kyjin

Berkeley's recommender deadline is December 8th, so don't fret. My last recommender just submitted today, and I told her back in October. At least they're in now. (Minus Berkeley, but again they have a later deadline for recommendations, so I'll badger her about it on Monday.)

I assume so, though in my case it would be easier to just get it out of the way next month during my break. If I waited till admits in February, I'd have to get it done in the midst of finishing up my thesis.

Oh man, good luck! Berkeley's app is a bit of a pain as they want financial information as well. (Was not expecting that.) I'll have to do my FAFSA next month when I'm home. Luckily, their deadline for that isn't till March 1st.

I do know Princeton has sixth-year funding available if you show "significant work" on your dissertation. (New chapter, etc.) Other students and professors will know about outside fellowships and grants that may help out in your particular field of study. (For example, I'm in Japanese History, and most people I know in the field get an extra year of funding for writing and travel through Fulbright or the Japan Foundation.)

Just submitted all my apps! I'm kind of glad every school I applied to has a December 1st deadline. Everything all done at once!

Like pudewen said, you're not at a disadvantage all. You have an MA, and I bet you have tons of language training that other applicants will not have. The thesis in history certainly helps as well. I'm in an East Asian Studies Dept as well and (probably) going to a History program as well. From what my professors have told me, this is very common amongst MA students from interdisciplinary programs. (Another students from my dept. is applying to Literature programs.)

My writing sample is sitting in my advisor's hands for another round of edits, and I'm just waiting on my last recommendation letters from another prof. Hopefully I'll get the sample back tomorrow or Monday, then I can send everything off. I finished my SOP and Personal Statements last week. If I look at them again I know I'll rip them to shreds, but I have to let it go so I can work on my thesis and RA work.

Agreed with previous: if you can afford it, apply to both. It's worth a shot. I think you're right about the Chinese MA though. I'm in an East Asian Studies MA program right now, and a number of students are doing second MAs here in Canada who already have an MA from China or Japan. One of the students really should have gone straight into a PhD (he's that good), but decided to go with an MA first since he needed to learn about North American practices in academia since he's only used to Japanese academia. (Quite different.) Take a look around for some funded MA programs as well. They're rare, but they do exist. (I'm in one right now!)

If a school offers both a PhD and a separate MA program and you're really not sure, I'd go for the PhD. If the admissions committee decides you're not quite ready for the PhD, they may drop your application down to the MA level. This happened for a couple programs I applied to in the past, and I was accepted for the MA instead of the PhD. The major hurdle comes down to funding. If a school has both programs, generally the MA is how the department makes money, and will give out little, if any, funding, since they have PhDs to support. Programs with only an MA offering are more likely to have funding at that level, but it depends university to university.

1. It's been a mix for me. My cohort is small, and since I'm in an interdisciplinary field, only two of them are anywhere near my area of interest. That said, one member of my cohort has been extremely helpful in gaining new perspectives and helping to build my understanding of the field. 2. Socially it's been minimal at best. Most of my cohort is Chinese, and tends to speak Chinese only outside of class. Kind of makes it impossible to hang out with them since I don't speak the language. I hang out with a couple people in my cohort, but most of my friends are from outside the department. 3. My advisor certainly is! I actually found my current program because my undergrad advisor recommended it to me. Turns out they were both in the same cohort and kept in touch.

Doing final edits of my SOP and Personal Statements this week. My writing sample is about half done (I'm sending something new that is also part of my MA thesis.) GRE has been done for two years (thanks five year score tracking ), and 2 of my LORs are in. Hopefully I will finish in the next week or two.

The highest of my schools is Princeton with $90, lowest is UMichigan at $65 (but I'm applying to two programs there so I need to play the fee twice. ) I think I get more annoyed at ETS' fees for the GRE than application fees. Even though I didn't need to take the test again (thank god my scores are still valid) still had to shell out to send score reports.

Oh hey! Another Japanese history person! I went to IUC in 2010 if you have any questions about the program. I really haven't thought about backup plans this time. I always keep an eye out for jobs that I can use my Japanese language skills for, but I'm pretty much throwing it all in for this application cycle. It's possible my department will hire me as a sessional if I don't get in anywhere, but I'd really rather not go that route... Basically, PhD or nothing.

I think it's more common to do research trips/language study during summer breaks. I spent a couple months this summer in Tokyo doing research thanks to an outside grant I found for graduate students in my university. For funding, take a look at your graduate student association (they tend to have money stored away for things) or through the university itself. You may not find funding for winter specifically, but there may be grants that will award soon that you can use. In my case I have a month away from campus. I'll be spending break catching up with friends and family, curling up with the dog, and doing some work on my thesis. (God knows how much that will actually be, but I'll try.)

