Crafter

You are on your 3rd year!! Just hold on to it a bit more (I hope you are not too behind in your research) and finish your degree! At the end it will end up being a well paid effort and you will get to be eligible to jobs that need a PhD (not just academy, but many others).

I think that your time out of school should not be an issue. Specially since you have been working in the field you intend to specialize in. Regarding calculus and physics.... email the program coordinator and ask if the prerequisites are a hard requirement or they can be waived (somehow, maybe if you took other relevant courses?). Depending on the program you are applying to, not ALL schools have calculus and physics as hard requirements. If the requirement can not be waived, then take calculus and physics before applying.

I am a bit confused with your post. You are a 4th year PhD student and still no research topic? What is your field? (if you don't mind disclosing it) What is that conference paper about if you don't have a topic? Can you discuss what happened to you with your supervisor? Ask him why he asked you to submit research topics that ended up assigned to somebody else and what you should do about it. If you -for what I gather from your post- have an uninterested supervisor, then you must be the one being proactive about your problem. Ask your Supervisor about your research. I mean, you are a 4th year PhD student and you should graduate quite soon. You definitely need to discuss this with your Supervisor and your thesis committee (I guess you have one). If nobody is paying attention to you, you should be the one taking the lead, because, honestly, nobody cares more about your graduation time and your research than yourself. What do you mean with "at the end I will have no contributions"? Are you afraid that you will submit a paper and get no mentorship and guidance from your thesis advisor? Last but not least: This is a very friendly advice from someone whose native language is not English, just like you: you do need to practice your English a bit more. I know that many international student end up hanging out with other students from their home countries or general region because of homesickness, because it is easier to hang out with people who know your language and culture and "gets" the joke. But I think that if we move to a different country, with different culture and different language, we should try to get the most out of our experience. Not just the the academic level, but also the cultural, language and friendship one as well. My two best friends during my Master's years were two American girls, one of them, a girl from a very tiny town in the Midwest, the other one, from a large city in the pacific northwest. Even though I am back home, we still keep in touch, one visited me here in my home country and I can tell you that besides being their friendship a great treasure for me, they both taught me A LOT of English, not only proper words, but also slang, correct pronunciation and the so many different meanings of a simple sentence. I hope you don't feel offended by my post. It is just a friendly advice

When I was on a J-1 with my J-2 husband, he had his own insurance from our home country, but the insurance had an "international coverage" in case of sickness, emergencies and repatriation of remains. We sent coverage info to our sponsors and it was accepted. It was WAY cheaper than any other insurance in the US.

As I replied to your other (yet identical) post, ask your International Student Office. Also, you may want to check if some sort of "expedited processing" is available for you at this point. For certain special cases (funerals, specific business meeting, medical treatments and students beginning their program within the next 60 days, such "emergency appointment" can be requested.

I think those questions are better addressed to your School's International Student's Office. They will be able to provide more specific questions and offer advise on what to do (that's their job and your case may be not that unheard of for people working there. I have heard of people having issues with extra delayed visa processing because of some sort of "administrative processing" and they got their passports with the visa stamped several months later (cases with homonyms to blacklisted people or stuff like that, that require extra background check to make sure it is a different person).

If this were about some random people I would totally agree 100% with you, TakeruK. But we have to keep in mind that we are talking about a professor's boyfriend attacking one of her students. That changes things. Even when she did not directly participate and she is not responsible, she is involved, in a way. It is her boyfriend and her student. And definitely she was the one causing the trouble, otherwise, why would the boyfriend do such a thing if not because of something she said? Regarding the post about feeling sorry for her and the possibility that she is in an abusive relationship... well, I guess we can throw all sorts of assumptions to the very little we know about this, but even when she did not do anything in front of the boyfriend, there are other ways to reach out someone to make things better.

But that makes a stronger case for the apology! If I am in deep Sh*t and my husband slander someone I am experiencing troubles with, the first thing I will do is try to smooth things out with the slandered one, so no need of escalating things to other authorities will be necessary. But I guess you are right, different people react differently to the same situation.

