Kathiza

I'm sorry, I seem to have misread your point no. 4. I thought you don't take notes because you copy the notes of others... Actually, I even admire how you think you don't need to compromise your philosophy. BUT: Don't be surprised if it doesn't take you anywhere...

They don't "deserve" your time? What about you? Do you think you deserve their time? What if they think you don't because you look like you don't even care enough to dress appropriately. Especially in a university setting, you are one or several ranks below others. If you don't think they deserve your time, they'll send you home. Problem solved. I doubt that's what you're going for. Ad. sweatpants being comfortable: Yes, they are. The most comfortable clothing for me is none. I like running around naked. Seriously. I do it a lot at home. But I don't go outside like this because I respect others (and I think it's even illegal in many states ;-)) In your previous posting you list so many things that are very rude and impolite: being late, putting your feet on an empty seat, copying others because you're too lazy to do your own work etc. And that you want to seem like you are confident about it is another sign of arrogance. I think you might be pretty young and you remind me of my 24-year-old brother who is going through the same phase in his life where he thinks he is the center of the universe and he can dictate the rules or at least break them without any consequences. You can of course do this (he's been doing it for some years now, although not in such an extreme way) - but don't be surprised if people don't react the way you want them to and if they just decide it's YOU who doesn't deserve their time.

Hi Quinchen... Same here... I still haven't heard from them and it's only six more weeks until I'll arrive and classes start. I have no clue about orientation, registration, advisers, about my first steps once I arrive at Miami... I will send another e-mail today asking some questions (where to get UM ID, whom to contact for a SSN, what about orientation etc.) Let's stay in touch... Good luck!

It's just something I have to get used to, I think. It's a different culture in some regards. The way I was raised and the way it is in my country is: no sweatpants except if you're doing sports, not hats inside, no sunglasses inside, suit and tie if you go to a conference or a meeting etc... So this is what I'm used to. This is what to ME feels "right" (although I know that there isn't really a "right" or "wrong" here) I would handle it like this: If it doesn't affect me (my teaching) or the class, people can wear whatever they want. If it affects my teaching (i.e. hats/sunglasses - because I can't look that person in the eye) or if it affects the class (i.e. somebody showing up in REALLY inappropriate attire so the class is distracted etc) I won't allow it. But that doesn't mean that I'll never stop wondering how people can attend international conferences in bermuda shorts and flipflops (it was a cold day too, and there was aircondition; I wore a suit and I was cold) ;-)

I'm not sure (since I was told in my Orientation Seminar that Americans don't joke and don't have a sense of humor - seriously!), but I thought the posting by Aaron McDevitt was a joke or at least an attempt to provoke people. I don't think anybody can be that arrogant and not noticing it ;-)

I don't think that's old-fashioned. I think that's good behavior. You don't wear hats inside. Why would you? I'm in my 20s and I think it's impolite to wear any kind of hats at a lecture. BUT: I was just organizing a major international conference. And the people who did not dress appropriately (to European standards) were the Americans ;-) So I guess it's a cultural thing. I guess dress codes in Europe are a lot stricter than in the U.S. A European would NEVER EVER come to an international conference in Bermuda Shorts. Well.... some Americans did. Some even wore Hawaii shirts. Call me old-fashioned or conservative, but I was a little shocked to see this to be honest (and I wasn't the only one...) But then others on the organizational staff of the conference told me that it's cultural: Asians and Europeans come to major conferences like this wearing a suit and a tie. If you're a student and pretty young, you can even skip the tie. And Americans come in shorts, flip flops, t-shirts etc. This way you can at least tell at first glance where the person comes from :-) It's just so much more casual, I was told. But still: Wearing hats in class is too casual. You can't even look a person in the eyes when they wear a baseball cap. It's like wearing sunglasses in class. You just don't do that... (I wouldn't allow it either when teaching... I guess my American students will call me the weird old-fashioned European girl then ;-))

One more thing: Austrian's get a fixed sum of 25.000 from Fulbright. And they apply for additional financial aid from the universities. But for example UMiami has tuition fees + misc fees of roughly 40.000. And then there's the cost of living (about 2.000 per month, so another 24.000/year). So the whole cost of your studies would be around 64.000/year. And you get 25.000 from fulbright. What's with the rest? 39.000 is a LOT of money for me. And if the university only gives you 20.000 (which is a lot already) or even 30.000 - you'd have to come up with the rest of the money yourself. And the thing is: Under a J-1 visa you're not allowed to work off campus and you have to get permission to work on campus (which is not as easy as it sounds, I've heard...). So either the university gives you a job or you have parents who can afford to pay for your education.

What I also wanted to say: Some of the Master's students in my cohort got into ivy leagues. So it's not impossible. But, the head of the Fulbright Commission in Austria (he's been doing this for quite some time, so he knows what he's talking about) keeps telling us: Every single year, there are students who get accepted at several universities: Some great public and private schools with full funding, assistantships or stipends to cover ALL costs, a "free ride" basically. And one "big name" without funding or with insufficient funding. An American wouldn't think twice. They know they're supposed to pick the school that wants them most (i.e. that spends the most money on them). And every single year, at least one or two of the Austrian Fulbrighters cohort decides to go to the "big name" school and pay a 5 or 6 digit sum every single year for his studies (in my cohort I've heard that some are even taking on loans or their families take on loans to be able to afford this). Which means for a PhD you could end up with close to half a million of debt after finishing your degree. And he also tells us that in many cases, those people are the ones that want to change programs after the first year because they see that they were not (really) wanted there, they are unhappy etc. I'm sorry for writing like 5-page-answers, but I was just like you. I was hung up on the "big names" before I did my research. And I've visited several schools (public, private, ivies etc.) in the U.S. and now I know in many cases the difference can be the name only. You won't get a lesser quality education at a top public school compared to an ivy. Of course your next door neighbors in Germany won't be as impressed by UNC Chapel Hill than by Harvard University, but that's just because he has no idea about the system. This topic is really important to me because I've seen some people in my cohort who were really unhappy with their choices although the IIE chose GREAT schools... But they just didn't recognize them because they thought there were only Harvard, Yale and Columbia. I don't know if I'll be happy at UMiami. But I know the school is a good fit. There are several profs with the same research interests. Of course that's no guarantee for eternal happiness, but it's at least a good start...

There was no minimum required number of public schools. However, I had three public schools among my top five (because they simply were the best fit for me and for example for Journalism, UMissouri is ranked higher than Columbia - just fyi). Anyway: They told us that IIE won't accept that we only apply to private schools. If I could do it all over again, I would have picked three private and two public schools because of the funding options. Public schools - in my personal experience - currently have problems funding people. (But well... private schools do too currently; UMiami is private and usually they fully fund every PhD student; this year they even accepted some students without funding at all...) If funding is not that important for you, you can decide purely upon academic fit. And this is the big difference between Austrian and German Fulbright: For Austria, it's a degree earning program. This means we all (hopefully) stay for the whole duration of the degree (Master's or PhD, which means between 2 and 7 years, depending on field and program). In Germany, as far as I know, it's always for one year only with some exceptions... So sorry, I can't help you with that question.

