fuzzylogician

At least in my part of linguistics you list such an award under a dedicated section of the CV (FWIW mine is titled 'grants, fellowships, and awards'). I wouldn't separate the awards by school and instead list the chronologically, like you would publications, presentations, etc. It's definitely worth putting out your CV, congrats!

I assume that the rent includes utilities and heating, since it's on-campus housing and quite expensive. If not, it's ridiculously overpriced. Yes, OP, if there is any way to get out of that contract and find an off-campus place (with roommates, of course!), it's almost guaranteed to be cheaper. I'm not sure how easy it would be for an international student to get loans but I think it's not straightforward and anyway it's best to avoid going into debt if you can help it.

I agree with others in this thread that it's better to graduate with an MA than leave in the middle. Even if your interests have changed, at this point it'll help you much more to finish the MA and then apply for a PhD with a different concentration than try and explain why you quit your MA. Quitting would be a red flag to many professors--students' interests often change during the course of their studies, and quitting means you aren't flexible enough to adjust to the new situation, making it likelier that you'll quit your PhD program too, or that you'll become uninterested in it and won't be able to deal with that. At this point it's too late to apply for programs starting this Fall anyway, so I think the logical thing to do is stay in your current program this year and finish it, and at the same time apply for a PhD at a different school for Fall 2015. That way, you don't lose any time at all. Having a MA with a different concentration than what you hope to do for your PhD should not be a problem at all, as long as you are able to explain your shift of interests in your SOP.

This is highly field-dependent. In my field, most students graduate with 0-1 publications in peer-reviewed journals, and a few conference proceedings papers. Things just take longer than in some of the natural science fields. The goal is usually to have publications out of one's dissertation (but those only come out after the dissertation is done and defended, not as a precondition to graduating). That said, comparing yourself to others is dangerous and usually highly counter-productive. I know it's tempting, but it's an activity you just can't win at. There is always (and I do mean ALWAYS) someone faster than you, better than you, with more publications than you, who presents are more conferences than you, gets a better job than you, has better teaching evaluations than you, seems to have all of the above, etc. This never ends. I've learned to stop comparing myself to others except to make sure that I am doing roughly what I am supposed to be doing at this stage in my career, which btw involves looking not only at the fastest rising superstar in my field but at more "average" people who are doing well. I try and consult with my mentors on a regular basis, and if I think there is something that I should be doing that I'm not, I just ask about it. I am the one person who cares about my own self-interests more than anyone else in my life, however well-meaning they may be. So if there is something I think is wrong or missing, I ask about it and try and fix the problem. So, OP, have you tried to bring this up with your advisor? Are there things that could be ready for submission soon? Often, your advisor will be busy and juggling lots of balls in the air. If something is going to happen, it's up to the student to be the main person responsible for pushing things along. Is there any project that you can take the initiative on and try to get into a publishable mode? Coordinate with your advisor before taking too many steps, but I think it's totally fair to say you think project X is advanced enough (or soon will be) to get a paper out of it, and come up with a plan for writing that paper or doing whatever remaining experiments need to happen first. To repeat my point one last time, things will happen faster--and more of them will happen--if you take the initiative and push things along. Getting a publication is a slow process and you will need to stay determined and be the one who is on top of things. If you do that, you'll get more out of your education than if you wait for your advisor to come to you and suggest you write a paper together.

If you're paid 17K annually then you are paid roughly $1400/month, before taxes. It doesn't matter if the payments are divided over 9 or 12 months, that's still the amount you have to spend per month. The apartment you have sounds very expensive, more than you can afford on your stipend. Now, if you'll have an extra 4K for the first year, that's a stipend of around $1750/month (before taxes!), which you should be able to make work. However, it'll be a very tight budget, and you should remember to take taxes into account. I assume that your health insurance is covered, but if not, this will put you back in the impossible range. If you do take this offer, I think several things need to happen. First, get a roommate for this year. Saving $100-200 a month on rent will be very important for your budget for this year. If you can get cheaper housing for this year, that would be even better. Ask about it, just to make sure. For the following year, you will absolutely have to find a cheaper place to live. I'd suggest looking for off-campus options. Once you're there it'll be easier to search. If you look for a place with roommates and aren't too picky, my guess is that if you look hard enough you could find rooms for maybe even half of what you're paying now, or at least two thirds that amount. That will make a big difference in your budget, which is very tight. As for your second question, this varies by school. Usually, stipends are paid as a direct deposit; fellowships are paid at the beginning of the month and salary might be paid at the end of the month or every two weeks. You need to ask your school how they do it.

