Duna

I am honestly not too sure about both of them. Yes, for some people it might be okay to take on another loan (or their first one) and everything will play out but for others it might not be their first loan and the pressure of having to think about money all the time can ruin your mood and, consequently, your ability to work a grad school schedule... You should not be offended if POIs don't respond. However, if you feel that good advisement and a close relationship with faculty is a big point for you for feeling appreciated, supported, having fun, whatever, then do take such criteria into account (do not change your mind about applying to a school because one professor did not respond to one email but if you feel that this is a pattern and you don't like it, don't apply). As a PhD student, you are important for your program, your whole school and your advisor / committee. Do not undersell yourself... If you are successful, you are not only accumulating reputation for your school, program and faculty, you'll probably also end up somewhere in a tenure-track position with grants, you will review your professors, you will be part of their scientific community. This is important shit!

Uhm. You're welcome! I will be in town but I am not sure how available I will be since it's my birthday and I already have a research group meeting and some other stuff on my schedule for that day. They also haven't really told us about that day yet, haha. But I suppose I'll be around for a bit to chat.

My advice could not have been THAT bad, otherwise you would not have changed your signature and profile info You wanted support in bashing professors, a program and a school as being discriminating against MA students in general. What did you expect? Yes, I am still going through cultural shock. Kids from Orange County at my school wear more on their body on one day than I earn in a month here but what does the clothing style have to do with you being discriminated against as an MA student? I'm sorry to hear you're having a hard time adjusting to the culture at your new school. I still am adjusting to a new culture and a vastly different educational culture and sometimes it's fun but most times it's just frustrating and extremely exhausting but it will get better if, and that's really the important take-away here, you see reactions of people as what they are RE-ACTIONS. Instead of going against those, try changing your actions and see where it might take you. If people still react shitty, then... And do talk to other people from your program. They are basically the only people who will totally get what you're talking about. No one on an online forum can really understand what's going on without being involved in the culture. Good luck.

To be quite frank again, the way you phrase your posts ("at an Ivy League School"), while your signature is saying "Harvard" and even that you are on an NSF fellowship (which is great! Congrats!) just implies to me that you really "DO expect" to be treated in a certain way. This weakens your comparison argument a lot in my perception. It is a completely superficial statement I'm making now because of what I'm reading here and in no way means I think you're an awful person but, uhm, why would you tell the world on Grad Café that you have a prestigious NSF fellowship in your signature (i.e. completely out of context) and then emphasize it again in your post? Well, I suppose because you want people to treat you in a certain way, otherwise there would be no need to communicate it to everyone, right? What if some people, including professors A and B got the same vibe and think you might feel entitled to a different treatment which they are not willing to give? Or a maybe more reasonable explanation for the office hour scenario which is pretty obvious: Maybe other people, who received much better treatment than you did in your perception, emailed the professor in advance and made an appointment for office hours? Not every professor has office hours that are drop-in hours. And if other people announced themselves, they would have been prioritized. Just as a possible alternative explanation. Right now, you're presenting a general claim and are giving anecdotal evidence in form of 2 situations that you've experienced with 2 of your professors but you're calling the thread "Discrimination against MA students". That's pretty rude and vastly over-generalized, don't you think? I just think that running into 2 incidences would not make me open a thread about something. I'd first try to find alternative explanations, ask people from my immediate environment (which might be smarter anyways if you're posting with a signature that probably identifies you directly on a public forum), you know, find empirical evidence for the causal claim you're making and then make an appointment with your director of graduate studies or the professors trying to figure out what's been going on.

Coming from a very different education system to the US and especially to my private west coast school here, I have to say that many students appear to be extremely entitled here and easily hurt when professors don't take the time to speak with them. Where I'm from, that's normal. You're a student, not a customer. While I do not fully support this hierarchy, it does make sense to some degree (but I don't think this is part of the discussion here). Ha, fuzzylogician just posted while I was writing and I have to agree. Judging on your anecdotal evidence it might be the case that you a) were already angry and annoyed and/or b ) and I am very sorry that this will sound harsh now: Maybe you didn't ask a very good question and so the professor did not take much time to answer it. And why would he if it meant to waste the time of 4 professors and a whole bunch of students. I am not saying that you are the cause here but in your description of the problem, maybe asking yourself whether this could be the case and first starting from there (improving questions, communication with professors, really going the official way: making appointments, going to office hours etc.) might be an option? And then, if nothing changes, you can still go and complain (although I'm not sure if that will do you much good).

