timuralp

actually, it has most other things you're used to, but you'd have to figure out the text commands to do that. Eh, I don't know, I like IRC And freenode is an IRC server. On each IRC server you have a number of channels (think chat rooms). I made one #gradschool (all the channel names are #). you need an IRC client, like mIRC and a bunch of others too. What's your operating system (e.g. windows, OS X, Linux, etc)?

yea, i suppose it was. well, i idle there, i.e. do other work while it's open. If you want my attention, say timur and the thing will catch my eye

Ok, well, I made a #gradschool channel on freenode... people should join it

This has spun out of control (the discussion that ensued). Anyway, this varies by discipline very highly. For instance, in 2007 two assistant professors at the University of Massachusetts Amherst in computer science earned 122k and 117k (http://www.bostonherald.com/projects/pa ... e.ASC/UMS/ - it's hard to search by department, since you can't do that...but the two I looked up were Corner and Fu, if you want to verify). They are assistant professors, not tenured. A 3rd year prof made 118k (look up Diao; also assistant). Obviously, this varies by state and department... For comparison, an assistant professor in anthropology (Sugarmen) made 72k in 2007. A conversation about the discrepancy between sciences and humanities is a whole different topic and let's not go there...

Haha I suppose I should've replied earlier. I got one of those letters last year too. Essentially, don't worry about it. They should've sent you something else that reads along these lines: "The Assistantship appointment, regardless of assignment, is renewable for an additional four years subject to academic progress and evaluation of your assistantship duties as indicated by departmental and supervisor

I wore khakis, a polo or a button down shirt and a sweater (places I visited were mostly cold). Make sure your shoes are comfortable for walking a lot... If you choose to wear jeans, no one would fault you

State universities are required to publish the salaries of the employees. You can look up what the profs are making right now. Here's the information for Michigan, for example: http://errwpc.umdl.umich.edu/public/3/3/1/3314612.html

since U-M visit weekend is in March (early March sometime, 7th or 9th or something), you should hear around mid-February at the latest...

As long as any of you are planning to partake in the free food, pizza will be the #1 choice

wait, what? you could log the conversations, easily. The real question is how difficult searching it would be, but then again, I feel a lot of questions end up being reiterated anyway, so you could include a bot to answer those

and it varies by discipline...

I'll only say to be slightly wary of those. For instance, a school to remain unnamed was consistently ranked highly in a subfield, even though they had only one faculty member working in it, but it had a big name. A not as well known school was ranked a bit lower, but actually did more research in the area Anyway, I just grabbed the top-20 rankings, that are not actually published (a prof gave them to me from a recent survey within the discipline), took them to 3 professors, and had them tell me where to apply. To answer the original question, the subfield rankings are the ones that matter. No one cares if your school doesn't have a big name, because your subfield is small and everyone knows each other, anyway. You should go wherever your research potential will be realized fullest and subfield rankings are a better indicator.

Since there seems to be consensus one way, I'll play devil's advocate a little. First, I can relate, since for me the choice was between 4 schools. One of them was where I did undergrad and knew the faculty. From talking to professors, they all told me "I would like you to stay and work with you, but you should leave." The reasoning for it was that branching out academically is important in being trained to think in a different mindset, meet new researchers, and be exposed to new techniques and thought patterns. Actually, while I was still trying to figure it out, the professor I was working for at the time, came in the lab and said "You're not coming here, are you? Because I already told the admissions director you won't attend". When I explained I wasn't sure, his response was "look, unless you have a wife or some other factor that makes it absolutely necessary to stay here, you should go elsewhere." It helped that all of the schools matched my interests well and I ended up going to the one where I thought I'd fit in better (big, R1 school, with reputation). The first two months I spent wondering if I made the right choice, since no one knew me, and until you prove yourself, it's hard, but after it got easier, as I got in the groove of research, etc. Take it or leave it and I'm sure you'll make a good choice. Sounds like they're both good choices

I love that you don't actually say what's wrong with CS P.S. You do realize entry level game design is pretty much the worst employment for a programmer in the industry?

I did apply, but being already in gradschool, I have other things to obsess over, like getting the research done and still passing classes

Hey, Thought I'd throw this out there. If any of you guys got accepted to U-M and have questions, let me know, as I might be able to answer some of them. I figured it might be a helpful topic to start

well, I don't think getting your last letters around the beginning of March is such a big deal. You won't be making a decision until April anyway (unless you cram in all the visits early)... I sent in my decision on the 7th last year, and by then had plenty of time to weigh all the options

Well, I recently had the same debate for next year, but then realized no one cares. My funding's through the graduate school and is guaranteed for the next 5 years. When I applied, it wasn't required for any universities and didn't seem to affect the funding (I got funding at every school that accepted me for PhD). Having said that, I don't see how it would hurt you, but I won't qualify for any grants and the only fellowships I can get are things like NSF GRFP, NDSEG, or similar, which are not need based.

