fuzzylogician

Just keep in mind that verizon phones don't have sim-cards, only att and t-mobile do. If you think you may want to change devices or use different sim-cards in the same phone, you should choose one of those two companies. I use both my American sim and my sim from my home country with the same phone, for example. fwiw I have an att phone and I'm happy with it. But then I don't have a monthly plan, only a prepaid one. I have a smartphone with wifi which gives me coverage at home, at school and at any other place that has free wifi like coffee shops, etc. Most of the time I don't think it's all that terrible not to be able to check my email when I'm traveling--which is mostly when I don't have accessible wifi--but in case I do need to use the internet, my prepaid plan covers that too and the rates aren't too high. It takes me an average of about 10-12 months to go through $100 worth of credit (I mostly have to use the phone when I have visitors or when I'm away from home on a conference or trip, otherwise I get by just using skype). I think that's better than any plan I could find, no matter how good the rates. In general, though, I vote for the smartphone too, just for the convenience it provides.

They can also be read with Kindle apps on iPads, iPhones, etc.

I wouldn't. At least, not now. It's too early and it's not information that is useful to you at this point. You can (and should) ask around after classes start; maybe you'll want to get a head start on some of the work if you think that it'll take you longer than usual to produce a finished product. But you can't really begin writing before classes have even started. There is a difference between having ideas about a topic that could be published (eventually) and writing a paper that is publishable at submission. There are different philosophies here but mine has always been to get the requirements out of the way and then continue working on the topics that interest me later on. Others I know spend more time on the required papers and submit better-looking papers than mine for their classes. But normally everyone needs to do more work before a class paper is publishable so I find that polishing a class paper is a waste of time. Better get the comments on what you have at the time, continue working and eventually submit a polished paper to a journal. But, as always, experiences vary.

I'm guessing from your post that you may be interested in a different kind of linguistics than I know so take my answer with an even greater grain of salt than usual, but I think that the most important thing is having someone who can guide you in the methodology of the research, more so than having someone who studies the same language family or phenomena as you. Of course it helps to also have someone at the school who either knows (at least) a little bit about that language family or else has experience working on similar phenomena to those that interest you in other languages, but you can do good research without having a single expert who does everything that you do. One thing you may want to investigate at those schools that interest you but don't have that one expert is how many of the potential advisors' students there work on languages/phenomena other than those that the advisor is working on. That will give you a good indication of how much that kind of independence is encouraged and also how supportive the potential advisor is when it comes to advising broader topics than his/her specialty.

I have my mail from my university account forwarded to my gmail. There's a setting that allows you to reply from the same address to which a message was sent to, so if anybody sent an email to my uni account I automatically reply from the same address. I also set my university account as my default account when composing new mail so worst case scenario, my parents or friends get an email from my uni account. I also occasionally email other students from my gmail account, especially it's for non-academic reasons, and my professors know my gmail address and use it sometimes too (it's the same as my uni account, except for the domain). If you share a googledocs document with your professor, they will have to know what your gmail account is; same for dropbox, for me, since my account is set up under my google address. The one problem I've had is that although I officially send mail from the uni account, I still automatically become "friends" with people I email often--you'll be surprised how many people use a gmail account as their main account. This is not a problem normally, but I do take the time to go over my contacts and block my students every semester. I don't like them seeing when I log on or when I change my status. There is a way to change the how new friends are added to your contacts so that you'll have to manually approve new additions, so again, this is not a big deal.

On the one hand the more you know coming into school, the easier it'll be for you once you're in school. On the other hand, there is an ocean of things that you (and I) don't know and it's impossible to learn it all, or even know that you need to. So I would maybe skim the books just for good measure, but really I think it's a much better use of your time to get some rest and have a vacation in the summer before grad school. From my experience, good programs take into account that people come from different systems and have different backgrounds; if they do their job right, by the end of a few semesters most gaps in people's knowledge are made up for. I don't think it's worth your trouble to start a couple months early.

I would probably take the internship. If that agency is where you want to work, making a good impression and having connections there will be a big help when the time comes to search for a job. There are still some questions you should ask yourself, though. Be sure you know what you're getting yourself into in case the plan doesn't work out as you hope. Seems like taking the internship could get you in debt; if so, you need to ask yourself how much you are willing to invest in your education/future job and whether or not it's worth the price. How long will it take you to pay back the debt from the salary you expect to make at your new job? Do you have a backup plan in case you don't get that job? How difficult is it to get the kind of job you want without having the internship experience? Maybe you could still get the same job without getting into any debt. But just from the details you give, I would probably go for the internship.