Congratulations on the admission and of course, your baby. I will be starting my PhD with a 2.5 years old earthquake. I did not attend school while pregnant or with a small baby, but the first 4 months or so are difficult. But I agree with others, it is possible, since I know many who have done great at school while tending for their babies. Also, let your advisor know until you get there. It should be fine. Many people will offer support. Do sign up for daycare's waitlist ASAP. Now, even when usually your pregnancy and eventual maternity should not be an issue to your mentor, we have all sorts of people in this world. If you feel like your pregnancy is not being welcomed you may want to discuss this with your department and make sure can sort things out (like changing mentors, maybe?). Of course, all this after you have discussed your situation in person with the PI. Good luck!

I did not read the original post, but I can say that it sort of bothers me that many people here are talking about how the professor is not responsible for the acts of her boyfriend. Certainly she is not, but let's not forget she is THE PROFESSOR and her boyfriend just assaulted HER STUDENT. She should have stopped her boyfriend's actions immediately. It would have been nice to have an apology right there, but even a late, email apology to the student was the professional and right thing to do. She, as a figure of authority in the whole situation, should have been the one worried the most about the acts of her boyfriend to one of her students. I wonder what the school and the people in this thread who dismissed what happened to the OP if the case were "A professor and her boyfriend where having fun at a bar and suddenly, a student (the OP) insulted and dumped water to the professor's boyfriend". Sure, it was not a fight on campus, sure the attack was not to the professor, but I bet that everybody would be on the OPs case for doing that. Moreover, if the OP after being assaulted had, as a reaction to the slander, kicked the professor's boyfriend in the balls. What the school and the people who has dismissed this awful event would say? The OP posted a bad situation that happened to him/her hoping for some support and what he/she finds is a bunch of lawyer-like comments, dismissing what happened because the professor did not directly engaged in the slander (but permitted it and did not show any sign of shame or regret for doing so). Granted, the OP needs to learn how to couple with negative feedback and bad advise (the whole Title IX was totally out of place, and the OP fell in the trap). But I felt that some posters here were just expecting the moments when the OP dropped the ball to attack her and cast a shadow of doubt in her account. This is the internet, people posts things anonymously all the time and we decide what to believe and what not to believe. But in this kind of forums, for the sake of the functionality and purpose of the site, we need to take the member's posts as true and offer advise accordingly. We do not know what has been left out or not, but can't just assume the worst. When someone posts that his/her GPA is 3.9 and has 2 published papers (in the infamous what are my chances threads) we all assume this is the truth. Why not believe what the OP of this thread said too? This is not a place to set what is true and what is not and if the OP is lying or not about something, it is just about offering the best response to someone asking a question. What the person asking decides to do is up to him/her. That being said, I would definitely recommend the OP to talk about what happened to the Professor AND the Dean. Maybe nothing will happen, but at least the professor is not left with a free lunch (of roasted student with chips on the side) and thinking that she can have her boyfriend to do her dirty jobs to students.

Reducing the PhD slots to "secure TT jobs" sound to me like a rather outdated thinking. At least in my field, a PhD is somewhat standard requirement when applying to higher salary jobs, either at academia, industry or policy. While I was looking for a position, right after finishing my MS, I found myself in a bad situation where many jobs required either a PhD or an MS plus X years of experience. I was in neither of such categories. So, as someone mentioned before, the ultimate goal to pursue a PhD varies from individuals, and to me, it looks like the PhD students wishing to get a TT position is not as common as it could have been in the past (just my impression, though). When I told a friend of mine about my idea of going back to school for a PhD, he said something like "there are way too many PhDs looking for a job right now. Do you really think it may help you?". Well, I think it will. Anyway, what else a recent PhD graduate will do after their program completion if not looking for a job?? Thinking in such a way would imply that everybody with a PhD, working as Staff Scientist at some biotech firm, Senior Program Officer at some nonprofit or governmental organization, Research Associate, etc are there because they didn't make it into Academia. I don't believe that is true. There is also another thing to consider: international applicants. It is hard to get into a PhD program as it is now (mostly due to funding issues, if you do not come with your own money or a scholarship from your country). Reducing the number of PhD admissions will severely hurt most international applicant's chances. The above issue may seem irrelevant to many, but it goes beyond Diversity. It will hurt global Science Advancement. In many cases, PhD programs are not offered in our home countries and that's why we need to study abroad. But upon returning home, the ones with the degree and research experience in other countries (the US, in this particular case) are responsible for technology transfer, training staff and getting some science done. In my field, biomedical sciences, it is very common that the topics of high research and funding in the US are causes of death in here and an local ongoing production of scientific data in the subject is paramount.

