Eruthos

Right on my lowest emotional point I finally received an offer of admision from my top choice, the University of Virginia!! Funding of $22.500 for the first year and $24.000 after the PhD qualification exam. I'm so happy!! They even offered for me to start in the summer (May), but due to my work contract here in the Netherlands I'm not able xD... Ah well, USA, here I come! =D

Same for me.. I emailed them, nothing.. I even got an email from my POI after I asked him what the status was and he said he was very interested, but didn't get a response after 2 weeks! This kind of bureaucratic tardiness just puts me off immensely.....!!

@MajorLaser18 - UIUC is a good choice. They have a great program for the 1st year and a high reputation of bringing stuff on the commercial market (which is something you may want if you are into the synthesis of new materials.. I think I'm going to give up on hoping for admission.. The March 15 deadline has passed and traineeship deadline are coming up quickly. So.. bye bye PhD dream!

@Cmom291 - The first year is for orientation right? So just go there and check it all out, talk with both professors, try to get a smaller project with each of them and see which one you like more..! Experience from others comes in handy, but your own judgement is best as you'll have to work with that person for 4 years.

Sent another email to the graduate director at UVa, who should have contacted my POI (he said he would) and today, 2 weeks after my interview, he replied that my POI should contact him... how contradictory is that? Oh well, I sent an email back to my POI asking to check it out, but I'm kind of disappointed at this bureaucratic nonsense..!

The universities are taking sooo darn long..

@hj2012 - I found the off-grounds roommate site indeed, already signed up a few days ago. Should I get all the paperwork done I might as well go for a Copeley Hills apartment and get roommates =)! And in terms of distance, I don't care.. I'm Dutch, I'm born to bike .

@lucerovespertino - Thanks! Handy to hear these kind of things !

Thanks for your quick reply hj2012! I will be doing a PhD in Materials Science & Engineering and I think that with the minimum stipend I will be able to spend $800 max a month (incl utilities). Since I'm from Europe I think the best experience will be with roommates, especially in the first year. The Copeley Hill 3-bedroom apartments look very nice, but would the university allow 3 random people to be roommates? I have no clue on that part. If I receive my admission offer and financial stuff I will contact the university myself, but any extra information beforehand is helpful!

Most likely that my acceptance will come in within 2 weeks (had a good talk and offer from my POI), so I'm checking the possibilities of housing in C-ville. The graduate on-campus housing has caught my eye (Copeley Hill and University Grounds). Is there any recent info on the quality of the housing in these areas? I currently live in Delft and there's always noise (like trams, cars, people and even neighbours having insanely rough sex in the middle of the night..) so I'm kind of used to it. Are there any other recent developments that someone can point out? I'm also not bothered by distance, as I'm used to biking at least 6 km (4 miles) to get to school/work/etc. I will most likely get a car, but that's only for leisure use. Edit: also, what about for instance "GrandMarc at the Corner"? I heard that University Place is aweful?

Orthostice, better late than never ..!

From reputation Drexel's research is quite good and they seem to work closely with industry (less theoretical). I wanted to apply there as well but I read that their funding options are quite limited apparantly. I also had a very positive telephone interview with my POI at UVa yesterday. He basically offered me admission and funding from industry, but I have to wait for the official mail to be sure.. hopefully he keeps his word and gets through!

My POI at Northwestern said there were no problems at his programs and that admission decisions will be made soon (duh..). No reply from Brown or UMich yet.

Emailed my POIs at the universities I haven't heard from yet and my POI at University of Virginia has arranged to set up a conference call on Thursday (tomorrow).. yay!

For what I found for Dutch citizens that go to the US: - Income (stipend) will be taxed in the US according to non-resident alien taxation rules (up to 16%?) - There is no income taxation in the Netherlands due to a treaty - Social security premiums have to be paid over the bruto (before taxes) income at a rate of 5.4%, converted to Euro using the average value of the dollar over the period that the income has been received Meaning: a stipend of $22,000 yearly gives a deduction of $3520 for taxes in US and $1188 in premiums in the Netherlands. This leaves $17,292 to spend, or $1441 monthly. It may be enough, but it's not much either.. Ah well, I'll first have to await if I get an offer xD.