Jump to content

Sio68

Members
  • Posts

    61
  • Joined

  • Last visited

Everything posted by Sio68

  1. Ah great- thanks! That's good. I have fellowship years that pretty much cover the calculated living expenses, but my TA years don't match it. I find the calculated expenses to be quite high actually. Luckily I do have other options that could prove I could theoretically cover most of the rest of it, but was wondering whether I'd have to call the rents in to prove I could pay 100% of my 5 years! (Which would be a bit mad because I won't be in the US for all of the 5 years...)
  2. With the F-1 for how long do you have to prove that you can support yourself? Is it 1 year? Or for the entire PhD?
  3. fossilchick and TMP: Thank-you so much! This is massively helpful! *makes notes* Would anyone be so kind as to explain to me how health insurance works? (briefly) If you are 'eligible' under a fellowship for health insurance then this I assume means that you must pay for it. How does that work? I mean, *roughly* how much is it? I know it varies but I'm not American and I have absolutely zero idea. It could be 1 million dollars a month for all I know. I ask because I have different packages that treat health insurance and fees differently, so I'm trying to do some calculations before I head to visit days.
  4. I have a choice of three very good schools, each of which have a different pattern of positives and negatives. One, for example has hands down the best advisor (name recognition, quality of work, teaching and networking opportunities), the other is a more prestigious school (Ivy) in a fantastic location with faculty who are very enthusiastic over my research, and the other has lots of great faculty working in my area with fantastic connections. I've begun to realise that I'd do fine in any of them and at some point I have to compromise on the negatives! However, there's one thing that I'm unsure about- employment. Obviously the job market pretty much sucks but I'm still keen to keep an eye on the future and I do wonder about the relative merits of each in this department. I'm a firm believer that so much of your future rests on how much you put in (for example.. just because you go to an Ivy, doesn't mean you're going to get amazing employment.) However, I've been trying to look at where these schools have managed to place their previous students. One has its list on the website, but I can't find it from the other two. Do you think it's ok to ask where students end up? And if so, do you even think this is a useful indication of anything? Or do you believe that if you thrive, network and produce good work then the top 10-20 schools in your area just end up a level playing field?
  5. Or is American ham really bacon?...
  6. An unfunded offer in the UK is not a rejection. The brutal truth is that because of the way in which our system works, there just isn't the kind of money that there is in US institutions. It usually has no reflection at all on your quality. Many PhD students in the UK will be told that their department has zero money for any PhD student (mine included), but will push them towards obtaining funding from the AHRC. There might only be one available per year per department so competition can be fierce, and I'm not even sure US students qualify. US students may have better luck in a handful of wealthier institutions like Oxford and Cambridge. Edinburgh may also have funds available, but I wouldn't count on it. Also, there are plenty of transatlantic connections and networking opportunities in certain sub-fields. With mine, I'm lucky that people know each other well on both sides of the pond and I doubt moving from one to the other would be a problem for me. I can't however speak to your field. If you're a medievalist, my guess would be that you will not have problems. American Medievalists surely do so much of their research in the UK and Europe that they will have deep connections there? None of this means that I think you should take an unfunded offer - I don't. I very much dislike the way that grad students can be left with practically nothing in the UK. But I do want to stress that it is NOT a rejection (whereas in the US, it is). There's also some truth to the fact that international students are valued for their financial contribution to the UK institutions. My advice would be to see what you're offered, but not to put yourself into major debt. I can't comment on Miami- I know nothing about them!
  7. Thank-you both, this is really helpful. I don't really want to bring it up voluntarily but there are a few situations on the horizon where I might have to just fess up. One is that I think it could come up on visit days and wanted to make sure that honesty is generally the best policy- I hadn't thought that grad students could of course help you to muse over things. The other thing is to do with a funding issue, which is a tad more complex. But thank-you both again!
  8. I'm thinking a few people might be wondering about the following, and hoping for advice from those in the know!:- How honest should you be about where you stand with applications? I don't mean whether you should talk to your schools about where you want to go, but rather, should you mention to them that you do have other offers? Lots of us might have a good idea about where we want to go but feel like we want to take time to think everything through, and visit a couple of places (after all it's a huge decision). Others might not have received all their decisions yet. Should you be upfront about this? Or should you just stay quiet, and non-committal? If it's the former, how much detail do you give? I get the impression that very few people jump on the schools straight away and go "I'm coming!!".
  9. Congratulations! I've heard great things about Chicago.
  10. Class difference is noticeable in the UK, but not more so than in the US. The classes just 'look' different, and have a different history. Having said that, class is very noticeable in Oxford and Cambridge. There's just no getting away from that. It's probably a bigger deal at undergrad than grad level, but it is a 'thing' and it is something that could make someone's experience there miserable. (It depends on your attitude, individuals in question and the college that you're at.) I know academics who hate going to give papers in Oxbridge because of how they're made to feel by some sections of these Universities. That being said, as with everything you should take other people's perceptions with a grain of salt. Personally, I purposely stayed well away from Oxbridge because I don't like the way that there is indirect class discrimination there. Oxbridge like to say that they will recruit the best and brightest no matter their background, but the real truth is that kids from regular schools often can't get in because they haven't had the coaching, the small class sizes, lessons in communication etc. The grammar tests (in foreign languages) that some colleges present for undergrad admission are at a higher level than A-level. No regular state school has provisions to help their pupils learn that stuff. This all being said - this is a bigger problem than Oxbridge, this is about the UK's schooling system. However, Oxbridge