neuropsychosocial

Whether your application will be considered at reach schools is probably very discipline-specific, so you might receive more accurate advice on the forum for your intended field. I suspect that it won't sink your application, but it may make it more challenging to make the first round of cuts. I had a similar situation - 8 Ws out of 10 courses one year due to an illness that nearly killed me and left me with a physical disability - and I included a brief statement with three of my six applications that mentioned the illness only once and concentrated on what I learned through the experience, especially that I am not superhuman and have learned to cut myself some slack. Two of my schools asked specifically if I felt that my grades/test scores reflected my abilities, and I included the statement with one other application that didn't ask for it. Interestingly, those were the three schools that offered me interviews: I heard nothing from the other three. Two of the programs that offered me interviews are among the most prestigious in my field, with one moderately so. I didn't hear from one program that is highly ranked; one moderate; and one not as highly regarded. I suspect 7 Ws and an F do need to be explained; if you can do so in a manner that displays maturity and growth, without throwing yourself a pity party, it may allow your application to be evaluated on your other merits. It's likely that someone somewhere will be understanding, and it's also likely that someone somewhere will not be understanding, and it's hard to predict in advance which places will be which.

Thanks for the advice. I'm looking around the University/Como area, which looks like it would allow me to take a bus into campus, which would drop off closer to my building than any of the parking structures. Unfortunately, because I have a disability, I do need to have a car and will be commuting to doctors/physical therapy, etc. I wish that I could just get rid of the car completely! Does anyone have any advice about the Como neighborhood? I read earlier in the thread that "northeast" of the university isn't the best neighborhood, but I'm not sure what area that refers to.

Congratulations!!!

Congratulations! Like bhikhaari, I'm in a different department, but my research into both the Twin Cities and the university in general has all given me very positive impressions. Have you been offered funding? The GA health plan seems extremely good. I've also been impressed with university facilities and the resources available to graduate students. The metro area is supposed be fantastic, with a wide variety of events/restaurants/culture/sports, and decent public transportation. I have several friends in the area and my spouse is originally from there, and they all say that it's a wonderful place to live.

If I were me, I would go to the interview for School B - given your relationship with the faculty and how highly they seem to think of you. I feel like turning down the interview on Monday morning might be a slap in the face to them, and you might need these professional connections again, for LoRs, for finding a job once you finish at School A, etc. If you interview, continue to impress them, and then let both the DGS and your advisor know, maybe in person if possible, that you've decided to accept School A's offer as much as you love School B, because A has a specialization in your subfield, then I suspect that School B will understand and you will retain your good relationship with them. (Saying something about the wonderful training that you received at School B that allowed you to obtain the offer from School A might also go over nicely.) This is just a gut instinct on my part, though: I'm not sure that I would ever cancel an interview on the same day, unless there was an emergency, because it seems so unprofessional to me. But that's just me: do what seems best for you, but do it politely and try to avoid burning bridges, if possible.

They are not calling you to delineate the numerous ways in which your application is unacceptable to them. It could be a range of things, from asking for clarification about something in your app to asking for an interview to offering admission. It's unlikely to be bad news, although it could be neutral - I hope it's good news!

A phone interview versus an in-person interview certainly changes the opportunity cost of doing the interview - for both you and the professor. For programs that do in-person interviews, it's really hard to in-person interview someone outside of the designated interview days, but your professor could easily interview additional candidates, depending on when he/she was told that you weren't attending. For me, knowing that there was zero chance that I would attend School E, I just emailed my POI and the graduate secretary and said that I had received an offer of admission with funding from School A, and after considering it, I realized that I was unlikely to accept an offer from School E and it seemed unfair to take an interview slot away from someone who was more likely to attend. I included some praise for the POI and for the program at School E, which was genuine. If there's any chance that you might attend E or get any benefit from it, go for it (networking, information, good practice for future phone interviews (which are common in academia) - but what I hear you saying is that there's no way that you'd go, and you're trying to figure out how to tell School E. As long as you're polite, I can't imagine that it would hurt you professionally in the long-run.

That's a totally different situation, but the OP specified that the hypothetical involved being fully funded, no loans.

Me too. In some fields, this seems to be overall prestige of a department, while in others, it's prestige of a specific POI/lab. (And for some fields, it's probably overall reputation of a university if the majority of jobs are outside academia/hired by HR folks rather than specialists in a given field). As long as I can survive without loans, the specific amount of the stipend is not important to me: I consider the next five years to be an investment towards where I want to be in 25 years.

