jujubea

I'm so glad I'm not 19 anymore.
It is so hard to understand how you over-analyze and overthink and have extremely hazy views about the behaviors of those whom you "love."

This isn't love.
He isn't interested in you.
And this specific action sounds narcissistic and rude (Or could indicate that).
You do not (and no one does) deserve to be treated disrespectfully.

You will empower yourself and feel stronger and more desirable (and will be) if you just cut off all communication with him and "walk away."

Also, consider this a huge huge HUGE bump of the post with the advice about "chronological first" vs. "real-love first."
Your "real" first in this sense will be so much better, and you'll both laugh and cry about your chrono first. Hopefully with a loving, caring, and committed partner at your side.

When I was a bit younger than you, I had a similar "relationship" with a guy, who I was basically in love with, and I found out he had a bet going with his friends about whether he could de-virginize me.
Fortunately I found out before it ever got there.

While you're this young, stay away from age gaps of more than a few years. Those who are jerks are also more clever with age. It's a dangerous game and not worth it, especially when you're an emotionally-attuned person.

I'm so glad I'm not 19 anymore.
It is so hard to understand how you over-analyze and overthink and have extremely hazy views about the behaviors of those whom you "love."

This isn't love.
He isn't interested in you.
And this specific action sounds narcissistic and rude (Or could indicate that).
You do not (and no one does) deserve to be treated disrespectfully.

You will empower yourself and feel stronger and more desirable (and will be) if you just cut off all communication with him and "walk away."

Also, consider this a huge huge HUGE bump of the post with the advice about "chronological first" vs. "real-love first."
Your "real" first in this sense will be so much better, and you'll both laugh and cry about your chrono first. Hopefully with a loving, caring, and committed partner at your side.

When I was a bit younger than you, I had a similar "relationship" with a guy, who I was basically in love with, and I found out he had a bet going with his friends about whether he could de-virginize me.
Fortunately I found out before it ever got there.

While you're this young, stay away from age gaps of more than a few years. Those who are jerks are also more clever with age. It's a dangerous game and not worth it, especially when you're an emotionally-attuned person.

I'm so glad I'm not 19 anymore.
It is so hard to understand how you over-analyze and overthink and have extremely hazy views about the behaviors of those whom you "love."

This isn't love.
He isn't interested in you.
And this specific action sounds narcissistic and rude (Or could indicate that).
You do not (and no one does) deserve to be treated disrespectfully.

You will empower yourself and feel stronger and more desirable (and will be) if you just cut off all communication with him and "walk away."

Also, consider this a huge huge HUGE bump of the post with the advice about "chronological first" vs. "real-love first."
Your "real" first in this sense will be so much better, and you'll both laugh and cry about your chrono first. Hopefully with a loving, caring, and committed partner at your side.

When I was a bit younger than you, I had a similar "relationship" with a guy, who I was basically in love with, and I found out he had a bet going with his friends about whether he could de-virginize me.
Fortunately I found out before it ever got there.

While you're this young, stay away from age gaps of more than a few years. Those who are jerks are also more clever with age. It's a dangerous game and not worth it, especially when you're an emotionally-attuned person.

I'm so glad I'm not 19 anymore.
It is so hard to understand how you over-analyze and overthink and have extremely hazy views about the behaviors of those whom you "love."

This isn't love.
He isn't interested in you.
And this specific action sounds narcissistic and rude (Or could indicate that).
You do not (and no one does) deserve to be treated disrespectfully.

You will empower yourself and feel stronger and more desirable (and will be) if you just cut off all communication with him and "walk away."

Also, consider this a huge huge HUGE bump of the post with the advice about "chronological first" vs. "real-love first."
Your "real" first in this sense will be so much better, and you'll both laugh and cry about your chrono first. Hopefully with a loving, caring, and committed partner at your side.

When I was a bit younger than you, I had a similar "relationship" with a guy, who I was basically in love with, and I found out he had a bet going with his friends about whether he could de-virginize me.
Fortunately I found out before it ever got there.

