(Part 2) Best products from r/GradSchool

I don't know what you've already done to prepare, so I'll write this starting from the ground up.

1. READ: First thing I did was read Kvale's book on interviewing. I found it really helpful. There are loads of other books you can read on different qualitative methods and interview techniques. This book is pretty comprehensive, though admittedly it's been a while since I've read it.
   
   
2. HARDWARE: You'll need at least two tape recorders to run during the interview, you don't want one of those to die. It's happened to me and it made feel so unprofessional! I used Olympus VN-8100PC because they were provided by my lab.
   
   
3. PRACTICE: Unfortunately the best way to get better at interviewing is to practice interviewing. If you're real ambitious, perhaps you'll do a test run with a viable candidate. I did a few interviews for my Masters, 13 individual and 7 focus group, and the more I did it the better I was at it. Individual interviews are much simpler than focus groups, so you're lucky. Just remember to probe and deflect. Sounds dirty, I know, but that's basically what I've found to be the key to interviewing. Also, remember why you're there. It's really easy to let people go off on tangents, but it's your job to keep them on track. Oh, and I guess make sure your interview script meets your needs.
   
4. THE INTERVIEW: It shouldn't be too tough to keep your participant's comfortable and engaged. They've already agreed to participate in your interview and presumably signed a consent form, so they know what's up. In my experience, everyone was pretty chatty and I just had to sit back and steer the conversation. You should probably offer them water, a snack isn't really necessary for an individual interview, as it should probably only last about an hour. And bring a notepad and pen with you. I usually write down probing questions so I don't have to interrupt them.
   
   
5. TRANSCRIBING: Transcribing is awful. Luckily, individual interviews go pretty quick. Express Scribe is great for transcribing. You can get a free trial on the website that you can uninstall and re-install a few times to really get your bang for your buck. Windows Media Player and whatever Apple alternative are also good, but Express Scribe is better. I usually allotted about twice as long as the interview for the transcription. I listened to the interview at half speed and transcribed what I could without stopping the recording. Then I'd go back and fill in what I missed. This is the technique that preserved most of my sanity. I've also heard a rumor that smoking just a little bit of weed helps with this transcription. I've never done this of course. Just a rumor.
   
   
6. CODING SOFTWARE: I don't know how you'll be analyzing your interviews, but my guess is you'll need coding software. I use NVivo because it's what is available to me, but I know Atlas is more popular and less expensive. There are books available on how to use these programs. It's a little difficult to explain over the internet. There's also the ghetto/free method of just using a Word document and utilizing the comment and highlight functions. Whatever floats your boat. A coding program is fancy and probably more effective, but ultimately not necessary.
   
   
7. CODING: Coding is awful and it never ends. Again, I don't know if this is what you're doing. I'm only experienced with qualitative coding, and if that's what you're doing then I recommend this The Coding Manual for Qualitative Researchers by Johnny Saldana. It discusses every type of coding ever. I haven't really looked into quantitative stuff (e.g. frequency counts), but I'm sure there's easily accessible information.
   
   
   Well shit, I put more effort into that than I did my thesis. Upvote me, damn it! And let me know if you have any questions, because I probably missed some points.
   

Very cool, congrats on your acceptance!!

Because it's a more competitive school, you may have some trouble securing an opportunity for independent research. I went to a pretty non-competitive undergrad institution, so I basically just showed up and asked and professors were happy to have me. Unfortunately I don't think grad programs care much about how competitive it was to obtain your research position. I was very open in my grad school interviews that my less competitive school allowed me to just show up and ask to do independent research, and they just agreed that that gave me an advantage and moved on.

I would recommend pursuing the lab work you're planning on doing. In addition to that, I would make a point to make a good impression on your new psychology professors with the intention of approaching them about research at the end of a semester. Look into professors' research and determine who you match well with, then approach them about it. Never just go up to a professor and ask what their research is in and if you can join their lab. They're interested in research assistants who are actually interested in their work. (It is also important to note here that, while it is absolutely ideal to find research positions related to your long term goals, what's most important is that you conduct independent research, so make sure you prioritize this above all else.)

