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Hey! I'm also a Londoner moving to Cambridge in Aug for a Phd at Harvard's GSAS. Have you guys looked into shipping at all? Bit of a headache!!

My two cents- i'm at university in england (cambridge) and ucl has a reputation LEAGUES AND LEAGUES above the other two, soas is thought of well but just not as well known. rhul noone takes particularly serious. ucl is in an incredibly great part of london, not campus-oriented per se but the whole area is fantastic. ucl is very very prestigious here, seen to be in the top top ranks. the others arent really at all hope this helps

my two cents is that research experience isn't the be all and end all, i got into harvard and chicago fresh out of undergrad (im finishing this summer) with not one single day's worth of research- not even for my senior thesis. i'd apply to anywhere you would hope to go, you never know! that's what happened to me anyway

Hey, I'm international, from the UK. It is true about state schools being tougher to get into as internationals, even top top programs like Wisconsin and Berkeley. As pointed out on this thread, private universities don't care a bit, so they look more promising! My two offers are from private schools as well! Good luck!

Hey Poppy, I'm planning on living on campus actually in the GSAS halls, just for the first year- I'm finishing up my undergrad right now so I don't feel that halls type accommodation is unreasonable for me, plus it comes with the added bonus of incredible proximity to my faculty and also a ready made social life for the first few weeks! Where are you thinking of living? What program are you in?

ah that would make sense about ucla as i haven't heard from them either, although their acceptances went up on the results tab nearly a whole month ago! although equally no-one has posted a rejection yet which is quite strange, and i think in past years theyve done rejections for my program by email. ha this process leaves itself open to FAR TOO MUCH overthinking!! where else did you apply? ucla would be AMAZING (im guessing my de facto rejection means it's not on my cards, but still!) do you all your programs interview?

did you reply to many schools ikatticus? have you heard from any yet? i'm also in UK and the time difference nearly drove me out of my mind. also i got a letter from an east coast school six days after it was postmarked just for an estimate of transit times! but i had heard from them by phone before which was ok, most schools won't send notification primarily or only by letter i think! all the best

did you reply to many schools ikatticus? have you heard from any yet? i'm also in UK and the time difference nearly drove me out of my mind. also i got a letter from an east coast school six days after it was postmarked just for an estimate of transit times! but i had heard from them by phone before which was ok, most schools won't send notification primarily or only by letter i think! all the best

I would say it means you're in category B- most arts/humanities programs (inc languages) could never find the time and manpower to interview each and every applicant! What usually happens in my understanding is a process of 'shortlisting'- a few top candidates are contacted for interview and then the final admits are selected from that much narrower pool. I had an interview for one of my schools (although interestingly everyone interviewed on this site then got an offer, which could maybe imply category A- even though that certainly wasn't clear at the time!!). Apparently they did 20 interviews from 260 applicants, for 10 places- so you can see how by being interviewed your odds are significantly better! Good luck!

Hey Guys, As far as I know, and based on my own experience this year- internationals are equally eligible for university based funding. We are not eligible for NSF/Javits type fellowships, but you shouldn't have a problem getting funding just because you're not a US citizen. The two offers I got this year both came with full funding (plus money to help pay visa processing etc). The exception you might encounter is some state universities (in my case UCLA and UC Berkeley)- as schools like this actually DO favour US nationals for the reason that if I am from eg Missouri, I can register as a California resident and then the Cali govt cover the fees. If I am not a US national, I can never register as a California resident, which directly costs the school about $30-40,000 in tuition. BUt in general, private schools who fund most or all of their incoming doctoral students are your best bet, as they don't differentiate. Hope this helps!

I was wondering- do many people in Cambridge cycle? Are there places to buy bikes? Would I even need one? Thanks!

Hey Tufnel, Haven't fully decided but I'm about 90% sure, and I'm planning on attending the visit day. Are you GSAS or HKS?

Anyone know any good places to stay in Cambridge? I'm going out for visit day, and I get put up with current grads but I'm planning to stay a little longer as I'm international and want to explore Cambridge for a few extra days. Any recommendations of somewhere well located would be most appreciated!

You could try virgin-atlantic or BA, they're actually quite reasonable! I'm planning on going from London to one of my schools at the end of March, and its looking to be about £420 or $650 which isn't too bad, and the school contribute to it (I don't think they'll cover it)- I think I would scrape up the money even if they didn't contribute as I want to get a feel of the place, chat to Professors and current students etc before moving for 5 years+ ! My other school is having a visit day in two weeks, but I can't go due to classes- I thought about visiting when I visit my top choice at the end of March, but I think I've made my decision already so will save on the domestic flight...

Does anyone know anything about the Harvard GSAS residence halls? Good/bad/medium?? Any advice would be great