Bumblebee

I've voted my average TAing time, because it depends on whether they have a big assignment/an exam or not. If they don't have any assignment due, I might work 12-13 hours/week, if they have an exam or a big assignment I might spend 16-17 hours that week.

I know of a person who was admitted to a program with funding, decided to go somewhere else and got an official rejection in the Fall when she was already attending this other program. So basically, you CAN get rejections in the Fall

Ha, ha, ha. Thanks!! I'll try to remember the sentence

It could be because I'm not a native speaker of English, but specially and especially bug me a lot. Oh, and I've made the your/you're-they're/their mistake countless times. -ice/-ise/-ize endings also confuse me a lot.

Yeah! I really like B-Town :-)

Exactly, don't give up! Last year I didn't get my first notification until February 25th (a reject, compensated by an admit to my current program the following day ) and had to wait for almost a month to start hearing from the other schools. So hang in there, there is still hope.

Found it! Ok, I was wrong, it was not a person who had helped with interviews, it was some current grad students and applicants talking about how not to behave during campus visits (including getting drunk). I'm sorry about that, he, he, he. Last time I read the thread was almost a year ago, and my brain is too filled with new information to remember the details. Anyway, here's the link. :-)

A few months ago (actually, I think it might have been during last year's round) there was a thread about things not to do during a campus visit and one of the things mentioned was getting drunk. Apparently, one person who had helped with interviews mentioned how wasted some of the candidates were sometimes. If I find the thread I'll post a link here.

That's really sad news! Rest in peace.

In some of the universities I applied to last year the financial statement included a box that you had to mark if you were using the school's funds (i.e. TAship, RAship, fellowship) to pay for your tuition and boarding. That usually is enough, you don't need to add anything else. In the school that I'm currently attending, though, the department notified International Services directly and I didn't have to fill any form. They just sent me the I-20 with the financial information there. Since the I-20 already stated that I was getting funds from the school, I didn't have to bring any bank statement to the embassy for the visa interview.

front door

Beautiful picture!!! I know that there are bars that bring people to play life. The Bluebird and the Root Cellar usually do it. And a few months ago (I think it was in September) they opened a new Martini bar that also has live music (when I went there was a jazz band).

Actually, the airport is a little bit less than 60 miles away from Bloomington, although it's true that it might look like more, especially if you take one of those shuttles that take you from IU campus to the airport (they have several stops, so it takes between 1h30m and 2h to get to the airport). Apart from that, it's a great place to live. I moved here in August and I love all the international restaurants. Plus, with the Jacob School of Music here, there are events almost everyday.

It depends on the program and the school. My roommate had a 2-day orientation the week before classes began. My program, instead, had a 5-day orientation. On top of that, since I'm an international student, I had a previous week-long orientation. That is, I had to be here at least 15 days before the beginning of the classes. If I were you I would check the starting dates for the programs you've applied to and would reserve the previous week for possible orientations.

You're more than welcome! :-)

Well, I wouldn't call it problems, problems, but you will find yourself paying deposits for a lot of things. I have that problem. I don't have a credit card, and due to certain circumstances, I haven't had to pay bills or anything of that sort yet, so I don't have credit history and that's why they told me at AT&T that I had to pay $500 of deposit (which sucks). So now I'm trying to find ways to build credit history. Next semester I'll start having bills on my name and I'm considering trying to get one of those training credit cards to pay small things (a book, one week's groceries, dinner at a restaurant, etc.). I still need to figure out how that works exactly, though. I hate credit cards. I have one that I got from my bank in my country to use when I travel abroad and to pay plane tickets (it has an additional insurance). But that's the only time I use it. I've had it for several years already and I don't like using it unless absolutely necessary. I think credit cards' evil side is way bigger than their good side. Plus, if I don't have the money, why should I spend it?. I don't think I should be penalized for not having a credit card. It means I don't spend more than what I have.

How is social life in town? Is life expensive? (it's really important to know how much life costs: one program may offer you a better stipend, but if it's in a most expensive city it doesn't make any difference). Do professors orient you and help you with research (publications, conferences, etc.).

Ha, ha, ha :-) Well, for cheap international calls our best friend is Skype. I use it to talk to my family. If they are connected to Skype, it's free. If they are not (or if I'm calling someone that doesn't have Skype) it's 3 cents/min. I think (my calls are to Spain). As for contracts, well, it depends on your needs. I use prepaid for two reasons: first, I don't spend enough so that the contract is worth it; secondly, I don't have credit history in the US (yet) so I had to leave a deposit of $500. Since I had to pay rent, food, books, some tuition, etc. I decided not to do it and keep my prepaid card.

I agree with what has been said. I would notify the schools the change of phone number, first of all, and explain the situation (program cancelled, no access to transcripts, etc.). As somebody mentioned, we all know what's going on in Egypt, and it's not only that the school advised you to come back, the US government is bringing Americans back home, so I would expect understanding from the programs. You didn't give up, the situation forced you to.

Wow, fuzzylogician!!! I came here to see if I could help but I don't think there's anything else that needs to be added. That was quite impressive!

My school also uses a 4 point system, in which A and A+ is 4.0, A- is 3.7, B+ is 3.3 and so on. In my case grades are somehow important, because in order to keep getting my financial aid I need to maintain a certain GPA (I cannot be below 3.0 in my GPA).

Great thread! Here comes my grad school experience. I'm only in my second semester of grad school, but I absolutely love my program. I love the courses I took the first semester and the courses I'm taking this semester. I love the department and the people in it. The relationship between the students is great, even when we are in different programs (I'm in the Hispanic Linguistics track, and there are people in the Hispanic Literature and Portuguese tracks). The relationship between students and professors is really good too and there is a lot of collaboration between everybody. I love the campus. It is huge and I got lost a lot of times during my first weeks here, but it is a beautiful campus with lots of things going on all the time. And I love the town. It is the perfect size for me (small city, with all the basics of a city and without the stress of traffic, rush hour, etc.), and it is very international (they have international festivals and plenty of international restaurants, which I love). If I had to grade my grad school experience so far, I would say A or A+ (if I had a car it would probably be an A+ )

Great! :-)