TakeruK

I was going to comment on the cost too, but $1500 isn't that high even for some longer US/Canada conferences. I didn't want to push on the price point too much at this point, although one potential worry would be that this is one of those "scam"/"fake" conferences that accept every single paper, charge high fees and provide either no conference or a very crappy one with the intent of taking your money. I've been to lots of conferences in North America and the US, and here's how my costs generally break down (to help you decide if this is a reasonable price for this meeting). All travel is from the US: "Domestic" conferences (in the US) (assuming 5 days, typical for my field): Student Registration: $200 Round-trip airfare, $200-$500 (depending on distance of course) Ground transportation (to/from hotel and airport): $100 Hotel for 5 nights: ~$500 (shared) to $900 (not shared); I share whenever possible but sometimes I can't Food for 5 days: $300 Total: $1300 to $2000 for North American meetings International conferences (these numbers are for Europe): Registration: $400 Round-trip airfare: $1500-$2000 Ground transportation: $100 Hotel for 5 nights: $600 to $1000 Food for 5 days: $400 Total: $3000 to $4000 for European meetings So if you mean $1500 for registration and fees, then that's really high. But $1500 total cost is reasonable. Except for flights to Europe, the majority of the cost is paying for a place to stay and for food, so the length of the conference is a bigger factor in cost than distance. Sometimes I am lucky and manage to do a nearby short conference for less than $1000.

You can seek funding from the school or your graduate student organization. My school provides up to $500 for cases like this. This won't cover all of the expenses but it can help. In my field, volunteering at the conference will also often help offset the costs. They might waive registration fees for volunteers. This can be worth $200-$300! The conference may also provide travel grants. However, depending on your field, this conference might not just be worth it. Is there a reason why your department denied the funding?

Entrance scholarships aren't that common in grad school, as far as I know (unless you are talking about Canadian programs only, in which case they are more common than in the US!). Like rising_star's program, my US PhD program also pays everyone exactly the same unless you came in with an external fellowship that paid for your costs and your stipend. The University does have a limited number of University-level fellowships, however, they are 1 year only and they are not used for "topping up" awards. Instead, they are used when the department wants to accept a student but is short on funding for some reason. Departments apply for this funding and are granted on a merit- and needs-based evaluation. Also, my school does have a fairly generous "minimum" stipend. It's definitely more than enough to pay for expenses for most people. So, requests for more funding aren't taken very seriously unless you demonstrate an unmet need. As for the $4000 difference: Making a case for more money based on another offer is only effective if you can attend an equal or better program for more money and the school thinks that you are actually going to pick the other program over them. So as rising_star said, maybe the schools are very different in calibre? Your sidebar says "Canada" and I don't know if you are only applying to Canadian schools. In my experience with Canadian programs, the biggest/top schools generally offer less funding than the smaller schools because they know they can attract the best students with their quality. Other schools may be more generous to make up for the fact that they may be less desirable in other ways. Finally, when the school said they would address your concerns, they might not have meant money.

These are extremely limited. In my field, there is only one US fellowship available to international graduate students and it is the NASA Earth and Space Sciences Fellowship. Depending on your focus in oceanography, you may qualify for it too. They recently increased the value of this fellowship! They will provide up to $35k per year for stipend. However, you cannot take the whole value if the standard stipend on your campus is less than $35k. (Next year, our school's stipend is $33k, so that's all we get). That is, if you are asking because you are hoping to increase your stipend, keep in mind that winning external fellowships doesn't always do this, it often just replaces your internal funding. That said, there are tons of other great benefits to being on a fellowship, especially if there are research funds for travel and more freedom to do the research you want (since you don't depend on TA or RA for pay).

Check if your school has a loan program that helps you out. My school offers all new students a $2500 zero-interest, zero-fee loan. They pay it to you in September and then you have 6 months of grace period. After that, you pay off the $2500 in 18 equal monthly payments of $138.89. This is especially helpful to us because most people will move in early September for my school but the first paycheck isn't until the end of October. So we're often out the moving costs, the first 2 months of rent, the security deposit and other costs associated with setting up a new place to live. I would also suggest getting a good credit card now, one that allows you to choose your billing cycle date each month (they do this by giving you an extra bill in the month you choose to first make the change, so you should do this sooner rather than later). Choose the day that the statement closes wisely. For example, if you plan to incur a ton of expenses related to moving on September 10 (for example), choose a date so that your statement closes on the 8th or the 9th. Then, all of your big Sept 10 expenses will appear on your October 10th statement, and you usually have 3 weeks to pay your credit card bill, so that won't be due until late October. This gives you some time to get your first paycheck from the school etc.