I would strongly recommend purchasing a copy of this book I've heard it referred to as "The Bible," and for good reason. It has everything you need to know and is an invaluable resource. And use your resources at your new school - professors are there to help, so identify someone who has a background you're interested in and utilize their knowledge!

Ha thanks. At least someone is!

I'm applying Barbara F. Walter's credible commitment theory to current South Sudan documents (there isn't an agreement yet), as well as the Addis Ababa Agreement of 1972 and the Comprehensive Peace Agreement in 2005.

The theory states that in order for a peace agreement to be successful, the agreement must have power-sharing provisions and a 3rd party security guarantee. Statistically, this has proven successful in every case except Angola. In practice, however, I do not foresee it being consistently successful due to United Nations enforcement issues, as well as issues with international law should that 3rd party not be the UN, and perhaps be another country or body. It is at this point that I started to lose my belief. Also, statistically, it is better to have a rebel military victory rather than to bother with peace agreements as they often fail.

You can read more about Walter's theory in her book.

Yes. That's the burden of moving into another culture. Ideally you should get some help from your advisor with it, but you are still the one who needs to do the bulk of the adjustment.

FWIW, it'll come in very handy later in your career, when you can put 'culturally aware' on your resume as a skill. But you are the one in their environment, and you can't expect them all to conform to your expectations. They are probably already making allowances that you aren't aware of.

Your advisor may have been giving you subtle behavioral clues that you've missed. Try talking with him about cultural differences; he may be able to give you more guidance to how things are done there, and can certainly give you a better handle on his expectations. But you need to be more aware that cultural differences are getting in your way. You seem to feel entitled to being accommodated; that's another very American trait, and not a good one. The stereotype of the Ugly American came from reality, just like many other stereotypes. We are not that special that the rest of the world should be accommodating us.

I've run into this many times in different countries. You'd be surprised at how many people think Americans are overly friendly, effusive, and loud. We call everyone by their first name and we generally aren't shy about our opinions, whether it's about politics, religion, money and finances, people's working styles, or lifestyles. And we're very casual in our dress and mannerisms. It can really rub people in other cultures the wrong way. Try observing more closely how they treat each other, and find ways to live with it.

And you will always be a guest in their country, at least until you become a citizen. Act like it, be more respectful, and play by their rules. When in Rome...

Edit: Here are some books(and this one)that may help with the transition. And please realize--this situation is by and large not a function of you personally, it's a cultural clash. Right now it may seem like they're rejecting you as a person, but they really aren't--they are put off by your americanisms. Try not to be hurt by that. It can feel very personal, but it's really not. Once you understand the culture better and how to function within it, you'll be fine. Meanwhile, finding friends in the international student groups and other interest groups would probably be a good idea.

Entry level "PhD-level jobs" outside of academia are few and far between in Neuroscience, but consistency and planning will land you something eventually:

Start here: [Versatile PhD] (http://versatilephd.com/), [SfN Neurojobs] (http://neurojobs.sfn.org/jobs), ["So what are you gonna do with that?" Book] (http://www.amazon.com/What-Are-Going-With-That/dp/0374526214), [A PhD is not enough! Book] (http://www.amazon.com/PhD-Is-Not-Enough-Survival/dp/0465022227).

Also [www.indeed.com] is probably the best job hunting site I have found out there.

My first piece of advice:
Start job hunting and making connections now. "PhD-level jobs" are hard to find and you will have to lower your expectations a bit, especially on your first job. While long term, the degree can be a huge advantage, that is not the case immediately after grad school and you will need to be flexible.

As you explore, you will see some immediate career options are:

Adjuncting with the hope to land a faculty position at a Community College, academic scientist, medical scientist (at a hospital lab), medical devices, teaching high-school, government (NIH, NIMH etc.), science writing (grants, journals, editing etc.), learning code/stat programs (R, Python, SAS, SQL, MATLAB etc.) and taking those quant skills into 'big data', or going the more typical pharma industry route.
Consulting is another popular option, but they typically like people with some industry experience (I've seen on average 10-15 years).

The pay varies wildly on all of these, but if you are looking for the biggest bang for your buck that lines up with your (hopefully still present) passion for Neuroscience...