I think it depends a bit on your field, whether you have to pay to attend the interview, and your rationale for choosing A/B/C/D over E. I was in a similar situation this year: School A paid for me to attend their interview and offer me admission+funding before I bought my plane ticket to interview at E. School E did not offer any financial support for attending the interview; it was a *very* expensive ticket and I would have had to take two days off from work. School A was a much better fit, has better post-graduate placement rates, offered significantly more funding and resources, has a much stronger reputation, and - the final straw for me - is more convenient for my family (major metropolitan area where my husband grew up versus rural rural rural midwest). I had been told to visit as many places as possible, because what looks good on paper is not always good in person, but the difference in opportunities between A and E was significant enough, and the impact on my husband so high, that I knew I would never choose E over A. I didn't want to spend the money to attend the interview at school E, and withdrawing my application from E allowed my POI to interview another candidate who might actually accept her offer, whereas I knew that I wouldn't. It might be worth figuring out the opportunity costs of attending the interview and the benefits, and see if one clearly outweighs the other. Good luck!

It depends, to some extent, on what field you're in and how the Ph.D. would improve your job prospects in that field. You mention wanting a faculty position and that the flexibility that can come with those positions as one of your biggest reasons for pursuing a doctoral degree, but you also mention that you don't particularly enjoy research. The academic job market is tight in all fields, but some more than others - and if you really want a tenure-track position, you need to be prepared to move your family farther from home than four hours. Faculty positions either require quite a bit of research or have high teaching loads, which will significantly reduce the flexibility that you desire, and even tenure-track positions that focus on teaching (often) have limited pay. It might be worth researching the market in your particular field and seeing both what the academic market is like and what you could do with your degree outside of academia. For me, as I was waiting to hear back, I definitely wavered on whether this was the right choice for me. I think it's natural to "devalue" the potential path to protect ourselves in case it doesn't come through - the sort of "that's okay, I didn't really want to go to your school anyway" kind of reaction that so many of us have when we get rejected (who needs warm weather, I keep telling myself!). When you hear back from your schools, your emotional reaction may tell you how you feel... Best of luck to you in making a decision that sounds multifaceted and difficult.

At some schools, anyone holding a TA position qualifies for in-state tuition, even international students. (If the university is covering your tuition, then it's much cheaper for them to consider you "in-state.") It might be worth investigating that option. It sounds like this is a difficult situation for you; if you can't find funding, out-of-state tuition would be a high burden. I'm also wondering how your visa status would be affected if you didn't have financial support from the university; I know very little about it, but I thought international students had to provide proof of financing to be given a visa? Or is that only for one of J-1/H-1?

Does anyone use STATA anymore?

That is incredibly sweet! Best of luck, with both the proposal and your life together. I'm not a fan of Valentine's Day; I'd rather show my spouse love and respect everyday than be told on one day of the year that we're supposed to treat each other to material things. Sometimes we'll use it as an excuse to cook steaks, because it divides the year evenly into four "special" occasions worthy of expensive meat (two birthdays, one anniversary, and a partridge in a Valentine's tree). We're LD right now and I intended to send him a card, but he would never remember to send me one, and I know from past experience that receiving a card would just make him feel badly.

I'm used to driving in bad weather, but I lost control of my car earlier this year and was very lucky that traffic was light, so no one hit me. My car doesn't have side air bags, traction control, or a number of other new-ish safety features, but I've been holding off on replacing it until I knew where I was going (warm Arizona, why no admissions love?) and what kind of funding I would have. Smart driving is definitely the best safety feature of all, of course, and I'll have to balance savings with car with housing. Speaking of which, can anyone comment on the traffic patterns on 94 and 35? Bad commuting, doable? We're thinking about buying a two-bedroom, single-family fixer-upper, since we're moving two adults and two dogs, and the real estate market looks more affordable, over five years, than the rental market. I'm having trouble comparing neighborhoods to bus routes, too. I'd love to be fairly close to the university (east bank campus), with a decent public transmit commute, if I could be picky. If I can't be picky, a windproof tent will be great! bhikhaari - Congratulations on your acceptance! Will you have the chance to visit the university? I've never been and am looking forward to the "welcome weekend."

I am also heading to Minnesota this fall (YAY!) and have wondered about exchanging my compact car for something with all-wheel drive. I'm currently thinking about trading in for a front-wheel drive with traction control. I don't know if that will be as useful or safe, however. I mostly wanted to say hello and hopefully meet others who are headed to Minneapolis/St. Paul.

Have you been offered a specific assistantship position? I notice that you're an international student and I wonder if the department might be trying to evaluate your spoken English before offering you a position as a TA (just a guess). They may also be trying to sell you their program, hoping to convince you to attend, if you can't visit in person. I have a post-acceptance visit coming up and I plan to prepare the same way that I did for my pre-acceptance interview, re-reading my SOP, several recent papers by the POI, and brushing up on the terminology of our area, but with less stress!