AP

If you are talking about taking out a loan for US schools, I am not sure banks give out those. Technically, if you are an international student, you cannot take out those long loans because the F1 or J1 visas do not allow you to stay. In theory, you'd have to go back to your country. If you are talking about taking out a student loan from the US government available to international students, I certainly haven't heard of those so I can't help you. However, the visa questions still stands. I'd ask myself, if I don't get a job in the US and I have to go back to my country, would I be able to pay out the loan? IMHO, I wouldn't take out a loan for school. Even in the great event that it pays your tuition, you won't be able to use to pay your bills.

Your assumption is both incorrect and misconceived. Although my financial history or situation is none of your business, I did my share of multiple jobs and complemented my stipend with on-campus employment. Your assumption that a PhD can be done in 40hs/week is naive. My comment on full-time enrollment, as @bhabhafk explained, has to do with the legality of having too full-time stipends. It doesn't matter how many hours you put into it, which any PhD students would know. No one here is suggesting a PhD takes 40 hours a week. If you enroll full-time and get paid for an exclusive dedication to Program A, Program B is unlikely to allow your enrollment. It doesn't matter how many hours you put into it, it's a question of payroll. More importantly, I am pretty sure a program will not grant you a PhD in the same discipline as another program. What is this supposed to mean?

In terms of money, I don't think you can get paid as "full time" in two places at the same time. In terms of coursework, how would that work? Would you travel back and forth? In terms of theses, do you know anyone that has written one in your field? If you do, ask them about the process. I am a little suspicious anyone could do it with so much extra time that they might suggest to you it is fine to write two at the same tie. I think you should choose one program.

OMG!!! WHAT!!! That's awful!! I hope someone else knows how to do it!!

This was me six years ago! I think two suitcases is enough, but you have to be prepared to get rid of your stuff. I sold a lot of things before moving, left some things with friends. Here's what I did: * Packed the clothing that I really liked, that I knew I'd be using for the next few months. * Took only a couple of books and left the rest with friends/family. On every trip back, I took one or two books. For most, I realized I didn't need them. * Left some clothing I couldn't take the first time with an aunt and then she brought it when she visited (like cocktail dresses and high-heel shoes). Now, this is my biggest piece of advice: You will be coming to a new country, a new program, a new everything. Bring with you some decor that you love from your place to make you future apartment your home. I brought a small mirror, a knob decor, and a picture frame with my grandmothers. That alone helped me feel more at home.

I'm in the humanities as well and I use Zotero, for ever free. Have you tried directing this question to a reference librarian? If the library isn't renewing the subscription, they probably have someone to help students and faculty with the transition from RefWorks to another software.

Great question! No, you NEVER write your intro first, for anything because you cannot introduce what you haven't written. My dissertation has five chapters, intro and epilogue. I wrote chapter 2 first, because it was the one that I was most familiar with in terms of sources and literature. While I wrote it I presented it at a conference. I wrote chapters 1, 3, and 5. Finally, I wrote chapter 4. Chapter 4 was always the most difficult chapter for me. I had no idea what it was about and once I had good chapters 3 and 5, chapter 4 kind of fell into place. While the committee read the whole dissertation I wrote the intro. Doing the revisions after writing the intro proved to be a huge plus. Some readers mentioned in the chapters that I should discuss X, but now X was discussed in the intro, so that made my revisions easier. And then, the epilogue. One of my biggest struggles was were to include the literature review. In the end, I decided to include discussions at the beginning of the chapters but then reminding the readers of what was the theoretical debate and how I was using it. Best of luck!

I second all the above responses and I echo the suggestions of thinking about what questions interest you and finishing your current degree. From what you are saying, however, I am a bit worried about you thinking of applying directly to PhD programs while saying "history/sociology" as if they were similar things. Wherever you apply, you want to make sure you understand how the discipline works (while showing that you are open to transdisciplinary research). Let me give you an example. In my campus, the Sociology Dept is very quant-methods. Their PhD program stresses methods all over the place, with rarely any seminars on the specifics of places as you would find in the History Dept. If you were to apply here, you would need to show that you understand how each discipline worked and how each dept understands it. For doing this, I think that taking courses for your current MA in Sociology or History might help. Note: by no means am I doing any gatekeeping. I think you background in CS would be appealing to many programs and that your interests would enable you to produce an interesting project that is not grounded solely in one department. But eventually you will get funding and a degree from one of the two disciplines so you should know which one. I hope it's clear. It's very early in the morning here and I am still sleepy!

