TakeruK

It sounds really weird to be that Schools A and B are unwilling to budge. I think it's okay for schools to ask for a reason, and I think telling them that you are already committed to an interview with School A is exactly what you should tell School C. Did School B still refuse to change the date for you even after you told them about the School A interview? I think this is super strange (and dumb, in my honest opinion) because if Schools A and B are top schools, then it's likely that they will have a lot of candidates that apply to and get into both. I think you've done everything right so far. I would ask School B one more time for a different interview date, making it clear that you cannot attend their date due to the conflict with School A. If they still refuse to reschedule, then ask for a Skype or phone interview? For interview/visit invite, every one that I have received came with a deadline for the RSVP. If one isn't given, I think you can say something like you need to move some prearranged plans first and ask for a deadline for you to get back to them. However, moving forward, I think you should accept each invite and give priority in the order you receive invites. If you'd prefer, you can wait a few days after each invite to ensure another school doesn't happen to also invite you a day later. That is, I'm saying to give preference due to the order, but while I would prioritize an invite given Jan 10 vs. Jan 27, I wouldn't really distinguish between an invite on Jan 11 vs. Jan 13, for example. ** But this (maybe?) is still early in the season, so another caveat is that if it seems like you are going to get like 10 invites (congrats!), you might not want to accept them all because you can probably start narrowing down schools at this point.

It sounds like the AAS Council has voted to approve this letter and the AAS itself (instead of just the President) will be taking an official stance discouraging departments in the US from using GRE and Physics GRE cutoffs in graduate admissions. They will do more than just issue a statement---it sounds like a powerpoint "fact sheet" presentation is being put together for faculty to use to convince their departments of this position. This is just what people at the meeting have reported, I think a more official announcement will come shortly.

First, I want to say that this is a very legitimate concern and something worth thinking about. I am glad that you are taking on the work of raising these concerns and I am sad to hear that the response you got was completely inappropriate and inadequate. Sadly, this is a common response I've heard when doing similar things and from colleagues doing similar things My current department is small (< 10 profs) and until 2011, there were zero female faculty too. We now have two, both hired in 2011. @PoliticalOrder raises a point that I commonly here: "We tried searching but the best candidates were not female (or other minority)!!" This is a complicated issue that I can't address all in one post, but as academics, we bear a lot more responsibility to creating a diverse community than simply saying "oh the best candidates aren't female, sorry". And for a group of 10+ faculty, it seems really unlikely that every single time, the best qualified applicant happens to be male. (In my field, about 30%-40% of faculty-eligible scientists are female so this should only happen < 3% of the time, if by chance, but see note below). There are a lot of reasons why female faculty aren't being hired, such as, but not limited to: 1. Female candidates are not applying because the department is all-male and that the environment there seems to be not friendly to women (given that the programme director dismissed @piglet33 so simply, it's not far of a stretch to postulate that perhaps these repeated actions by the faculty has earned this department a reputation in the field). This is something that is worth addressing, because if the department is claiming to want only the best faculty, then they should take actions to ensure that the best faculty actually want to be there. 2. Unconscious bias exists in the department and female applicants aren't truly being evaluated equally and fairly. There has been many studies to this effect. And, there are many other studies showing there are ways to greatly reduce or even eliminate unconscious bias. Things like blind reviews or even a briefing/acknowledgement that unconscious bias exists, even for "dispassionate academics", makes a difference. 3. Related to #2, a currently not-diverse group of people might have more limited perspectives and a more narrow definition of what is "successful". When they evaluate candidates, they might be looking to find someone that is similar to them. However, there are many avenues and routes to success that could be missed when only using this narrow metric. Diversity matters, e.g. see Page 2014. These are just a few thoughts. I want to expand a bit further on something I said above, about how for a population with 30% women, the chance of 10 people being all men is less than 3%. This is a simplification, I admit, because these 10 people were not chosen all at once and the population wasn't always 30% women. There is also a further complication that departments don't hire every year---let's say they hire one position every 5 years. For a minority population (e.g. women), there will be fewer applicants, and because good applicants are rare, then good women applicants may be even rarer. What if, for example, in 2010, the best candidate was male, but in 2011-2014, the best would have been female, but the department already hired in 2010? This could lead to all-male selection too. But there is a solution! (More than one of course). I will use gender diversity here as an example. The solution my school has implemented (we have really ramped up our work on diversity in the past 2 years) is for the University to have a school-wide slush fund help with hires in the "off" years. Let's say a department was planning to hire in 2010, 2015 and 2020. And they hire a man in 2010. They would be encouraged to keep the job search for 2015 open between say, 2011 through 2015 (it's common for faculty searches for my school to go unfilled from year to year). Then, if they find a woman candidate in the "off years" that is exceptional, they can appeal to the University-wide fund. The University, which has increased faculty diversity as one of its goals, will provide extra funding to the department from say, 2012 to 2015 to help offset the cost of an "early" hire. This allows departments to get the best talent, to increase diversity, and avoid missing great applicants from minority populations due to the small number problem. This is just one example of creative thinking that can help change the status quo (of course, this is an example that costs a lot of money, but there are other solutions too). --- Overall, to @piglet33, I just want to say that you should feel welcome to vent! And that there are many that support you. I think you are definitely right to strongly consider this as a factor in deciding where to go for PhD programs. I'm a male, so I'm lucky to be part of the dominant population, but I try to be aware of the diversity of places I go (conferences, schools, meetings, workshops). I would definitely think twice about joining a department that lacks diversity (and lacks any attempt to change that). It can also be tiring and draining to deal with these problems alone. As shadowclaw suggests, there could be groups on campus. There are also groups online. In my field, there are several diversity/equity/inclusion FB groups where professionals (students, postdocs, faculty) that care about these issues discuss them together. I have to say that it's very helpful and uplifting to see that other people care, and especially other faculty members and those in positions to make change. And you should not feel that you must be the sole champion of this cause in your department. This type of work is emotionally draining and also takes time away from research productivity. Ironically, this is part of the problem too! Academics in under-represented groups tend to take on more of this work, which makes it harder for them to compete with the majority group that does not have to take on this work. And, even in departments that want to increase diverse voice, it's a problem if there is say, only 1 woman out of 15 professor. That woman might be asked to serve on all sorts of committees (hiring or otherwise) to lend a diverse voice (see #3 above). But this creates an unfair burden on the woman (not to mention the extra pressure of tokenism! likely part of the reason why when there are zero women, it's really hard to recruit the first one). Unfortunately, a lot of well meaning people do this by mistake (by "this", I mean not realising that by asking the same people to serve on many committees, it's an unfair burden). So it's perfectly fine for you to choose to take care of yourself first and focus on finishing your Masters, getting into the PhD program of your choice first. At the same time, I really hope that you find supporters in the majority group that will help you with changing your department's environment. And to those who are reading this---lack of gender diversity is not just a "women's issue", it's something that affects all of us! It's important for those of us in majority groups to take on some of the work to increase diversity and take the burden off of our colleagues.

