a fragrant plant

Hi all, I'm in. Letter dated Jan 28.

Congratulations! Did you apply for MPhil/DPhil or taught Masters? When was the date on the letter?

The postman just came but still nothing today. Sigh!

I regret at being so emotionally invested in one school. I know I'm going to be very disappointed if I don't get in. It's not good.

Congrats! Which department are you in?

I saw from the result page that someone was invited for an interview by Duke. May I ask if the email was sent by your potential advisor or the department secretary? Many thanks!

Hello, I contacted the institution's admission office and they advised me to 'accept' the offer anyway. If I change my mind later, all I need to do is to inform them as soon as I know. I've spoken to a few UK-based applicants about this apporach too. All of them said it's completely acceptable to retract your acceptance at a later date if you change your mind or there is not enough funding for you to go. My institution confirmed this in a F&Q section on its website. I advise you to check the admission website or call for reassurance.

Hello Londoners, what areas should I look at if I want an easy commute to SOAS? I prefer quiet residental areas that are within easy access to SOAS and the British Library as I want to make good use of them. Proximity to supermarkets (preferably Waitrose or M&S, I try to avoid Tesco) is important because I do not want to eat out on a regular basis. I want to stay somewhere I feel comfortable walking home alone at night. I've had a look at the student accomodations such as the International Hall but I found them very over-priced. I'm considering private accommodation and I'm willing to pay up to £550PCM for a room in a nice flat. Thanks in advance for your advice!

Very sad. I hope he had found peace in the end.

I know someone who quitted after spending the past seven years trying to write a dissertation (in humanities). She's now working as a secretary. I personally think she should have just bitten the bullet and submitted whatever she had written (whether she would pass or not is another question). But deep down in my heart I admire her courage of quitting after spending seven years in graduate school. I think to a lot of PhDs letting go is more difficult than writing a dissertation.

How do you know that some professors have looked at your LinkedIn? Does it show who visits your page?

Thanks very much. That means Oxford's 'tuition' will be at least £2k more expensive than other universities in the U.K. Sigh... How much do you think I'll need to put aside for maintenance fee?

Can someone explain to me what 'college fee' is? I just learn that college fee will cost at least £2k and it's not included in the £3k tuition fee (for EU/Home students). I am told that the 'college' is not as important in postgrad as it is in undergrad. If so, what is the college fee for? I also heard that most UK funding covers only tuition fee. There is no stipend. Is this true?

No I have not heard from them yet!!

Great post! I like the following artists and want to expand my ipod with music of similar genres, any recommendation? The Shins Death Cab for Cuties Cat Power John Mayer Rilo Kiley Feist Thanks!

Thanks all for the great advices. Indeed, self-motivation plays a great part in graduate school. What did you do to get your work published in an academic journal? Which journal(s) did you approach first? Any tips?

Speaking of funding, if you're a EU/UK national, there aren't really that many funding opportunities for you in the USA. I don't know if the Ivy offers you full funding, if they do, go for the Ivy. Otherwise I'd encourage you to accept the offer from Oxford as it gives you full financial support.

Hi Eigen, but I am not in science.

Can you please give more advice on this matter? I'm in the process of deciding which school to go to!

A friend of mine who is in his writing-up stage told me that he is somewhat disappointed of his advisor because he seems to have little interest in helping him to get his stuff published. To be fair, I don't know the quality of his work because he's not in my field. He's also unhappy about the lack of opportunities to network with other academics due to the location/reputation of his university. Is this a norm? Do you have to rely on your own initiatives and motivation? Does your advisor help you broaden your network? Does your advisor give you a chance to co-author with him or her in order to give you a leg up? I want to know if anyone has experienced what my friend is going through and whether or not this is a common experience in graduate school. My undergraduate advisor has invited many of her graduate students to co-author with her and that was how many of them published their first papers. My question is: do you have to climb up the academic ladder all by yourself? How helpful is your advisor?

I totally agree with what you said. It has to have an 'end date' to make LDR work.

My partner works in IT. I can't help but wondering if Durham is a good town for IT/computer professionals? Are there plenty of job opportunities?

I can only speak of my experience in the UK. In my department we have at least 2 lectures from the U.S. and several from Europe. I noticed that in the UK it's not uncommon for PhD graduates to remain in the universities that awarded them their PhDs and eventually work their way up to be Post-Doc fellows or lecturers. Obviously you have to be highly competitive (and extremely lucky) to have such an opportunity. I don't see this happening very often in the U.S.

Depends on which field you are in, governments and NGOs do hire social scientists to do research for them, though they're more interested in social scientists who can handle numbers (statistics). I have a MSc and I'm currently working in the public sector as a researcher. Since health care is treated as a business in the States I think you'll find great opportunities in the private sector or within the National Institutes of Health.

Hello, I applied to some UK schools and they have rolling admission. Nothing from the US schools yet!