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I ran safari up until a month or so ago. This explains why, once switching to chrome, everything seemed so much slower and my battery started draining quickly.

I filed a tax return because I had income from summer job and a job I had during the latter half of the year, so I did pay taxes. I think that factored into the over tax scheme, though I think next year I will feel more confident since I'll be off fellowship and have mandatory reported income instead of trying to figure out what gets exempted because it was for tax-free school supplies and what not.

Do you all think it is worth noting that one was a finalist for a Fulbright, but ultimately not selected? I wondering including my finalist status for the UK grant I applied to a year ago in hopes of demonstrating ambition and passion for the Fulbright mission, rather than to gesture at how far I got in the process.

Damis, what exactly did you apply for? I'm curious about the types of projects they accept and how you prepared for the interview. I hope you enjoy your time in Germany!!!!

Assume most scholarships cannot be delayed. Very few, excepting I think some NSF grants, can be delayed. Fellowships provided by Fulbright, Rhodes, DAAD, Marshall, Mitchell, etc. cannot be deferred. Usually, if a scholarship can or cannot be deferred, it will state it under FAQ. I would compose a list of scholarships you are looking at then go to the scholarship website and search the FAQ section. Your school probably won't know the details on every scholarship, especially if they lack an office dedicated to selecting and preparing students for rigorous scholarship applications (such as an Office of Scholar Development).

I honestly would recommend asking a tax professional. My school said my entire stipend was tax free. I did not receive an W-4. I assumed, when I went to get my taxes done, that my income would be taxed and was told, again, that it would not be; however, the IRS website seems to indicate it would be. I left it up to a tax professional. I honestly do not understand why schools do not hand out W-4 forms for this. To be honest, I do not make enough to be taxed on it anyways after all my deductibles.

There's also the study/research, which falls under the student program along with ETAs.

To elaborate, I'm not really doing anything relevant to politics, economics, the media, and administration. The only culture I do is British and colonial culture, so not really related to Germany. This is a great resource for other students though!

I thought about applying for that, but I don't work in a sector such as politics, economics, the media, administration and culture. I'm a graduate student so it doesn't really fit into any of those categories.

Yeah, I understand that. I will be applying in September and wouldn't be hearing back until April again for a June/July program. It is a little sooner, but still takes forever!

Are you re-applying? I'm going to apply to the university summer course. I think having had a degree in German was not a good component for the intensive language course, though I am not currently studying German now, which is what the grant required. But, the uni course grant seems a much better fit, so here is to hoping!

Yeah, retail is tough. I did it for 6 years and dealing with people who berate you hourly is dreadful, especially when you cannot saying anything to defend yourself and management will not either. So if you need to work extra, look for related jobs. I've found universities have way more opportunities for grad students than undergrads, as positions are not as related to financial aid packages.

As did my hopes and dreams. Just kidding I'm sure it is just a very busy time of the year for most people.

I worked four days a week in undergrad (about 25 hours per week), did a bunch of clubs, volunteering, and some sports in addition to taking 5-7 classes per term. As a graduate student, I can say now that my undergrad schedule feels far more relaxed than my graduate student one, though I had far more commitments while in undergrad. So prepare yourself for a change, but also make sure to schedule "you" time and choose commitments that really matter to you. I currently volunteer a few hours a week and it gives me some time to not think about papers or heavy stuff. I just do mindless admin work.

I looked at the cost of a 13 inch macbook pro vs. macbook air (no retina on the pro) and the cost difference was about $100, so it seems to make more sense to me to do the pro. I absolutely hate windows. I find the interface annoying and not the least bit user friendly and this is coming from someone who, before trying a mac, absolutely anti-mac. I understand some people love windows, but they just aren't for me. I've also looked at the price difference between refurbished and the new macbook pros and again, the difference was about $100-200, so I think it makes more sense to just get the new machine. I'm still planning on getting mine looked at, as I'm really curious as to why it is suddenly running so slow.

One of the main issues with splitting work, at least in my program, is that when we hit orals, all that time of not doing the reading catches up with you. I'd much rather get my work done now and not struggle with additional reading for orals. Plus, and again, this is all program and person specific, my program has a very strict grade requirement and our professors expect heavy participation, which I personally find hard to do if I haven't done the reading. I view doing all the reading as a long term investment that, again, for me is worth it. I also have a heavy course load currently, so perhaps when I only need to take two courses per semester, it will be more manageable.

I'm a first year humanities student. I have no idea how I would take weekends off. I work (and actually work) about 9 hours per day, seven days a week. On the weekends, I can sometimes get away with only doing 6 hours of work, but that is if I don't have presentations, colloquiums, papers, or other projects due. However, I truly believe the ability to take time off is based on program's rigor and the individual. I know some people in my program who strategically skip certain readings each week so that they have time for themselves.

I'm currently debating getting a new laptop. My current macbook is about 3 years old (mid 2012 model) and needs a battery replacement, which runs about $150. My main concern is that once I start fixing it, it'll repeatedly break. It has been showing its age over the last year. I almost had to replace the hard drive and it is ridiculously slow considering all I do is use JSTOR and google docs. I don't even use it for Netflix that often.

I'm a first year PhD student on fellowship. My schedule is usually as follows: 6am: Wake up, start work (reading, writing, etc.) 10am: Breakfast, get ready 11am: More work 1pm: Class 4.30pm: Return home, start dinner, work while it cooks 5:30pm: Eat dinner, maybe watch an episode of Friends or Will and Grace 6:30pm: Work 10:30pm: Sleep On weekends, I normally substitute class time for more working time or errand-running. I started keeping a schedule of hours worked, excluding class, and I averaged 9 hours a day, seven days a week. But my program is work intensive and in order to get any good job upon graduation, you need to remain intense. On days when I feel burnt out, I usually switch what subject I'm working on or go to the gym.

I'm curious, did anyone apply for the university summer grant? I'm debating applying for that next year and wondered what the big difference was, considering you essentially can do language grants through it.

Thanks guys! I had talked to my FPA from my old uni when I initially applied and she had mentioned that they just don't get as many MA applicants as they do BA, which judging from GradCafe, is definitely true. If anyone wants helps editing essays or generating ideas, let me know.

Did you get one? If so, congratulations!!!!

Thank you so much for your help!!!

Haha. Thanks! I applied for the UK last year and remember how shocked I was just to make it to the next round. It is ridiculously competitive, so congratulations! The main reason I'd want to go to the uni I would apply to is the people working there, their research resources, and that fact that studying the British Empire in England would allow for many resources I do not currently have that would prove very useful for my dissertation.

4.44pm. I got an email from Uta. I imagine they either stopped for the day or still have more to hand out. I really hope you get it! It was such a slaughter today it makes me wonder if they even had grants to give out!