TakeruK

Depends on the school. If you need to do this, you have to talk to the specific school and the specific offer and make specific arrangements. Some schools may not allow you to defer funding. Some schools will be okay with only 1 year but others may let you take a couple of years. Generally, you are unlikely to be able to defer more than once.

This may depend on our differences in fields etc but I think generally, CVs are going to be read less carefully than other parts, like your personal statement or the letters of reference. This means that, to me, it's really important to spend a bit of time really maximizing your ability to communicate information clearly and concisely, but I wouldn't spend additional time choosing between minute differences in wording. This is in contrast to most non-academic CV advice you see online, since for typical non-academic job applications, the only thing the company gets is your cover letter and your CV. For many grad school apps, the CV is mostly redundant---much of the information is already covered in other aspects. Some schools (in my field anyways) don't even want a CV, instead, they have several forms to fill out that convey similar information (e.g. list of publications etc.) I don't think a footer is a must. Mine has a header with my name and the page number, but no footer. I definitely agree that section ordering is important. My CV currently shows: Education, Research, Publications, Awards, Students supervised, Teaching/Outreach, Service/Leadership. On that note, considering the audience of your CV is really important. Different versions of my CV have different emphasis (e.g. the CV I wrote for the volunteer teaching position at a non-profit emphasized the teaching and service parts instead of research). For grad school applications, transcripts are almost always included, so no need to indicate coursework on your CV. Finally, I don't think there is really one single "proper CV architecture". You can pretty much do whatever you want as long as it's readable and does its job of conveying important information. One of my friends likes design and makes very visually stunning CVs. They got compliments on it from their admissions committee (but I don't think it's really a factor in getting in). It's also fine and safe to just copy the standard academic CV format that seems to be on everyone's website (at least in my field). I think both ways can be right. Making a unique CV can help you stand out, as long as you still make sure the critical info is communicated. Making a boring CV means you risk blending in with everyone else, but you know that it's a format that works (and with the standardization, people know where to look to find things). I prefer mine to be somewhere in between---not as visually creative as my friends but enough tweaks to personalize mine vs the standard.

The original statement by the AAS recommends decreasing the use of both Physics GRE and General GRE. The studies cited by this letter includes studies that investigated the effects of one or both tests. The recent changes in admission criteria, for the three schools mentioned, so far, only refers to the removal of the Physics GRE requirement. It's my understanding, based on my knowledge of this effort, that this is the first step towards removing the General GRE entirely. The Subject GRE is an easier first step, I believe, because the departments have the ability to decide if any such test is required, but the General GRE requirement may be a university wide decision.

This is something for you to work out after you start your new program, not at this point. The only reason to figure that out now is if you think you will use this information to decide whether or not to accept an offer. And my advice is that it would be a bad idea to make a decision on a PhD program based on whether or not you have to repeat some classes. Classes are a small part of the PhD program---choose a program based on the other more important factors! The reason you will probably have to repeat classes is when a school issues a PhD to you with their name on it, they want to be 100% certain that you have met their program's expectations. It doesn't matter where you did your other classes, they want you to be certified by them, not someone else. At the graduate level, classes with the same title can have a very different focus. These classes are taught at a very specialized level and the course material likely depends on the instructor and their own interests/specialization. For example, I have taken an advanced astronomical instrumentation class three times (senior undergrad, Masters program, PhD program) and it has been different every single time! I learned new things each time. By the way, none of my Masters classes transferred to my PhD program (even though if I had stayed at the same school, those same classes would have counted towards my PhD requirements). At most schools, if you have taken graduate classes previously, you may be able to excuse yourself from repeating a very similar graduate class if you did well enough the first time. Every school will have a different method of deciding this. Usually though, being excused in this manner doesn't remove this course requirement, instead, you are free to take another class instead. For example, introductory geology is a required grad course in my program, but if you have a similar course in your undergrad (anyone with any sort of geology related degree would) then you can be excused after a conversation/interview with the instructor and you can then replace this requirement with a different, more advanced, geology elective. Another example is that in some graduate programs, you are expected to take a series of courses that meet some "breadth" requirements (i.e. something outside your area of research). These programs often excuse students from this requirement if you have a masters degree or enough prior graduate courses. Just two examples of how prior grad coursework could affect your new program's coursework. But the most common case, in my opinion, is that nothing changes and you will just have to redo coursework. But as I said above, no two courses are going to be so similar that you won't learn something new/useful out of it.

