and most of them will be 15-30 minutes), then 2 days is plenty to get your stuff in order and read about the school and faculty. Obviously this is a personal preference, but I wouldn't want to sit around for a month stressing about an interview.
  22. I wish I had something I could say that would make your waiting easier. Just know that it definitely does suck, and all of us in programs are pulling for you guys. Good luck!
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