winterstat

My old supervisor did the same thing when he was working on his PhD. He found out a woman in the US (we're in the Netherlands) basically did the exact same study and submitted it to the same journal he was planning on submitting to. He decided to contact her, and they've published more than 10 articles together since.

Hi there, just wanted to add to @hippyscientist the following: "The expiration date shown on your F-1 visa does not reflect how long you are authorized to stay within the United States. You can stay in the United States on an expired F-1 visa as long as you maintain your student status. However, if you are returning home or traveling to a country where automatic re-validation does not apply, you must have a valid visa to return to the United States." (http://oip.sfsu.edu/f1/current/maintain/f1docs). Also, Gilmore Girls is amazing and I can't wait for the revival! However, for those who think Sookie/Melissa McCarthy isn't coming back at all, she finally found a minute of her time to spend on set, so she'll be in at least one episode, for at least one scene (http://variety.com/2016/tv/news/melissa-mccarthy-gilmore-girls-revival-sookie-1201748676/). On the upside, Mrs. Kim will also be there (http://tvline.com/2016/02/11/gilmore-girls-revival-mrs-kim-emily-kuroda-cast/)!

From what I understand, the US government means your entire stay in the US when they mention "trip" (very confusing, I know!). This is because some other Visa's are associated with much shorter stays, in which case the word "trip" is appropriate. I listed my university's main address and in the "Relationship to you:" field I wrote: "University where I will do my graduate studies". I got my F1 Visa no problem, so that seems anecdotal evidence that at least they don't find it weird/suspect when you fill out the form like this. Good luck with your application!

I completely agree with you @hippyscientist Especially after reading this study that basically said that working more than 55 hours a week doesn't really add to your productivity, I'm going to try and keep my working hours below 55 a week (which would still come down to 11hr/5days or 9.6hr/6days). Here is a short summary of the study. I've also read so many people's experiences on this forum and the people that seem happiest usually adhere to the "a PhD should be treated as a job" philosophy. Also, just wanted to say that I greatly enjoy reading the posts in this thread! It comes closest to a natural conversation that just flows from apartments to books to crumpets to working hours etc.

@sjoh197 I do think it helps to already have the support that comes with a stable relationship and having furniture saves a lot of time + money. However, I'm kind of looking forward to getting some new furniture which will be all mine (since I live with my SO atm, most of our furniture was a joint decision. While our taste in furniture is pretty similar, there are some things that I like that will never be part of our together place...).

Ugh... I just got my F-1 visa in my passport Probably can't change it again now... I feel like we trusted in our US contacts a bit too much regarding visas. They were all "Oh he's so specialized, it'll be easy to get him an H-1B visa!", so we didn't consider alternatives (except for them opening a local office in the Netherlands - which they were planning on anyways - and putting my SO on the L-1 track). I'm so sorry for being bitter about it, we just found out 2 days ago, so it's still kind of sinking in. But thanks for suggesting this solution! I might ask the lawyer if this is still something we might be able to do, just in case. We would have to get married though haha Edited to ad: Thanks @TakeruK ! I just read all your informative posts on the J1/J2 issue and have immediately emailed the international student offices at my future university to see what my options are. Fingers crossed! Sorry for sidetracking this topic!

Thanks for giving a breakdown of your hours! I've been wondering what a realistic amount of time to spend on coursework would be, so this really helps I'm also hoping that I can treat grad school as a job, so efficient time management is of the essence. I also live with my SO right now and our plan was to move to the US together. However, his work-visa recently fell through (H-1B had too many applications so they did a lottery...), so now we need to figure out something else, and probably deal with being in an LDR for some time. It feels like such a step back after living in the same house for over three years, but we'll have to deal.

Such a great topic to discuss! I'm one of those who will be going to grad school this fall after time off. I did my bachelor and master's degree in one go, and then decided to take a break. During the past three years, I've been a freelance consultant within my field and have stayed on part time at a university as a researcher (also within my field). Now, I'm getting ready to pursue a PhD on the west-coast (moving from the Netherlands). Most of the other students in my cohort haven't taken time off, so with my extra years of master's education and my 3 "gap" years, I'm a bit older than them, but I felt like I could still connect with most of them. I'm a bit apprehensive of living with fellow students again -did it during undergrad- but I also have very fond memories of living with a group of girls, so I'm hoping this will be a fun time again. I'm looking forward to spending all my time working on something I am passionate about. As a freelancer, I sometimes had projects that weren't really inspiring or challenging. I think the fact that I've kept my part time gig at the university will help in the transition since I've been a part of an active research group for three years now. I'm just hoping that I can deal with having coursework again

@Neist, thank you for the book link!!! I love to cook and was wondering how to still cook flavourful healthy stuff with a lower income than I'm used to (between MA and PhD I've worked for about 3 years). Thank you everyone, for writing about your backgrounds a little bit. I'm one of those middle-class students that has never really seen what poverty within my own country looks like, and I appreciate you all talking about your experience. Hopefully, it will make me a bit less ignorant once I start uni in the US this summer.