In my field, some of the major journals don't even publish print versions anymore---it's all electronic. I would say that the format/medium doesn't matter. Instead, usually for grad schools, having peer-reviewed publications is what matters. Self-publications or non-reviewed journals (e.g. some undergraduate journals, school journals etc.) usually would not count as much (although it's still useful as it's writing experience).

From your descriptions, two things come to mind: 1. It sounds like you are saying that you have a really strong need to be important/significant. For example, you feel disoriented when you aren't the foremost expert in your field in the room. You want to be unique/special in a romantic way to a potential partner. Being important / making a difference in a world is a common human need. I feel that your expression of this need is more extreme. Of course, it's your life and your choices, but may I suggest a slightly different perspective? You want your potential partner to have "otherworldly" experiences about you because you want your own experiences reciprocated. But how about another thought: you and your partner can still have "otherworldly" experiences even if the reason for these experiences are completely different. You might be feeling this because it's your first significant relationship and they might be interested in you because you are interesting in other ways! 2. It also sounds to me like you are saying that your ability to be happy in a relationship depends on how things that should be completely out of your control. You cannot choose how another person feels about you or how they act. It may not be healthy to depend on how others feel in order to gain satisfaction or happiness. From your description, it almost sounds like you are already crafting the "perfect partner" in your head and now you are trying to find people and then you want them to become this idealized perfect partner. I would advise against this. For a scientific analogy, this would be similar to pre-selecting the conclusion/experimental outcome you want ahead of time and then trying to design the perfect experiment that produces the outcome you want! This is why many people have continually suggest that you reconsider these impossibly high "standards" you set for a potential partner (and also all the perceived "barriers" you set up for yourself that might not actually exist in reality). You have all these expectations and needs out of life that aren't realistic because they are not things you can choose (e.g. how another person feels) and it's not likely you will be able to both identify someone that meets all of these things without getting to know them more casually first. Also, as you have said before, you are inexperienced. So, you may find what you want/need will change as you gain more experiences.

I clearly don't have a study myself, but if I were to compare two similar groups of my friends in undergrad and graduate school in the way you describe (that is, comparing two groups that dated about the same amount of people), I would say that grad students are not more likely to be in a married relationship than undergrads. Almost all the married graduate students I know are like Eigen and I---we met our partners before grad school.

I recently learned about this one: http://legogradstudent.tumblr.com/

I wonder if studies have been done on this. But really, at this point, you have taken tons of tests in your life. Do what makes you feel the most comfortable. Even if what you are doing isn't what the people around you are saying, the goal is to do whatever you need to put yourself in the most "ready" state. I personally like to ease off on review/studying starting the day before a test but not take it off completely. I also scheduled my GRE around noon because that's my most alert time and I feel more confident when I quickly review some key study points just prior to walking into a test. So, I made a one page "cram guide" of things I wanted to ensure I knew and I looked at that in the ~hour prior to the test. I do this for most of my tests, it's just part of my test taking ritual that comforts me and helps me feel prepared. To be honest, I don't think it ever directly helps me, chances are, the absolutely critical stuff would be stuff I already learned awhile ago. But the ritual puts me in the right mindset to take the test (or at least I feel that way).

Someone in the program may be better qualified to answer but when schools are looking for "an equivalent course", they almost never ever mean "exactly the same course content". There is variation in courses all across the country, but something like Linear Algebra would be fairly similar in all first/second year undergrad math courses. That's okay---you don't need to have taken the exact same readings/homework/tests etc. The main way the committee will evaluate if you have this requirement is to look for courses with similar names in your transcript, so you should be set. If you want more lines of reasoning... 1. If you can learn Linear Algebra from your own college then you are likely able to learn whatever other Linear Algebra concepts that Stanford teaches when it's necessary. 2. Even Stanford students who took MATH 51 in their first year will have forgotten much of the material by the time they are in the grad program, so it's not like their knowledge is going to be much different than someone who took Linear Algebra at another school. 3. In other grad programs, the requirement may be something like "A BS Physics degree" even though there are a wide range of Physics BS degrees across the country. Some programs will be missing entire courses or have different level of requirements in things like labwork etc. But that's okay, most Physics PhD programs just want someone with a BS in Physics and any specific missing skills can be learned in the grad program. Similarly, it sounds like this program wants someone familiar with Linear Algebra & multi-variable calculus, but any missing specific skills or knowledge of some method or theorem can be taught when you get there. (In the above "Linear Algebra" can also be replaced with any of the other classes they mention) So, yes you should apply! If you are still concerned, you can ask a prof in the department, but it sounds like your courses are similar enough.