Yes, plenty of students that attend my program visited us on an alternate visit day. It's just a visit, not the choice between schools. Also, I visited some schools on an alternate day, and it seems like many people had the same idea because there were two other people that requested the same alternate day as me (which was win-win for both the students and the department).

Indeed, I definitely asked all of these questions during the visits. One thing I really liked about the program I chose was that they scheduled appointments with students as well as professors, so I was able to interact one-on-one with students in their offices as well, not just in social settings like meals/coffee/drinks where it's often in small groups. I mentioned to one of the students I was meeting my concern about the school's support for student who are parents because it's something that is planned to happen for us during grad school. The student didn't have the information but they were able to connect me with one of their friends who did have children, and I got to learn a lot about the support structure that exists there. I know this is not the same as (and I'm not trying to equate it to) asking about the LGBTQ community or the environment for students with disabilities, but it was something that I would have found hard to ask about in a big group. But it was important for me to know what the students' perspective of faculty and institutional support for parents on campus (and only like 5% of students on this campus are parents, which seems to be a lot lower than other schools). I wrote the "don't ask negative questions right away in an email" because of an experience where the very first question (and second sentence) I got from a prospective applicant (not yet applied) was "What's the thing you hate the most about your department?". Also I should have added, another way to get to the negative information could be something like "I'm worried about the TA load and the number of hours on the offer letter, what is TA work like?" or "I notice that Prof X's group only has 2 women out of 15 students. I'm a little concerned about the environment/climate, could you tell me about your experience?" etc. Those questions might be easier for a student to answer and more likely for the questioner to get useful responses than something like "What are the crappy things about being a woman in your department?", for example. ** But also of course, every person you meet will have different styles of communication and preferences and perhaps some students that email you are really hoping you'll ask a question like this so that they can tell you how they feel! I should also say these are more like things I've noticed work well, from my experience, not universal rules

