MathCat

I emailed the SHORE coordinator a question and the response included a confirmation that they received my deposit. I'm not sure if I'd have gotten this confirmation otherwise.

I'd either keep it to a brief mention in your SOP or leave it out (and put it on your CV). Unless you have a point you are making about it beyond just "I was a TA", you shouldn't waste space on it in your SOP.

I wouldn't bother visiting before applying either - everywhere I was admitted funded my visit after.

If by chem forums you mean the forum for chemistry here, I don't think that's what they meant. I think they were suggesting https://chronicle.com/forums/index.php

Don't expect a commitment to working with you - after all, you're not even admitted for the Masters yet. It's possible he will encourage you to apply, or make it obvious that he is not interested (or perhaps just not taking students), but probably nothing more than that. I think it is worthwhile expressing interest, but you shouldn't necessarily flat out ask, since you might have other prospects yourself! For both of you, it will depend on what your other options are when the time comes to decide. Don't be afraid to talk about it, though. Worst case, he says no and you know where you stand.

If this is the grading scheme of the university, I would ask a letter writer to explain it in their letter, rather than wasting SOP space on what could just sound like an excuse (since it's coming from the student).

It's not uncommon, I think.

Yeah, I'm only still with ScotiaBank because I have no service fees as long as I'm a student. I am planning on moving banks anyway. I guess I'll just switch and worry about what to do in California separately. Thanks TakeruK.

What's the difference in cost? Generally I'd say go with the one that offers funding.

I don't think it matters much for a PhD application (and probably not for Masters, either). They are interested in your potential as a researcher, which they gauge through things like grades, LORs, research experience, etc.. It might look good to have something extra on your resume, showing you can balance school and other activities, but I wouldn't emphasize these a lot. Include them in your resume/CV, but don't act like it's a big deal.

Does anyone have suggestions for banking in California? I'm currently with ScotiaBank in Canada, with a savings account and a credit card, but there's nothing great about my accounts and I would be happy to move to another bank that is easier for banking in the US. Opening a USD account with them (in Canada, for transfers to whatever American account I open) would have a monthly fee + charges associated with transfers, so it sounds like there are better deals out there.

It's true that it's not uncommon, but I wouldn't say international students are 'typically' responsible for their own funding. It depends a lot on the field - in math, pretty much all the top 30ish programs fully fund all admitted students (for PhD). Some will also fund MSc. OT: If you can't find funding from your home country, it's probably not possible. US tuition is obscene...

Not a waste, but there's risks in working with somebody not yet tenured. An assistant professor can be your advisor, but if they happen to get denied tenure, you can be in a bit of a pickle...

I agree, it sucks that they weren't more upfront about the funding situation. Regarding encouraging people to apply, that can be because they won't find out about a funding source until after the deadline - so they have you apply, hoping they get that funding, but of course that doesn't always work out. Since you have no other schools with pressing deadlines, I say try to find an advisor you'd be happy to work with and who can fund you. If you can't do that, then it seems you have no option but to wait another year. I hope it works out.

I'm guessing that no advisor = no funding (is this what you mean by cannot attend without an advisor)? Do you have other options of where to attend, or is this a go unfunded vs. wait a year question? How long do you have to decide? Have you formally accepted an offer from this school? Whether or not you should attend depends on what your other options are and how satisfied you are with the advisor you find (assuming you do find one). Perhaps you can tell us a bit more about your options. To be honest, I don't think this qualifies as your advisor "backing out" - from what you've said, he never actually accepted you as a student - you were just assuming he had. It's easy to make that assumption, but until it's been formalized, there hasn't been any such agreement for him to be backing out of. He couldn't find funding for a student - that is quite common, actually (although unfortunate).

I'm not slacking off, but I was tempted to...

Several PhD students I met on visits mentioned doing this.

Are you currently at UVic and applying for PhD programs, or is the MSc the program you've been accepted to?

Anyone else having problems with the iPortal? I'm trying to check the status of my I-20 request but when I log in (using Firefox or IE) all I see is the little red message telling you to use IE while they work on technical difficulties. It's been like this since Friday.

I'm not going to Cornell, but I visited, and walked around "downtown" Ithaca a bit. It's quite small, but charming. You'll get nice calves walking up all those hills. The view from campus is amazing, and it's beautiful even all cloudy and covered in snow! People said you don't need a car, and the buses seemed to be pretty good.

It sounds to me like Numerical Linear Algebra is a computational course (specifically, getting computers to tell you the answers to linear algebra questions), whereas Linear Algebra is about the theory itself. I know zilch about biostat, so I can't say which is more relevant.

Well, you still have two working weeks for them to get this paperwork to you, so I wouldn't freak out yet. But, you could call the department tomorrow if you are really worried.

What exactly are you afraid A is going to say to B? Because this is getting ridiculous. I don't know what you want to hear...

They can reject - there's a thread about this somewhere.... Still, it is very rare for that to happen. Usually it is just a formality.

In 10 days or so, I would send a brief email to set up a time to chat.