To answer your question, I'll be honest and I'm sorry if it's a little harsh. But I hope the info from the directness is worth it. In addition to what Bioenchilada said, "not a good fit" is also a way for schools to reject you without having to say exactly why, to avoid hurting people's feelings and to avoid an argument with an applicant. Also, it's likely that the first cut (interviews) were made with little regard for "fit". They might choose to interview the most promising applicants and then decide later whether or not there is room for them in the department. Finally, "fit" is a nebulous and subjective thing and I've learned that whenever schools say no for reason X, it doesn't always mean that "X" is the ultimate reason for saying no. In this case, it might not be that your interests aren't a good fit with the department, but the department only has so many spots for people with an interest in X and maybe they decided to admit the other people instead of you. What they said is still true, because now the department "needs" are already filled, so your interests are no longer a good fit for what they are looking for. (Note: I've seen this applied to other things too, a prof might say "I don't have funding for another student this year" but they might really mean, "I'm limited in my funding so I'm waiting for a really exceptional student" etc.) In any case, I wouldn't worry about it---grad admissions are tough and a lot of the times, the decisions depend on factors you can't control, like who else is applying and what the department specifically wanted this year. It looks like you have at least one admission, good luck with the others!

Oh to clarify---I have the "two year home residency required" box checked on my DS-2019 because I came to the US with a NSERC PGS-D and my DS-2019 lists this funding along with the school's funding. My international office advised me that sometimes the box is accidentally checked whenever there is foreign source of funding, but just because it's checked doesn't mean it's a legal requirement, it is just an advisory. If I had planned to stay for a postdoc on a different visa status, they would have helped me file something with the Department of State to determine whether I'm actually required to returned and whether I can get it waived. It's likely that Canada will waive these requirements.

It is possible to switch but I understand from my school's international office that it can be difficult and cause other inconveniences. It's more common to switch from J-1 to F-1 than the other way around and more common when you are switching sponsors. For example, someone who is funded for the first 2 years on a Fulbright might begin as a J-1 with Fulbright as the sponsor and then eventually switch to F-1 with the school as the sponsor. You might also need a good reason to switch, and switching from F-1 to J-1 so that a spouse can work is explicitly prohibited. You should check with your school's international office, but my understanding is that you are probably better off with J-1 than F-1 if you want to ensure working rights for your spouse. The downsides are pretty minimal. In our situation, my spouse and I decided that it was better to have guaranteed work authorization and that the 2-year and repeat participation limits are something for us to deal with 5-8 years down the line. I say 8 years because there's the possibility of up to 3 years of Academic Training as well (e.g. postdoc work). But we also knew that we had no plans to stay in the United States forever, at most it would be the first postdoc. Well, now it's been 5 years since we decided the J-1 issues were a problem for "future" us to deal with! It worked out though---we're moving back to Canada for a postdoc later this year. So I don't even have to worry about getting the 2-year home residency waived since I will be in Canada for the next 2-3 years at least (probably forever).

Yep, I'm happy to answer further questions here or in a PM, although if it's details based on your personal situation, a PM is probably better I realise I might have misread the intent of your post. I read it as: "The school is giving me a choice between F-1 and J-1 and I don't know what to choose", but maybe you mean, "What would make me eligible for J-1?". For the latter, the main things you need to qualify for J-1 status are: 1. School's willingness to sponsor you as J-1 2. The majority of your funding coming from sources that are not your own personal funds (e.g. if you're fully funded by the school, that's more than enough!) 3. You are able to provide proof of funding for the duration of your degree If you have these things, you should ask the school for J-1 status and for them to issue you a DS-2019 instead of a I-20. You'll have to work with them to get whatever other documentation they need (e.g. you will need proof of your marriage so that the school can also issue your spouse a DS-2019 as well).