The pharmaceutical industry would be a great place where a Neuro PhD could thrive. From my colleagues in Neuroscience who eventually got some type of industry job, two truths rang through before they made the transition:

1. Either they had their foot in something before/during gradschool which is why they were getting a PhD in the first place (the minority).
   
2. Post-doc and then industry (the majority).
   
   Unfortunately, a post-doc is almost unavoidable based on today's job market. I've seen people taking industry post-docs, which are competitive, but lead to the nice jobs and salaries you believe your degree entitles you to.
   However, there are several who took academic post-docs and bought themselves time, experience, and a bloodlust for a good job, which eventually landed them something that was 70k+ in industry and they can work up from there.
   
   Point is, there are options out there. The key is persistence, research, flexibility, and of course: networking.
   
   

A lot of times procrastination is a sign of a deeper symptom - wanting to be perfect and tying your self worth into it. A lot of times, people (including myself) will put off anything that might threaten this view that we have of ourselves as perfect because failing threatens our self worth. It kind of goes like this.

1. Have project with deadline
   
   
2. Pressure builds, you put it off because if it doesn't work out, you're not to blame right? You never really gave it your best shot.
   
   
3. More pressure, deadline comes putting a fire under your ass to get it done.
   
   
4. Its completed, maybe not 100%, but its good enough and hey, if I really had tried, it would have been spectacular.
   
   
5. Success from the previous round means more work. Promise of more work and more chances to fail only lower motivation. You feel shittier and the cycle continues.
   
   I think this is extremely common. So how do you break out of it? Its not easy, but you have take steps to detach yourself from this constant perfect vision of yourself and just be willing to do the work to a level below perfect, but do it consistently. Have a huge paper? Just write an outline with some good not great paragraphs and add to it later. Huge project? Get a small step of it done. Success and feeling successful isn't about "winning" or being perfect, its about steady, small bits of production.
   
   A good book is The Now Habit, that helped me with some of these feelings.

OP, it's great that you're recognizing this need early! I was in the same position as you (0 programming experience), so perhaps I can offer you my strategy:

I started off learning R, because a lot of biological data analysis packages have already been written for it (see Bioconductor, http://www.bioconductor.org). R and it's corresponding IDE (RStudio) are easy and free to download:
http://cran.us.r-project.org
https://www.rstudio.com

For a super basic introduction to R (this will take you only a few hours), see Code School's 'Try R' tutorial:
http://tryr.codeschool.com

All Bioconductor packages come with a reference manual and sample data that you can use to practice. Also, most have a corresponding publication that explains the algorithm/stats behind it. I just went through and picked a few packages that seemed like they would be useful for the type of data my lab analyzes.

When I finished going through those and running practice data sets, I decided I wanted to actually learn R from scratch so I could understand what each function does. To that end, I bought a few O'Reilly books:
Learning R (http://shop.oreilly.com/product/mobile/0636920028352.do)
R for Everyone (http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0321888030?pc_redir=1398333875&robot_redir=1)

I've been dedicating my Mondays to going through the books, chapter by chapter, and doing all the exercises. It's been really helpful, and I'm finding it easier and easier to understand the Bioconductor packages.

Finally, I enlisted some other grad students that had no experience but also wanted to learn, and together, we started a weekly meetup in which we each select and demonstrate a Bioconductor package. This basically forces us to keep up with learning and master the packages, since we don't want to lose face :)

Next, I'm planning on diving into Python, but for now, learning R has proven very useful.

Hope this helps a bit, and good luck!

• Bike: commuting made easy, exercise
  
• Over the ear headphones (US$100): [Sennheiser HD 280 pro][sennheiser]
  
• [Mendeley]: Organize papers and notetaking, with cloud support. Free and cross platform
  
• [yEd]: draw publication-grade diagrams in ludicrously short amounts of time. Export to various formats. Free and cross platform
  
• [LyX]: LaTeX editor for writing papers everything
  
• Coffee maker at my desk
  
• Some snacks at my desk
  
• Set of disposable forks in my drawer for when I need them
  
• An overnight kit (soap, etc, clothes, towel) to shower at the gym if I pull an allnighter
  
• A good backpack that holds everything. It also has hip straps (better for my back)
  