While you're this young, stay away from age gaps of more than a few years. Those who are jerks are also more clever with age. It's a dangerous game and not worth it, especially when you're an emotionally-attuned person.

It's funny I was just researching this yesterday...
I'm a professional editor and I had a disagreement with a client about whether it's OK to split infinitives (my side: it is!).
 
Turns out, splitting infinitives has NOT been considered a no-no by many (most?) major style guides for several generations now (and some never even adopted it at all). It appears to have been a "fad" of sorts a few centuries ago, to make splitting infinitives incorrect...
 
Nonetheless, some insist on weeding them out, so long as you can salvage the original sentence. 
 
As for me, I like to boldly ignore them.

Well, put it this way, even if your department pays you X amount of money, if you had some catastrophic event that landed you in the hospital where you racked up a $10k bill, who would pay for that? 
The question is really, at the end of the day, if you were in the hole financially, who would make sure you could pay your U.S. bills off and fly back to your home country? 
If you're wealthy, it's yourself.
If your parents or other family (a rich uncle?), then put that.
If the school is actually taking you on as a liability to enter the US (which, with an I-20 in hand, is arguably the case), then you'd put the school.
 
In any case, you aren't going to be denied your visa if what you put there is true, but not quite correct. I would put "self" if I were in your shoes, for the reasoning you explained above, and then when the visa officer asks (or if) about money, just explain. Worst case is you get a grumpy VO who wants absolute precision and they make you re-fill out the DS-160. 
As long as it's not a lie, you're fine - don't worry!
 
source: I'm a former VO.

It's not a big deal. Let the visa officer know during the interview that you made a mistake. They will also see your letter of funding right away (make sure to bring that to the interview!).
 
Usually applicants are made to refill out the DS160 if the mistake is something like your name, DOB, addresses, and other numbers or critical information.
 
The "who's paying" question is more for helping us guide the interview. I saw a lot of people put the wrong answer there, and where I worked, we did not send applicants back for that alone (unless it was a lie, for example if you say your rich uncle is paying for everything, and there is no such rich uncle, etc).
 
Good luck!

Oh no! So frustrating!

Oh, I can't freaking WAIT.
 
I am trying to fill my time up with new clients (anyone need an editor?!!!) over the summer. And thank heavens I am getting married and honeymooning and moving during this time as well.
 
I've picked up a couple syllabi for classes I will be taking in the fall and have started picking up readings slowly. 
 
Also, I need to have reading proficiency in French to advance to PhD from Master's level, so I'm trying to teach myself French right now too.
 
Fill, fill, fill my brain...

Well, put it this way, even if your department pays you X amount of money, if you had some catastrophic event that landed you in the hospital where you racked up a $10k bill, who would pay for that? 
The question is really, at the end of the day, if you were in the hole financially, who would make sure you could pay your U.S. bills off and fly back to your home country? 
If you're wealthy, it's yourself.
If your parents or other family (a rich uncle?), then put that.
If the school is actually taking you on as a liability to enter the US (which, with an I-20 in hand, is arguably the case), then you'd put the school.
 
In any case, you aren't going to be denied your visa if what you put there is true, but not quite correct. I would put "self" if I were in your shoes, for the reasoning you explained above, and then when the visa officer asks (or if) about money, just explain. Worst case is you get a grumpy VO who wants absolute precision and they make you re-fill out the DS-160. 
As long as it's not a lie, you're fine - don't worry!
 
source: I'm a former VO.

It's hard work, but if you can get a serving job at a restaurant with high prices, you can actually make good money. 

I did valet for many years during college.  Park nice cars and make decent tips during the summer.  Winter is a different story.  It's not hard work if you know how to interact positively with people.  Go to a local hotel and see if there's something like that.
Also, accounting positions at medium-sized businesses.  For example, the hotel I worked at frequently had ~16/hour office and accounting jobs available to anyone with half a brain.  They were eager to give anyone who looked fancy enough on paper a job. 

I'm with a temp agency right now and it's working really well. I'm mostly doing administrative work, and honestly could be making more if I said I needed to make more at the initial interview. Also, it's a regular day job, which is sort of nice.

