rising_star

I would go for the work experience.

In your shoes, I'd reapply next year.

Quite true! I'll also note that if you plan on going into academia, you may find yourself living in a city/town you don't like early in your career. It definitely gives one motivation to publish, get grants, etc., in an effort to obtain a new job in a location you find more desirable. Traveling out of the area on a regular basis (whether that's once a month, once every 8 weeks, etc.) can also be a way to make a location you don't like more tolerable.

If you search on this site, you'll see that there are lots of posts where people have asked for an extension. There doesn't seem to be a pattern when it comes to success with getting an extension though. All you can do is ask and see what they say.

This site is for graduate school applicants and current graduate students. We're not here to help you do your homework.

Just because you're at a bar doesn't mean you have to drink. Similarly, just because something is happening at a bar, doesn't mean you should skip it.* A couple of my close friends in grad school are non-drinkers. They would come to departmental happy hours and other events in bars but drink club soda, Shirley Temples, juice, or soda. FWIW, in my experience, you go through this same struggle to find friends every time you move, whether you're in graduate school or not. So developing ways to deal with it now will serve you well throughout the rest of your life. *Caveat: If you have a history of alcohol abuse, consult with a professional before putting yourself into that environment.

Honestly, no clue. I think because it seems like a backwater compared to the states around it? Or because it historically did provide serve as a landfill for NY? IDK honestly. But, like everywhere, it has its good and bad parts and points to it.

First step is to reach out to your first and second choices at Michigan State and BU and directly ask about the possibility of joining their labs. That information is crucial to making an informed decision.

I'm not sure it's realistic to have a true summer "off" in graduate school, tbh. What do you propose to do with your summers off? Have you spoken to professors at Scripps and Stanford about the possibility of a summer off? I'm a gambler so I'd probably choose Stanford but only if the one person you're interested in has already agreed to take you into their lab. If not, then Princeton. (And while NJ isn't most people's favorite state, you would be about 90 minutes from both NYC and Philly, which gives you great opportunities.)

Page 21 of the Graduate Handbook at KU says there is a MA thesis option. From the handbook: "A student may write a thesis in the final year of M.A. enrollment. In order to do so a member of the graduate faculty must accept responsibility for supervising the thesis that normally will be developed from a previously written seminar paper. The student must enroll for three hours in HA 899: Thesis, while working on the thesis. Thesis hours do not count as 800 or 900 level seminar hours and must be taken in addition to the required 800 or 900-level seminars. No more than three thesis hours may be counted toward the thirty required for the degree." I would take the funding and then elect to write a MA thesis for the reasons given by @bakhtingothic. Don't force yourself to get creative with funding/outside work to pay for going to UT.

Have you directly asked WUSTL about funding for your second year?

@invincible49, done! But, I'll probably need a reminder to remove the sticky next year...

There are lots of experiences on this board about negotiating for aid. Use the search function.

It could be but you really have no way of knowing this. It's also possible that it isn't a binary decision and by not asking for what you need, you lose out on money.

Yea, I would definitely reach out to the director at LSU yourself to see about the funding situation. That said, I also wouldn't commit to going to SIU knowing that you'd be on the hook for a year of tuition, fees, and living expenses yourself. Even with in-state tuition, that will be expensive. If I were you, I'd contact your POI at SIU and ask them about the possibility of getting funding from the department for the remainder of your time there.

Honestly, I had those same decisions. When it came to my MA, I went closer to home, which had its own pitfalls even though the training I got was excellent. For my PhD program, I moved across the country to something which sounds similar to your School B.* I absolutely hated the location when I first moved there. (I didn't visit before accepting so I went there for the first time in late June to look for housing.) When I say I hated it, I mean that I kept wondering why I'd picked that location and even reached out to a contact at another program to see if I could still be considered there. First semester across the country, I was miserable. But, I got over it, largely by finding things and people I liked there so that I had things to do and people to do them with. And now, I love going back to that city to visit friends who are still there. *Of note, this wasn't my first time living far from home as I moved half the continent away for my undergrad studies.

Honestly, I think some of the support you're looking for could come from having close friends, rather than a romantic partner. While I did date (and have multiple relationships) during my PhD program, the support I got professionally came primarily from a group of friends in my PhD program (some in my cohort, but mostly not). We supported one another when it came to grants, publications, developing research ideas, etc. In an ideal world, one's partner would be fully supportive of one's goals/dreams but, this isn't always the case. One of my graduate school relationships ended because my partner didn't want to accompany me for my fieldwork, even though I had sufficient funding to support us both for at least half of it. But, their unwillingness to be supportive of me became one of the reasons our relationship ended.

You can present unfinished work however, don't use this as an excuse to not do as much as you can before you present.

Volunteer at an animal shelter!

If they came up with anything, they didn't send them to me or bgk (the administrators here) so I'm guessing the idea died. I'm pretty sure I encouraged them to send me what they come up with though! We (bgk and I) are always open to suggestions for improvements. However, because we also both work full-time and do this as a service more than anything else, we do need people to take the initiative and not just hand us dozens of ideas that we don't have the time to implement.

Were it me, I'd ask for as much as you need to attend. If they come back with a lower number, then they come back with a lower number. But, they aren't going to offer you more than you ask for in all likelihood.

You might as well write to the program director and ask, especially since you haven't much to lose. At the same time, I would try to find a way to keep current with scholarship in your field, read work by key theorists, and pay attention to the job market and CFPs so you get a sense of what people are looking for.

1) CGS = Council of Graduate Schools. I strongly advise you to look up their resolution. 2) Contact the other schools to find out your status!

Have you considered focusing on why this population is difficult to study, which might include reviewing past research, pointing out flaws in it, and the resistance of the community to outsiders?

What I mean is devising a study design that future scholars can carry out.