I arrived in the US about a week before classes started. Moved to my new apartment, bought furniture, supplies, groceries, etc. Took care of electricity, gas, internet, phone, etc., went to our department's one-day orientation, then didn't see anyone again for a few days, until registration day, which is the day before classes begin. I met my advisor for the first time, signed up for classes, and started attending them the next day. That's how this happened for everyone in my program. Some programs just start the bureaucracy earlier than others. You can contact the grad secretary to ask, just to make sure no email has gone missing or anything, but if this is the kind of timeline your program keeps, I wouldn't worry about it at all. You'll figure things out in time, just like everybody else.

Same. Don't worry -- you're already ahead of the students in the class and you'll do just fine.

No errors. Professors don't make that much.

I have to agree with the comments above. I think you are expecting something from your advisor that he is not able to give you. You want him to hold your hand and make the decisions for you, and he is telling you that you need to make your own decisions. It's an unfortunate personality mismatch--it's legitimate to want this, but it just looks like your advisor has a different mentoring style. I think PsychGirl gave you very good advice. You need to make your own plans--basically decide when you want to go and for how long, and inform your advisor that this is what you're doing. Come with a plan for doing the things that you think need to be done for your thesis and an opinion about why anything else he wants doesn't actually make sense. Get his basic agreement to this plan, but don't feel like you're now too committed. After you've been gone for a bit and cleared your head, you can reassess your situation. It seems to me that in fact a lot of writing and preparation for the final stage of actually testing your trees can be done from afar, and that's something you could consider. It's easier to make that decision when you're already away. But in any event, the first step is to make a concrete plan for leaving soon, and telling your advisor that's what you're doing. Once again, asking for his permission or his help doesn't seem to get you anywhere, so you need to make the decision!

The good news is you don't need to decide now, since it sounds like you're doing the fulbright anyway. Explore the relationship and let it develop over the next year, and you can see where you stand at the end of it. You'll be mostly over the honeymoon phase by then and you'll know your partner much better, so you'll have a better chance of making an informed decision. If you do decide this relationship is something you want to keep, there are different ways to make it work that don't necessarily have to involve you giving up your grad school commitment. People find different ways of making it work, and this should be something you discuss together with your partner since both of you will be making the commitment. Even if it's you who is giving up grad school, it will have implications for him if nothing else then in terms of how committed you are and what you've sacrificed to be with him. That's a responsibility that some people find difficult to take on; I personally don't know how I'd feel about someone giving up grad school to be with me if it was a good relationship but still fairly new. It puts a lot of burden and expectations on the relationship. I'd say, right now it's better to wait and see what the circumstances are like next year, and take it from there.

Alright, so if it's up to you, why don't you do what you want? Make a plan to leave now, and simply tell your advisor that that's what you need to do. I don't buy the 'heavy work' story, since all you're doing at the moment is watering your trees twice a week and waiting for time to pass. So, make arrangements to have the trees watered by the university, and leave! Have your break, then decide what you want to do with your degree.

In my opinion, the (by far!) most important factor in choosing an advisor is personal fit. The person you choose will have a lot of influence over your life for the next 5+ years, in probably more ways than you can imagine now. This needs to be someone who you get along with, and whose personal style fits with yours. This is something that can best be surmised from a one-on-one meeting with this person: do you 'click'? Can you carry a simple conversation? Beyond that, is their advising style compatible with yours - do you want someone who is hands-on or hands off? Someone who lets you have a say in developing a project, participating in grant writing, etc., or assigns you to something they obtained themselves? Do they co-author with students? Do they want to read drafts of your ongoing work, or get full, polished drafts? How much notice do they need to schedule a meeting or read your draft? Do they want to meet on a regular basis or only when there is a specific need? These are personal preferences on both your sides but it's good to get on the same page early, to avoid disappointment down the line. Relatedly, how large is their group? Do older students mentor younger ones? How well do recent alums do on the job market? The prof's reputation will be a major factor in your success in obtaining your first job. Now, as a secondary (but still important) consideration, how closely do your interests match? If they match closely, you are good to go. But if not, this doesn't necessarily mean the person is not a good choice. I think a personal fit is MUCH more important than a close interest fit, as long as the person is willing to support you in your choices. They should be an expert on some relevant aspect of your work, but I'd much rather work more closely with someone who is less of an immediate expert in what I do but is a supportive person who reads what I write, asks smart questions, and gets along with me, than an expert who is makes me miserable all the time. A great way to get a sense for someone's advising style is to have them read something of yours, for example your writing sample that you used for applications, before you meet. This will help you get a sense for whether they seriously invest time in their students' work, what kind of comments they give, what they have to say about next steps. Alternatively, you could talk about a new proposed project you have in mind, if there is such a project.

I wouldn't worry about not finding online reviews since most people don't bother reviewing apartments/landlords, but I would advise against signing a lease without either viewing the apartment yourself or at least having someone you trust go there to make sure it's legit and send you some pictures.

