Journal of My Experiences and Opinions
Week 1: |
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Also, this program involves relocation of some students to live on the campus of their mentor for the summer. I dormed at my undergraduate school, but decided to commute to my mentor's school, Steven's Institute of Technology in New Jersey. The commute takes nearly 2 hours one way on the train. I have just begun and I am not used to this yet. My body's clock needs to settle in. |
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Week 2: |
The commute to Hoboken is much better now. I get to read on the train, which I like alot. We've also had some beautiful days. I ate lunch outside with a fellow female student one day. My Mentor also took me to lunch and suggested that every few weeks we have lunch with a different faculty member so I can hear different people's experiences and about each person's section in the computer science department here at Stevens. |
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Week 3: |
This was a busy week. I had an interview with a company I may be working with, so I had to leave early one day. It was very stressful and I got sick, which did not help. The interview went well and the next day I was feeling better and back to work. |
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Week 4: |
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I had lunch with a member of the computer security part of the CS department and one of her PhD students this week. It was very interesting to hear what they were working on. It was also interesting to hear about the PhD student's experience. She is from Grermany and keeps oming back to Stevens with different grants, each fo which she is not sure how long will last. She has a boyfriend at home who is frustrated with her constant traveling. She did her undrad and masters work in mathematics, which I am very interested in and now she is working with security, which she feels does not have much to do with mathematics. The professor also talked with us about why we think there are so few women in this field and why we like this field and what we think would make other women like it. Men can be very intimidating. I was attracted to the math and computer technology fields for thier structure, while I notice alot of men seem to liek them for different reasons. |
I also got some big news this week. The people from the interview I went on called and offered me the position as an IT Associate. There are very good benefits, including tuition reimbursement to a certain amount toward graduate school. I have decided to accept their offer, but it means that I will have to leave the DMP program early. I have enjoyed my time here, but it is required that I start my new job as soon as possible. |
Week 5: |
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There were also aspects of the conference that I did not like, however. There was a coffee break and a lunch break, but other than that the paper presentations went from one to the next, each about 25 minutes long, without a break. By the end of teh first day, I was so overwhelmed from trying to concentrate for so long on different topics, mostly new to me, that I got very nautious and sick. I really could not take it all in. By the second day I was better able to pace myself. I stepped out when I needed to, and tried only to really concentrate on every other presentation to give my mind a break. |
The other student in the lab and I met with another PhD student today. She studied engineering for her undergraduate and graduate degrees in China. She moved here to Stevens with her husband, who is pursuing a PhD in engineering, while she is getting her PhD in a computer vision and graphics, concerning a topic related to her undergraduate work. She was very nice and it was interesting to hear about her experiences with working so closely with her husband, with living and working in a foreign country, and with the difficulties surrounding a PhD, including certain qualifying exams. |
Week 6: |
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Lauren, the other girl in teh lab, and I saw a garden snake today, outside by the picnic tables, while we were eating lunch today. I love snakes. I have two ball pythons at home and I used to have a couple of garden snakes. It was cute. |
We had our last group lunch today, my last day. We spoke with several female professors and PhD students, 8 of us went in total, about their research, how many of them worked before getting their PhD (usualy about a year or 2) and about having children. It was really a great feeling to be sitting there with these wonderful, intelligent, motivated women who are fullfilling their academic and family lives at teh same time. I have an amazing amount of respect for them. I only hope that now that I am starting a new job and getting married, that I will be able to balance my family life, academics, and career as well. |