Cup of Tea

As Karlito said, you will probably find a lot of useful information at

CT Suite: The Work of Diagnosis in the Age of Noninvasive Cutting by B. Saunders and Twice Dead: Organ Transplants and the Reinvention of Death by M. Lock. I swear this is for fun!

Flowerblitz, I still have nothing from Northwestern either... Not knowing sucks. I just want to be clear on my situation so I can focus on making a final decision.

I am starting to feel underprepared too.. I was just sent a list of other prospectives, and the vast majority of them are coming in with MAs, interesting work experience and the like, and I do not have either. I obviously can't make up for that right now, but it makes me doubt myself a lot. I am coming straight from my undergraduate studies; will I be able to relate and keep up with such a cohort? To Stell4, if I was switching fields, I would probably want to get acquainted with the current state of my new area first, probably pick up the a few key books at the library. Like TropicalCharlie said, it is probably also a good idea to familiarize yourself with the faculty's work; plus you can trace the references they make in their papers and identify relevant literature in the field.

This is just like listening to myself. Fit-wise, both universities are perfect, I am unable to judge the location (international), and from talking to current students, I would be happy at either place. It is just the ranking, which is obviously important in terms of what I get to do after the PhD. So this is the only thing keeping me from accepting Rutgers' offer right away; after a lot of pleasant exchanges with the faculty and graduate students, I am obviously very drawn to them, but I keep thinking maybe I should wait, even though I am not sure how I would react if I really was offered a place. On the other hand, I gather Rutgers' funding offer is better, and that is also a factor. Oh well.. My ramblings aside, good luck to everyone waiting.

I'm in the same situation. Waitlisted at Wisconsin-Madison, accepted with full funding at Rutgers, which is actually a perfect fit for me. Ranking aside, I it is probably even better. The what-if bugs me a bit (especially after I was told I was at the top of the wait list), but I am not sure I should even wait. I know I would be extremely happy at Rutgers, but on the other hand, would that be a significant setback, academic career-wise?

Thanks guys; now if only someone could wave their magic wand and make a decision instead of me... Chibuku, you have a PM

I still have nothing from Northwestern... And UBC/Toronto, but they are on a different timeline. Northwestern really bugs me though. Why can't they just make it official?

Thank you both for your quick and informative responses! I have also contacted the department just to make sure I understood them correctly. Figuring out things will not work out financially three years into the program is the last thing I want to do... Ktel, your logic makes a lot of sense, and as Sabb states, I really should save some of that $40,000 chunk from the first year. I do have one more question, though. Do students in Canada usually stay on campus during the summer and do research/work on their thesis? From what I understand, summer session tuition is charged separately, so if I have to work on my thesis, would this mean I would have to pay in addition to the usual tuition charges?

I am an international student accepted to a PhD-1 track (skipping the MA) in Sociology at McGill and have recently received their funding offer. Since I find their system rather complicated (especially after looking at really straighforward offers from american universities), I would like to double check I understand what they are saying and would appreciate your insights. After consulting the University's website, I came up with the following estimate of annual costs (minus food, books, personal expenses): Tuition: 13,075.50 Student Society Fees: 184.60 Student Services and Athletics: 497.00 Registration, Transcripts, Administrative: 280.80 Copyright Fee: 24.90 Information Technology Charge: 210.30 PGSS Dental Insurance: 171.68 International Health Insurance: 651.00 Housing: 6,000.00 Phone and Internet: 500.00 TOTAL: 21,595.78 My funding letter states: And after I followed up with some questions, I received this: So this is where I got a bit confused and am now unsure at exactly which amounts I am looking at for each year. For year 1, I suppose this means $40,000-$22,000, which leaves me with $18,000 for all the expenses I did not cover in the table above (ie. food, books etc.). For years 2, 3 and 4, I am not sure whether the $29,000 per year in case I do not get a major external award already includes the aforementioned $15,000 for tuition or not. Due to the follow-up e-mail, I am also not sure what the fellowship amount is supposed to be in case I do get one. I get really anxious around all this financial stuff because it is so important; I would like to know whether this is an offer that would enable me to live normally (I am not an extravagant person at all so that is not a problem) but cannot evaluate it until I am sure I am even looking at the right numbers. Not to mention I was reading threads on taxes before receiving this and am now wondering where that comes into play.. I hope this made sense. I will probably realize I wrote a bunch of nonsense the moment I wake up, but right now, if anyone managed to get through all this and can help, I would appreciate it very much.

Hm, I have, actually. Maybe you should not have told me, though, this just got my hopes up again

Just to get the frustration out: mine STILL says Decision Status: An admissions decision has not yet been rendered.

Largo, I am coming straight from my undergrad, so at McGill, I had to apply for an MA (my file was complete by the end of october). I applied for a PhD at Rutgers. Sociology27, I am most probably attending Rutgers as well. I will send you a PM

Nope, I was interviewed about two weeks ago, exchanged a few e-mails with my interviewer afterwards, and then got the acceptance e-mail from the graduate admissions director.

I just got accepted with full funding, so there may still be funded spots left.