Seven a.m. and I cannot sleep. Very happy to say that my doctoral defense yesterday went as well as it could.
So, as my co-supervisor put it, I'm now "on the academic market" :D
I think the best part of this (except for my wonderful colleagues and friends, who celebrated me yesterday) is that I may now write about whatever I feel like (after finishing the projects I'm already involved in …)! #PhDlife @academicchatter
Photos are coming in from the #IN2FUTURE Boot Camp, #IN2PAST's first doctoral school, which began on Saturday in Évora.
Experimentation, immersion, collaboration, sharing, reflection — that's what we are offering PhD students from the seven research centres that make up the Associated Lab.
"She criticized my organizational skills and told me that she didn’t see a passion or spark for doing research in me."
Pleading to passion are cop outs for not paying your, or providing sufficient guidance. This was squarely on the PI to begin with, by not reading the room or asking for timely feedback on workload. The the response left a culture of fear (nor one of responsibility and disclosure). Poor management as ever.
(This will be a very long list by the end of the year if I keep it up. We'll see.)
Your statements are basically done after the first few deadlines. I always thought I'd customize extensively for each school.
Nope.
On a week like this (with so many apps due Sep 15), you just don't have time. You have to trust that you already put in the work with your base template. It's a mental shift from fellowship apps.
A few weeks ago someone told me your first practice job is always trash (so don't stress and rip off the bandaid).
I gave my first practice job talk yesterday. Calling it trash might be a little too self-deprecating... but let's just say I've got a LOT of revisions to make. Whew.
Going back to the #JobTalk, I like Betty Lai's advice emphasizing the need to tell a story with your talk.
I generally enjoy presenting my research to an audience (mostly as an escape from writing), but the job talk is a completely different genre. Still learning the rules but getting better.
An offer is great, but then you have a decision to make. Fast.
And I gather that it's not uncommon to have to make that decision before you hear about other options.
Generally, I try not to post about a stage (i.e., job talk) until a few weeks after I've experienced it. Time to process and such. But this one is in real-time. And boy it's tough.