hippyscientist

@anxietygirl All of this absolutely 100%. Buffy, cooking, cleaning and gym. Oh and tea, books and wine at the weekends.

I feel your pain! One of the many draws of USC as a school is the delicious food around it!

Okay guys, so a pre-interview interview is: Telling you what you'll be asked This interview doesn't release who you will be interviewing with so you have to think on the spot, but I was told their disciplines and how to make my answers tailored to each. Told me what my strengths and weaknesses as an applicant are I got the impression this POI really wants me - joking around at the end she asked if I had any questions and my response was "how do we do this so I get guaranteed acceptance?" and her response was "do as I say"!!! Of course now if I get rejected I'm going to look a right wally... @123hardasABCWHY'D YOU HAVE TO GO AND MENTION BURRITOS?!?!?! The boy lives in SD half the year and man do I miss Californian Mexican food.

Your guess is as good as mine! It's over skype so I've tested my internet, I have a notepad and pen, I have water, I have everything ready to go! Just need it to be half past...

Okay I have 45 minutes until my pre-interview interview. Always early for these things!! Really curious about what they're gunna ask. @123hardasABC congratulations!!!!

Not a rejection but I did burst out laughing! At least they're honest! Harvard (Kennedy) Political Economy & Government (PEG), PhD (F15) Accepted via E-mail on 25 Jan 2016 ♦ A 25 Jan 2016 report spam My Dad is an old fraternity brother of the Director of Admissions. Hooray for nepotism

It's also going to vary considerably by location. Some of my (published) stipends are around $1500 a month, others are up around $2500 a month, just location dependent. I'll say that's for kinesiology/biomechanics so may not be as helpful as a response in literature.

Oh yes! I force myself out the house at 6am, I'm in the gym by 6.15, train for 2 hours, then classes and research and meetings, then yoga/pilates, I'll find time for a million mugs of tea and coffee in there, get home around 4/5pm, get on with reading and coursework then, cook a nice dinner and THEN I'm allowed on status checks/emails/grad cafe results page. Over this waiting period my cooking skills have improved 10-fold, and my fitness has skyrocketed! Hooray for productive distractions

@sjoh197 it all sounds great, other than the pet tarantulas... @raaawr you'll be fine, I was just incredibly unlucky at the time. @gingin6789 I'm sorry. Plenty of schools still to hear back from though. A positive is it's definitely beer o'clock here so no judgement.

Wasn't sufficiently clear to do anything with. Plus, she was a social worker so they didn't want to be seen as hurting one of their own. (nothing against social workers, this one was just particularly bad)

The first two crazy ones were an absolute nightmare as they were two of my first experiences of renting away from home (I'd travelled but that's so different). Police were involved but as it was a case of my word against theres, not a lot could be done. The university got involved too - the stalker housemate brought random druggies home and you'd see them doing lines in the kitchen. That I had photographic evidence for but again the university didn't do anything and the police didn't do anything. I ended up having to break my lease (and the land lord was really arsey about it) and move back home, commuting 2hr drive each way (that's a long way here...lol). Yeah so that put me off roommates. Oh and a note on the guy who entered my room. He had a reputation on campus as being an arse, had tried it on with other girls too, used to get really violent when drunk and throw the fridge around the kitchen (yep...still plugged in to the wall). Ugh it was an utter nightmare. All the uni said was "it's not really our business. unless he causes physical damage to someone, or steals, he can do as he pleases." @raaawr don't let my stories scare you! Everything worked out for the best, and now I have some interesting tales to tell lol. Now though, despite the fact she seems frightened of me, I have no real complaints. Life would be a lot easier if I could just rent a room in a house/apartment initially, as it means I'd only need a bed and a few kitchen things to move to the US, plus it'd give me a chance to build American credit history. But...people. Ugh!

Joining in on the living alone/housemate debate. I've had some pretty 5h1tty roommates in the past: one in halls at undergrad forced himself into my room and onto me (thank you martial arts training), one went skitz became a stalker and then pulled a knife on me. My current roommate is almost human-phobic, won't go into any room if I too am in that room and her hair gets EVERYWHERE but other than that I'm good. My best living situation was in a house with 3 guys. I think I'm going to need to live with others at least initially, it'd just be great to have someone I could come home to and have a natter. But equally I would want background checks!! ugh it's challenging.

