CoffeeFueledAnxiety

I am currently finishing my master degree in Berlin and I am really enjoying the city. Living expenses are very cheap in comparison to other major cities in Europe. Maybe similar to Barcelona, but definitely cheaper than Vienna. Your rent will be the defining factor of living cost, and depending on how you want to live, the price range can vary widely. Food (groceries and eating out), however, is very cheap. Berlin is a really big city, but public transport is good and it is easy to get around the city. The monthly pass for everything (bus, tram, subway, trains) is normally around 80 euros, it is free for students as long as you pay your semester fee. The city is filled with young people from around the world so the atmosphere is very international. There are always things to do here, no matter your interest (history, arts, music, or if you just want to party). I am a bit sad that I have to leave Berlin in August to do my PhD elsewhere. Anyway, let me know if you have specific questions about studying or living in Berlin.

First off, I am not as competitive applicant as most people here and applied to some lower rank program. I have been accepted to Buffalo, rejected by Georgetown and Penn State, waitlisted by Delaware. However I have also been accepted to an Erasmus Master program and I think I am taking that offer and maybe come back to apply for better PhD positions after finishing my masters. I guess since its fully funded and I am really interested in the program anyway, it will be worth it..

@LibbyCreek Thanks! I am very excited about the offer, too! I am still considering the offer but by now it looks like I am going to take it. I've got another offer directly to PhD but I don't think the research and program fits me as well. I am still waiting to hear back from one school but not feeling good about it anyway. I am taking the neuropharmacology track since I am coming from pharmacy background. And yes, they told me that the offer comes with the Erasmus Partner Country Scholarship

Hi @LibbyCreek, I have just received my unofficial acceptance offer. They said that they just need the European Agency to validate their selection result to make it official. The EACEA will check the eligibility of candidates regarding the European rules (i.e. citizenship, nb of applications to other EMJMD programs, beneficiaries of other EU grants) but does not review the ranking of candidates established by the Selection committee on the basis of candidates’ academic excellence. So, as long as we are eligible for the scholarship according to the rules, the unofficial result will be officially announced in April. They even urged me to start the visa process soon, so I guess they don't think official result will change anything. Good luck with your program! Member's total reputation

I've also been told that the official decision will be out "soon, possibly in the next few weeks" aaaaand it has been four weeks with no news at all..

@LibbyCreek I applied to Neurasmus program and have also been told that the unofficial result will come earlier (end of February in my case), while the official ones will be out in May. So what they said in my interview was that they would make their list of students they accept to the program that they are going to send out to the central Erasmus scholarship committee who needs to approve, sign, and put their stamps on the documents to make them official. I have also found no online forum where erasmus is being talked about a lot, especially the program I applied to.

I agree with many opinion you've read that this is the school's way to gather money. I have read and see that many schools offers unfunded MA for PhD applicants for international students because a) many of them accept the offer after feeling down about the whole process b ) some of them are actually willing to spend huge amounts of money for the chance to be in a great US school, and of course c) the tuition for international student is much higher than domestic. I don't really think it is a bad practice since it is a win-win for both party if the student is okay with paying the tuition, etc. YMMV, but I personally won't go to any MS/MA/PhD program without funding. That being said, if you have the money, accepting this offer would help you make connection with JHU professors, and many schools allow for an easy transfer from master to PhD if you show them exemplary performance. I don't think accepting the offer would stigmatized you since not many people would even know that your application was transferred or moved to MA unless you tell them. Also, if later you decide to do PhD somewhere else, an MA from JHU would probably increase your value as applicant. Edit: I didn't read your first option. I don't know about the possibility of working on weekends for a random lab. I am not sure if it will be allowed with the visa, maybe someone else can shed a light on this? But if that is possible, then I guess it is your better option since you would be earning instead of spending huge amount of money for tuitions. Oh, and don't forget that it is still mid February. You still have 14 more decision to wait for, I hope any of them would come up with better offer for you

Mine came 2 weeks after the interview

Anyone applied to and heard back from either Penn State MCIBS or Georgetown Biochem? Submitted my app back on November but I still haven't got anything from them till now.

