Calling all PS thesis-tacklers, researchers, and students!

[WishfulThinking]

Amber-- you''re so right. I need to buck up before grad school or I''ll spend all of my days doing this

instead of doing

. Silliness aside I have to get over myself. See, my position is so pathetic compared to your anyways! Weeks and weeks of lab data and it''s out? WAH! I just have to cut out sections of background info which is just history I''ve arranged in a way that it supports my argument. I am guessing I don''t need so much background and in the end it will make more sense to have 75 pages of MY analysis instead of a historical overview of the legislation, but I always get hung up on how much info the reader needs to understand my analysis. You''re right that I''ve learned from writing it. Now that I know *exactly* what went on in the past I feel much more assured that my analysis is on track. I am sure advisors will help with all of this.

I won''t worry about the draft, then. I need to worry less anyways, so it''ll be a good exercise in restraint.

PS: You do AIDS research?

Elegant-- I am the same way! I am seriously bad about setting my own deadlines, and even when I have outside deadlines I wait until the last possible moments and only barely squeak by. I hope your chair gets back to you soon. My 2nd reader/fav. prof ever has been totally lax on giving her opinion about anything I''ve done so far even though she promised she would.

I keep reminding myself that her lack of worry about it and continued belief in me even without checking up on me too much indicates that she trusts me, so in turn I should just not worry about it. So far that has been successful. I do hate waiting, though! Tick tock for your chair!

And, erm, tick tock for me. Yikes!

 

[Elegant]

Well...10:17pm and no response from my chair...grrr...

 

[Elegant]

Apparently I closed my laptop too soon...about 8 minutes too soon. She emailed me last night at about 10:22pm. I must have gotten tired at that point, watched TV, and then gone to sleep. Her comments are VERY helpful, as usual, and as usual I didn''t word it fabulously enough...grr... But I am looking forward to working on it this weekend. She helped structure my introduction for me and told me to wait on rewording my problem statement until I finished my introduction.

Good stuff...lots of work to do, but I am looking forward to it.

 

[WishfulThinking]

I hate when that happens! Great news, though! Your chair sounds really helpful and great.

I finished my draft and emailed it in to both advisors. I''m a little nervous because they have to report about it to the dept. chair, but there''s nothing I can do about it now so no use stressing. See, I''m learning.

The accompanying email was appropriately apologetic in relation to the quality of the draft, which was done, but lacking. I guess that''s why they call them drafts? I loathe drafts. I never write them unless I have to because having someone read something "unifinished" makes me feel crazy inside and very self conscious.

But YAY. All in all YAY!

I am off to buy m books for 2nd semester. Rather, to write down the titles at the bookstore so I can buy them cheaper online!

 

[Elegant]

Date: 1/23/2009 2:25:48 PM
Author: WishfulThinking
I hate when that happens! Great news, though! Your chair sounds really helpful and great.

I finished my draft and emailed it in to both advisors. I''m a little nervous because they have to report about it to the dept. chair, but there''s nothing I can do about it now so no use stressing. See, I''m learning.

The accompanying email was appropriately apologetic in relation to the quality of the draft, which was done, but lacking. I guess that''s why they call them drafts? I loathe drafts. I never write them unless I have to because having someone read something ''unifinished'' makes me feel crazy inside and very self conscious.

But YAY. All in all YAY!

I am off to buy m books for 2nd semester. Rather, to write down the titles at the bookstore so I can buy them cheaper online!

Congrats on finishing your draft - that''s HUGE!!!

I know - everytime I submit a draft I feel like my chair thinks I am stupider than stupid!

I am looking at her notes right now and kind of excited to really start working on the paper tomorrow. I hope you find some cheap books. I used to do the exact same things with my books - find them cheaper online!

 

[WishfulThinking]

Thanks so much, Elegant. It is SO AWESOME that you are excited to start working tomorrow. That is so wonderful and exciting.

I am already getting nervous about "judgment day" on the 29th, but I need to calm down. I am repeating "it's a rough draft, it's only a rough draft" in my head as my stay calm mantra. So far it's working. I am 99% sure that advisor 1 will pass me so I feel good about that. She already told me she would pass me and she's sure my draft will be fine [hopefully she feels that way after she reads it!], and she thought it was conference-worthy, so I doubt she will just drop me. It just occurred to me how awkward it would be if advisor 2 didn't pass me in my thesis-worthy evaluation. I am taking a class with her this semester that meets twice a week. She has also never ever not liked something I have turned in, which is a good sign. Is it awful that that makes me think she might give me the benefit of the doubt even if it's not the most awesome draft ever? [rhetorical]

I might be a bad person, and I'm totally okay with that. I am psyched for her class. Modern Political Thought can be soooo boring but I know she will make it awesome.

