dant.gwyrdd

That's all swell in a no debt situation. Depending on how long she could deffer debt payments, if she were to have to pay it back while on her PhD program and if she'll have to return over $700/mo as one poster mentioned, she would need to set aside about 500, 550 EUR/mo which comes to 6000-6600 EUR/year for debt payments alone. Plus she'd need around 800 EUR/mo for living expenses (for Paris, Berlin, etc.) which is about 9600 EUR/year, and to go home once a year would cost 600-800 EUR depending on how early she books her flight. That comes to a rough total of 16200-17000 EUR (w/o taxes) she'd need per annum. So, other than the Dutch option (depending on how much of a percentage of it would go to taxes), it would really be a tight squeeze to do it with that amount of debt. Edit: Also, how many hours does the Dutch option require one to work? Because if it requires full time employment (which you cannot do as a foreigner due to visa restrictions) it might be a problem (i.e., if you can only do 20 hrs/week you might be paid less for it as well).

That sounds nice in theory, but might be a bit more complicated in practice. Firstly, it's harder to secure funding in the EU for non-EU citizens so you'd most likely have to secure funding from various grants (Fulbright might be the best shot for Americans) prior to/while actually applying to PhD studies. Secondly, as a foreign citizen you'd be limited to working up to 20 hours per week (e.g., 19.5 in France to be precise) on your student visa and you'd probably need that money to help pay your living expenses which could be considerably higher in the parts of Europe mentioned (I'm sure living in NY would get you used to that tho). And yes, you'd get paid in euros (or pounds in Britain), but all of your expenses would also be in euros/pounds, plus you'd have a substantial loan to pay off. Students are in the low income bracket everywhere in the world; so accumulating debt in the States with the idea of getting the money to pay it of while doing a PhD in Europe is a plan that needs some more thorough thinking. If we're talking about also getting a job in Europe after the PhD, bear also in mind that such a thing would be, again, harder for a foreigner especially as you'd have to secure a job before being able to get a work visa. Plus, taxes in Europe can be much higher than what you're used to in America so you have to factor that in when evaluating job offers, etc. It's the taxes that make the cost of living higher as well--VAT is usually between 15 and 25% for most goods throughout Europe (some goods have lower 6-10% rates but there's not many of those). Now, I'm not trying to scare anyone off of studying in Europe, I'm just saying it's something that needs to be thoroughly thought through beforehand and that it's an adventure (albeit an amazing one) you'd be better off to embark into without a huge debt. But if you can do it, then by all means do--it can be a great experience to find yourself smack in the middle of a foreign country with no friends and then (re)construct your (social) life from zero. I enjoyed it so much, I'm doing it again (Though, to be perfectly honest, one of my main reasons for applying for a PhD in the States was precisely that it's easier to get funding there.)

How do you know the professor you select to interview with with take you in as his RA? And on that note--what's wrong with interviewing with all of them, telling them what you did and then picking one? Why is this a terrible mistake again?

Yeah, I loved it at Ole Miss. I agree with what jonjalin and Katzenmusik say about the South in general and Ole Miss in particular: it's very well known in the region and it is by all means not an "intellectual wasteland". Like I said, I had a great time there, most of the professors I had classes with were amazing and above all, they were all VERY enthusiastic about the stuff they taught. (Again, bear in mind I didn't do sociology there, but mostly linguistics and English lit with some CSD stuff). The only reason I didn't apply to go there for post-grad is that they don't do theoretical linguistics at that level there, which is where my interests lie. I would certainly recommend it overall, especially since it will be much cheaper than your other option, after all, if you want to continue onwards in your academic career, you can always apply elsewhere for a PhD and I'm sure your excellent academic record from Ole Miss won't hurt you. P.S. The other two people who were on the same exchange program liked it a lot as well, in fact, one of them came back to Ole Miss last fall to do her masters in education there.