I really don't think this is true. Although my experience may not be representative, the majority of people I know in their 20s (even late 20s) aren't dating to look for "life partners" or to find a "mature person to help them build a home". Sure, some of people are, but many others are also looking to fall in love for the first time etc. As others have suggested, just start with casual interactions with really low expectations. Through these experiences, you'll eventually find someone that is a good match for you, or you'll find that you'll grow and change what your expectations are. And that's fine---you may never get everything you want on that checklist but maybe your checklist will also change over time. I know that the things I cared about when I was younger / less mature are very different than my priorities now. Another thing to keep in mind is that it sounds like you think the whole process of falling in love before becoming "jaded" is a mandatory step in life. It's not. Some people never experience it. We only have one life to live and there are many things that you will never ever experience, even if you want to. It's just part of life and it's important to accept that and live your life despite it. I'm not saying to give up (again, start with small relationships/interactions and see if your own expectations change) but I am saying to be open to the idea that your ability to attain happiness/fulfillment isn't necessarily tied to this one experience. I think it's perfectly normal and fine for people to consider personal happiness (e.g. dating prospects) when making a big life decision like attending grad school. Not to scare you away from grad school / relationships, but I know that many grad students find it very frustrating because the academic life can be very nomadic and they feel that this hurts their ability to find a partner and keep relationships going when there are lots of term positions in academia that require moving every few years. There are lots of ways people make it work, and for some people, they decide they would be much happier with their partner in a stable place and leave academia. So, thinking about personal things like this when deciding on grad schools (e.g. whether to attend and where to attend) is important and something you'll have to think about again and again at every step of an academic career. It's important to know what makes you happy in life and what your priorities are. There's no shame and nothing wrong with picking personal priorities over academic ones.

You will have to check with the person who made the funding offer. One way to ask about it is whether the amount includes summer funding.

Here's another update. So far, three schools that I know of have indicated that they will no longer require the Physics GRE as part of the admissions process for Fall 2017. I am keeping an updated list over at PhysicsGRE.com but I thought I would share some info here as well. This is timely because the next subject GRE test is this Saturday, so this information is helpful so that students can use their free score reports elsewhere! Astronomy PhD programs that do not require the Physics GRE score, but allow for optional reporting, for the Fall 2017 admission season: Last updated Sep 14, 2016 1) University of Arizona Astronomy: See https://www.as.arizona.edu/application-requirements-and-procedures 2) University of Washington Astronomy: See http://depts.washington.edu/astron/academics/graduate-admissions/ Astronomy PhD programs that do not accept the Physics GRE score (not even as optional reporting), for the Fall 2017 admission season: Last updated Sep 14, 2016 1) University of Texas Austin Astronomy: See http://www.as.utexas.edu/astronomy/education/admit.html

