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audre.bored

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  1. Upvote
    audre.bored reacted to Emily Roberts in Stipend budgeting/taxes   
    I applaud you for sketching a budget prior to committing to housing!
    It's simple to calculate your tax liability using the info you provided, at least for your first full year of employment (2019). 2018 may be different as you'll be starting/changing jobs mid-year.
    For federal income tax, if you are single and take the standard deduction of $12,000, you will pay 0% tax on that first $12,000 of income, 10% tax on the next $9,525, and 12% on the remainder (these are the 2018 brackets). Using the numbers you provided, that is 10%*$9525+12%*($14,000-$9,525)=$1,489.50 or $124.13/mo.
    This tax liability may shift if you have other adjustments to your income, such as additional income sources or above-the-line deductions, e.g., interest paid on student loans. You should check if you're receiving any scholarship funding or similar that isn't tax-free (i.e., money that goes toward fees that are not qualified education expenses) or if any of your stipend will go toward paying qualified education expenses. For estimation purposes, you could just add any net scholarship income to your stipend or subtract any net qualified education expenses from your stipend, even if that's not exactly how you'll treat it on your tax return. Check your offer letter for these kinds of details on your non-stipend funding.
    You won't pay FICA tax no matter your funding source.
    Tennessee doesn't have state income tax on ordinary income, just investments.
    If you have an assistantship, you'll fill out a W-4 and have income tax automatically withheld from your paycheck. If you have a fellowship (internal or external), it's most typical for universities to not withhold any income tax (though a few do). In that case, you would need to look into filing quarterly estimated tax - probably not necessary for 2018, but likely required in 2019 and following. 
  2. Upvote
    audre.bored reacted to TheRealGradAdvice in Rejected Offers Information for Wait-Listers 2018 Entry   
    This thread does more harm than good. If you're begging people to make a decision because it's your "dream program," you need to take a step back and mature a bit.
  3. Upvote
    audre.bored reacted to Hamb in 2017-2018 Application Cycle   
    I think there are two reasons. The first is that departments are generally pretty good at selling themselves, so whatever attractive aspects led to one applying to a school are magnified during the visits. The second is that putting an actual face to a name makes things more difficult. Meeting professors and graduate students at the programs makes the possibility of attending the schools feel real. Instead of abstract thoughts about taking classes and performing research, it becomes more realistic to imagine oneself there. Instead of just a name that you've emailed with or a campus seen through photo's, the visits humanize the process, at least for me.
  4. Upvote
    audre.bored reacted to Hamb in 2017-2018 Application Cycle   
    Anybody else coming away from visits even more confused than when they went in? Thought these would help clear things up, but they've only made me more unsure of my decision making process over the next month!
     
  5. Like
    audre.bored got a reaction from Hamb in 2017-2018 Application Cycle   
    Email from Georgetown, recommended for admission.
  6. Like
    audre.bored got a reaction from StudyinMountains in 2017-2018 Application Cycle   
    Email from Georgetown, recommended for admission.
  7. Like
    audre.bored got a reaction from izmir in 2017-2018 Application Cycle   
    Email from Georgetown, recommended for admission.
  8. Like
    audre.bored got a reaction from sbs2018 in 2017-2018 Application Cycle   
    Email from Georgetown, recommended for admission.
  9. Like
    audre.bored got a reaction from Dreamer109 in 2017-2018 Application Cycle   
    Email from Georgetown, recommended for admission.
  10. Upvote
    audre.bored reacted to Stdrauss in Choosing a school   
    There are huge variations across faculty members in terms of their ability to place their students (even within the same department). This is extremely important. Look into people's CVs and see their placement records and ask them about their recent students during your visits.
  11. Upvote
    audre.bored reacted to DialecticalBiologist in 2017-18 Cycle Profiles and Advice Thread   
    http://www.poliscirumors.com/topic/love-the-fake-congratulations-on-gradcafe
    Case in point. Be smart, applicants. 
  12. Like
    audre.bored reacted to apolloscreed in 2017-2018 Application Cycle   
    Accepted at George Mason. It is my safety school, but having one fully funded acceptance in the bag makes waiting out the next seven decisions much less stressful!
     
