fuzzylogician

Yeah, most of these seem to have one obviously correct answer given the context. They don't seem that difficult. I am not sure why you posted these here, especially since you don't seem to want any feedback.

You need to have an actual conversation with your former advisor and *ask* her directly if she would be willing to write you a strong letter, instead of assuming things you don't know. If she won't write a letter or it'll be a weak one, then yes, that will be a red flag and will cause you trouble. It can perhaps be overcome if you have letters from other professors at your former institution who can explain what happened (and you should stop thinking of it as "blame", that won't do you any good). If not, it will indeed be very difficult for you to apply again, and the thing to do might be to get a job in a related industry and get some experience. Once you put some distance between this experience and a future application, it will matter less, assuming you can get strong letters from your employers and maybe an undergrad professor. But yes, it's an uphill battle given this setback. You can still try, but there are no guarantees.

Assuming that you will ask your advisor for a letter of recommendation, the only opinion that matters is your advisor's, not anyone's here. You need to ask her 1) if she will be willing to support your future applications to graduate school, and if so 2) what she will say in her letter of recommendation was the cause for termination. If she says it's finances and she supports your application, that's the best case scenario.* If she will write a letter and say the cause for your leaving is something else, you'll probably have to say some version of the same thing yourself; if you use your SOP to pick a fight with your advisor over the causes for your termination, that will raise a giant glaring red flag. If she won't support your application, that is bad news all around. In that case, having written documentation that the cause was lack of funding sounds good to me; alternatives like bad performance or lack of interest reflect poorly on you but funding leaves you potentially unharmed. You don't want to say something entirely inconsistent with what she says, because even if she doesn't write you a letter, someone might still contact her to ask about you. *BTW, despite the fact that you seem to think that these two reasons ('lack of interest' and 'lack of funding') are completely unrelated, I don't think they are. Imagine she lost funding and had to choose which of her students to let go. Reason would have it that she would choose a student who she thinks doesn't fit in her lab and/or isn't doing a good job. Sounds like that's the opinion she had of you, and in that case 'lack of interest' is much better than 'not doing a good job'.

I don't know if you could but I probably would not recommend it. At some point you should really stop taking courses and concentrate on your research. In addition, on the technicalities side, the last thing you want is not to be able to graduate because that last course you were counting on suddenly isn't being offered and you're in a bind because it's your last year. Not to mention trying to go on interviews while taking classes. Not advisable.

My program had 13 required courses that everyone had to take, plus you had to choose a specialization and those will want you to take about 4-5 additional courses. There can be *some* overlap between the two (say 1-2 courses), so let's say at a minimum everyone takes 15 courses, some more like 16-17. This obviously comes with the expectation that students take courses in their third year, and most will be done by their fourth year (some already in the spring of the 3rd year): 8 in first year, then usually 2-3 per semester starting in second year until you're done. Not all courses are equally difficult; this includes two "workshop" courses where students present their own work, one semester of "independent study" in first year which is an opportunity to get started on research, and a "survey" course in first year that varies from year to year but isn't new material but rather more in depth discussion of topics that fall outside the core curriculum, faculty talking about their own work, etc. But yes, the heavy course load was often a subject of complaints at my department.

You need to schedule a meeting with him when he returns from his vacation and go over both your concerns with him in detail. I can't decide if you think he'll just continue despite being proven wrong or that he'll just get mad at you. The fact that he doesn't take your word that there is a serious problem that should cause him to pull the plug on the project because of an email doesn't sound surprising to me, the question is how seriously he takes it and how he handles it when he's back. You don't say how far along you are in your program but it seems to me that the best thing you can do is go over the details to convince yourself you're right and then talk to him and take it from there. If he is upset that a lot of time and effort have been wasted because of this mistake, he may have a valid point and you'll just have to deal with it. It could be a good opportunity to rethink your process to see if you can understand why it took so long to discover the mistake and if there is anything you could have done differently that would have led to a better outcome. If he isn't convinced and can show you why you're wrong and there is really no problem, again it is a learning opportunity. And if you can't become convinced that the project can proceed but your advisor still wants to go ahead, that's when you have a decision to make, but again, I think that's a ways away from a real concern right now.

