fuzzylogician

It never factored into my decision, first of all because professors in my field don't usually disappear (go on field trips or such like) when they are on sabbatical. If they stay in town, they continue to meet with students, and even if not, they still read their advisees' work. Second of all, at my school you don't have a single main advisor -- you're supposed to work with everyone on your committee, so even if one member is away for a while, you're not stuck. I suppose it becomes more critical if a particular faculty member is away during the 4th and 5th years, when you're dissertating and might require help from a person with particular expertise at some point along the way. Our 3rd year is for qualifying papers, for which we have separate committees that are planned so their members are actually there while you're writing, so it's not too bad if someone is away. I do think that these are questions you need to consider: - What happens to advisees when their advisor is away - is it possible to go with them to wherever they went for the semester (if they are visiting another school)? - Does your advisor (I assume you have someone specific in mind) keep in touch with disserating students while away (ask them, ask their students). - Are there other sources in the department that could help you while your advisor is away? Other professors with similar interests are always a good thing to have in your department. These are all legitimate question to ask a potential advisor.

My department allows it if you are in good academic standing. I can see two main scenarios where it would be useful in my field: - you want to work with an expert on your research topic who teaches at another university. - you want to work on a language that has few/no speakers where you live. You can have access to more data and experts on the language through another university.

Surprise surprise, it depends. If you at least tell us what school this is maybe someone will know, but an answer to a question as general as this can only be that it depends. Some schools are very strict, some aren't. Some use the postmark date, some use the arrival date. You have nothing to lose at this point. Send the package as soon as you can, and hope for the best. Chances are it will be OK, for the reasons origin415 wrote.

That story was not about MIT. I don't think anything half as bad happens here; personally I've never encountered any kind of cheating, but I'm hedging because I've only been here a semester. Yes, cheating happens, I am sure. Schools should give a crap because cheaters give them a bad reputation, of places that unleash on the community people who will hurt others in order to advance, who are not knowledgeable or creative enough to do their own work. Would you hire someone from a school that has a reputation for not caring if their students are trained well enough to deserve their degree (and are therefore likely to steal your work to publish, make tenure, etc)? Would you go to grad school at a place that has that kind of a reputation? I wouldn't.

THIS. Tea is good. But COFFEE is better.

Scenario where it's bad: Website explicitly says "please do NOT send unsolicited materials." Possible outcome: you piss off the adcom, and they chuck your application. Scenario where it's good: Pretty much every other scenario. You could contact someone in the program (DGS, grad secretary) and ask for permission to make sure, but I think you should really be fine receiving a fourth letter from a professor who teaches at that same school. It will be clear to everyone on the committee why you requested the extra letter, and I don't see why it should upset anyone. So, don't ask for an endorsement if you can get a good letter!

You might not want to tell if you got most/all negative answers so far. That doesn't sound too good. If you've had some positive replies from schools in the same/better tiers, then the question is: Do you trust this professor? If this is someone you trusted with a LOR, it should be a person who is looking out for your best interests. I assume that's the reason for her interest in you, not anything else. There is some concern that she will use the information against you - e.g. influence the committee not to admit you because you have what-she-thinks-are better options. However, if the school is a good fit for you, there is no reason that should happen. Schools sometimes refrain from making offers to students they don't think will accept (=are too strong for the school and are likely to receive better offers), but you are there to make sure the professor knows this school is one of your top choices.* Bottom line: I think you should be fine telling; if you discuss offers, make sure to mention that your current school is still a top choice and you can't decide until you hear from it. If you decide not to tell, keep in mind that professors often know when their colleagues on adcoms at other schools have made decisions, so no news could be interpreted as bad news. * I assume this is one of your top choices. If you have better offers from other schools and you're unlikely to accept an offer from your current school, let the adcom know so they can stop considering your application and make an offer to someone who will take it. They'll appreciate it, and so will the lucky student who might get your place.

This question is much too specific for you to get helpful comments here. At most you'll get "it happened to me last year" or "my program does/does not allow this." I assume you're asking because you're in that situation; just explain it to someone in the program - the DGS, the dept. head, your advisor - after you've been accepted, and I am sure that they will be able to give you much better answers that we can. My guess is that if you'll say to a program that usually accepts some of its own Masters students for a PhD that you have this outside funding but you can only use it for a PhD, they will be accommodating. Can't promise anything, though, obviously - only the program can.

I don't know about MSU, but you could just call the main office and ask your question without leaving your name. It's general enough that they should a)know the answer, and b)not need to know who you are. Block caller ID if you're really concerned about screwing things up (that's overkill, but if it makes you feel better..).

