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Hi everyone, I am currently a phd student at UVA and I was looking last year for places to live and found a great co-operative living community of which I am now the recruitment coordinator. It's called Cooperative Housing at UVA (or just CHUVA). We will have a few openings for new students next year in all of our four houses and we're now open for applications. The people are great and it's a good community for people who are new to the town. We have potlucks, events and parties and the rooms are quite affordable ranging from $350-$380 per month plus utilities. There are also summer subleases for those interested. If you'd like to learn more just visit our website at : http://www.student.virginia.edu/coop/ (A new website is coming soon.) You can download and fill our application from this link: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/1237913/New%20CHUVA%20App_v2.doc You can also email me at caneruguz@gmail.com if you have any questions. Charlottesville is a great city and it would be a good decision to come here regardless of where you live. Good luck with your application process. Caner

I am sorry to throw some more flame on the fire but this thread starts with an understandable request and turns it into a selfish and accusatory demand. As someone who is waiting for financial aid decisions from a number of schools I can say that there are a large number of reasons people wait for all this information to be finalized. A lot of them are financial. Predatory and juvenile? What makes you think that people who want more money per month from their schools do it because they are hungry for cash? If money was the main concern PhD seems like the wrong choice to begin with. Could it be possible that some people really need the extra 200 dollars to survive? Who are you to judge the motivations and circumstances of diverse applicants that you know absolutely nothing about. PhD application is tough and the decision is one that is going to affect you for a significant portion of your life. Do you want people to rush their admission decisions or to not try improving their aid package because YOU are on a waitlist? This is infuriatingly obtuse and makes me wonder if you would be pondering on the same issue when you were the one 'sitting on' admits. From the entitled attitude on your posts I highly doubt that you would be as considerate as you demand everyone else to be. This is a nasty way to let off steam in this frustrating times. If there are really people who know exactly where they want to go and have all the financial issues sorted out but are using their admits to milk departments of their budgets although they don't need the extra money, shame on them. But your plea won't affect those guys. It will just end up frustrating people like me with a couple of acceptances but very little information on financial aid at all. We respect and want to be part of the departments we apply to and at least deserve the right to make a good decision after we receive all the relevant information. We don't need the impatient harassment of self-indulgent applicants.

Although this isn't always the case I definitely agree with the general idea. If you are going to work, Harvard name will do it for you. If Academia it helps too but it's not as much of a wow. Also getting no funding for PhD is a very very bad idea. Just calculate your total debt and how many years it will take you to pay that off and compare this loss of income to any practical advantage Harvard will give you. 200.000 dollars makes about $1660 per month without any interest in 10 years. If you think you will earn more than 6000 net after the PhD it might make sense, otherwise no.

I worked there for two years while they received their first-ever students, and I was very happy to be at Hertie. The people are great and the students were very good. For Germany it was incredibly prestigious to be there because they put together an amazing group of scholars known very well across Germany. They have a high standard in terms of education and research so if you want a good education it's definitely one of your best options. As a new school the only area it would lack in comparison with other institutions is the alumni base and connections, but they're working hard to make both of these better and have come a very long way already (Their first graduates were in 2007 mind you). They also make up for this by creating a more personal relationship with each student and taking extra care. It will still be a while until Hertie gets the recognition of an LSE, so if name and connections is why you want to do MPP (which is understandable) LSE will be better but Hertie is a great school in every other way.

I have a question about the TEP deadline. I thought the deadline was also January 4th like other programs. The website says people can apply until February 5th. Did I get the deadline wrong all along? Or did they recently change it? If they changed it, why? What does that mean? God so many questions. None of it really matters though, the application is long submitted, luckily I have a full time job to drown me under work. Seriously though, does anyone know about this deadline issue?

This is quite a strong statement. I wouldn't say it's nonexistent at all. For scholarships that might be the case but fellowships and assistantships are a common way to fund graduate school and I don't think it's nonexistent in there. Maybe it's just my wishful thinking but actually a lot of international students make it to the US. I have at least 10 friends from around the world who study there which I know isn't a great statistic, but it was like for every 2 people that applied 1 got in or something. Universities sure do want to earn money (or I mean not lose money) but they also want to attract bright young minds from abroad and make them stay there too. So you need a good research but katalytik's post sounded like "don't waster your time", which isn't true. Master's on the other hand is a different story. Master's funding is almost nonexistent for everyone unless it's a rich private school.