Based on your clear objectives and provided you apply for a good program, I think this is a great idea. However, I am a little confused by the apparent contradiction in your proposed course to achieve your goals. You mentioned you can't move or quit your job for a MA, which is perfectly understandable. How exactly would you juggle a graduate degree anyway (online or not)? If your objective is to improve your writing and research, how do you plan to do this if you said a) you don't have the time and b) you have a job that would prevent you from going to archives? I only bring these issues up to help you better plan for your aims.

I have, but my situation was different because I did my undergrad abroad, where they tend to be longer. Many in my cohort and other years did so, and they did just fine. I would give you a piece of unsolicited advice, if that's ok. I've noticed that many grad students coming straight from undergrad expected to be told what to do: take these classes, take these exams, go to these conference, without realizing that in grad school you have more freedom to tailor your degree to what you want. I would encourage you to think about the type of professional you want to become and take advantage of the program you land. Do not expect people to tell you what to do, but take the initiative to pursue your intellectual interests. I know this sounds rather obvious, but I know people who would like to go back to 1st or 2nd year and attend more workshops or use time to write publishable papers. YMMV.

You should apply as early as you have a strong application. Some schools waive application fees if you apply earlier so check that if you would be ready by then. Typically, AdComms don't meet until applications are ready so applying earlier wouldn't make a difference for them. I would suggest strengthening your application by taking informally to potential POIs and using that in your application materials. Good luck.

I always take notes on OneNote. Courses notes (ie discussions on books) later became good starting points for exams.

No takes you for what you say in the personal statement. The application is you (usually) coming out from college so it doesn't make sense that you would keep the same questions. I know plenty of people who changed their themes and/or came in with no idea whatsoever. However, you mentioned changing "research area," "research topic," and "field of study." Could you clarify? To me, these are completely different things, so maybe you could clarify what you are referring to? Re: I understand field as "Latin American Studies," research area as "Latin America," and theme "gender and sexuality in Afro-Latin America." See the difference? I think it's ok to change the later and I have even see people glide from African Studies to Afro-Latin America, but I've never seen the first because it would probably mean you need to re-apply to a program.

Many things to unpack here. First, just to be on the same page, I assume you are not making your decision based on this survey. This is an important decision to make and you wouldn't want strangers in the internet making it for you. Second, I am a bit confused. People do not get offers to do a PhD in Cambridge (or anywhere) out of the blue. In other words, you applied to that program and, since you do not provide any other piece information, I can safely assume you applied when you were already in the program at UIC. Are you doing a PhD or a Master's at UIC? If you are doing a master's, and assuming it's a two-year master's since you are asking for advice, I would reach out to Cambridge to see if you can defer admission for a year. If you are doing a PhD already, well, that is very problematic. Based on you profile, I am assuming you are doing a PhD. Leaving a PhD program for another one for no good reason (like harassment) is not ideal. It is not impossible, of course, but you would certainly burn a lot of bridges (while, granted, Cambridge will open a few doors!). You need to carefully weigh in the good, the bad, and the ugly of each program, taking into account, as you mentioned, advisor, stipend, what you want to do after the PhD, support, research facilities, conference activity, networking, healthcare benefits, etc. Think about the costs (financial, emotional, and intellectual) of leaving your program. Remember these costs many times have an impact on your future and are not limited to the people at UIC. Third, being unaware of graduate student life at Cambridge is a silly reason not to go, sorry. You can find that information virtually anywhere. For example, you can reach out to current or former students, you can reach out to your network to see if they know anyone, you can find some forums/reddits, etc. Finally, a disclaimer: I based my answers on the information you provided, making huge assumptions. If they are erroneous, I recommend contextualizing your situation a bit more so that the feedback you get is useful. Good luck! (and congratulations on being on this fortunate situation!)