I don't think there is a reason to be in panic mode just yet. The conference is a few months out. That should be more than enough time to figure out if there are mistakes and to either find a way to fix them or withdraw from the conference. You should not present something that you do not want to put your name on. I may be reading between the lines here, but it sounds to me like you worry that your advisor will dismiss your concerns. I hope that you are wrong and your advisor takes you seriously and can either show you that there is nothing to worry about, or fix whatever needs fixing (or scrap the project if the mistake makes it a non-starter). If your advisor insists on continuing and you no longer believe in the validity of the results, then you may not have a choice except to ask to remove your name from the work; it may not be your choice what happens to the project. But this all sounds a little premature, given that there is still a lot of time to deal with this, and you haven't heard back from your advisor yet. Since he's on vacation, I think he is within his rights not to respond to email and not to try to understand your concerns just now. When he's back, that's when you should talk to him. That said, (to address something else in your post) I don't think that presenting something that is ultimately found to be wrong is inherently bad -- everyone makes mistakes or works off of limited and imperfect data/assumptions, and that is how science progresses. You argue against others all the time and that doesn't mean that you don't respect their work, just because you have a better method or new way to interpret data or new data that leads to a different conclusion. Best that you can do is argue what you believe to be correct based on the evidence in front of you at the time you make the argument. The crucial bit is being convinced you are correct when you make the argument, based on a good faith effort to interpret the data, even if later something changes. Of course that is different presenting something you believe to be wrong, which I don't think you should do.

Nope. I am locking this thread.

That can vary so much, there is no way we can help you without knowing the specific scholarship you have in mind. But more generally, scholarships, grants, and other awards tend to have very detailed explanations of the application process on their websites, so usually all you have to do is go online and all your questions will be answered. If you're applying for the first time and know someone who's won the same scholarship, the best thing you can do is reach out to that person and ask to see their (successful) application. That will give you the best idea of what the selection committee will be looking for.

This is a question for the international students office at Northwestern. I know at my school some international students got their third Hepatitis B shot in the US after they arrived and started studying. That may be possible at your school too, but you'll have to check with them, and it may be expensive, depending on your health insurance.

In 300 words I'd concentrate on stating what you want to study and why, expanding on one previous experience that contributed to this decision, preferably chosen in a way that makes your path to this decision clear and jives with the school in a way that helps demonstrate fit, then conclude with a more explicit discussion of fit. For the grades, maybe a LOR writer can help, or maybe there is another place where you can upload a "supplemental essay" or find a place to write a short blurb in the application where it is relevant.

Did you ask for comments? Did you ask to meet with the professors to go over your papers? You should do that. Often students write these papers because they have to and they don't really care about the work and will never pursue it further, so some professors have a policy of "talk to me if you want feedback" and sure enough, the majority of students never reach out. So professors learn from that that it's generally a waste of time and effort to comment on these required class papers. If the students do care, they'll ask for feedback and they'll pursue the work outside the classroom setting. (And as an aside, I'm not entirely sure why you would think that carefully reading and commenting on 20 graduate level papers is not an "issue of volume." That's a lot of work, and it is frustrating if you feel like most of it is wasted.)

fixed!

I think you want to separate the question of whether you want to pursue your PhD from whether you want to then continue in academia. Maybe what you're realizing is that this is not the life for you, and that perfectly alright. Given the job market in pretty much every field out there, it may even be the wiser choice. I think you should probably spend some time thinking about what other careers are out there for you and what would make you happy. This soul searching process can be lengthy and difficult, but I think it's more than worth it. There are probably also resources online and at your university's career center to help the process along. Once you have some idea of what you might want to do next, if it's not academia (which at the moment it sounds like it isn't), then the question becomes what the alternative is, and what training you'll need to have in order to get that kind of job. This is actually a good time to be having these thoughts, as it's still early enough that you can add courses or change your training to make yourself more marketable in other professions as well. And then finally the question will be if the PhD is necessary/helpful or not, and if it's not going to help at all, whether you want to complete it anyway for whatever personal reason or simply to finish what you started. It's easier when the end is in sight. This is a very personal decision, but I think what's important is that changing your goals and even deciding you don't want to pursue your PhD anymore is not a failure, it's a natural and healthy part of growing up and being an adult. On the other hand, bad times where you don't like your research anymore is something that probably happens to everyone at some point, so this is why it's important to explore these feelings and decide if they are just a natural part of working on your dissertation and they'll soon pass, or if they are more general and persistent. It's hard to know for sure which it is without knowing you better.

