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I realize this link is for the Teacher's College, but I imagine the policies are the same. https://www.tc.columbia.edu/policylibrary/associate-provost-enrollment-services/animals-on-campus-including-service-and-assistance-animals/ Section III. Procedures for Assistance Animals in Campus Housing Owners planning to bring Assistance Animals to reside in campus housing are required to follow these steps: 1. Owners seeking permission to keep an Assistance Animal in college housing must first register with OASID and provide the appropriate documentation. 2. Documentation of the need for an Assistance Animal should follow OASID’s guidelines for documentation of disability as outlined on the OASID website. Documentation should be current -- dated within the last 6 months -- and should generally include the following information: a. Verification of the individual’s disability from a physician, psychiatrist, social worker, or other mental health professional, b. Description of how the animal serves as an accommodation for the verified disability, and c. Description of how the need for the animal relates to the individual’s ability to use and enjoy the living arrangements provided by the College. 3. Owners approved to house an Assistance Animal must meet with OASID to review requirements and responsibilities within one week of receiving approval. Owners are required to schedule this meeting. 4. Owners whose request for an Assistance Animal through this process is not granted may appeal that decision to the Section 504 Compliance Officer and will be provided with procedures to do so.

First off, congratulations on your admission! You totally won the waitlist game. Long distance high-5. I'll be coming out with my PhD when I'm either 39 or 40. 38 if I'm very, very lucky/speedy. This is clearly my second career. I agree with lemma - graduating at 30 is not "old." You can reasonably expect to live until you're 80. You spent the first 20 years of your life being a child with little-to-know ability to affect your life. So of the 60 remaining years, you're spending 10 getting a higher education. That sounds pretty good to me. So, you deal with it by living life. Your PhD is not your entire life - you also will have friends, families, relationships, goals, ambitions, and so forth that have NOTHING to do with your PhD. Your goal during your program (besides, you know, finishing) is to figure out what it takes to get a job. You have 5 years to do that. I think I could do pretty much anything if I put my mind to it for 5 years. Learn Chinese? Sure. Figure out a Senate run? No problem. Become a professional violinist? With enough dedication, sure. All you have to do is figure out how to get a job...and you'll be literally surrounded by people who have already been there, knows what it takes, and it is their job to help you achieve that goal. You got this! Use the resources you'll have at your university, make connections at other universities (especially in your home country, if that's where you want to end up), and - most importantly - remember to live your life. The race is long, and in the end, it's only with yourself.

I know your feels here. We're moving from Chicago to central Indiana. SO MUCH CORN. So much. Really, too much. And when they run out of corn....soybeans! But I digress. I haven't moved yet, but I realize full well that I'm going into an environment where I don't have a social support system, and I think it's important to have a support system that doesn't depend on my department. So here's what I plan on doing: 1. I've made a list of the things I'm interested in, AND things I'm willing to do during graduate school. For example, I love gardening, and I'm queer. However, I'm in a heteronormative relationship, so it would be weird to get involved with the queer community...so gardening it is! 2. I'm looking at various community groups that meet that need. I may have to DIY it (there are gardening groups for people who like pretty flowers, but none that I can find for urban food gardening). 3. I'm willing to take personal edification classes. Like, maybe I take a gardening class, or a ceramics class, something like that. Something that meshes with the PhD schedule but doesn't require homework. 4. Setting boundaries. I've worked at startups, and I know that companies will work you 80 hours a week if you let them. But if you have a reason to go home (like feeding the cat, or walking the dog), you have an excuse that people understand. So yeah, I totally support you getting a pet, although it's not a panacea for social isolation.

Do you have close family or friends in either area? Familial/social support can make a big difference in one's personal success too.

Personally, for me, I'd choose school 1. Here's my logic: 1. Since you're in a PhD program, you're not going to have a huge amount of time to travel anyway. So proximity to a big city is less of a factor than it would be if you were, say, a master's student. Plus, there are plenty of options to get to St Paul and to Chicago - just hop on a train or a bus, study for a few hours, and you have a weekend trip. 2. It sounds like you'll have more research options at U1. Your initial advisor may not be the person you "stick" with. So if there are lots of different projects you can get involved with, you have lots of different options. 3. Money isn't everything, but living on a TA's salary is hard enough without the area also being expensive. Have you visited both schools? I had a similar pro/con list, but visiting both schools really helped me realize which one I wanted to go to.

I find it surprising that all y'all are submitting. I had thought about it, but the theme isn't anywhere near my research, and I don't really have an advisor right now since I finished my MA and am waiting for my PhD. I figure that I'll just GO this year, if at all possible, and then work on a submission for next year.

I would suggest going into the archives of the results forums and see when they usually send out acceptances for the program you applied for. If they usually send it out in January, then yes, you probably got waitlist-upgraded. If they usually send out in late March, they probably are just slow. But even if you were waitlist upgraded, from what I've learned on this forum is that even if you were upgraded off a wait list, it doesn't matter. The program will likely still treat you respectfully, honor your research, etc. So I don't know that I'd let that stop me from going to the Welcome Weekend if you can, and going there if it's a good fit. You're also likely to meet a lot of other existing students, and you can probably find someone you can ask there. Congratulations on your admittance!

