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scytoo

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  1. Congrats to all who've received an offer! Looking forward to meeting some of you in October ?
  2. Ah right, sorry I didn’t go back and check, I just assumed they were right when they said internationals had heard back in late Jan. Either way, my point is that the rejections sent in late Jan weren’t for international applicants, they were for US finalists. Internationals have been notified if they are finalists but rejections for non-finalists haven’t gone out yet and unsuccessful finalists won’t hear until very late March or early April. I know for certain that no rejection emails have gone out for internationals yet.
  3. Are you talking about this forum, or are they people you know? US applicants who got to the finalist stage but weren't ultimately offered a scholarship got their rejection emails in late January. International applicants were notified of finalist status also in late January. So they're two separate groups at different stages of the application. AFAIK internationals have not yet received any rejection emails from Gates, but will soonish (for those not selected as finalists). Then those who have heard they are finalists will get the final acceptance/rejection in March or April.
  4. I think you've gotten that a bit mixed up. There are generally ~80 scholarships each year, of which ~20 are from the US and the remaining 60 are international. It's not 60 scholarships all up.
  5. I think we will still have some restrictions on gathering numbers, maybe wearing masks on public transport, but I'm pretty optimistic that we'll be back to some form of in-person teaching. They're on track to vaccinate all over-50's (with their first dose) by the end of May, and that covers the vast majority of people who are admitted to hospital with COVID, so I think risk will drop dramatically from there. I think all people at high risk should have both doses by October, plus a fair few of other groups.
  6. Sure, probably. It's actually pretty rare that a supervisor is going to hand you opportunities on a plate. If you want to e.g. go to a conference or set up a collaboration, that's definitively up to you. It's your PhD, it's your thesis, it's your career. The PI is just there to provide you with mentorship, but even then you should be working mostly independently towards the last year. So yes, Gates would more than make up for a supervisor who's busier and doesn't hold your hand because it's more opportunities to do that independent networking than any supervisor could ever offer. But the benefits obviously vary by field because of it. If your field doesn't value networking outside of your field then Gates isn't the scholarship for you, you'd want something purely academic instead.
  7. It depends. The Trust is just a collection of scholarships, and like I said, nearly every single one is separately administered. Some require that you have submitted an external application to a certain non-Cambridge foundation, others will require you to answer their particular prompt in the Trust box in your application, and usually the college scholarships require you to put that college as your first choice to be considered. That's why college choice is important, as some colleges offer more scholarships than others. Just ticking the box for the Trust makes you eligible for some scholarships but it's far from a majority, or even a significant minority. They're all just so specific to nationalities, subjects, colleges etc. Gates is the Cambridge version of Rhodes. Is there any difference between the Rhodes scholarship and some regular TA funding at a US institution? Of course. Rhodes (and Gates) isn't about the money, it's about the purpose and the network. When you're a Gates scholar you get access to all of the Gates alumni and all of their collective contacts across many fields and throughout many governments. Also the name recognition will help. People know what Gates/Rhodes represents, but they will have never heard of your other funding offer at another university and it'll be very unimpressive to them. That's why it's so rare to turn down the offer. Rhodes is announced far earlier so that's not a consideration, and what else is there that has that kind of name recognition or alumni network? If your only interest were the amount of money then you'd be applying to the wrong scholarship and unlikely to be awarded Gates (or Rhodes) for that reason: they try to weed those people out.
  8. You will get an email from the relevant body offering the scholarship, and then you should have a certain amount of time (it'll vary a lot) to respond to that offer. If you have one full scholarship then you cannot accept another without giving up the first. You can only receive enough money to cover your tuition and standard living costs, and anything above that amount will be distributed to other scholars. Once you are no longer eligible for more scholarships then you might be taken off the list or might not be. Again, these are all independent boards doing the assessment, and it can take some time to pass along the news that you're not a candidate unless someone passes it along directly. If the college offers you something then you would accept. And then if the Trust offered you something full-cost your only options are to decline or to accept and give up the college scholarship. That kind of switching and juggling is why scholarship offers are given out in drips until quite late in the year.