I went to the bookstore today and got the titles. I was actually able to check out all but one of the books from the LIBRARY! I was so thrilled about that. I love to make notes in books, but to save a couple hundred dollars I can deal with sticky notes. Two of my classes have no books listed, so I am assuming the readings will be posted on the course website in pdf form. Usually I hate this because it's expensive to print all of them and I hate reading them on the screen, but since I'm an office assistant in one of the academic departments my boss says I can print on their printers for free! I find this majorly exciting.

This is totally off topic, but S is coming home on Tuesday!! I haven't seen her in a month and a half, and it's been really hard. I'm so glad she'll be home for good now.

Continued good luck to everyone! Productivity dust headed your way! Amber, I hope you are having a great time in Texas!! I'm so thrilled for you about this job!

 

[katamari]

Congrats on finishing your drafts, Elegant and Wishful!

They always bring lots of work, but I agree that it is always helpful to get the feedback. Amber, I hope things are going well in Texas!

I got through the first round of my first grant application. The second draft is due this week, so I have been revising that and still being productive.

FI and I are also finally starting to make some ground on wedding planning. Dang, it is a lot of work--even for what we are doing, which is very small. And, I am quite proud of myself that I am being able to be productive on both fronts without loosing sight and getting wrapped up in either work or wedding world.

Wishful, glad that S is finally back! I hope you have some special time together planned--a month and a half is a long time! Too long!

I am glad January has been such a good month for us researchers! Hopefully Feb will be just as awesome!

 

[katamari]

By the bye, has anyone seen Delster posting lately? Delster, if you are out there, I hope things are going well for you!

 

[AmberGretchen]

Elegant - awesome on getting comments back from your chair, I''m so glad she was helpful

Wishful - you know how thrilled I am for you that you finished your draft - I''m sure the news will be good on the 29th, and in the meantime, work on being proud of your accomplishments and enjoy having S home

katamari - I''m so glad that you are making both academic and wedding planning progress - it is amazing how much there is to be done, isn''t it? I''m sure you will get through it and have a beautiful wedding though!

I agree with you - Delster, if you are out there, we are all still thinking of you and wishing you the very best!!

My update is both good and bad:

The bad: I came down with a HORRIBLE cold right before I left on my trip so I was sick as a dog the whole time. I still am very sick, and came home to a nasty note from my advisor asking why I had missed lab meeting and one other thing before I left...umm...because I was sick AND out of town. He treats me like a child and seems to always assume the worst when I miss a lab meeting or something and it really ticks me off - every single other person I''ve ever worked with has been impressed with my work ethic and its something I really pride myself on, and to have him always assuming the worst about me is really frustrating

Silly me, I thought that my uncontrollable coughing fits might be a little bit disruptive...

I did go to the doctor today, and the official diagnosis is "severe respiratory infection" - my asthma and the infection have made each worse, so I''ve got tons of meds and instructions to rest. Which means I''m likely missing my department''s retreat tomorrow which will make my advisor even less happy with me. So I''m kind of dreading what he''s going to say to me about that, and trying to just keep reminding myself that my health IS more important...right?

The good: I had an AWESOME time in Texas. My new co-workers are incredible - intelligent, interesting, sweet, lovely people, every single one. They were so warm and welcoming to DH and I both, and I really enjoyed meeting them and many of their spouses. We really had a great opportunity to see both cities and get a feel for the cities and the offices. So we''ve got a lot to think about with our Houston/Dallas decision, and we''ll probably make our decision in the next few weeks (when I''ll hopefully be feeling better). Either way though, we''re confident we made a great decision and so excited for our move - I never thought I''d be this excited about moving to Texas (no offense to Texans!) LOL. We just had such an amazing time despite how sick I was.

I can''t wait to finish school and start this job

 

[WishfulThinking]

Thanks everyone!

katamari- YAY for you that you''ve finished the first round of your grant application! I hope the second draft is going well. Wedding planning and grant-writing and research all at the same time sounds very crazy, and I am so impressed that you''re making progress in all those areas at once.

Amber- I''m so sorry you''re sick! Yuck! I can''t believe your advisor is being so unreasonable. That''s awful.

You are so responsible and have incredible work ethic [as everyone else obviously knows]. Is he like this with everyone? Your health is definitely more important. Your trip to Texas sounds just great! How will you ever decide between the two locations? I can''t wait to hear which you choose. Moving is going to be so exciting and YOU GOT THE JOB!

Still partying over here about that one.


