@ACuriousMind completely random: have you ever eaten a bagel?

I just spoke to someone else from Germany who said he never had one until he came to the US

crazy

what do you people use as a cream cheese delivery mechanism?

but is your bread topologically nontrivial?

actually, the real problem with bagels is that there's no such thing as a decent one outside the NYC area

I don't blame people in other regions for not liking them

@0celo7 you poor, deprived child

why else do we have rigatoni, penne, and ziti?

^ very important

also, since when are fellowships named after living people still working there?

@GBeau it's called New Jersey

@FenderLesPaul you also have 2 more years to apply for NSF, which is a rather healthy minimum salary in most parts of the country

(your department will steal as much of the money as it can, but the NSF is pretty strict about the minimum and not teaching)

@GBeau yes, most grad schools want you living nearby, but honestly the majority of middle class north jersey people live there because they can't afford to live where they work, and they're making easily 5 times as much as you

it doesn't seem reasonable to place a school in the most expensive part of the country and then expect people to live there on less than minimum wage

@BernardMeurer In the US, any time in Aug, Sep, or Oct, depending on what the school feels like

and that's not counting summer-before-freshman-year prep courses, get-to-know-everyone events, and other such stuff

@FenderLesPaul I'd say not having to teach every semester is huge. I had to teach once for experience, and thus am able to graduate in 5 years. Every other department in my field takes 6-7 years to graduate, and many of these in large part due to teaching.

After all, if 20 out of your 60 (optimistically) to 80 (realistically) to 100 (unfortunately) hours per week are spent not doing research, you have to spend proportionally more time in school.

Beyond that though I'm not sure it matters. I guess this depends on what "research assistantship" means. It's not very well defined.

At some places, this is "do my dirty work that's unrelated to your education or thesis" whereas at others it's "we will have an easier time funding you if you can just connect your results to this grant"

Also, if they're not paying you during the summer, do they expect you to still work? Something to definitely ask them. At some places the defacto is everyone stays anyway and gets more money. At others, most people are spending summers interning in industry, so the school doesn't want to commit to funding people who are getting paid elsewhere anyway.

It might be a Princeton astro work ethic. My friends in other departments have noted we have pretty terrible work-life balance, including the faculty.

Then again, the thing about my research is it's hard to leave it at work. You go home, eat dinner, and think "aha! I know what to do next" and spend the next several hours working unexpectedly.

I mean, I've never known a lab biologist who spent less than 80 hours per week in lab -- at least we're not that bad.

@0celo7 There was actually a famous case in my field a few years ago, where a non-"elite" astro department berated its PhD students for not working 80-100 hours per week, saying they won't be able to compete with Princeton and Caltech (mentioned by name) if they don't step it up.

@FenderLesPaul He was responding to "UCSB's stipend blows"

one day, young grad student, you will learn the ways of the arrows in this chat room ;)

interesting -- my mobile shows the arrows -- not well, but they work

@dmckee look after my health? hahaha :(

I actually gained 20 lbs during job season

uhh... biology? conservation of mass?

my job does consist of sitting in a climate-controlled room all day long, moving only my fingers

I should probably only be eating 1200 calories/day, but I didn't evolve the ability to think well on an empty stomach

@0celo7 Further along than yours, actually