fuzzylogician

Yeah, I got that. Your transcripts will show a high grade. Do we get anything from the prof writing a letter saying you did well in their class that we didn't already get from the transcript? I don't know that going against the director's explicit advice makes sense, though absent that advice I would think you're correct. Did they say it'll hurt, or not help, or something else? It's actually a little odd that they would tell you a "did well in class" letter is better than a letter from a research supervisor. I guess they must be very impressed with your school's name for whatever reason.

I think you've sort of answered your own question already. Given that you were told that submitting more letters is good but not crucial, and given that you don't want to submit weak letters, the bottom line is that you should submit an extra letter if it'll add something beyond what you already have in other letters and not otherwise. You should be able to know what each letter will say (roughly) because you know what each prof knows about you. You want people who can say that you have the potential to succeed in a PhD program; to the extent that you've done research already, you want people to say it's innovative and interesting. You want them to say that compared to their other students and given their experience placing advisees in similar programs, you are likely to succeed. You want them to say that you're an agreeable person, who can collaborate, and come up with original ideas. You never said what field you're in and you seem to place a high value on a person's ability to say that you got a high grade and did well in quantitative classes, but it's hard to know how much that really matters. More often it's what you did outside of class that really counts. In any event, if all you have are people who aren't PhDs, or knew you a long time ago, or only knew you from one class but not really much beyond, those don't sound like letters that will add anything. But if the letter is from someone with a strong record of placing students in programs like the one you're applying to, who knows you well, and can talk about your potential and research skills, then it's a yes.

A bit more information seeking: "I was advised..." "I offered .. but they had no interest", etc -- who is doing this advising? Do you have direct communication with someone at the target program? They're telling you that even though they ask for two letters and you already have three, a fourth one would be a good idea? You also still haven't answer the question of whether any of these letters would add information that's not already in the other letters.

I lost you. How many letters do you need to submit and how many do you have? Are the four options you specify here your options and you need to choose three? Or are these all options for an extra letter beyond ones you've already converged on? If the latter, is there any information any of these could provide that isn't already in your other letters? As a general rule, if you're going to generate extra work for your readers (and under the assumption that this is allowed!), the extra work should be justified. Submitting a weak letter, be it a simple "did well in class" or a slightly better "did well in class a long time ago and also came to office hours", isn't likely to make you stand out. I would vote for N strong letters over N+1 overall not as strong letters. If you're applying for a research PhD, letters should talk about your potential to succeed in such a program, not just say that you got an A in whatever class or project. Oh, and stop worrying about your professors' native language. Any professor at an elite university writes dozens of these letters every year.

Good luck getting this resolved. It does happen on occasion, though it could just be that funding source A gets disbursed on date A and funding source B gets disbursed later and that's all that this is. It's stressful, but it's good that you caught it early. Make sure you stay on top of it -- partly that means knowing who to talk to and who can get sh*t done (not always the person whose job it is on paper), and partly just checking in at regular intervals so they don't forget about you (you might even ask them explicitly when you should expect something to happen and when you should check in by if you don't hear from them). Make sure they understand that this has consequences for you, but be nice; the person who made the mistake (if any) might not be the person solving it, and anyway people who control money are not people you want to piss off.

Two thoughts: - Get help dealing with the anxiety/depression/stress. Grad school is hard, changes are hard, and dealing with it alone is not always the best choice. Your school will most likely have resources in place that can help you. Your mental health is so so important. - Starting a PhD program does not have to commit you to a decade or more of hardship. It sounds like the changes and separation from your boyfriend are making you have a negative view of your program. It may or may not actually be right for you (and a PhD more generally may or may not be right for you). In most cases I would think that two weeks in is not nearly enough time to know if you've made the right decision. I don't know you well enough to know if that's correct here or not; but one possible way to relieve this anxiety about long-term difficulties is to decide to give it time (probably at least a semester, lets be honest), and make a decision then. If you haven't found things you like, ways to improve your situation, etc., maybe it's not the right program for you, or maybe it's just not the right time. But you should really give it a chance before you decide, for your own sake, so you don't look back at this time later in life and have any regrets. Giving up on an education for a relationship is a valid choice but should be made with eyes wide open about what it means. And if you don't continue with the degree, you should also start thinking about alternative career plans, preferably in a way that helps you manage the stress all this situation is causing.

