Sol Invictus

I'm! hi! Which program are you going to join?

Hi, I have a question which might not be relevant for this particular subforum but I'm posting it anyway. All apologies. I'm going to start my PhD this fall and I see myself as someone who would end up in the industry afterwards. In the back of my mind, I have several business ideas that I would love to see go through and as such I would be very interested in raising a startup along with my PhD studies. Being an international student, I do not know if the US laws allow me to have a company of my own at this point. Although, I would obviously be partnering with other people. US laws aside, do schools allow PhD students to also embark on a personal venture if they are being supported financially by the school? Many schools such as Stanford, Harvard and MIT have a strong entrepreneurial culture, but I'm unsure if other schools (such as mine) would also support this. There is an obvious advisor angle to this as well. Have any of you started a company of your own while completing your PhDs? I would love to hear some experiences, comments, anything for that matter. Any advice would be very highly appreciated! Thanks!

If you want to present such an image of yours in front of everyone else, that is fine. But you have no right to impose and categorize other people. Just because Indians succeed in their academic endeavors doesn't make it justifiable for someone coming from the same system (or anyone for that matter) to denigrate their accomplishments, does it? Consider this : You know the situation isn't the best out in India. Considering you haven't had similar opportunities as compared to someone from a more organized educational system, you come here and you work your ass off in graduate school and make it big eventually. Well, congratulations to you! How would you like it when a person who has no clue whatsoever what it takes to reach that stage and what you had to go through tells you that 'it doesn't matter because Indians always succeed?'. No one chooses to succeed in life. You have to endure failures even with your 100% efforts to get there. So learn to be more appreciative of others is all I ask.

I'm also an Indian so I know where you're going with this. It wouldn't really help you out though in the long run. What you just mentioned is not a generic practice, so I would ask you to refrain from making such comments on a public forum, for it brings a shoddy image to all candidates coming in from india - which is highly unacceptable. Can I tell you a 'fun' fact? If your friends discussed their essays and outlined similar questions, have similar profiles and 'self-drafted-letters', then they were better and more mature writers. Anyhow, as someone pointed out in the previous posts, apart from GRE scores, letters, etc., your essay plays a pivotal role in your admission. Graduate school is not a cakewalk. It tells the committee what kind of person you are and if you are prepared enough mentally to tackle it head on. What the committee also strongly looks at is the 'right fit' of the candidate. Maybe a professor in their intended area of research had an opening and yours didn't. If I were you, I would definitely pick the best school I have from my current options.

I had a somewhat similar situation last fall! I was promised a TA at some school that didn't happen (TA promise was verbal - big mistake), and eventually I had to defer and come back to my home country all despondent because I shelved a wonderful job for this. Anyways, it was terrible for me mentally, and you should by all means save yourself the horror. If you know firsthand that funding is going to be an issue, better continue with what you're doing currently and re-apply in the next cycle would be my advice.

I agree with TheGirlWhoLived. I have been on the same boat last fall. Just tell them that it's your dream school and you would want to attend it so it would really help you out if the DoGS can tell you where your application file was lacking so that you can make up for it the next time you apply. You can also ask about the profile of current admitted batch, so that you can get an idea of where you stand.

This is what I was able to find on Cornell's website, I hope it's of help to you : http://www.engineering.cornell.edu/resources/career_services/students/statistics/postgrad_reports.cfm Yes, in that case, you would have to pay the fee for the 3rd semester. Alternatively (I'm not sure if this exists in College of Engineering, but it does at CALS - from where I'm) ... you can take research credits in your second semester and continue that research in the third semester, free of charge because you would not be taking any credits in the third semester. You would not be allowed to take courses of course, but this will give you more time to have a 1) summer internship, 2) work on a more comprehensive research project and 3) find employment if you already haven't. I started at Cornell on August 24th 2011, and Sept 18th 2011 was the Career Fair - some of my M.Eng friends got placed then only - not even a month of starting classes! Obviously, majority of the people found jobs/better jobs later, but this also happens. I think it's a very competitive program and the industry has a high requirement for Cornell Engineering graduates.

I graduated from Cornell with a Masters degree in 2012. I'm not from an engineering background, but what I know is that almost all of my friends at Cornell M.Eng got excellent placements (CS, ME, Systems and Civil) and as such Cornell Engineering is a top ranked school. It is expensive and the program is tedious, but its worth it. If industry's your cup of tea, it doesn't get any better. You can always graduate in 3 semesters, hence spread the workload over three semesters as compared to one academic year. Hope this helps!

Thanks a lot TakeruK! That certainly does bring in a wave of clarity. I had just accepted the 2nd preference school's offer before reading your response, so I would request them to hold it until the 15th and be honest as to why I'm seeking a possible extension. My offer letter says that I'm free to withdraw anytime before/on the 15th, so that's a good thing. After that, I'm committed and it doesn't mention anything about a 'release' as such. Is there a possibility that a release does not exist at all here? (Y is a world top 40 ranking school btw). So, let's hope that X gets to me with positive news as quickly as they are able to. On a similar note, would informing my PI at Y that I'm holding out for another offer make him think that my priority is not his program and he's playing second fiddle? In your knowledge, are there schools that refuse to release a student? Because that would create a really hostile environment for the student really if he has to stay at the same school and work with the same PI.

A gentle bump!

Hello, I'm starting my PhD this fall (yaay?)! I have the typical X versus Y situation, only with a bit of tang to it. School X is a top school in my field. My PI here is a full-fledged professor who has a huge name in the industry (and I want to be in the industry afterwards). I have applied for a graduate award with my PI issuing a letter on my behalf. He thinks that I stand a good chance to bag that award (this award will give me funding to attend X) and as such this is my first preference. However, the Committee is still reviewing applicants and they are not sure if they will be able to release the results by 15th April deadline. My PI is not on the Committee because they do not want conflict of interest, so he won't know until the Committee has decided. At school Y, on the other hand, I have an offer with confirmed funding (last date to accept the offer/accept and then withdraw the offer : 15th April). My PI here is an Assistant Professor. He seems nice. He's more academia bent. Everything is okay here except for the fact that my heart and mind wants to go to X. He's been constantly asking me about my decision - I couldn't stall any longer (been waiting for X) so I had told him today that I would attend Y, even though I still have not sent the signed offer letter back. This is my fall back option. My PI at X knows my exact situation at Y. He told me to go ahead with Y since it is a confirmed offer and if I do not get the fellowship at X, I would basically be screwed if I do not accept Y. I would also be saving a year at X since X will award me a doctoral degree in my Masters department whereas Y is a different department and hence I would need to cover more prereqs. The trouble that I'm having is - if I accept Y now (I have to - deadline's approaching, second preference school), and say by the 20th of April, if X gets back to me with positive funding news, I would definitely, definitely want to go to X and not Y. Can I change my mind then, without much repercussions? Am I legally bounded or something if I send over the signed terms and conditions offer letter to Y indicating that I would attend? Is this common? I mean it is still April and not July, I have not heard back from one school about my results at all - so it is kind of soonish. I would hate to misguide my PI at Y if this happens, but PhD is a big thing, and I would hate to be stuck in a place knowing that I could have gotten better opportunities, so in the long run - maybe this might be the better idea? What do you guys think? Please suggest! Thanks, Sol

Thanks HDFStakeover, that's a neat idea! Which program are you joining, if I may ask?

I have a Masters from Cornell in Food Science. I have applied for a PhD for the fall session of 2013 and I was wondering if there were more people like me waiting to hear about their decision results. If so, it would be nice if we can discuss about it