mrmalawi

I would really encourage you to talk to schools in your country to find out if you can talk to students who have been in your shoes before. I am apart of the University of California system and while the details vary from school to school even if you were able to get a TA position it wouldn't cover your out-of-state or out of country fees. It only covers in state fees. The issue with RA positions is that it ends up putting 100% of the burden on the PI or department to pay for your fees and while you could be much more qualified than other applicants for the RA position if they don't feel that spending an extra $40,000 on you and feel that they can get a good value with an instate student they will likely go that route. This is why it's important to find out which schools have a history with your school/country as it can stream line this process and usually benefit the student. It may restrict your choices but I am guessing that as an int'l student you may have to do that already.

I would recommend that you try to research the schools that have favorable relationships with your country. For instance, Chile and Japan have very good relations with my school and thus it makes answering these questions easier. Some of this simply has to do with prior students experience being able to assist you.

I'm not very deep into the funding scene yet but I have run into the opposite problem. I am an MS student and the only substantial funding sources I have been able to find for soil science based research is the NSF GRFP and Borlaug Fellows and the rest appear to be for PhD students and post-docs. I suppose its really depending on the field of study though. It'd be worthwhile to ask some PI's you are interested in working with what graduate students in their labs typically do and/or cold call them yourself.

@charlies I'd agree with the prior comment as well although if you can get your prior PI/adviser to vouch for your mentoring abilities and relate it to that experience that would help your case. You could also help the 'mentoring' situation by doing some tutoring or mentoring at a local school this school year and include that in your essay.

So, I have tried to post this on the main page a number of times and it keeps getting removed - maybe it should have been in a reply here to begin with or maybe someone doesn't like me or...maybe I am blind. Last year I applied as an at large candidate while I was applying to graduate schools. The biggest criticisms I received (which were major in scope) were my lack of rigorous undergraduate courses in the life sciences and lack of formal research experience. My undergraduate studies were in the social sciences - international relations and while I have a lot of community outreach experience I never completed any formal research at the university I attended. I did work for a local municipality after my graduation where I helped compile data to be used to get federal funding for some building retrofits and solar panel installations but for some reason I did not think that would be a good research topic to explain. Instead I talked about a training project that I have to solicit funding for and organize while I was with the Peace Corps in Malawi. Anyhow, my question really has to do with how to approach how I will be rectifying these things in the coming year. I am planning to take the life science courses that I am lacking and get into a lab which would give me the research skills I would need. I am just unsure of how to plug these into my application and where. Should they go in one essay or the other? If it helps, I am planning to focus on research looking at agricultural sustainability research in the developing world. Thanks in advance.

I applied as an at-large applicant last year as I was applying to various masters programs and the reviews I got back mainly criticized my lack of rigorous and relevant coursework during my undergraduate studies as well as a lack of prior research experience. I was a social science major and am now shifting to an ecology/agricultural science focus. These are the two areas that I knew I didn't really have anyway of changing while I was living overseas last year so I took that as a good thing that the rest of my application was competitive aside from those two BIG areas. My question revolves around how to go about justifying and explaining these discrepancies this year. I am now in an MS program and my intention over the next year is to 1) take the courses that appear to be needed to the research I am proposing 2) join a lab focusing on soils/cropping systems which is relevant to my proposed research. I am mainly wondering where to bring up these issues in my essays. Should they appear in one essay, if so which one? Or should they come in both? It seems like the classes/grades could go in both as they would help show how I will be prepared to conduct my proposed research but so could my experience in a lab this fall.

@guttata - While it might be best for @warbrain to clarify, it sounds like he may not have an adviser. he said no one knows him...I am in the same situation but pushing to get some good relationships built.

Oh bother, I opened up another can of worms. http://www.bogleheads.org/ <---great, low-cost mutual funds. Meeting with a fee only financial adviser could be a good move too. Good luck!

Like you said, not worth arguing over but I am pretty sure all the University of California schools require students to have their insurance or private insurance. The UC insurance (at least at UC Davis) is pretty good but very expensive (~$1000/quarter) unless you get it paid for via fee waivers for research/teaching assistant positions. Even if you opt-out and get your own insurance you still have to meet certain requirements and it ends up costing about the same amount.

I don't want to turn this into a an investment discussion but if you aren't able to tax shelter the funds in an IRA or similar vehicle abroad you could still put the money into a common brokerage account and get into a target date mutual fund which have low fees or similarly you could simply buy the market in a broad market ETF and a broad bond ETF. You'd still have to pay taxes on the earned income but chances are you would offset that by capital appreciation and dividends. As you said, interest rates suck right now and unless you need the money now (which it doesn't appear that you do since you were going to put it into an IRA) putting it away in a passive investment could be a good idea.

I'm not sure how the iPad works but the 'notes' function on an iPhone can sync seamlessly with your native 'notes' app on a desktop/laptop version. While it's not related at all...if I am out and about and want to remember to look something up online I will pull out my iphone and type into the 'notes' app what I want to look up later and when my 'notes' app on my macbook air opens up it updates itself with what I did on my phone earlier. Not sure if there is a similar program for stylus based programs though...i am sure there are though, just spend a few hours google searching and you will find it. :-)

If you are applying to research focused programs it wouldn't make sense to apply until you have talked to professors to gauge what they interests and focus are. That said, a few others said it right, if you are research focused then you should contact professors to see about lab openings etc. Also, in my experience it does help (and in some instances is required) to get ahold of a PI to see if they would take you as a member of their team. If you are entering a professional program that is very different and probably not needed as you wouldn't be doing research or joining a professor in their lab.

I posted a thread yesterday on this...even if there isn't anything explicitly posted on the graduate admissions site you should definitely ask and see if your circumstances (the more unique the better) justify a waiver. I applied to 6 schools last year while I was serving with the Peace Corps in Africa and all but one waived my application fees. I could have gotten a GRE waiver too but it was after the fact that I realized that.

Hey Everyone, While I know this may not be relevant to all of you out there I really encourage you all to at least try to get application fees waived, especially for research programs. Last fall when I was applying to was serving with the Peace Corps in Malawi, Africa. I applied to 6 graduate programs all over the country and all fairly respectable schools (Berkeley, UC Davis, Michigan State, Cornell, UC Santa Cruz and UMass). All of them except UMass waived my application fee and made it very easy. So, if you find yourself questioning whether you want to send in all those applications consider if your current financial situation might be a hindrance and if so make your case. All they can say is no and if you don't ask you don't know. Good luck to everyone this year!

Hey All, I am joining an interdisciplinary MS group that is focused on International Agricultural Development. I am planning on doing research and have tentative committment from a lab to take me on but I am being encouraged to look for funding. I am also intending on moving forward to a PhD after my MS or possibly transition to the PhD group depending on funding. I am planning on applying for the NSF GRFP but wondered about any other programs that would be worthwhile to look into? The Ford Foundation seems to have something to look into as well as the EPA Star program (however this one might not be renewed I have heard?). Any suggestions are welcome. I am planning to do research on the social and biopysical implications of the integration of different tree species into smallholder farming plots. My interests are pretty interdisciplinary in nature which seems to help in some ways but also makes deciding which 'field' to apply to a bit more dicey. I am planning on being a TA for at least my first year and plan on TA'ing even if I get funding so long as the university will still pay me as I think it's a good skill to keep developing. Anyhow, the season is starting so good luck to everyone and send any feedback! -Ryan

I was told early March I would hear back on my MS in Horticulture but it doesn't seem that anyone has posted anything here relating to acceptance or denial from them...arg!