Kathiza

Could one of the native speakers here in this forum confirm this please? I use the phrase "a couple" quite often and I want to avoid any missunderstandings in the future. For me, "a couple" has the same meaning as "some" (like two or more items). But as Strangefox said: Maybe it's just me ;-)

It is a doctoral program, right. The "couple" was an error made in translating what I wanted to say from the German in my head to English. The german expression "ein paar" which means "a couple" can be used for two items as well as for multiple items. So I guess "a couple" always means two items in English? What I wanted to say: The program takes 3 years minimum.

Congrats, tvphd! That's great news. I also have some happy news: Even though I got accepted to UNC at the very last minute (some time yesterday morning) - I finally decided that I'm taking the offer at UMiami. I talked to my local Fulbright office and it's the best offer. I'm so incredibly relieved I can't even put it in words... And: No more Winter! When you come from a country where every winter you have a couple of days or weeks where nobody can leave the house, where no busses run, where there's no school, no possibilitiy to go to work.... Well, when you come from a country like this, have no winter for a couple of years seems a little surreal. But me likey! :-)

Your German is almost flawless, I'm really impressed! It would be great if you'd think of me when there's a room available in your apartment. I'll PM you my e-mail address and a little bit about me.

Wow, that would be great! I'm from Vienna, Austria. When do you want to move in? Will you be moving in June/July already or in August? I'm planning on moving in early August, but I guess I can be flexible...

Hi everyone, I just accepted my offer at UMiami and am now starting to look for housing. Unfortunately, the UM Housing websites just give me error messages (I don't know if it's because of the high demand or if it's an issue on my side - I tried on two computers with two different browsers, nothing worked). I was wondering if any of you would like to team up for housing search? I am an international student so I can't visit any places... Therefore it would be great to team up with a roommate who probably already is in the area. Is anyone interested? I'm looking for a place really close to campus (or within walking distance to public transport that takes me to campus). I won't have a car. I would like to not pay more than 600/month including everything. Preferably cheaper. I don't know if this is realistic.

I just decided to go to UMiami and am now looking for a cheap room. Is it even possible to find a room this early? I looked on craigslist and apart from all those fake-offers there seem to be only offers starting in may. Where do you look for rooms? Anyone needs a roommate? ;-)

Thank you all so much for your kind words. I just lied down a little and slept for an hour (it's almost 10 PM in Europe) and I feel a lot calmer now. I still don't know how to make a decision, but I have another day to think about it. And I already asked for the possibility of a TA/RA opening up after the first year (Mizzou said definitely no and if so that I couldn't get one; Miami said just said there is no funding for the second and third year right now). I also asked about other campus jobs (I could get one - but still, I would miss "real" teaching experience which could significantly hurt me when looking for a job afterwards). It's a Fulbright rule that we are not allowed to talk about anything concerning finances to the school. But I'll ask tomorrow if - considering the situation - they could maybe make an exception and let me send one single e-mail to UI Bloomington, just to see if I have a chance at funding. (I just asked my local Fulbright office... I'll know tomorrow; but since we're six hours ahead of the US and I'll have to make a decision during office hours HERE, that basically leaves a window of 2-3 hours for them to answer me) I'm so sorry for freaking out here (I know I'm not the first one, but I certainly am the first one who freaked out like 2353 times here on this forum...) @tvphd I'm sorry for you getting no funding. Believe me, I really feel for you. I'm not as self-centered as I may seem here. This stress and pressure just really get to me. Should we both end up in Miami (I'll let you guys all know once I made the decision) - please don't judge me for my crazy postings here ;-)

Also Miami and Mizzou say they fund all their students (regardless of their nationality or of other grants) on their website. Well - they don't anymore. I have full tuition waivers from both of them. But no other funding possible. So no TA/RA - no teaching experience, no job to provide for living expenses (and I'm not allowed to take any other job because of my visa). So I basically will have to pay for all the living expenses (except the first year) from my own money - which I don't have. Bloomington didn't send funding decisions yet, although they announced to send them in early March! I can't pick them because I don't even know if they give me a tuition waiver. They could as well tell me that I've got to pay full tuition + living expenses and that's simply impossible. I'm literally sick of all this pressure. I'm in tears because I don't want to make this big decision about my future prematurely just because the schools decided to set this stupid deadline and at the same time don't stick to their own deadlines or announcements. I can't handle this, seriously...

AAAAAHHH! Basically I have to decide tomorrow, because of my Fulbright the message takes two days to arrive at my US-school... And I still haven't heard about funding from one school that accepted me and no admissions decision from another. How am I supposed to make a decision? It's simply impossible...

It is the first time the recession effect really kicks in. I've heard from the head of placement at the IIE (they place Fulbright grantees in their programs and bargain their funding) that this year it's the worst year ever and it's going to get even worse. The head of placement has been in her job for over 20 years and has never seen a year like this. Plenty of unfunded or only partially funded PhD and Masters offers. Plenty of rejections also for Fulbrighters, because international students simply cost more to the universities... It's devastating. I'm still waiting for a good funding offer. All I have until now is two okay-offers (but far from fully funded) and I'm waiting on two more decisions. It's simply not a good time right now :-(

I'm an international student too and I was told that accepting multiple offers is a very VERY bad thing to do and you might lose both spots. So be careful and don't to that...

It's difficult to say something about funding. I'm from a different field, but I want to let you know my experiences: Many universities say they fully fund their students. They write it on their websites, they even tell you this in person or via e-mail. Then - this year for example - they experience budget cuts and other difficulties. So they are not able to fully fund their students. So you will never have a guarantee that you are fully funded. I'm experiencing this the hard way right now. Good luck though!

