icemanyeo

I submitted my Fall Term grades to Yale earlier in January but I'm not sure the committee got it since that was so late in the process. You can always try and submit through their document portal though!

If you're an international scholar, your best bet to calculate your federal taxes owed is through the IRS website. They have several publications for international scholars and students in the US. As for your state, I would check the publications of that particular state's tax rate for non-residents (which will most likely be your status in the state for the duration of your program unless you get permanent residency or citizenship). After subtracting those, you should have a pretty good idea of your net income. Non-residents do not pay FICA/Social Security taxes, so no need to include those (and make sure your university is not taking them out of your pay.) For tax filing purposes, I recommend TaxAct (service recommended by the IRS) or Sprintax. Do not use Turbotax if you're an international student as they only support resident tax forms -- you will be filing incorrectly if you use them. As for textbooks and other goods, you don't have to calculate the taxes yourself as you'll get them at checkout. If you want to know ahead of time, I would recommend just estimating the sales tax to be 10% as location can vary between 8.875% sales tax in NYC to no statewide sales tax in places like New Hampshire and Oregon. Some states also do not have personal income taxes if you earn under a certain amount of income (Texas, etc.) I'm not familiar with rent being taxed, I know rental income is taxed but not rent payments. However, some states (like Indiana) allow you to deduct a certain amount of taxes off of the rent payments you made in a year. Lastly, once you get your tax ID (SSN/ITIN), I would recommend you register for the IRS website to make sure your federal tax payments are processed correctly. Disclaimer: I'm not a certified tax advisor/preparer nor is this tax advice. Always consult a professional. (just based off of my knowledge working as a VITA tax volunteer in college).

And we can most likely expect these numbers to go down as more tenure-track positions are either converted to adjunct positions or the faculty line is completely cut (I wonder how many political science departments across the US have been shut down -- there were major news out of the Midwest last year on several universities eliminating departments).

Yikes...

Seems like based on Devaux's app, we can expect to hear back from Yale either in the last week of February or first week of March. Guess that means I can carry on normally until then.

I would definitely be interested in French programs if you have any recommendations! I've been looking at Sciences Po and Strasbourg but would welcome other options.

牛年快乐 ? Happy Lunar New Year everyone! As the Ox symbolizes fortitude, I wish you good health, happiness, and strength of spirit as we come to the end of this cycle.

That's a great idea!

Hi all! We made it to the middle of another week (yay!). Congratulations to all those with new acceptances this week and good luck as you make it through classes, work and other commitments while you wait for decisions.

Exactly -- knew international faculty that had to leave the US after working at teaching colleges because they were on H1-B and not sponsored for an EB-1 or EB-2.

Btw congratulations on all those acceptances! Good luck wherever you end up ❤️

No worries! Scroll to the top to where you can see the title and it usually says "in x (x = political science for example)" next to the username of the original poster of the thread

I think you're in the wrong thread...this is Political Science not Linguistics haha

I definitely get how you feel. When I was looking for schools to apply, my advisors basically suggested two pools: ultra-competitive environments where you have at least a general fit and probably better chances of an R1 job; and a 2nd pool of more relaxed environments where you'll be competitive for teaching colleges but probably not R1. As an applicant, you can mix and match or go all in on one side or another, it's up to you. 5-7 years is a long time and you need to be happy/healthy both physically and mentally.

wait isn't HKS US-based? I meant the UK MPhil programs haha

Also UN internships are usually unpaid If you can afford it, I would recommend applying to DPSS this summer. It's much cheaper compared to previous years when it was residential, and there are some modest scholarships. They have R courses and you get a certificate and Chicago transcript at the end. I just finished my application just in case my last two choices reject me also.

As someone who just went through OPT, I will warn you right now: A lot of organizations don't actually know how to handle OPT/international students, especially when they're paying you. A lot of places use 1099s which are not usable for non-residents when paying taxes to IRS and can land you in legal trouble, few places provide W2s from my experience. I'd started job-searching in January 2020 and I still ended up having to leave the US in October after my 90 days were up because the job I was working at had to let me go since they couldn't use a 1099 to pay me.

Unfortunately I think those are like Peace Corps and basically only available to US citizens/permanent residents but that's great advice for folks based in the US!

if you don't mind sharing, which UK MPhils did you apply to this cycle?

OP, seems like you're in the wrong thread? (says you're mech engineering but this is political science)

Hi everyone, I noticed a few people had brought up interest in brainstorming backup plans for the current cycle, so I created this megathread so the information would not be lost in the main application thread. Good luck!

Just got Berkeley rejection through portal

I understand what you mean and I appreciate that perspective, but unfortunately, academia has changed since many of our advisors went on and got their PhDs. During my very short time in college, I got to see how contigent faculty can be treated -- as much as we love academia and so many in this career love teaching students, doing research, and the whole nine yards, you still need to put food on the table. The most disheartening thing I've ever witnessed, although from afar, was faculty on "revitalization" committees having to decide which of their peers' faculty line(s) to cut. Seeing the light go out from the eyes of faculty whom many have dedicated years of their life to a university/faculty once they learn their tenure line was cut is another world of hurt. I cannot imagine how painful that process was for them. I do not want to be a Debbie Downer but unfortunately, academia is extremely sucky beyond the PhD these days, and as eventual/current wage workers in this higher-ed business model, we have to survive, and being a good scholar or teacher =/ good pay or even job security.

Again, don't want to be the Debbie Downer here, but I remember you mentioning having several years of prior work experience and an MPP (?). If the market is even worse six years down the line than it is now, there's nothing wrong with doing ac-adjacent work while job searching in academia. Continue writing papers, attend policy-themed conferences, maintain professionalization in research while doing the PhD and you should be relatively safe afterwards. I can't speak to the income hit during your PhD though, that's a very personal decision.

Does weather factor into that? As a current fellow Caribbean resident, not sure I'm up for lake effect cold weather thanks to Lake Michigan ? all jokes haha