And if WSU is Washington State University, then all of this information is already available on their website, it's not even hard to find. If it's Wichita, see here (also easily finable): http://webs.wichita.edu/?u=aero_eng&p=/newstudentadvising/

A lot of these questions will depend on the particular department you will be at. Most departments in my field have a sort of "graduate student handbook" or at least information on their websites about degree requirements, and those would include things like how many courses you have to take (from which it's pretty easy to calculate an average course load per semester). It's hard to tell you how much time you should spend on each class, it would depend on factors like how many credits it is, how much work is assigned, how prepared you are to take it, etc. The credit system varies across universities; in any event, though, you earn the credits for a course if you successfully complete it. That includes in-class time and time for homework, so you don't "earn 1h30" for attending the class (that terminology doesn't make sense to begin with, you each credits, not hours). These are all things you should be asking your department. Same goes for picking courses. Assuming you actually get to choose (in some programs the first year courses are fixed), there will be a course catalog somewhere online that tells you what courses are available. You can browse and pick your preferences. Then you may want/need to consult with your advisor, and you can sign up for courses, either online or using a paper form (depending on the school, again!). You will also have to ask your department about language courses. They don't have to allow them, especially not if they interfere with your ability to take your required courses in time (plus, taking two language courses is probably at least one too many--they are a *lot* of work). In short: contact your department. The department admin person should be able to easily handle all of these questions.

The grades themselves usually shouldn't be a problem. He should write about his experience teaching you and having you in his lab; the grades sound like they are from unrelated classes, and not something he has any reason to write about in the first place. He may be disappointed by them, but hopefully he would still have a high opinion of you and agree to write a positive letter. This is something you'll have to gauge when you ask him -- is he enthusiastic or reluctant? I'd imagine that even with the lower grades, if you've been doing well in his lab, he should still be able to support your application. That said, if he discovers that you are lying or hiding information from him, that might be a different story. I would suggest not doing anything that would be construed as misleading, because that definitely will color his opinion of you, and not in a good way.

I have no knowledge that would help here, but it seems to me that it would make more sense to first identify schools that would be a good research match, and then investigate their disabilities office further. Those schools might be easier to identify (at least on this board) because there are more sources of information that could help. In general, no matter how good the resources at a school are, I don't think that going to a school that doesn't actually have a department or advisor to that could support your research would be a good idea.

The reason you didn't get a lot of responses is precisely the fact that the qualifying exam procedure can vary greatly from program to program (and in the case of your prior post, of course there will also be substantial differences across fields!). It's hard to tell you something that we know will be helpful. Here are some older discussions that may be relevant:

You should figure this out ASAP, but personally I would not take on this much debt for a MA in the social sciences. To answer your questions: 1. It's not too late, but you should inform the school as soon as you can make up your mind, if you choose to withdraw. You are not funded, and you need to put your own interests first. I don't think this is "backing out" but instead it's making a financially sound decision. 2. I would probably contact the head of the department or the DGS (whoever you've been in contact with about your admissions decision), and of course also the advisor. Explain your decision and ask them if there are any other steps you need to take in order to officially withdraw (did you sign any papers when you accepted the offer?). If they aren't sure, also contact the graduate school itself (maybe do it anyway to be safe). I think the best way to explain it is as a financial decision. Say you have spent the past several weeks trying to make this work financially, since you did not receive (adequate) funding, but you've now come to the realization that it's not feasible, given other obligations and your current circumstances. You are very sorry, but you don't see any way you can attend the program [next year] (leave a door open by asking about a deferral if there is any chance the funding decisions could be rethought next year). Apologize for any inconvenience this may cause and say you wanted to let them know as soon as you made this decision, and that you regret not being able to be there and take advantage of all the opportunities the program has to offer. Thank them for their time and for considering your application, say you appreciate everything they've done.

