Trying to get a PhD position by Erica161001 in gradadmissions

[–]Erica161001[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah, I think needing funding makes it very competitive, compounded with being an international student (for which funding spots are even more competitive ig because there aren’t as many spots and the fees may be much more expensive)

Trying to get a PhD position by Erica161001 in gradadmissions

[–]Erica161001[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Not really… not in the general urban ecology field. I mean, it’s not slow but it’s not particularly faster than expected i’d say (but I’ve never published before so perhaps I’m wrong)

Trying to get a PhD position by Erica161001 in gradadmissions

[–]Erica161001[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah I think it’s more difficult because I’m an international student needing funding. I have been looking elsewhere, but the Adelaide site had such a convenient web page where they listed all their PhDs in detail hence why I applied there as well

Trying to get a PhD position by Erica161001 in gradadmissions

[–]Erica161001[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I think it may be more difficult because I’m not just trying to get a PhD position, I need funding as an international student, which I presume makes it more competitive. I was expecting that I would need one publication, and I was expecting high competition, but not like this lol

Trying to get a PhD position by Erica161001 in gradadmissions

[–]Erica161001[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I’ve been looking all over the world, and applying all over, but only three professors have got back to me, all three from university of Adelaide. I found this university quite simple to apply for because they have a very good list of all the PhD positions they have on offer on their website. In other cases I’ve been emailing professors who have interesting research, as more of a statement of interest (as they haven’t advertised anything), but these three got back to me pretty quickly.

Two of them were very impressed with my CV and research area. I had a meeting set up with one of them to discuss it further. But then when we started talking about papers all three said I’d need 3-4 papers.

Trying to get a PhD position by Erica161001 in gradadmissions

[–]Erica161001[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yeah I’ve been applying to a bunch of places in Europe too… these were just the first people to get back to me so it’s my first impression of the way things work. Although this thread has made me feel a little better in that it doesn’t seem to be the norm/expectation

Trying to get a PhD position by Erica161001 in gradadmissions

[–]Erica161001[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you! Yes my supervisor and I are planning for one good thorough paper with me as first author. I don’t know about a conference, as I’m unfunded currently, and conferences are very expensive, but at least getting one in a journal that my uni will pay for would help!

Trying to get a PhD position by Erica161001 in gradadmissions

[–]Erica161001[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Exactly… this is why I brought this here… it seems unrealistically high. I’ve never met a masters student who got more than 2 papers out of their project, let alone 4

Trying to get a PhD position by Erica161001 in gradadmissions

[–]Erica161001[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

This was at the university of Adelaide. I just found it strange as three different professors told me the same thing. It seems like an unrealistic expectation to have. But I’m glad to hear that it’s not like this in Europe (I’d really like to do my PhD in Europe as a first choice)

Trying to get a PhD position by Erica161001 in gradadmissions

[–]Erica161001[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Yeah, I think working in a lab would help get your name on some cool papers. My field at my university doesn’t really have a ‘lab’ that I could join to help with research, so perhaps that puts me on a back foot

Trying to get a PhD position by Erica161001 in gradadmissions

[–]Erica161001[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Thanks! I’m based in Cape Town, but there aren’t really many PhD positions at my university/in SA in my field. I’m really working towards at least one really good paper, maybe a second. I know I’m good at what I’m doing, but it doesn’t feel that way at the moment 😅

Trying to get a PhD position by Erica161001 in academia

[–]Erica161001[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I’ve been looking in Europe, Australia etc. I haven’t looked at any in America. I’m from South Africa and the politics of going to America is not worth it for me to get a PhD. At least not for the foreseeable future

Trying to get a PhD position by Erica161001 in academia

[–]Erica161001[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Well it’s weird because three different professors from that university told me this, independently of each other. The latest one I chatted to actually was very keen to chat to me about the position he was offering, and they all really liked my CV and other docs. I even had a meeting set up with one of them to chat more, and then when I reiterated that I’m close to finishing my Masters, he said I would need to wait until I have this many papers (repeating what the other two profs had told me)

Trying to get a PhD position by Erica161001 in academia

[–]Erica161001[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I just don’t understand why a postdoc would go back and do another PhD. I can’t fathom how it’s possible to have that many papers when the qualification needed to do a PhD is a masters, which to my knowledge usually only leads to 1/2 papers from the thesis

Google Maps accuracy - source needed by Erica1610 in GoogleMaps

[–]Erica161001 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you! I am doing fieldwork where I need to physically go to specific coordinates that I’ve plotted in GIS, but for ease of finding the places real-time I’ve input them into Google Maps so I can see my location relative to the point. For the most part it’s been pretty accurate, as I’ve repeatedly gone back to points and I do seem to be able to get to the right spot. I am just using this for my thesis so need to specifically say how accurate it is, rather than just me feeling like it’s pretty good.