According to an email from advisor 1 earlier today, I should be getting comments from both advisors viz email sometime today. They are going to make their recommendation "before tomorrow"... which I assume also means today. I''m a little nervous just because it''s a deadline, but I am trying not to think about it. There''s nothing I can do at this point.

Classes start tomorrow, which is a little nuts, but all I have is a dance class, and no classes on Fridays at all, so it''s a bit of an anti-climactic start.

OH!! S got accepted to her first choice grad program, so if all else goes well [*cough* funding *cough*] she will be a PhD student in Feminist Studies in sunny southern California this coming fall!

We''re so excited. The rest of the decisions haven''t come back yet, but since this is her first choice we hope the fellowships will come through, and it looks like she has an excellent chance of receiving one.

 

[AmberGretchen]

Wishful - AWESOME NEWS ABOUT S!!! YAY!!!!!

That''s seriously so great that she is into her top choice program. I''ll keep my fingers crossed for funding, but I have no doubt it will come through. Similarly, I have no doubts about your being advanced for honors, but will keep my fingers crossed that they don''t keep you in suspense too long

I''m still home sick, and still annoyed at my advisor. I have the official note from the Dr. though, and so I don''t really think there''s anything I can do, but I still resent being treated like an incompetent and lazy child. Plus, his most recent e-mail is him telling me (yet again) something different about which parts of my thesis/lab work I should be focusing on. I don''t think he''s ever told me the same thing more than twice in a row, and if I point it out to him, he always just acts like I''m too stupid to understand why it keeps changing. Lovely

Anyway, enough complaining from me - I''m just going to try to let it go as best I can and focus on getting better as soon as possible...

 

[WishfulThinking]

Thanks so much! I passed on your congrats and she thought it was so sweet! She''s so excited.

And... *drumroll*
I got the email today and and I''ve passed! I don''t have their comments yet, but I am pretty excited by what I do know. They attached me to their final recommendation email to the department chair, and the email was just *glowing*. I am so excited that they liked my draft so much, and that they''ve passed on their excitement about the project to the sort of scary and hard-to-please department chair, which is excellent! I am feeling pretty proud right about now!

Two deadlines down, three deadlines to go! Thanks for the vote of confidence, Amber. You guys are awesome. I really do think our little PS group is a great motivator. You guys are full of so much great information about all sorts of things, and it''s really helped me along. Thanks. <3

I can''t believe you have a Dr.''s note, but hopefully that will evoke some sort of understanding on the part of your advisor. Get better! You are neither lazy nor a child, and everyone else seems to have figured that out. I bet you can''t wait to finish up with him and move on to your dream job and great new colleagues in Texas! Light at the end of the tunnel and all that.

He sounds all over the place with his emails, but I''m sure you''re doing the best you can with them.

I''m sending get-well-soon dust your way!

Elegant, katamari, and everyone else-- dust to you too! I think Feb will be another productive month for us!

Delster, I miss you in here too! If you''re reading this I hope you''re doing well and thinking of you.

 

[Elegant]

Congrats, congrats, congrats Wishful!!!

 

[AmberGretchen]

Woohoo Wishful!!! Awesome news about being passed on for honors!!! I can''t tell you how much those recommendations will serve you down the road for grad school applications

I''m so happy for you and for S - you guys should go out and celebrate your wonderful accomplishments this weekend

 

[WishfulThinking]

Thank you again, Elegant and Amber! The plentiful good news coming in right now is pretty fun for us. We are definitely going to find time to celebrate this weekend, even with the semester just getting started. Better now than a week from now when there''s mountains of work to get through!

I hope you guys are still doing well, and that you''re getting better, Amber.

 

[SarahLovesJS]

Wow congrats to everyone for so such good news!!

And Wishful congrats to both you and your DW!

 

[WishfulThinking]

Thanks Sarah! Are you still waiting to hear back from all of your law schools? I''ve been thinking about you and sending you positive vibes!

 

[SarahLovesJS]

Date: 1/29/2009 8:21:30 PM
Author: WishfulThinking
Thanks Sarah! Are you still waiting to hear back from all of your law schools? I''ve been thinking about you and sending you positive vibes!

Thanks Wishful!! I got into one of the smaller ones so far. So wish me luck on the other 6! *fingers crossed* I haven''t put out a formal request for PS dust (haven''t done that very often)..I''ve been kind of absent lately and trying to stay low-key.

 

[WishfulThinking]

Date: 1/30/2009 2:05:38 AM
Author: SarahLovesJS

Date: 1/29/2009 8:21:30 PM

Author: WishfulThinking

Thanks Sarah! Are you still waiting to hear back from all of your law schools? I''ve been thinking about you and sending you positive vibes!