I agree that there is no need to ask for help before you even need it. The first papers you'll write in grad school won't be as large or as comprehensive as a MA thesis. They'll likely be small class projects whose size and depth requirements will progress over time. You also likely won't be writing a full journal paper right after starting grad school, doing enough research for that takes time. Even someone experienced who maybe wrote a journal paper or a thesis won't be expected to know all the secrets of writing, that's part of what grad school is for. Maybe you'll want to meet with you advisor to discuss outlines for papers and a suitable timelines for completing the work, maybe you'll also want them to read drafts at various stages of completion (although not everybody wants their advisor to read rough drafts and not all advisors want to see these drafts). Your advisor will help you with all of this and will not assume that you already know everything, nor that you should. They will assume that you'll give it your best effort and that you'll ask for help when you need it. Since you're already concerned about this issue, I'm sure you will. Don't set yourself up as the weak student when there is no need to.

I can't help you with choosing rotations, but I think the single most important feature to look for in an advisor is that undefined personality click. The things Eigen mentions are all important and you should look for them in an advisor; but however great the person is on paper, if you don't feel a connection with them in the beginning, it's not going to get any better later on--it's only going to get worse, unless one of you (likely you) has a significant change of heart about how you do things. I wouldn't compromise pleasant working relations for a bigger name or bigger funds (or at least, I would try to find way to incorporate those good qualities with some more of my-style of advising in some way). Compromising will have the good consequences that are related with the name/funds but will come with suffering that I, for one, don't feel are always worth the gain. Uncomfortable working relations affect a person's happiness, productivity and overall results; staying happy and healthy is key for developing a successful career as a researcher. Bottom line: it's all in the personal connections and the best way to decide on them is to meet with the potential advisor and see how you get along. Ask others about their opinions, find out about funding and about advising policies, but then meet the person and find out if they are right for you.

I really hope the to your question is 'no,' although each of us here can tell you about our committee and not much else. My committee members, at least, are nothing like yours - they certainly don't fight with each other during meetings, and they are all at least not harming my process, although I work more closely with some of them than others. I also work closely with people who are not on my committee. But the important question beyond normalcy is, what can you do about your situation. - how often do you meet with your committee as a whole? is it better when you meet with them individually? how much can their behavior in meetings affect your research? - beyond fighting, are your committee members making contradictory requests or comments? do some comments just not make sense? is your committee making it impossible for you to progress, or are they kind of wasting a bit of your time but not hindering your progress? If you can still proceed with your research uninterrupted despite the uncomfortable meetings, maybe it's not worth fighting over. The important thing is whether or not you feel that your research is being hurt by this situation. - does your committee have a chair who can direct the meetings towards a more productive discussion? can your advisor help get the committee back on track? is there a DGS or some other designated person who could help? maybe it would help if you came to meetings with a printed agenda of things you would like to discuss, instead of letting your committee hijack the discussion. - can you replace unhelpful committee members with helpful ones? can you add people you want on your committee and then tactfully get the ones you don't like off it because it's getting too large? it can still have the breadth you need, just with people who get along with each other. (this could backfire if you can't get people off, so be careful. The more opinions you get, the more work you'll have to do to please everyone).

I keep getting an error message when I try to open this link, could you post it again?

I just got myself a new iPad (it's so pretty!) but I'm not normally a mac user so I'm not familiar with all the apps out there. Which apps would you recommend for a beginner like me? So far I've got dropbox installed and I'm looking for a good pdf reader. What else should I have installed? Anything other advice for how best to use this device? Thanks!

Don't stress. I didn't write a MA thesis either and as far as I can tell it didn't set me back at all compared to friends who did write a thesis. Writing is harder for some people than others and if you're aware that you may need help completing a large project for the first time you'll seek advice as needed. Honestly, procrastination and lack of enthusiasm are much bigger obstacles to getting substantial writing done than lack of experience (research is exciting, writing about the minutiae is not, although often that's where you really work all of the details out and learn whether or not your idea really works, which may send you back to the drawing board). You'll gain experience as you go and your advisor will help too, so don't worry about that.