In addition (and repeating a bit) to what was said above, a good type of question to ask is questions that will let you know what the actual experience is like. For example, the offer letter might say things like "You are funded on a fellowship for year one, and then students must find TA/RA for years 2 and beyond". You might want to ask the grad students what that process is like. For example, how many get TAs? how many RAs? Is it competitive or is everyone basically guaranteed one? Similarly, you could ask about quals and candidacy exams. What are they like? Is it a "weed out" process or are they just a milestone/checkpoint? Of course, you should ask these questions to the faculty as well, but it's good to get the student perspective. Faculty often think things work one way or that their students experience things one way, but the reality could be a little different. Or faculty might leave out details that they thought were unimportant but are actually really important to a student! You can and definitely should ask similar questions to faculty and students, especially about their impressions. Don't be afraid to repeat questions because you want to see how different groups view things. In particular, it could be a telling sign if it seems like the faculty are really out of touch with the students! You should also ask about resources available to students that might be outside of a faculty member's purview. For example, I'd ask about students experience with getting funds to travel to conferences. You'll find out if the labs (and which ones) have resources for this. Maybe the department has a fund that students can apply for (is it competitive? or does everyone get one per year? how much?) or the school has as university-wide fund you can apply for etc. You might want to ask about other things you're interested in---family support? insurance costs? insurance for spouses? etc. Also other student-only facing things like what are the courses like? what are the TA assignments like? what are the housing options like? etc. You might also want to ask about "climate" issues. Not the weather, but in terms of discrimination/harassment etc. This could be hard to do on email with someone you don't know well though, and I don't really have any tips on how to do it. But maybe try to pay attention to how they respond to other questions and/or keep this in mind to ask when you're visiting in person. Another type of question to ask are things along the lines of "What made you pick this school over other ones when you were deciding?" (maybe best after asking what schools they visited etc.) and "What made you pick your advisor over other ones?" etc. And finally, for an email encounter, keep in mind that people will tend to be more positive than negative. When I email prospective students, I am always honest, but I tend to lean on the positive details more than the negative ones. For example, if I thought the classes at my program were really crappy, I probably won't go right out and say it unless you asked some specific questions. And even then, I might indicate that they could be better or that they need improvement, but you won't hear me rant about them. Similarly, if you asked about an advisor's style, I'll stick to some basic facts and be really neutral. But if you ask me in person, I can tell you a lot more. So on that note, I think it's good to list some questions to NOT ask grad students on this first email (based on things I've received!): 1. Questions that seem to fish for negative things only: e.g. "What is your least favourite thing about this school/advisor/program?" etc. These are good things to know, but to me, I feel like I'm walking into a trap when I get asked this via email by a stranger. Also, I think these questions are too "leading" and may not be super useful. Instead, I would ask things like "What is it like to have Prof X as your advisor?" or "What are the classes in the department like?" etc. 2. Overly general questions with answers that may end up being too specific to help you. I get these a lot with respect to personal/social life. I hate the question "So, what do you all do for fun around here?". I mean, sure, I can tell you but I'm not sure how useful it is unless you happen to be interested in the same things. Instead, I would ask questions specific to your interests. For example, if you like playing sports, you might ask "Are there intramural leagues?" etc. or if you are interested in nightlife, you can ask about that directly etc. Also, when you ask specific questions about your own interests, then if the grad student doesn't share the same interest but knows someone who does, they can connect you to another person. But if you are just asking that question, in an email, in general, it's going to be hard to answer. 3. Overly specific questions that rely on information we don't have. For example, "Do you think Prof X will accept me into their lab?" or "Do you think Prof X will do project Y with me?" We're not the faculty, we can't mind-read! Overall, I think the best rule of thumb is to ask questions about the student's own experiences. Try to avoid leading questions that specifically ask for positive or negative things, just listen to their experience/story. And don't ask the questions above

Diversity in LORs is important and a good asset. However, you really do need to be interested in the lab too! It sounds like you are only interested in PI#1 because you want to have more reference letters and I don't think this is the best thing for you either. And, if you're not really into the work of a particular lab, you might not do as well and you might not get a great letter/experience after all. There's also advantages to staying with the same lab---you can now develop an even better relationship with the professor/lab and you can do much more meaningful work when it comes time to do your final year thesis work. And you haven't worked with PI#2 yet. Maybe after this summer, you'll find that you have other interests for your thesis work! Finally, to repeat what I said above, the purpose of summer/thesis research is not to acquire a LOR. The purpose is to develop research skills and experience. The good LOR will come as a result of doing good research--if you focus on only the LOR then you might end up missing out on some good experiences that will actually help you later. In general, graduate school applications are not a series of boxes to tick and achievements to collect---this approach may work in some cases, but I wouldn't recommend it.