Oh....nothing major...
Planning my wedding, getting married, and going on a honeymoon
Looking for high schools for the kids
Looking for homes to rent or buy that are big enough for all of us but not so expensive we can't afford it... (impossible in CA...)
Going through the lending process for a mortgage
Getting the house ready to put up on the market, and actually putting the house up on the market (so deep cleaning; fixing crap; painting over other crap; staging; and photos)
Helping my new stepkids prepare for the transition
Packing up the house
Garage sale or two
Finish editing three awesome books (for my clients! yikes!)
Teaching myself French
Perhaps begin studying Classical Chinese
Going on a couple visits to Santa Barbara, including one official recruitment visit, and at least one home-hunting visit
Cutting my hair and dying it a crazy color (after the wedding; I can't wait; I'm considering going Fifth Element style)
 
...you know... the usual...

What exactly are your questions?

I think you could very easily potentially get into more and better programs with more funding after your Peace Corps tour.
International on-the-ground experience is incredibly valuable, especially for your field, and especially in a less common country like Cambodia.
If you'd be picking up Khmer, too, then hands down that seems the smarter investment route at this point.

I think you could very easily potentially get into more and better programs with more funding after your Peace Corps tour.
International on-the-ground experience is incredibly valuable, especially for your field, and especially in a less common country like Cambodia.
If you'd be picking up Khmer, too, then hands down that seems the smarter investment route at this point.

You can definitely raise it considering the amount of time you have.
And overall your background looks great.
The letters will matter quite a bit, though, too, so be selective.
 
Good luck!

I would directly ask them why they think you shouldn't apply to those schools. You can ask in a humble way, certainly don't be indignant about it, because like another poster said, there could be something they see or understand that you aren't privy to at this point.

Congratulations

Oh....nothing major...
Planning my wedding, getting married, and going on a honeymoon
Looking for high schools for the kids
Looking for homes to rent or buy that are big enough for all of us but not so expensive we can't afford it... (impossible in CA...)
Going through the lending process for a mortgage
Getting the house ready to put up on the market, and actually putting the house up on the market (so deep cleaning; fixing crap; painting over other crap; staging; and photos)
Helping my new stepkids prepare for the transition
Packing up the house
Garage sale or two
Finish editing three awesome books (for my clients! yikes!)
Teaching myself French
Perhaps begin studying Classical Chinese
Going on a couple visits to Santa Barbara, including one official recruitment visit, and at least one home-hunting visit
Cutting my hair and dying it a crazy color (after the wedding; I can't wait; I'm considering going Fifth Element style)
 
...you know... the usual...

I'm specifically interested in how UCSB, CU-Boulder, and UNM notify applicants, but why not share your own schools, too?
 
Does it come by paper mail? E-mail? Do you get a phone call? A singing telegram? Pigeon carrier drop it off? Bat signal in the sky?
 

This is the first time I've ever heard that about fed govt recruiters, and have mostly been told and seen the opposite.
But my stint in fed gov was only just over a few years, and I did not live in DC for much time at all.

Is that an individual recruiter preference, or is that organization, department (little d), and/or office dependent?

I'm surprised to hear it, so I want to learn more! I've also made several posts on here about how little fed gov seems to care about school rank/prestige (I was hired out of a no-name school, and have been on a few hiring committees, but that doesn't mean it's true across the board, it sounds like).

I recommend that you get some sense of the direction your intended profession is headed IRT the balance between general knowledge and specialization. Are the rock stars focused on the forest, a tree, or a leaf on a branch?
Then figure out if you want to fit into that pattern or be part of a change of direction.

In any case, you may have some catching up to do this summer in building your foundational knowledge.

Money can really mix things up. 
It sounds like you feel pretty good about American, despite the financial burden. Are you currently in significant debt right now? 
 
Here are some words of advice I recently got from a current PhD student:
'Following the $ is only smart to a point. A good package doesn’t mean much if you don’t get hired after the PhD, and getting a good job after the PhD can quickly make up for some levels of assumed debt."