MathCat

It sounds like a rejection, but there is no harm in waiting until the official decisions are released.

I have to ask: why don't you have the latest version? Certainly there are legitimate circumstances for this, but I really don't see why this scenario is such a big deal. If you hand in something printed out, they will assume you have an electronic version. Being asked for another copy is not an outrageous request and there are many legitimate reasons for your prof to do so.

I'm confused by this part. Could you afford a car if you live together and both commute, or is that not an option? It seems likely cheaper than maintaining two residences. Whether this is a good solution or not is entirely up to you guys, though. Is attending the top 5 program and being able to live together worth spending a quite significant amount of time commuting? Is it preferable to spending less time commuting, living apart and visiting on weekends? It's not for us to say. I see both methods working depending on the couple.

I don't know your field at all, but that seems like excellent funding for a masters in history. Considering that you've already accepted that offer (rescinding your acceptance is very poor form) and UBC and UVic did not offer enough funding to live on, I think it is clear that you should attend USask, unless there are some major factors you have not mentioned.

I know my department offers short term loans to graduate students. You pay them back through a deduction in your TA wages throughout the year. You could ask your department if this is a possibility.

I just responded to such emails by saying thank you, I'm excited and considering my options, etc..

This is getting off topic, but I had to say: what you've described is very, very far from my experience TAing those enormous calculus classes, or what I've heard from any of my friends in other math departments - for example, there are usually several TAs and we have at least a week to grade the exams. Also, when you're just grading a calculus problem it becomes pretty quick, as you start to only see a few different answers and know what grade each one should get, unlike if I had to read a written response from each student. Also, undergrad TAs are paid much more than that here.

I do not think attending the alternate weekend for A will affect admission chances. However, if you cancel on A now, I think you are essentially guaranteeing that you will not be admitted there, and may even potentially be burning some professional bridges. As others have said, you should instead inquire about an alternate date for B.

I can't claim to be an expert on tax rules, but my fellowship and TA wages have the same amount of tax withheld (14% here). You could ask your program.

This issue hits close to home for me at the moment. I'm in my first year in a department with an unusually low number of women (even among mathematics departments). My particular subfield also has fewer women than others - at conferences, there's usually at most one female speaker, and usually only a handful of women in the audience. If I bring this up, I usually get the typical response that the best mathematicians simply tend to be men, and there's no bias in picking speakers (or at any other stage in academia). All of my mentors in undergrad were men, and I don't see this changing in grad school. They were very supportive and great people, but sometimes they didn't really "get it", and they definitely did not always treat me the same as the male students. As an example, one of my mentors refused to have closed door meetings with female students, but he regularly did with his male students. (He was concerned about people making allegations of inappropriate conduct.) Luckily, they never seemed to consider me as less capable on account of being a woman, but certainly this bias, whether conscious or not, does exist in academia and especially in STEM. And although they never applied these statements to me, I did hear many BS reasons for why the number of women in math is low even from them. I'm kind of rambling, but my point is this: being treated differently is isolating. Even worse, when I try to gently raise my concerns in vague, general terms, I get shut down with the same old nonsense justifications. I'm not assertive enough to be a one-woman champion about this issue in my department. I like my classmates and have made friends easily, and I have several supportive (all male) faculty members to talk to [although I am not yet comfortable talking about this issue - my gentle testing of the waters so far has left me wary], but at times I feel like an outsider. It does make me question if I will be able to "make it" in academia, and specifically in this area.

I wouldn't read too much into it if it's not coming from the department.

When I had a deadline earlier than I had even heard back from all other programs, I asked if it would be possible to extend that deadline so that I could consider all my options. I also contacted other programs saying I had an early deadline but am still interested in their program (which was true). Most of them simply told me when decisions would be available, but two got back to me saying "thanks for telling us, an unofficial acceptance is on the way" earlier than they would have otherwise. A couple just didn't respond to my email at all. I think the key thing is to *ask* for an extension (rather than demand one), and when telling the other programs, do it in such a way that you are not asking them for anything. Just indicate your continued interest in their program but that you have this deadline to consider as well. I should also probably say two things: first, there were no deposits in question for my programs. I was also a top candidate for the program with the early deadline. It's possible they would have refused my request for an extension if I wasn't. But if you ask politely, I think the worst that will happen is that they say no.

You should have completed it by the time you start - you can apply in your senior year, as long as you'll finish before the start of the program.

It's definitely not as competitive as PhD applications in the US, but it's still not that easy to get into a top university in Canada, especially as an international student. GPA is weighed heavily, as are LORs, and research experience is a good way to make your application shine. I applied to some Canadian masters programs along with American PhD programs, and if I recall correctly, U of T told me they only accepted something like 10 international students that year. Also, FYI, the funding they offer is pretty bad for the cost of living in Toronto ($17,500 and tuition remission).

I am honest in my evaluations. However, the actual questions they on evaluations usually don't capture the issue, and usually warrant positive answers. Even for a professor I thought was truly terrible, I gave 3's or higher on pretty much everything, because that was what was honest. For example, the questions ask if the professor is prepared for class, if they are available to provide help as needed, etc. Those weren't the problems, so I wouldn't lie and give a 1 or 2 for those things. However, I will leave critical comments (and suggestions), and that's really where you can see my opinion of them. Maybe that is the case here.