I know this is an old thread now (maybe someone else in a similar situation will find it helpful), but I am familiar with some of the programs on your list and I might also be familiar with some of the programs you went to in Canada. First, I would say that if you are aiming for a Geophysics PhD, then a Physics background is fine. Many geophysics students in my program (one of the ones you're applying to) do not have a geology degree at all and most would have some kind of physics or engineering degree. However, of course, they did take geophysics classes in undergrad and your geophysics Masters degree will be fine to cover that. The other geology will be covered as needed while you're in your PhD program. For example, in my department, there is a "geology 101" class (meant for people with zero geology background, like me) that covers the basic stuff that you need to know to work in an Earth Science department (my work is on planetary science, studying planets around other stars). This is a graduate level class is designed for and required for all incoming planetary science & geophysics students (those with geology experience can take a different class instead). What I am trying to say is that some schools won't really require you to take "leveling" courses (i.e. catching up with undergrad courses) but instead already offer courses that will catch you up as part of your PhD course requirements. This is because most schools have very diverse earth science departments where people come into the program from all sorts of fields (my department admits people with degrees in physics, astronomy, math, biology, chemistry, environmental science, geology, geophysics, and some engineering programs too). And now to answer your questions: - Given my current situation, is there anything I can do in the next 2 years during my Master’s to help overcome my low undergraduate cGPA? I will be taking Quantum, Condensed matter, crystallography and electrodynamics (Jackson) graduate courses. I hope by doing well in these courses I can strengthen my application. For the Earth science programs, these courses won't be particularly helpful. But of course, doing well in these courses will certainly be a good thing, even if the only thing they do is raise your Masters GPA. Doing well in these courses will definitely help in your physics applications. And, if the professors on the committee have some physics background (they should!) then even in the Earth sciences, doing well in a notoriously difficult Physics course such as Jackson E&M would stand out. E&M might not be that relevant to geophysics, but a strong performance will demonstrate your strong quantitative skills. Another thing you can do while in your MSc years is to apply for fellowships. Winning a OGS (if you're in Ontario, other provinces have similar things) or a NSERC will help your PhD application. ** But keep in mind that you will be applying to PhD programs about one year from now, after only half of your Masters is finished. If there is a class or a conference or a paper/project you want to do, do it in the first year otherwise it might not be complete by the time you want to apply. - This is might be silly to ask, but what are my chances of getting accepted to these groups? do I have a shot, or am I delusional? It's hard to say what your application will look like after your Masters. If you were to apply right now, I think it would be really hard to get into these schools. But with a better GPA and much more research experience during your Masters, you should have a shot, in my opinion. But I will be honest---your undergrad GPA will still be a part of the equation and at some of the top schools in your list, it will hurt you. - I have read that a MSc can a help or destroy one's application. In my case, I don’t think I have much choice, a masters will give me a GPA bump, 2 years research, an additional and potentially stronger LOR, and something to add to my CV. I understand that the quality of my research matters, but due to the nature of my work, having a chance to work on the lab techniques and mastering the equipment and procedures, puts me at an advantage when applying to the particular research groups I am targeting. Is there any way this can backfire? Most of the time when I tell people that a MSc can "backfire", I'm referring to US masters degrees (either the coursework only terminal degrees or the "consolation Masters"). In these cases, doing poorly in the Masters program will hurt the applicant more than help, in my opinion. But since you're from Canada, the Masters then PhD route is the normal route and it won't be a problem. That said, since the goal of you doing the Masters is to improve your application, you must do better in the Masters program than you did in the undergraduate program if you want it to help. So it could "backfire" if you end up showing that there is no upward trend between you as an undergrad and you as a MSc student. But maybe for this case, "backfire" is the wrong word since you won't really be worse off than without the Masters. - Is it fair to say that the geosciences graduate programs are “easier” to get into than traditional physics programs? No. You might get this impression though if you apply "Physics grad school criteria" to the students that apply to Geophysics vs. Physics PhD programs. For example, if you compare the GPA of physics BSc holders who apply to Geophysics PhDs vs. Physics PhDs, you might see that the successful Geophysics PhD applicants appear to have lower GPAs. But that might only be because the most grad schools will weigh relevant coursework more strongly. And for a student in a Physics BSc program, more of the coursework will be relevant to a physics PhD program than a geophysics PhD program, so the geophysics applicants are likely judged on a different set of courses than the physics applicants. But since a Physics BSc is going to have mostly Physics-relevant courses, the overall GPA for those not applying to Physics could be lower. This creates the false impression among Physics students that Physics is the "most rigorous" field, because they see only the highest GPAs going to Physics while lower GPAs go to other fields. But I hope you see what I mean by "false impression" here! - If I do research relevant to my PI of interest at the target school, do I stand a better chance of getting in? Can a PI vouch for me? First question is yes. Mostly because when admissions committees are looking for students, they are trying to match students with professors. In particular, they want to match students with professors who need students. I know that at my program, you could be a good match for someone but if they are not interested in having more students, and you're not a good match for anyone else, then you might not get accepted. So, my advice is to not limit your research interests too much. That's the purpose of a PhD, not a BSc or MSc. Don't "put all your eggs in one basket", unless of course, there is really only one person at a particular school you want to work with, then if you can't work with them, you would rather be rejected. But that also comes with a warning because what if you go to that school and then the person turns out to be a jerk, or they leave, or something else happens etc. Second question: this depends on the school. At some places, you must have a PI vouch for you to get in. At others, professors that want a certain student can let the admissions committee know. Or, they might only have an influence if they are on the committee itself. It varies a lot between departments. --- Finally, some last comments: I don't think your list of schools is necessarily "too large" since you have a riskier application (lower undergrad cGPA for these schools). Also, this is about 1 year before you will actually apply, so I would imagine that you will refine and edit this list over that time. If you want a comparison, I'm a Canadian student that did BSc at a top 3, a MSc at a mid-level Canadian school and then applied to top 10 only US PhD programs. I applied to 8 schools total (7 US plus one Canadian). My advice for applying as a Canadian are: a. Don't apply to US schools that do not offer something better than the best Canadian school you can get into. (Unless you have other reasons to be in the US). b. Apply to more private schools than public schools because public schools admit fewer international due to funding issues. So if you are to cut schools from this list, cut the public ones. c. The goal is not to get as many acceptances as possible! When you make your list of schools, don't make it a list of schools you think you have a good shot at. Instead, make it a list of schools you have a small chance at but actually want to be there. For example, if you apply to 10 schools where you think you have a 20% chance of getting in, then you will likely get 1 to 3 acceptances, which is all you need. A lot of people will apply to 10 schools where they think they have like 70% of getting in, and then end up with 6-8 acceptances. It's nice to see that many acceptance letters, but you can't attend 6-8 schools. It's far better to choose between 1-3 schools you really want to go to than to have 6-8 options that are less exciting. d. That said, be realistic too. I said the above for effect, but in reality, you don't want to only apply to schools that are "20% chance". You should make your list mostly these schools, then maybe 1 or 2 "70% chance' and one "safety" school (>95% chance). That way, you will have the most chances at getting into a good school you're excited about but if you were wrong about your chances, there should be at least one other option that you would still be happy attending.