Yeah, so the Duke essay prompt sounds more or less like a standard SOP prompt, so the essay you write for that one could serve as the basis for most of you other applications. The UT Austin prompts sound very specific and targeted to their program. I think you have to write that one as separate essays, though some parts you'll be able to recycle, like your career goals, research, and potential ideas for a dissertation topic (although that's the kind of thing I would keep vaguer in other applications if not specifically asked that question. I'd talk about interests in general, not dissertation topics per se).

It's usually perfectly fine, as @ThousandsHardships notes above. They'll have one basic letter that they'll tweak for each school, plus they'll answer some questions online comparing you to their other students. This is entirely routine and expected. In addition to trying to send all prompts around the same time, you should also do two other things: (a) email to let them know they should have received emails from X, Y, and Z, right after you're done sending the prompts, so they can let you know if there's anything missing. This email should also contain the deadlines for all the schools, and of course a "thank you". (b) set up a reminder system. It may just be you telling them that you'll email a reminder two weeks before each deadline. If/when they don't reply, you might send another one a week out and lastly the day before. Profs often only submit their letters last minute, so in the interest of sparing your nerves you might want to explicitly talk to them about this.

Yes, I don't see why not.

My opinion, based on these details: your advisor, the CC professor, and the study abroad advisor. Reasoning: you want letters from the people who know you well and can therefore write detailed letters. It will help to have letters from people who have been through a similar program to the one you're applying to and/or have placed students in such programs successfully; these people will be able to compare you to their other students and have an informed opinion about your ability to succeed in the program. The CC prof has written strong letters for you in the past and knows you and your work well -- all positives. Bonus points if her knowledge of you is current, not to do with things that happened too long ago. If possible, you want someone to discuss more than just your grade and work in one class. For these reasons, I would say the second option (lead instructor of a class you took last semester) is less of a good choice -- he's not a professor, and doesn't know you as well, so can't write in detail about you. Finally, having people discuss both your classwork and your fieldwork sounds ideal, given what I assume you'll discuss in your SOP and given your interests, so again that would be another reason to prioritize the study-abroad advisor over the lead instructor from the one class (but maybe he can be a backup, and extra letter whenever you're allowed to go over the 3-letter requirement and submit an additional optional letter).

It really doesn't matter one bit, but find some recent dissertations/CVs by alums from each department if you really must know. For what it's worth, my dissertation says "Submitted to the Department of XYZ in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. On my CV I say "PhD in linguistics, with specialization in XYZ". For any relevant purpose, though, people are going to want to know what you actually did, not what the official name of the degree is. For example, job ads will require a "degree in cogsci or related field" or "familiarity with XYZ" or some such, and interviewers will look at your cover letter and dissertation and other publications to learn what techniques you are familiar with and what you can teach.

Picking a topic based on "employability" can easily backfire, if for no other reason than because what's "hot" now may not be hot 5+ years from now, when you go on the job market. You should choose a topic that you are interested in, so you can sustain research in it over a long period of time. That interest can come from a personal connection to the topic, like it sounds that you have. But it's important to allow your interests develop based on where you are in your PhD program. Pick a program that can support the general area you topic is in, but keep in mind that it's possible -- even likely, and if you ask me, desirable -- for your interests to grow and change once you're exposed to new ideas in your new program. In any event, I think it's not wise to go too narrow before you even start your PhD. Give it time. See what topics attract your attention during coursework, and through talking to advisors in the program. Run ideas past them, read the literature, to learn how to connect what you are interested in with the current state of the art. There are ways to innovate by connecting to what people are already doing, and for various reasons that may be wiser than going off too far afield; but this all is a discussion you should have with your PhD advisor maybe 3 years into your program, not now.

You can use the PM feature on this website, or you can start a thread, I'm probably not the only one who can help with basic questions.

No worries, I don't think anyone was offended, but I sometimes see this with students who email me for professional reasons, and in that case I do find it off putting. If you don't know someone's gender, simply avoid using gendered language (here, for example, "thank you" would have done the job just as well as "thank you, sir").

