ruud9

Hi All!, I got an admit from WSU with financial aid. In the Offer letter from the department, it is given that I will be paid 1450 pm for 9 months (Total of 13050 for 9 months). However in the I - 20 it is shown that the funds from school are the tuition + Living Expenses. The Living Expenses shown in the I-20 which supposedly the University will pay for me is given as 18500 for 9 months. I couldn't understand this difference in financial aid. At first I neglected this offer as I thought the funding was less, but after seeing on the I-20 I have second thoughts about this offer. From where did the extra 5050 come from mentioned in my I - 20? Which one is correct? I - 20(from Grad School) or Offer Letter (from Department). Please help! Thanks, ruud9.

Hi All! I got an admit from NCSU to which I gave my acceptance and received an I-20 after that. But I also received an I-20 from WSU even though I did not accept their offer (I did not give my acceptance, nor rejection as last date given to me was April 15th). I just wanted to ask if it is a problem to hold multiple funded I-20's. Can someone help me with this please... I am planning to return the WSU I-20 to them as I am not accepting their offer. Any suggestions? Do I need to do it before April 15th to avoid complications? What are the repercussions if any of not doing so? Thanks in advance, ruud9.

Admit! Enjoy...

@ShiningInShadows Yeah. The purpose is maintaining a good relationship with the person in question as well as preparing for the upcoming semester. I appreciate your suggestion. It might be better to ask him what specifically he would like me to do in the meantime as a part of preparation for grad school. Thanks for your suggestion. Thanks, ruud9.

Awesome. Nice thread. I got an email from my POI with subject saying 'Good news is on the way' and no content early in the evening. I was perplexed and got a bit worried. Then I went to this party my friend was throwing and we party-ed till late that night. I came back to my room and checked my email, and it included my offer letter from the department with funding. It was a good feeling, I did not sleep that night. Thanks, ruud9.

@iowaguy: Thanks a lot! Appreciate...

Hi All, I recently received an admit from a University. Could someone suggest how I should carry out the conversations with my adviser. I already asked him for a few research papers about his research and he replied positively to that. Now I am stuck as to how to keep the conversation alive? Should I ask him about the grad courses or procedures or anything or is it too early? I don't want to give a long gap before I reply. Any suggestions would help. How do I keep the conversation alive? Thanks, ruud9.

It is simple. Ask your grad coordinator what would be considered as an acceptance (email, fax, written letter signed, etc...). They themselves will tell you. In general, an email to the Director of Graduate Programs of your department should suffice. There is no need to take so much headache. To find a format to acceptance you can always google it. Thanks, ruud9.

Hi All! I want to know what all factors one should consider before making a decision and giving an acceptance to a University for attending grad school. I have some listed, please help me out in making the list more accurate as well as comprehensive: a) Ranking (could someone give a trustworthy source to find the appropriate raking of a University, as different ranking systems rank Universities differently) Research Interests/POI/Department Ranking (Again if someone can help out with the ranking it will be great) c) Tuition Fee/ Pay/ Living Expenses/ Offers from other Universities (Funding Offer etc...) d) Crime Rate (How do I know the crime rate at an area near a particular University) Thanks, ruud9.

I am in a similar situation. I have been offered admission, but I am waiting to hear from a few other programs. They gave me a deadline of 15th March to accept or decline the offer. So I just told the POI that I will communicate my decision by 15th. But the sad part is that I don't think any of the other programs will respond to me by 15th March. What can I possibly do in order to make a more informed decision? I tried contacting other programs about their decisions and hopefully ask them to expedite mine but I don;t think it is of any use. Any help will be sincerely appreciated! Thanks, ruud9.

@Captain Crunch: Thanks for sharing your anecdote. Yes, I think that is the case with most Universities. Could you please mention an approximate timeline between each event to give us an idea of how much time it will take for each development to take place. For example, after the admit after (approximately) how many weeks did you receive a funding offer? and could you mention the timeline in relation to when you contacted your POI and when the funding offer came? It would be great if you could share these things with us. It would give a better idea as to how much one would have to wait in order to receive a funding offer (If in case one does) after the admit is offered. Thanks, ruud9.

Has anyone heard from UF yet. It is February now. I have heard nothing from UF. My program deadline was December 15. They should have made decisions by January end at least. But, I came to know that they are still evaluating applications. I guess it is one of those Universities which waits for all applications and starts reviewing them after a specific date instead of the roll over admission process followed by some Universities. I am glad to know that I am not alone who did not hear anything yet from UF. It is really get anxious for me as the day passes. Thanks, ruud9.

Personally, I believe that a program will not notify you unless you initiate the request. They have hundreds of applications to process and they are with the premise that an applicant will ensure that his/her application is complete. So, it is better to email/call to check if they have received all materials in time, if the application portal is not showing the desired stuff. Thanks, ruud9.

Though it sounds like an out of the box idea, it has a very low probability of working in favor of you. I won't tell you that it would jeopardize your admission chances, because it won't. In general the grad coordinators ignore such emails (FYI: I have no experience in this matter, I have not tried it myself). But it is just not professional. Instead, I guess the best way is to try to send an email to a POI and see if he/she is interested to work with you while pursuing graduate studies. Although if ones credentials are not "good" enough, I don't think that will work either. Thanks, ruud9.

I have an idea about this. I have mentioned it in my other post. Anyone confirming it or appending further details to it would be of great help: ------------------------------------------------- I guess in general it works like this: The program admission committee decide which applications to accept/reject and notify the grad school. The grad school verifies the credentials and sends out admission decisions. Meanwhile, those applications which were accepted by the admissions committee in a program are circulated through the faculty of the department. Then based on your research interests and the competition, suitable faculty will make you an offer if they have an opening in their research group (with financial aid either from the department or the faculty himself or with no financial aid). ------------------------------------------------- So, to answer your question, the admission committee gives its recommendation (highest or lowest) (1) to the grad school (2) to the Professors among which ones application is circulated. And, yeah, it generally means that you are admitted, unless there is some eccentricity in your application materials (like say, abysmal GPA, or extremely low GRE/TOEFL scores). Hope this helps! Thanks ruud9.