Whether or not the deadline for them is the same as yours depends on the institution. Several that I applied to required all documents submitted by that deadline. This includes LORs! However, a few others wouldn't even send emails with the required links to your recommenders until you submitted your application, so they get a few more days. Unless you know that it's the second case, I think it is fair to worry. I think you should make sure your recommender is correct about this.

Also, people might not appreciate you having a foreign number. If they call or text your international number, they will get international calling and texting rates.

Crock pots or leftovers are a big time saver. I cook dinner and eat leftovers for a few days. You can freeze some and alternate if you make a big batch.

I've now gone through the preclearance procedure. YVR is undergoing some renovations, and as a result the procedure is not exactly what was described here! In case anyone else is doing this soon, here's what happened: I got off my flight to Vancouver, and walked to the USA departures area (E gates). I was not required to pick up my checked bag. We (my mother was with me) proceeded through security right at the entrance to the E gates - this was like Canadian security, with metal detectors instead of full body scanners. There were Canadian security agents, but we followed the American procedures (e.g. they insist on removing shoes, which I never have happen at my home Canadian airport). Then we got into line for clearing customs/border control, with the I-94 declaration form filled out. There were no kiosks anywhere, everyone had to go through the line. When I got to the agent, I just clearly stated that I was entering on F-1 student status. He asked for my I-20 and proof of SEVIS payment, and then stamped my passport with F-1 status. I was not asked anything about ties to Canada (which I asked about in another thread). Then he simply looked at my mother's passport and waved us through. Other than the fact that the A/C was off and the line was long (because no kiosks), it was pretty painless. The whole procedure took 1 hour.

Thank you very much TakeruK! I think you are right about the procedure for question 1 - I had remembered wrong. You probably saved me a big screw up with this answer. I definitely would have headed for the kiosks!

I'm moving to the US this week, and I'll be flying from my city to Vancouver (YVR), where I have a connecting flight to the US. Thus, I will be going through the US preclearance in Vancouver. I've only ever gone through customs after arriving in the US, so I have a couple of questions about the procedure: I will have checked a bag on my first flight. Do I pick it up somewhere before I go to the US preclearance, just like I would if I was going through customs after arriving in the US?At what point do I tell them I'm entering on F-1 status, and not as a visitor? I'm assuming that it's once I've gotten my receipt from the kiosk and am handing it to the agent, since that's when they asked me my reason for visiting the US when I cleared customs in the US before. Is this right? I'm irrationally worried that I'm going to accidentally enter as a visitor instead of on my F-1 status, and then have to re-enter.

I agree with fuzzy. This doesn't sound like a good idea to me.

Does anyone know of thrift or discount stores near UCSD? I've been googling, but all I've been able to find is the resale shop on campus, a Goodwill in La Jolla village (kind of far, since I won't be driving), and the consignment store at UTC. I'm moving soon and am hoping to find some places to buy inexpensive stuff for my unfurnished apartment.

I actually meant that I have no idea where I will be after my PhD - I'd like an academic job, but who knows how that will turn out, or where I'll be if I can find one. That it might be in a different country is because I will be an international student, so I might end up returning to my home country. Of course this is just my situation, but that's why I wouldn't get a cat now - too much uncertainty. Anyway, if you are committed enough to your pets that you will make such sacrifices for them and you can afford to care for them, then I say go ahead. I just see too many people who treat pets like objects and just abandon them if they become inconvenient, so I can't assume everyone would put their pets first. All of our cats are rescues that had been abandoned. You also can't always know personalities when adopting, because they're often stressed out by the environment you're adopting them out of. I guess you might know if they are being fostered, but one of our cats was adopted out of a privately run rescue with a lot of cats in one house. He seemed like a very nice, quiet lap cat when we met him: he climbed right into my lap and went to sleep. Once he got settled into our house, he never sat on my lap again, and was anything but quiet. The vets frequently commented on how they had never met such a talkative cat before! I just never want to suggest somebody get a pet unless they've really considered the long term aspects of it. If you can't expect to be able to care for it the rest of it's life, I think it's irresponsible and unkind to the animal to adopt it. Of course, circumstances might change beyond your control, but that's a different story.

I didn't mean that you're getting it because you're going to grad school. I fully intend to get a cat once I'm settled somewhere more permanently, but not while I'm a student (and probably not as a post doc either, assuming that works out). Whether or not you're going for a PhD after is irrelevant - the point is that you don't know what will come next, how your finances will be, and if it will be possible to bring the pet with you (glad to hear you plan to, but you can't control all factors). Abandoning a pet can really traumatize them, so I wouldn't get one unless I was quite certain that wouldn't happen. I don't intend to get a cat as a student for the following reasons: 1) I can't be certain that I can afford the time and money to care for them if they get sick, 2) I can't be certain I can bring them with me wherever I go after my degree (may be another country, and bringing a pet across borders is not easy), and 3) They can be very disruptive and time consuming (I love them, but sometimes you wish they'd just go nap so you can work!). I'm sure I will miss having pets at times, but I really couldn't get a pet given the first two reasons.