fuzzylogician

I own Getting what you came for and Graduate study for the 21st century: how to build an academic career in the humanities. The timelines in both books are not applicable to me, since I'm in the social sciences, but most of the (non-technological, timeless) advice is great.

You don't have much of an account and you don't host others, and you're confused as to why your own requests are being ignored? I usually host grad students for conferences in my area, and get hosted by others when I travel (just had people host me for two different conferences this month). Try contacting the conference organizers about crash space. I think it's more likely to succeed that staying with random people.

Email from all my previous university addresses is forwarded to my private gmail account, even though the accounts themselves are officially closed. Maybe your university provides a similar service? If not, use your private address - but keep it professional. Yourname@domain.com.

Is it possible for you to do rotations or some other short-term visit at both labs? I am very independent in my work but I still like to have someone available to read my drafts or answer questions when I have them. I imagine, more so than the issue of fame or busy-ness, I'd want to know how I get along with the PI and also how work in their lab usually proceeds (what's the routine, who can answer my questions, who do I go to if I have a problem - older students, post-docs, how often would I meet with my advisor, what expectations would they have of me between meetings, etc.). Based on just fame - I'd go with the more famous professor, since he will be able to give you better recommendations and make better connections for you in the future. But I wouldn't choose that over getting along with my advisor and not suffering for 5 years!

You are allowed to enter the US on the student visa up to 30 days before the start date of your program. If your program agrees to change the start date to something that works for you, that should work. Don't get into trouble, however - don't try to activate your F1 status before you can, or you could be flagged by immigration.

I am attending the school that was my top choice, but I still had some concerns after I visited about how well I'd fit with the other students. Turned out to be great and I'm very happy. What is the cause for concern in your case? That is an important factor.

+1 and -1 votes on individual posts have disappeared - that is, posts all appear to have 0 votes, including ones I remember used to have more.

You have to be married. The US immigration laws do not recognize any other kind of relationship status. If you're married then your spouse can get a dependent visa - F2 or J2, depending on the visa that your university issues you (you'll get a F1or J1). There are consequences to having these different visas. You should visit the IHOG forum, where you can find more information about your question.

I have a Lenovo Thinkpad T401 that I got in 2009. Before that I had an IBM Thinkpad T42 that I used for 5 years and that's still functional and being used by my parents. I really like the Thinkpad keyboard and screen, and it has a good balance of features and battery life. Overall I'm very pleased and will probably get another Thinkpad when I need a new computer.

You should find out what they use at the school you'll be attending, they might use different software than others. If you need to do stats, learn to use SPSS, R or whatever they use at your school. FWIW, we use Linger for sentence processing; we have our own software for counting studies; we use Brainstorm for MEG data analysis, E-Prime for design. We use the software that came with our eye-tracker for design and analysis. Our phonologists use Praat. Out syntacticians draw pretty trees in Latex . If you have spare time, learn to program in whatever language you like - python, matlab, java, javascript, html will all be useful. I have a T401 and before that I had the IBM T42. I bet my next computer will also be from the T series, unless they can convince me to come over to the dark side and get a mac (which is unlikely). I am not familiar with the ideapad and I don't know anyone who owns one so I can't give an opinion.

In case no specialists come forward, I am not a phonologist but I have a fairly good idea about where to find general resources, or who to ask if I don't know where to look. For many purposes, if you google for first-year grad course syllabi you'll find useful references that will probably answer most of your questions. Similarly if you can find a syllabus for a seminar on whatever topic is giving you trouble, you'll be on your way to finding your answers.

It's early in the morning here, it would make sense you haven't heard back yet. You haven't missed your chance just because you didn't respond to email within hours of seeing it, I'm sure you'll find some other time to talk that fits you both.

Intro #2. Actually, only the last sentence of intro #2, since the beginning feels a bit cliche. Imagine a professor on an adcom that is meeting to choose the top X candidates to be admitted to some program. She read through 20X applications in a short time - she might have skimmed the apps in preparation for the meeting the night before, giving them rough scores based on first impressions. The process will continue at the meeting, where everyone compares notes on who they liked. Intro #1 had the prof waste time searching for something relevant that she can learn from the SOP. She is tired and cranky, has 10X more applications to read after yours, and you're making her work to find your interests, background and fit explanations. Of the 10X apps she's already read, 7X opened with funny anecdotes, childhood stories or cliches. This is a very realistic description of how these things happen. Do you think the anecdotes are appreciated more than a straight to the point "this is who I am, this is what I do, this is why I should do it at your school"?