There are actually quite a few factors affecting this. To begin with fewer international students apply than US citizens, therefor there are undoubtedly more Americans in any given program. The real question in terms of acceptance is whether being an international student will reduce your chances all other things remaning the same, in other words: take two profiles, one American, one international, which are exactly the same, will the US citizen have a better chance? IF you need funding the answer is mostly YES. That's because funding opportunities are much more diverse. FAFSA or subsidized loans don't apply to foreign students. There are also specific scholarships that limit the awards to US nationals or permanent residents. So it depends on where the money is coming from and how rich the school is, but mostly money is tight. State schools have fee differences as aptly explained in the previous post but I don't think private universities can be too liberal with accepting international students as well. But doctorate applications that are funded have a good chance of accepting foreign students and if your profile is better then you have a higher chance. Some scholarships are unique to international students on the other hand, given to nationals of certain countries. The money for these scholarships usually comes from an alumni or businessmen who was a national of one of those countries too. On the whole it's true that international students have a disadvantage in terms of funding but mostly because we don't have as many options. But no school will let a very good candidate go because of lack of funds. That's an area where US is way way better than other european countries. For my master's I got accepted to Oxford, SOAS and Manchester, but they were surprised that I didn't have money to pay for it. "Oh, that's too bad" was their reaction. They have like a handful of scholarships for people like me, so US as far as I know is much better. My advice: Check how much money the schools have and email them beforehand about their funding options for international students and apply to more schools than normal US citizens would.

Okay let's move away from our own stories and conflicts and do something else to pass the time: announce here the application or faculty that has been most helpful. This might seem exceedingly unnecessary as they probably aren't going to be reading these forums (which might be a good or bad thing I don't know), but in an area which is not always as personalized or polite they do deserve some attention for being very nice and helpful. I would like to mention Susan Kandel from Harvard Graduate School of Education. After I sent her an email about my two typos in the statement I thought that was it. She would be like "You're not only a big idiot for doing that kind of thing in the first place, but now you're sending me a pathetic email to whine about it ? What are you applying to here, kindergarden?"... She was instead very nice and offered a possible solution to my problem too. If only other admission or faculty contacts were as nice, or are they? Tell us your stories.

This site is incredibly useful since it brings immense perspective that all those who come here crave. Coupled with phdcomics.com for the fun part and some sneaking around the Chronicle forums, a grad applicant can get a great sense of what's going on, or at least comfort from other's experiences. I mostly read what people write until I signed up for a blog here, but I'm sure all the other people who aren't saying something appreciate the existence of this forum and those who say something make it happen. I think we're a good bunch, there couldn't probably be a better community formed online, considering that we are hundreds of incredibly diverse and mostly anonymous people.

Yes that sounds like a good idea, although I don't exactly have nothing to do (I'm a teacher applying to ed schools) I do want to contribute to the community, and since I submitted most of my applications, I will come back here often. Also as an international student looking for funding some of my experience might help.

Wow, I love graduate admissions people. They respond so quickly and they all seem very nice. Well Purdue sorted this problem out right away, saying that I could send photocopies and show them the originals if I get accepted and actually go there. the "official" transcript issues are understandable though when it comes to schools abroad because they can't be as easily assured of its authenticity. But they're note bureaucrats, so if you explain, as in waylance's example above, they do their best to clarify. I know I seem to have a very positive attitude about all graduate admission offices, but they're not trying to lock people out. I read somewhere that some people got acceptances although one or two of their reference letters were missing. So the useful advice is: ALWAYS talk to the people, explain your situation, more often than not there is a way to solve it.

Good luck to everyone here, it looks like there is quite a talent pool in this forum. I applied to the TEP program, though I'm not fresh out of college. I actually have three years of teaching experience without a teaching degree. I exchanged emails with Susan Kandel, who was incredibly helpful and replied very fast and with detailed explanations. I'm an international student so I hope that won't make it very difficult, but wanting to be a teacher in USA coming from a foreign country is not easy. I just think that there are much better opportunities to learn and grow as a teacher in the US. Anyway I hope this works out for everyone, that even if we can't get into Harvard, we get accepted into other good schools.

I got this email from Purdue College of Education graduate program, that contained the following paragraph: The email is very nice and informative, I have nothing against that and I'm happy that they are so quick to respond after the online application is done, but I don't want to send them my ORIGINAL Diplomas. What do you think I should do? But more importantly is that common? I have never seen ANYONE ask for my original diplomas before. So I'm a bit confused.

Maybe someone out there has a better idea, but to me it seems like educational leadership and policy programs want older people with experience in these fields, heads of schools, officials etc. while Curriculum and Instruction programs want teachers with long years of experience. Is this at all true about these programs? Is there such a distinction in your opinion.