@Pink Fuzzy Bunny good question! I've already skyped this POI twice, and spent 2 days with her when I visited the department back in September (I had kinda an unorthodox pre-application), and have already had 1-1 chats with the majority of the faculty, including the guy who makes the funding decisions so I'm unsure exactly what they want. I can talk more about my MSc course now (when I applied I'd only been going a month) and have a better picture of my research interests but as for what she's going to prep me on, your guess is as good as mine! I get the impression that she would like me in the department, so I guess it's an insurance that I say the right things to the right people? Who knows! I'll let you know tomorrow after I've had the pre-interview interview!!!

@artsy16 good luck, i'm sure you'll wow them I'm with you both - @Pink Fuzzy Bunny and @gingin6789 in that only one of my programmes interviews, it's a relief! I have the pre-interview skype conversation with the POI tomorrow. She wants to prep me on my actual interview! @gingin6789 oh no to leaving your husband! You'll soon be busy with work again though, and 2 hours isn't so far (i'm finding silver linings). I skyped the boy last night and right now I'm hoping I get an acceptance so we can end 5 years of long distance (Cali/NY --> UK) and be on the same continent. Sunlight, what's that again? I swear we have only seen grey, dreary skies for months now.

@Unimpressed3D Just to add, I don't think I've ever heard of UK schools flying people over. It's just not done here, in my experience.

This is my understanding as I'm not enrolled yet, but you are able to take breaks, just unlike those in undergrad and more equivalent to those in the work-place. Depending on your advisor it might be possible to take 2 weeks to fly home and visit family and friends, promising to take some reading/do some writing while you're away. Don't worry, you will have the opportunity to visit home at some point during your PhD!

This is seriously a consideration of mine. This election is going to have a greater bearing on my life than any US ones previously. Kinda scary that so much can hinge on something you have no say over (as an international student).

Just chiming in that UK universities rarely tend to interview across most fields at the masters level. Relax You have one in the bag - with a fellowship no less! Congratulations. The rest will come when they come, and it's really painful to wait!

Interview attire: don't be someone you're not. If you like colourful clothing, put a pop of colour in your outfit - evidently don't wear like a bright fuschia suit, but a bright bag or shirt isn't the end of the world. If you want to wear jeans, I would suggest leaving them for grad student only events. But that's not to say that leggings, smart boots and a long-line tunic wouldn't be out of place and that's comfy and smart (can you tell I live in gym kit all the time?). Comfy shoes are a must. At the end of the day be the presentable and put-together version of you. Put yourself in their shoes, the clothes aren't going to be the only factor deciding whether or not you get in. Personality and fit are much greater indicators, and the fact that you care about clothes and what they might say shows that you're not going to eff it up. Also, if you're a skirt/dress person (I'm not) wear it. Who does some geriatric head-up-his-bum professor think he is to say no to perfectly respectable clothing?! (Ugh). (Take this with a pinch of salt, 90% of my professors teach in sweatpants and hoodies)

Ahh congrats @Pink Fuzzy Bunny!!! I'm so happy because I managed to transfer out of class lab session to a different session, meaning I leave all the mysogynistic pigs in my old group! Hopefully I will have a Tuesday without tears now I'm envious of those of you with programmes on the boards to check. None of the programmes I've applied to are on there so it's a true guesstimate. Grass is always greener on the other side right? Oh well, it's saturday night for me so I'm cracking out the vino (malbec) and putting on a movie (pulp fiction I think) and forgetting about grad school, my current programme, boyfriend....nope. Tonight is me time!

@123hardasABC stop over-analysing! Congrats for completing your interview. Have a chilled day! Aww man I'm kinda envious of you guys stuck in the snow with valid excuses to not be working! I'm struggling with the motivation today.

I'd say definitely Skype! It shows enthusiasm. As for questions to ask: How about details for the TA position, stipend level, questions about classes, questions about hwen you can start with research, health insurance stuff, any other new cohort members, any way you can get in touch with current members, you're really excited and just wanted to talk. It's a good thing! Think of one or two pressing questions you want to ask and the rest will come in a conversational flow. Congratulations!

Yep, one of mine isn't due in until Feb 2nd. Weirdly though, I've already heard from that school! @nevermind that's awesome, I hope the department comes through for you because it sounds like you and that POI "gelled" well together! Good luck to everyone who has interviews this weekend, or alternatively is snowed in!

*shots fired*

GinGin, it's whisky (no e), honey, lemon, fresh ginger and boiling water. It's amazing if you have a sore throat, or just want a comforting hot drink. Definitely recommend!