Congratulations!!! Of course, I get a fever the day before my interview (which is today in just a few hours!)... I've been trying to get myself to at least look as healthy as possible. Hopefully, I won't sneeze and cough my way through the interview. Fingers crossed! @hippyscientist, as for goals, my only real goal so far was to finish in 4 years. I don't want to become one of those people that just keeps putting off writing their thesis and being stuck in grad school for 6+ years. I know you don't have complete control over how quickly you finish (experiments fails, supervisors are slow, etc), but I am planning on at least doing all I can to stay on schedule.Your question has got me thinking about being more organized about this and maybe writing down what I want to achieve for every semester/year.

Oh, that's awful! I hope someone in your family comes through with a signature! Don't they feel bad that this might mean that you won't be able to go to grad school? Thanks for giving me some info on the interview questions. I've been waiting to announce to the world that I am heading to graduate school in the US until the VISA got sorted, so I'm excited that moment is finally coming up!

Hi there, I've been creepily reading all the posts in this thread ever since it began, but now I wanted to just say: I know how you feel @hippyscientist... I'm trying to arrange my visa (live in the Netherlands) and it's been less than fun. Luckily I will have my interview at the consulate this week, which is also freaking me out, even though I've read that it is usually no big deal. It sucks when you have to rely on someone else to get things done Hope everything works out for you!

There are most certainly great universities with great Social Science faculties outside of the US/the American continent. Just look here: http://www.topuniversities.com/university-rankings/world-university-rankings/2015#sorting=faculty_value+region=+country=+faculty=2453343+stars=false+search= Four non-US universities in the top-10, and more a bit further down. Of course, this ranking doesn't look exclusively at graduate programs within universities, but it gives you a place to start exploring outside options. As a Dutch citizen (moving to the US this summer for a PhD position!), I can say that the PhD process is a bit different over here compared to the US. First, it is customary to get an MA before applying for a PhD. Second, a PhD here is a job (it won't make you rich though), you are no longer seen as a student. Because of this, you have a little less education during your PhD (which is OK, since you've already done a Masters). You do also work as a TA, but usually just for one semester per year (or even less). PhDs are mostly funded by grant money, so usually you apply to a specific project, not to a university/department in general. This means you need to have a pretty good idea about what your interest are before you start your PhD. The position is usually for 4 years, and if you need more time you need to find your own funding. Since its seen as a job, you don't need GRE scores etc or a personal history statement. You just write a letter to apply for the job and send in your resume. I've also done a summer school course at King's College in London and it was of great quality, so I'd also recommend them (and a lot of other universities in the UK).

Hmm guess I need to work on my coordination/skateboarding skill in order to truly fit in thanks again for taking the time to respond to my questions!

Thanks for the information, @poliscigrad and for the offer to answer more questions (also thanks @revquackers). I'm currently living in Amsterdam, so I can imagine that Merced is a little boring compared to that haha. However, because I am moving to the US with my partner (who has a job in the Bay Area), I am planning on living in Merced part-time, and travel back and forth between the Bay Area and Merced. My POI spoke to me about these part-time rental places that exist in Merced (I am hoping to learn more about this once I'm at Merced on the 19th) and also said that most "school" activity happens on Tuesday-Wednesday-Thursday. She also mentioned that, at least at her department (psychology), they don't really mind if you work from home, as long as you get the work done. Do you recognize this in your experience at UCM? I'm happy to hear that everyone seems motivated and generally friendly. I've read some other posts about Merced (though some of them were quite old) that were less positive about the university. I guess I'll just have to see for myself, but I'm happy there are at least some people who are having a good experience over there! It can be quite hard to assess these things from a distance. Oh as a Dutch person I have to ask: do a lot of students use a bike to get around UCM (is it even a big enough campus to warrant the use of a bike?)?