WanYesOnly

As an international applicant from a country just about to go through a spike in numbers due to the virus, a non-traditional, 3rd cycle applicant, and recently laid off, I'm really at my wits end about this whole situation. I really hope things work out by fall, otherwise I'm done for?

As an international applicant from a country just about to go through a spike in numbers due to the virus, a non-traditional, 3rd cycle applicant, and recently laid off, I'm really at my wits end about this whole situation. I really hope things work out by fall, otherwise I'm done for?

As an international applicant from a country just about to go through a spike in numbers due to the virus, a non-traditional, 3rd cycle applicant, and recently laid off, I'm really at my wits end about this whole situation. I really hope things work out by fall, otherwise I'm done for?

[insert obsessively thinking about the political climate and general state of the academy and the impact on climate change policy and basically the entire state of hte world for the next 5 years here]
?????

Same. Got laid off yesterday. I was trying to have some savings for moving with my spouse and starting grad school, but everything is so messed up. Strength to you during this time though. It's really hard to simultaneously be thankful for the good things happening when it's overshadowed by this international disaster and uncertainty for a future you began planning for. 
Can't speak from a place of expertise, but I imagine since the offers are already made to us, they will abide by it as best as they can. This is not to say we won't feel the effects, and funding for the things you listed are indeed important, but we are (*hopefully still*) among the luckier few whose funding packages for the next 5-6 years are still guaranteed. I am worried about the students entering in the upcoming years who will not only be dealing with job scarcity and insane competition for program admission (aka, the usual), but would probably have to worry about the scale and duration of funding. Will we see smaller cohorts with good funding? Or funding for less years? Will they shed parts of the funding package, like health insurance? 
Such an uncertain time. Crazy that this happened in a matter of weeks. 

I would be very surprised if schools just cancelled incoming classes, though none of this is exactly normal. My guess is that things will return to "normal" for the fall, perhaps starting a bit later or earlier to accommodate changes. Alternatively they might push for another semester of online classes. That said, I am trusting that authorities will get their shit together and shut everything down so we can wait this out and that that will allow for everything to get going during the summer. Anyone with any familiarity with politics, national or local, will know that that trust is probably really fucking stupid and naive.
Don't stress yourselves out just yet, basically.

I went to undergrad at a small school in PA and I got my MA also from Ohio. As an international student, I would say that my life in Ohio has been much easier because the flights out of Columbus are generally cheaper. State College has a very small airport so flights are also often more expensive. However, you can also easily take the bus to Philly or NY to fly out of the country. If you have any more questions, feel free to reach out to me. 
Also, the whole corona fiasco happened while I was on a plane to LA to visit UCI, and as soon as the wheels touched the ground, I got more than a dozen emails saying that every single visit has been cancelled, including UCI. However, UCI still go head with the event because 4 admitted students were already in the area. It was such a strange feeling to arrive to a deserted campus on a rainy day, with only robots running around, felt like I was in one of Philip K. Dick's novels. 
My own school in Ohio just told me that I should not return to campus. The funny thing is that because I have discussed with other schools about multiple visits, they have been more than generous to fly me to and from other schools. But as schools were cancelling one after another, I am now going to get stuck in LA for several days before I could board a flight back to Columbus.
I still have two months left of school but by now, I think I'm finished ???. 