do not like to seem to acknowledge that there is an issue here. For them grades are not enough, personal statements are not enough. They want interviews, tests etc. I know for a fact that many private schools and grammar schools actively coach students for these things. State schools don't. On top of all this is the issue that (and I don't have figures for this) but I'm sure the Scots, Irish and Welsh, and Northern English are underrepresented because they don't generally have as many private schools and there are greater socio-economic problems. This doesn't even touch on racial issues. It's a complex problem that does have something to do with class, but its roots are probably within secondary education. I can't speak about Ivy Leagues. I would imagine there can be similar problems, but my perception is also that there is great difference across the Ivy Leagues and possibly much difference within them too. As a grad student I wouldn't think about this at all. You're in an entirely different situation. Yes, there's also going to be a socio-economic trend, but the further you advance through your education the more this seems to fade away, especially these days. I may end up in one, and I'm definitely what you'd call 'working class', but I have no hang ups about it and I'm not expecting to be surrounded by "royalty" of any kind! Just people who have worked really, really hard. You can't fake it into grad school.
  11. I was wondering about this too. From what I've read, automatic summer funding seems to be quite the thing! Is this true? I get the impression that it's something that you don't appreciate until you're in the programme, and thus many prospective students don't realise its importance.
  12. Do you have an MA czesc? Also think you shouldn't write off this year yet, but I do understand that you're trying to prepare just in case. Have you thought about outside London/South England? There are loads of great schools in the UK with excellent reputations. They're also cheaper than London and geographically very well connected (both to the rest of the UK, Europe and abroad.) I don't know how well you know the UK but it's so small that you're never far from anywhere. If you really want to plan ahead just in case, think about Universities like Manchester, York, Edinburgh (though I'm not sure they do stand alone MAs), Cardiff, Bristol and Birmingham. I don't know all of these programmes but it's worth you looking into their faculty to see if they'd work for you. If you feel that you will need an MA to be competitive (and again, this is assuming you get all rejections) these could provide very good MAs and the US schools will know their names. Furthermore, all of the above (perhaps with the exception of York) are very vibrant cities with a lot going on.
  13. Don't forget to click through to the second page on your application. The first page doesn't always update, but the second does.
  14. That wasn't my intention. I'd never do that, I'm not that kind of person. For most of us here, this is new and it's sometimes stressful and sometimes overwhelming. So I'm sorry if that came across badly, know that it wasn't my intention, and try to cut us some slack... we're all up and down like a rollercoaster and sometimes brains can't catch up. Good luck to everyone today. Looks like Princeton is an implicit rejection for me at this point. I'll cross my fingers that those who haven't heard anything get some positive news today! lafayette is right.. some schools definitely don't do it in one go, for whatever reason. I've also noticed changing patterns between years so historical tradition isn't always accurate either.
  15. Oh Do you know what? I so want you all to do well and get what you want!! Don't feel depressed. There's such a long way to go yet. I can see that benedicite and czesc have lots of schools to wait on, and I wouldn't necessarily say that Columbia or Princeton are finished. I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed right now. I didn't think I'd end up needing to make a decision between schools. My brain is too fried and tired to comprehend this, and my supervisor is on research leave. He needs to come back now!!
  16. Thank-you! I am SO surprised. Really... truly... For those who are yet to hear anything, or still waiting for a top choice - hang on in there. I wish you the best of luck. Waiting was excruciating. I do have two more to come in, but being halfway through is so much better than knowing nothing. Just remember that you'll get there eventually. *group hug*
  17. Returned home to find a Columbia acceptance. Am in complete shock to be honest. I have no words.
  18. The person who got an acceptance from 'Dr Ross Gellar' for paleontology at NYU made me lol!
  19. Hey! Well done.. Madison looks like a great place to study. They certainly have some awesome profs.
  20. I saw that. Makes me feel a bit crappy tbh Hopefully they didn't do it all in one batch. Congrats to whoever got in though!
  21. kyjin, theregalrenegade and viggosloof - So sorry to hear about your Berkeley rejections I was really rooting for you all there. At least congratulations are in order for viggosloof's CH acceptance! I hope everyone has a good day and that positive things are on the horizon for us all. ETA: I just looked at the results page. Wow! Did Berkeley accept anyone?!! (Well, there's one in Art History but seems like everything else was a rejection.)
  22. I just saw that someone has an NYU interview up; I didn't know they did interviews! I didn't apply there in the end, but I did consider it and don't remember seeing anything about interviews. Congratulations to LadyRaRa!
  23. EPIC! I feel enthused and re-energised! Thank-you! I actually own a Knope 2012 t-shirt... *ahem*.
  24. (rems... Although I have no advice, or am I even a Lit/Rhet/Comp student (History!)... I just want to say that I adore your avatar. It makes me smile and know that you are painfully cool! ) Ok.. carry on... I'm going to be quiet now.
  25. As you know, over here in the UK, terminal Masters are the 'norm'. That means that for most people, you are still considered to be a student. Most people who take MAs in the UK do so because they know that these days they need more than a BA to distinguish themselves from the rest of the job market (though in practice, this no longer works either). However, I think, as you say, it does depends on the course. For you, it sounds like it's part of you training. The same may be said about certain science Masters. For me, I was definitely still a student because I was just in History and not anything like Library Science. I can see why you were offended too.. I don't think that poster presented their point in the best way. In my mind, it doesn't really matter if something is competitive. What matters the most is that you know what you love and what you want to do. Success is finding the way to do it, and still enjoy life. If you get into your course, in a place you love (i.e. Aber), I'd say that's pretty damn rewarding and I'm jealous.
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

This website uses cookies to ensure you get the best experience on our website. See our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use