Posts tagged “Graduate school”

Working on the weekend

My office is a difficult place for me to get work done during the week. 9 of us share a space. Between the battle over whether to keep the glaring, buzzing fluorescent lights on or off,  the very warm temperature, phone calls, random chit chat, TAs having their office hours, people coming by to ask […]

While you’re waiting for the bus

You can work for UPS if you’ve got a bad back, but not if you’re pregnant. Voter suppression scares the bejeezus out of me. Only rich white folks deserve to vote? I think overcast days are actually rather nice. My biggest obstacle to getting a job outside of academia is that most jobs are utter […]

I’m not a special snowflake

When I started graduate school, I knew I didn’t want to do the tenure track professor thing. To be successful, I’d have to work harder than I think I can physically work and harder than I know I want to work [Seriously, it’s really hard to even get your foot in the door]. But I […]

Dealing with rejection

A few years ago, I applied for and received a really prestigious fellowship. I had to turn it down because they don’t let you take it out of the country (GRRR). But I didn’t give up. I took that application, made it even better, and applied for a similar fellowship in my new country. I […]

Bus stop reading

Mathbabe takes on two articles inthe Economist about why women don’t get married and why more women aren’t running companies. Short answer: it sucks. Also, I’d like to see another article come out where the Economist asks the question, Why are smart men willing to spend their lives in the quest of leading these companies, considering […]

Congratulations! (not)

Several months ago I received a letter from my fellowship funders, self-congratulatory and long winded as all such letters are. But the patronizing tone was quickly forgotten at the line “your fellowship is being increased by $X for the next academic year.”  Then there was great rejoicing  among the fellowship recipients. Great plans were laid for […]

Breaking the grad student budget

Grad students joke, cry, and complain about being poor. As a grad student, I definitely don’t make a lot, but I make enough to eat well, live in a cozy apartment, and make a dent in the debt I racked up as a student with no health insurance. Quite frankly, I feel positively wealthy sometimes. […]