sweetpearl16

If your school provides a health plan but no vision or dental, you could also look into buying your own dental and vision plans. I know some PhD students at my school have done that. Also in answer to my own earlier question, according to the insurance office at my new school, the Affordable Healthcare Act will impact student health insurance plans, which may improve some of the worst plans. For example, I think that all health care plans will now have prescription benefits, which is definitely great news for me.

Does anyone know how Obamacare will impact student health insurance plans? I know that prescription benefits is considered an essential benefit under Obamacare. Does that mean all student insurance plans will have to include prescription benefits?

The problem with UVA is that they primarily have a combined MA/PhD program. They don't tend to admit students who just want an MA. I would try to think about articles you have read and liked about the archaeology of Prehistoric Ireland/British Isles. Who wrote them? Where do they teach? Do these departments have terminal MA programs? Also think about the research questions you are interested in. Are there people who study similar questions but in a different time or location?

I'm 24 and I have always been on my parent's health insurance plan. I'm asthmatic and have two types of inhalers (One I take daily and the other is as needed), so health insurance is important to me. At my current institution, where I am finishing up a terminal MA, most departments do not include health insurance in their funding packages. However the school requires health insurance, so most PhD students end up purchasing the school's health insurance for $1600 a year. Many students argue that the school looses strong students due to program's failure to provide insurance in the funding package. Students are also very vocal about their hatred of the insurance plan but tend to purchase it due to low cost. The plan does not include vision or dental and charges a lot for medication (my daily medication would cost me $65 for a one month supply. Currently I pay $65 for a three month supply). When looking at PhD programs, I was really surprised at the range in quality of insurance plans schools provide. One school I applied to provided a health insurance plan similar to my current institution, but it was covered in the funding package. Another school had a plan where my medicine cost $20 a month and included dental and vision. It also covered the cost of new glasses or contacts every year. My new institution's health plan does not include vision, dental, or prescription benefits. I could purchase my medicine for a small co-pay at the school's health center. The school provides a supplementary program that provides discounts on glasses, contacts, and prescriptions The school provides grad students with a separate vision and dental plan, which cover yearly checkups. For those of you currently in grad school, what do you think of your school's health insurance? Is it covered in your funding package? Does it provide adequate coverage? What would you change about it? For those of you entering graduate school, did health insurance at all factor into your choice of schools?

I was on a train in the quiet car. I opened up my email after going a couple of hours without checking it (which was probably the longest time I had gone without checking my email in several weeks). There sitting in my inbox was an email entitled "offer of admissions." I think I let out a squeal before grabbing my phone and running into the next train car to call my mother.

I have an adviser for my MA and he is wonderful. It's strange because I was intimidated by him at first because he is one of the oldest and well known professors in my department. But he also one of the most open and approachable. Other professors seem to go out of their way to avoid talking to undergraduate and sometimes even graduate students. His door is always open and I can always go in and talk to him whenever I need to. He is a wonderful mentor, gives great critiques of my work and pushes me hard to succeed. He is great at giving feedback in a timely manner, which something many of the faculty in my department don't do. He is also very open about the politics that go on in academia. I'll really miss him next year when I start my PhD program.

I also love Zotero as well. It was invaluable while trying to compile my bibliography for my thesis.

I received an email yesterday evening from the department. I randomly checked my email to see if someone had responded to an important email I had sent, and there was acceptance email sitting in my inbox. I was on a train in the quiet car at the time, and it was all could do not scream in excitement.

I got in off my waitlist yesterday evening. I am still completely shocked and not quite sure that I'm not dreaming. I've reread the acceptance letter so many times just to make myself believe I really got in. I was honestly expecting to wait it out until the end and ultimately be rejected. Hang in there everyone and good luck!

Ruby, I am so sorry for you. I have been following your story for the past two months and was really hoping that your waitlist would convert into an acceptance. Good luck making your decision.