Well, I'm sure the basic questions depend a lot on the competition. If you want a sample, here is the rubric I used when I judged undergraduate posters at my field's big annual conference: https://aas.org/files/resources/aas229_chambliss_judging_form_undergraduate_v7b.pdf They don't have the questions on there, but the six questions correspond directly to the first six rubric criteria, so you can probably guess what they were. It's perfectly fine to ask the conference organizers if they have any details about how the posters will be graded for their competition. You might get a reply that is something like "more details later" or you might get something not very useful / very generic (probably means they don't have a strict criteria and it's just going to be whatever the judges like best).

The vast majority of foreign students in the US are on F-1 status. There are two main reasons why students in the US would choose J-1: 1) They are funded by an exchange type fellowship, such as the Fulbright, that requires them to be on J-1 2) They want their spouse/partner to be on J-2 status so that their spouse/partner can apply for permission to work in the US. A spouse of a F-1 student would be on F-2 and F-2 status does not allow one to work in the US. I'm a Canadian on a J-1 for reason #2. In fact, I had to seek out US programs that would sponsor me on J-1 because not all programs are willing to sponsor J-1 either. Being on J-1 puts you on more restrictions/requirements, which could be: - J-1s and their dependents need to buy Medical Evacuation / Remains Repatriation insurance. It's not a lot (like $100/year) but it pays for the costs of either sending you back to Canada if you get really sick or die in the US. - J-1s need to prove funding for the full duration of the degree, not just the first year - Some J-1s are subject to the 2-year home residency requirement. Generally, this happens if either i) you are funded by your home government or ii) you are training for a special skills that Canada has marked as "essential" and they want to retain you. If you have this requirement, you may not seek an immigration class visa in the US until you have lived in Canada for 2 years. You can apply to get this requirement waived (I think the decision ultimately rests on Canada). - There is a repeat participation bar for J-1s going onto another J-1 status. Specifically, I think there must be a 12 month gap between your grad school J-1 and a postdoc/professor J-1 if you want to stay in the US. This means you might have to find a different status in between, such as H1-B (hard to get a sponsor in academia) or TN (very common for Canadians in the US). There are more but they are all minor and mostly come from the fact that F-1 and J-1 are administered different so there are different names for pretty much the same thing. So, most people would want to be on F-1. If you have a spouse and they would like to work in the US, J-1 is probably the way to go. If you are considering this, I'm happy to answer any questions! We've been in the US for almost 5 years now on J-1 and J-2 status.

Assuming that you are new to the US (i.e. an international student) and with no connections in the US, the best way is: - Open a bank account ASAP - Get a social security number if you qualify for one (it will be an employment-only SSN, not for credit, but having one will make other things easier) - Sign a lease in your name if possible - Open billing accounts in your name whenever possible, e.g. phone, utilities, Internet etc. All of these things will build up a credit history. I was able to get a credit card from my bank within 3 months of opening my bank account. The limit initially was low but then it increased. When you get this card, pay off the bills on time every time. I think it was a credit card for students specifically from Citi bank but unfortunately, Citi doesn't do student banking any more. Another way to know when you are going to be able to get approved for a card is when you start getting mailed advertisements to your address with invitations to apply for their cards. Most of these offers are terrible and have very bad terms. Don't apply for one of those! But it might mean that a credit card through your bank might accept you.