Like most things, this depends on the program you're in.Your earnings don't make any difference in the CS programs, since you're funded through an advisor or department and they assume you would be here full-time, i.e. need funding. I didn't fill out the FAFSA for any of the applications and right now I have a scholarship from the graduate school, which was merit based, as I far as I can tell. Don't know what department you're in. Good luck.

Not to disagree, but the prosecution has to prove your knowledge of the incident, which is often quite a difficult task, unless you do something stupid like have a record of the conversation... so, conviction becomes difficult, not to say that hit and runs or scams shouldn't be reported.

I never said "likely". Thank you for arguing about something that doesn't matter and, well, is obvious (can't be certain though; maybe the course at hand is pre-algebra and statistics show most McDonald's employees have completed it). Sure. Given that both have the same degrees, you still differentiate between instructors. Someone who has taught a course 10 might times will presumably be better qualified to teach it 11th time than someone who's never taught it before or someone with no teaching experience. Wait, the point that it's possible for a McDonald's employee or a professor's wife (by the way, that's a little sexist ) to be equally qualified is the point?! Whoa, ok, I'm sorry, I didn't realize that was the issue at hand. Yea, I was arguing that the analogy was horrendous, not that McDonald's employees should grade exams. It was just an off-hand remark that some of them could be qualified, trying to point out that blanket statements like that should be avoided. And I explained why I wouldn't care. If the exam is graded fairly and correctly, I have no complaints as to how the grading occurred. If the exam was graded incorrectly, I can complain and will get it graded it correctly, hence I don't see an issue here. First of all, this is obvious and tangential to my point, but to appease you, here is an excerpt from a professor on it: "There are a few academics at the Indian IITs that are well known in some fields. This means that although letters from your college are required, they may not be very helpful if the person who wrote it is not known in the US. It is very well known in the USA that foreign students often write their own letters and have professors sign them. This makes them mostly useless, unless that person is internationally known and trusted to write their own letters." (http://prisms.cs.umass.edu/mcorner/cs-admissions). He has been on a number of admissions committees, but if you take issue with this, please address him, not me. And yes, they do not carry much weight, as you can tell. Yes, it is. I was only pointing out that people are getting all up in arms about the wrong things. It's not the fact that she wrote the letter. It's the fact that she forged the signature, which is NOT the same as someone else grading your exam, while the professor still takes the responsibility for it. P.S. Oftentimes the graders are students who previously took the class and received an acceptable grade. Does that guarantee their qualifications? Hmm...

Actually, the said professor's wife may be as equally or even more qualified to grade the final exams. Same goes for the McDonald's employees... But that's beside the point. The point is that your metaphor is ridiculously wrong. Here is why. The signature of the professor at the bottom means he/she takes responsibility for the fairness of the grading. If the exam is graded incorrectly, you can take the exam with the said signature and present it to the department chair (or the dean, if you have to) and raise a stink big enough to seriously damage that professors career. So, yes, I would be fine with that - after all, that signature means I have rights to complain... It is common practice in certain countries for students to write their own letters and the professors rubber stamp them. Is it wrong? Not really - their signature means they take responsibility for the content. The problem in this particular case is not the content, but that the professors never signed the letters, nor have they seen them. If you're going to be outraged, please be outraged for the right reasons. Anyway, I still maintain that if these professors are known in the field, the faculty reviewing the letters will ask them at some point. If they are not, well, those letters aren't worth very much. I think it's fair to bring the issue to the department chair, but after that, it's up to his/her discretion, so there is no reason to get worked up about it. Also, why not mention this incident to the professors in the letters? Seems they have the most to lose in this case anyway and nothing to gain. Of course, if you don't know them, that may be an issue. I'm just glad every school and every fellowship I applied for does electronic letters of recommendation and verification becomes pretty easy

Well, in my field we didn't have interviews and visits were more about the university trying to convince us to come. We spent the time talking with faculty about what they do, their interests, their mentoring style, etc. It wasn't an interrogation of any kind

Actually, it's doable to get around UMass and Amherst without it, but it helps. If you live close to campus, you can take the PVTA to Big Y. The downtown is only 20 minutes away walking from the university. Even when I had a car, I still took the bus to campus most days, because it's free and runs every 15 minutes, until 6 pm and then every half hour. You can check the bus routes online.

well, my rent runs about $800/month, which translates into $9600/year. Then the bills are about $150/month. But I live alone, so that's the price I pay. I could survive on $16k probably, without changing the place I live in. But you're right, I could probably live on 10k and find a cheaper place. I'd just have to make sure I don't have any unforeseen expenses, like car repairs.