Eigen

What kind of opinions do you want of it, specifically? Are you looking to live there and commute, moving there for other reasons?

I read Sigaba's post differently. It's not so much about the fact that you can get in trouble following protocol, but rather that the "written rules" for protocol are not always in sync with the unwritten culture of the institution. So even if you're technically "OK" in doing something, it's worth taking the extra time to find out if it's really considered OK or not. Learning the "unwritten rules" of academia, just like any other profession, is exceptionally important to future success. Similarly, while there's probably always going to be someone waiting to "ding" you for any opinion or action, it's better to know who that person is and what you're doing that ticked them off. It's better to be in the position of making an informed decision to do something knowing the consequences, rather than to do something and unwittingly blunder across an institutional more.

I have some friends at larger schools that charge up to $75/hour for pre-med required classes. It can be an amazing source of side income. One thing I will put out there to remember, especially if you're tutoring undergrads at your university, is that things you tell the students can get back to their professors. So make sure you teach as if they were watching over your shoulders. Our employment contract specifically forbids outside employment, but specifically allows tutoring. It's considered a good use of our skills, and we're also allowed to use "university and departmental resources" to tutor, meaning we can use labs/classrooms etc. for tutoring appointments. Our faculty refer struggling undergrads to grad students for tutoring, as do our department administrators.

I do the safety ordering for our group, and the lab pays for all of it. When we get new members in, we get them to pick the coat/goggles they want, and I put it in the next order of safety equipment.

I chose my school and research group based on the "vibe" I got from the advisor. Mine is great, at least for me- we fit really well, we have similar writing styles, etc. The main thing I like about him is that he's young and still really interested in the field- we swap cool articles we've recently read, talk about new possibilities, and such. He's not so far out of grad school that he doesn't really remember the process, and he's very focussed on career development and helping each of his grad students plan out their future, and help them acheive their goals. He's great about helping us apply for external funding, get some experience with grant writing, teaching, reviewing journal articles- all of those little things that really help down the road. On a personal level, I also like him a lot- his wife is also TT in the same discipline, so they've been quite helpful as "role models" for me and my wife who are looking towards having to navigate similar two-body problems. He's around most of the time, and has a completely open door policy. Even when he's not around, I can call or text him if I need something immediately, or e-mail him if I don't need it quite as fast. He's fine with all of us working flexible schedules, especially those of us with family.

I find less formal settings help. We don't have anything so official as a support group, but I really push "department happy hours" every other week, especially during the summer. We also have a department city-league softball and kickball team, which provides a fairly regular chance to get out and spend some time with other grad students away from the lab. On a larger level, I'd suggest seeing about doing something through your school's graduate student association, if you have one. It can be really nice to meet people outside of your cohort that are going through similar stresses. Ours hosts at last 3 major events a year, and I try pretty regularly to do semi-regular events as well- I do a biweekly colloquium series for and by grad students, we do monthly trivia nights, etc.

For what you're looking for you might consider a good NAS solution. Hook it up at home/in your office, and access it remotely. Gives you lots of space and the control of a simple external drive, but networked.

I'll also note that there's a huge difference between *starting* to date an undergrad, and already dating one, when it comes to situations like the above.

If you're doing a MS in engineering in the US, I'd say there's a decent chance that funding is not a base assumption. Most places I've seen, all PhDs in STEM fields are funded, but that doesn't usually extend to a masters. As for funding- I think the norm is that they tell you if you've received funding, not if you haven't. And since I'm assuming your acceptence letter didn't specifically state funding, then it isn't an "everyone gets funding" type of situation.

Highly unethical if you're TAing them... Borderline if you're tutoring them. And at some schools, even against policy if they're in the same discipline as you. In other words, make sure you check the school policies.

It went from required, to optional but recommended, to optional but not recommended, to disallowed. I very highly doubt they'll be brining the score requirements back.

