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Another option is to ask her to apply to a program too. That will give her work authorization at the end of her program. Ofcourse, this might work out expensive for her though. As fuzzylogician has mentioned - J1 is rarely issued , F1 is the more common student visa. As your dependent , She can apply for F-2, but she will not be able to study or work in the United States on F-2 status.

NinjaMermaid: Thank You so much! I tyed this added resource to the keyword list and I can already see much better results. does the word resource make so much difference

rising_star : Yes, I have a few broad ideas in my mind but I'm not able to find much in any journals! I might have to keep looking.

I need to come up with a proposal for a master's level thesis and I have some topics in mind but no structure. I have asked my grad advisor to point me to some journals. She will get back the following week. In the meanwhile, I was thinking what I could do to find soem articles or some thing at all. I'm in the Computer Science field, if that matters. Also, how long did you take to come up with ideas? I probably have 2 months to put forth the proposal. Thank You.

I hear you! I'm dealing with the same thing now. But I must admit, my issues seem very small as compared to yours. Here are some things that I do : I usually walk down to my gym and do cardio for 20 minutes. This helps me burn fat and stress. I start browisng the internet for some topics that I enjoy reading about, or I grad a book if I can go to my local library. Some times, I do a a very funny thing - I sleep - Yes, it some how helps me wake up and deal better with stress.

Thanks for your perspective as an expectant father, that is also an important thing. And I'm happy to read your post.

Yes , even I feel that babies are so wonderful and also a family is more important than many things. I would definitely need a solid plan in place wrt husband's help,grad advisors etc. Otherwise, there is going to be a lot of stress.

I'm going to try and reply to each of you ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I totally agree that pregnancy can be unpredicatable, and that's my only fear. Especially, I've seen most women have a hard time in the first trimester.

HAPPY NEW YEAR to all of you I'm in the middle of my M.S program - just completed one semester- and 2 more to go. So hopefully I gradaute in Fall 2012. I'm doing the program full-time, 12 credits. My Husband and me had always thought that 2012 would be the year for us to have a baby.And 2012 is here!I'm excited for sure because this is something we planned way back in 2009 and I never knew I'd be in this program then. So that's a little back ground. Coming to my question - anyone here have any thoughts on being pregnant during the program( and when actively taking courses)? I could definitely post pone this plan and wait until I graduate but then that's going to be harder on me I feel - job search when pregnant is almost a wasted cause - so I figured I might as well get this done in School. I'm only worried that any form of sickness might keep me from attending classes or going for exams. Your thoughts/feelings? any one who experienced this? I'm excited to hear anything.

Thanks emmm, that was so helpful! Happy new year

Thanks guys! I'm more confident now I would want to hand it in , so a simple and elegant paper put inside an envelope is good enough ? I first thought of a card but then I decided against it and I want to go with a simple paper.

I had two really nice professors this Fall 2011 Semester and it was a pleasure taking classes with them. they were not only knowledgeable about their respective fields but also very dedicated to their job. My question is: is it appropriate to send them Thank you notes or go hand-in thank you notes? Will it feel awkward? I'm not sure but I really want to let them know that I enjoyed the course and also learnt a lot! Has any of you done this?

You sound as though you get a little nervous in public speaking. This is natural and happens with me too. The trick is to be really prepared for the first few slides. This will allow the audience to engage with you and also allow you to get confident. Memorizing might help some but for me I lose track and then end up only saying 50% of what I had planned. Practice a couple of times in your home/with a friend. You could try writing for the next couple of times. Just write out key words that will help you develop your presentation.

Any one here who is pursuing a PhD in business and/or related fields? I am thinking of getting a PhD in bsuiness after a few years. Currently I'm in a master;s program(not really a business program though). I wanted some inputs on the the life after a PhD,specifically in business? I would imagine that most jobs out there are for under grads and many for grad students (MS) but what about those in PhD programs? Is academia the only choice(which is ok with me). Any thoughts will b helpful to me.

Relocation is a relatively hard decision. I say relative because it gets harder if you are married and/or have kids, a job etc. You will have to develop your own social circle all over again in the new city. That said, I think relocation gives us a chance to grow intellectually and experience things outside out comfort zone. Some other factors that go into this decision may be weather, economy, location, cost of living etc in the new city/country. Good Luck

Can we not come up with pur own topics for master's programs? After reading these posts I was wondering if it is necessary to follow the advisor.

So I met with my advisor and few other professors too. Here's what I have: We can choose the topic or work on a current topic(current with some professor) and register for the thesis course as 3-credits or 6-credits. So this gets counted toward the degree. We then start work on the thesis document . So typically, 3-credit work is one semester worth of work and then one semester to write the thesis. hopefully, we could be done in a 2 semesters. There is no 'official' audience for our defence. it is just the advisor and the Dept chair and sometimes even this does not happen. so eventually the thesis is usually accepted. I also looked into the comprehensive exam option and looks like its not so bad either. The questions are of the same level that are asked in the final exam of that particular area. I have another option too: do the research for credit and then choose not to do the thesis but instead write up a short report and then sit for the exam. This is also an option and the advantage is I would not need to come up with intensive writing.

Oh so now I know the reason. Sorry, but when I spoke to my Grad advisor he said students can switch and I never asked him why. i assumed it is because courses are similar

Thank You for your observation on this. I see the point now - people are the same anywhere,inside school or outside and I understand that .But I know some people are not loners but they still don't want to socialize with our classmates(not only me but even with others). That thought got me to this post. I wonder why. Sigh!!!

My M.S. program is a small one with just 20-25 students in each class(not a cohort class). Most are working full-time and so they come in just before class starts and leave soon after class too. There is hardly any interaction outside of class. A couple of people whom I talk to are nice. Recently one class mate met the grad advisor and made her coursework plans. I can meet with the grad advisor too and get this done, infact I've already met him a couple of times, but is it not 'expected' that you share your course work plans with other students(atleast the ones u talk too). This person instead behaves rudely when asked about coursework. I would love to have her in my classes,atleast some of them, in my future semesters. But this person seems so 'independent' that it confuses me. I don't have any other so-called-friends and no one seems interested to strike a friendly covnersation. I mean its not like I'm dying to make friends. I have my people outside class but woudn't it be nice to have friends in classes too? are friendship offers always dismissed in grad school? or is it meant to be an independent journey?

I have an interesting observation related to your post. Some students in my program seem to know it all and find many courses a waste of time. These students have gained knowledge through other degree or work experience or self study and for them sitting through courses i a frustration and they tell me the reason is to get the degree and continue with life. I'm, on the other hand, learning a lot of things and I find the courses very useful. But a point to be noted is am in a computer science program and so we do not have the labs that you are talking about.

I agree with the other posters here. Switching majors is not allowed. But switching tracks or degrees within the same Dept may be allowed. For example, my school offers a mathematics degree and a statistics degree and both are grad degrees with 70% same courses. Students are therefore allowe to switch programs between these two at any point.

I'm going to meet my grad advisor today and will come back and report what he says. Thanks to all of you , for giving me food for thought

Call them however they want to be called. In my Dept, we call them "professor xxx" or just "professor". No one uses only the forst name.

Well, that's me! I do find one course really challenging but the other three turned out just as I imagines. I'm taking 12 credits and one hard course is definitely giving me a hard time. Another concern for me, I definitely want all A's and looks like that's not going to happen despite the fact that I read up so much and go into the exam. This especially happens with those courses in which I have no interest!