vern23

unfortunately deferring a whole year isn't possible, just the one semester. Both other posters made some good points. Its so hard to know whats right I wish someone could make this decision for me. On the one hand I'd hate to be there longer than neccessary, I don't like the idea of missing orienatationa and training, espicially since being a foriegn school they do things a bit differently than I'm used to. But on the other hand, in addition to spending more time with my hubby I'd be able to save up more money for the move. We just paid off a wedding and I've only been able to work part time since graduating because no one wnats to give me a full time job when I'm leaving in August. So affording first months rent plus damage deposits plus moving expenses then paying for septembers rent while not having worked in august and my stipend not kicking in it I'd have no money for all of it. Ugh...

Ok So heres the deal I got accepted to a grad program thats half way across the country (and actually in a nother country: Canada). My husband is very supportive and willing to move with me but can'tuntil he finishes school. We thought he'd be done by decemberish so a few months away wouldn't be that bad, but now it turns out that it'll be may or possibly the end of next summer- so up to a whole year away from each other. And the whole time he would keep the pets who are like my children and I would be alone 2000 miles away. My graduate program says that I can push my start daet back to January. So we'd still have to be apart but for a shorter length of time. So I'm wondering opinions on this. Does anyone know how bad it is professionally to start late, does it make a difference in the long run, does it affect my program much? Does anyone know? Should I just suck it up and choose career or a happy life outside of work/school?

so im accepted for grad school at ubc and moving there in august. Ive been looking online everyday on craigslist amsrentsline and kijiji but am having a hard time finding something not tooo far form ubc, not super super expensive, and allows pents. If anyone has any tips or leads knows of any places/landlords that might work id really really appreciate if you could let me know either here or pm me .

For my letter writers/research adviser i got them gift boxes/baskets form harry and david. They are really nice and they have things like gourmet fruit, gourmet chocolates, candy/snacks, smoked salmon, gourmet dips and mustards and cheeses, wine gift boxes and more. They seemed to really like them.

So Im a US student and Im going to canada for grad school and I'm just feeling a little overwhelmed. On top of worrying about being able to handle the academic work its all the logistics: trying to find a decent affordable place to live, setting up the move, affording the move, affording rent for two months before the school starts paying me, getting a study visa, setting up health insurance car insurance switching drivers license bank phone company, getting my pets into the country, and on and on. Then the school stuff- talking to adviser, registering for classes, going to orientations, buying books, and on and on. I just wanna scream thinking about it all. I mean I'm trying to be very organized about this and start on what I can very early. But there are so many things to do, not that much time left, and some things (like money issues) I really can't do anything about. I mean we just finished the stress of application season and now this. Will it ever stop!? Is anyone else freaking out abit too??

I applied to 10 programs, still waiting on 2 and still on a waitlist at 1. The funny thing is I thought I'd get more acceptances (only have 1 so far), but the one I got I thought I'd for sure be rejected from, it was one of my top choices ( my other top choice is still deciding). So I'm happy, my expectations are met.

So I just thought of this now. I'm accepted to a canadian program and they guaranteed funding. Few issues though, the stipend amount for RA/TA isn't huge, especially for a big expensive city and they dont waive tuition which is a big junk there. So my question is does anyone know how much will be taken out of this money for canadian income tax? I don't know how the canadian system works for that.

I also think school A sounds more promising. I'd be a little nervous about being advisor B's first grad student, that means he doesn't have the same experience with evaluating work, keeping you on track, perhaps the steps/classes/techincal things required by the particular school, etc. I think advisor A's experience and job placement rate is really more important than feeling welcome. I mean obviously they want you to come if they offered admission but maybe he/they just aren't as friendly, which may not be as fun but keeping things purely professional and all about work seems fine.

i dont think it would hurt anything to contact both of the programs and ask about the possibility of switching. Its pretty late in the game but you never know until you ask.

So The school I'm accepted to funds you primarily through RA work and there is a base pay for this, but some profs mentioned that they pay their RA's more than the base. So I've been emailing some potential advisers asking about research opportunities their work if they have openings etc. But I'm wondering is it tacky or bad to ask them if they pay more or how much their RAs make?

