music

To avoid false info floating around, I'll state my experience with a UPenn interview. During mine I was basically told I was accepted ("hopefully the next time we see you will be in person" - scared the cr@p out of me to hear that), and the interview was so chill it was fairly obvious from the beginning that it was a procedure rather than a test. At other institutions the interview process seemed like a key part of their decision making process. This reflects the fact that institutions may be more or less certain about candidates, may use interviews for different purposes for different candidates, and may change their practices year to year. One program, for example, wanted to talk in depth about my research plans including details like fieldwork funding, which wasn't even touched upon at other interviews. Other candidates for the same program in the same year had a 10 minute interview. So I would suggest you avoid trying to draw conclusions based on other people's experiences in different years!

Well, are you in the same time zone as them? I remember I had 3 or 4 faculty in my interview - scheduling to get them all in a room at the same time for however long can't be easy, and is probably near impossible during regular office hours.

Mine (Ethno 2014) was a very friendly convo, asked some qs which seemed to be a check up that I'd read recent scholarship, had some verbal competency and was who I said I was/was not insane. Really low pressure and no trick/difficult qs. It was by far the most chill interview I did and it really did last 10 mins.

UCLA have funding issues for international students because they're a public university so they don't/can't offer identical aid packages for everyone, like the bigger private universities can. Musicology has an easier time than Ethnomusicology though since they're funded from different divisions, from what I remember when I thought about applying (ended up not bothering because of lack of funding guarantees). UPenn interviews. Apparently some schools interview only the "maybe" list and admit other applicants without interview, some schools interview the whole shortlist, others don't interview at all. It does seem like schools are very consistent in their process but probably not worth reading too much into it until you start seeing acceptances pop up. I actually had interviews at a couple of schools which don't state that they interview - in fact one such school had me on the phone twice for over an hour each time, and I gather that's pretty normal for them. The other interviews I had were just 15 minute Skype sessions with (in retrospect) quite predictable questions.

As well as classes, try to go to social events and workshops. Workshops are especially useful because you'll have a chance to see students interacting independently on the spot, not just responding to a book/article. Often there will be more advanced students presenting their work, again, a useful indicator of program quality.

Won a prize in my discipline outside of the university, which is the first external validation I've had since joining this discipline for my PhD. Kind of bowled over and oh so happy! Starting to prepare for the national conference in December where the prize will be awarded, and where I'm presenting the same paper. Coursework is chugging fine, although it's frustrating having to fulfil certain requirements which stop me being able to take the most relevant courses to my dissertation, at times. I'm really worried about learning two languages from scratch, neither of which use the Latin alphabet, and passing reading exams in both by the end of next year. The reality of how intense and stuctured this program will continue to be into year 3 and 4 is starting to hit home.

My experience has been that most often, I have to go through a more long-winded and frustrating process to do things like set up utilities, rent apartments, get internet service, because companies request extra proof of identity to be presented in person. With a phone, I had to purchase a handset outright and then get a pay monthly plan. The real sticking point for me was that even though I did have an SSN early on during my studies, it was worthless for any credit-related purpose because I had no credit history. And in the US, it seems nigh on impossible to start building credit without a credit history (oh, the irony). However, I learned towards the end of my 1st year that Citibank student accounts always entitle the account holder to a credit card. I now have a Citibank credit card and am slowly building my credit, being sure to follow my banker's advice on the steps to do that most effectively. As soon as possible, I'll get a second credit card to expedite the process.

If your acceptance letter covers health insurance then your tuition bill will show USHIP at full price, with a 100% reduction. You never end up out of pocket, but it's worth logging on to check you have been automatically enrolled (follow email links).

Can you push the internship back to next summer? That kind of thing is what summers are made for. You've done well to find work that is either relevant to your discipline or allows you to study on the job. However, working full-time hours on top of grad school would likely detract from your ability to get the most out of your program. It's not much different to working two full-time jobs, and surely you wouldn't try to do that without expecting some negative consequences for your stress levels, physical health, sleep quantity/quality, and work quality. Start with the minimum additional workload necessary (ie to pay rent and progress in your program) - you can always add more later.

You've got mail.