This has changed for me over the years. This coming year will be my 7th year abroad. I've been able to visit home every summer until this year, when the crunch of finishing my dissertation and starting a new job won't leave me any time for travel. Other summers, I've always been able to take time off. Since home is about 5000 miles away and expensive to get to, a home visit is always 2-3 weeks long. I love my family and enjoy being home, but it's strange to live in my old room again. I also never get any work done while I'm home, so it's a balance between visiting old friends and family, especially the older generation that can't come visit me, and keeping my normal life on track. My close family have been very generous and have come to visit me instead, when I can't go home. Sometimes they come to the city I live in, and other times my SO and I will travel with them to some place we've all never been to. I know travel is hard on them so this is something I really appreciate. To answer your other question, at this point 'home' for me is the people and the scenery, but it's a place I haven't lived in for a long time now so 'home sick' means 'people sick' more than anything, and skype is great for that. I've also found that having a picture of scenery from home as my desktop picture really helps. I get to 'see' home many times a day this way. I occasionally browse old pictures of family, pets, and trips, when I feel lonely. All of this is a form of cheating, but it works for me.

Gnome asked to have his account deactivated. He was not banned.

This. I agree with it all. Your advisor is being completely unreasonable. We're talking about watering trees twice a week, for goodness sake. For that you are being asked to sacrifice your mental health? No one else can do it? I just do not believe that 's true. There HAS to be someone who is able to take over this task for two weeks, even longer. If not, someone had better be trained. I find it hard to believe that it's that difficult to find someone who is qualified to water your trees or who could be trained to do so. You NEED to take a break, it's important for your mental health, and you should treat it as the priority that it is. Is there someone at your university who you could turn to for support in negotiating with your advisor? There must be some support group or health services provided by your university. It sounds like it'd help a lot if you had some external validation of your position and help in confronting your advisor and negotiating something you can live with that doesn't require not taking a break until November.

I don't think they actually sent your scores out to UChicago. Likelier they just shared your information and email address with them, and they are targeting you now with their ads, hoping you'll enroll in an unfunded program and pay them lots of money. Maybe ETS will only send out info for people who meet a certain cutoff but I'd be willing to bet it's not a very high cutoff. UChicago has nothing to lose if you apply to any program there. You pay an application fee, and if your credentials don't match the program requirements, they'll simply reject you.

Congratulations, and thank you for coming back to let us know! It's always great to hear when there's a happy ending.

Oh, this explains a lot, and all I can say is gosh that must suck! There is some of that in linguistics if you don't have accessible speakers for a language you are working on and have to go to the field, which is expensive and time consuming and just generally not easy to do -- but in those cases (at least in my program) faculty make sure that the student has other projects that they can work on in the meanwhile so they're never just sitting there waiting for a whole semester. You program honestly just sounds like a bad place to be--this must be a known issue that is just part of how research is done in your field and it should be your advisor's and program's responsibility to prevent precisely what is happening now. It really shouldn't happen that a student is stuck for so long, as part of an MS. I am now upset for you for attending a program that can't take care of its students and has therefore made you not like a field that you might have otherwise enjoyed! That said, the way I am reading your latest post, it seems to me that you should not continue with the degree in its current form. I have two thoughts. First, if you don't think the degree will be useful for your career, at least not in the foreseeable future, then don't do it if it's making you miserable. You could always go back to school and study a degree in something more relevant a few years from now, once you have a better idea of what it is that you want to do exactly and what degree you need to get you there. The degree should be a means to an end, not a goal in and of itself. I understand that it feels bad to walk away from the degree and you worry about what people will think, but it's your life and you shouldn't suffer just to make your parents happy. Also, this has not been a complete waste of time, though I'm not going to sit here and argue that it was the most useful thing you could have done, either. It looks like you learned things about yourself, and you are able to articulate fairly well what your next career move should be. Knowing what you want to do with your life is a hard thing to do. You also learned what you don't like--e.g., academia, or at least this subfield that you're studying now--and that, too, is useful information. So don't let anybody tell you that you were just wasting time. Now, on the more practical side, if you can get yourself in the mindset where you are able and willing to just walk away from this all, I wonder if there is a way to negotiate things so you can finish the degree on your terms. You said your advisor prefers it if you don't write the thesis in absentia. So what. Is it possible to do that, technically? Do you think you are able to walk into a meeting and say that you have decided you can't stay in town, and are willing to quit the degree if necessary, but is there some way to make it work where you'll be around just for the time when it's actually required and otherwise you'll communicate via email/skype? It really doesn't sound like you have to be there for any reason other than your advisor prefers it. So, if he helps you make it work, you get the degree with minimal time there, and otherwise you cut your losses and leave this unsupportive environment before it drags you down any further. If you are able to get into this mindset, I think you can think of this discussion as 'win-win'.

