Duna

1. You do not need to be a left wing activist to be sensitive to race or gender bias or simply to our naturally implemented bias towards symmetrical faces. 2. Really? It's "today's Zeitgeist to be non-discriminatory"? Fashionably liberal? This just sounds wrong. 3. What do Google PR employees have to do with this? 4. "(You are) aware of the bias risk with photos (...) weight this as (you yourself) want to." This comment clearly shows you are not. And the "clean" universities... I do not even want to address that. I have seen several companies in Germany that switched to the no-photo CV policy and I like where this is going. However, pictures are not to be included in CVs / resumés in the US (and several other countries, of course). I even think that it could make it harder for you to get in because no one wants to risk appearing biased. In addition, one could argue that researching grad schools in a foreign country and applying would include researching such customs and not making stupid mistakes...

The Google SEO starter guide gives you an idea what you can easily do to make your website easy to find. Usually you need two other pages that link to yours, so that the Google-bot comes around and scans your page but you can also "order" it to come. And yes, Google results vary from person to person. Browser cookies, Google account data and who knows what influences the search results. The Filter Bubble (the book, the TED talks, blogs) is a super interesting topic...

Oh yes... I am super excited but super nervous now. My first time back in the US for longer than a month since I was 16. Leaving another city behind on my way and, of course, new friends, old friends, family, a whole country.

Sure! I google myself often to keep track of what pictures one can find and to see if my personal website is still up, running and found through Google. Before I started applying to graduate schools, I set up a website and changed some profile pictures etc (not that they were inappropriate before but I wanted to have the right one). I suppose it depends on what you're applying for and what your background is but for some programs it could make a difference (or maybe just one tiny bit of the package).

Führung von US-amerikanischen bzw. kanadischen Ph.D.-Forschungsgraden in Deutschland Beschluss der Kultusministerkonferenz vom 15. Mai 2008. Laut KMK-Beschluss vom 15. Mai 2008 können Inhaber eines PhD (Doctor of Philosophy) von bestimmten amerikanischen Universitäten in Deutschland die deutsche Abkürzung "Dr." ohne Einschränkung, d.h. ohne fachlichen Zusatz und ohne Herkunftsbezeichnung führen. Es sind dies die Universitäten, deren Forschungsaktivitäten laut Carnegie Classification als high bzw. very high eingestuft sind: Laut Carnegie Foundation gibt es etwa 280 doctorate-granting universities in den USA Diese Universitäten vergeben mindestens 20 wissenschaftliche Doktorgrade jährlich. Sie sind enthalten im Web unter http://classifications.carnegiefoundation.org/descriptions/basic.php. Nicht dazu zählen die sog. Berufsdoktorate / professional doctorates, die auf bestimmte reglementierte Berufe vorbereiten, z.B. JD, MD, PharmD, DPT. Die Carnegie-Einteilung lautet: ▪ 96 Research Universities (RU/VH) – very high research activity) ▪ 103 Research Universities (RU/H) – high research activity) ▪ 84 Doctoral/Research Universities (DRU) Für die dritte Kategorie gilt der Beschluss der KMK vom Mai 2008 wegen zu geringer Forschungsaktivitäten NICHT. Inhaber eines PhD von einer Kanadischen Universität können generell ebenfalls die deutsche Abkürzung „Dr.“ ohne Einschränkung führen. source: http://usa.fh-hannover.de/carnegie-graduate.pdf Srsly, do some research before you come up with stuff...

This time last year I was finishing up the papers I still had to write for my classes and started prepping for the revised GRE. I also just started researching schools and programs... Now I'm trying to write a draft of my master's thesis in 2 weeks, so that I can move

@ Germany2012: I disagree... Where does that information come from? How do you even want to distinguish between someone who got his doctorate from a Ph.D. program in the US or a Dr. without the person telling you (or putting it in the CV or whatever)? It is allowed to use the Dr. in Germany instead of Ph.D. (as long as it's from a research university, ref. to Carnegie Association of Advanced Teaching). (but it's off topic anyways because whether the degree is worth something in Germany is not even the point...)