Publications are not even expected of PhD applicants (at least in my field), though, as you say, they help. The intangibles are more important than the tangibles - prior research experience (including a thesis or any projects you worked on, even if nothing was published); FIT with the department you're applying to; good letters of recommendations; a strong, focused SOP, a good writing sample. Grades can only keep you out, if they are too low, but it's the other things that will get you in.

That post just made my day! Cats rule (even clearly fake talking ones)

I'll probably be considered young here, but: on the one hand, I wish I could have started my degree at 22 and finished at 27, instead of only just starting at 27. On the other, I wouldn't give up the experiences I gained in those intervening years for anything. I'm so much more focused and driven now that I ever was at 22. So yeah, if I could do everything at the same time it would have been nice. But otherwise I'm happy with the choices I've made.

Don't give up hope just yet. There are the possibilities that a)they haven't made all the decisions yet, b)they haven't gotten around to notifying everyone yet, or c)there is an unofficial waitlist (I don't really know). Really, you only know you're out when you get a notification saying so.

Congratulations, pangor-ban! I'm curious -- who emailed you? I thought Irene Heim was going to call admitted applicants.

Same here. I basically moved to the States with one suitcase and one duffel-bag. That's about 35kg worth of possessions. I gave away everything else to family members - furniture, kitchenware, paintings, linen, some clothes, etc. It wasn't worth it to store or to ship those items, so whatever didn't fit in my old room at my parents' house had to go.

It's very common. You are hosted by grads when you visit, and then you host prospectives later on when you're a grad yourself. Don't worry about inconveniencing anyone.

Heh. I figure you can either: publish publish publish Or, possibly: PUBLISH!! I'd be fine either way, but the first seems (slightly) more feasible. OK, no more procrastinating!! I have to go (do some work that might in a year relate to something that I could eventually) publish.

Try cross-Atlantic moves. No fun. You can't rent a truck to bring your stuff over. You either have to send everything via ship (=takes 2-3 months) or via plane (=costs a fortune), or buy everything new (=used, or ikea). Either way you have stuff still missing months after the move. ::sigh::

For a social science/humanities student, it's roughly: Take classes; (publish publish publish) Pass comps / write qualifying papers; (publish publish publish) Write Dissertation proposal (&defend it); (publish publish publish) Write Dissertation; (publish publish publish) Find dream job. How long it takes to do each item (whether you need to do each item) changes from one program to the next.

I did that with a couple of schools. I basically wrote to say that I've received what I consider to be better fitting offers and so I'm withdrawing my application to the program. I thanked the committee and whoever else I was in touch in for their consideration, specifically mentioning people who took the time to email or interview me. is a version of such an email that's for declining an offer, but is actually pretty close to what I wrote for withdrawing offers as well. I received very warm replies from potential advisors to this email, and stayed in touch with some of them. Adcoms appreciate your not leading them on, so they can make offers to students who are likelier to accept them (better yield, better planning for next year's cohort). I ended up consulting some of the POIs from schools I declined regarding the offers I was considering, since they were interested in their details and could offer me insights I might not have otherwise known. So, definitely no hard feelings there.

Be honest. Every department expects some of its offers to be rejected, and as long as you're polite about it, no one is going to be offended. Here is a version of what I wrote to the departments whose offers I declined; I sent it to the DGS and the professors I was in contact with at each school: Please don't just copy-paste this message. Use it as a template and modify it to fit your needs.

Everything is possible, but you shouldn't stay home and refresh your inbox because of that.. Go out and relax. I hear that email providers now offer to store your emails for longer than 1 hour! But seriously, I know my department blocks out long afternoons/evenings for adcom meetings, e.g. 3-8pm. We notify by phone, but I assume in principle it's possible that an enthusiastic professor who stayed through the whole meeting will go back to her office and write a future advisee a happy email.

It doesn't sound like a final offer, more like a suggestion to apply to the program. Possibly this program has an adcom that decides who to accept, so the professor can't admit anyone by himself. However, I assume the professor wouldn't bother contacting you if you weren't a good candidate for the program, so you probably have a good chance of being accepted. (Check for yourself: read up on the program and ask yourself if it's a good fit for you. If you think it's not -- maybe it's only advertising. If it is a good fit, then congrats, the professor also thinks so. That's a big step towards getting admitted).

These are advisors in the same department? because then it's not a real problem, you can have them both on your committee. If not: personally I'd choose the professor that I think I'll do better work with, which in this case is the less experienced one. I *might* choose the professor with the better placement record if I could find other stimulating professors at that school to be on my committee. But generally I wouldn't pass up an overall better-fitting offer for just the one professor, however good his placement record is. I want to produce the best work I can, and I want to enjoy grad school as much as possible. Both of these are likelier to happen under an advisor I get along with better.