WEll i dont know if the custom varies by program but when i went for a visit the department set up appointments for us to meet with potential research advisors and anyone who wasn't available they encouraged us to email and talk to.I talked to 3 profs while i was there and I've been back a week and emailed an additional 4 professors. I just tell them i've been accepted, thought their research sounded interesting, asked if they had room for any grad students this fall, and if so what types of projects they had available. So far the response has been very helpful, long detailed emails telling me about their work and offers to setup skype chats if i have any questions. It makes sense to contact them before deciding because what if you're trying to decide between more than one school, you have to know if the profs you're interested in working with even have room for students.

so do others agree you think it means rejection?

So my friend n I applied at northwestern and he happened to be there visiting his girlfriend and went by the department to ask when they'd be sending out notifications since no one has heard anything. The man told my friend that he didn't know if we were in or not but he said my friend will be in the first wave of notifications in the next 72hrs (good and bad notifications) and he said I was in the second wave which will be next week. Now I'm used to first wave going early and second wave means after first wave has declined some offers, but if I already have a decision and second wave only a week later what does this mean???

i've always been told once you're in you're in doesn't matter when you got in, no one will know or remember.

well i think east coast is overall more expensive than midwest. They are both college towns I dont know as much about stonybrook but i know Urbana-champaign is really just a college town in the middle of nowhere, pretty sure 18k would be fine, but i bet in stonybrook with the 29k you'd have more spending money after paying living expenses.

last saturday i received an rejection/waitlist email in response to my email inquiry made early in the week.

My best one so far read as " We have infromed our first round of admitted students and those on the waiting list. Good luck on your other applications." Gee thanks for being so clear, couldn't just say you're rejected, have to be all round about.

If your desperate if theres a prof at your home institution who could make a call on your behalf that might do something, or if you applied for a Phd with funding you could try asking them about the masters program-usually easier to get admitted to- but not all masters programs have the same funding as Phd.

I would definitely think that if you said you didn't need aid it doesn't take as long to decide because they dont need to find the funding. If you said you needed aid and your on a waitlist if you get admitted it should be with funding. Most schools wont offer a spot unless they can fund you (most). The waitlist just means they already offered all the spots with funding and they're waiting for people to turn them down then they can offer you the spot.

jasper thanks for giving me hope. I believe it said on there website they usually do some kind of scholarship to cut the difference between international and domestic tuition which is good. I'm sure i could make it work but id rather not be scrapping by month to month if I can help it. I'm still waiting on the information sent in the mail which will hopefully detail more about the funding since my emails and calls seem to be getting ignored. I've made plans to go visit in two weeks so then i can talk to the grad students as well. so far its the only one ive been accepted to so even if the funding isnt the best might be the only option, but i do really want to go there. Does anyone know if you still file a FAFSA with canadian schools or is FAFSA just for US ?

I hadn't yet, was trying to be patient. Their applicatin deadline isn't even till march 31st, they had said they usually make offers before that, but i felt weird contacting too early before that, maybe next week sometime- the grad secretary is quite nice nad helpful so hopefully she wont mind me bugging her.

does anyone know if canadian schools also require notification by april 15th? i applied to mcmaster and they dont even have a deadline until march 31st which makes me think no, but since the us schools do im worried about apr 15th coming and not yet hearing from my canadian choices.

F*** thats what i was afraid of. Im in at UBC and and if they only offer 22k minus tuition thats crazy minus rent that would leave me with like 2000 spending money for bills and food and such all year thats insanse. Man im soo bummed that was one of my top choices too

Unfortunately they're not the best at replying to emails and the info they sent in the mail said nothing, so I'm trying to be patient and wait till the visiting weekend but I've used up all my patients waiting for notifications.

Now I don't know if anyone here knows but I applied to several canadian programs and ive been accepted to one so far and I wonder if they do their funding differently. The school is in vancouver which has a really high cost of living. Now usually the us programs i know pretty much waive tuition and then offer a stipend ranging form 15-30K. So the school says they guarantee funding with a minimum amount sufficient to cover living expenses and tution and that minimum being 22k with a mix of TA RA and a 1000 tuition award (i have no idea what that means). So am i to assume that I am supposed to pay tuition out of that 22k? Cause that would only leave me with like 12,000 for the whole year for ALL living expenses which is crazy where in a city a 1 bedroom costs like a 1000/month pls utilities. Anyone have any thoughts on this?