    For what I'd like to study and pursue career wise, GMU is actually a great option for me. So I'm choosing to see the bright side in all of this moving forward
     
    1a/1w/1r/7p
  13. Upvote
    audre.bored reacted to megabee in 2017-18 Cycle Profiles and Advice Thread   
    I will say a disclaimer first: In the interest of my own privacy, you'll notice I provided few details on what my research projects actually were. A bit more detail that I'd be fine providing includes on the ground surveys/interviews of revolutionaries and NGOs in a state which recently overthrew its government, as well as UN-related research conducted at the UN. 
    Now:
    "Until proven wrong" - I can't definitively prove you wrong, obviously. I'm not on an adcomm, nor have I conducted any surveys of adcomms. Having spoken to adcomm members over the phone (not Michigan particularly but this was emphasized by someone on UNC's adcomm as well as in my phone conversations with other programs) my research experience was reflective of my fit. Anyone can say "I want to work with this great Latin America person", but it's better to say "I have cited this person in my own research on Latin America, which is unique from my POIs but you can clearly see that I would benefit from their mentorship." Or, "I read this POIs work while collecting data for my RA gig and it got me thinking about x question, which I then did research on." It's not number of publications, I think. It's the way those experiences indicate your fit with the program.
    Additionally, I emphasized heavily in my SOP that my research experience indicated readiness for the work required in graduate studies. I really wanted to hit that point hard in my SOP because I applied right out of undergrad. I explicitly pointed out that I was working as an RA, conducting independent research, taking classes, teaching classes, and working a job in child care at night. Basically, I was living the life of a grad student with kids for a few months out of the year.
    So I think research experience shows readiness for an intense program, as well as how that research reflects your fit.
  14. Upvote
    audre.bored reacted to toad1 in Choosing a school   
    "Will I succeed here?" is a question I will keep in mind on my visits. This includes rank/placement, funding, geographic preferences, but also takes into account more abstract qualities like happiness and how well your personality fits into the university's culture. I heard over and over again throughout the application stage that universities take a "holistic" approach to admissions decisions -- I think we should similarly take a holistic approach to our decisions as well.
  15. Like
    audre.bored got a reaction from Applesandbananas in 2017-2018 Application Cycle   
    This has me hopeful that I'll get some info by the end of the week. Fingers crossed.
  16. Upvote
    audre.bored got a reaction from Hamb in 2017-2018 Application Cycle   
    Can I just say all of this is super overwhelming
  17. Like
    audre.bored got a reaction from hs2011 in 2017-2018 Application Cycle   
    Can I just say all of this is super overwhelming
  18. Like
    audre.bored reacted to Chuck Mangione in 2017-2018 Application Cycle   
    I got into Maryland
    Holy shit I thought I was going to strike out. I'm so freaking happy right now. I actually don't have to go back to Japan now to do PhD work.
  19. Like
    audre.bored got a reaction from DKG18 in 2017-2018 Application Cycle   
    Just received a letter of admissions to University of Maryland along with funding info.
  20. Upvote
    audre.bored reacted to poliscibi in 2017-2018 Application Cycle   
    In at Maryland!
  21. Like
    audre.bored got a reaction from Hamb in 2017-2018 Application Cycle   
    Just received a letter of admissions to University of Maryland along with funding info.
  22. Upvote
    audre.bored got a reaction from ilyosha in 2017-2018 Application Cycle   
    I also applied to Hopkins.  Not sure why it's not getting any love. Might be because of its lower rank.
  23. Upvote
    audre.bored reacted to guest789 in 2017-2018 Application Cycle   
    http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.703.1946&rep=rep1&type=pdf
    If the link is broken, do a google scholar search for "What Do We Learn from Graduate Admissions Committees?: A Multiple-Rater, Latent Variable Model, with Incomplete Discrete and Continuous Indicators". There may be more recent work in PS, the journal that focuses specifically political sci education and the discipline as a whole.
  24. Upvote
    audre.bored reacted to 1821123 in 2017-2018 Application Cycle   
    Interesting idea -- I have a few questions about how this would work: 
    1.  What's your dependent variable? If it's a dichotomous outcome (acceptance/rejection), you'd need something more sophisticated than run-of-the-mill regression -- particularly if you're interested in calculating predicted probabilities.
    2. How do you operationalize your independent variables? This would be particularly consequential in the case of things such as "fit" or "research experience," which an applicant may be unable to judge objectively.
    3. There are likely many latent (i.e. unobserved) confounders that influence a given school's admissions decisions; for example, subfield quotas, applicants' adherence to the dominant theoretical orientations within a subfield, faculty availability, etc. How would your model account for these factors?
    Again, very interesting idea -- however, you should be sure that your model is accurate before soliciting others' information online. 
  25. Upvote
    audre.bored reacted to hs2011 in 2017-2018 Application Cycle   
    So far one of mine has specifically said it was casual (I LOVE when events specify the attire). 
    I've also been working for several years, although in a less formal office.  I was planning to do more of a slacks/boots or flats/sweater business casual look if I don't know specifically what to expect.  I know one involves a campus tour, so I'll probably do more comfortable shoes for that one.  Hope that helps!  I'd love to hear other peoples thoughts as well.
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