Acs

Thank you all for your responses. Latte- the reason you mentioned to start early was the one I am thinking of. Since this is my first child, I am not sure what to expect. Lots of things in my mind right now, but sharing experiences really helps a lot.

I don't need any insurance/income and I do want to make the most of graduate experience too. Point is now baby and phd are both together, so earlier the better or wait till he grows an year older?

Almost in the same boat. Got accepted and have my delivery date when the semester starts. Thinking of joining after a semester. Planning to get one of my parent to live for few months to help during course work. Still not confident about everything. I have managed small kids in my family but studying with a small kid and that too my own looks difficult.

Thanks again! I shall follow that thread. You are right, its more of personal decision and depends upon lots of factors.

Thanks for your reply! Yes, I have looked upon the facilities and they do have a tie up with a good daycare facility- which supports students and faculty members. There is one student (I don't know personally) who delivered after course work, so at later stage I can also talk to them. I am more worried about whether it would be a good idea to start the school with a small baby at home and demanding coursework. Since I am going to school after 7 years and I have heard the course works are very demanding in US. Ideally a semester delay should do fine, but not sure if I would be able to give my best after 3 month of delivery and a small baby.

Hi there, So, my doctoral program starts in October,15, same month of my expected delivery date. I have got acceptance and scholarship letter, but final approval is still in process for lack of some transcripts. First, I am feeling bad that I have still not told the university about my pregnancy and that in no way I can join the normal schedule, though I had to give acceptance to the mails till now I have received. Everyone is telling me to wait till final approval and tell them at later stage. Second I am also not sure whether I should just join a semester late or defer for the next year. The course work is for 9 months and next summer starts the problem course, so if join a semester late I am not sure whether it would be a good decision to join with a 2.5 month old baby. I plan to get one of my parent to live with me for some time, so that while the baby is still very small I can complete the course work and when it grows a little big I can start my problem research work. During problem research work my schedule will be more flexible. The graduate booklet says that one can take off for a semester only after joining the program, so it doesn't look possible in my case. The professors seems supportive and I am worried whether any university policy might hinder my dream of doing it's program. Lots of confusion! Has anyone of you been in this position? Please share your thoughts. Thanks in advance,

Thanks!! Will update on this after my visit.

It seems fair, I will treat it like an interview. Thanks for your response.

Hi Guys, This is my first post and I have been a regular visitor to this forum. I really appreciate all of you sharing your experiences on this forum. I have applied to a doctoral program in University of California Los Angeles for Environmental Science and Engineering for Fall 2015. I live in LA itself and have worked on a research project with one of the faculty member, who also gave recommended me for application. Now, I have received a mail to visit the campus and meet few faculty members. I am not sure whether this would be called an interview or will it just be a visit to discuss about the program. The reason why I am asking this question is because the format of this doctoral program is different from others. In this, a student has opportunity to select his thesis topic after a year of course work, and based on my interactions they also don't expect student to have fix stand on this. Though I have mentioned one of possible area of research work in my application based on my experience, but I want to explore 1-2 additional areas before finalizing. So, I am wondering whether the visit would be in the form of interview with faculty members, how important this would be for their decision and what do they expect from me from this? Thanks,