Abc_adams

Hopefully, UMich people are still following this thread. I have some questions for folks at Ann Arbor - 1) Is the Airride the most convenient way between DTW and Ann Arbor? And for North Campus, what is the closest busstop - Blake Transit Center or Central Campus Transit Center? And once I get to these stops, is it convenient to find cabs to Northwood V? 2) How do most of you (especially international students) go about getting mobile phones and connections? Do we have to wait till we get our MCard, etc. for student discounts? 3) As someone who knows no one at Ann Arbor, If I plan to move into an unfurnished apartment, how easy is it to get help in moving furniture around? 4) And... I guess this is it. Well, all help with be appreciated. Thanks

Oh. Thanks a ton. I didn't realize the early arrival option existed. This does solve a lot of my problems. Thanks again.

Reply deleted too?

I second the previous posters. There is the whole diminishing returns to efforts on GRE preparation and it probably isn't worth it. A couple of great recos and good research work can offset an average GRE score for sure. Work on that. It'll probably be a healthy break from the grind of GRE. After a few months, you can rethink the GRE if you wish.

Hey. Thought I should revive this post. So my visa has been approved, and I have taken University Housing at Northwood V at the moment. My housing lease contract begins on the 16th of August but I land in America a little earlier. Of course my minor worries are about how I shall be able to furnish this apartment right after I reach there. Any advice or tips on that? So how's the apartment hunt and other formalities going on the for the rest of you? I look forward to seeing all of you around in Fall.

I am not an expert at this, so take my advice with a large pinch of salt. Maybe you could try a PhD in media studies? You will be a fit in either of these programs. The interdisciplinary nature of media studies PhDs might give you substantial freedom to study this field and even extend it other domains. This what I would suggest. Go to Google Scholar. Check out some good research in the field of cosplay. See who the authors are and google their names. See which university and department they are working in, and what profile do they have. Their profiles might offer you an insight into which path to take. I am a big Doctor Who fan and I really hope you find a good PhD program.

As dat_nerd said - get that GRE score up. For a CS program, you need to be in the upper 160s to not fall below any random cutoff. The colleges you chose are ambitious, but you certainly have a chance. Now, to get into a PhD directly after a BS is not going to be easy. You need to have done a lot of independent work or research with experts. It helps to have samples of your projects that display your coding proficiency. Make sure you are truly competent in the computer science that you do study in your Bachelors. It will not hurt to have certifications, etc in your CV to show that you have the knowledge (though this is minor point). Start contacting people who work in your domain of interest. Try to get to work for them. You need recommendations from people in active research to boost your chances. So get working and contacting people. You can even try to get in touch with professors in the universities you are interested in. Network. And stalk professors till they give you work. Learn as much as you can to be able to decide on your area of research.... Work on independent projects. Document. And if you work on your own, have a portfolio of the work you have done. Build that CV. And best of luck.

Given how competitive grad school admissions are, you need to take any chance you get, no matter how incremental it might be, to make your CV look better. So well, do try for first name over contributing author.

I am a Masters in Economics and I am choosing to do a PhD in Information Sciences. It's a decision that most of the people around me are looking with a sense of incredulity. But he's got quite a bit wrong according to me. Well, any PhD in a field which the industry uses gives you what the blog post talks about. Engineering PhDs live a good life with good pay in good companies doing good research. PhDs in Business pay much much more that a PhD in Economics even though both require very similar backgrounds and are often much easier. PhDs in Finance and Stats trump a PhD in Economics in the job market (Most PhDs in economics do work in statistics. My doctoral colleagues during my corporate stint never really went beyond econometrics. Ever. Rather boring mundane work for these economists.) But all of this is isn't what it's about. I think in the end of it all, you should do what you love doing. And I think most of PhDs are natural progressions to most people. They WANT to research and they do, in spite of a thousand blog posts such as this. And am I the only one who is a little bored and tired of the methods of economists?