Congrats! I'm thinking about going to UMiami too... Unfortunately I didn't get a teaching assistantship so I can't teach - which is a big con on my list...

I'm still waiting. Asked for an extension of my deadlines at the two schools that already provided funding info and am now waiting on admission decision of one school and funding decision from another... Keep your fingers crossed for me. Let's hope I'll hear soon... But with the weekend, it's another two and a half days without news, I guess...

I got the acceptances/rejection through my local Fulbright officer via the IIE. And then I got sent the admission letters in paper (also first to IIE, then to my local Fulbright office and then to me). I got one letter after every acceptance, so there were no choices to make immediately. The first letter came at the beginning of March... the last one at March 10 - and I'm still waiting on one school... About medical clearance: I don't know what that is. I guess I don't need it and it depends on the country. I just had to fill out a Medical Form for my insurance in the US, where a physician certified that I'm healthy. That's all. And final decision: That's up to me. So I wait on the one last school and on funding offers from another school that already accepted me. And then I can make a decision.

Haha, I like that! :-) I'm sorry if my comments may seem a little harsh... It's just I come from a culture where drinking is part of many things. We like having wine for dinner (or beer - but I don't drink beer), and we like going out for drinks. So it's just a normal thing for me. But not a big deal AT ALL if somebody does not drink. (I'm not a big drinker - as I said I just like a glass every now and then). And I have the feeling that in many countries that have very strict regulations concerning drinking - like the US or UK (my country does not have that at all) drinking is such a big deal, which for me it really isn't. It's normal - but it's just as normal if somebody does not drink.

It's me again. I'm not working for the IIE, I'm just a fellow Fulbrighter (in case you're wondering because I keep defending them). But I really feel like they do a good job (except the delay in communication... I got the rejection from Columbia and it took them one and a half week to verify it...). You are right, they are bargaining to get the best offer for us. Because, and let's be honest: A really really good, fully funded offer from a top 15 school is worth much more (for them and for us!!!) than an unfunded offer from a top 5 school. Do you know why? Because in many cases (not in all - due to the bad economy and budget cuts) this means that the top 5 school does not want us as badly as the top 15 school. This means that the top 15 school would care very much for us and look after our success, because they already invested a lot of money in us. Internationals such as myself tend to go by ranking only. We only know the big names from films and books and stuff... So we think anything less than an ivy league is not worthy of our attendance ;-) But those rankings are often for undergrad. So they shouldn't bother us at all. If you want to make your decision after a ranking (which is not a good idea, because academic fit is much more important and will benefit you much more for your later career) - then look at rankings for your field, your specific department, your graduate program. You will see that the picture is totally different. Just to give you an example. Mizzou (University of Missouri) is often listed as the No 1 journalism school in the world. Who would have thought of that? Everybody thinks for journalism one has to go to columbia or nyu. But no, there are many great programs out there - you just have to do a little research and not let yourself be blinded by big names and reputation and things you know from the movies. And as I said above: IIE works closely with Fulbright and they look after their reputation. They would never send any of us to a "bad" school or a "bad" program. That's also the reason why we have to ask the IIE before we take a job there: Because they don't want Fulbright grantees to wash cars or something like that. I was told that we are only allowed to take "suitable" jobs at the university etc.

But why will one have a headache after drinking? Does "drinking" always mean "getting drunk"? I mean it's perfectly okay if somebody does not drink at all... So I don't want to convince people to drink or something like that (I have a talent of putting things the wrong way, so I wanted to make that clear: drink or don't drink - it's everybody's own choice!) BUT: For so many Americans, drinking is associated with getting drunk, having a headache etc. Why is that? Why can't people just have a glass of wine with their dinner? Or a single cocktail after work just for the taste of it? Drinking can also mean getting A (singular!) drink, and not just getting hammered and vomiting on the dress shoes of your future adviser...

Well, I don't think TOEFL plays an important role. As long as you are over 100 points it should not matter that much (of course this depends on the field; in my field one should be over 110, but it's still different for every school). GRE scores are much more important. But I think it's strange that you don't even know to which schools your application was sent to.. But you did get your Fulbright grant, right? Or do you also have to wait on that? The Fulbright systems work so differently in some countries...

Actually, some of the Fulbrighters here already got offers - including me. But I'm still waiting on some funding info from one school and on admissions decision from another. So nothing's final with me just yet. But I know several Fulbrighters from my country who already made a decision and accepted an offer. About UMass: It's a good school. I've been there and of course it depends on your major, but it has some really good programs which are also highly ranked. And if the IIE picked this school for you, I don't think you should question them. They have been doing this for several decades; the head of placement is in her job for over 20 years now. They really KNOW what they are doing - you should trust them more than some strange reviews. If they suggested you go do UMass, there is certainly a reason for that and I'm sure it's a good fit for you. They also have a great campus and many gread facilities. If you look at reviews and things like that - look for the ones in your field of study and for the ones for graduate studies. Because you're not going to have something to do with undergrad studies there. So who cares if some undergrad majors are not highly ranked? You are doing something totally different. And again, I know I'm repeating myself: The IIE are the experts in this field. They would never pick a "bad" school for a Fulbrighter. Fulbright is a very prestigeous association - trust me, they want their people to go to good schools. Otherwise it would just be a waste of their money.

If I may ask: What was your funding? I'm slowly going crazy. Still waiting on one and a half schools. (Indiana still didn't tell me about funding, even though they wrote in their acceptance letter that they will let me know in early March...) It's April now! People, why are you keeping me waiting?

I haven't even heard from them at all. My admission decision is still pending at UNC according to Fulbright. So I guess it's a bad sign :-(