I had a similar experience. Only one school out of eight interviewed me. I'm sure interviewing gave them some information about me. But like with everything in life, the question isn't always "do interviews tell programs useful information?" but it is really, "do programs feel that the work required to conduct interviews is worth it?" So I am guessing that these programs have decided that they didn't need the additional information that they would get from interviews given how much it will cost them (in terms of time, effort, etc.). From experience on the "other side", interviewing is a ton of work. There was one position where we had interviewed 8 candidates. There were 4-5 people on each panel interview and they were one hour long. So that's about 40 hours of work just to conduct the interviews. Plus a few more hours to have the meeting to decide which candidates to invite to the next stage. This was for a dean position instead of a grad student, so the work was well worth it to find the right fit but I never realised how much work it is to be the interviewer until I was on a committee! Another reason could be that interviews are only used as a "check". They basically already decided to admit or not admit you. They just do interviews with all planned-admits to ensure they are still going to be a good fit for the program. This sounds like one of the schools you described in your list. I said that only one of my schools interviews but it turns out starting the year after me, one of the other schools that accepted me also started doing interviews, but they are these kind of "vetting" interview, rather than a selection interview. Or, as I think I wrote in another thread, maybe these schools only interview certain candidates that require more information to make a selection. For some candidates, it's clear that they will make the cut even without an interview so there's no point doing that. And others, there's no interview that can change their decision from a "no" to a "yes", so there's no point interviewing those either. So, just because you didn't get an interview doesn't mean that the school chose not to interview. Finally, perhaps schools might have noticed that interviewing didn't help them select the right candidate. If you don't know how to conduct interviews, you can just make some people way more nervous/stressed than they need to be and then you don't see their best side. Unless putting people under pressure and stress is actually a trait you are selecting for (usually not), then having a stressful interview isn't helpful. Similarly, some people are just more outgoing and confident and just perform better in-person. If this is not something you are selecting for (usually not for grad school) then interviewing can hurt the school because they might be more drawn to the outgoing types instead.

I got engaged and married during the first year of my Masters program. Engagement was in the fall where I started my program and my wedding was in the first summer of grad school. In Canada, masters programs are basically the same as the first 2 years of a US PhD rather than a US terminal Masters. My partner and I had our wedding in our hometown but we were both living on the other side of the country. I flew back two times, at the end of each semester in order to do the few in-person arrangements necessary. We planned everything else from out of town though. The hardest part was the venue and once we picked that, they took care of everything, we just needed to pick a few decorative elements (colours, the menu etc.) but that was all easily done over the phone or via email. For the ceremony itself, I took a week of vacation in the summer to arrive early and spend time with family before the wedding. It was also a good time to do last minute wedding things. This was not a problem at all because I would have taken at least a week of vacation in the summer anyways. In total, I took about 2 weeks of vacation in my first year of grad school. It was all done with my advisor's approval (since they were paying me!) but 2 weeks is typically the minimum amount of vacation time grad students get. The only tricky thing was that I had to take some of my exams in December and April a little bit earlier (like 2 days before the scheduled exam date) but the professors were understanding. I did ask them before booking the trip. To answer your question, if I were in your shoes, I would plan the wedding for this winter (i.e. Nov 2017 to Feb 2018). It would be well before you start grad school and you can do most of the planning before you need to work on your applications for F18. But I don't know how big/complicated you want your wedding to be, and I don't know if winter is an insanely popular time for weddings in your area. Where I grew up, the winter is basically the quiet season for weddings, so you can get a venue with just a couple of months notice.

I have mixed feelings about showing the amount. When I applied to US PhD programs, I did list the amounts because the names of the Canadian fellowships are not well known to US professors and I wanted to show that I basically received the equivalent of a NSF grad fellowship in Canada during my Masters. I also see amounts on CVs of "soft money" positions (faculty-like positions) to show things like how much grant money they can bring in. I only included awards that are worth a significant chunk of my stipend, i.e. $10,000 or more (because the point is to show that you have been externally funded in the past), or awards that are prestigious but carry no monetary value. For this past year, when applying to postdoc positions, I opted to go for a much more simple CV (like the ones professors and postdocs in my field have) and basically removed all descriptors on almost everything. So the dollar values got removed this time. In the future, I think grad school awards would be obsolete in my CV so I probably will not include those dollar values, however, if I am a PI or co-PI on a future grant, I would probably include it. In your case, I think you should leave out the dollar values since you don't know the amount of the second award. If you only included one, it would seem like the second one was not worth money. As for declined funding, I would only list them if you could have actually accepted the money but had to decline since you already received other funding etc. For example, if you applied to 3 PhD programs and got a University-specific fellowship from all three so you could only accept one, I would not list the other two fellowships since there's no way you could have accepted them since you declined their admission offer. However, if you win a national-level fellowship but your school funding is better and precludes you from accepting the national fellowship, then yes, definitely show that it was declined. Or, if you win multiple national-level fellowships and can only accept one, etc.