That is a tough decision there and I do dislike how universities wait for rejections before they up their offers. Be accepting, have you signed any documentation, or was it just a confirming mail? I know many people who have changed universities after sending a confirming mail. But do make sure you do it asap. Debt is a really big factor in any decision you make, so I would suggest that you use B's offer as leverage. There is nothing unethical about it, and given that universities do similar with students (as B did in your case), it is certainly worth a shot.

Can I roughly know what the price range of apartment complexes are like? I heard that the university housing, while good, is located away from the downtown, so it does isolate you. Is that accurate?

I guess it is confirmed. I shall be joining University of Michigan too. And I am also particularly worried about housing around there. University housing is expensive but I don't see how, as an international student, I can find other housing before hand.

Has anyone else applied to a PhD in Techology and Social Behaviour from Northwestern University and heard from them? The results were to come in late-February, early-March but nothing so far.

Go do something fun. Something new. Make sure you have some fond memories before you start with research. Try to probably start or extend a hobby. It'll possibly be the only thing that might keep you sane during the next 5 years. Or conversely, you can start with your thesis and try wrapping it up asap. ... Just kidding, Go get drunk.

Never lie. Not only is it unethical, it can come back to bite you in the arse some day. And you don't want that to happen in this small small academic world. Tell them your financial problems and hope they will help. If they don't, so be it. This is the market deciding your worth. It does suck but there really isn't a lot you can do.

1) You can apply to anything that you want to. Applying to a mathematics course will not be a problem as long as you display sufficient quantitative skills in your overall profile. 2) Your cgpa will play a major role in the shortlisting of candidates. You can offset that with good recommendations and an impressive resume 3) GREs are not going to make up for your cgpa. They are usually used as a minimum cutoff. So try to get a 166+ quant score if you want to do a masters in mathematics. Do get yourself some good recommendations, and make sure that your resume is relevant to the masters you wish to do, or atleast highlights your quantitative skills.

R is the future. SPSS is the past. SAS is the present. You decide based on who you plan to work for : If you work alone - R. If you work with professors - SPSS. If you work with the industry - SAS.

Depends on how rich you are. If you are poor, choose the funded program. If you are rich, choose the unfunded one. (To determine if you are rich or poor, answer the following question - Do I have a butler who helps me dress up in a batsuit.)

That's a good GRE score and the experience helps. GPA scores get less important as you gain more experience. I think you have a shot at a safe 75-100 if your recommendations back you up. So do make sure you get some people who really are willing to say a lot of good things about you.

You could try talking about possibilities to earn more at University A. Money is important. 5 years of PhD is hard enough. Less money makes it harder. So go ahead, ask University A. I have a feeling wrt money, and this is just me, that you will have regret choosing University A over University B, rather than vice versa. Lack of comfort and living frugally for years does that, and unless University A's course resonates with you perfectly, you might wonder about the alternate timeline where you chose University B. On the other hand, Canada is a beautiful place. Canadian Universities are lower ranked than US universities, but I think most rankings are over-rated. So do ask for ways to increase your stipend and hope for the best. Best of luck.

Grammar. That is the first thing you need to work on. Get this proofread by someone who's good at it. Like really good at it. You want to seem like someone who's articulate. Ideas mean nothing if the language you use to convey them is flawed and not understandable.

I believe that most PhD schools do agree to wait until April 15th, which is in agreement with the Council of Graduate Schools, http://www.cgsnet.org/portals/0/pdf/CGS_Resolution.pdf Do find out the exact day that university A is willing to hold the financial aid for you. A simple mail to the admissions office will suffice. Confirm this piece of information officially. And then wait for university B's result till that day. It's the best you can do in these circumstances. If you proactively accept A, and then get an admission into B, you certainly will be in a very very tricky situation. So my advice, get in touch with university A about deadlines. I am facing the same situation here, btw. University A send their acceptance months ago and university B hasn't. It really does stress you out, I know. As I mentioned earlier, University A has officially told me that I have till April 15th to respond though. So I'm waiting. And hoping.