Briefly: P1: Cut the whole first paragraph. Stories about your childhood are completely irrelevant to your application to become a researcher and academic, and don't tell the adcom anything they need to know about whether or not you'll be a good match for their program. P2: Cut most of the second paragraph, until the part about your research interests. Vague generalities ("I gravitated towards X, I find it to be the perfect concentration, etc") are useless. The first sentence that gave me relevant information about you as an applicant was "Most aspects ...". You could rework the fact that your interest was sparked by a class into the text, but do it briefly. P3: Good, but too general. Say more: what did you research? what did you find? P4: Starts out as too wordy. No need to say your advisor approved the work, it's assumed. "I greatly enjoyed..." is again vague and general. Instead of these vague descriptions of enjoyment, describe the details of the work: what did you study? what methods did you use? what were your resources? (anything else that is relevant to historical research, I am not an expert); what were the findings? P5: "The university appears to have a strong history dept" -- cut. Don't tell them they're good, and certainly don't tell them you're not sure they're good. You shouldn't apply to places you don't think are good for you. Reading this far into your statement, I don't think you've done a good enough job showing that prof X's interests align closely with yours, as you say. Telling is not enough. P6: Consider cutting out the part about paying off debt (though there are opinions both ways about this). I appreciate that you feel the need to explain the grades in your senior year and taking time off, but there are too many parallel explanations, and that one is not needed, in my opinion. P7: This paragraph was more detailed and focused than any previous one. If you can polish the rest of the essay up to this level, I would recommend cutting this. As it stands, I like this paragraph more than others so my current opinion is to keep it. P8: The challenges ... is : reword, fix subject-verb agreement. The MA might help you pursue a PhD in history or relevant work in the private sector, but it's a bit ambitious to think that it, by itself, can prepare you to have a career in history. this paragraph sounds a bit naive.

Oh, there's lots and lots of parallel parking as well...

Ask if they need an official copy before making a decision. If not, wait and see. If they do, order a new copy to be sent to the school ASAP.

Roughly (since it's been a while): 1. Intro: Research interests in one line, expanded to a paragraph. 2. Background: undergrad, MA, concentrating on the development of my interests 3. Research experience 1: completed project 4. Research experience 2: ongoing project, and brief discussion of relevant teaching experience 5. Fit1: professors I wish to study with and how they would complement my research 6. Fit2: other resources, how I saw myself fitting into the department. That was also my conclusion. Ended up being about 800 words, give or take.

It's a good sign. They wouldn't ask for more information if they weren't interested. Your writer may have been approached by an acquaintance at the other school, which would explain why your other LOR writer wasn't contacted. Don't be so dismissive of this letter writer and her opinions. Some people are not good with emails and deadlines but if they write you strong letters and endorse you when approached by your prospective programs, they are doing everything they should be, and more. Also don't dismiss her opinion that some school may not a place you want to attend. Find out your professors' opinions about the schools you are considering attending and take them seriously. They may know things you don't about internal politics, who is coming or leaving, problems with funding or current students, etc - all kinds of information that you know when you're in the inner circle that you won't find on any public source of information.

Depends on the apartment probably but at least at my place and what I know from my friends, parking is extra. There is parking at shopping centers. Grad (non-family) housing is not cheaper and not any better than renting an apartment. Most grad students rent apartments, and there are tons of us around Cambridge and Somerville. Don't worry, you won't be isolated!

You have just "one professor who fits my niche of study" at your university but you are writing "about a topic that she quietly disapproves of or doesn't understand"? Why are you still working with her?

I got my first lenovo (actually, IBM computer at the time) when I started undergrad. It served me for 5 years, until I started grad school and then I decided I wanted a newer model so I got a new lenovo. My parents still use the old computer - it's 8 years old now but still functioning just fine. I've only ever had one problem with the computer over the years, the hard drive of my new laptop was apparently defective and finally stopped working a few months after I got it; I got a new HD straight away at no cost. I'm happy with the performance and the price, it's true that it's a bit heavy but I don't really mind. Especially now that I have a desktop at home and I mostly leave my laptop in the office, it's extremely convenient.

Option 1: You contact the schools you haven't heard back from and ask when they will be making decisions. Explain that you have an acceptance and a deadline to make a decision. Option 2: Contact the school that accepted you and ask for an extension. Option 3: Wait a bit more, maybe you'll have your decisions in another week or two. Option 4: Some combination of waiting and contacting schools.

Most international students don't get to see their families more than once or twice a year. Domestic students might get a few more visits home during holidays, but most live far away (=not driving distance) from their families and are too busy to visit often anyway. We all survive. It sounds like there is a meaningful difference in research fit between the two schools you are considering, and that is an important factor in the decision. I would choose the school with the better fit.

You talk about the "prestige" of the institution and it's not clear to me if you mean the university or the specific program and POI you'll be working with. Name recognition is important, especially if you are considering non-academic jobs in your future, but if you plan a future in academia then what matters is the quality of the program you're in. Rankings aren't that important and it's hard to tell what you mean by "less prestigious." As a whole, I'd say research fit is the most important: how well you got along with POIs, how many options you have for advisors/committee members at a given university, what kind of resources are offered, what classes are offered, how you got along with potential peers, and the general atmosphere of the research community you'll become part of. Find out (ask point blank) about procedures for going from the MA to the PhD at School 3. After that, ask yourself about research fit at each school and go from there. From the information you've given here, I wouldn't be able to give you any ranking of your schools.

It shouldnt matter much if you talk about your position, what you learned there, and your accomplishments. The most important is having the experience. Only second to that is having a publication out of the experience, and the fact that the lab is not yet set up (and might not be) matters even less, especially if you don't play that part up. Talk about your contribution to the projects, not to setting up the lab -- even if it falls through, experience is still experience.