The thesis based option, imo. Someone in Philosophy might be better able to answer if it holds true for your field, but since a PhD is predominately a research degree, the research track for an MA (one with a Thesis) will probably better display your research skills should you want to continue for a PhD.

Things that I don't see reflected in your budget that may or may not apply to you: Phone/Cell Phone/Internet Insurance- Health, Car, Life, Renters Utilities- Water, Sewer, Garbage, Gas, Electric Car-Related expenses Then there are all the "occasional" expenses, that end up being a lot more regular than you think: Medicine, Doctors Visits (copays), deposits, university fees, moving costs, damage deposit on the apartment, parking/public transport/bike upkeep costs, etc.

Piggybacking off of BrokenRecord's point about talking to someone, I highly recommend finding a couple of peers that you can talk to. I know we have a stronger cohort than a lot of others, but it's amazingly helpful to be able to have some friends who know what you're going through to vent to. And not just the generalities, but the specifics and people involved. We all know that if someone comes in and asks if you want to go grab coffee or lunch, that it's as likely a casual request as an "I need to vent, can we go somewhere outside the department?" It's not always possible, but it's often worthwhile to look for. Even someone who you ordinarily aren't that close to might be someone that you could be "work friends" with.

Yeah, we crossed. The new documents make more sense, and it also makes sense that it's the NDSEG. I wonder if there are any other fellowships that fall into the same basket? All of the other "major" external fellowships I know don't seem to.

I'll also refer you to a very nice guide written by CUA's legal counsel, that outlines most of the decisions in reference to fellowships: http://counsel.cua.e...edlaw/SandF.cfm You'll notice consistently that the PLRs (including both of the ones you've cited) are simply in relation to whether or not the payments can be considered fellowships rather than an exchange for service. You'll also notice that, as I mentioned, the "taxpayer" that the PLR is directed to is the institution- the institution does not have to report the payments to the fellows. That's not synonymous with the fellows not having to report the income. Once the PLR has allowed that the payments can be considered a fellowship, then the payments are treated under IRC117, which has 3 conditions that must be met for the payments to not be reported. The first condition is that the payment is not used for living expenses, but rather tuition and "qualified" fees. Which brings us back around to where we started. If, in fact, the income was *not* a fellowship, not even the tuition and qualifying fees would be able to be counted as reductions. I'll also note that your first example (NIH-NRSA) doesn't even apply to graduate students, but rather to post-doctoral fellows. So again, PLRs are for the institution to determine whether a payment is, in fact, a fellowship, or not. If a fellowship, you report income not used for tuition and required fees.Also, if it's qualifying, there's the FICA exemption.

As an aside, in the letter, the "taxpayer" entity is the university, not the individual. And I'm still pretty sure you're misreading the second link. "Pay for services" is one of 4 subcategories covered in the document, not the only one. And scholarships and fellowships are different but similar entities, hence why the IRS puts out the "Scholarships and Fellowships" publication. That said, I think the IRC117 is quite clear in how they are treated. Anything used for related expenses is "qualified", assuming it's for a fellowship and not for services rendered. (see IRC117) I would be interested to know what fellowship you keep obliquely referring to, because from my experience, none of the well known national fellowships are tax exempt.

I don't think you're reading the second link carefully enough: To quote, This is specifically referring to fellowships (ie, money you get just for being you, not in exchange for services. The letter you're quoting simply states that the payments are viably counted as fellowships, under the above clause (117 of the tax code). That means that you don't have to pay FICA/FUTA, and tax is not withheld. The amounts that are used for non-qualified expenses (as discussed at the end of page 2 of the letter you linked) room, board, etc. are still reported as income. To quote from the letter you linked:

I recommend to our incoming students that they try to find a place on a 6 month lease to start. Then as they meet other grad students, they can find someone that might work out as a roommate- either a current student, or one of the other new ones. I don't think I'd do "blind" roommate hunts though. I'd want to know the person first.