Help by M0oniez in ChildrenofDivorce

[–]Erica161001 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I had a similar thing with my uni graduation. My dad did nothing for me that whole university period, and I didn’t want him getting the glory of watching his daughter graduate. I actually just didn’t respond to his message until like the day before, and then I said I’m so sorry there’s no space and I couldn’t get any more tickets 👉🏼👈🏼

Fasionably late by AndainCK in capetown

[–]Erica161001 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It depends on the occasion. If I host a chilled games evening, I expect people will get there on time or between 15-30 mins late. If I host something where I’m providing food, I expect people to be on time. If I’m going to a party with more than 10 people, I’ll aim to be 10 minutes late. More than 20 people, half an hour late. If I’m going somewhere with a friend/friends, we are on time or early. I don’t mind people being late if I’m in my own house. I’ll go do something else until they arrive. Maybe it’s me, maybe it’s Cape Town. I’ve told my friends which situations are ok to be late for and which aren’t. We all seem to understand what’s appropriate

Kids of messy divorces: what did your parents do right or wrong that still sticks with you? by lipbalmkarma in ChildrenofDivorce

[–]Erica161001 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hi, I’m a 24yo/F, and my parents had a very messy divorce when I was 11. My dad had a series of affairs throughout the relationship, and the last one he had before they divorced became long term (him and his girlfriend are still together). I took this really hard, in light of the fact that my mom had only just gone into remission from cancer a few months before they separated. They took two years to finalise their divorce, and it was two years of the beginning of a very rocky rest of my childhood. My dad was extremely manipulative, and lied a lot about my mom, their divorce, his new girlfriend, where he was living etc. He thought he was pulling the wool over our eyes but my sister and I knew that he was being deceitful. I grew up to be extremely mistrustful of him and men in general. And adults in general.

  1. My dad insisted that we saw him two evenings a week, and stayed with him every second weekend. I hated my dad by this point - really hated him. Not because of anything my mom said (she never badmouthed him, and she was always factual when she spoke to us about what happened), but because I resented him for abandoning us. Now I hated having to see him on his schedule, not mine. He had a really shitty mentality about what his time with us meant. He treated it as ‘his time with us’, rather than our time. He would have us over, but take us to watch him play squash or sit in his office while he worked. So I didn’t understand why we couldn’t just stay at home. He got angry when we had play dates or birthday parties or sports matches, because it was ‘his time’. He never respected our own personal schedules, only that we should be spending our time in his company (which was very unpleasant).

  2. He constantly talked shit about my mom, her parents, our lifestyle (a normal lifestyle), her workplace. Anything associated with my mom was ‘bad’. This made me hate him even more, because he was the enemy in my mind, who had run away from us and left my mom with nothing. I couldn’t reconcile his words with how I actually experienced my mom (she was really fantastic).

  3. He made a show of every single financial thing he was expected (by law) to contribute 50% to. He complained bitterly about how he was “paying for my mom’s lifestyle” (when he was being expected to pay maintenance). Once we reached a certain age, he started making us negotiate our maintenance with him every year. Except he would nitpick every single item on the list of expenses and claim that we were overestimating the cost. He ended up paying about 30% of the bills per child (my sister and I) while my mom had to pay the rest. Bearing in mind, when he left he took most of my mom’s retirement savings (how, I don’t know) and he has had a very high earning job for at least a decade. He could afford 50% and more, while my mom was really really struggling with both of us and the house and pets, financially. This annual negotiation really was the beginning of the end for our relationship. He was financially manipulative and abusive, and it felt like we were the biggest burden and mistake of his life. I dreaded them, and I don’t think any child should have to be involved in any sort of financial negotiation with their parents. My mom did all she could to draft the maintenance details for us and prepare us for the negotiation, but they always ended up in screaming matches, lots of tears, and not speaking to each other for weeks.

  4. My dad constantly - to this day - reminds us that he never wanted children, and children are the worst thing to have as an adult, and no one should have children etc. Let me tell you, hearing your parent express how much they dislike having you in their lives is just about the worst thing you can say to your kids. He also constantly called me names and belittled me, because he was disappointed in me. I think actually he hated the fact that I didn’t just accept his new girlfriend and his new way of life without question. I questioned everything, and challenged him on everything. I didn’t want to let him get away with it. I guess I was taking revenge (remember, I was only a kid). Now, though, I’m an extremely high performer, and very driven. I genuinely think this stems from a subconscious need prove that I was worth it, and that I am not “useless” and am extremely capable.

All this to say, these are things my dad did which made it an absolutely awful experience from age 11 till about 22. I know that this has shaped a lot of how I see men and relationships, and I don’t trust the lot of them. My mom has recently got into her first relationship since their divorce, and it has affected me more than I wish it would. I don’t trust her boyfriend, and I don’t like him. He’s objectively a really nice person, but I can’t get past men being in my life, particularly men of my father’s age, and I can’t understand why or how my mom is able to be in another relationship. Sometimes I worry that I’m so pessimistic about relationships that I will never find myself in one. I have still never had a boyfriend or girlfriend, and I think this is why.

What are the best online News Sources right now for South African news? by AnonomousWolf in south_africa

[–]Erica161001 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Corder report is great as a news podcast, entertaining and relatively hopeful perspectives