kyjin

Congrats on your acceptance, and welcome to USC! I also moved from Canada to start my PhD out here (from Edmonton) three years ago. Unless you have pieces of furniture that you absolutely love and don't want to part with, I don't think it's worth it to ship out here. I found furniture to be much cheaper out here compared to Canada, so I would suggest selling what you can before you leave and use that money to help set up your new place here. For shipping books, I would take a look at what airline you'll be flying out here on and what their extra bag/oversize baggage fees are. In my case, I decided to pay the extra fees for a few boxes instead of trying to ship. It was easier knowing I had all my things with me, and less hassle in the long run. For getting your books stored at your parents, I highly recommend the US Postal service flat rate boxes. I packed some of the large flat rate boxes when I was visiting my folks back on the east coast, and every now and then they sent me a box. Cheaper than shipping by weight, and it all came pretty quickly. You won't find much in terms of pre-furnished places out here unless you're renting close to USC, which I would not recommend. (It's mainly undergrads who live close to campus, and the few grad students I know who lived there moved a year after they arrived because they disliked it.) Craigslist, yard sales, and discount furniture stores are your best bet to set up a place. And if you need a temporary place to stay while you're finding a permanent apartment out here, I know a number of grad students who lived in an AirBNB for the first month or so before they got themselves settled. You may want to talk to the financial aid office about a Grad Plus Loan that could help with moving expenses if your department doesn't come through, though I don't know much about what they can offer. Hope this helps, and good luck!

Grant documents arrived for Japan today (actually arrived yesterday but I was out of town), and wow, the stipend for Graduate Research Fellows is NICE. Now I'm even more excited

If you're choosing between funded and unfunded masters: TAKE THE FUNDING! Even for Harvard, it's not worth going into that much debt when you have an option that will pay. That said, you may want to contact Harvard (or any other MAs you were accepted to and still interested in) and let them know about the funding from UCLA. They may be able to give you more money, but you never know.

Japan did. They also asked for my phone number.

Did anyone here apply years ago when they still sent the news via snail mail? The sad white envelope when I was an alternate in 2010 stung >.>

Cool topic! Best of luck with finishing up your thesis. I'm working on education and pedagogy of elites in Heian and Kamakura Japan. We definitely should meet up. I'm sure there will be some events in Tokyo and other major areas for Fulbright, so there should be opportunites. And I'm hoping to travel quite a bit, so I'm sure we'll be in the same neck of the woods at some point. I lived in Yokohama from 2010-2011 (went to IUC), and did a few short stints in Tokyo for MA and PhD research. No JLPT for me though; I'm hoping to take N1 next summer as I figure a year abroad may help there. Haha, there are only a handful of threads on here about studying in Japan, and pretty sure I've read them all, so I understand the urge! Feel free to pm any questions if you don't wanna derail the thread.

Japan came out on Friday, about 2:20 PM EST. The google doc is your best bet to get an idea for days for other countries, but Japan was earlier than previous years. The email was from the Fulbright Commission in New York. The Fulbright Commission in Japan contacted me Sunday night (Monday morning Japan time) to confirm my address and phone number to send my official letter.

Hi hojoojoh! Where about are you going to be studying? The University of Tokyo has rooms available for researchers, but none of them are guaranteed. (You have to apply for them.) For those dorms, they have separate dorms specifically for foreign researchers, so you wouldn't be living with undergrads, but you still have shared spaces. Previously when I was in Japan for short stays (studying at Todai and Meiji), I wasn't offered dorm space, so I went for a share house through Sakura House. They also offered prefurnished apartments, but can be a bit expensive. Here's the article I mentioned before about finding an apartment that my friend put together: https://shinpaideshou.wordpress.com/2014/11/12/living-in-japan-part-3-apartment-hunting-basics/ Personally I'd look for something pre-furnished if you're only going to be there for a year, but I know several people who went for unfurnished and then dealt with getting rid of stuff after a year. Feel free to pm me if you'd like to share more info/have more questions! In other news I've come down enough from cloud nine to start working on my paperwork for medical clearances, and also getting back to studying for quals...

Cool! I've only done share-houses when I've been in Tokyo for short trips (2 months). It's a great way to meet people, but it's luck of the draw if you have decent neighbors. The apartment hunting process does seem tough. I have a friend who had the Fulbright last year and wrote a series of posts about apartment hunting if you're interested. I'm actually going to be renting a place owned by a friend of my advisor's, so I get to avoid much of the hassle of key money and the like. Guh, it's so exciting!!!

@Stopthat I think that info would still be in the revision tab? (Look at the revision history.) May be able to restore from there. @matsukoDELUXE Congrats to you as well! Yes, I'll be at Todai. What about you?

Just won the Fulbright to Japan! I'm freaking out and can't stop shaking. Oh my god....

@daniel345 The MA and PhDs are handled by two different departments at USC. PhD acceptances are long out (the recruits are visiting right now actually), but I believe MA results are coming out/are out this week. No idea if they are releasing waitlist/acceptances/rejects all at the same time though.

Congrats @withoutdoing! I'm across town at USC, but I can offer advice about moving to LA if you have any questions. Hope to see you at some events at UCLA/USC in the future!

Dang, really surprised at the funding for UCLA. o.o They have seriously upped their game this year.

I know a few, also those who reached their 8th year and ultimately didn't finish. But in my experience, those that take 8 years are medievalists and occasionally Asianists, which as telkanuru mentoned, comes down to languages. The Asianist I knew who took 8 didn't come in with an MA; others in my particular subfield have finished in 6 or 7 with an MA, and thus more language experience. (I'm personally aiming for 6.)

As tipmar mentioned, the standard is generally 5 years guaranteed funding. But don't fret; there is money to be had! External funding is always an option (Fulbright, SSRC, etc), and universities often offer graduate school-wide fellowships that you can apply for. For example, my school offers endowed fellowships and dissertation-finishing fellowships that are added onto your original package. TAships are also another option, as many schools are always in need of TAs and can offer funding that way. Also, I noticed you're doing East Asian History. I've found most East Asianists are done in 6-8 years, so it's not as dire as you think! We take a bit more than Americanists, but there is a lot more funding for us if you need to do research abroad or do more language work.

I think the "please check your status on our website" message is more common than snail mail. I'd check the results board for specific programs if they do snail mail. All of my communication during my last cycle (2013) were via email.

Ugh, I can't believe schools still use snail mail :/ I got a couple reject letters via snail mail in 2011, but I assumed they'd all gone digital by this point.

In general I advise living off-campus, but if you're international the first year on campus could be a blessing. I studied in Canada for my MA and chose to live in an on-campus apartment since I didn't know the area at all, was on a limited budget, and had no credit in Canada. It turned out to be a great decision, and while some of my other international friends chose to move off-campus after their first year, I stayed for a second year in my on-campus apartment. I will also say that if you're doing graduate on-campus housing, it's a great way to meet other students outside of your field. (This is how I met a ton of Engineering students from all over the world while I'm in the Humanities!)

USC has selected their short list, but I'm not sure if they've released the info yet.

Yes, your B.S. transcript alone should be fine.

I approached my scholarship office about sending the online official transcript, but they said to just go to the registrar and get the paper copy sent. On the plus side, they said that I can tell the registrar it is for Fulbright and they will send it for free! (My PhD program charges for transcripts, my BA and MA institutions did not)

Semi-finalist for Japan! Now the waiting begins again~

Looking forward to meeting any accepted students at USC at the recruitment weekend!

Second time for me. I applied for the undergrad award for research for Japan for 2010-2011 and was an alternate. Now applying to Japan as a grad student.