@HiFiWiFi I am in a pretty similar situation. My top choice program said that they would have decision in the next few weeks when I contacted them. That was more than three weeks ago. My feeling is that I am waitlisted, but I just want to know it if I really am. While another school that has accepted me told me that they really hope I could give them my decision before February ends. Ugh, I also wish I could make my decision before the month ends but these other schools just won't let me know anything....

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@AP Yes I think you are right, the story is quite different between state school that mainly uses federal funds and private school. I guess I don't know much when it comes to private schools because I mainly apply to state schools and have heard that while they are considering my application against the whole applicant pool, the fact that they could only admit limited number of international students makes them compare international applicants in their own pool, too. Some international applicants does goes to the US, but then again it also depends on where you are from, I think. Applicants from some country find this easier than others, and some programs have more money to offer for reimbursement than others, too. I have read in this forum that some program also do not want to assume that applicants already have applicable visa for visiting and the processing of that in certain countries could takes quite some time, so that might also be a consideration. Great to know how other programs operates in regards of this, though, Thanks!

@SEAsianIntl Haha, not too worry, it's just because I've researched quite a bit about the scholarship too Yes you're right, I'm very grateful for having the ability to say no in the first place. Congratulations on yours, too!

Someone might have posted the dates in this thread: http://forum.thegradcafe.com/topic/85334-2017-interview-dates/

Hi, I think I know exactly the government scholarship you are talking about, I guess we're from the same country. Last year, after reading the kinds of contract they have with their awardee I decided that I value my academic freedom too much to apply to them. Therefore, I took the risk and applied only to programs that guarantee funding for their students even though my family, friends, and professors keep telling me to at least apply for the scholarship. Fortunately I have received fully funded offers with combination of TA/RA and fellowship. I think this is a much better deal since I want to add teaching experience and also research grants etc in my CV, which I would not be able to in the case of that governmental scholarship.

I think this means that they do not guarantee any funding for your study. If you accept the offer and want some funding, you will need to apply and compete for the available scholarship in the university once you are officially a student there.

The review process will of course be different in different school and different programs. However, from what I understand many programs does have a separate review process for international applicant. Not exactly in the way that they are reviewed after filling spots for domestic ones, but rather, they are being reviewed against a different pool of applicant (the international applicant pool) to fill the spots they have for internationals. Also, the main funding source of many programs are from the government, which means that those specific fundings could only be used for US citizen (or sometimes permanent resident) therefore they usually only have a small number of spot to offer to international students based on their other fundings. When it comes to interview, unless you are living in the US most program would offer a Skype interview instead of an interview weekend invite. Some programs do the Skype interview before their interview weekend, some do it after, again it depends on the program.

This is a good point, I realized this about a month ago and started looking at the state tax rate of my potential school. I have also started learning about the different tax treaties for scholarships, fellowships, student wage, etc between the US and my country.

@2017 Thanks, that does make me feel better. I guess some interviewer just has different style and ways to handle the interview than others. Also, congratulation for the offer!

Yesterday I had a quite similar experience. Unlike others I had, the conversation in this Skype interview did not seem to flow and I was quite nervous. It did not help that the interviewer was in quite a dark room and I can't really see her face nor her expression clearly so I could not be sure if she was satisfied with my answers or not. I was unable to answer few question on the basic scientific knowledge of my field (I suddenly forgot quite a lot of things) and it feels like she just went on asking the question from a list without any follow up for my answers, etc. Definitely had my post-interview blues for the whole day but now I think I am feeling better. Trying to remind myself that what happened happened and all I can do now is hope for the best and do my best if I got another interview offer. Still waiting to hear until the end of the month to find out if she thought I was adequate for the program.

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I was talking about rejections and wait-lists and all that few days ago to my family, then my dad reminded me that all I need is that one acceptance to a program that I have thought good enough to apply to. I know it's always nice to have options and I am still looking forward to other decisions in the making, but I felt much calmer afterwards because it is true.

I was sleeping when my acceptance email arrived. Almost all application updates etc comes through the night since I live somewhere with roughly 12 hour difference of time with most of the schools I applied to. I really should never have bothered refreshing my email when I am awake, nothing ever turns up while I am awake! Anyway, I think it was a perfect time to get it, since I was on a quick vacation to get my mind away from the process. I was somewhere surrounded by beaches and spent the day before snorkeling

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