If you are not able to or not comfortable driving there and back each day, I think it's okay to say that and ask for a hotel like the other visiting students. You should not be expected to do extra work because you happen to live closer. This is just my opinion though, I can't know for sure how your school would react. Another thing you can say is that you don't have access to your own vehicle on those days so you would be taking bus/train/whatever and would prefer to stay the night.

If your 8 days don't reset on Jan 1 (and instead, are accumulated at something like 0.75 days per month so that it adds up to 8 per year), then I think given that this is also a job you want to keep right until grad school begins, I think @MarineBluePsy made a really good suggestion---if you can find a policy through HR or your employee handbook, you can frame the discussion/request in this way. I don't think it's drastic for an employer to fire an employee for not attending work on days they are scheduled to work, especially if it's a job that comes with regular hours, benefits, a time off policy etc. Another option is to ask the schools to move their interviews. Maybe if you tell your supervisor that you are working at this from both sides--that maybe you can move one of the schools so that you would only need to take 1-2 unpaid days off instead of 2-3, it would show the supervisor that you are committed to finding a fair solution and they might be more willing to grant you unpaid time off. I think the school should and would be more flexible than your job. If the school is honest with itself when it says it wants the best qualified candidates, then it should realise and accommodate for people who have travel restrictions (such as current work commitments, childcare commitments or other commitments). A less optimal way to do this is to consider using sick leave illegitimately. I guess this really depends on what the sick leave policy is at your workplace though. I know some people with sick leave policies that just require them to ask for it (no doctor's note, no proof needed etc.) so this is the most common way they take time off for interviews when they do not want their employer to know they are interviewing. Of course, the tricky thing is that this would be super fishy if you already went the legitimate way above and then got denied. I'm just saying this is an option, but I would probably try getting the school to move interview dates first!