I think that while a lot of these tips have good intentions behind them, I think a lot of them are clouded by the expectation that all applicants should already know the "social norms" of an academic department and somehow know how things are "supposed" to happen. I second much of AP's response and thoughts. I also want to go further and say that "tips" like this are actually harmful to academia. I encourage you, @GradSecretary, to speak more with students to learn about their perspective and maybe why they do some of these things that (understandably) frustrate you. Not just international students, but many American students who are new to academia will not know how academic departments work. I know that many of the things you write about here were unknown to me when I started undergraduate studies. I am the first person in my family to go to any sort of University and I learned a lot about what is normal and expected for academics through my undergraduate mentor and advisor. However, I know that many others like me did not have the same benefit and learning, but that doesn't mean they are less qualified for graduate school. At my school, there is a concentrated effort by students, faculty and administrators to create better pathways for students to apply to our school, especially students without prior experience with how North American academic institutions work. This means that we care about helping students who will make a lot of the mistakes that frustrate you from the list without knowing that they are mistakes. Our goal is to encourage them to apply and not judge them based on things that they cannot possibly know. And to be honest, knowing whether or not emailing the department head is the correct thing to do isn't a pre-requisite to graduate school. This is something you learn after entering grad school, not before. Finally, in the spirit of your list, I have compiled a similar list from the international student's point of view when emailing department staff. I don't mean this as an attack on you, but with the idea of "if you can dish it, you can take it" and with the intention of asking you to consider the other side, here are my "tips": My name may not follow North American standards, please don't assume the first part of my name is my legal first name and the last part is my legal last name. My country may refer to each other as LastName Firstname. If you are not sure how to address me, you can always just ask. Or, you can copy whatever I sign my message with. Please understand that just as you may be confused with how to address me, I am confused as how to address others in North American culture. Please understand that other countries and departments have different hierarchies. In many places, grad students are indeed hired by the school and sometimes the person doing the "hiring" is the department, not professors. In the case that I have mistaken you for a faculty member, please gently correct me. Please understand that the application process can be completely foreign and new to me. I may not be sure the correct person to send a query so I might ask multiple people to ensure the right person gets the message. I don't expect to skip any chain of command when writing to the department head. However, when I go on most academic department websites and look for someone to be the "face" of the department, this person is usually the department head. Please understand that I may not be familiar with North American academic culture and I may not understand that the department head is a very busy and important person whose main jobs are internal matters instead of directly communicating with prospective students. As an outsider, it might make the most sense to contact the person "in charge". You can help us learn this by gently correcting us, or even better, suggesting a change to the department website that makes it more clear where to direct our queries. Please carefully read the emails I send. English may not be my first language, so please be generous in your interpretation. I might not use the right words so my writing might appear childish, or awkward, or maybe abrupt/impolite. I may only know the dictionary definitions of some words, and not the connotations that come with use of certain words. With some time and attention to your communication, you will receive better information from me and I will be able to comply with your instructions better. If you find that I am having trouble understanding what to do, please consider asking me to confirm understanding and consider rethinking your own word choice to ensure there is clear communication for a non-native speaker. Certain idioms, expressions and abbreviations may be very confusing. In particular, please be explicit in your communication because what makes sense to you may not make sense to me. I don't expect your grammar to be perfect. However, writing sentences that help non-native speakers and those who are unfamilair with academic culture understand can go a long way in getting what you need/want from me. Please understand that moving to a new country, or a new city for the first time can be very scary. Many of us are moving out of our hometown for the very first time in our life. We don't mean to use you as our sole lifeline and support, but often, you are the first person we have had contact with and maybe the only person we have talked to about anything outside of research or academics. Sometimes the materials that the college sends us gets lost in the mail or arrives at our old home way after we have already moved. Or, sometimes, in the stress of moving and changing homes, we forgot about an old email or message that you have helpfully sent. Please be understanding and remind us about existing resources or point us to new ones. Just a few suggestions to make your department more welcoming and to help us understand you better, which should also make your life easier! Please remember that very few applicants want to intentionally piss people off. Often, if we do something strange, it is because we do not know what else to do and are seeking help.