Good research will get you the job, good grades will not. These things are field-specific and it's a good idea to consult with your professors about how much they consider grades when there is a job search or they are looking to hire an RA. In general it's a tradeoff but it's not like you can't both succeed in classes and have strong research. I'd say it's more important to develop your work than get than perfect 100s on every pset, but on the other hand you also don't want to come off as the student who never cared about assigned work because that could show up in LORs as well. Some assignments are worth investing in some of the time, but in the overall balance, research wins every time.

Yes, although the emphasis on research becomes greater as you progress in the program. You need to remain in good academic status or your funding may be revoked. Some competitive awards and fellowships will consider grades. Some RAships, internships and summer jobs will consider grades. Some jobs will care about grades -- I hear that more so in Europe than in the US, but still. Having an impressive transcript is part of being an attractive candidate in general. Classes are sort of like a baseline minimum that you are required to achieve in grad school, with research being more difficult and also more important. You want to demonstrate that you are able to satisfactorily meet all of the program requirements. That said, one or two lower grades are probably not going to hurt you that much either.

For the most part, I didn't learn anything in my first-year classes that I didn't know before. But since I did know the basics, I could concentrate on the deeper and more thought-provoking parts of our homework assignments that my classmates who were dealing with the stuff for the first time did not even consider. You can always learn something from a class you've already taken once -- if nothing else, pay careful attention to how the prof is teaching the class and decide what you would do differently/the same when you teach it. In that respect, I think grad courses at top schools are always "difficult" -- there is always something new and different to pay attention to. In particular, being taught by top scientists is very exciting because you become exposed to the way they think about problems, which will most probably be different from your previous experiences even if the material itself is all familiar to you. But if you don't pay attention to these things, you could also think you've wasted a whole semester or a whole year and not learned anything new. So really this is all a matter of perspective.

I spent more on my mattress than on all my other furniture combined, and I don't regret it one bit. I also got an expensive chair. Again, no regrets. I need to sleep well and I need to be comfortable when I work, and sleep in general is a difficult issue for me. I'm sure it'll be a huge pain when I move, which is why I'll be staying in the same place for the third year now, hoping for at least one more year before I need to worry. But yeah, moving is a real pain.

It really depends on whether you are living in a dorm or in an off-campus apartment. For a new off-campus apartment, you'll need to pay rent, likely also a deposit, buy furniture, get groceries and some other supplies, buy kitchenware and many other small things it's hard to even plan on. If it's an existing apartment, some of these things may be already there but you'll (likely) still need to furnish your room and get some stuff for yourself. There are also utilities that you may have to pay a deposit for. There are books and other school supplies. There's transportation - maybe you'll need to pay for the whole semester in the beginning, maybe you'll buy yourself a bike, etc. You may have to pay some part of your tuition and/or medical insurance even if you are on a full funding package. You may want to get extra dental insurance which is not usually part of the regular insurance offered by the university. In short, it's impossible for us to tell. What I can tell you is that I spent somewhere around $2500 on a new apartment+many of the things I listed above, and I only got my first paycheck at the end of September. As others have noted, you can always access funds in your foreign account, but it's easier to have enough funds in your local account. It does save on fees and they do add up.

Are there consequences to getting an A rather than an A+ in this class? Grades don't normally matter that much in a PhD program--they are not going to get you a job--and an A won't send any warning sign or jeopardize your funding either. If your professor is a reasonable person you could try and bring up the problem with him and ask him to fix your grade. But if you think approaching the professor may cause trouble, I would leave it alone and just not take any classes with him again. The benefits of having the higher grade may not be worth the trouble you could get into if this professor decides to take it personally and make an enemy out of you. (Note: in a normal situation this should not happen just because of an appeal on a grade. But the very fact that you ask this question in this forum suggests that you think it's not going to be as straightforward as asking the prof to rethink your grade. I'm guessing from your post that you'd have to tell the prof that some aspect of their class was flawed and that it could create a conflict with the prof). It's irritating to have to give in, but in the long run it may be the better choice for your career.

Sounds like going with this prof is your best choice. And unless someone from neuroscience steps in and says otherwise, I think it's perfectly normal and acceptable to get two letters from researchers in the same lab. I can't believe undergrads could be expected to have worked with profs from three different labs, that would be a bit excessive.

