newage2012

Also consider doing conservative investments such as bonds, blue chip stocks etc. A popular way to generate steady income is to write "covered calls" on a underlying stock that you already own. Never speculate, selling shorts, writing naked options etc. are speculation. Do it after you graduate and found a job(non academic) or after you get tenured (academic).

I live 38 miles from campus, and take the train every day. This is because I got stuck with the mortgage that my dad made before he passed, and it is hard to sell without a deficiency judgement (i.e. break even), and no extra money for renting somewhere close, even I work part-time on campus plus an external fellowship.

I live in the suburbs, and I would suggest you get the CTA chicago card with the I-GO membership so you get to rent a car at cheap rates and allow you to access some remote places like Woodfield Mall (the largest mall in the state) and its surrounding establishment. Also couple of sites are handy: www.metrarail.com (suburban commuter train, unlimited weekend travel for just $7) www.pacebus.com (suburban bus service, use this in conjunction with Metra schedules)

If you see such abuse may be it is time to switch. As for my university, you can also get funding by doing administrative work on campus (as an employee). I know at least a couple MA in political science have work in our university hospital IT and graduated that way. It really depends. At this economic situation it is safe to say the department will left you out in the cold, unless there are some guarantees that are being written on paper that you will get continued funding. TA are usually covered by labor unions and less subject to abuse than RA does, which you may be asked to walk your adviser's dog or clean their toilet. (Usually you will meet these professors in any sort of engineering) I am a fellowship recipient but also work as a hospital IT supervisor (part-time) so when the fellowship runs out, the hospital will pick up the tuition tab (as employee benefit). So I will say, besides in your own major, look for job opportunity in other department on campus as well. At least if your PhD doesn't land you any job your IT skills will save your ass.

congrats to everyone here. Hope the government shutdown won't affect the payments.

You will need to file FAFSA for the current year before any loan is issued. They will still issue the loan if the tuition waiver is not there. But once you get the waiver, it will be adjusted and you will owe them the refund. Usually in most cases, your Cost of Attendance (COA) is MUCH larger than your tuition and even if the tuition is waived, you can probably keep a majority of the loan proceeds. But again this depends on how your school calculates your COA.

Most scholarships are awarded not just on your grades but how well you write your personal statement or life experience and how it reflects your personality. I highly doubt some random cheater have a proper life story to write on... they pretty much to have no life anyway.

Which country will have the most chances? Vote it above! (At this point there are two round-of-16 matches remain to be played)

This is not me, but someone post it in on our listserv. http://www.reddit.com/r/WTF/comments/c3psy/cs_department_at_uic_wont_take_no_for_an_answer/ Looks like our school is still hungry for students. Not sure what's going on with all the rejection elsewhere.

A certain big bank gives out 2.5% per year for a 5-year certificate of deposit. You must be looking at a very crappy bank. Better move your $ elsewhere.

Just got mine. Honorable Mention but no award well, considering my background this is already pretty far! Our university have only one Ford fellow in its entire history, and that was last year.

I came from a so-so university from a so-so GPA and a so-so GRE score at the second attempt, with AI, HCI and Linguistics as my field of study. Reviewer #2 sounds like some sort of nice, social science person, you can see that from comments like "natural leader" and "interest in politics". Reviewer #1 sounds more like a hard-core engineer. Remember the four "radio buttons" option on the application about your academic status which you have to choose one? That tells you basically what level of reviewers you will be getting. To remind you, the four buttons are: - Senior undergraduates - First year grad students - Second year grad students - Anything above it ( I chose this one, extenuating circumstances statement required) If you choose the last two, your undergrad GPA and GRE scores will probably weigh less, since you already have a year of grad school and these reviewers will look more at your research proposal and experience and you need to have some sophisticated research proposals that are not too ambitious. azz exist in the scientific world. Very unlucky you got one.

Got the following for rating sheets. No HMs, 3rd year grad student with extenuating circumstances statement submitted. 3.4 Undergrad GPA, 3.49 Grad GPA, 450/790/4.5 on GRE. **** Rating #1: Overall Assessment of Intellectual Merit: Good The applicant's academic preparation is less competitive. The clarity of the research plan is competitive. The application would benefit a discussion of more related literature for the proposed research. The applicant's research experience supporting material is less competitive. Overall Assessment of Broader Impacts: Good The supporting material for the broader impacts of the proposed research is not reflective of the proposed project's potential impacts. The applicant's proposal would benefit from a plan for information dissemination. The proposal would also benefit from an extended discussion on more specific impacts. ***** Rating #2: Overall Assessment of Intellectual Merit: Good Has good academic preparation for graduate study. Appears to be enthusiastic about research and is a hard worker. The proposed research topic is interesting, but still lacks of details. It is impressive that the applicant has two papers published. Overall Assessment of Broader Impacts: Good Appears to be a natural leader. Has passion in politics. Writing can be further improved. Statement about master study is not research oriented somehow conflicts with the statement that the applicant wants to do research and, therefore, stayed for the master study. *************************** Rater 1 is very confusing indeed.

wrong section oops.

Congrats to those who won, at least you do not have to worry about the economy and your funding for the next 3 years. For me, everything rejected so far. I mean if you get rejected from NSF, chances are you are not going to get anything else, right? Heck, not even a single person from our university have won the NSF, even though we claim ourselves to be a Carnegie I Research Institution. I guess it couldn't help coming from a minority institution..... Now our TA's and GA's will be going on strike pretty soon, perhaps any minute..........

I want to see if someone actually won with Verbal score in the 400 range.

You may still be eliglible for work-study which help offset your department budget for your stipend. You may also get interest-free loans that you can use to pay off high-interest debts, like credit cards. If you don't have CC debt, you can still use the money to open an IRA account, which can saves you somewhere between $400 to $600 in income tax per year (assuming you are making full contribution each year, for this year is $5,000). The tax savings is greater than the interest of the loan. Of course I am talking about federal loans. Steer clear from private loans.

Yes. Year 2012 is coming, and we may not be around much longer. And speaking of getting into "financial mess" by borrowing, as long as you are getting Stafford loans (and not private loans), you can always opt for the ICR repayment plan, which limits your payment to a certain % of your income. If you can't get that paid off in 25 years, your entire balance is forgiven.

When I got my BS in 2007 I have about $7000 in debt. Now it is about $66,000 and just started the PhD program. Should be hitting $100K by 2012 no problem, and probably will need to start taking out PLUS or private loans after 2013 because I will reach the Stafford loan exaggerate lifetime maximum of $138K. And yeah that is with a salary of $20K a year, the tuition is covered, but many colleges here in UIC start exploiting a loop hole to increase a charge called "tuition differential" ,which is not covered by an employee tuition waiver. Same with RA's and TA's. A strike by the graduate employee union here is probably imminent soon.

Never heard of the term "guide" being used. "Supervisor" usually means who responsible for your paycheck. "Advisor" is the one who is monitoring your degree progress,and usually part of your PhD dissertation committee. Usually for those who are pursuing PhD full-time and doing RA work these two terms are the same thing. It is only different for those who are being paid doing something else (i.e. janitorial work) and only pursue PhD part-time.

This kid either flunk his civic education class in high school, a Republican, or his last name is Rockefeller. This is exactly why the U.S. is in such a bad shape. Lack of social responsibility. The only developed country that does not have government health care for all. Even China has national health care! This kid needs to spend some years in the Gulag.

In most cases, Aid package don't come in until late May / Early June.

I didn't submit it. Instead I talk about how my background can bring an impact in my personal statement instead.