AP

Renewing the visa today means going through the whole hassle again, including traveling to your country. As long as the I-20 is current, you won't need to renew. I don't understand what you mean by "separate" process. As a non-resident, every time you re-enter the US you have to show valid documents. If you are entering with a student visa, you MUST accompany the document with a current I-20. You can't enter with one or the other. You need both, together. (In most airlines they won't let you board the plane without these documents).

If you don't give any names, why are you concerned about privacy? I agree with you that you shouldn't write a novel. Stick to the professional. Do the AdComms need to know the business is your parents? Why not say something like "I have been exposed to people with disabilities since I was three. My family owns a family business where I spent many hours in my childhood through my adolescence"? Period. Only provide the information useful for your case.

I agree with @Sigaba's questions. Especially, I think it's important for you to argue why this is a good project for a PhD in history and not in anthropology. Historicizing recent events tend to demand methods from Anthro. I am not saying this is not a good project, but a friend of mine had this question raised over and over again because he too dealt with recent events and their roots in the late 1970s. Don't let them wander.* Your third sentence looks important but it is very week. It has "became" as a verb (weak verb), it's too long, and it has a long list after a sentence with another list. Think about what you want this sentence to do. I think your sentence starting "My project..." should be farther up. The contiguous sentences "The rise of carceral..." and "Examined in a historical..." have no connection with the previous sentence or the sentence that follows them. The second to last sentence has a list. This is an empty name-dropping. Be more assertive: "I situate my work in conversation with new studies on suburbanization, race relations in urban settings, and blah blah, epitomized by X, Y, Z. The last sentence shouldn't be your last sentence. It should be higher up. Your last sentence should connect your work with the department you are applying to. Good luck! *FYI archival research doesn't "automatically" mean this is a history project.

The letter is issued by the university, the I-20 by the US. Since it's a migration document, it doesn't need to match. My I-20, for example, runs longer than my program! The most important aspect of the I-20 is having it is signed. If your I-20 is not signed properly and periodically, you may not get into the US no matter how long the document is valid for. When I was away doing research, for example, I couldn't get it signed every semester because I was abroad. As a result, for returning, my university issued a second I-20 that they sent to my research site. The visa is a different thing and, yes, they can be of different lengths. Actually, I recently renewed my visa because I got a 6th year fellowship and they gave it to me for five more years, even though I only showed evidence of funding for one. So there you have it: program, I-20, and visa with different dates. What's important is that at the moment of entering the US you have a valid visa, a recently signed I-20, and a passport valid 6 months into the future. *disclaimer: I am not an immigration expert, I just have 6 years of experience. YMMV*

I assumed to contacted the program administrator? Remember that during the summer most faculty are away doing research (or simply away). If you "requested" the campus visit, the PA might be taking some time in responding while surveying who is in town and available. I would e-mail your POI once you know you are going. I also don't see why you can't just go. There are plenty of campus tours in the summer, librarians tend to be on site, and you can just drop by your department. I mean, as a last resort.

There is a huge range of professional websites for academics out there. The main difference is whether you blog or not because blogging implies a different type of maintenance. I'd recommend just going into your favorite professors/scholars and look around. I found a lot of inspiration in Twitter. Personally, I like a front page with my picture (so that people know my face at conferences) and the blur for my research. I like this to be a static page. In the menu, I have things like CV, teaching, and collaboration. Some people include their digital projects. Just remember that your site should have a clear purpose. Be strategic about the information you include and why, and how you are going to direct people there.

Ok, in that case teaching or RAing is a matter of finance, not a program requirement. This would give you the flexibility (funding permitting) of going abroad for research since you don't have to accept responsibilities on campus. Most of the language departments in my school require students to teach if they are in the area (which they have to the first three years). In theory (and by that I mean 'on paper') funding is not contingent upon teaching but it is a program requirement to teach at least six semesters. In that case, the money still comes from the graduate school (not from the college) but it 'liberates' senior faculty from teaching to do their own research. A truly exploitative system. Funding in graduate school varies a lot school to school and even program to program within the same school. Some schools guarantee funding for 5 years, regardless of responsibilities, some give you for the first 2 or 3 and then you compete, and some, like the program you mentioned, you have to compete every year. I know that you will weigh in many variables, but if all circumstances are more or less the same, I'd advise you against applying for a program where you have to compete for funding every year.

Congrats!

Typically, if you get a research fellowship, you defer your graduate stipend for later. Programs that require TAing and teaching will typically give you time for your research. I doubt you encountered a program in–say– East Asian history that requires 10 semesters of teaching (=responsibilities in your five years). If you did, don't apply there! Further, many programs don't require more than three years of residency. Finally, I didn't understand your last question. needless to say, everything varies from program to program.

Maybe this has also to do with the campus culture and the larger location. I am in an urban, progressive campus. I've had professors teach in flip flops, grow a very long beard, have piercings, or listen to hard rock when they work. (I am not sure this qualifies as progressive now that I read it). Coming from a more conservative society abroad, the fact that many people had tattoos and piercings in very visible places certainly facilitated my getting one.

I think you are overthinking it. I know many people that have tattoos in very visible places and that got tattoos in visible places while in grad school (yours truly included, with a comment like your professor's included too).