Like JLRC, I don't really believe in so called "safe schools" because why would you want to go to a school you don't really want to go to for 4-6 years? I think your list makes sense. Your interests are usually represented among pretty much any faculty, I think but, of course, there are differences in the more refined nuances and also in the quality (or maybe rather in the reputation). I think 7-10 schools are the maximum for being manageable, sensible and cost-efficient. If you find more schools in your "reach" that are a great fit, you definitely did not narrow down your research interests and fit with faculty enough. However, "in your reach" is not something that can be clearly defined. Just from looking at the schools, they look more quant heavy than qual heavy (I hate this distinction) but let's say they definitely look more empirical heavy than critical heavy to me. Does my amateur assessment reflect your methodological interests? BTW, I'm not saying that each of these schools does not have critical thinking, cultural studies, and qual researchers but each of these schools have a strong quant/empirical focus, too. I don't know about your scores and everything but as JLCR said, these are all very good schools and chances are, that even with amazing credentials you just won't get in because you don't fit into what they are looking for this season or something. I would reach out to faculty you wanna work with and not only ask them whether it makes sense to apply (they would be dumb to tell you no to that question) but really try to figure out who will be accepting new advisees etc., how many of the people you wanna work with are really there and have capacities etc. But yeah, getting into any of these schools would be great and I wish you all the "luck" you'll need

If a program wants to interview you and don't want to do it via skype, they will most likely pay for your visit. Otherwise I wouldn't do an interview in person.

I wouldn't feel guilty about other students, Wildviolet. The only thing to consider (but I'm sure you have) is how important staying on the good side of your advisor will be for your PhD and future career in general and whether working for her/him during the summer might be better in the long run. Apart from that: Take any money you can get for any sort of scholarship, grant, etc. because they kind of kick you into a positive feedback "loop". You got one, you're more likely to get the next one. You got two, you are even more likely to get a third one. Academia is no place for looking at Gini coefficients for funding. I don't even want to know how badly they'd look.

"They" in this case is "you" I take it? Not saying you shouldn't advertise your school but it makes sense to actually advertise YOUR school then, doesn't it? Since you can totally give cool insider information on it, I suppose.

You will most likely not find a program that does not have faculty working on new media and how it impacts on culture or society. While reading it, I actually kept thinking what you might want to study in communication that does not have to at least loosely touch on new media technologies and their influences... You might have not spelled it out for us here but that's such a broad description of your research areas that it will be hard to give you feedback on that.

Uhm. To be honest, I haven't read all of what's been written here but I just spotted one of your posts, Wildviolet, which I found quite interesting. You said he doesn't seem to be introvert because he volunteers to mentor incoming students? I feel like you're totally mixing up two completely disparate things here. Wearing a professional hat, he might have learned to overcome his shyness to some degree (given that we have experienced some acknowledgement for our abilities by now). However, romantic interactions & relationships are a completely different thing. I think dating in this country is an awfully complicated thing and judging on my experience now, I can see why you are confused about whether the "I am looking forward" line was just him being polite and nice. I've heard quite a few of those and they were mostly just west coast nice formulations. I'm not saying that's the case here but I needed to note that in response to some of the comments saying: guys mostly just say what they think & mean. They don't here. And it's annoying the shit out of me. :/

Then I would suggest not talking about it on GradCafé where you have a picture and a pretty good description of who you are. Given that you sign off on an application saying that you swear to have made all of the statements to your best knowledge blah... Just saying. People, this is the normal Internet. It is not anonymous. Edit: Just read Sigaba's post and fully agree...

I'm too lazy to do the whole quoting thing right now: 1.) Define "stronger applicant" because even if this is a PhD program, there are other factors to consider than merely research skills or knowledge in one area. 2.) Your tone and choice of words makes it very obvious that you have a strong opinion about the whole "sneaking" material in as if it would better your chances if people can see more of what you've written. I do not think that quantity of material in whatever form it is, is the issue here at all. 3.) I can totally properly compare the factor "has website". It's a pretty simple dichotomy: yes / no. (or true / false if you are an engineer and like to put it that way). What you have been circling around all the time and are basing your argumentation on is your opinion about what it means to be the best applicant and what you think schools are looking for. And I am telling you that this is a very naive view of how things work (even in academia). Yeah, I know double blind peer review but come on, in a small scientific community you know who has been doing what kind of research, you know who titles their papers in a certain etc. You also know from which institution they are, who they work with, which grants they have, how visible they are and when it comes down to it all: how well connected someone is. Now, by no means am I saying that you can network your way into being a successful researcher. However, it is and increasingly will be a factor that is crucial to a successful careers. Does having a well maintained website show that you understood this? – Maybe. Does not having one if 80% of the other strong applicants have one show that you have either not realized that the Interwebs is a useful tool and/or not spent as much time on your application and/or not thrown all you got in the application process? – I would think so. Do schools want a student who does exactly what she is supposed to do and does it really well or do schools want someone who does even more than she is supposed to do and still does it really well? Another way of thinking about it... (not saying that it's true but it would be sensible, I'm just crapshooting here). Aaaand since a lot of this is assuming things that are not known to us, or probably anyone because they are not generalizable at all, it might be best to end this discussion now

@ Arcanen: I'm sorry but your argument is not convincing at all because 1) you make the assumption that the process is fair or even supposed to be fair (it can be assumed that it is not: schools want the best applicants. End of story.)and then you go on and destroy your own thesis by mentioning that "Creating a website is something any applicant could do". If it is something anyone can do, it is pretty much fair. However, others have already addressed these points and I do not want unleash a shitstorm of repeating criticism on you xD While I usually tend to agree with your general opinion that this process should be fair, even the ivory tower inhabitants need to realize that this is an economy. Whether the capital is social, or has dollar signs on it, it is about making a future investment and you want to maximize ROI.

