fuzzylogician

This. The two programs are very different and there's no basis for comparison here. You need to know which specialization you prefer and which degree you prefer. Ask yourself--what are your goals? Do you need a PhD in order to reach them? If you don't know the answers right now, I think that as Tobson said, the MS might be the better choice. It's shorter and it'll expose you to the field enough for you to know whether or not you want a PhD.

I don't understand. Did you (only) receive an admissions offer from Notre dame, or have you already accepted the offer? It would have made good sense to find out the answers to the questions you asked before applying, and you should definitely know the answers before accepting any offer. Have you tried looking at Notre dame's website? Official rankings? Most schools post information about the success of their recent graduates that will give you a good idea of what you can expect when you graduate from there yourself.

True. I am not looking to be rich (though I wouldn't mind it), just to make a decent living that will support a comfortable life for myself and my family. If I had it my way, I'd like to be a leading scholar in my field and have a TT job at a top-tier university...be awarded many grants, do influential research, mentor students who will outdo me. Nothing much 8).

You need to do some soul searching. You sound unhappy with the school that accepted you, but I suspect at least part of it is due to the shock of the results and the way people react to your decision, not really because of objective factors. You need to decide if you could be happy going to that school and it if can give you the kind of education you want (are you funded, btw?). A poor placement record is a concern not to be taken lightly..Is it based on how recent graduates are doing or on less recent statistics? Your credentials sound like you should have done better than you have--do you know what went wrong? That will be key in deciding whether it's worth reapplying next year. Can you get feedback from places that rejected you so you'll know which parts of the app to work on (maybe you didn't do a good job talking about your past work or connecting in to your future goals? Maybe a one of your letter writers gave you a bad rec)? Does your thesis adviser have an idea why you weren't as successful as you anticipated? It does sound like you did everything right preparation-wise, so I'd be wary of reapplying without having a clear idea of what to improve next year.

Congrats on the decision!!

A mac is out of the question for me because it doesn't offer full support of some of the languages I use, but my friends who don't have this problem all say great things about macs. However, some have been of the opinion that it's not worth spending more on a mac if the only thing I'm going to do with it is surf the internet and use LaTeX/Word. I have a IBM/Lenovo laptop which is 5 years old now and I'm really pleased with it. It's been my only computer throughout the time period and I use it extensively. The battery's been shot for about a year now, but aside from that it's as good as new. I'll probably get a new computer when I move to the States, and I'll probably want it to be a new Lenovo. I'd love to hear what people here recommend.

.

For those of you who live far away from home (=need a transatlantic flight and can't just drop by to visit for the weekend), how often do you think you'll go home to visit? I'm not even worrying about paying for the visits right now, just about knowing how many times a year I can expect to see my loved ones.

Depends. Is it your potential adviser who is ignoring you or someone else? Is this the only thing that's keeping you from saying 'yes'? Have you tried contacting current grads and asking them what they think about the school's communication style? I've had several professors (usually of the older variety ) who respond to emails weeks after they are sent, if at all. But they're great in person and I just needed to figure out that you have to drop by their office or ask their secretary if you need anything urgent. So, if the school is your top choice, is better for your interests and is in a better location than your second choice, and the only thing going against it is not responding to a few emails, I'd say go for it.

Congratulations!!!!

Well, when MIT called to offer me admissions, I a) shout unintelligibly stuttered for a few minutes about my disbelief c) told the DGS she might want to have my phone number to keep in touch while I was visiting in the states, then realized I was talking to her on the phone at that time (so obviously she had the number), then when she laughed I said something like "Oh, never mind" d) she asked me if I had any questions. This was the night before my flight left for the States and I had everything packed, including my list of questions to ask. I told her "no, because I already packed my question list. e) after she laughed again I just said I'll write if anything comes to mind later. I was embarrassed for days, but when I visited she said my reaction was actually very typical :roll: .

.

.

Congrats on the great scores! I think that you don't need to retake the GRE. There's such a discrepancy between your other scores and the AWA score, that there's no way that it alone will be what sinks you acceptance chances. Everyone has weak points in their application, and if this is yours, then you should do just fine . A while back there was a whole thread full of people who got ridiculously low scores on the AWA, maybe you can look it up and commiserate. If you're an international and taking the TOEFL, concentrate on getting a good grade in the writing section there. Otherwise just concentrate on writing a good SOP and writing sample, which will attest to your writing abilities much better than any computerized test ever could. Schools know that the GRE predictions are limited, especially in the writing section, and take your own submitted writing to be much more indicative of your abilities than the AWA score.

.

Then I guess it depends on how well you think you can do on your own in that other field. It sounds like school A is open to your unusual combination and will support you in your endeavor, but you will still have to do some work unmentored, at least until they make that new hire (or did one of your potential advisers express readiness to learn on the go and help you with materials they are less familiar with?) It comes down to this: do you believe that you can forge the way for this new field at school A (which would be very cool in my opinion, btw), or do you need the closer mentoring you will get at school B? Only you know the answer.

I'm missing info like can you handle the debt, how likely are you to get funding next year (and can you survive if you don't) and what are your options if you don't accept this year -- will you be doing anything that will potentially boost your chances of acceptance next year? or working to save money to go unfunded next year if needs be? Also, how excited are you about the program that accepted you? Regardless though, I've been following your posts on thegradcafe and just wanted to say, congratulations on the acceptance!

That does make a difference, but if I understand you correctly it still means that there is only one person at school B who you would consider working with. I don't know about you, but I would be wary of going to a place that had that little choice. What if you end up not getting along with this person, or if he got a new position at another school? You'd be left with no one to guide you. Personally, when I was choosing where to apply, I quickly dismissed schools where I only had one potential adviser, no matter how cool their research. I thought it was too much of a risk.

Congrats to everyone who has decided! Seems like this forum has people going to some pretty awesome places

A. I wouldn't go to a place that only has two faculty in your area of interest and you already know one of the is obnoxious. The paving-of-the-way thing is also cool, if you think you're up to it. It's a great opportunity.

"slow" is a relative term . In my field, almost no one finishes in under 5 years. Of course, it depends on each student's progress in the program, but the consensus seemed to be that only very few students have enough high quality published work to successfully go through job interviews in their third/fourth years, before their dissertation is complete. For most, the profs though that it would be advisable go "slower" - take the 5th year funding, work more on the dissertation, and end up with better prospects of getting a TT position right out of grad school. I'm ambitious (foolish?) enough not to immediately rule out the possibility of finishing in 4 years, but I'll do the 5th year if it'll secure me a better job in the end.

Officially my program has a 4-year timetable, but the professors I talked to there seemed to think that it's usually inadvisable to finish at that pace and it's better to apply for 5th year funding and finish "slower".

Congratulations on making the decision, liszt85! It sounds like you've picked the best option and I hope it works out for you. You seem very down-to-earth so I'm sure it will

Thanks!