Just me, I understand that I probably can't even begin to imagine how difficult it must be for you. And I understand that the advice in this thread that simply says "get out now" may be too difficult for you to follow right now. But I sincerely hope that you start doing little things to get yourself out of this situation. There's a lot of information out there on the internet about how to deal with these kinds of situations--read up on it. There are professionals who could help you--I hope you've already gotten in touch with them, but if not please do it now. Start building a network of friends who could support you when you move out. I think it's important for you to have a clear plan of what you'll do. But you do have a job and you can learn whatever skills you are missing. Don't give up and don't throw your life away. Leaving home and creating an independent life for yourself will be a GREAT victory. If there is a shelter you could go to, that's a place to start. Of course it's not where you'll stay all your life, but there will be people there who could help you get back on your feet. You won't fail--you'll win back your life--just don't quit before you even start!

Keep in mind that I've never been on an adcom or anything like that but I think that what makes a statement stand out is if it's detailed, precise and to the point. Define the research questions that you find exciting and write about them. That will make your passion for your research apparent from your words without you having to explicitly tell the committee about it. You don't need to have a thesis topic in mind or anything like that but it does help to have a clear idea of a subarea or a few questions you find interesting. Very few people ever end up doing exactly what they proposed in their SOP--which is good, because part of the reason we go to grad school is to learn more and grow, and interests often shift as we become exposed to new ideas--but having a coherent view of the field you're in and reasonable questions you could ask and answer during your graduate career will make you stand out. Show an understanding of where your field stands and where it's going. If this is anything like a job/hiring situation, the readers will want to be able to pick up your SOP and tell quickly and clearly what your interests are. They'll then want to know a bit more about your background and who you want to work with (or other fit-related reasons for attending school X). The SOP should be mostly about the present and the future, not about the past. That's why retelling the committee about past achievements is a double sin. Not only do you waste space on things the adcom can find elsewhere but you overemphasize your background instead of explaining how you'll use it at school X. Adcom members do want to know that you have the education and skills to do the work you're proposing, but they're much more interested in how you'll fit in their program - how they will fit in with the project you're proposing. Remember that training a graduate student is a serious expense both in terms of time and financial resources so it's important for the adcom to know that you're the right person for the kind of training they have to offer. So you want to be clear about how the school fits with your plans and the things you're passionate about studying. To me, passion that comes from careful consideration of a topic is much more compelling than writing about past achievements or using generalities in describing grandiose future plans. I also think that writing a clear and professional essay will make you stand out among the many essays that expand too much on the past or tell anecdotes and stories or use vague language or repeat information found elsewhere in the SOP.

Actually the only thing they were interested in was the funding. My whole interview lasted maybe 3 minutes and half of it was the interviewer telling me an irrelevant story about a friend of his who went to my university. You should know where you're going, what you'll study and how your financials will work. No need to prepare answers in advance, these are simple things you already know. As for ties to your country, they know that you're leaving for a long period of time so they are not going to require you to show the same kind of ties they want to see from people who apply for a tourist visa. You also don't need to have post-graduation plans but if they ask just don't say you'll look for a job in the US. If you say you'll go back home and get a job there, that's fine. All of your answers look fine, in fact. But don't worry, if you were accepted to a reputable university with full funding, your interview will be short and painless.

You need to contact the school and ask. We can't tell you for certain what the answer is. In general PhD programs in the US do not require a Masters but your program may be different and there is just no way for us to know. I would think that the people in charge of issuing the I-20 and the people who decide on admissions are not the same and if the admissions people didn't require the degree then you'll be fine, but this is too important to trust an internet forum with. Ask your department and/or the international student office directly.

The answer is probably field-specific. For my field, a good end result from a project would be a conference presentation or two (or more, on different aspects of the project), maybe a proceedings paper and eventually a top-tier journal paper. The choice of journal depends on the target audience that you are trying to reach. It could make sense to publish in a less prestigious but more specialized journal if you believe that your work interests the readers of that journal in particular, or for other similar reasons. But I don't think it makes sense to publish in a lower tier journal just to have the publication on your CV when you can put in more work and publish in a top tier journal. I guess an exception would be if you don't think the project can improve any further yet has reached a more-or-less satisfactory conclusion. In that case it'd be a good idea to consult with your advisor and ask whether (any) publication of the work is advisable. Remember that future employers will assess all of your published work and in some cases it's better to have one less publication than to have a bad one.