No, as I said above, Canadians do not need a visa so we do not have visa interviews. As the US Embassy website says, you do not need a F-1 visa, you just need the I-20 (for F-1 status) to cross. Here is what you do when you are ready to enter as a foreign student and not just as a visitor: - If you are crossing at an airport (either at US Preclearance in Canada or at a US airport if you're flying from a Canadian airport without US Preclearance), you must make sure you don't enter any of the expedited lines. Sometimes airports have staff that ask you what passport you have and then redirect you. Often, Canadian and US passports get an expedited line. If an airport staff member asks you for your passport, show that it's Canadian and say that you are entering on F-1 status. They should redirect to you a slightly longer line. When you get to an agent, make sure to repeat that you are crossing on F-1 status and have your I-20 and your passport ready. - If you are crossing at a land border, you must make sure to tell the border agent that you are entering on F-1 status. They might assume that you're one of the many Canadians visiting the US as a tourist so make sure to specify the status you are using. This is important because when you do this, you will generate an electronic I-94 form, which is proof of legal entry for a purpose. You may need this later (you can download the I-94 number after the fact) in order to get things like a US driver's license, opening bank accounts, getting a social security number etc. It would also be against the law to enter as a tourist and then pursue your studies, and violating immigration law, even accidentally, could be bad later.

No, I don't think so. First, to be clear, just because two tracks/majors/programs are in the same PhD department doesn't mean that it's easy to just switch from one track to another. However, I don't know the particulars of this program, but for sake of argument, let's assume that it is indeed easy to switch. You must also consider that even if program policies allow switches, these may only be possible if there actually are spots open in the other groups. Whether this is an issue depends on the mix of the incoming cohort and how much room each prof ends up having after you get there. Let's consider these two cases (limited spots vs. no limits): - If the program isn't really limited in spots, then they won't really care what you say your goals are. They will evaluate you based on your research experience and as long as your goals are in line with their department, saying biochem won't help you. However, you would want to catch the attention of the comp bio profs and if you say that you're interested in biochem and then start trying to get a spot in comp bio, these profs might wonder what you're trying to do. It might not make any difference though. - If the program is actually limited in spots, then stating an interest in biochem could hurt you. It might help you get in compared to other biochem applicants if your previous experience and overall profile is superior. However, if the comp bio spots are already all taken up by comp bio applicants, then this will make switching very hard for you later on. So, overall, I don't see any benefit to lying. In the best case, it makes little difference. In the worst case, your actions would reduce your chances of achieving your goals. In addition, there are many other factors that might limit spots for any track in any program that are completely out of your control (e.g. professors moving, retiring, getting sick; students taking longer and reducing the amount of spots available, or finishing faster and opening up more spots etc.) With all these unknowns, it is risky to try to "game" the system in this way because you are playing with a lot of missing information. Instead, I highly recommend that you just build the best application you can build based on your experience and interests. And I don't mean to dismiss your previous experience, but undergrad research experience hardly constitutes specialization in a field. When an undergrad applies to grad school in a different subfield than their what they have worked on in the past, it doesn't require them to write about "switching fields" in their SOP. You are much better off preparing yourself for your desired PhD subfield by taking whatever relevant courses you can access and writing your SOP about how your past experience will make you a great researcher in computational biology.

Yes, completing the I-20 form doesn't mean that you cannot enter the US until 30 days prior to your program start date. It just means you cannot enter with F-1 status on that I-20 form until 30 days prior to your start date. It's okay to enter on tourist status

Yeah it's probably a humanities/science difference. I think this is how it is in the sciences even in non-lab fields like mine. In most science fields, we are funded 12 months of the year, so we don't get summers off. In fact, because we don't have classes or TA work in the summer, we are most research-productive in the summer! Sometimes, we might be funded with an RAship of say, 20 hours per week and we might be paid the same rate throughout the year. But the reality might be that we only work 10-15 hours per week during the school year on research and up to 40 hours per week during the summer. Similarly, the professor is quite busy during the year with classes and committee work, but in the summer, they also get way more time to do research. So, that summer time is quite valuable and I can understand why the prof and the school do not want students disappearing unless they are going on an actual leave of absence from the program. There are some science programs that don't automatically provide 12 months funding. The only one I've seen is one school that only offers 9 months funding for the first year (12 months funding from then on). During the first summer, students have a choice between seeking a summer research position with a prof or taking that time off to study for qualifying exams. Most students choose the research position since it will pay you but some go home that first summer and study / take a break.