In e-books, you don't tend to have page numbers because you can customize font and spacing (although some books do maintain page numbers, it really depends on how the publisher constructed the e-book). Location numbers work like page numbers in the sense that they locate you in the book. According to this website, a location number stands for 125 characters (I though it was a paragraph number). That means that in your citation, instead of writing "p. 23" you would write "loc. 115". If people wanted to check that citation in the book, they would have to go to that location.

Different programs have different expectations. In my program, I wasn't paid summers but was expected to do archival research. That meant that I needed to apply for research grants all over the place. (Of course, I planned a vacay with the family in between...)

I second the previous responses. Allow me to highlight that in many cases, rejections do not have anything to do with your standalone application but as a part of an applicant pool. Sometimes your application is great but the AdComm evaluated that another candidate might be a better fit or something. By framing your questions as an opportunity to make your application stronger, you implicitly acknowledge that you don't have all the control in the decisions (alas, but don't we wish we did!)

I use it a lot for research, though in some cases I ended up buying the print book because it's easier for me to take notes. A kindle has been GREAT during fieldwork, when I wanted to read new books but could not access them in paper because they were not available in the country where I was. For citing, I include an "e-book" or "kindle version" and I provide the location number (as opposed to a page).

It seems you come from abroad? I remember being in the same boat as you, trying to figure out what's what. Back in the day, I did what @TMP suggested: identifying professors and programs simultaneously. Many professors disclosed early on that their programs did not offer "good" funding for international students, so they were are no. I also crossed out programs that required teaching in my first year because I didn't want to deal with grad school + new country + second language + teaching. In the end, my decision came down to who offered the best net package (not only tuition waiver but also stipend, health insurance, possibility of research funds, etc). I must also add, there are a lot of hidden fees for international students. Remember you might need to renew your visa at some point and this costs money and travel. In addition, while health insurance might be good (ours is pretty decent), you will still need to pay out of pocket. So take this into account when comparing funding packages. Best of luck!

I actually switched from my camera years ago because iPhone was sooooo much better. The one I had "sony 21x optical zoom cyber-shot" (google that and you will see the results). Of course, now they are much better than my 2012 version. Have you tried CamScanner?

Typically is the organization, because you will receiving money from them (in all the multiple forms that you mentioned). Check with your International Student Office, though.

I came into grad school with a 10" Dell and upgraded to a 13" MacBook Pro. I thought of getting an iPad for field work, but the laptop worked just fine. I still have it and runs perfectly. For dissertation writing, I hook it to a 21" screen. That alone made it SO much easier to write!!! I should have bought it for my exams!

Yes, American English. For me the transition was hard, and even I bled British grammar into my dissertation. But my advisors knew that and were patient.

From what you are saying, I am not convinced you have a good reason to leave. Many of us realize after exams or fieldwork that our advisors are not the experts that we need, but I don't see why you would need to leave. In my own case, I don't think anyone in the US studies my area in my time through my perspective, but I came out with a committee that has experts in each of these areas separately. Having people outside your time period or geography can benefit you in the sense that they can help you keep a broadest perspective. You can bring the experts from outside. Build yourself a good committee with two outside readers from this people in other universities. That will hurt you less than leaving in your fourth year. Further, I am not sure the situation of the job market is a good reason to leave, on the contrary! Finally, why do you think your interests are tied to your advisor's? The fact that their interests shifted doesn't mean they can't advise you.

I'm not sure this is universal. I didn't sign a contract, but here we are not teaching/TAing/RAing for money either. (Just to evidence that this might vary from place to place). I'm curious what "advocate for housing" means. Does it mean that they will ask around? Does it mean that the school has housing for postdocs/visiting faculty and might consider you for that place? There are many things that are not in the POI's hands, unfortunately. Although negotiating is not a bad skill to begin developing now, thread carefully. You can also mention to one of them: "I am very excited about this offer. I am weighing in other factors into my decision, including housing opportunities". When I enquired back in the day, they just sent me a link to a very outdated university website. I don't think is something everybody does. It depends on budget. Given the information in the forum, I would certainly inquiry when you meet with the Chair or the DGS (no one else should give you advice on this).