MMii

I received my rejection from U-Mich today!

It's really tricky, the only way I'm making it work is because I have friends on the East Coast I can stay with in between campus visits and I'm busy writing my MA thesis so have flexi time but it will be quite disruptive in any case. I feel it's really important for my decision-making though so the benefits outweigh the costs. Incidentally, I actually did contact one of the schools to find out about visiting days. I had to apply for a visa which takes at least two weeks so I wanted to work their campus visit in (I only asked for the dates, not the status of my application). For those of us travelling internationally and who need visas it's not really possible to leave the travel bookings to the last minute so I didn't feel presumptuous doing it.

@realmarcelproust I received an offer from Yale last week.

@Gwarth I've heard back from Yale but not U-Mich. It looks like some people have received acceptances to U-Mich though.

Yeah, I hear you - I'll be reimbursed for most of my travel expenses but it's the initial outlay which is tricky. I need a B1, which hopefully will be fine but takes a bit of time to organize, do the interview, process etc.

South Africa There actually is a direct flight which is only 16 hours but, alas, not on a student's budget. Where are you coming from?

At this stage I'm facing a 60 hour round trip (cheapest flight and only one I can possibly manage right now), but I think it's totally worth it to get a sense of where I'll be living for the next 5+ years Here's hoping the visa works out. Congrats on your acceptances!

Thanks so much @Calgacus - great suggestions.

African history is mine! Focus on twentieth century South Africa intellectual history.

@viridian , thank you so much! That is really so helpful in confirming/clarifying what I had read and thought I understood. I'll definitely double check with the department about tuition though.

Hi everyone, I have a question about funding for those who have more experience with the US system. I'm an international student, who cannot afford to take on any debt for PhD studies and as I have received my first offer I thought it would be prudent to get my head around what constitutes a 'good' funding package? If I have been offered 19 quarters of support including funding for five years and four summers, does this mean that my tuition will be waived or covered for the duration or is it more complex than this? I'll obviously contact the department to find out more, but wondered if anyone here has insight about this. The funding packages in the US seem much more complicated than the ones offered in my home country (which are often just lump sum annual amounts, and tuition is comparably negligible). TIA

Excellent! Congrats to you too What's your subfield?

Thank you! Very happy/relieved to have received an acceptance!

Northwestern decisions are out (some of them, at least). I just received an acceptance via the Graduate School.

Thank you.