I just got admitted off the waitlist! The excitement hasn't really hit me yet. I am still in such complete shock at the moment that I am almost shaking. I hoped so much for this to happen, but did not expect it to. Good luck to everyone else who is still waiting! I hope the next few days brings everyone wonderful news

Congratulations GodelEscher! Also good luck to all of us who are still waiting. We are in the final stretch now. I hope the next week bring everyone good news.

I would say that if the two programs are similar in rank and funding that you should go with School A. Given what you have said about the welcoming nature of the department coupled with the fact that the current students of the DGS claim she spends a lot of time supporting and promoting her advisees indicates that the department would continue to invest in your success. I think it is better to go to a place like that than one where you have gotten a lukewarm reception. I am currently in a department that has a reputation among its students as a place where it is very difficult to get feedback and personal support. A department with people who care about your success will get you a lot further a lot faster than one where the faculty is not as invested in you.

I am at peace with the idea of taking a year off. I am all prepared to go through this again and do it smarter next time. I also know that a year off after 18 straight years of school would be very beneficial to me. However I am still dreading the day that I finally get rejected off the waitlist. I just hope I don't get rejected tomorrow, which is my birthday.

Death Star

I'm still waiting. My POI yesterday told me he was cautiously optimistic. I know some of my current professors are worried that I will burn out and at least one of the suggested that if I do get in that I spend most of the summer doing nothing related to archaeology or academia. As I said before, I think a year off could probably do me some good. It will give me some time time to get away from academia and make sure I really do want to become a professor. Also I think I could write a better SOP next year, since it wasn't until late in the application season that my interests really became clear. It would also allow me apply to more schools that really fit my interests. So while I really want to go to this school, but it will not be the end of the world for me to take a year off. However things turn out though, I really need for this wait to be over. This whole admissions season has really taken a lot out of me emotionally and left me somewhat bitter for reasons I cannot fully go into.

Me too. I think the one thing that is keeping me going at this moment is the thought that the wait will be over soon.

alien invasion

I've been on this waitlist for about two months now, but the phrase cautiously optimistic was used in an email response from my POI yesterday after I sent in a letter of continuing interest. I was also told the department is evaluating the number of acceptances to see if they can make more offers. I'm still not sure how hopeful I should be. I have been feeling as though I am just waiting around to get rejected. I'm just afraid of getting my hopes up and then having them crushed later.

This may sound stupid, but what exactly does cautiously optimistic mean. My POI told me he was cautiously optimistic that the school would be able to extend an offer to me, and I am trying to figure out how to interpret that.

That is true. I know that I took a risk by giving up a well funded option. And I know that I may not get in somewhere else next year because of these budget cuts. But personally I would not want to go somewhere where I would be miserable just because they gave me money.

I think if there is a good reason to do so, then it is not wrong to turn down your offers. Actually I am doing that. I am declining one because of lack of funding (which really made me sad) and another because of an overall lack of fit (like Zabius said,I visited the school after the fact and learned it wasn't what I was expecting. Lesson learned: visit before you apply). I've talked over my feelings with both my adviser and another very trusted professor, and they stand behind my decision and think it would be best for me to try again next year. I went straight from my BA to my MA, so they think a year off would probably do me good. I am planning on taking the year to gain further experience in my field and try to get an article I am currently writing published.

I haven't heard anything yet. It looks like my school will probably take until the 15th as well. This waiting is really putting me on edge and testing the limits of my patience. If you don't mind me asking mesoholic, where are you waitlisted? I know that you are the waitlist at Yale, but what is the second school?

No one on the site seems to have any information about my WL school. No one on the results boards or in the forum has reported getting into my school in my subfield or knowing anyone who has been accepted or waitlisted. I kind of feel in the dark and on edge about the whole situation.

I am so glad it is almost April. I would love to get into my waitlist school, but don't expect to. I just getting antsy to know either way so I can move on with my life.