There is one thing I am confused about after reading this -- why does it need to take you a whole extra year to finish, when you've already been working on your thesis for a year? Why is it that you spent most of spring 2014 doing nothing, as you say? Have you had a meeting with your advisor where you very clearly define what needs to happen for you to have a defensible thesis? It seems to me that even though you've been working on something for a while, it's still not clear to anyone exactly what the scope of the project is and you don't have a timeline for completion. You seem resigned to this taking an extra year (in case you stay), but you have the entire summer ahead of you, plus the fall semester. That should really be enough. At this point my feeling is it's really too bad to walk away from two years of work without the degree, but from what you write I worry that you don't have well defined goals and that this is just going to be a mess. I think the best thing you can do to salvage the degree for yourself, since you've invested so much and have come so close, and the degree with be yours and not your family's, is to have a very serious conversation with your advisor where you very frankly say you want to be done by the spring. Ask for an agreed upon set of goals for a thesis, and work out a timeline for completion. If your advisor is unwilling or you don't see the point anymore, then I say don't stay there and let the disorganization take over your life. Either way, I think it's important for you to take action, very purposefully, to change the situation. I think that being proactive can be a good way to get back on your feet, whatever you choose to do. Don't let things just happen to you!

I meant university-wide awards such as a Mellon postdoctoral fellowship or a Young Scholar award (those things have different names and different official status at different schools, but you get the idea). The kind that you compete with everyone (or everyone in the Humanities/Social Sciences/STEM/etc) to get. For those ones, you usually propose a project and write research statements like you do for tt-jobs. This contrasts with "normal" postdocs where you apply to work with a PI, usually on a grant that they have, and they don't make you jump through as many hoops. I applied to about 30 different jobs and postdocs this year, and only one wanted to see a transcript, so that was unusual. I think this hold true for jobs in the US in general (with the usual caveats, what do I know..). Things might be different in Europe or East Asia, but I don't have any first hand experience with that.

I have a NSF DDIG and I was not required to submit a transcript with my application. I am pretty sure my LORs said good things about my research abilities, and I don't think they mentioned my grades at all. In fact, having been on the job market this year, only one application (for a competitive fellowship, not a tt-job) asked for a transcript. No one else seemed to care about my grades. (I have no experience with having to pay for classes but here again I would think that your department might be willing to help if they knew why you got that F. You are the best judge of whether or not it'd be a good idea to share the details of your situation with someone, though.)

1. At least some grants (I want to say most, but it might depend on the field) and pretty much all jobs will not even want to see your transcript. Some competitive fellowships might. An F won't exactly help, but it's probably not going to immediately disqualify you, if the rest of your application looks good. It's going to be important to have strong letters of recommendation that will attest to your abilities and ease any doubt anyone might have. 2. Getting into a program after dropping out of another graduate program is difficult. You will definitely have to address the fact that you dropped out and explain what happened. You could say it was a health issue (I wouldn't give too many details) but the important thing schools will worry about is whether the problem, whatever it was, has been taken care of and is under control. Schools invest a lot of resources in their students and there is always a worry when you admit someone with a track record of failing that they'll just do it again. You'll need to address that head on and assure them that's not the case. Here, again, it will be extremely helpful if you could get letters of recommendation from your current institution. If you can show that your professors still support you in spite of having dropped out, that will go a long way. 3. There are more immediate consequences to worry about. If your GPA drops below a certain average you may be put on probation or lose your funding. You should look into that and make sure you are not in any trouble. More generally, it'd be good if there was someone you trust in your program who you could confide this health issue to, who would be willing and able to assist you if you ever find yourself in this situation again. Specifically, someone who can follow up with you to make sure you are doing alright, and who can take the initiative to take care of paperwork for you to get extensions or any other help you need so you don't end up with an F again. I'm sure your school has procedures in place to help students with anxiety issues.

Congrats!! I am very happy to read this!

This probably depends on the program. I'd say follow the advice you've been given by your professors, at least until you've started the program and gotten a sense of how much research you can integrate with your coursework. It's not uncommon for programs to have students put emphasis on their coursework in their first year, with a research focus only starting in the second year (while in other programs you start research immediately, but that doesn't sound like how your program is set up). My guess is that a reasonable time course would be: arrive, start first semester courses, start getting to know professors whose research you are interested in, attend reading groups or other research-related activities in your program, get settled in. After you've gotten a sense of how to deal with classes, probably after the fall semester (and possibly only towards the summer break), start developing a research project; shift focus to research and write a thesis, while completing your remaining coursework in second year.