A little more expensive, but I have a Japanese rice cooker. I love it since I can set it in the morning and have rice ready when I get home. (Plus it's yummy sushi rice. ) It also has a cake function, so I can make cakes and breads! Probably the only expensive thing in my apartment aside from my computer.

It all goes back to that huge amount accepted in 2011. Since they guaranteed funding for them, they'll have to deal with the repercussions of putting extra money towards that group for the rest of their degrees. Applications could be like this for a few more years.

Got a wonderful email from my POI at UMichigan today. For anyone else who is looking at Michigan's history program, you probably know that they did not accept applications last year due to a large number entering in Fall 2011. My POI said they'll only be accepting as many as they can fund, which looks to be about ten this year. (Except dual-degree people, who don't count in this number.) It's definitely going to a long-shot for me since my POI already has three grad students, so not sure if they'll allow her more.

I use a 15.6" Toshiba Satellite. I had a similar one for undergrad that lasted for three and a half years before I started having harddrive issues and decided to replace. My current Toshiba is nearly three years old and works great. It's a powerful machine, though I do wish sometimes it was more portable. When this one goes I'm planning on getting an Ultrabook for the portability in addition to a desktop for a powerful machine for videos, etc.

Oh man, so stressed. I'm in the second year of my MA, and while I don't have any more courses (woohoo!), this semester is busier than ever. I'm working on my thesis (which means a lot of secondary source reading in Japanese right now), working as a research assistant for my advisor (which involves building a website for him and doing primary source research), my second job on campus, and of course applications. At least I'm feeling okay on the application side. I'm not taking the GRE again (using my scores from two years ago). I've established the four programs I'm applying to, and have met potential advisors at two of them over the last year. I just need to start writing SOP drafts and get my rec writers in gear. Writing sample is also freaking me out a bit, but that will be part of my thesis before the December 1st deadline. Here's hoping I can pull it all off. Hang in there everyone!

I like that title! Thanks for your advice! Thanks for your help too obrera!

Finally got around to editing my CV for my application and getting a little lost. I have two extra things to list on my CV, but I'm not sure what to call a section for them. One is acting as Graduate Representative for my Department's council (ie sitting in and getting votes on department meetings), and the other is acting as President of my Graduate Student Residence Council. I don't really want to call these extracurriculars (especially the first one), but how would you list them? Thanks for any assistance!

I used Zotero in undergrad, and now I use RefWorks as its what my university recommends. I really like it, and I can auto-fill in all fields with a link from the library. I'd check out what your library offers in terms of reference systems; they probably will recommend a good one as well.

You won't necessarily get recommendations from your MA profs since you'll only have worked with them for a few months by the time apps are due, and not sure how many new writing samples you'll have to add by then. I guess the biggest deterrent is that you won't have that extra year of accolades for your CV. I'm starting the second year of my MA and applying for PhDs this fall, and in the last year I've had a ton of experience added to my CV (TAship, RAship, and primary instructor for a course), more research done, a scholarship, and just more experience in my field. I have a better feeling for what I want from my PhD than I did a year ago. That experience is really worth it, and I think my PhD apps will be better for it. But like others have said, it's worth a shot anyway. If you don't mind throwing down some money for apps, give it a whirl! Worst case scenario, you don't get any offers and you'll have to reapply next year, with your added experience from your MA now under your belt. Good luck!

You'll have to pay Canadian taxes, but since you're earning so little, you'll just end up with a very nice return next year. I don't know anything about Quebec's provincial taxes however as I'm in Alberta. As TakeruK mentioned, the tax credits are the greatest benefit in Canada. If you decide to work after graduation, you will probably have enough tax credits to not have to pay any tax for the first couple years. As for US taxes, you'll have to file a tax return as well depending on your total income. If your worldwide earnings is under a certain amount, you won't have to file a return at all. Up to a certain amount of earnings abroad is considered tax free for the US, so you may not have to pay anything for your Canadian earnings. If you've worked in the US at all for the last year however, that is still taxable as usual. Basically, you'll have to file two tax returns, but you'll probably get a rebate on both of them. My university has a number of free tax return services for students (usually done by students studying accounting) as well as extra help for international students, so you should have no problem.

Your mother is just trying to help. I know you'd prefer her not to come, but this is her way of helping you out into the world. My mother also came and helped me move in when I came to graduate school. This was my second real apartment, but she couldn't help the first time because it was in Japan. There are a few others in my cohort whose mothers flew in with them and helped them set up, so I think it's more common than you think.