rising_star

This varies by field, for sure. For example, PhD students in education are expected to have several years of work experience before pursuing the PhD, so it's common for them to be around 30 or older when they start. There have been a number of conversations here about applying as or being an older student. For example, see here.

It really depends on the school. My PhD program didn't pay travel costs for admitted students but did welcome them to visit.

I imagine that there are situations in between the two you've painted here. For example, you could get a room in a house with 1-2 other people rather than living with 5 other people. Or, you could live with other graduate students rather than undergraduates. You could find undergraduates who don't play beer pong every weekend and live with them if you don't want to live with grad students. I lived with undergrads at several different points in graduate school and none of them were into playing beer pong on the weekends. In fact, one of them was even more studious than I was as a first year MA student.

@inbrsuan, it's not about finding the absolute perfect research fit right now but, it is about finding a lab where you can get good experience conducting research and possibly work on publishable research, both of which will strengthen your applications even if it's not exactly the research you want to do in graduate school. Also, not all schools give tuition benefits to employees right away (some require you to be employed for 90 days first) so that is something to look into. Because of the tuition benefits, even part-time jobs at public universities can be pretty competitive because there are a lot of people out there who want to start/finish a degree and need the financial assistance.

The literature folks are having this discussion right now too: FWIW, I picked location but that's because rankings were similar (and which was ranked higher depended on where you looked).

If the gap were smaller, I'd tell you to choose location. But, the difference between top 10 and top 50 in terms of placement is significant enough that you should really try to make it work at the top 10 program.

No, it doesn't mean that it's okay. The professor is clearly saying that your project isn't focused on the right goal and that you need to modify your proposal based on the last description you submitted and while keeping in mind what the goal of the study is ("gathering data related to [preschoolers'] views on this activity").

Your statement is WAY too vague. Why do you want them to express their ideas in drawings? What specific ideas are you looking for them to express? How does having children draw these pictures help you answer your research question(s)? That is, how will you analyze the data you collect through the drawings and how will that analysis address your research question(s)?

Are you citing sources for the methods you want to use? That's one way to make it clear to the prof that your research design is rooted in established practices. In all seriousness, you need to meet with the professor ASAP about this.

For the record, it is basically impossible NOT to schedule other things, even if you don't know all the details of the visit schedule yet. Why? Because there are students (advisees and those in your courses) to meet with, service work to perform, and other responsibilities. Just looking at how difficult it is to schedule a campus job interview on our end (we give the candidates dates and then faculty are juggling their schedules to try to find a time when they can meet with the candidate) is a gigantic pain. If you've ever worked in event planning or stage/production management, you'll totally understand what I mean.

Figuring out where to apply is based more on your research interests than anything else. If you apply to a top 10 program where no one does the research you want to do, you aren't going to get in no matter how strong your other credentials are. Same goes for a top 50 school, to be honest. You should find people who are doing the research you want to do by reading recent scholarship and then look up those universities. Far more fruitful than simply going through a list of programs by rank.

It's pretty clear that your professor wants you to go beyond addressing each of her specific comments and expand to addressing the broader issues which her comments are pointing out to you. That is, if you didn't explain what an outdoor routine is, there are probably other terms in your paper which you also haven't fully explained or clarified. Your professor expects you to do broader revisions and reconsider the entire proposal each time, which it sounds like you haven't been doing.

Have you looked at the funding packages? The research you would be doing in each place? The placement record of each program? Without knowing how you fit in with the research done at each university, it's hard to comment on which you should choose.

You can respond if you want. It does let them know that you received their message.

@jaymeowmeow, you should be able to find information about what the CSU fees are on their website. You'll want to add up all the non-tuition fees and then see how much that will cost you. Now, depending on the school, there are different ways these have to be paid. At one of my grad institutions, you could have your student fees taken out of each month's paycheck (so they totaled what you owed for the semester, divided that by 4, and then took it out of your check each month so you didn't have to have all the money upfront). At another, student fees were due at the end of the first week of class. This may not seem like a big deal but, it can make a huge difference if you're talking $500+. A quick google search for "csu.edu. tuition" led me to this page, which might help you determine what the fees would be. @svent, we'll have to agree to disagree on this. I've been a TA and taught at multiple institutions. As a TA in the social sciences, I was one of several TAs for a 450 person course whose exams were a mix of multiple choice and short answer (and, annoyingly for us, there were always 6 versions of each exam so you had to make sure you used the right key, then resort the exams after that so they went to the right TA). We didn't literally stay up all night grading them but, we did pull long hours next to the Scantron machine to get it all done. I was the individual TA for 90 students that semester and we were supposed to return their papers (3-5 pages each) in a week. Trust me when I say that is far worse than grading exams, even with short answer or brief essay questions. But, it seems you dogmatically believe that STEM TAs have it harder than everyone else, even when they probably don't. English TAs probably have it the worst (grading for Intro to Composition) and they are often some of the lowest paid TAs.

I would defer admission, rather than outright declining it. The advantage of deferral is that if you somehow do obtain external funding, you'd still have an offer and could attend this school. In the interim, I'd apply to every funding source I could, in addition to improving my stats and perhaps applying more broadly too.

That's part of it, yes. There was also a school that didn't admit me right away because my POI unexpectedly decided to leave the university and they were trying to recruit a new prof in that subfield. Once the new prof was recruited, I was offered a spot with funding and told that the uncertain advisor situation was the reason they'd delayed telling me anything about my application. I doubt this is normal but, it has and does happen.

@TheLostExploration, don't view it as an interview because really, it's not. You're asking them to be on your committee after providing them with a summary of your project. They may ask a few questions about your plans but it really is nothing like an interview.

Some schools just take longer to make decisions, as fuzzylogician said above. The PhD program I went to had a mid-January deadline and didn't send out their first round of acceptances until almost St. Patrick's Day most years. So, not having heard from them in mid-February wouldn't mean anything.

I would definitely bill it as a change in research interests. You're only in your first year so there's definitely time to change your research topic, especially if you already have the relevant language skills. Before you approach people, you'll want to do your research to make sure that the new area is viable (in terms of it being feasible, there being funding, and the availability/viability of post-grad employment possibilities). To avoid alienating people, focus on the research element and politely ask your current advisor if they'd still be interested in being involved given the new direction.

The literature folks are having a related discussion: Personally, I'd hold off on accepting until you've heard back from the other programs and had a chance to visit the one you've been accepted to.

I always send hand-written thank you notes and I've never sent an email to let them know those notes are coming.

You'll want to get a sense of the general atmosphere of the program, if possible. That is, can you see yourself spending hours a day with these people and not hating them? It's a hard thing to quantify or assess but, it's super important.

So I set up my own post-acceptance visits for several schools (that is, they said I should visit, asked me for dates, and then I came). In most cases, my POI took the lead on planning the visit, including time for me to meet with current grad students, with faculty, and to see the facilities. Usually a current grad student would take me on a tour of the building and related facilities (e.g., libraries) I'd be using, which was nice. I think a couple of times I sat in on a grad seminar though this wasn't the norm. Really it was a lot of meeting with students at various stages in the PhD program and with faculty who I'd mentioned in my SOP or who I had shared interests with. Often I was asked to provide a list of faculty I wanted to meet with to help them plan. Once you're there, be yourself and gather as much information as you can. Take the chance to ask grad students about the cost of living. If possible, get someone to show you where (neighborhoods) grad students live and about the day-to-day life of a student in the program.