Seconded. When I did my master's thesis, my original idea was entirely new research on a population that people didn't even realize existed. However, it ended up being a proof of concept re-analysis of existing literature as applied to that community, along with a chapter on "future opportunities." Why? A few reasons. First off, the master's program (mine, and I imagine most others) is more about teaching you to understand research rather than create your own. So even though we had a "research methods" course, very little of that was about "The steps to follow to conduct research yourself," and none of it was pairing with a professor to learn through apprenticeship. Secondly, from the day that I submitted my thesis proposal to the day I submitted the thesis was 11 months. And there was a lot of time in there where I wasn't working on it. So, really, by the time I had an idea of what I wanted to do, had a population I could study, access-wise, and had something that could get approved by the IRB...I had 3 months to get the IRB approval, do all the interviews, write it up, and turn it in. So I made the executive decision to forgo that and to focus on that for a dissertation instead. So, it was totally annoying and frustrating for me, but if the goal is to finish the MA and go onto PhD, you gotta do what you gotta do. As a piece of advice, I found that whenever my advisor ripped me apart, I had to take 2-3 days away from the paper (and his feedback) to process and deal wtih it. Otherwise, my response would've been...unprofessional. :-) My Spouse has a negative opinion of the advisor as a result of hearing my vent, but I think it helped me work with it and be a better researcher/scholar. So, if you can, maybe set it aside and do something you love until Sunday before you go back to it?

Your school may have a standard signature they want you to use. Mine does. My signature is dictated by the style guide.

Hi John! There are several places on the forum that people wtih sub-3.0 GPAs go to. This isn't really the specific forum where you'll get the most traffic though. I might suggest: https://forum.thegradcafe.com/forum/4-applications/ You also might go to the program specific page for your program. What degree are you thinking? That can also help us see if you'd be better off in an in person program or online. In general, I think you'll find a lot of skepticism about online programs. But there are also graduate schools that are out there that don't require GREs. And don't forget, GREs can help show that you really do have academic aptitude, even if you have a low GPA, so it might be worthwhile to study up and take it, simply because then you can explain "I'm really a good student, but here's why my GPA is low, but check out my GRE!" in your application essay.

It's been a couple of months, and now I want to give back! I've found out some more details, so when a future student comes here and googles this, they'll pop this up. It's worth noting that I'm writing specifically as someone in the Comm school, so some items may vary if you're awarded the fellowship in a different program. Things I've learned: - It is, in fact, a big deal. The school really wants you, and this is their way of showing it. It's totally valid to call your Mom, Dad, Spouse, or Dog and brag. - There doesn't seem to be a common theme in the research for which it's awarded. I'm interested in online communication. One of my fellow Fellows (ha) is doing environmental communication. Still another is in Health Comm. I don't know what common factor unites us. If I had to guess, maybe well-articulated ideas of the research we want to pursue? The three Fellows I know have all been in the Corporate/NGO world for a while, so academia is a second career. But again, I have no idea. - The department nominates you; it's not something you apply for. So don't worry about trying to "get it," since it's out of your control. - The fellowship is considered a half-time appointment, which is the same as the other grad students get. So one fellowship = two teaching classes per semester. The fellowship is designed to give you the time to kickstart your research. - However, if you want to (or if you need the money), you CAN choose to teach a single class, which would bring you up to .75 time. This would also give you a pay raise, although I don't know by how much. You can also teach .75 time going forward if you want and get paid more in future semesters. - The first class most people teach is Comm 114, so one of the "Drawbacks" of the fellowship is that you don't teach it (typically), and so you lose out that shared boding experience with your cohort. However, you can still take the Comm 114 training class that takes place on Tuesdays that everyone else takes; just because you're not teaching doesn't mean you can't show up. - If you choose not to take that Comm 114 training class in the Fall, I gather that you *can't* choose to do .75 time teaching in the Spring, and the training class isn't offered then. - Finally, most importantly: If you want to start in the summer, you may be able to. The fellowship itself can be "moved up" to start in the summer semester. It's possible that that wouldn't be a good idea for you and your specific program goals, though, so ask your advisor. Questions I've answered: Q: Is there any tension/drama between people who have TAships, versus fellowships? Am I opening myself up to be, I dunno, ostracized? Answer: There doesn't seem to be. I talked with both another Ross fellow, and my "graduate student buddy," and they said there isn't any drama. I don't plan to advertise it, though, just in case. Q: Is it something that looks good on one's CV, or is it not "important" enough to go on there? The other Ross fellow who got the award last year puts it on their CV, but others do not. Q: Do most programs offer enough classes during the summer that there are 6 hours of summer courses available? Is there a reason *not* to take classes during the summer? I'd rather get done with coursework and go onto the dissertation sooner rather than later. A: Yes, at least at Purdue. My home department does not, but there are plenty of classes you can take in other departments that are even judged as "better" than classes in your home department. Talk to your advisor. If you have additional concerns, and I'm still active on this forum, send me a note. If I'm not active anymore, check out the Purdue Comm school directory; you can probably deduce who I am.

