twocosmicfish

If you are paid by the case and not by the hour it would be very hard for them to prove a violation of the contract. I am in a similar boat - my employer is funding my study, but the two programs that have contacted me have been wary of my plans to telecommute 20hrs/wk while in school (in lieu of RA/TA). Generally, if you do have an outside job they will not know it unless you tell them, and will not care unless you fall behind. And they have no access to your other payroll info - that is private and completely seperate.

The first notifications go to "must-have" and "don't-want" applicants. After that it is a rolling process - everytime a "must-have" goes elsewhere they offer up that spot to someone else. Since THAT person may already have decided on somewhere else as well, this can go on for a while. I have heard of people getting accepted in July. Which must feel great. Really.

Nobody reads too much into the written section - it is testing a very specific form of writing, and is evaluated very briefly. A 6.0 does not make you Shakespeare anymore than a 4 makes you an illiterate thug. As long as you get 4.0+ it should not matter.

You have my condolences - it is tough getting laid off. My second lay-off was 5 days before my daughter was born! You are dead right about being careful what you tell your employer - my wife was laid off a few years ago because her boss had to let someone go and knew she was looking at switching fields. Worked out well for her, but that was the deciding factor - if they have to let someone go they will usually pick the ones who are not going to be there in five years.

At Penn State and UT Austin (engineering) it appeared that individual professors who had secured funding for an RA were able to basically name their own provided they met a minimum department set of requirements. All of the TA's and the spare handful of department-issued RA's and fellowships were awarded by the department based on a holistic ranking system. Additionally, some were submitted to for university-level funding, with the possibility that their department or professor-awarded positions would be used to admit someone else. You can sometimes use this to your advantage. I was accepted without funding to UT in 06, so I went down there as soon as I heard and talked to some professors. I left with two seperate RA offers as well as a TA offer. Personal contact will generally win over a somewhat better application.

The IGERT fellowships all have some kind of study requirement attached, such that you have to demonstrate that your specific research area matches the requirements of the grant. Depending on the wording of the specific grant and the details of your research area, you may be able to meet the requirements with coursework but more likely you will need to tweak your research to touch in the grant area. Remember that most grad admissions is personal between the advisor and the student. Your prospective advisor might not have RA funding for you if you turn it down, but if that is the case you may still get picked up by another, or your advisor may be able to snag a TA position or something similar. Generally if you can get a fellowship they will try to get you something, there are just no guarantees - while you are deciding this, other admits may be snapping up the RA/TA spots. One last thing: the IGERT's are pretty well-funded (above most RA/TA spots) and the additional class requirement should be well shy of the 20+hrs per week on a TA. Plus, they are usually guaranteed for some number of years, unlike RA/TA gigs which can disappear in some cases overnight (yes, I saw that happen to an RA mid-semester after funding fell through).

My wife is in a similar spot - she got her ungrad in elementary education with a history minor (in 1997!) and is now interested in going back for historical archaeology. 3.7+ GPA and ~1400 GRE, but after talking to some professors she decided her resume was too thin to apply this year. She instead contacted some local archaeologists (UMD, MD Archaeological Society, Smithsonian Institution) and volunteered her time for the year. She spends 20-30 hours per week on a couple of projects under some great people, gaining knowledge and experience while they get an free set of hands and a fresh mind in a year when funding is pretty thin. She will mostly finish up this year, and start over in IL (my grad school) working with local professors. That way, when she applies for AY2010-2011 she will have a very solid 18 months of research experience, opportunities to be published, and great references including one or more from her school of choice. All for free! I would heartily recommend something similar for you - few professors will turn down the free help, and it is a great way in. If anyone has any other suggestions (other than classes - we know that one) to improve one's odds at jumping fields, I would also appreciate it!

Undergrad Institution: Penn State Major(s):Electrical Engineering Minor(s):None GPA in Major: 3.9 Overall GPA: 3.85 Length of Degree:>5 years (I took a long break in the middle) Position in Class: Top 5% Type of Student:Male, Domestic Shorthair GRE Scores: Q:800 V: 720 W: 6.0 Research Experience:REU program as undergrad, several years of unpublishable (DoD) R&D as professional Awards/Honors/Recognitions: TBP, HKN (President), PKP, Boeing Scholar Pertinent Activities or Jobs: TA (1 yr), Currently working as an engineer Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help: I look snappy in a fedora Applying for PhD at: MIT - EECS- Rejected / 2-17-09 / N/A UIUC- ECE- Presumed Accepted / 2-19-09 / IGERT Fellowship Northwestern - EECS- Presumed Accepted / 2-22-09 / Unknown The last two are "Presumed Accepted" because I was contacted by profs who seemed to be indicating t hat I was, but I have not heard officially. ================================================================

Someone asked about UIUC - professors are reviewing the "qualified" apps now. I got a call from a professor that seemed to indicate acceptance, but I have nothing formal yet.