Karoku_valentine

In my country the system requires you to state your major from day number 1, and you cannot change majors like you do i the US. If you want to change majors, you will most likely need to retake the admission exams and will be considered a brand new student with the option of waving up to X credits. I changed my university once and had doubts about my major (Poli Sci & Intl Relations) and wanted to change to Economics. I did not do it because I was stupid and had already switched schools once (my mother, the main support of the house, was not very happy about it, but since I had a scholarship she did not say much). Also, I basically had academic scholarships for my whole education, that might or might not have been possible in Economics.

I am from Mexico. I have traveled or lived in: Mexico, South Korea, Japan, Hong Kong, Canada, USA, Austria, Czech Republic, Slovak and Germany. Hopefully next year I will visit the Balkans (several countries), Taiwan, Israel and France.

I received the I-20 a few days after I had confirmed my admission on the website. It normally takes the time to sign the sheet. For Ohio State University, I accepted the offer on February 25th by email to the head of the department, I clicked the button "I accept the offer" on the website on March 2 (I submitted the documents -fellowship letter- by Feb 27), and received the I-20 on March 6th. So basically a week. However, I am in Mexico and all express mailing arrives the next day.

I guess you are American (since international students can get TA jobs teaching their languages; that is how many of my fellow classmates in my Master funded their studies). Either you could try getting a position as a grader, in case you receive no stipend. Overall, I would recommend you to go to school now instead of later. You could try getting a TAship next year, or just leave.

Just get another name at your own country. That would solve your entire life.

Hi! Here are the rankings for Masters in IR: http://foreignpolicy.com/2015/02/03/top-twenty-five-schools-international-relations/ . Consider this ranking just a part to make the decision. I was in IRPS. I really considered most of the classes to be sort of easy. In general, I would say it is difficult to fail. However, it is also difficult to get good grades, specially in the non-quant classes. For most Americans I met, IRPS was challenging because of the quantitative content (statistics, regression analysis, international economics) because most of them never took any quantitative classes in their undergraduate studies, so everything was crammed in the classes and that made it difficult. However, if you are an international student who is able to attend an American school, the odds are you are an above average student and you will most likely find the classes bearable. With that being said, I have to say that IRPS was good for preparing students to enter the private sector, and some American students joined the Federal Government. Overall, I would say they are doing fine and they found good jobs. Regarding the international students, you can find a job if you really put your mind into it (most Chinese students really wanted to stay in the US, so they networked a lot and got jobs). Also, some students decided to pursue academia and some of them were able to continue with their PhD's. Those who were not admitted into PhD's had low GRE scores, while those who were had better scores. IRPS is good enough to get you something.

Well, you also have to be very open mind. Specifically when people make jokes with you. For example, I met this American girl in my Master in the States, who was nice and fun; once we were kidding and I said if she was drunk (she was muslim and had a scarf) and she did not take it well. She did not make a scene, but definitely it felt a little awkward. However, she was liked by everyone and considered very easy going and she still lived with relatives, who were very conservative to the point of arranging her marriage (though she did love the boy). So she had everything. In general, I do not think ethnicity/religion would be a problem. I had Iranian friends too and they were amazing (though they did not wear the scarf; mostly because one of the other Iranian girls told them not to, since people would not see them in the same way in a country like Korea -where we all met-, with almost zero immigrants). You can still go out and not drink. I did it all the time. Also, I used to spend most of my days at the library, so I am not pretty sure graduate students go out that often.

Masters. Thanks for the contact, I will let him know I am not going.

I just received admission to Rutgers and said they were unable to offer me any funding. I am going to decline of course.

The Catholic schools are so conservative that they decided to fire a professor who exposed a TA because of her liberal ideas.

I received a funded offer from Purdue University, but I think I will decline. I know it is ranked higher than Ohio State (24 vs 27), but the stipend is less and I am supposed to pay small tuition (3K) and the 25% of insurance. While OSU has a higher stipend, same housing prices, no tuition at all. Plus West Lafayette is a "rural" town, so in order to do an internship I would need to move to another city, unlike OSU.

Hi. I was in a similar situation, in the sense that I was expecting to be admitted to school B, but I wasn't. I have a few questions: 1) In case of admission to B, how do you know they will grant your funding? 2) Are you sure A would give you funding? Because it looks more like a hook, which might or might not be grounded in reality.

Hey did in my case

Actually it might make more sense to admit non funded international students more than to admit local students, since they are always going to be out of state students they will always pay more than locals. However, funding international students might be more expensive. Still, sometimes there are not enough good local students and the international students are much better or applied in larger numbers. This is probably true for several STEM fields; I was reviewing U Minnesota applicants to the Department of Statistics and around 70% (a large number, I can't recall quite well) were internationals, and so, more international students will be admitted and funded.

I recently experienced that situation with a university. The head of the department told me the same and asked me if I was interested in the school and if I had accepted another TA offer. I promptly replied and told them I was attending another school.

Hi. I was invited to a graduate information day, so I had to get a tourist visa, which is valid for 10 years. Once I am given my I-20 and everything, I will request a F-1 visa and enter the US with an F-1 visa. In order for you to be able to study in the US, you need to leave the country and then enter and ask to be registered with your F1 visa. But you should ask about that. Just go to Mexico or Canada for the weekend (now it is cheaper because of the exchange rate and you need no Mexican visa if you travel from the US/have an American visa) and go back.

Tourist. I got my tourist visa a few weeks ago to visit a university. They will see you go there and ask you nothing.

What about Univ Minnesota, Twin Cities? Is it really that high?

I asked them yesterday and they told me I was not in the shortlist for admissions.

I think I did, I just sent you a private message.

You are right. It is important to treat well the schools that consider you a top applicant!!

Thank you. I mean, I had already decided I was going to Ohio, I just wanted some answers from the others to get some closure.

I sent an email to Iowa State and Texas A&M, they both rejected me. I am fine, since those two were the only PhD's I applied to, and mostly because I wanted to secure funding. I also wrote to U Minnesota and Purdue University. Purdue just replied to me today, they sent two emails: the first one was generic and said something like we will contact by March/April and we cannot expedite the process, and the second one was personalized and told me that legally no one can force to decide before April Xth (I told them I received some offers and wanted to make the decision) and that I should be patient and do what is best for my education. I will wait a couple more hours to receive the email from Minnesota and then finish with this admission process.

Thanks everyone for your kind responses. I have a question. By withdrawing, you mean that I should email the other schools, regardless if they have not contacted me yet, and tell them that I am not going to their programs? I have already told the other three that I am not accepting their admission, but I have not contacted the others since they have not contacted me either.

Hi, I applied to 12 universities, and up to this point I have received 4 admissions (no idea about the other eight, it could be a combination of rejections and admissions), two of them funded. I recently went to Ohio State to visit the Department of Statistics, and I really liked the school, I even got VERY excited about attending. Ohio State and Iowa State are my top choices, but I have received no reply from Iowa State. Originally, I contacted the head of the department and he told me that I would be a competitive candidate for their program, but that he could not guarantee anything. Therefore I applied to their program. Before visiting OSU, I had been thinking that in case I was admitted to Iowa, I would go to Iowa. However, I changed my mind, and now I think that regardless of the offer I get from Iowa, I will choose OSU (right now I even declined the funded offer from South Carolina saying I was going to OSU). I already signed the offer, but I have not submitted it yet. Somehow, I feel I should wait a little more to see if I was admitted to Iowa S, but I think I will not attend that school regardless of the offer. Anyway, should I accept the offer or wait until I receive information from Iowa? Thank you.