It should... I got into the University of Connecticut with full funding, but I found out from current grad students that despite that I'll still have to pay some sort of a university fee in the amount of $937 (yearly, will be able to cover it from my fellowship/TAship as I hear) which apparently isn't included in the tuition waiver. To the OP: I don't know about their sociology program, but I've spent 2008/09 at Ole Miss as an (undergrad) exchange student and I still have a bunch of friends there, so if you have any questions about the campus, living expenses, Oxford, etc. I'd be more than happy to reply from my own experience/find out for you. Personally, I had a great time there, both socially and academically.

I don't know how much help this will be (especially for the classical languages), but this is from the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages with descriptions of what they think one should be able to do in a language on the basic (A1, 2), intermediate (B1, 2) and proficient (C1, 2) level: http://www.coe.int/T/DG4/Portfolio/?M=/main_pages/levels.html Hope it helps.

I've never heard of that being a problem. In fact, as far as I know, if your passport expires while your visa is still valid, you won't need to get a new visa (as long as it's not damaged in any way), you can just carry your old passport (with the visa) alongside your new passport. Depends, my country normally issues passports valid for 10 years.

So... what exactly would be a professional way to say "keg party"? Point being you're over thinking the thing, I sincerely doubt anyone would dismiss the letter because it says you like your work more than partying (because that's what it says). If I were reading your letter that line would bring about a positive reaction and a smile--you would be remembered among the sea of other applicants.

burning love

Could you set up mail forwarding at your school post office?

You were in issued an UID when you applied. You can find your UID in the Application Supplemental Form under Verify Contact Information. Your PIN should be your birthday in the MMDDYY format.

Like others, I'd also go with the candid approach. @medanthrograd: I'd tell the school which you seem to like more, but provides less funding something along the lines of: I'm really happy about their offer, that they are my first choice, BUT that I might be forced to go to University Y because they are offering me 5 years of funding instead of 2. I would add that even though I love the program of the first school, it is possible that I couldn't afford to go there with their current funding offer. Edit: But that's only if you actually got the other offer already and are not just basing it from other people's experience.

Well... they got the starting point down from 200 to 130, that's a start. Maybe they'll realize one day that the best place to start counting is 0, followed by 1. (And yes, I have read their explanation of why they didn't use the 100 scale and I think it's plain silly.)

That's why I ended my reply to such an email with: "I will be sure to thoroughly consider your offer and I will inform your department of my decision promptly."

I say upgrade, especially if he gets funding. If he ends up not wanting to do his PhD after a few years, he can always do it until he qualifies for a masters degree and then drop out. (My program has info about when you can apply for your masters degree during your PhD track in the student handbook, so he could check that out.)

Hehe, congrats! It really is nice to hear a positive story amidst all of this freaking out

So far I got a direct admit into my top choice and haven't heard from the other three programs I applied to.

My personal system is to adress people who have taught me with Professor X and the people who haven't taught me, but are professors with Dr. X. No complaints so far.

It's not really that important who gets in to grad school, what's far more important is who gets out. If he's really like you think he is then I doubt he'll stick it out in there until the end. However, if he succeeds in grad school, you might want to revisit your impression of him, because maybe there's something to him that you just weren't privy to. I know from my own case that I'm considered anything from lazy to brilliant, a jerk to a very considerate guy... all depending on who you talk to.

You can always go abroad and teach English for a while. One of my friends, non-native speaker mind you, who got her BA in English language and lit, got a TEFL certificate and just went to Istanbul (Turkey) about four months after graduating. She found a job at a language school rather quickly and has been doing just fine there (she left in November last year). I'm sure that you, especially as a native speaker (I'm assuming you are), could do the same thing.

I haven't done any research into/related to it, but I'd love to learn it if that counts I have a friend who actually speaks Welsh (who had also spent some time in Wales) and the language just sounds amazing to me.

Phew, that's actually good to know My first choices were UConn (where I feel I'd be a great fit) and MIT (prestige, of course, plus I really did like Prof. Pesetsky when I had the pleasure of attending a lecture of his). Since I've already been accepted to UConn, I no longer have any dilemma as to where I'll go to grad school.

I've gotten an acceptance email from UConn on Tue at around 1.45 pm local time and their financial aid offer came on Thu at around 8 pm local time.