Hi Visualizer, I am a little confused about what you want. In the first post, you ask "what is the best way" forward and your post title mentions "catching up", but then in recent posts, you say that you don't want to grow quickly. I think it's important for you to consider what the others have said so far, especially the parts that you disagree with. I'm not saying that you have to change everything about yourself suddenly or do a whole bunch of things you are not comfortable with. But, growing does mean that you have to be willing and ready to get a little uncomfortable. I think you can and should decide which parts can be uncomfortable. The reason why I said I was confused is not because I don't understand the difference between wanting to grow and "not wanting to grow too quickly". I do see the difference. However, you asked for advice on the "best" way forward and as I said above, growing requires a little bit of discomfort. "Not wanting to grow too quickly" is a subjective term that could mean something different for you than it does for me or another person reading. I think you have mentioned that you are working with someone to help guide your development. This is good. Have you talked to them about your desire to grow and venture outside of your comfort area? Maybe you could work with your counselor to discuss your worries and concerns about growing and between the two of you, you can identify some specific areas you may be okay with getting uncomfortable. It might even help to come up with some strategies to deal with your discomfort when it comes up. And maybe you want to also come up with an "emergency escape plan" on what to do if you get really uncomfortable. The reason I say this is because in your posts here, you have mentioned a lot of things that you must specifically have in order to be happy. It's fine to know what you are happy with. However, it's not realistic or practical or possible to have all of it at once, immediately. So, out of all of these things, what are you most willing to give up, temporarily? Maybe you can then build your next social or romantic relationship without worrying about that one factor and see where it goes. You're not committed to giving up that thing forever. After all, I think most people aged 18-20 also aren't necessarily looking for friends or romantic partners for life, so starting a friendship or romantic relationship with someone doesn't mean that you are compromising your identity or that you have to change your own life forever. I encourage you to continue talking and working with your counselor to find the best strategies moving forward (after all, most of us here aren't properly trained for this!) P.S. Just to address your comment on "respect". I think that you have that part wrong. You say that there isn't lack of respect, however, you immediately described your former partners in extremely negative ways right after saying you "respected" them. This shows me that you do not really respect your former partners.

No standard procedure, but to help you think about what could happen, here are what I've seen my friends/colleagues do (this happens way more often than one might think!): 1. Student remains at first school and finds a different professor to be their advisor. This is most likely when student is in first or second year and/or they do not want to move. 2. Student remains at first school and continues to work with their original advisor. They usually add another faculty member who is at the original school as a co-advisor. This works best for students who are good at working independently and/or there are other faculty at the original school who can serve as a good co-advisor. 3. Student remains registered at the first school, but moves to their advisor's new school to continue their close working relationship. The student may get some "visiting student" status at the other school, but they would still remain officially a student at the first school (and paid by the first school). The student would return to the first school for all degree milestones, such as qual exams, candidacy, thesis defense, etc. This scenario is more likely for someone who is past the coursework stage of their PhD, likely in their 3rd year or beyond. This is also more likely when the student is funded by a RA or something that is not TA-related. 4. A hybrid of scenarios 2 and 3. The student would remain registered at the first school but would divide their time between the two schools. They might do this out of choice, or because there are different facilities available at each school, or because of commitments like classes or TAships. For a more junior student, they might start more like scenario #2 at first, and stay at the first school during the fall/winter semesters and move to work with their advisor during the summer, until they transition out of classes and TA work. I've also seen students who fly back and forth more often---sometimes spending one month with their advisor, one month "back home" etc. Or maybe one month of each semester with their advisor etc. The frequency of how many flights they can take depends on how much funding their advisor has to pay for all of this. Remember that faculty have some negotiating power when they accept a new job, so some professors may ask their new school for enough money to do this for all of their current students. 5. The student may completely transfer to the new school and move with their advisor. To be clear, all of the above scenarios results in a degree from the original school. This is the only scenario listed where the student gets a degree from the new school instead. Usually, most grad programs do not allow you to count courses at another school towards their degree, so often the student has to start all over again from the beginning. Thus, this is more common when the advisor moves during the student's first year (so only one year is "lost") or when the advisor moves even before the student starts (but after accepting an offer). The advisor may be able to convince their new school to accept the student, even if you didn't apply to the new school originally. As you can see, there are almost every combination of scenarios possible and a lot of what happens depends on where you are in your studies, what you want (maybe you don't want to live in new city, or you're currently in a low cost of living area and the new school is in a much higher cost of living where your stipend can't cover costs), what resources your advisor has secured in their move, what commitments you still have to your original school and what works best for your research! The important thing is to start talking to your advisor about what they think the potential options are and work out what is acceptable for you.

Congrats! Does the acceptance notification (letter? email? phone call?) provide you with some contact info for someone who can answer your questions? If so, ask that person about it. If no contact info, then just ask the person that gave you the good news. Say something that shows that you are happy to have the opportunity and that you would like to know if there is any funding that comes with this admission. Usually if you say that, they can tell you more information, such as "no" or "yes, it will come soon" or "maybe, please wait longer" etc.