  9. You should assume that each of the scholarships listed on the Trust website are independent. The Trust collates them but may have no say in their selection, and that's especially true for awards that are explicitly non-centralised, e.g. anything from a college, department, or donation. Those all have their own selection process. There aren't any solid numbers on how many conditional offer holders get awarded funding. We know how many attending students have funding, and it's not all that high (self-funding is much higher than you might expect), as per the Funding website (https://www.postgraduate.study.cam.ac.uk/funding) : >In 2019, 81% of our new PhD students and 30% of our new Masters students were awarded funding (either full or partial) And if you follow to the PDF, then 73% of PhD applicants (? the language switch between students and applicants is confusing, and those mean two very different things) and 17% of Masters applicants were fully funded. If they're correct in talking about applicants then that's good. But if they're only talking about people who eventually got an unconditional offer or who attended then it leaves out a huge proportion who get a conditional offer but no funding. These people aren't funded but they obviously aren't self-funded either, so it's a glaring gap in the infographic. You should assume all funds are merit-based. There are a couple of need-based things if you're a refugee or come from a war zone, but assuming you're American, neither apply. All other need-based monetary awards are small, one-time bursaries (maybe £500) that individual colleges offer to students who are already on their course and face hardship, not applicants.
  10. In previous years the results would come out at slightly different times or different days for the separate panels. They are separate, after all. I don't know if it's the same this year without any interviews, but I imagine they've still done selections using the different areas/panels, so I wouldn't be too worried unless someone in your panel area has heard back already. And even then, the emails are not sent simultaneously. Different people will get it at slightly different times, even within the same panel. Will be on the same day though, unless an offer-holder ahead of you turns down the scholarship. 48 hours to accept is a tight turnaround, but it's still 48 hours. So I doubt they would send all rejections before that time is up as I'm sure someone will inevitably turn down the scholarship. So sit tight, basically.
  11. They tend to be pretty light on sending "received" emails. Last year I got one for my Gates recommendation, but that was from the GAO, not Gates itself. They don't send receipts and notifications of rejection come later. You can assume if you weren't invited for interview (and are in the US — obviously non-US hasn't sent invitations yet) then you're out of the running.
  12. I have TA'd for a class I was concurrently taking, although it wasn't for credit and I was a few years above the rest of the class so there wasn't any interaction between us outside of my TA work. It was really tough. As the TA you don't just have to understand the material as the term goes on, you need to understand it better than the best student in the class and about a week in advance of them because they'll be emailing you and asking for guidance on the assignments. Plus undergrads can make their classes their full-time job, while I had to juggle research and lesson planning alongside learning the content. My PI was the lecturer and gave me the green light to TA (even suggested it) because (a) I'd learn the content faster that way, and (b) as a graduate with a good few years on the rest of the class, I should be able to learn faster than them and to a deeper level. I managed okay and got very good student reviews, but I would never do it again and I would never recommend it to another person. The stress is insane.