I have very mixed feelings about the MFOL. I'm a pro-gun person (I own several, I'm a member of a shooting club, I'm a concealed carry permit holder, etc.), but I'm also a scientist, and believe in using data to drive policy decisions, so the idea of passing laws to prevent study of gun violence is ridiculous. However, because I wouldn't support the vast majority of laws that MFOL would also probably support (ironically, they probably would support the laws that I would suggest), I didn't think I'd be able to participate genuinely. I'd rather save my introvert spoons for causes I can get behind whole-hog (give me an LGBT march any day).

What did you end up doing? As a note, it's probably against policy to require you to do anything you have to pay for. That's a work expense, and you should be reimbursed for it. So...don't let your university take advantage of you.

That's fair. I'll admit that I have no idea of the relative sizes of PDFs over time. Would switching be a big enough PITA that it's worthwhile to do something else from the get-go? I've heard that some advisors require their students to use a particular citation manager or another - have you ever heard of a department forcing a similar requirement on its staff?

Bumping this topic. I've asked my university, and the department doesn't have a particular citation manager they prefer. So that's the good news. I was using pure Evernote, but I'm not a huge an of having to go through and self-generate citations, then also worry about them getting f'd up due to formatting. I like Mendeley, but I don't like the idea of having to pay $165 a year to use it in the long run. I was going to point Mendeley to Google Drive and store PDFs that way, but I gather that if I do that, I won't be able to use Mendeley to notate things on my iPad, and the ability to take notes on my iPad is also a personal requirement. Do one of the other citation managers have all those features? Specifically: - Accuracy in citations - Storing PDFs - Highlighting/taking notes on those PDFs from an iPad - Either a reduced annual fee, or no annual fee

@GreenEyedTrombonist Badger badger badger badger badget badger badger MUSHROOM MUSHROOM (Hopefully I'm not reaching too far back into the history of the Internet on that one!)

@Adelaide9216 You're awesome because even though you're already attending a program, you still come onto the "application" side of things to talk to us and support us. Thank you for not forgetting where you came from.

I'll admit that I was surprised how many people cared. I expected about half a dozen people (family and very close friends) to have an active interest, but a surprising number of people wanted me to Facebook Live the reveal. I figure it was probably appealing to their inner voyeurism.

A couple of weeks ago, I alluded to making a "University reveal cake" to tell my friends and family which school I had chosen. Although I meant it as a joke, I decided to embrace my inner snark. If you also have an inner snark, I highly recommend... THE CAKE For decorations, I used a Lego Spartan (with a pile of people at the bottom of the "cliff") for MSU, and a Plastic Mold Steam Train for Purdue: And, as my signature shows, the winner was Purdue:

Great minds think alike! Let us know when BU gets back to you. Do you already have an MA? Or would your PhD include the MA work too?

@LauraVZ I don't know BU's department, but it does sound like it's a waitlist situation. If I were in your shoes, I would probably turn down Iowa, since you know you're not going there, so that other people can get off the wait list there. Then, when you know what's up with BU, you can accept BC or BU, depending on the offer. Maybe turning down the other schools and opening up waitlists will create some positive waitlist karma and get you off BU's waitlist. But that's just me. I'm not in your field, so it might be worth asking someone else around here *gesticulates wildly to the rest of the forum* to see if they have any thoughts.

You're welcome! You are valuable far beyond an application. In real life, I tend to be too negative...but I have my moments! I have found that moments like the ones that inspired this post are rooted in compassion and empathy. I guess this post symbolizes who I want to be, but not yet who I am. #StretchGoals

Man, this is an old post, and I imagine you've probably figured it out. But, just in case: What is it that you want to do exactly? Personally, I found that taking a few years off and being a not-in-school adult helped cement to me what I wanted to do, and what I wanted my life to look like. If I were in your shoes, I might try to stop with the master's now, and then figure stuff out. If you want to get a job, it'll be easier with a master's. If you want to keep going into a PhD or MD program, you'd probably get into a better one, easier, since you've shown aptitude. Finally, a PhD program would also be easier to get into.

You also might consider doing some practice runs to see how he is. If you can, take him to a shopping center or something in his carrier, or some other type of place with a lot of people. Your doctor may also be able to give him calming medicine (I give my cat tiny doses of Xanax!) to keep him calm and relaxed. Also, start feeding him exclusively in his carrier. I do that with mine, and they're considerably less stressed out when it's time to shut the carrier door than they were before I started doing that.

As near as I can tell, the process for bringing a cat into the US from Egypt is way easier than bringing a cat into the EU from the US. Here's a link: https://eg.usembassy.gov/u-s-citizen-services/local-resources-of-u-s-citizens/traveling-with-pets/ Basically, it sounds like you have to make sure your kitty is vaccinated and in good health, and get a document to that effect in English. Then talk to your airline about their rules and regulations. If possible, get an airline that will let your cat fly with you IN the airplane, rather than in luggage. In terms of flying from California to Boston, you just have to call the airline in advance and pay a fee (last time I checked, it was $75 USD). Again, you should be able to fly with your cat in the airplane. Give your kitty a pet for us. Or at least for those of us who have kitties too. :-)