• Podcasts to listen to, when walk/bus to/from school
  
• Automated data backup solutions (I use gDrive, Dropbox, time machine for data backups, and Amazon Prime cloud storage for photo backups)
  
• xkcd and other webcomics for relief
  
• Netflix and Spotify for entertainment
  
• Rice cooker and food processor (reduces chopping time by 90%)
  
• Friend with a Costco membership (buy meat in bulk and stick it in a freezer)
  
• A comfortable keyboard (it's made all the difference to my wrists and forearms)
  
• A tiny pharmacy (acetaminophen, ibuprofen, pseudoephedrine, vitamin C,D)
  
• Spare socks in my backpack
  
• A full set of must-have applications for my computer/phone/tablet to make automate the tech side of work
  
• A calendar app that works for you (I just use Google Calendar)
  
• [Alarmy] (free version): phone alarm clock that you can set up to turn off only when you take a picture of a specific thing (mine's set to my shower head in my washroom)
  
• Plants at home: ambience and smell (basil, lemongrass, lavender)
  
• Tiny screwdriver kit in my backpack: for when I need to open up a computer or hard drive
  
• Automated billing to my visa and web banking
  
• Gym clothes under my desk for the school gym
  
• Fitness ball to sit on (the first month is a little rough, until you build up your back muscles). Once you get used to it, it's very comfortable, good for your core/posture/back; and you can bounce on it at work
  
• a stash of scrap paper on my desk to write immediate to-do's on
  
• [Asana]: task tracking
  
• Google Keep: list making
  
  [sennheiser]: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000065BPB/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1
  [mendeley]: http://www.mendeley.com/
  [yEd]: https://www.yworks.com/products/yed
  [LyX]: http://lyx.org/
  [Alarmy]: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=droom.sleepIfUCan
  [Asana]: https://app.asana.com/
  

Khem_kid (cool name!) This is my suggestion to you- this may be old school, but I feel the best way to learn is to actively take notes by your own hand. Taking your budget into consideration, purchasing a tablet that is under a $100 may not adequately help you take down notes using a stylus. There might be glitches along the way, the interface may not be able to properly take down your handwriting and convert it with accuracy. What you can do is, purchase a cheap tablet, and then take pictures of your notes with your iPhone and upload them to dropbox, google drive. This way, if for any reason you are unable to access iCloud (which you shouldn't have any issues) you'll be able to retrieve your notes.

Dropbox is a great tool for students. I used this heavily during my time. Always with you on the go. The Samsung Galaxy Tab A is 9.7 inch, and about $189. So it meets your budget.

Galaxy Tab

Congrats on starting your PhD and all the best! You'll do well.

I’m currently teaching myself French for a translation exam as well, and I’ve found this book to be super helpful in teaching me grammar basics, common expressions, and fairly useful vocab. I also like it because it starts giving you reading exercises really early on so it’s good practice for a translation style exam. Once I have a better grasp on the basics I’ll move up to reading like a high-school level book in my research area, and then to academic articles from there.

Also: don’t let German intimidate you!! The hardest thing with German for me was that it was my first language that used cases, but since you know Latin you’ve already got that down. Also if you happen to be a history student once you know some German you should get Deutsche Geschichte by Manfred Mai, it introduces a lot of common history/culture vocab in context and was super useful to me when I was learning. Good luck! :)

I'm a 7th year ABD in the writing trenches. I've been stuck exactly like you, and since you're on Phinished, you know it's a common, normal part of the process.

Here are my tried and true remedies for getting out of the funk.

• Write it out. Write about your fears. Are you afraid of sounding stupid? Are you afraid being found out? Are you afraid that you have too much work to do? By articulating these fears, you can then develop strategies to cope. I also find it helpful to write my dumbest ideas. I challenge myself to write as herpderp as I can and often I find that my dumbest ideas aren't really dumb at all.
  
  
• Make a cohort. If you're not close to your cohort, try to reach out to other folks in your situation. If you're close to a university, reach out to a similar department and see if they would be interested in a writing group. I know that a few cities like San Francisco have Shutup and Write Meetups which I've heard are successful
  
  
• Keep a journal. I scoffed at journal writing, it seemed like a waste of time and too touchy feely. But then a colleague recommended a great book with exercises for teaching and writing that can help push the process along. Journal Keeping
  
  
• Work is writing. I only get to work on my diss for a few hours a day (full-time, stay at home mom) so I don't always get to write. But I always make time to work. Whether it's online research, organizing my notes, or writing original content. I find that the Pomodoro Technique works well in constrained schedules.
  