I think this whole thread is simply adorable. Girl, I wish you all the best! And if it doesn't work out, there'll be others...

I had to make two different accounts for the two tests (somehow it wouldn't let me use my GRE account for the TOEFL but it also said that my account name was already taken). I was confused but the schools didn't care. I don't think that your accounts show up anywhere. It's just for you to login and manage your tests and results. It doesn't mention them on score reports.

Hi! I don't know about your field, but everything I heard from Aachen, and everyone I know who has studied there, always speaks highly of research and teaching quality. In Germany it is the most renowned technical university and graduates find jobs all over the world. However, I never really heard of Delft (I suppose because I'm from Germany and not the Netherlands) but I think money should always be a criterion. In my case it wasn't as important for my decision as other factors were, such as research focus, but still an important issue. If it really costs double I'd definitely give it a good thought. BUT: I suppose by now you've already made your decision anyways, so I hope you're happy with it, wherever it took you...

Hey dumbo! I'd like to play badminton and I'd love to join the equestrian team but I guess as a PhD student I won't have enough time and money for riding ;(

Hey there, Statistics on certain programs will most likely be available on websites from departments or via email. I am not into PR, so I can't really tell you anything about the reputation of the programs but you haven't taken the GRE yet and you say that you are "real interested in attending a masters program in PR/IMC/Strategic Communications and have recently began looking into it." and that people here are supposed to give you an opinion on how your suggested programs fit your interests. Well, what are your interests?

Since you are already getting an MA in Communication you will most likely know where your research interests lie... "Look for programs that really fit your research interests" is the most important thing almost everyone here will tell you I guess! Look for programs that have a few (more than one) professor you would like to work with and start reading their work so that you can be sure you're all on the same page. Finish with a decent GPA and get some good GRE scores and you're good to get started on writing SOPs and such. Of course how well you want to be your scores and GPA depends on how eager you are to get into a top program. Great GRE and GPA definitely make that easier... From my personal experience (wow, isn't it awesome that we can say that now? ) GRE is definitely less important than fit. It might be a little different for me because I grew up in Germany and English is not my first language but I still applied as an American and my GRE scores weren't great at all. Pretty much the same suggestions as in every similar thread I think by reading through some old topics here you will get a pretty good idea of how people prepared, which questions they asked schools and which criteria mattered not only for their final decision but also for scouting out where to apply.

I think this partly depends on what you want to do later (some people here seem to be very focussed on teaching). But as a professor you will not only be teaching, you will need to do research, write applications / proposals for grants and publish your research. For me it definitely was a factor in my decision because I would like to do both.

Hey there, I just accepted USC's offer, too! Yay!

Thank you so much! Have you made your decision yet, fanon_fanatic? I bet it's hard to choose from 5 great programs!

YAY, I just received an offer from USC and am therefore officially off the wait list! This is so awesome!

Hey, wow! congrats! I haven't heard, yet Still keeping my fingers crossed though...

Congratulations to mrpbn7 and commphily! Great schools!

As far as I understood, stipends are considered taxable income but they're so many experts around in this forum that I'd suggest posting your question again in the "bank"

No, it's an adventure and something to look forward to instead of being scared of. It's going to be awesome!

@ Hiyou: I happen to know Chinese and Korean people who are not only living in Germany but are also part of my family and I can definitely provide you with more than one exception to your very generalized statement about all Europe (which really made me laugh because Europe is pretty diverse with all of its different cultures and nations...) What I liked most about your comment was that you're actually trying to tell a European to stay out of Europe because he will feel like an outcast.

It's not over till it's really over!

@ superbygk: Sorry to hear about NYU but as long as you're not too broken up about it I guess it's not too bad. Have you been waitlisted at USC?

True, but it is also true (at least for many disciplines, jobs and areas) that having experience abroad and having a network on a different continent are great advantages... For many people I know their time abroad (either as post-docs or PhDs) has made a positive impact on their careers. @ bluebook: Are you Swiss or do you want to go to Switzerland because they have great universities?