Ok, here are a couple of things I tried and worked for me: 1) Use the coursework years to build and consolidate a good social network. People you can cry with, and work with, and watch games with. 2) During exams, I gave myself the gift of learning something new. I picked up a new sport and went twice or thrice a week. It was MY moment away from books or screens, outside, and doing learning something besides the historiography of plantations. 3) Life hacks: Save your work all the time in an external drive AND the cloud. Trust me. Embrace meal prep once a week. Attend events with free food. Use campus resources. You already "pay" for them. Do not underestimate the power of a good break. 4) Exercise helps fight depression and sleep issues. (In addition, do not underestimate a good sleep. If you have problems sleeping, consult with your doctor. I speak from experience). 5) Grad school is just a job, but it is very personal because you give up a lot to be there. Do not hesitate to ask for help. No one is expecting you (or anyone) to have all the answers, otherwise campuses wouldn't have so many resources. Use the reference librarians, your senior graduate students, support services, etc. 6) Study tools: I don't know your field but for taking notes I use OneNote, for citations I use Zotero, and for writing I use Scrivener. I also carry around a small notebook where I write down random things that I think of as I write. Eg: Look for three references on X. All the best!

Don't worry, you don't need to explain yourself to me. Another option is to seek confidential advice on campus.

Based on what you explained, you should have already have begin to have the conversation. I thought that maybe throughout the Spring semester you suggested having second thoughts about the program to your advisor. If you haven't, I'd urge you to begin to feel the waters. This part suggests that you will be starting your second year. Maybe this is how your program or field works, but it is very unusual for students to leave in the middle of the semester in good terms (which is what you want). It sounds you already have a MSc program in mind, correct? Bring this too to your advisor. Bring the problem (you feel the program is not a good fit for your long term interests (A, B, and C) because of X, Y, and Z) and also bring the solution (as a result, I will be leaving and applying for this MSc program because of [insert reasons for choosing that program that are connected to your leaving your present department]). Understand that this is only based on the information you provided. YMMV

Exactly my point. Why are you still in the program if you want to leave?

Typically, people leave their programs at the end of an academic year. Are you planning to begin and finish your second year?

I began saving when I began applying for schools. For about 18 months I saved for all the bloody standardized tests, the tutoring sessions, the books, the applications, the international plane ticket, the moving-in items, and the first two months living in my new place because stipends would not be out until mid-semester.

Monthly for me.

Have you had conversations about moving on to a different field with your advisor? If you have, then the question to write LoRs won't be so out of the blue. If you haven't, then you need to have the conversation in order to taste the waters and see how much they support you.

I came from abroad so I already needed to translate my whatever-writing-sample into English. What I did was to summarize my undergraduate thesis into 25 pages. It was a good exercise because I incorporated comments from my committee, I could highlight the major arguments, and I could delete sections that were very repetitive.

When I receive e-mails I want the purpose of the e-mail right away. Though the example above is very good, I will make a suggestion: begin with "My name is X and I am an MA student at Y". I am writing to inquire if...." and then you begin to talk about you. Otherwise, the e-mail just reads as "me me me" until the very end. My two cents. @Balleu depending on how you word it you don't need to demonstrate now that you know the historiography of your project because that's what graduate school is for. You need to show that you have interesting questions and cool potential for expanding the field. Sometimes that means that you know your research is interesting because you have read the relevant scholarship. So, yes, you could include this narrative in your SoP (and even if you didn't choose sample A, I would still include it in your SoP).

Good thinking. What's important is that you don't explain your "flaws" but transform them into something positive, a learning opportunity, and even a research question. E.g. "Having to drop out from college myself due to a health crisis, I am now interested in the intersections of education and public health. Specifically, I seek to examine the mechanisms local authorities employed to serve regional stakeholders in war-torn borderlands" [I'm CLEARLY inventing! ] I think your sample A could be more manageable. Does it stem from the thesis? if it does, you can then introduce the main themes in the thesis and then go into the paper itself.

I agree with @megabee. They way you worded your background doesn't add up to what AdComms look for in diversity statements. How has your background informed your research questions? How can your background add to a different understanding of your research questions? How can your research contribute with the diversification of the field? Why having you in X program will make the department more diverse? What do you bring to the table? Good luck!

I tried the notebook and pen and didn't work for me. I'm a faster typer. My advisor knows that I feel more comfortable with this and allows it. Only one or twice I asked for permission to record the meeting because we were going to talk over two chapters. I turned it off when we moved to something else. Also, as you transition different stages of your program, you will realize that you have increasingly more power to steer the conversations. Although my advisors are very tidy in the way they give advise (they start saying "I have three comments 1, 2, and 3, and they they go into them), I also reiterate a lot of what they say so that I chew on that and can ask back immediately. This, of course, depends on how you work with your advisor.

Welcome new cohort! Rising sixth year here. I found the forum very helpful when I was applying so I'm happy to pay it forward. If may, let me give you the single piece of advice I wished someone had told me (or at least had made it super clear): as you prepare your applications, stop thinking as an undergraduate (if you come straight from undergrad or have graduated in the past two years); start thinking like a professional, grad student. I understand this is very vague advice, but it's so because it applies differently to all us. In my case, it meant to stop worrying about stupid things (like GRE) and worry about the important ones (the SoP, for example). If you set your mind to the application process being already part of graduate school (you will be applying for stuff for the next 6-7 years at least), if you think of this as a specialization of your work, as a way to further your career, believe me, it will transpire into your application materials. All the best!!!!!!!