In my field, co-first authorships are not as common, but what fuzzy said would apply in such cases. Treat them as first author publications in places where you need to list/count first author publications and I would refer to them as "co-first-author" in interviews or SOPs.

When you say that Caltech won't let you edit, are you referring to the admissions software, or that you contacted the people there and asked if you could edit? I don't think it will affect you very much but if you are worried, one thing you could try is to email the staff member in charge of admissions and ask if you could send them a new version.

I'm in California now but I did my Masters in a cold place! As a grad student, I had an office so if you will have an office, it would hopefully have a coat rack/hanger, or you and your officemates can buy something you prefer better. I also purchased a boot tray so that when I got inside, I can take off my boots and wear more comfortable indoor shoes (also had an indoor jacket). The boot tray is good for places with lots of snow/slush so that you don't get it all over your floor. I also like to keep an extra pair of socks in my desk in case I stepped into an unexpectedly deep puddle or otherwise got my socks wet. Because having wet socks all day really really sucks!

After registering for the GRE, I forgot to uncheck some box on the application form and so I accidentally consented to ETS sharing my information with a bunch of programs that "I might be interested in" and I got many emails and snail mail invitations to apply like this one. But it sounds like you are at least getting invitations from programs in your field (I wrote the Physics GRE and got invitations to MBA programs?!). I think @TheMonkeyOnMyBack has the right approach---if the interest is mutual, it won't hurt to ask if they have a fee waiver.

Good luck everyone Maybe I'll see some of you if you visit my program!!

Good luck! Also, don't forget your Form I-20 along with your passport to show valid F-1 status. I think the full set of things that indicate valid F-1 status is the I-20, your passport (which usually, but not always, has a stamp with your date of entry and the status of your entry in it---don't worry if they didn't stamp it though) and your I-94. You might have gotten a paper I-94 (page stapled to your passport) or it might be electronic, in which case you don't have to do anything since US Immigration can look it up with your passport number (you can also look it up here: https://i94.cbp.dhs.gov/I94/consent.html;jsessionid=vsvqWJbWNL8MK8TrPyy8qfJ5xjrsl1pG4YrJT6qHjCDJwgC5Kr2T!-810262144) Also, if you are worried about taxes and interest---you can also check your paystubs and see if they have already deducted any taxes. My school deducts 14% for all international students, so it's always a refund at tax time, not overpayment. So filing late would mean you don't get your refund until you file, but at least you won't have to pay interest (not sure if there is a penalty though). And if you earned less than $10,000 in the US in tax year 2015, there is a Canada-US tax treaty that exempts you from any US tax at all (so, earning $9,999 vs. $10,000 is a big difference!) Oh, and if you have not filed taxes in the US yet, you might want to know as Non-Resident Aliens, we cannot file electronically, we must mail in a paper copy! Luckily, as long as the return is postmarked by April 15th, then you won't be late. But just wanted to give you a heads up just in case And, after you complete your federal tax return, you will need to also file your state tax return (if you live in a state with state taxes). Unlike Canada, where you file the provincial and federal tax returns together, you have to do it separately in the states. Also, tax software doesn't do state taxes for international students (unless you pay for a special version), so be prepared to do it by hand (some schools, like mine, offer workshops where you fill it all in together). Again, just giving you extra info so that you can plan enough time to do everything prior to April 15, if this is your first US tax return. (**however, if it is your first year, then you probably only received US income for a few months and you will be likely way below the minimum income required to file a state tax return, so you might not have to bother with that this year). Okay---final paragraph I promise---while I'm giving random Canadian tax tips, I want to also say you can claim the tuition "paid" in the US as Canadian Education credits! See: http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/E/pbg/tf/tl11a/README.html This applies even if you never see the tuition billed to your account (i.e. covered by a tuition waiver). Get your school's bursar/registrar/etc. office to fill out the TL-11A and file it with your Canadian taxes to get Canadian educational tax credit which you can use against future Canadian taxes. It can add up to a lot so hopefully saving a few thousand dollars in the future is worth all of this hassle!