  
• PhDChat. I know you're a member of Phinished, but I also find #PhdChat on Twitter and Google+ to be a great and immediate resource for advice, motivation, and support. There's a discussion every Wednesday about a chosen topic, and they log all topics on the PhdChat Wiki I know a few people even started their own splinter writing groups using the hangout feature on Google+.
  
  Basically, there are a lot of us out there like you and you can do this, the secret is just to keep going.
  
  Good luck!
  

Currently I'm learning German for my language requirements, and have never taken a German class in my life. You can definitely try to teach yourself if you'd like, and when you do you will be able to focus on what's most important for grad school (i.e. reading comprehension.) If you're interested I'd recommend reading this book to learn about the best and most efficient ways to teach yourself a foreign language: Forever Fluent

Otherwise, you can see if there are any online or local classes which provide courses on the language(s) you are hoping to learn.

You may also be able to get funded traveling opportunities through your school (to take a language immersion program, or to actually study abroad in a place that speaks the language you are hoping to learn, though this may be more difficult with languages such as Latin!)

If you decide to go the self-taught route, I can provide advice or resources if you'd like. Good luck!

I really liked Reading Statistics and Research for figuring out what stats mean in the context of other papers. I think it covered everything through my 3rd stats course.

When I'm trying to figure out which tests to use in my own research, how to do them (in SPSS), and how to interpret them, Laerd Statistics is my go-to. There's some information on there for free, but a subscription is super cheap and worth every penny. I'm not usually the type to drop money on something that I could figure out for free with Google, but having one website to go to that includes most of the basic stats, and where the explanations always make sense, are super detailed, have good sources, and are step-by-step (including things like checking for assumptions and how to write about your results) --I think it's totally worth $26 per year.

ETA: I'm also in social science.

Unfortunately, I don't know that there is a way to have that kind of mobility as a therapist, specifically (somewhat more mobility as a research-only PhD!). And, while I definitely think some of the license mobility stuff is arbitrary and unhelpful, some of it is definitely not. If you are interested, Crazy Like Us by Ethan Watters has a great example of how well meaning and perfectly qualified therapists can enter another culture and cause psychological damage due to their lack of understanding of interventions that are justified within that particular cultural context -- https://www.amazon.com/Crazy-Like-Us-Globalization-American/dp/1416587098

I don't know where you are at in your life currently, but it may be worth just living your life for a bit and taking time to clarify what your career values actually are. (E.g. if living in another country is a top priority right now, you could join the Peace Corps or something along those lines!) A career counselor might be good to chat with, as well.

I've been using the Samsung Chromebook V2 for a while now, and I love it. It's a Chromebook 2-in-1, but it's actually good. When it's in tablet mode, it's very thin (like 1st Gen iPad thin) and works very well with your finger or the stylus.

The device is very snappy, lasts all day, and is quite comfortable to work on as a laptop. And it's only $400. It's very comfortable for taking notes and reading/marking up papers, and I find the stylus to be very comfortable and accurate even when compared to an iPad's pencil.

Most of what I teach is covered in the classic work How to Read A Book from the 1950s; happily there is a new 2012 edition but the 1972 one is fine as well.

I didn't learn how to read efficiently until grad school, and then only through trial and error. Most of what I discovered on my own can be understood as part of Adler's "active reading" strategies from this book. If everyone read it as an undergraduate and practiced the techniques grad school would be a lot easier. I push my undergrads to read a lot, sometimes 250-400 pages for a single class; it's impossible at the beginning of the semester but by the end they can all do it.

We also focus on note-taking strategies in the class. They have to take notes on everything they read, and I read (and grade) their notes throughout the semester. It's a lot of work for all of us but the students say it helps tremendously both with their speed and comprehension-- and I think it boots their confidence as well.

A Ph.D. is not Enough-Peter J. Feibelman

Getting What You Came For-Robert Peters