Yes!! It took me a while to get an appointment (it kept showing "no dates available" for days, much to my dismay). Then I got scheduled for mid august!!! But was able to reschedule to mid july Good luck with our new appointment!

I don't know about your chances in gaining admission to a PhD program, several factors come into play. However, I do not think that your 7.55/10 is actually a "good" GPA. For instance, to be eligible for a scholarship, most organizations will require a GPA of 8/10 at least. A 7.55 may be much below 3.0. To be sure, I suggest you calculate your own GPA using the following: 7.0-7.9 = C = 2 8.0-8.9 = B = 3 9.0-9.9 = A = 4 Use an online GPA calculator or do it yourself by multiplying the grade (converted from your scale to the numerical equivalent in the 4 point scale) by the number of credits. At the end add all the results and divide by the total credits. This conversion tends to be unfair because it is not based on your general average but rather in how many A, B or C you got, so you may end up with a lower GPA than expected. I know this sounds weird, but I had a 8.47 GPA, just 0.03/10 from graduating Cum Laude, but when converted, my GPA is just above 3.2, not that impressive at it is in our grading system. However, if you did well in your MS, that could help in with your undergrad GPA. But, as I said before, it comes down to many factors, so your chances are hard to tell based only in the little info provided in this post (and even when all info is provided, there are many other factors for international students that come to play with admissions (like funding).

Yes, in my experience with a previous J-1 visa and traveling with my J-2 dependent, we entered the US with one way plane tickets and it was OK. You are not expected to know when you are leaving exactly. But this was my previous experience (a few years ago). If not sure, you may want to ask your School's international office. I was a Fulbright scholar and the program bought my ticket, it was one way. But now that I remember, my J-2 had a two way ticket, but it was because he needed to get back a few months after and stay home for a couple of weeks, regardless if I could travel with him or not. But I don't really think it should be an issue at all. I mean, you are in for a long time in the US and the same that applies to you as a J-1 holder, applies to your dependent. But then again, if in doubt, ask your School.

So sorry to hear that! I also think it is unfair. I hope you get it next time you apply. I hope I will not be facing a similar situation later.

Thanks for the info, TakeruK. You are a God-sent member in this community

I don't know if others have experienced this, but I was supposed to schedule my visa appointment today and the website states that there are no appointment dates available and there is a disclaimer about experiencing visa printing and processing issues. Even asking people to reschedule their appointments!!!!! Has the ink cartridge at the visa machine emptied out and the replacement got lost in the mail??? I am having an anxiety attack and need to be over with the whole visa issue to be able to plan my trip! I am not buying the airplane tickets until I get my visa stamped passport back and time is running out. Tickets will be a fortune!!! Not to mention that until I don't get an affirmative response about my (and my husband's) J visa applications, I can't really say that we will be approved. My nerves are on edge. *bangs head against keyboard.

Thank everyone for replying and offering a word for me based on your experiences! I will ask the school, although, I think that at the end there are more people in similar situations than I thought. You guys must be right.