You will have to ask your program for the exact numbers. Usually, the stipend for TA and from PI is about the same and one will replace the other. That is, the base yearly stipend is usually the amount you get paid and the source of the funding might be from your TAship or it might be from your PI (i.e. an RAship). In some programs, only when it's explicitly stated, you can do extra TA work and get some extra money. However, this is rare, because TA work is actually a commodity in many places (since it means the department is paying you, not a lab/PI) so the department want to limit TAships to only new students without a PI to take them on. So, unless your offer letter states otherwise, you should assume that you will be getting the base stipend for the entire length of degree, no matter if you are an RA or a TA. Typically, you will have to wait at least one pay cycle before you get your first stipend check. At my school, we're paid monthly, so it's about 1 month before we get paid. Actually, it's more like 6 weeks because most people arrive about 1-2 weeks early to get settled and there's orientation etc. My school offers a $2500 startup loan, no fees, no interest for new students to cover things like moving costs and apartment deposits etc. However, we only get this money once we arrive (but we can get it on the first day). If you need an advance for moving costs, you can probably talk to your school and hopefully they will have some similar program or be able to accommodate you in some way. Don't count on it though, because you can imagine many students need this and it could cost a lot of money. I'd say most students try to save up a few months of expenses before moving through a summer job or something. Another good idea is to get a credit card and that will allow you to defer payments for a little while, if you're good with credit (i.e. don't accrue interest, paying it off before the due date can often give you an extra 4-7 weeks to pay). The best way to use the credit card is to make big purchases right after the bill date on your card. That is, if your credit card bills you on the 5th of the month, then you should make a purchase on say August 6th. This purchase won't appear on a statement until September 5, and most cards give you 21 days to pay, so you don't have to pay it until September 26th. Some cards even let you set the due date, so if you get this card in advance, you can choose a convenient due date (i.e. one just before you have to make a big moving expense). Also, many cards have promotional offers for new clients where there is 0% interest for some number of months. This could be great for covering moving expenses and then you have several months to pay them off.

At Caltech, "strongly recommended" for subject GREs should be read as "optional", in my opinion. Like the graduate coordinator said, only report it if you have a good score. I know many people who got into Caltech programs without submitting the "strongly recommended" GRE scores. Don't give up hope---it's not over until it's over.

When I was at the Social Security Administration office to get my SSN (it's about a 15 minute walk from campus), they originally tried to process me as a F-1 student so I think it's both possible and common for F-1 students to get SSNs. To get one via the school, the international student program officer has to record our entry / arrival at the school in SEVIS and then give us a letter to take to the Social Security Administration office stating that we are eligible for a SSN. Waiting in line at the SSA office wasn't fun (very little instructions, confusing forms, 1+ hour wait as the office was very busy with people there for other social security businesses that seemed a lot more important, e.g. applying for/collecting benefits). But it was a one time thing and my card arrived in the mail 5 days later without issue. Most international students I know at my school have SSNs and most of them are F-1. I wonder why there is a such a difference. From my experience with my school, I was under the impression that it's standard practice to get that SSN letter as part of international student check-in, but from others on this forum, I soon learned that it's not the case! In theory, all F-1 and J-1 students are authorized to work in the US (on campus). So, therefore, we all meet the minimum requirements to be eligible for a SSN, I think, however I guess it's still up to the school whether or not to make the SSN application part of everyone's check-in procedures. It seems like a lot of things are school dependent, for example, I met all the requirements for J-1 status but U Arizona refused to sponsor me on that status as a grad student. So, for your specific situation, maybe consulting your international students program staff (if you haven't already) can give you specific answers. In particular, you might want to ask if you are able to get a SSN, because it seems like getting a SSN will be more useful to you than a ITIN. You may also want to just get the SSN on your own. See also: https://www.ssa.gov/pubs/EN-05-10096.pdf ; one advantage of this method is that you get to bring your original documents, e.g. passport, directly to the SSA office and they will inspect them and then return them to you immediately (after reading that PDF, I don't think the letter from my school was strictly necessary, but just helps confirm that I have the correct status). Also, keep in mind that you don't have to actually be working or have a job in order to qualify for a SSN---you just need to be eligible for such work (for example, J-2 spouses with employment authorization are able to apply for a SSN right away, and this is what my spouse did, months before they actually started working). But then maybe applying for a SSN with a W-7 ITIN application in progress is not the best thing to do (I have no idea, not an expert!). Just some more thoughts, sorry that they are turning out to be potentially more confusing than helpful.

