punctilious

I don't know that it exists here. The folks in my husband's cohort live all over: Harvard Square, North Cambridge, Inman Square, Allston, Somerville, etc. We are right between Inman, Kendall, East Cambridge, and Central--I believe this area is known as The Port. It seems like there are a lot of young people/graduate students in this area, since we are also decently close to MIT. But I don't think there is one place for Harvard graduate students like there may be in other cities.

Husband is grieving the loss of library access while writing his final papers for his classes. There have been multiple rare books that we’ve had to go through rather odd processes to try to get scans of or information on (including finding initial quotes or references in online literary magazines, blog posts, or other books available on Google Books, then messaging users on Bookogs who may own the books and even messaging the authors themselves in order to get an accurate citation...). As a self-proclaimed expert at Googling, I’ve gotten to help out a lot with his research, which has been a fun challenge for me as someone who is VERY MUCH not a student of literature.

Quoting Personal Finance for PhDs: “I’ll clarify right up front that you do need to incorporate your fellowship income into the gross income you report on your tax return, and you almost certainly will end up paying tax on it (unless your total income is very low or you have lots of other deductions/credits).” (http://pfforphds.com/weird-tax-situations-fellowship-recipients/)

I think people have a tendency to be dramatic when it comes to crime. When I was heading to study in Russia, everyone was going on about terrorism. When I was moving to DC, everyone was going on about crime. I say perhaps talk to real people who live there. I have an aunt, uncle, and three cousins who have lived in Toledo forever, and a good friend from college from Toledo. They're all fine. I went a few times as a kid and I lived, haha. I hear Toledo has a great art museum.

If you purchased with a credit card, can you dispute the charge? That's what my husband and I have been doing for hotel and airline costs that the travel companies are being difficult about refunding. It's a public health crisis, a national emergency, these companies need to refund people, and my bank (hopefully) has more sway and can get the job done.

I would imagine that, since there are so few jobs, there may not even be enough data to determine the success of some schools over others. I'm not sure that being strategic about where you go is super effective in this climate because it's a total crapshoot and the economy isn't getting any better. We're holding out hope that Harvard's name recognition and elite status will help him get a job in Europe, since I'm an EU citizen and we want to live over there when he's done. It's probably likely that, if EU university hiring committees know any US institutions, likely they know (and hopefully respect) Harvard. Otherwise, I think you should go where you want to go.

I think it's a tough situation. I do think it's wrong of Harvard to kick people out of the dorms so quickly, though I hope they will be lenient in allowing those folks who have nowhere to go to stay, but at the same time, Massachusetts is seeing a pretty rapid outbreak, and what better place for the virus to spread than at a university where people are in close proximity all the time (in lecture halls, dining halls, dorms, etc)? It could be a real danger to the immunocompromised and older folks (hello professors) if we allowed this virus to spread through campus. We have a duty to protect each other, especially since our government will not protect us by providing medicare for all, required paid time off, etc. The United States is in a precarious situation--most other wealthy countries are substantially more prepared than we are for this kind of outbreak. It sucks--my husband is not excited about all of his classes going online,not getting to present at conferences and colloquiums, potentially having limited to no access to the library or other resources, but I understand why they made this decision.

SNAPS! Please go vote y'all!

If any Harvard admits have any questions, feel free to message me, considering the coronavirus-fueled cancellation of official visit days.

@surplus_value - My husband and I were in this process two years ago, so I get how incredibly hard and stressful this can be. But you have to recognize in yourself what you can handle when it comes to seeing other folks' success. Listen to yourself and see whether being in this community is helpful or hurtful to your mental health. You do not have to be here. For some people, the camaraderie is joyful, for others it is stressful. I think it is unfair to expect other people to cater to you, and not express their frustration at this process. This should be a safe space to vent about the process, not a place to tear down one another. @meghan_sparkle and every person here should feel comfortable engaging in this community, whether their applications have been accepted or not.

It is very confusing, but no, as far as I am aware you just need to count your stipend as income, not the tuition remission. That measure did not pass. Unfortunately even tax professionals often do not understand how this works.

I completely agree with you. Which is why it's also essential that everyone here goes out to vote in this primary to support students and our unions.