Thank you so. much. for the info on Penn State, @WanYesOnly! I grew up in small-town Pennsylvania, so I'm not too turned off by State College location-wise (it's not necessarily ideal, but I can probably make it work),  and the rest of what you're saying sounds quite promising to me. (I'm currently leaning heavily toward Penn State for a variety of idiosyncratic reasons, and if my talks with faculty/students go well during the virtual campus visit, I think that'll be the thing that finally tips the scales in its favor.)
As for Ohio State: I did my MFA there as well, so I'm very familiar with Columbus, and it's a great city. I've been told it's not a "city" in most meaningful senses of the word by folks from NYC, Denver, Boston, etc.--rather, that it's a college campus they had to build a town around--but I respectfully disagree. Yes, it's a small city, but it has a lot of cool and distinct neighborhoods, great food, great indie bookstores (a great literary community in general, really)--you'll never want for anything to do outside of class. Rents are climbing and areas are gentrifying, but the overall cost of living is still reasonably low. That said, public transportation is...dodgy; there's a city-wide bus system, but it doesn't hit every part of the city (and there are some problematic attitudes re: race and class that seem to inform which places get bus service and which ones don't). Most parts of Columbus are bikeable, a decent number are walkable, but a lot of people (too many people, really, for a city of its size) have cars and do a lot of driving. I had a car when I lived in Columbus, but I hated having to drive anywhere from Old North (a bit north of campus) to German Village (a fair deal south of campus)--so, basically the entire "city" proper--because there were just too many people on the road.
The university itself has a lot of fantastic resources--a top-notch library, extensive collections and archives on just about everything under the sun--and the English faculty and grad students are smart, passionate, and refreshingly down-to-earth and unpretentious (as a whole). Interdisciplinary study is very much encouraged, so you'd definitely have a chance to broaden your research horizons. Ohio as a state is becoming more and more conservative, though--and Columbus as a city is not without its issues, particularly regarding policing, though overall I'd call it a pretty liberal place--so while the university is absolutely a crown jewel of the state and very well-funded, it's important to note that the political winds are trending in a more, uh, rightwardly direction, if that's something that would factor into your decision.
Hope this helps--feel free to shoot me a PM with any other questions!

We have universal health care in my country (not talking about South Korea btw) and I've just never understood why the US doesn't. In any case, even with universal health care, we have a poor health sector and although the virus hasn't reached my country, we all know we would crumble if it did. Personally, this virus has exposed how vulnerable health systems are all over the world not to mention the vaccine won't be free if/when it's completed. I just don't know, there's loads to worry about and just when I finally got in somewhere and thought my anxiety would reduce. Anyway, good luck to those still waiting to hear from somewhere, I do hope you get in

being married to a prince helped

me currently

Just realising how seriously unbelievable all this is. I'm an international student and literally just landed back in my country just before the madness of cancellations began. I'm so thankful I got to visit my schools but I'm also wondering, does anyone else wonder if the US and the world will have a handle on the coronavirus by Aug/Sept in time for fall semester or will the world plunge into chaos and we will forever remain the cohort that didn't make it to matriculation?

I spend all my spare time lurking these sites for an update. When I wake up in the morning and check my email, my heart nearly stops as I wait for my new emails to load. I can't do this for another month?

It will be alright. 
No one can tell you whether you’ll get a TT position no matter where you go for your PhD. No one can tell you whether attending any program will be ‘worth it.’ 
But we can all tell you that if you’re here, you’re smart, you’re talented, you’re a great student, and no matter what you choose to do or what happens, it will definitely be alright. 

I say write them a nice email thanking them for considering you and explain that you've already made a decision and won't be moving forward with the interview. It'll give them a chance to interview someone else who might've gotten a no, or been waitlisted. Congratulations and good luck!

The PhD will end at some point soon, however, your partner will always be there...if you're meant to be together. I say complete your PhD and then go back to your country. It's tough now to transition from being together to being alone in the US, but remember, it will come to an end, no situation is permanent. Also, in my thinking, if your situation was reversed and you were done with your post-doc, would you be okay with letting your SO quit their PhD program just because you finished yours ahead and want to move back home? Don't quit, you just have to work harder at your relationship in the time you'll be apart. 

The PhD will end at some point soon, however, your partner will always be there...if you're meant to be together. I say complete your PhD and then go back to your country. It's tough now to transition from being together to being alone in the US, but remember, it will come to an end, no situation is permanent. Also, in my thinking, if your situation was reversed and you were done with your post-doc, would you be okay with letting your SO quit their PhD program just because you finished yours ahead and want to move back home? Don't quit, you just have to work harder at your relationship in the time you'll be apart. 