Here are some ideas: 1. Private tutor, especially for students in first year physics/math courses, or students looking to prep for MCAT etc. You can make pretty decent money this way too, with a BSc, I'd charge something like $30/hr and when I was really busy tutoring, I easily found 6-10 hours of work per week (more asked but I didn't have time to do more than this while also in school), but it took me awhile to build up the reputation to get referrals. 2. Tutor for a tutoring agency is a pretty good temp position. They usually pay you something like $15-$20/hr and charge the students $40-$50 per hour. I don't like working for the for-profit tutoring agencies because I feel that they prey on student insecurities. Instead, I worked with one run by my school's student union (free for students, paid tutors $13/hr). 3. Offices on campus are often looking for temp workers just to help with the administrative work. You could check your school's human resources page / job listings to see if there is anything listed. I know that my current school often hires people at this point because of the extra load due to applications, campus tours, etc. Other offices also hire in the summer to help with paperwork processing new admissions etc. 4. Offices off-campus, e.g businesses and such, might also hire temporary workers but they are usually looking for people who will eventually transition to full-time. However, since maternity leave is about 3 months, a lot of time, they want to hire someone for just 3 months while their regular person is on leave and most people want something more permanent, so the fact you're open to a 3 month position might make you more desirable.

I would also say that PLTL sounds like it should be teaching related. I don't think teaching needs to be limited to just standing-in-front-of-the-class type teaching. You can organize your CV in the way that best shows off your experience and communicates your abilities. My CV has a section for Research, one for Teaching & Outreach (I chose to put these into one category because my field considers both activities in the same category for most evaluations) and one for Service (i.e. things I volunteer for that aren't teaching or research).

Ah, I see a big difference that explains why my experience is different! At top schools in my field, we have "large" populations, which is like 20 planetary science students. I think the biggest program in the country has ~35 students. At small schools, planetary science is part of another program and there are like 4-5 of us. So, the difference in "large" and small is tiny, which means there's no disadvantage in the larger size (I also usually get 30-60 minutes of private meeting time with any visitor and we have visitors for multiple colloquia / professor group meetings per week!). Also, at smaller schools, being too small is also bad because it means the being 4 or 5 planetary science students in a bigger department of, say, 50 students means that the majority of colloquia visitors are doing other things. I guess there is a sweet spot, about 20-50 students (in my opinion) as the ideal size where you are big enough to have a good community but small enough to get individual attention

I'm not sure what you mean by "code of ethics"? Some schools admit students in multiple rounds. They make offers to people that want the most first, and then based on how many of those accept, they make additional offers later to fill the class. So, I think what the professor means is that they think you are a competitive/strong applicant and that you would be one of the initial group that gets an offer. There's no set timing for this. It likely varies from year to year because it happens after the admissions committee can get together and make decisions. This depends on the professor's schedules. You can use the "Results survey" of TheGradCafe to find out when people have heard from this program in the past: http://thegradcafe.com/survey/index.php A search for Toronto and ECE shows that the earliest result listed was an interview request at the end of January and the earliest acceptance listed is mid-February. So, I think that is a good guess to when you would expect to hear back. If you find this useful, make sure you take the time to post your own results when you get them, so you can help future students! Good luck

Just to add to what fuzzy said, if you did get the card, you'll find that the card itself tells you not to take the card with you and to write the number down and keep the card in a safe place! I think you are only allowed something like 10 replacement cards in your life.

I know this is going to sound harsh and I understand how you feel because I remember the stress of application seasons myself. However, for your own good, I want to say this: It is not your professor's problem that you are stressing over the LOR and that it is ruining your holiday. You are the only one responsible for how you feel and it is neither helpful to you (nor professional) for you to blame others for this. I want to say again that your stress is certainly warranted---applications are a terrible and crappy time. You're entitled to feel frustration and stress and I'm not taking that away from you. But this does not mean you are entitled to blame others for it, and I think your actions are more unprofessional than your professor's. From the point of view of a third party, I would say that your professor's right to not have to think about work during her holiday trumps your right to know yes/no. But, I try not to judge anxious applicants at this time of year because I know it sucks. I hope you do get to hear from your professor before school reopens on January 4 but I also hope you understand why you don't the right to know it just because it stresses you out to not know.