I received my DS yesterday and will schedule the visa appointment on Monday afternoon. When I sent my information I was asked if I was bringing along J2 dependents, and I submitted my husband's information as well. However, I am also traveling with my daughter, but she is an American citizen, so I did not include her in the J2 information form I submitted to the school. The program manager knows about my daughter, but she is not in charge of the DS-2019 issuance. Now my DS-2019 says "traveling with 1 dependent" but I am actually traveling with 2!!!! except that one will not even need to attend the visa interview or get a visa. I know the right thing to do would be asking the school for a new DS-2019, but not only I am running out of time, but also, I will certainly need to show funds for the entire program for my daughter as well and I won't get that amount of money soon. So I will be certainly late to start the fall term and may loose my admission offer. This is probably a venting post more than seeking advise, since I know that legal advise will not be provided. But I appreciate your opinions. I guess I can schedule the appointment and explain the VO the confusion, but I don't know if that will do. Another thing I considered was not mentioning my daughter during the interview. But even if I can get away with that, at the port of entry the DS-2019 is inspected and I will be obviously with her (she is just 2.5 years old). I know this is too specific and does depend on people working at the US Embassy and the CBP Agents, but anyone has had a similar situation with mistakes in your DS-2019 or I-20 and traveled with those mistakes nevertheless?

You said it all!! That happened to me. I do not have a super brilliant profile, but I am a strong candidate overall. Yet, I did not know about the whole public/private issues and naively applied to 8 public schools and only 2 private schools. Obviously, I was admitted to a private school while every single public school rejected me. On those public schools I had contacted faculty before applying and they encouraged me to apply and said that my profile was strong and that they would be interested in taking me as a student in their labs. After rejection, I contacted them and explained. They said that the rejection was most likely because of funding and because the very limited spots for international students. So I always advise international applicants to try private schools over public schools. Or large programs on public schools.

My offer letter states that I have a scholarship and a fellowship that will cover tuition, health insurance, fees for the rec center, activities and other school fees. Maybe the fees come from the fellowship portion. Either way, I felt it is a really good offer. I do think that schools should ALL include health insurance and school fees (specially school fees!) in their package. I applied to a very prestigious school but I was almost wishing that would not be my only option at the end, because the stipend was about 22k a year and no school fees or health insurance. After paying all that and taxes, there was no way I could live in that city (which is not even a cheap city at all) on about 15K a year.

Maybe it depends on each department, because in my admission letter I was told that student fees and health insurance were covered by a scholarship (or was it covered by the fellowship? not sure which, but it is covered). So, apparently, I should not be expecting to pay any school fees out of pocket. I sure hope I will not find any surprise fee!!!

I agree with Eigen regarding other benefits not mentioned when talking about stipends. One of the schools I applied to offered a similar stipend compared to the one I am going to attend, but there was $2000 in school fees that I had to pay out of my own pocket. In my current school those fees are waived and covered by the scholarship package. I know that some schools offer a computer or an iPad, but most of the times, that kind of "goodies" are not really posted in the school website. For instance, I don't know if my current school will offer some sort of goodie upon arrival to their new PhD students (iPad? Computer? Mug or T shirt?). And there was nowhere in the website telling me that they do offer a complete productivity software to admitted students, but I was gladly suprised when I got the software. And since information in this kind of website is entirely voluntary, it is hard to find a really comprehensive detail of benefits for each school, except for stipend amount and medical insurance.

It was back in 2007 with Alltel, which offered the cheapest options in the midwest at the time. Then, when I moved to Seattle I was able to get a 2 year contract with AT&T, because by then, I had enough credit history to prove I am reliable. I also got charged deposit for my electricity and cable/internet contracts.

I agree with Spunky, with the "publish or perish" motto in academia, no wonder why retractionwatch.com is so busy!! I even know a very close case! This person has a very long list of publications, but since she is the head of an office related to scientific work, she makes everybody who goes there to do part of a work or collaborate in a way with the Center to add her in the finished paper. This is in a developing nation, though, and in a very incipient area, so she is totally getting away with "publishing" papers that she has not even read or had a clue what was it about (even papers in a field out of her "expertise"). Completely unethical, but nobody wants to say a word and look like a "trouble-maker" or be seen as somebody "wanting to make her look bad to take her job". Or worse, being blacklisted in one of the very few places to do science here.