rising_star

To reply, see here:

I wouldn't do it personally. Paying out-of-state tuition alone is going to run you like $20K for a year unless you can get a tuition waiver. When you add that to living expenses, even in a low cost area you're looking at $30K for a year. That's a lot of debt to take on and it's unlikely even SAT tutoring can help you stay on top of that.

The advice above is sound. In addition, I would look for recently published books in your area of interest. Check out major academic presses like Duke UP, NYU UP, UNC UP, etc.

When you say communication professors do you mean professors in Departments of Communication? I ask because there's a difference in trying to make something work between two different departments and within the same department.

Even if they aren't taking taxes out of the summer fellowship, you may still owe taxes (both state and federal) on that money... Just something to keep in mind. There are calculators you can use online to figure out what your take-home pay would be. It's hard to say without knowing the particulars of your individual situation (like how you file your taxes, if you have any dependents, etc.).

I would email program coordinators or the Director of Graduate Studies for the department directly and ask. Many PhD programs don't have spring admissions, though you may be able to find some master's programs that do.

1) You're not disrespecting them by saying that you're taking your time to consider your options. Everyone knows this is a major decision which affects the next 4-7 years of your life and no one wants you to make it lightly. Most programs want you to visit to make sure it's a good fit, which they know takes at least a few weeks to arrange. And then, after the visit, people usually want more time to think about it and reflect on it (unless you know right away that it isn't the right place). So, that process alone can take 4-6 weeks easily. 1a) If anyone does look down on you for doing that, then they aren't someone you really want to associate with, imo. 2) Yes, technically School #1 is bound to keep your offer until April 15. But, in all honesty, if you're considering both schools seriously and late March rolls around, I'd call school #2 and ask when you're going to get a decision. School 2 wouldn't be obligated to tell you but it could speed up the decision process. I say late March because, again, you may want to visit to get a feel for the school and department in person.

There's an active conversation about this in the history subforum right now, so I'm going to say that yes, other people feel nervous. There is always a learning curve whenever you do anything new. You aren't going to be expected to know everything right away but the information also isn't going to be spoonfed to you. It's going to be up to you to fill in some of the gaps in what you do and don't know, though your advisor and more senior grad students will certainly help point you in the right direction. Link to the history discussion, since there's some helpful information there.

Always start with small talk! Remember that your POI is accepting you to work with them for years, so they want to make sure they can get along with you. If you're all business all the time or come across like a salesperson, you may be hurting your chances more than you're helping them. Let your POI take the lead on the conversation. Also, don't order anything messy or hard to eat (so don't order a prime rib sandwich which might drip on you or something which requires constant knife-and-fork work to eat).

Honestly, I wouldn't get nervous about anything before mid-March. They don't call it the Ides of March for nothing...

No, it's not an informal admission. It's the department saying you're in, pending final review of your file by the Dean's Office. It's rare that the Dean's Office doesn't go along with the department's recommendation, which is why this step is considered a formality by most.

Book reviews don't really count for much. You want to publish original research in the best journal you can get it into. Pay attention to the time between submission and acceptance, which is available on the websites of many articles. You don't want to submit to a journal which has an 18 month turnaround for publication if you're trying to have something to put on your CV for the next admissions cycle.

You're looking at this too narrowly. They asked if you were still interested not if you were planning to enroll there. So, you write them back and say, "Yes, I am still very interested in your program. I'm eager to hear about the next steps in the admissions process and the availability of funding. Thank you." Don't volunteer information which they haven't asked for. If they haven't asked you to accept a funded offer, then you're fine.

Registered users can vote a post up or down at their choosing. There's no requirement that they participate in the thread. And no, you cannot block them. They typically aren't "creeper trolls" so much as people who agree or disagree with something that has been said.

100% agreed with this advice. Nothing is set in stone until you have an offer letter with funding in writing. Without that, you could end up with nothing if you've withdrawn all of your other applications and your intended program doesn't come through with funding.

I picked fit over money. It was a difference of probably ~$36K over the course of my PhD but, to me, it was worth it. I got to work with the best POI for my research and having less institutional funding made me more of a go-getter when it came to applying for external funding.

@westy3789, there's no need to create a separate question for each of your FAFSA related questions. You could just post a single topic under "The Bank" and ask all of your FAFSA questions there.

You could just call the financial aid office and ask them how you will be treated. It could be that getting in-state status if your parents are residents of Wisconsin only applies to undergraduates, for example. Rather than wait and find out, why not pose your question to the financial aid office and see what they say about your residency status?

There's a bunch of different lists floating around here, such as:

Honestly, it's a crappy thing to do to School A. Try to find another time to visit School B.

It may not mean anything. It could be something automatically sent to everyone who applies.

I didn't narrow it down in my undergrad. I narrowed it down during my master's. But, in general, to narrow down your interests, READ, read, read, read, and then read some more. The more you read about the field, the more you'll realize what you're interested in and could read about for hours and what you're not as interested in. If possible, find recorded research presentations given by the leaders in the field or your POIs so you can get a sense of what research most excites you.

Three things come to mind: 1) $4K/year in fees is really high. Higher than most public institutions (state universities) that I've heard of. So, I would double check on that amount, just to ensure there wasn't a typo or calculation error made somewhere. 2) I wouldn't characterize as ~$16K/year in Norman, OK as an incredibly low stipend for a few reasons. One is because that is actually similar to the stipend amount in the humanities at a variety of institutions (which is to say that there are many applicants here who would be grateful for a stipend of that amount). The other is because the cost of living in Norman is incredibly low according to the cost of living calculator I just used (equivalent to ~$32K/year in Brooklyn, NY for example). 3) Why is applying to a school that's a good research fit a bad idea? I guess I'm missing something but, I thought most people here wanted to go to the best place for their research...

Agreed with @TakeruK. People either want to know and ask explicitly or they'll just not ask. If you're competitive for their program, then they're likely to assume that you have other offers. I mean, in narrow subfields, they can often even guess which other programs and POIs you applied to work with.

Have you considered looking at programs in communication/communication studies, in addition to psychology? Given your interests, it seems like a semi-obvious fit. I also agree with Eigen about trying to do a master's program before doing a PhD so you can gain research experience and make sure that this path is truly the one which you want to pursue. Good luck!