  13. I've TA'd quite a few undergraduate courses at different levels, and what I've learned so far is: 1. The students who show up to extra sessions or are otherwise really engaged will fall into two groups: those who are dedicated but just aren't prepared for the content, and those who are acing it. The apathetic middle is really hard to engage. 2. It's easier to teach students who are struggling. Maybe this is a personal preference thing, but I'll take a business student struggling in calc over someone precocious any day. And if your students are way above the level expected for an undergrad or you're not completely familiar with the content, you end up in an arms race where you're trying to keep 10 steps ahead so you're still the expert in the equation. 3. Don't tutor/teach a subject you're not an expert in. Just don't do it. I made that mistake once and it was hell because while the students could dedicate hours every day to the subject, I had other things to do. I was learning the content while trying to mark assignments, and then fielding questions from those advanced students. Start by teaching intro stuff. 4. Decide early on how much time you'll dedicate to students. If you're going to have intensive one-on-one sessions with one student who's struggling then you do need to offer the same to every other student. If you're not willing/able to do it for everyone then don't do it. 5. Set clear expectations at the start, both for you and them. Tell them when their assignments are due, where, and what the late penalties are. But also tell them how long it'll take you to mark them, and how long you might take to respond to emails. If you need them to check their emails every day, tell them that. Everyone claims they want total freedom but what people really want are clear guidelines and rules. 6. Set professional boundaries and always be wary of students overstepping them, especially if you're a woman. Younger students in particular will see you as an authority figure and source of pastoral support not unlike their high school teachers. They might come to you with some very serious concerns, including abuse and suicidal thoughts. Think ahead for this kind of stuff -- know who you need to contact, what you need to do, and also what you should do to help the student. Read up about what language you should use to address student concerns without appearing to dismiss or ignore them. If you feel concerned or uncomfortable about a student for any reason, escalate it. You are not their therapist. 7. Avoid discussing your students online, or even in person, unless it's in the most vague terms humanly possible. A complaint about a student who's needy or who doesn't do the work could be identifiable to someone. Yes, it's your job and sometimes you'll get frustrated, but avoid gossiping about your students. Approach this like doctors do for their patients. 8. Remember that your students might have quite different goals, and don't assume you know what those are. Not everyone is aiming for graduate school or academia, not even the top students. Industry shouldn't be an alternative, it should be on equal footing as academia. 9. You will get tired. Starting to TA at the beginning of term is easy, but once it gets near the end you're going to be bogged down in your own work and with little energy left for neurotic undergrads and their final exams. So just be aware that any standards you set at the beginning (e.g. in providing extra tutoring sessions) will need to be upheld for the entire term, even when you have more important deadlines to worry about. 10. Take notes at the end of every session/tutorial for what worked and what didn't, plus any relevant notes about specific students (especially if you have to provide individual reports to them). You won't remember to do it tomorrow or next week. You won't remember to fix that example problem that didn't work out.
  14. It really depends... Remember that astronomy as a whole is the same as "astrophysics", which is just "the physics of things in space". You need a very strong physics background for an Astronomy PhD, and if you don't already have the equivalent of a physics major or close to it, you'll have to spend another couple of years catching up on that. I'm assuming you don't have extensive research experience in astronomy either, so you'd likely have to do a Masters first before applying to PhD programs. Astronomy is a hugely competitive field.
  15. I wrote up a blog post about my experiences a while back, hopefully the link is allowed here (I gain nothing from it, not even ad revenue): https://www.paytonelyce.com/blog/2019/4/17/a-guide-to-graduate-scholarships/#the-interview
  16. If you ticked yes for Gates then your department will consider putting you forwards for Gates, and if they do, then Gates will assess you. If you ticked no for the Trust, then you are effectively no longer in the running for most other scholarships though. Aside from Gates and a few scholarships within your first-choice college, nearly everything is administered by the Trust. The offer and the funding are separate. No one is going to have an unconditional offer before scholarships are awarded because one of your conditions is a financial one, which the scholarship can satisfy. If you have a conditional offer, you have a conditional offer. But getting funding is an entirely different round. If you don't get funding then your offer stays as it is, but you'll have to pay it out of your own pocket. They're not going to consider people for scholarships who wouldn't get an offer, so it's no advantage on your end to have a conditional.
  17. Decisions are rolling because the Cambridge Trust isn't one unified group - each scholarship decides in its own time, which means the timelines to hear back from other scholarships is meaningless, and it doesn't matter if awardees are being announced for a scholarship you didn't apply for. Most will be released before April is over, but depending on whether people turn them down, offers might reach through June-ish. Also don't really pay attention to the updated list of awarded scholarships on the Trust website. They update that in batches, so it can be lagging by weeks at a time. If you're awarded a scholarship, you'll be informed by email. Most won't send emails if you're rejected though.
  18. This is not normal for international students and you need to contact the Immigration team at your prospective university for their advice. It's recommended for UKVI that you submit your visa application as early as possible, which is 3 months before the start date. One month is not going to be long enough to get your CAS, get a confirmed offer, submit your visa application, attend a biometric appointment, and wait for the outcome of the visa assessment. There may be a week or more between each step. And even if you pay a lot of money for priority visa service, you should expect it to take 3 months. UKVI is notorious for being slow and making mistakes. It's likely you'll need some kind of special consideration by the university to get your CAS information before your final grades and thesis are done, otherwise you'll have to start later.