I am not an expert in scoring GRE essays but based on the descriptions the ETS gives, I'd probably put you at 2.5. There are some repeated problems with your grammar, though your sentence structure itself is generally ok. You only give one example and it's pretty hard to follow. The second paragraph is too short and vague, and doesn't say anything new that wasn't already said in the first paragraph. Your third paragraph sort of makes a new point, but then circles back to a point you had made before, and you don't tie those two ideas together. It's not clear why the 4th paragraph is a separate paragraph, it seems like a direct continuation of the last sentence of the previous paragraph, and again this repeats an idea that you had already discussed previously. It's also too short. Finally, your conclusion doesn't directly address the question you started out with, although we can extrapolate from what you write what your opinion would be (but it'd be better if you explicitly spell it out, since that is the task at hand).

Yes, you have to file taxes in the US. Even if your income is not taxable, you're probably still safer filing, to avoid any problems with the IRS. In fact, your school might withhold taxes from your income even if you are exempt and you will have to get them back as a refund. In some cases you'll be able to get a SSN when you move and in others maybe not, and if that is the case you'll ask for a ITIN when you file your taxes for the first time. Either way, you are most definitely not the first student to ever be in this situation and, despite being difficult, your school most definitely does know how to deal with this. It might be easiest to talk with someone on the phone to figure this out.

I don't think the "I'll look like a know-it-all" is a real concern that has anything to do with publishing early. You can give off that vibe without any publications and not give it off with publications; it's about how you carry yourself, not whether you have a paper in print anywhere. The important question to ask yourself is whether you are proud of the work and how it would represent you. This is a question you can only answer given the evidence in front of you now. If you are happy with it, I don't see a reason not to pursue publication, unless a trusted advisor tells you not to and has a reason you find compelling. It may indeed be the case that later you are unhappy with the paper because of the level of writing, the content, where it's published, etc.* There is somewhat of a risk, but hopefully it will be diminished by the fact that you will first consult an advisor about whether this is something you'd want out there representing you, and that you'll get feedback from teachers and reviewers on the actual work. * This could happen later in your career too, of course. The hope is that it's less likely as you become more experienced. This is why it's important to get advice from an experienced professor who should be able to tell you if the paper in question is something you'd want out there representing you or not.

This. I was about to write the exact same thing. I brought cash and my parents wired me some money once I had set up my account (without a SSN I might add*), and that was enough to pay for those early big expenses. I also chose to wait until after I got my first paycheck (= at the end of the first month of my program, and about a month and a half after I moved) with everything that wasn't strictly necessary, under the thinking that I should settle down a bit and develop a routine before I can really know what I need as opposed to what I only think I need. It was a good decision for me. I don't know if it saved me money, but it definitely led to somewhat different choices than I would have made if I had purchased everything immediately after moving. * I was also able to get a credit card with a somewhat low limit immediately after opening my account. You might be able to do the same, or get a secured card.

The easiest and safest but perhaps not the cheapest way to transfer money is a wire transfer. There will be fees, both for converting the money from USD to your local currency and for the transfer (the first you'll pay anyway under any option). I'd look into the fees and compare them to the ATM fee, which is the next best option for safety. Keep in mind that the conversion rate the bank will charge might be different than the ATM's and than your home bank's. The money order option will be cheaper but comes with a much greater risk. Only you can decide how to weigh the extra fee against your peace of mind, and it will also depend on how much money you are moving around. I would personally go with the wire transfer, that way you could do it enough time in advance to allow you to also close your account while you're still in the States, which the ATM option won't allow. I'd prefer to pay the extra fee than carry a money order with me, for the sake of my sanity.