WaitNSee

You can absolutely get an academic job from 40-50 ranking if your research is excellent (published and cited in high rank journals), your teaching experiences show you are a good or improving teacher, and your grades are high. Stalk aeesp.com for jobs. If you want to be a consultant, don't bother getting a PhD. From what I have experienced, they actually prefer MS students. Some really prestigiuos consulting firms have special hiring sessiosn for PhD and postdocs, but those are really competative and you tend to need consulting and economic backgrounds on top of your PhD. Industrial jobs are good with or without PhDs. National lab jobs are better with a PhD (but tons of MS scientists there as well). I just finished my PhD, and I chose to take a post-doc at a national lab.

It sounded like it might be a few weeks after they get all the paperwork. I was not given an exact time for this, but they know it is due. If it looks like they are going to go past Sep 15th (which is the cutoff to pay fees at my school), I will pay a fifth of my fees to maintain registered student status and get reimbursed later.

I received my package Aug 14th (last Thursday), but mine was rushed because I informed Andre and Brandon that I have a health situation that requires my insurance be paid ASAP. If your "package" is like mine, you will get three attachments: a Fellowship Agreement which includes the Activation Notice, a cover letter, and a Stipend Direct Deposit form. I emailed and mailed everything back pronto, but it will still take ~ 2 weeks for my university to be paid. For those who have not received their package: Brandon told me that the closest thing we have to an award letter before getting this package is the email we got months ago telling us we were going to get an award. Print this out and take it to your financial aid/scholarship department so they know money is coming. My school has a grace period of 1 month to pay fees after they are due. If your school does not have this, you may need to pay a fraction of your fees and get reimbursed later.

I just received the "Greetings 2013 STAR Fellowship selectees!" email, but I had no idea I had an award. Turns out I was honorable mention and a spot opened up. I got a fellowship... but the system never sent me a notification.... So, if you received that email and are like .....abrwwaaaaaa???? you should email Brandon ASAP

I also want to say thanks to everyone for posting updates. Let's see how long this "week" is!