phdreally

It would be wise to carry your passport and I20 when you are taking a flight anywhere. TSA has asked me for passport in "random" checks even in domestic flights. Also do carry them when you are driving around 50-100miles of the international border. The CHP post between San Diego and LA is known to occasionally stop ALL traffic and ask for passport if you are not a citizen. Other times I always have a photocopy or scanned images of my passport and docs in my smartphone so that I don't have "nothing" in that highly improbable situation, just in case..

Please ask questions for which answers are not available readily at the click of a google search

Whenever you check in baggage, they always tell you till where it is checked in. That way you know where to manually re check in your baggage. The baggage tag you receive on check in also has the airport code where you must pick up.

@TakeruK I suppose Toothybear's concern is that the COS from H-1 to J-1 might not happen in time to receive the financial support. So the alternative is to change status by re-entry (and therefore visa). There is no third alternative, is there?

Well, it does not matter in what form you are earning (TA or stipend or tuition reimbursement, or a combination of these). You need to be in the appropriate status (F-1 etc) to be eligible to receive them. So, if you are on H-1B (until F-1 COS is approved), you are not eligible for tuition reimbursement, and therefore you will need to pay it yourself. Having an SSN is a different issue (the SSN you have while on H-1B is tied to that immigration status). First you need to be in the right immigration status.

I am in a similar situation. I applied for change of status from H-1B to J-1 in June (could not get my DS-2019 earlier) but my program starts towards the end of Sept. This is not legal advice, but based on what I have gathered: If there is a delay in the change of status adjudication, you can start your program, but cannot take any kind of financial support until the new student status comes into effect. This usually means you would have to pay for the tuition of the quarter/semester yourself, and not receive stipend/salary. Whether that gets reimbursed or paid later really depends on your department/advisor, but usually it would not. There is no premium processing for COS. However, a "non-profit organization" could do an expedition request. Most of the universities are "non-profit".

Looks like you are referring to embassy/consulate emergency appointments to get a visa for one of the above stated reasons. There are no "appointments" for change of status applications.

I believe masters in computer science at Cornell is less than a year (3 quarters) based on what my friend there told me.

I was told both by my univ international center and my attorney that my US born daughter (citizen) will not be on ds2019 and not be my j2 dependent or subject to j2 funding/insurance constraints.

My situation is similar. I am on J1 with a spouse and daughter. Daughter is US citizen. DS2019 only lists J2 dependents. Daughter is a "dependent", but not a J2 dependent. I didn't have to show funding or insurance for her either. Looks like your are on the right track.

Is @cheme_pse and @Desi_Mama the same person? Very confusing and similar stories!

Also, look for professors, and apply to the universities where they are currently homed. The professor is your goal, and their university admission is just a means to that end.

You could join the PhD program you are currently admitted into (anything in the top-20 are generally worth pursuing), and then try for a transfer the next year, if you really want to. You might be able to carry forward credits earned in the first year.

Hi, I am starting my PhD this Fall on a J-1 visa. I would like to know if anyone had suggestions for getting evac insurance. I have health insurance from my wife's workplace that covers all the requirements except for the medical evac/repatriation, and the university's international office says it is possible to get a separate policy just for that (instead of getting the more expensive health + evac insurance from the university). How are others on J-1 managing their insurance requirements?

One defers the start date, not the decision on the offer. So deferring implies you have committed to the program, but need more time before starting. It is NOT meant to be the "holding pattern" you are looking for.

Lottery. You have guaranteed housing in the lottery for incoming students (though your choice of residence is not guaranteed).

@Desi_Mama: I do know of MS students getting RA/TA opportunities with profs. But you will need to be very proactive and cast your net wide. You can also get a sense of how common MS students get funded by looking up the "Students" section in the faculty web pages (typically they specify if a student is a PhD or MS student). I do know MS students who had RA offers before joining (they reached out to profs this time of year). Since your prof is unsure of the funding situation till fall, it is best you start exploring with other profs as well.

From what I know, there is no "transfer" to PhD. You will have to apply to PhD like any other student, and having an MS (at Stanford or in general) is not particularly a direct advantage (though indirectly, it can potentially help get you strong LoR). Be sure to mention your work with the Prof in your SOP, and try to get an LoR from her/him. That may help in the admissions. Note that admission decisions in Stanford CS lie solely with the admissions committee (which is a small subset of the profs + few grad students, keeps changing year to year), and individual profs do not recruit students directly. Once admitted, you are open/encouraged to freshly explore matches with Profs (through the rotation program) before finalizing on your advisor. I would also recommend talking to more profs in the area of your interest looking for potential RA opportunities for now.

If your eventual goal is to do a PhD, it is best if you directly apply for a PhD.

Do you mean, it being in the Silicon Valley, just by its mere location, makes it one of the best schools for CS? I would be highly skeptical of that article and its source..

I don't think that means anything. At least for me, the initial gats password created by the system is the same thing shown as my student ID. So that means my student ID was already pre-created when I submitted the application (or, it was a super improbable co-incidence that the random passwd generated by the system back then happened to be my student ID in the future)

@thissiteispoison - I could only agree. There clearly seems to be a contradiction. Everybody on this forum say "ranking means nothing, it's all about advisor fit." And then, "ranking matters only if you go to the industry". And now the paper you cite says "ranking matters if you want an academic job". If not industry or academy, what else does one keep in mind while deciding and ignoring the ranking? Maybe sheer "intellectual satisfaction"?

In my case, when I finished undergrad (~10 years ago) from an unheard of univ (not in US), my GPA sucked (~3.4), no research experience, and hardly knew any profs who could write me a letter of recommendation. I tried to get into grad school, but couldn't get an admit anywhere even in my country. However since then I joined a startup as a founding member, learnt a lot there, designed and implemented an open source distributed filesystem from scratch, got the company acquired etc. Now I tried again to get back in to grad school (because it has always been my dream), and got admits in great univs with just LoRs from industry. So, if you get rejects everywhere, don't lose hope. At this point in time your profile may probably not shine, but that is not an indicator in anyway of your true potential. You may need to take unconventional steps (which for me was necessary - there was no other way I could get into top univs with just my GPA). I also consider myself lucky that I did not get into a mediocre univ 10 years ago, as that would have effectively eliminated the possibility of me getting in a great univ now. Again, all rejections can be converted to your advantage, if you really really want to get into grad school. I present myself as an example.

We have an infant who will be about a year old when my PhD program starts. Both of us work full time now, and grad school will continue ending up pretty much a "full time" job. Few tips: - If there is in-campus accommodation and day care, go for it. in-campus day care usually have long wait lists, so apply NOW. - Build good sleeping habits and/or sleep train your baby. This in turn means good sleep for you, and probably the most important thing for working couples. This may not be that big a deal if one is a stay at home parent, but if both are working you absolutely want good night sleep. We sleep trained our baby a few weeks ago and the difference is night and day. It takes effort and building a routine, but absolutely doable.

FYI - I have a friend in Stanford EE doing PhD, who said the dept has started becoming more selective during admission and therefore less stressful quals starting last/this year. Also, the Information systems lab is pretty awesome at Stanford.