Correct, teaching fellowships and such will make you an employee of the institution, so you will presumably have taxes taken out, but for stipends (where you aren't working, often the first year or two of your program), they will more than likely not take any taxes and may not even provide you any sort of tax document. The stipends without "employment" are what I am referring to, as people often think they don't need to pay taxes on those, but they do!

Yes, everyone should hear this loud and clear: your stipends are taxable income (not just teaching fellowships!). You have to report them as such and pay taxes on them, which is why it's a really good idea to pay quarterly estimated taxes so you don't die when you see what you owe in taxes at the end of the year. Cost of living as absolutely an important consideration. Many top universities are in super expensive cities (especially the Bay Area, followed by New York and Boston, those are probably the worst cost of living in the US) so make sure to factor that in when making your decisions. I believe @Warelin's spreadsheet has a cost of living column.

So that was a whole debacle around proposed changes that would not only tax graduate students on their stipends/fellowships, but also on tuition remission. The proposal would have meant that your income wouldn't just be the $35,000 stipend you're getting from Harvard, but also the $47,000 in Harvard tuition. These together would be considered your income, so you'd be taxed on the $82,000 rather than the $35,000. Thank goodness that didn't get through because it's absolutely insane/ridiculous.

This income tax calculator should make things easier for you. Personal Finance for PhDs also has a lot of great resources on this subject. Remember folks, your schools will most likely not take taxes out of your stipends, but you will owe income tax on them! You will want to pay quarterly estimated taxes to the IRS. I recommend also setting up a savings account just for taxes, and putting funds away each stipend to pay your quarterly estimated taxes.

The spreadsheet I created has already been linked above, but I've been doing a lot of projects in Airtable lately. I highly recommend it, and will probably rebuild my spreadsheet and other resources in there. It's a lot prettier and more flexible than Google Sheets or Excel.

Yup. And we are hoping to end up with Europe, so thank you @Warelin for that follow up question. So yes, we are hoping the name carries us!

Thank you so much for your advice. Unfortunately, we are hitting a bit of a spot where the professors most invested have been denied tenure or are still tenure-track, which is not ideal. And the others are inaccessible/flighty despite their similar research interests but tenured, or big names and somewhat helpful/accessible with similar interests but less invested. It's not easy!

What has the timeline looked like for you for conference presentations? And publishing articles? Also, when and how did you choose your dissertation committee? These are the questions are are coming up against now that husband is in his second year and looking to publish an article and present at a conference.

I think it is a good idea to ideally mention 2+ professors, and ideally they would be a mix of assistant/associate or tenured professors. I say this because it seems to me that assistant/associate professors may often be serving on an admissions committee and get to look at applications. I'm theorizing, but pretty sure that the likes of Bill Brown at UChicago or Henry Louis Gates Jr. at Harvard are not reading through applications. If you're lucky enough to have one of your POIs on the admissions committee and they see that you want to work with them, then they would probably vouch for your application if they like it, especially if they're trying to get tenure. This could be wrong, but I'm 82% sure it worked that way for husband's Harvard admission. That being said, do not put all your eggs in one basket. If you can only see yourself working with one professor, that will probably not go well for you for numerous reasons. 1) That professor may not receive tenure. 2) That professor may retire. 3) That professor may move to a different institution. 4) That professor may have a working style or method that conflicts with yours. 5) Your interests may change. Not to mention they may not be on the admissions committee in the first place or the school may be looking for students in a particular period/field, etc. So, my advice is to identify at least two, ideally three professors who are not all assistant/associate and also not all heavy-hitters and who you could see yourself working with, then directly reference them in your SOP.

Your professors are being honest, which is good. The job market is that bad. So you have to acknowledge and confront that fact head-on. If you understand that and still want to spend the next 5+ years in an English PhD program, despite the low wages and minimal job opportunities, you are ultimately the only person who can decide what you want to do with your life. I don't recommend going into it if you aren't totally sure it is what you want. It's not a decision to be taken lightly. It's a massive undertaking for very possibly little gain in terms of career. If you would be happy outside of academia, I recommend exploring those options.

I think you should include it. Husband included his publication in our university's undergrad history journal and I'm sure that's not peer reviewed.

My husband (and I, but that's not really relevant) went to a public school. Don't let that affect your application process or limit you!

We are happy to share via PM.