I think my school expects all fully funded students to be fully committed to their program of study and does not allow outside work. However, it is definitely possible to get permission to work something like up to 10 hours/week on the side, if you are American (our RA or TA positions take up all of the allowed work hours for international students here). It's not a sure thing though---the school might be okay with some stuff but not others. But in this case, the OP is asking for an internship which is a lot more than just a side-commitment. It sounds like something that the OP would have to take a leave of absence to do which takes time away from the research their advisor expects from them. At my school, this definitely requires permission from the advisor as accepting an admission offer here is basically an agreement that you will devote your time to completing your degree unless you have permission to do otherwise.

I'm not a visa officer but I am also a Canadian student in the US. I don't know what the Shipping E-form is (to me, it sounds like a tracking number so you know when to expect your I-20 to arrive). Since you are planning to enter the US in May for reasons not related to your student status, then you should be entering as a tourist. I visited the US a couple of times prior to starting my program as a tourist to visit friends and to look for housing. Just keep track of all of the dates you are in the US this year. Record the day you enter and the day you leave. You will need it later when you file your US taxes for the 2017 tax year.

Here are my honest thoughts: 1. Many people, including myself, often think of our lives as a story where we are the main character and we get to do the things we want. In reality, while we do possess the ability to influence many factors of our lives, we will all at some point, learn that there are situations where there is nothing we can do about it. 2. When we don't get our #1 choice, we are reminded that we're just one of many people in the world. But this learning process is not necessarily linear. There will be times where we have a very good understanding of our place within the world, and there will be other times where we might forget and revert back to thinking about the what-ifs. That's okay. 3. "Getting over" disappointment is not a binary process, it's not like you're "over" it or not. There are different types of being "over" it and so it's also normal and fine to sometimes think back and wonder what might have been. Even if you feel like you are mostly gotten past the disappointment. 4. Over the last 5 years, I think I have experienced a lot of rejection and know how to handle it most of the time. But sometimes I do get an illogical urge to "prove myself". I admit that in the mix of postdoc applications there were one or two applications sent to schools that didn't have the best fit for me but since they had rejected me for grad school, maybe I just wanted to prove to myself I could get in. At the time of applications, I convinced myself that I was really applying because I thought there was a potential fit, not for these petty reasons, but in hindsight, I think a big chunk of it was me unconsciously trying to "prove myself". Needless to say, I didn't get an offer from any of these applications. Probably should not have wasted the time on petty reasons but I'm not perfect!

Good luck!!

Again, only your international student office can help you answer that question. They are the only ones that knows all the details of the laws and your specific case. They are also the only ones, other than yourself, with any sort of responsibility for your status. So even though others here might be able to share similar experiences, many things are on a case-by-case basis, so you will still have to check with the international office anyways. I know it's frustrating when they aren't super helpful but I wish you luck!

I've dealt with exactly the same thing for the last 5 years! It's a real pain. To answer your specific question: I would recommend using the school-provided tax software for US taxes. Is it Sprintax or Glacier? My school used to provide Glacier, which was okay, but now they provide Sprintax and I think Sprintax is a lot better. Sprintax also allows you to choose to pay another $25 (or $35) to get software for state taxes, which is well worth it because it took me like 5 hours to figure out how to do California taxes by hand (I had Canadian fellowship income too). For Canadian taxes, you will have to find a Canadian tax prep specialist to help you if you have questions. US tax preparers won't be able to help you. But filing in Canada should be pretty straight-forward. You should just use online tax software, like U-File. You can't NETFILE to Canada if you don't live in Canada, so you have to print it out and mail it. You will also need to file your US taxes first, and then include a copy of your US return to Canada. For more information, I recently wrote about Canadian grad students studying in the US and taxes here: