Kathiza

Hedjuk, I totally agree with you. Where did you apply?

I haven't heard anything from my schools either.... So you're not alone.

Where will you be going? Europe is pretty big to see in a couple of weeks. But maybe I can give you some tipps...

Uniforms? Me likey! I also have no idea about basketball and I was told that UNC is basketball-crazy...

I've never watched football or baseball (not popular sports in my country at all) - so I guess I have to learn about this before coming to the US. Maybe the Superbowl is a good start?

Me too

Yes, I'm on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean

Can I join?

In the case I get multiple acceptances (oh yes, I'm still very optimistic - so please don't laugh at me if I don't get in anywhere) I will also use this list to again get in contact with the grad students I already asked some questions before applying. I think this should facilitate my decision.

Do you have to try out for these teams? (I got the feeling that college sports is very competitive and as I mentioned above, I'm not an athletic person at all...) But rugby sounds good. I think I'll need some sport where there's "action". For me there's nothing more boring than yoga, pilates, swimming etc.

I'm sorry, I already read this serveral times here on this forum, but I didn't understand: What's a "credit history"? I mean I understand the words, but I thought this just meant that you never had a credit in the US - obviously this is not the case?

I don't know. But if you find out how to do this (find boyfriend, move in) - then please let me know

Haha, I read that last sentence with a comma that wasn't there, like "have boyfriend, move in..." - I thought you were planning on finding a boyfriend and immediately moving in with him in August

February: Waiting + checking my e-mail every 2 minutes + refreshing the result page ever 10 minutes March: Wirting my thesis for my second major April: Wirting my thesis for my second major May: Writing my thesis for my second major June: Hopefully finishing my thesis + preparing for moving to the US July: Preparing for grad school + (if I did a good job) taking the final examination for my second major and finishing it (otherwise I'd have to wait until december) Oh, I forgot, I also have a part time job and a dissertation proposal to write and to present to a jury. So it SHOULD be a pretty busy time. But I just can't think about anything else...

I did the same thing (before I sent off my applications). I asked pretty much the same questions and - Are the faculty members accessible? (this has been an issue at my school) - What does the work as a TA/RA look like? (how many hours?, interesting?, which tasks?) - What does the social life at this school (esp. f. grad students) look like? (might be a silly question, but since I'm an international student I don't have any idea of how it will be, if I'll have any free time, if there are any activities esp. f. grad students etc.) By the way, wanthony, you are REALLY impatient after only three hours! (And it's in the middle of the night in the US....)

Since at most of "my" schools, the average age of a beginning PhD student is 30-32, I wasn't prepared to work together with 21 year olds. Not that I have any problem with this at all! Don't get me wrong. (I'm 25 but I feel a lot younger and I have many friends which are several years younger than me) It's just VERY unusual for me. In my country most people start college at 19 or even at 20. And you HAVE to get a Master's degree before you can start a PhD. So most doctoral students are around my age (25). I think the very earliest one can start a doctoral program here is... hmm... 23 - but only if you're a woman (no military) and attended a 4-year highschool (many schools here don't take 4 but 5 years to complete). But I think it's good when a cohort is diverse in age, background, interests and so on. I'm really looking forward to it (just waiting for the loads of acceptance letters to come in )

What about cellphone contracts? Does anyone have any recommendation for international students? (f.ex. with cheap international calls - to Europe in my case)

So before you read this, be aware that I'm an international student and I have no idea of how this whole process works... But I think, this either means you are not one of the students who got rejected right away (because they didn't meet the minimum requirements, because they didn't have a chance etc.). Or - in case your department/program does this: It could also mean that you are not one of the applicants who got an early acceptance (if there are already acceptances at this program/school). Either way, I think you are still in the run. Good luck and don't freak out!

I admit it: 30 seconds ago was the first (!) time I almost had an heartattack when getting an e-mail. The subject line was in English, it was not from GradCafe, and it said something about communications and "file added"... My heart literally stopped. But it was just a notification from another website and had nothing to do with my applications....

No, Fulbright Foreign Students deadlines are completely different and vary from country to country. Not even the programs of neighboring countries are the same or even similar. So all you can do is take a look at you country's deadline.

I asked my professors several times for LoR (for different things). They didn't mind. If it's a small department, you don't have much of a choice.

I'll have to find new hobbies once the results are in. I've been spending my days at GradCafe for the last week (since the day I discovered this website).

Well, but I'll need funding after my first year. Because the Fulbright grant only provides for the first year of studies; after that, the university thould provide for funding. Let's hope this works out...

I'm applying for PhD but haven't heard anything either...

I had mail contact with a professor from a school (to which I didn't apply in the end, but for different reasons). And she always signed her mails with her first name. So I thought maybe that's common to call professors by their first name in the US and one day I started my answer e-mail with "hello [firstname]". The next e-mail I got, she signed with "Prof. xxxx". So that was a clear sign for me. But to be honest, that's REALLY strange for me. In my country people don't do this. If I want/dont mind to be called by my first name, I sign with my first name. If it's a professional relationship I sign with title + first and last name. I NEVER would have thought that I would offend her by calling her by her first name because she always signed her e-mails that way. For me it was like meeting somebody in person and introduce myself as "kathiza" and then be offended if the person calls me kathiza. Well, even though I'm from Europe, there might be more cultural differences than I thought....