aradia

My girlfriend is moving into UIUC in a couple of days, but her flight and bus schedule seems to leave her in the middle of the campus at 11:30pm or so, and she has to go to her house some 20 minute walk away in Urbana. She figures she will call a cab or something, but I'm still worried because it's a new town at night, with a *lot* of luggage! So... can anyone comment on the safety of the situation? How dangerous would it be if a girl was to be walking or waiting for a cab on Lincoln ave. alone at night? (There seems to be a program at the campus police department where volunteers walk with you, but they don't seem to answer emails...) Thanks everyone in advance!

Thanks everyone for the replies!! It seems I must cancel my Canada trip... I guess I shouldn't gamble with my visa status... *sniffle* (But just to clarify, my 'enter US in no later than' date is still somewhat far off. It would still be too dangerous right?) Again, thank you bhikhaari, kalapocska and fuzzylogician! You guys may have prevented me from being stranded in Canada!

Hello, I'm a new PhD student who just entered the US with an F1 visa. I have a short trip to Canada planned(already payed and everything!) before semester begins, but I just discovered that the university has to add additional endorsements to my I-20 for me to reenter US. (Or to leave at all? I'm not sure...) However, I think my ESTA visa waver program I requested for the visiting weekend is still valid, so I'm wondering if it would be possible for me to go on the trip to Canada and reenter into the US using the visa waver program. I couldn't find the answer to my question in the embassy FAQ pages, so I'm wondering if I should just cancel the trip or not. Any help would be greatly appreciated!! Thank you in advance!

Hello, I'm an international CS PhD admit who is now worried about my girlfriend's admission process. (When will the admission worrying end? *sob*) My girlfriend is applying for an M.Ed program, and so far got accepted to UIUC. She's still waiting for Boston College and Rutgers, and has some high hopes about them. However, people from UIUC sent her acceptance letters saying she needs to make a decision by April 1st. (And this does mean she needs to make a decision before midnight, April 1st. Right?) This is worrying because she really wants to go to Rutgers, but don't think the results will be out that soon. (She had an interview with a professor and he said he'll let her know by the weekend) She sent emails to both schools asking to delay the decision/quicker announcement, but no replies yet... So... What should she do with this situation? No option but to risk it or play safe? I know it's probably a mean thing to do, not to mention a possibly bad tactic, but is it possible to accept an offer, and cancel it later?

I have nightmares about this one! :,(

Thank you for your reply starmaker =) It's just that everyone I've seen going abroad had such perfect profiles... (And my professor tells me scary tales of under qualified students-_-) I don't want to end up aiming too much out of my league, and I have very little idea of what league that might be ^^; The document you linked mentions that I should pick some 'safe' schools as well, I suppose I should start trying to figure out what that range might be. Thanks again for your reply!

Hi I'm a CS undergrad in Korea planning to apply for a phD in the US. I have a somewhat lopsided profile, so I was hoping someone could help me figure out what kind of chances I have =) Thanks to everyone in advance!! So, here goes. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Field of interest: Distributed embedded systems. School: SNU, Korea (Best one in Korea ^^) Undergrad in Computer Science GPA: 3.6/4.3(3.5x/4.0) Major GPA: 3.7/4.3(3.6x/4.0) (Funny thing is, I did fairly well in areas of interest, embedded/parallel systems and such(most are A+s) but I tend to do poorly in areas like PL...) GRE: V:760/Q:800/A:4.5 TOEFL:116 Publications: 2nd and 3rd author in a lesser-known international conference 1st author in a domestic conference. Translated 3 security-related books into Korean I have some more research experience that didn't result in a paper... ;( Work experience: Led a team during a single-semester project with Samsung (predicting heart disease from ECG data). 2 years as leader of security team at a big computer game company. LoR: I have 3 letters from Korean professors I did research with. I think they're pretty good^^ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ I have no idea what level of schools will be realistic for me... although I'm also going to try my luck at some of the top ones as well (you never know^^; maybe my heartfelt SOP will impress someone) So... any kind of feedback, including criticism will be valued greatly. Thanks again to everyone in advance!