rising_star

You should ask Univ B if it's possible to interview/visit another weekend because of prior commitments. They'll understand because it's not as if you are the first--or only--student who will have a scheduling conflict.

GAH!!!!

Colts baby!

This is going to sound terrible but, in all the FAFSA verifications I've done, no one has ever asked me to verify the amount of money in my savings account. If you anticipate having less in a few months than you have now, put in the amount you think you'll have.

+1 to what twocomicfish said. I never had a problem with schools reimbursing me for flights.

I got both rejections and acceptances quickly so it's hard to say.

I wouldn't bring anything other than your charming personality and best behavior.

Mary

I have a professor that used to work at renaissance fairs. And I will never judge someone solely by their blog/website/SOP since my MA program admitted me with a SOP that references my desire to cheer for their football team on Saturdays.

Honestly, having been both a TA and a RA, I can tell you that unless teaching your own course, a TA position is less work. Why? Because no one questions you not working the full 10, 15, or 20 hours each week if you are a TA but they do if you are an RA because there are more frequent meetings/deliverables. In my department, TA positions, especially those that are just grading or teaching a lab or two, require well under the 20 hours per week that we get paid for.

If you are at all considering attending those schools, then by all means go to the admit day. It will give you a chance to meet your future colleagues, see the facilities available, meet with your POI, etc. Plus, you can get a real sense of whether or not you like the city/town/area, what there is to do, what the grad students do, and how they are able to live on their stipend (ie, you can have your own place but it has to be a studio vs. you can afford a 2bd/1ba within 2 miles of campus in a decent neighborhood easily). You've got nothing to lose...

If you're not a current student, I see no reason why you would update them on the status of your applications before all the accept/reject/waitlist decisions are in. I was in a similar situation while finishing my MA in that I applied to the same school for the PhD and all three LOR writers were on my thesis committee and two of those on the adcom. Luckily, my MA advisor wasn't on the adcom so I emailed or called her each time I got a decision. And, because profs talk, my MA advisor told me that another prof who wrote me letters had heard from his friend (who was on sabbatical at the time, btw) that I would be hearing good news from that program shortly and to let me know. And this other prof through whom the admissions info came was on the adcom. What I'm saying is that whether you tell them or not it probably doesn't matter because they're going to find out eventually and they already know you applied to other programs too.

The advisor.

My mom has a PhD in psychology and has never taught or TA'd a course so clearly she's not on TT. You get jobs in industry, for nonprofits, for government, etc.

lol, coffeandtoast, at my program the average age if probably 29 so, being younger than that, I'm the one that has a hard time fitting in.

Other factors: - ability to design and teach your own course - corollary: are the courses taught ones you would want to teach? - how well you get along with other students - summer funding, whether to go do your own research, to teach, or for both - professional development opportunities (workshops, chance to co-author papers) - availability of dissertation writing fellowships (so you don't have to be a TA or RA while writing) - average time to degree for your advisor's students - how well you get along with your potential advisor (and I mean in terms of personality, not just in terms of research fit) - weather - extracurricular activities that you want available in your area - proximity to major airports (and then average cost to fly home) - availability of conference travel funding (and how much that funding is) - computer resources (computer labs, software availability, etc.)

You're talking about talks, right? We have a colloquium series, which meets about once a week on Fridays in the late afternoon. While you only have to register for it for credit your first year (and it's pass/fail and no one takes attendance), attendance is expected if you are in town. We also have a series of professional development workshops that's offered on the Fridays with speakers for the two hours beforehand. So basically, no one in my department gets any work done on Friday afternoons between the two.

I can tell you what my assumptions are based on, if that helps: That sentence suggested to me that not only are there not many minority students in the department, but also that there haven't been many in the past (which is typically the case in programs where there are few currently). My suggestion was to talk to one's advisor, who presumably you have a close relationship with, and ask him/her about the situation without directly mentioning race. That's why I framed it as asking about how to be more involved in seminar discussions. FWIW, if the situation is awkward for TheSunnyMan, the prof in question may have already mentioned it to his/her advisor. I know I get updated on my class performance from my advisor each semester, in addition to the feedback I get from the professors actually teaching the courses I'm taking.

Your decision will be much easier if you visit the programs you are interested in applying to. Seriously. I used to have some awesome spreadsheet with all these factors and, on paper, some programs clearly stood out more than others. But, when I visited, I realized that it wasn't the right fit for me (it was a gut feeling).

This is one of the few times I"m going to disagree with fuzzy. Depending on your discipline and department, there may not be any other minority graduate students with which to consult about the professor. And, if your discipline is like mine, your graduate program probably hasn't seen a minority student in 5-7 years, so there might not be any record of how the professor acts towards minorities... While I think that it's a good idea to talk to someone, I would talk to a trusted faculty member and frame it as you're looking for ideas of how to be better included in class discussions or tips for how to more effectively participate.

I switched disciplines from undergrad to MA--from comparative literature to the social sciences. And then, within my discipline, I switched focus areas between my MA and PhD (from urban public policy to conservation). And I did all this while going straight through school.

I think you have your Florida schools mixed up. "In the end, unlike at other universities, FSU administrators balanced their budget by firing many faculty members, including many tenured professors like Froelich. That decimated the geological sciences, oceanography, and anthropology departments. ... Approximately 43 tenured or tenure-track faculty were laid off across the system. But according to FSU English professor and Faculty Senate President Eric Walker, 35 of those 43 “tenure-line” faculty were lost at FSU. Of about 21 tenured faculty let go across the system, all or all but one were at FSU. " For the original article in Science, go here.

And yet they are closing departments, like schools elsewhere and in worse financial situations are...

I sent thank you notes to everyone that hosted me but didn't get them a gift (I was broke!).

Actually, studies have shown that that is exactly what's required. If you're looking for a nonacademic example, check out the National Football League's Rooney Rule, which requires that teams interview minority candidates for vacant coaching positions. Several coaches, who might not otherwise have even gotten an interview, have gotten interviews and jobs thanks to that rule.