Grad School Survival Tips

[rmorelan]

I haven't been following this thread closely, so I don't know what's really going on after my most recent posts... but my advice to you: if you're hating your project and it's early into the program, sometimes they will let you switch supervisors. Talk to your departmental office.

 

yeah, politically a bit of a hot potato of course but really it is not a good idea to stay under such conditions in my mind. How are you going to achieve any of your goals like that?

[The Law]

yeah, politically a bit of a hot potato of course but really it is not a good idea to stay under such conditions in my mind. How are you going to achieve any of your goals like that?

 

Yeah, if you are absolutely hating it... you're not going to get anything out of the experience and won't perform to your best potential. It's two years of your life. It's better to fix the problem at the onset than to continue down a path that is clearly not working for you.

[D-Rock]

True. Plus, if you try and stick it out with this supervisor, and by next you hate him/her and s/he hates you, and your ultimate goal is medical school, there's no way you're going to get a good reference letter from that person.

 

I also would say to talk to the department advisor and seriously consider switching supervisors or departments. Most schools do not make it that difficult to do, although it does take a bit of leg work.

[PermanentWaves]

In regards to Satsuma's suggestion of applying for funding - I'm not eligible for the major awards and therefore cannot apply. I am in my first year of a direct PhD entry - as such, I do not meet the minimum 12-months of study required to apply to CIHR. As for OGS, as per my supervisor's personal advice, she doesn't believe its worth my time and effort to apply since she saw (in her time as an OGS reviewer) that students had to present with at least an 85-87% average to even be considered a somewhat credible candidate.

 

I am not sure what you mean. I know of no such requirement for CIHR. I applied for a CIHR award in my first year of graduate study. I moved beyond departmental review, so obviously my application was eligible. I am looking at the CIHR Doctoral Research Award page right now, and I only see the following requirements:

 

Specific Eligibility Requirements

 

Eligibility requirements specific to this funding opportunity include the following:

 

* The program is open to Canadian citizens and permanent residents of Canada. Only those students engaged in full-time PhD research training program in a Canadian graduate school are eligible for support.

* The award for which support is being sought should be under the supervision of a researcher who holds research funds obtained through a recognized competitive peer review process. Awards must be held at a Canadian institution.

* Candidates who already hold, or have held, a CIHR DRA, are not eligible for a CGS Doctoral Award, unless the term of the DRA awarded was less than the maximum allowed and they continue to meet the eligibility requirements as described in the DRA program description.

 

As for OGS, I don't see the harm in applying. IMO, I've never heard of a PI telling a student NOT to apply for funding. If you ask me, she is doing you an incredible disservice by not REQUIRING you to apply for funding. If you're doing a PhD, chances are that you will have to go through this process a number of times. Winning awards not only helps your supervisor/lab by alleviating costs, but it also facilitates winning other awards and makes you an attractive candidate for positions in academia or medicine. I myself received an OGS, and I do NOT have an 85-87% average. I don't understand where your supervisor pulled that number from, maybe things have changed since she was a reviewer. Just try. Surely if you have all this time on your hands, it's worth the effort. If you're already too late for applications, there are always other departmental awards, and the OGSST awards will be available for application later in the year (the only problem is those funds are usually earmarked for students in particular research fields).

[PermanentWaves]

It seems that you did a piss poor job of choosing your grad program (no offense). I have no idea what retrospective chart reviews are but it sounds like you're analyzing previously gathered data. How stimulating did you imagine that to be? Unless you're the person asking the questions and gathering the data, you're just a glorified computer. This no one's fault except your own. You can blame the REB (w/e that is) for not approving your project but didn't you know it was an unapproved project before you went into it? Especially if this is a PhD and not just a masters.

 

REB = research ethics board.

 

It's actually quite common for students to have their studies stalled while waiting for REB approval. One friend of mine basically spent the first year of her PhD waiting for ethics to go through, and this is for animal research (I imagine it's much worse for clinical research, when patient medical records are involved). However, in that time, she basically wrote the entire literature review for her thesis (I think roughly 50-60 pages worth), took courses, applied for awards, and TAed two classes. She did all of this before she even touched one of her animals and, quite obviously, it's put her in a better position.

 

GradStudent2009, if your project is currently under REB approval, then you at least know what that project is. If you have nothing else that you can do, you can at least start working on your written thesis (i.e. the literature review). I would also try getting necessary course requirements out of the way. Trying to balance research and courses is a tremendous pain. Try and pick up some TA opportunities also, if you can.

[Tabitha]

Don't expect every professor to be an advisor or mentor. Your boss might have twenty direct reports but your professor might see two or three hundred students a term. Build relationships by doing the assigned work before you attempt more personal interaction.