psych21

I am close to my delivery date and must say that pregnancy in grad school was much easier than I anticipated. My professors, clinical supervisors, and bosses at my assistantship were/are extremely supportive. My first trimester was not so good with lots of nausea but was doable--even though classes were intense that semester. I did comps in my second trimester and found that baby gave me a zen aura I normally don't have... I'm extremely type A, but for comps I studied a moderate amount and never got anxious. A total win! Also, the timeline (delivering in June) made me extremely conscious about the fact that I could not procrastinate on proposing my dissertation. I worked my tail off and proposed in late April, making me the first in my comps cohort to propose. (Have done absolutely nothing on it since.) Got two months of "working from home" for my assistantship which will be my maternity leave (which is awesome--I am technically not allowed to do that, I don't even get paid sick days based on my contract), and I will start that AFTER baby is born--I plan on working until I deliver unless something goes wrong. Sitting at my desk with a huge belly and some Braxton Hicks right now. I'll be back right in time to start the fall semester when I will resume coming to the office, practicum, and data collection for my dissertation. I was/am prepared for any problems (including potential leaves due to illness, etc), but luckily so far everything went smoothly!

I meet with my advisors (have two) as needed. Sometimes that means twice a semester, sometimes every two weeks, sometimes weekly, depending on the issues. Most meetings last 30-60 min. We email regularly, though, and I feel he is up to date in most of what I do. (I tend to be over-involved).

Oh yes, travel and relax... best options. What I did: The summer before starting my program I went out with friends nonstop, sort of to make up the fact that I would be gone for the next 6 years. (In my country, most people stick around their hometown for their entire lives) I didn't read a thing to "prepare" and I didn't feel it was needed, either. I moved to my PhD city 3 weeks in advance and took my time to get settled.

I actually heard about many roommate success stories that started on Craigslist.

Yup. Passport with F1 visa + I-20. Then they will ask you a million dumb questions about the things stated on your F1 + I-20 just to check that you are indeed coming here to study (i.e., why are you coming to the US? What will you study: degree, major? When are you graduating? How are you paying for it? Where are you going to live? - with more or less questions depending on the officer's mood that day). Admissions letter might be a good idea, but I'm willing to bet you won't need it.

Me and my dept also couldn't show proof of full funding for the entire program and thus I had to come on a F1 visa. My husband is in F2-land. F2 sucks.

Fellow international student here, who (somehow successfully) navigates the (very dumb) insurance world. Without employer sponsorship and without access to the Marketplace the NYU plan might be your best option (believe it or not...). Given your stipend as a student you'd probably be eligible for Marketplace plans, but shouldn't count on it until you can really apply. However, the Marketplace is closed now, and will only open again in November. Federal health care and free hospitals seem to be curse words for some people in this country, I wouldn't say them out loud too often.

I was also a high school teacher for 5 years. Dang, we do care.

I don't know. I don't see why they would make a fuss. In my experience F1 interviews were much easier than B1/B2 (tourist) interviews. They tended to check whether you met the requirements for F1, ask you what you're going to study, when, where, for how long, look at the I-20 and bank accounts to make sure you have the money, etc., and that's it. Not like B1/B2 where they do want to look at everything to make sure you're not going to stay illegally afterwards.

Should be enough. They typically want to see that you have enough to cover the number listed on the I-20.

I am on F-1 and only needed to show proof of funds for the first year. No one even asked about the second.

I never had to show any immunization reqs at the airport in the many times I've been back and forth. (only to my university in my first semester because mine does have immunization reqs)

When I did it, no one was contacted. Haven't heard of any case in which they contacted them, either!

In my field, counseling psych, we can't. It's pretty common for (US) students to have part-time practicum positions at VA hospitals, and international students don't get to do that.

Sorry, I don't have experience with anything like this. However, if it was me, I'd drop. The risks appear too large, especially given that you haven't been able to get that high of a grade in tests so far. You're also lucky you still get to drop this late in the game, I know my school's window for withdrawing is earlier.