  19. I think it really depends on your grading scale - from what I remember Canada is pretty similar to Australia, in that 70% is not that bad of a grade, perhaps a solid B depending on where you are. Whether it'll hold you back depends on a lot of factors. Do you have to do classes during a PhD in Canada (or wherever you're applying to)? If so, having a poor theoretical background is a definite kiss of death because you won't be able to keep up. Are those poor grades in classes that are directly relevant to your area of research? If so, you might be good at the mechanical aspects of research but once you have to start designing your own projects from scratch and coming up with lines of enquiry, a bad background will stifle you. In those cases you'll want to go for a Masters first. But if your worst grades are in somewhat unrelated courses and you have a strong upwards trend, it might not hold you back too much. You won't get into the best programs and you might not get funding, but you could get admitted to some PhD program somewhere. It depends whether that's what you want to do, or if you'd rather put it off until after Masters when you're more competitive and prepared.
  20. Hey, I've done a few of these before and they really vary by PI! In some cases, the moment you connect the PI will start talking about their research projects, why they think it's interesting etc - basically trying to sell the PhD to you. For these ones, mine ended up going for over an hour even though we had agreed 15 minutes, so make sure you have a huge block of time around the interview. The main goal for you is to keep up with conversation, ask relevant questions about the research, and just build a good rapport. Other Skype talks can be more awkward, where the PI hasn't prepared anything and expects you to start the ball rolling after you connect. In that case you'll want to have a couple of open questions you can ask cold, and then ask more based on however they answer. You might also want to spend a bit of time talking about yourself (e.g. your experience, your goals). If they're not trying to sell their project/institution to you then they might be expecting you to sell your application to them instead. These will hit more on the 15-20min mark and it can be awkward even stretching it out that far. 15 minutes can be a very long time in this case. Aside from research/field-specific questions, I usually asked about (i) any available professional development opportunities, like workshops on how to apply for postdocs, and (ii) how their lab/group would fit my own style, where I prefer more independence and freedom than most, or if they tend to be more prescriptive in what students do. Remember that you're vetting them just as much as they're vetting you! My second question definitely had the chance to go "wrong", but if they couldn't accommodate my research style then I couldn't do a PhD under them.
  21. No, you won't get anyone from the Trust. Your interviewers will be mostly previous scholars. I was interviewed by two engineers and a chemist, and Luisa sent their names shortly before the interview.
  22. Hey all, I was successful in applying for Gates last year - PhD Astronomy, interviewed by Skype with the Physical Sciences panel If anyone has been invited to interview and wants some tips, PM me! [although obviously I can't give much advice for fields very different to my own, different panels and all]
  23. I'm pretty sure they see both. When you apply to Cambridge, the Gates statement is one section of the whole application form, so the entire committee at Cambridge sees all of it as does the Gates committee. Don't reuse things!
  24. Your hard stats matter a lot, way more than they ever did for undergraduate applications. Having a publication, research experience, good LORs, and okayish GRE scores will mean that you get accepted into plenty of pretty good programs, but when it comes to the absolute best, your GPA is just very low. These programs would only rarely accept a candidate below ~3.8, and you're not even borderline for that. Even your 3.55 at Berkeley is low when you're applying to do physics. Given that you have experience and personal connections at Berkeley, that was going to be the good program you'd get into if you were going to get into one. So yeah, it looks like your GPA has killed your apps. I hope you applied to some lower programs, and if you haven't, make sure you do that next year if you apply again. And look into grade replacement schemes too.
  25. Worries: My current list of programs is best described as "all reach", at least the ones I could see myself being happy at. There's a very real chance I won't get into any of them. I don't have the right kind of mathematical background, so I could tank in the interviews if they ask really technical questions. Excitement: I've been accepted to a couple of safeties, so I'm not totally dead in the water. And who knows, maybe I'll be accepted for my dream program! But I should keep that hope under wraps - I don't want to set myself up and then not be successful.
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