I realised today that I'm really excited to get back to classes and spend time in the library. Another month left until classes kick off but got a few side-projects (internship and other exams not related to coursework) that I'm undertaking to keep me busy.

My experience: I got accepted from a performance undergraduate, without Masters, to Cambridge, Kings London, Chicago, Penn and NYU, waitlisted at Stanford, rejected from Brown. In my app, I was upfront about my academic training, supplying extra info about what my competencies and course content had been during undergrad, and let my writing samples do the talking. My writing samples were one ethno paper and one theory paper. The former I wrote of my own accord, the latter for a class. My research interests were relatively solid, but I was also told at prospie days that one thing they liked about me was my breadth of interests within ethno - ie that I had a clear idea of where I thought my dissertation would end up, but that I demonstrated open mindedness to other areas. Presumably performance background folks might need to be more open to this than others with a solid history/ethno background. They also liked that I explained why I wanted to go into ethno from performance, and how the two informed one another. FTR I had zero ethnography experience at that time, a very limited understanding of the discipline (being from a country where it's barely known or practiced), and no world music performance experience. I applied to places where that wouldn't be a problem, ie where world music performance is not emphasized so much as the anthro side of ethnomusicology, and to places that required or strongly encouraged grad students to have some expertise in Western art music. Turns out the majority of my fellow Ethnos at my grad school had similar experiences, many were Western classical performers in past lives, and many of the faculty are active performers in various contexts. So look closely at the institutions where you're applying to see what they want. I'm sure certain other schools would have discarded my app without a second thought, but I applied only to places where I knew my background wouldn't work against me.

Within my department just by first name (it's a policy). Outside of the department, Prof X unless they suggest they prefer first name. Even then, I'd always err on the side of caution. If I switch from "Prof X" to "FirstName" in an email based on their sign off, I'll generally start the email "Dear FirstName (if I may)".

Try and find something that benefits your degree. Tutoring is a good option - it pays a high hourly rate and develops your teaching skills. I teach 2.5 hours/week and that brings in $100. Means that my stipend plus that pocket money is enough for me to rent a big 2 bedroom apartment in a major city, and support my +1. Btw, don't discount big cities just because of rent. Some (often private) institutions offer more than others, and some (overlapping) institutions are based in the suburbs of big cities, which are very affordable but also bring more work opportunities downtown.

I always reply with a thank you and maybe "see you at x" or "have a great summer". Never a bad thing to show appreciation for faculty taking time out for you. Reading that kind of brief note and hitting delete takes them like 5 seconds, so I would rather waste their 5 seconds than risk appearing rude or ungrateful.

I too have another 5 years. Just secured a great apartment for the coming 12 months so feeling excited to get back to town after a summer of fieldwork and visiting family abroad I'm taking a language next year which means I have class 4 days per week (boo) but also allows me to only pick the two most interesting courses from my own department per term (yay). I'll be on the department's grad student board and the university-wide student health board for 2015-16, which should be interesting in terms of understanding how US educational institutions work from the inside. I'm presenting at my discipline's major conference in December too. The main goal this year is to get more of a balance between the different aspects of being a grad student, rather than being too hung up on coursework.

You can only move to another apartment after your 12 month lease expires, by submitting a transfer request. They don't make this particularly clear until you have already signed your lease - it wasn't on any of my paperwork, they only explained it once I got to the point of needing a transfer due to my spouse moving to Chicago to be with me. So we are moving out. Grad housing is decent enough, but you wont necessarily get the kind of apartment you want, and they are in the process of selling off a ton of the buildings so who knows what it will be like once external property companies (likely the dreaded, infamous MAC) buy up.