First of all, and I think this is really important: IIE will NEVER place you in a "bad" school. What you think of as "good" and "bad" I guess is reputation. Not even ranking, but just reputation. (Most Austrians and I guess Germans make this mistake because they don't really know anything about the U.S. educational system and so they think there are only the Ivies and the rest is not worth mentioning because those must be "bad" schools...) That is NOT the case (and if you spend as much time on research as LongGone and I did - I spent about 6 months on contacting faculty, assessing specializations, talking to professors about my research interests, asking if they were interested and if I fit in etc. --- if you spend that much time on it, you will see that it's completely different than you thought before). So that's the first tip I can give you: Do research on the schools that interest you. Don't only think of the big names. If you're doing a Master's, then you might not be as rigorous as with a PhD (f.ex. at Columbia - this was my reeeeeeeach school, impossible to get into - they only accepted 2 PhD students; the average age was far over 40 as far as I know and I had not the slightest chance of getting in at all - despite Fulbright, despite 4.0 GPA etc...) I'm just letting you know: competition at ivy league universities is ruthless. And - like the head of our Fulbright department in Austria said - most people overestimate themselves when it comes to this. They think just because they got Fulbright they'll get in everywhere. There is so much competition out there. You have to compete not only with people your age (I assume you're in your 20s), but also with people who are a lot older, have a lot more experience than you do. Also: There were some in my cohort that got accepted at ivies. BUT: Without financial support. So at Columbia for example you can estimate about 80.000 a year. If you can afford that: great! If not - take this factor into consideration. There are so many people in the world who think that there are only 10 good schools in the U.S. And they all want to get in and will be your competition if you rely on "big names" only. And there's a GOOD chance that some of them will be better than you (not because you're weak - that's not what I'm trying to say, but just because the competition is very hard). It's early in the morning here and I don't know if I'm making any sense right now. But what I'm trying to say: Do research and select your universities according to ACADEMIC FIT and not according to whether your neighbor will have heard from the school or whether it's an ivy league. This is really the best way. For me: They accepted 4 of the 5 schools I proposed and I got accepted at 4 of them. Other students in my cohort got accepted by only one school (which still can be a great offer and a great fit) - but in the end I had the possibility to choose, others didn't. So the "good" schools are the ones that you fit in, not the highly ranked, not the big names. Sorry if I'm sounding confused, but I hope you get the idea. I've seen some unhappy people in my cohort because they didn't get into Harvard despite 800/780 GRE, despite 4.0, despite Fulbright and whatnot... Well: That's the competition at Havard. On the other hand, there were people accepted at Harvard with much lower scores, a lower GPA etc... And why? Because the school was a better FIT for them.

Hi! It works about the same here in Austria. BUT: You are not a grantee just because Fulbright accepted you. Then you're a candidate and they (i.e. the IIE) will hand in your applications. Only when you're accepted at a university, you are a grantee. That means that you cannot lose your grant if you get rejected, because you didn't have it. If you get rejected by every university (which is unlikely but happens.... we had one case in my cohort) you obviously won't get a grant and in Austria you're not allowed to apply for Fulbright again as far as I know.

You know what? Sharing a cab wasn't a good idea anyway... It's just so insecure how long it's gonna take. Some of us might have to go throught extra security checks etc. But dinner in the evening would be so cool. There's still a lot of time to schedule something, but what if we just say 8 PM at the reception... whoever shows up can have dinner. And if noone shows up, I'll have dinner by myself - no problem. Let's wait and see if there are others who are in Miami for orientation too.... We could exchange e-mail addresses and set something up. I love this idea... I don't know ANYBODY and it would make me feel a lot more secure to know that I have somebody to talk to right the first day... (well, and I'm gonna have a roommate too at the hotel). Is anybody here staying in Miami afterwards? Or are you all going off to other cities for your programs?

Well, on the website of my orientation event there's the info that we should take a cab to the hotel and it will be about 30 USD. I'd like to share if somebody happens to arrive around the same time at the airport...

who else is in miami for orientation from 8/15 to 8/19? when do you arrive at the airport? maybe we could do a meet-up and spend the first evening together (or share a cab to the hotel). my plane lands on the 15th at 3.30 PM.

Hi! Thanks for letting me know. My posting was written at a time where I didn't know which offer I'd take. I had offers from UIndiana and UMissouri for example and I definitely would need winter stuff there. For Miami, I thought I'd just bring a thin jacket but apart from that nothing really warm: no pullovers, no boots etc...