JQRocks

Departmental tuition income will be cut. International MS students are a great component for tuition incomes for many departments, such as CS, ECE, ME, Statistic, etc. And these international students are paying out-of-state tuition, 3-5 times of in-state tuition. So department funding can be a problem, impacting PhD recruitment for sure.

Not sure about English/education programs. Also, did you got accepted into these programs already? In general, there are few reasons: 1: The program is committee-oriented. Suppose the first year of the program is designed to be lab-rotation. In that case, it's pretty certain that the admission is committee-orientation. PIs have a minimal role to play in admission. (Except for start-up PIs, they generally have green lights to recruit directly to their lab since they need students to do research right away.) PIs won't be willing to pick you up from the application pool either, since you might end up with another PI after the rotation. 2: Not active in recruiting, may be out of funding. 3: Not active in research and doesn't reply to research-related errand emails. Commonly seen among senior/full professors. 4: Not a really good match. But generally speaking, if they are eager to recruit, they will at least talk to your first before deciding if you are a good match or not. I would say a good follow-up period is 7-10 business days. That way, when they read your second email, they might still remember your first email, and realise that they forgot to reply the first one.

That sentence does sound very pissed and pretty harsh, at least to me. Anything starts with "In the future, please...." seems very pissed, in my eyes. Now for the TA assignment situation, they should consult your availability first. But they didn't, and if you can prove you are incapable (instead of unwilling) to do it, it's on them. Maybe you have class schedule conflict or official research-appointment time conflict. These reason can be strong argument. Try to emphasis on these reasons. If you don't have this kind of reason, try to arrange an cahoot with your advisor, saying you need to be assigned for research tasks during that time. However, "I cannot wake up that early" is not an acceptable reason in profession settings, especially if you are paid, and if the working time is within your school's business time. Also, don't say " Others have gotten better sections" or anything like this in your augment.

Dont know the answer to your question. But since when "30" is classified as "old"?! ??

Can't imagine the stress you have on your shoulders, sir. Even just reading the title of your post gives me anxiety.

I can totally relate to you. I applied to 10 schools for their Ph.D. in Neuroscience, and I am afraid that I will end this application with zero offers. I am an international student, but I have been in the US for seven years and obtained two masters (electrical engineering and biomedical engineering) from US schools. I have 2 first-author journal publications (one more submitted), 1 book chapter, 1 US patent, 5 conference posters/abstract, 20 months of full-time (40 hours/week) research experience. Taught 79 undergrad students for the lab session. Mentored six undergrad students, with five of them went into grad programs globally. I have 6 months of clinical study/data collection experience too. None of the above gets me an interview, at all. And this how I deal with it. Perhaps it can help you a little bit as well. First of all, don't jump to the conclusion that it has anything to do with your race, or nationality, or any other social/physical factors. Because you cannot change those facts. Believing that those social factors are the reason that got you rejected will only make you feel hopeless, angry, and give up self-improvement. Focus on things you can change: Learn how to better organize your application packages for workshops, select a better scholarship program that fits you (or you fit their vision), get involved in lab research and start publishing, etc. I am not selling you the "positivity" BS, but self-improvement is our only hope. Second, if you have tried really hard and give everything you got but still failed, it's ok. I am a big believer in "If you have to fail, fail early and fail hard." After the first three days of feeling pissed and personally offended for being rejected, I started to figure out a thing: If all 10 schools don't think I have what it takes to be a successful neuroscientist, then it is very likely they are right. They probably are doing me a favor, saving me from a bigger failure many years later. Failure is not the worst. Failing after 10 or 20 years is the worst. The world is just fine before I am here, and it will be fine after I am gone. I don't matter that much to the world. The only thing that matters to me is being happy and making people around me happy. Good luck, my friend. Maybe good luck is the only thing you don't have yet.

Apparently, I am a bit late for this post, LOL. But for future reference: The 3rd one. Providing full name is essential and critical, at least to me, for your reference to be traceable. Although those Drs./Profs. might not be your recommendation letter providers, as long as you list their name, your readers should be able to verify that at least these ppl exist. Not need to provide the full name over and over again. Only the first time.