Thanks Wishful!! I got into one of the smaller ones so far. So wish me luck on the other 6! *fingers crossed* I haven''t put out a formal request for PS dust (haven''t done that very often)..I''ve been kind of absent lately and trying to stay low-key.

Congrats! Smaller is still an acceptance and something to be proud of! You know you''ll have someplace to go. That is how I think of it, anyways. I am always terrified that I won''t get in any place and then I''ll be stuck in limbo. Blech! I am sending you dust. I''ve been spending waaay too much time here, but classes just started so I''ll be a lot scarcer in the months to come. I can''t believe it''s senior year.

 

[SarahLovesJS]

Thank you! *Hugs* I was excited because it is nice to know I have at least one option, you know? It would mean a commute for FI for a while, but it''s manageable. And I totally know what you mean, I was afraid I wouldn''t get in anywhere. My classes started a few weeks ago so the work is picking up and ahhhhh I did not pick an easy second semester of the senior year.

Oops!

But I won''t worry...and you shouldn''t either, we''ll survive it!!

 

[AmberGretchen]

Sarah congrats on getting into law school!! Wishful is right - even if its a small school, its still law school, and you should be super proud of yourself

Fingers definitely crossed for the the other schools

 

[SarahLovesJS]

Thank you AG!!

My parents met FI and me for dinner tonight and they surprised me with a t-shirt from the school which was so sweet! They said they know I may not go there, but it''ll be nice to have at least. Anyway, thank you again!

 

[AmberGretchen]

Sarah - that is so sweet that your parents are so supportive! I always love hearing stories about that, as so many parents aren''t and I think its so lovely when they are

 

[katamari]

Sarah: Congrats on getting in to a law program! And, tons, tons, tons of dust for getting into your other programs!

Wishful: Yay to S! At least in our department, we still fund fellowship-eligible students even if the fellowship falls through. Since they are quality candidates, it means we want them.

AG: Hope you are feeling better now! Too bad your advisor is being a jerk, but at least you will be at home with all your new fantastic colleagues soon!


What great news! I love it when everything is going well!

 

[SarahLovesJS]

Thank you Katamari!! This is definitely a happy/uplifting thread right now, here''s more dust hoping it stays that way!

 

[katamari]

Hi everyone! I just sent my advisors my final NSF grant application; I am hoping to be able to send it off Wednesday. If you could, please wish me luck and cover me in dust!

And, speaking of the NSF, is anyone else worried about the proposed cuts to the NSF as part of the stimulus plan? I feel like several programs are getting hit that (at least I feel) need the money more than the NSF, but the plan looks very anti-science. As a sociologist, I am more lucky to get funding than I am dependent on funding to do my work. For some of you, though, my guess is that your department cannot sustain research projects without funding (I expect this is especially true for Amber and Clair). What is the word in your departments?

I should note that I am not trying to be political, as I know that is not the nature of this thread, so if this question is too political, just ignore me.

 

[AmberGretchen]

katamari - not sure about the funding for my programs, although I know it is necessary for projects to go through. My advisor is actually really lucky - he is super well funded, and so that''s a big stress reliever for him and for all of us, but because of it I probably don''t pay as much attention to the fluctuations in grant funding as I should...

TONS of dust for your application you just sent off - I really hope you get it!!

I, personally, could also use a lot of dust - I''ve got my thesis committee meeting coming up next Friday (2/20) and I''m SUPER nervous - I''ve got a ton of stuff to get done between now and then and I''ve really got to sell them on when I think I should be finished, and I have no idea how they are going to take it (that plus my new job is switching fields

). So yes, I could use tons and tons of dust between now and next Friday

 

[SarahLovesJS]

Sending tons of dust!!

 

[AmberGretchen]

Thanks Sarah - I could certainly use it, the anxiety is unbelievable - I can''t believe I still have 11 days left!!

 

[katamari]

AG: How is everything going with the committee meeting prep? I certainly hope all is well!

Tons of dust for you!


I submitted my NSF grant, so any dust you all could offer would be most appreciated!

I don''t think I should hear back from them until the summer, though, so no need to get worked up right now. I am writing my dissertation on a generally hot topic and I don''t need much money, so I hope there is enough left after the stimulus slashing to throw a little my way. A girl can dream. . .

I want to celebrate getting my grants in more than anything (well, maybe after napping and take a week off) but I committed myself to finishing two other papers by the end of the school year (eek!) so they could be in review over the summer to lighten my workload then. Doesn''t look like there is an end in sight, but the grants have made me make a TON of progress on my dissertation. I am at least at a point where I feel like it is utterly manageable--for now, at least.