I am definitely with the fuzzy and logic person on this one... I also don't see at all why it should be "unfair" to consider websites as application material. They will also consider all publications / presentations you gave and if you have a nice compiled wordpress blog of what you've been working on, it is very fair that this is taken into consideration. I believe that depending on where you're applying and in what field it will probably hurt your chances if you don't have a website.

Yay.

I think it's always best to be careful about guessing what committees are looking for, how they compare people etc. And we all know that interests of studies are very likely to change and evolve (which is a good thing.)

Hey Ly! I am sure I am speaking for all of us Annenberg PhDs when I offer to come talk to us about all of your questions. We're totally happy when our undergrads decide to move on to a PhD! rhetormethis went straight from undergrad to grad school and is doing great... Send her a pm Or me. Or come downstairs and talk to us, or your TAs.

Ha, after you survived the application process and the wait you'll fall on your knees for any acception... And location should always be considered as a factor. If you cannot be happy in the place you live, your school work will suffer. Some people care more, some less. However, do not dismiss it too easily as it should be given some thought.

Yes, we were only talking about our "not qualified" stipend and not about the fellowship money that pays for our tuition, fees, books, travel etc.(because this part of the fellowship is obviously qualified and also labeled as qualified on the tax form, I9...something). Srsly, just ask yourself whether all the money goes to tuitions and fees and you have receipts / account statements / whatever there is to prove that. In this case you don't pay taxes. Don't get hung up on what they call it. Think about, what it is used for. As I said before, as soon as you spend the money on anything else except tuition, fees, books, it will be considered taxable income. No matter what the school calls it. Aaaand I just saw you're from Canada. Are you already receiving this? It might even be that you get taxed before payment. Our international students are. The amount depends on the tax treaty conditions. And yes, it is considered fellowship money and no, it is not considered income but they still pay around 15% on it right away. But hey, I'm collecting degrees in communication and not accounting...

Nope. It's taxable as long as it's not entirely used towards your degree (tuition, fees, books, travels). As soon as you eat, live, party off of it, you pay taxes.

http://www.fu-berlin.de/en/studium/studienorganisation/bewerbung/link-bewerbung-master/index.html it says you're supposed to apply through this uni-assist thing to verify your degree. I never had to send anything to German schools. You usually need to bring your official transcript / degree when you enroll and have it verified there in person. However, I think the uni-assist route might obviate the need for that.

There is one important question that jumps at me here: What kind of jobs are you aiming for? My first step would be to look at job postings and see what the minimum requirements are and then maybe look at statistics for certain professions and check what degrees people have and how much they earn.

This might differ from program to program. Since I am on a fellowship right now, I get paid before taxes. However, as soon as I switch to RA/TA I will be taxed before I get my money (and do not have the option to change that as far as I know). It will depend on how you're funded, hired, whatever. As far as living goes: I've lived in downtown (Spring/6th) before and moved to Koreatown now. I bike to school. From both locations it takes me 15 minutes from door to door. Always – traffic is not an issue. So far, I haven't really felt unsafe but that could also just be my attitude towards risks and security. People keep offering to drive me home instead of taking public transport or biking but when I do the math, I am much more likely to suffer injuries or die in a car crash (yes, people drive here and they drive drunk here) than being mugged, killed, whatever on my way home. Sometimes it makes sense to think about stuff from a rational perspective, too and not only believe all the stories people tell. I am not claiming that I always feel safe or think nothing will ever happen to me. Chances are good it will but I am convinced that staring at every homeless person or black guy with some tattoos ("OMG HE IS IN A GANG") in fear while rushing by will probably not do anyone any good. I have the hypothesis that people behave as they feel expected to (and all the psych and sociology people will be able to tell me the name for that phenomenon) and I would also be quite angry at some of the kids from the rich kids' school (as USC is sometimes seen) so if I walk by and look at them as if I'm the victim and they my potential robber, then yes, they might just behave as I expect them to. Sorry for the long rambling on about my personal feeling towards crime but I do not like how some areas of LA are depicted as bad areas, people are discriminated against because of their ethnicity or race and I very much do not like it when people talk about some of the areas around school as if it were still like "Boys in the Hood" here.

Woohooo! Congrats