In my 1st year I did no "service" except being nominated to the board of a sports society that I am active in. During my 2nd year I'll be serving on the department's grad student committee, which is a time heavy role but will gain me some brownie points with faculty and staff, and give me insight into the workings of the university - I consider these benefits to be worth the time, since I'm the kind of person who would consider administrative/consulting careers after graduation and this is my first time in a university environment. I also got elected to the university-wide health committee which could hardly be less related to my research, but is a personal interest and, honestly, I felt like my CV was severely lacking in service-related activity which one one reason I stood for election. Again, that only pertains to my desire to keep non-faculty jobs open as a post-graduation option. I'll consider standing for an arts-related committee in my 3rd year. These kinds of committees are very low on time/effort requirements or I wouldn't bother. I opted to take a work-from-home internship with a non-profit directly related to my dissertation work, and I am thinking of that as more the kind of "service" that is mutually beneficial - it's the only kind that will speed my academic progress and help with the kind of networking that is already benefiting my research. I'll likely continue with this kind of thing through my PhD, but curtail the university-related service to focus on my dissertation beyond year 3.

To an extent, yes. But what about if you have to write your dissertation in American English (as I'm required to)? In that case, refusing to write in American English through your whole PhD program seems like a disrespectful thing to do, especially if it has been brought to your attention in a considerate way by profs...

Well if it's a personal decision, then whether or not it's a "good reason" is not yours to judge I consider it a very good reason - cultural respect, especially coming from a country that has a tendency to throw scorn on the US. Just as in my academic fieldwork I seek to learn and practice cultural norms, I try to do the same in my academic day to day life. Please note also, you may not feel that non-conforming in this regard is making an exception of yourself, but I'm sure that in other areas of academic life where you do feel that way, you seek to conform for very obvious reasons (politeness, career prospects, reputation etc). The difference of opinion is hopefully over what counts as making an exception, and those kinds of decisions are both individually and culturally mediated, so I don't think it's wise for you to cast your judgement on my personal take on this issue as you did.

I was encouraged by my profs early on to switch to US English. I'm here for 6 years and it makes sense to me to let Word autocorrect my "ise" and "ou" for the sake of fitting into the academic environment. I chose to come to the US, so why would I choose to make an exception of myself in my academic work? Besides, I also anticipate submitting for more journals and conferences in the US than anywhere else during my PhD so it makes sense to conform. The nuanced grammar differences were most difficult for me. I also got teased (in a nice way) when I gave out a handout during a seminar presentation and used some left over UK sized A4 paper, since it was a different size to everyone else's. With speaking, I am more reluctant to give up my British-isms, and still get caught out by some US words. Somehow I feel more personal ownership over spoken language than written. It probably also has to do with having regular in-person and skype contact with British friends and family. I'm really glad my husband is moving over to the US in a couple of months so we can preserve each other's accents and vocab! Regarding the music thing - yes. That. I'm in Ethno but I have to take a theory class this coming year, and I'm not sure whether I'll adapt my music terminology so easily. Even worse will be trying to figure out how to do analysis in the US style, which is very different to how I learnt in the UK.

With respect, this completely depends on *why* you're self-limiting your work hours. If you just don't want to work more hours, that may be an issue. For me, and many others, it's more that we would work too much otherwise, and burn out. Some may have mental health conditions which make this absolutely necessary to avoid exacerbating issues like anxiety, depression, SAD etc. You might also consider that people have different ideas of what constitutes "work" - for me, I often wake up thinking about my studies and they penetrate my thoughts well beyond my determined "work" hours. In this case, I'd maybe write a note to myself for the next day. It means higher productivity and a strong desire to work - I spend my day off getting restless at the idea of what I will study tomorrow. I'd compare it to going to the gym - sure, you could go for hours every single day, but you'd get injured quickly and end up taking months to recover, plus you'd start to lose perspective on life. Even pro athletes take days off and limit how much they train on any given day, to maximise long term progress. "Rest" by way of delineated work/home hours is not a form of weakness, in fact it can be quite the opposite.

For your budget, you could also get a studio or 1 bedroom in grad housing. As I mentioned before, I have been paying $811/month for a 420 sq ft 1 bed including all bills. Sharing a place would be a good option too, if you'd prefer roommates. Bear in mind that people usually look for accommodation about 2-6 weeks before their move in date, so if you were interested in anything non-university owned you'd need to wait a good few months before anything will come around for 2015-16.

I'm a 1st year in Humanities, so very much in the middle of 2-3 years of coursework + language study (my answer is above).

This is totally possible. I currently do (equivalent of) 9-5 Sun-Fri, and will likely cut Sunday work out once my husband moves to town next academic year.