So, we are not lawyers and you should really consult with one here, because mistakes can be extremely costly. I would say, don't trust the couselors at your ISO, but talk to a lawyer (as you said you would, just stressing this point). To my understanding, studying abroad should be a legitimate reason to be outside the US for a lengthy time period, but you should apply for a re-entry permit before you leave: https://www.uscis.gov/sites/default/files/USCIS/Resources/B5en.pdf https://www.uscis.gov/green-card/after-green-card-granted/international-travel-permanent-resident Some info from a random site (this is not an endorsement of these lawyers): http://www.antaoandchuang.com/i-keeping.html

Sounds like a decent option, but you may want to also tell us what other potential letter writers you are considering, if you really want to know what we think. It's always going to depend on what your other options are.

@Azhar I know you're not a native speaker and don't mean anything by this, but not everyone you interact with is necessarily a man. I would advise, when corresponding with strangers, to remain gender-neutral in your replies, so as not to offend anyone. (For example, if you're writing professors or administrative assistants at universities.) Good luck.

So you have a conditional offer for a job that requires several months of vetting before you start, and you don't know when the vetting process will start? And you have been admitted to a one-year program starting very soon, I would assume? It seems to me that you need to go to the Masters program, since that's actually happening, as opposed to being a vague promise without a concrete start date. If/when the vetting process starts, I'm sure you can find ways to delay the process (can't make it to the first scheduled date to be fingerprinted/interviewed, etc). The whole thing should take long enough that you could then negotiate a start date that won't cause too much trouble. This is not even mentioning the complication that you depend on the approval of an administration that is having a hard time holding one opinion from morning to evening.. So, I personally wouldn't count on that too much.

If I understand correctly, you are asking if you can apply for a Masters while in your final year of an undergraduate degree? If so, the answer is yes, that is entirely standard. You'll be offered admissions under the provision that you finish your degree before the start of the new program (or they may have some more specific requirement). You may be asked to show some documentation to that effect. Either way, you shouldn't have a problem applying now, as long as you actually graduate on time.

The TOEFL is the kind of obstacle you need to clear, but once you do, no one cares what score you got. So if you are applying to a school that requires a score of 110+, you may want to retake. Otherwise, there is no need to worry. A 109 is a high score, I'd be surprised if there were schools that have a higher cutoff than that.

Read the grading guidelines for the AWA, it's very formulaic. There are also sample essays with scores and explanations for why they got the scores they did. Beyond that, practice.

Sure, you want to do this with departments you've already researched and you generally think are a good fit for what you're looking for. Once you've done that, if there is no current funding info on their website, I think it's totally fine to write a short and professional note to the DGS (or whoever they indicate as the contact person) to introduce yourself as an undergrad studying [blah] with an interest in [blahdiblah], say you are interested in applying to School, as it seems like a good fir for your interests, but you couldn't find any information about funding and you were wondering if you could ask a couple of questions (hey, school, do you fund students? how many of them? for how long, and how much roughly? when do you made decisions? -- only polite..). We're all adults here and we all know that you need money to survive. I'm sure someone has told you this before but it's worth repeating: do NOT get into debt for a degree in the Humanities. This is important, and you need to find out.

Make sure the information is not on the department's website, but if not, I think it's entirely appropriate to email the department and ask. They may not be able to give you precise numbers for the reasons you state, but they can tell you about their policy (e.g., we don't fund MA students; we try to fund everyone we admit; X% of our students are funded through assistantships and Y% have their own funding; we can't make any promises, etc). Ask specifically how many students are *currently* being funded or partially funded by the program, and when in the year funding decisions are made. Ask about the rough/average amount student get. Also if funding is decided again every year or if you're guaranteed funding then it's for the duration of the program. It might help you to know if a school only funds half its students and makes those decisions in July, because that would mean you'd be taking a big risk on such a school, even if it did work out.

Sorry, this reads like a homework assignment, and we are not here to help you cheat. If this is not what it is, please explain.

Apparently so. I doubt this school actually has your scores (I imagine ETS would want you to pay for that pleasure...), just some basic contact info.