Your posts are really hard to follow, by the way. It's exceptionally hard to find a consistent flow or narrative. A few comments based on what I can glean from the above: Sme programs have prestige overall regardless of major- sure, in the general perception. Not when it comes to applying to grad school. Then it's all about the rigor of specific programs, and most ad coms coudn't care less about "general prestige". Similarly, whats important for grad school applications is not grades. Just like getting a job. People want to see skills, products and recommendations. For grad school those skills and products are your past research. In CS, that would be conference papers, mostly, from my understanding. You also have your thesis and the research therein that you can elaborate on in your application. Your ability to communicate well is also very important. It's hard to tell from just forum posts, but your writing seems a bit rushed and disorganized. For an elite program like UIUC, you also want recommenders that are going to say you're one of the best students they've ever had, especially if you're coming from a small program. On reputation and personal attacks: coming into any established community, even online, and calling a more regular poster an immature troll within your first dozen posts rarely goes well. It's more likely to establish you as a troll. Relative to many other communities, this is a very nurturing and helpful one, and this thread is no exception. You've gotten lots of answers and well worded and thought out replies, you just didn't like what they all said.

It's hard to tell without seeing the emails to get a feeling for tone, but I'd say that it wasn't that big of a deal. He let y know that it was inappropriate and to go through him. So then appologize, go through him, and move on. I wouldn't make too big of a deal about the apology either- quick, to the point, not too much explanation, and move on.

I'd say a combination of all of the above? As to what to do now, suck it up, apologize to the director at your new school, and ask if he has any suggestions.

There's a large difference between ranking undergrad/masters programs and PHD programs. I pulled the rankings for CS because I don't know the reputation off the top of my head (since its not my field), but their rankings in other areas aligns well with the UNWR rankings I gave, in a general sense. UIUC has top shelf grad programs in the sciences, CS no exception. You kept talking about undergrad rankings- and I don't think it really matters where you did undergrad as long as you have a good record to show for it. From my experience, admissions committees don't find program ranking to be that important. That said, graduate program ranking (qualitatively, not quantitatively) is more important. In large part due to the competitiveness, but also due to the fact that it's *the* terminal degree. That said, post-doctoral positions, for those fields that have them, will definitely trump grad program ranking once again. I brought up rankings because you keep trying to compare a small UI system school with UIUC, which is one of the top colleges in the country, including unfavorable comparisons to Harvard- something that just isn't true, any way you slice it. Additionally, all of the points in your last post about SLACs vs RU/VHs could be made in comparing to any of the Ivies just as well as to UIUC. For the most part, I think everyone will agree that good undergraduate focused institutions turn out more "mature" undergraduate researchers due to more focus being placed on their training. But that still doesn't explain why you're unfavorably comparing UIUC to Harvard, or why you think your degrees from another UI school is equivalent to one from UIUC. And as to academia vs. industry... UIUC is very well known in industry as well, and from what I know has a number of great uindustry contacts. A least in my field. And from what I can see, the same is true in CS. Also, you weren't "attacked by an Internet troll". You were given some rather blunt truths by another, better respected, poster. You are the only one in this threads that's resorted to attacking someone.

Oh, and this? They aren't the one who needs to grow up, apparently. And as to "somewhere truly elite like Harvard", it's ranked 17the relative to UIUC at 5. Think you might need to rethink your wording a bit.

I can't say for CS, but UIUC is one of the top schools in a lot of physical science disciplines. And since you brought it up, it's ranked 5th out of PhD programs in CS, beating out most of the Ivies. And since you brought it up, a degree from Penn State College Station is definitely different than one from any other campus. And the same is true for any other state school system I know. Just because they share the same "name" doesn't mean much- they build reputations separately and are regarded as different schools, albeit in the same "system". Thats why if you look through any rankings you'll see schools with different campuses listed differently. If you think about it, it makes perfect sense. Different programs have different faculty, and different faculty make programs very different places to get a degree from.