The PhD will end at some point soon, however, your partner will always be there...if you're meant to be together. I say complete your PhD and then go back to your country. It's tough now to transition from being together to being alone in the US, but remember, it will come to an end, no situation is permanent. Also, in my thinking, if your situation was reversed and you were done with your post-doc, would you be okay with letting your SO quit their PhD program just because you finished yours ahead and want to move back home? Don't quit, you just have to work harder at your relationship in the time you'll be apart. 

Just wanted to say congratulations to everyone on here. But I'm going to leave the forum because it's creating a lot of negativity in my life that I can't deal with currently. My country has been in absolute chaos for the past 3 months and much of our income has been cut in half when we were already struggling, I'm also still mourning the recent death of a family member, and a break-up after my first long-term relationship while attempting to convince myself to write the 75% of the thesis I have left towrite and defend before April. And I can't go through all of that while simultaneously putting myself down for not getting into one of the tougher schools I applied to. This isn't to say that it's anyone's fault or anything cause everyone here has been great and supportive, and it's been relieving going through the process with people who can relate. However, I have a tendency to compare myself a lot to people and put myself down. I decided to pursue a PhD September of 2019 which was pretty late for me, but this wasn't anything I was ever encouraged to do or got any support from my family after deciding to leave. And I was convinced I wouldn't get accepted anywhere. I didn't care about which school I got into as long as I had the chance to continue my studies and research. But being on here has changed that. It's made me feel like the emotional, cultural, and financial struggles I'll have to face by moving to the States by myself won't be worth it unless I get into a top 10 or 20 school cause then the chances of employment decrease as well. And these rejections are increasingly affecting the view I have of myself and my self-worth. Especially when so many of us share which universities we've applied/gotten accepted/ rejected from in our signatures. It's supposed to bring us together, but it just made me feel like I was losing a competition I didn't sign up for. I know this is a hard process and that hundreds apply, but I can't keep comparing myself to everyone getting into top 3 schools. Especially since when I get pulled out of my head and into real life I realize how fortunate I am compared to everyone else in my country. And I am well aware that everyone has their own problems, and everyone's problems are worth being sad and hurt about. But I can't pretend like it doesn't bother me that some people have to worry about booking flights when I haven't been able to afford my antidepressants for a month. And I'm not saying anyone's problems are any less important than others', just that I'm not in a good enough head space that I can stay in the community. And again, this is a problem that I have to deal with and has nothing to do with the forum or anyone on here. 
I still wish everyone the best of luck throughout this process, and whether you're facing a shutout or anxious over the choices you have to make, just try to keep yourselves healthy.
It's been a great trip!
 
P.S. Also having to wait hours and sometimes entire days for my posts to actually get posted has made me feel really left out. Not sure why this was happening to me, but this specific post I published at 9 pm GMT. Let's see how long it takes. Maybe the only thing GC needs to work on. 
And for anyone questioning how I applied to so many universities while going through a financial crisis: I was offered fee waivers.

Whew! Cornell rejection ends my run this cycle. At least I already got accepted at a great school so this softens the blow. Good luck everyone still waiting to get in somewhere, you just need one and I'll be rooting for you all  

Whew! Cornell rejection ends my run this cycle. At least I already got accepted at a great school so this softens the blow. Good luck everyone still waiting to get in somewhere, you just need one and I'll be rooting for you all  

Whew! Cornell rejection ends my run this cycle. At least I already got accepted at a great school so this softens the blow. Good luck everyone still waiting to get in somewhere, you just need one and I'll be rooting for you all  

Whew! Cornell rejection ends my run this cycle. At least I already got accepted at a great school so this softens the blow. Good luck everyone still waiting to get in somewhere, you just need one and I'll be rooting for you all  

Whew! Cornell rejection ends my run this cycle. At least I already got accepted at a great school so this softens the blow. Good luck everyone still waiting to get in somewhere, you just need one and I'll be rooting for you all  

Just got into CUNY by email from a POI. I got my master’s there and it’s one of my top choices, I am really freaking out right now and in disbelief. This process messes with people so hard, I’ve never doubted myself more and I can’t stand that I’m a “just wait, it can happen to you!” person on the forum right now!!!!!! Fingers crossed for everyone, getting to the point of applying for a PhD means you deserve this feeling.