"In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world." –John 16:33

San Pedro Garza Garcia

Tag: UCSD

Christian’s brutal PhD recruiting trip

Day 925 of 1000

Christian’s PhD recruiting trip schedule was tough. Here is what he did:

  • Wednesday morning – Go to class at NCSU
  • Wednesday afternoon – Fly to San Diego (NC time–in bed after 1:00 AM)
  • Thursday morning – Up early to go do day one at UCSD (NC time–in bed after midnight)
  • Friday morning – Normal day, but in bed after midnight
  • Saturday morning – Up at 4:00 AM to fly to Phoenix
  • Saturday morning – Meets dad at airport, goes to interview at 10:30 AM
  • Saturday afternoon – Drive to Prescott. To be early
  • Sunday morning – Up early to go to meeting
  • Sunday afternoon – Drive to Flagstaff for Gospel meeting
  • Sunday evening – Drive to Phoenix
  • Monday morning – Board plane to Raleigh at 1:00 AM
  • Monday morning – Cannot sleep or work due to crying baby (not her fault)
  • Monday morning – Mom picks him up at 8:30 AM with clean clothes (change in car)
  • Monday morning – Go to class from airport

In N Out on Christian's recruiting trip

A lot of the trip was enjoyable, but most of it was just a grind. Christian went to all the recruiting festivities at UCSD. They held similar events at Arizona State, but Christian did not attend because of the timing. Not attending was a good thing. Christian’s sense was that those events, not unlike the freshman orientation he received at NCSU are a bunch of people posturing and acting like they are having fun as to an event where there is a possibility for a semblence of enjoyment. The exceptions to that were the meetings with the professors. That went very well both at UCSD and ASU, but the social aspects of these recruiting events must be extremely painful for the grad students and the professors.

It was great that he took the trip. He found out that professor contact is the important thing while planned University events are worse than just a waste. He stated that those social events were so painful, contrived and phony that they made him profoundly less likely to want to go to the school. The meetings with the professors made it a net positive, but it would have been way better if he could have just met the professors and gone home.

Christian applied to six schools. So far, he has been accepted by UCSD, ASU, and Stanford. He has been rejected by Berkeley and has not yet heard from Washington and UCLA. If he had to chose tomorrow, Arizona State would be the winner by a big margin for a variety of reasons that we will wait to discuss another day. He might get something better from the other two schools that have not yet contacted him, but they would have to be pretty amazing for him to change.

One of the very best parts of the whole trip was our stop at In ‘N’ Out, but that kind of goes without saying.

Betty Blonde #84 – 11/11/2008
Betty Blonde #84
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Graduate school update: Wearying of the process

Day 921 of 1000

Christian is at UCSD again today.  He likened the “recruiting event” to the freshman orientation he and Kelly attended when they started at NCSU.  The school plans a series of events that are supposed to be fun–mixers, dinners, hikes, etc.  The problem is that those kinds of things cant get to be pretty forced and phony, especially if it is with a bunch of kids whose only government/private high school followed by the typical undergraduate indoctrination.  That probably gets multiplied if you are an 18 year old teetotaler while everyone else is drinking, posturing, and trying to act grown up.  Today he is scueduled to get some one-on-one time with some professors, so hopefully it will get a lot better.  He made the comment that he is sure the school is a lot better than is being demonstrated by the artifcial circumstances of the recruiting event.

Update:  Life got dramatically better when Christian talked to the professor who is trying to recruit him.  It sounds like there is a very good much and Christian is pretty excited.  Now the decision to go to UCSD or ASU will be harder to make.

Betty Blonde #82 – 11/07/2008
Betty Blonde #82
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Ugliest library?

Some have argued that the Geisel Library (named after Dr. Suess and his wife, Theodor and Audrey Geisel) is the ugliest library and in the top ten ugliest buildings in the world.  I kind of like it.  Here is Christian’s snap:

Geisel Library UCSD (Christian's PhD recruiting trip)

San Diego recruiting event

Day 920 of 1000

UCSD San Diego airport recruiting event

Christian flew to San Diego yesterday for a recruiting event put on by the University of California San Diego.  Our good friends, Al and Michele and their whole family picked him up at the airport and will drop him off at UCSD this afternoon.  They will pick him up again tomorrow night after the recruiting dinner (We owe them big time!).  He will fly to Phoenix early Saturday morning where I will pick him up to take him for a visit with a professor in the Electrical Engineering department at Arizona State University. Then we hang out the rest of the day Sunday and he takes the red-eye home Sunday night.  Good times.

Betty Blonde #81 – 11/06/2008
Betty Blonde #81
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Christian flies tomorrow

Day 918 of 1000

After two hard exams today, Christian flies to San Diego to visit University of California San Diego tomorrow for a recruiting event.  This is the first time he will fly on his own based on something he did himself. We are very excited for him.  He has promised to send us some photos to post of the events he attends.  Our friends, Al and Michele are scheduled to pick him up at the airport tomorrow night and drop him off again Saturday morning to fly to Arizona for a visit with a professor at Arizona State.

More on a possible new blog owner soon…

Betty Blonde #80 – 11/05/2008
Betty Blonde #80
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PhD interview suits for Christian

Day 908 of 1000

PhD interview suit shopping 1Who knew homeschool would lead to something like this? My Dad bought me two brand new suits when I was about 30.  I needed them when I moved from an engineering function to a sales function in my first “real” job that was something that more than just a way to earn money to get by.  Neither he nor I could afford it at the time, but he did it anyway.  Now, I get to return the favor.

Christian is heading out to two interviews at University of California at San Diego and Arizona State University.  Both schools are considering him for full fellowships (not Teaching nor Research Assistantships, full blown fellowships).  He needs to look his best.  Lorena took him down to the Men’s Warehouse and they bought two suits, a blazer, and two, 100% cotton, white dress shirts.  PhD interview suit shopping 2I am dying to see how he looks, but the suits are currently with the tailor and will not be available until I leave on my next trip to Arizona.

The Men’s Warehouse gave him a $50 gift certificate for the stuff that he bought.  If we spend another $5-10, they will give him a second $50 gift certificate.  I did not like the ties and socks they picked out for him so he and I are going to run down there again tomorrow to spend the extra $100.  We might even add some clips (collar, tie, and money), a belt and some cologne.  I do not want Lorena to have all the fun.  The problem with Lorena is that she leans toward effiminate European style suits and they just will not do for an interview suit in the United States.  Christian needs a man’s suit!

PhD interview suit shopping 3I would love to buy some of this same stuff for myself, but I am still holding on to the illusion that I might lose some weight some day before too long.  Well, that and the fact that I do not have any mone left after making all these big expenditures.  I called my Dad and had a nice talk with him about it.  I do not think he even remembered that he had done it nor how much it meant to me. He just always did whatever he could to help us. I really hope that Christian gets to do this for one or two of his own sons someday.

Betty Blonde #71 – 10/23/2008
Betty Blonde #71
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Dueling invitations

Day 893 of 1000

Well, Christian’s second invitation has now arrived from the Electrical Engineering department at UCSD. How sad would it have to be to go to school at the beach in San Diego. They want him to fly out to visit the school at exactly the same time as the Arizona State invitation.  The professor who invited him is from what looks like a very interesting lab. Maybe there will be more, but he feels pretty grateful for these

Betty Blonde #58 – 10/06/2008
Betty Blonde #58
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