Although this is an old post, my experience has been that this completely depends on the policies at your school. I'm in a sciences department and I took a language course for credit in the last academic year (I took it on a pass/fail basis rather than a letter grade basis though). The credit doesn't count towards my degree requirement at all, but it appears on my transcript and counts towards the total number of credits earned at my university. I do need to get approval from my department, but it's not because of funding---we all get tuition waivers and tuition costs the same no matter how many courses you take. It's just a matter of them approving my use of time. This part varies from department to department and even a little bit from advisor to advisor. I did this in my 4th year of my PhD, well after all other course requirements were met and my advisor was happy to approve the 3 hours per week course with the expectation that I would still maintain current research work. To my advisor, as long as I work on research for ~40 hours per week, it doesn't really matter what else I do with my time. And since my actual working hours don't really matter, if I take a course from 4pm to 5pm on some days, I can just stay an hour later or come in an hour earlier to make up for it.

Full funding for MS degrees, especially in Engineering is pretty rare. By "full funding", I mean they will provide enough money to pay for tuition (or a tuition waiver) and also pay you a livable stipend (i.e. PhD-like funding levels). Usually in return, you work as a TA or RA (just like PhD students). There are more programs that provide partial funding (i.e. you have a partial TA or RA ship so it might cover some costs or maybe just tuition but no salary). It's up to you to decide whether this is worth it. Usually, the main reason to pay out of pocket for a MS in engineering is because you want to upgrade your credentials so that you qualify for better jobs or for a promotion. Sometimes people do this when they already have a job and steady income. Some people do this prior to getting a job, taking a risk to improve their credentials. I think paying out of pocket for a MS program in order to qualify for PhD programs is a higher risk. I would say that a PhD program itself is already a risky move because you are not guaranteed to get what you want at the end of the PhD. So, this is an added level of risk. I would evaluate my post-PhD career goals and if a PhD is absolutely necessary in order to do what I want, then the risks may be worth it. You should quantify the total costs to you (for a potentially unfunded MS and typical funding levels of a PhD, plus chances of getting into a PhD program that will allow you to achieve your goals). If you think you are able to achieve what you want, then determine how much risk/time/cost etc. you want to spend towards this. Then, find MS programs that fit within these cost constraints. I'd second the advice to contact programs directly and ask about funding levels and how often students are funded. Also ask about how funding is awarded---if it's on the basis of GPA then you might have a harder time securing that. If it's holistic like PhD applications, then you may have a chance. I say that funding is rare but it's certainly possible to only apply to programs that provide a chance at partial or full funding. There are a large number of programs in the country so even if only a small fraction provide funding, it's enough to fill your applications. You just need to spend extra time finding these programs.

I'm glad that you were able to get a solution that satisfies you and your classmates for that one problem set. And although I'm not 100% sure your intention in your most recent post about the professor's ratings, I do agree with you that transparent grading schemes are important and student evaluation are important. However, our time and effort are not unlimited. You do value advice/thoughts from other students (e.g. thoughts from others on ratemyprof) so I will say this again, one more time, as advice from another student: If you think about how much energy and time you have already put into this one assignment worth less than 1% of your grade, do you think it was worth it? It is very hard to change people and I doubt this action (not counting this particular assignment) is representative of a bigger change for future problem sets in this semester and future semesters. This is a personal decision---if you felt this was good use of your time, then great, I'm happy for you. The advice part is not meant to put judgement on your use of time in this case, but to advise you to keep the balance of cost/benefit in mind for future decisions in grad school. The second part of the advice is to also think about managing expectations. Your most recent post seems to read like you really care whether or not the professor really is a "good" professor or not. But sometimes, it just doesn't matter who is right and who is wrong. While actions like filing complaints may be justified (i.e. there is a legitimate complaint) or may sound satisfying/appealing (who doesn't like it when justice is served?), it comes back to the cost/benefit analysis. Filing a formal complaint usually leads to very few benefits but comes at a high cost. On the other hand, writing a constructive review or talking to the professor directly is usually something that is much more likely to result in a change. Exactly how to do this second thing depends on your department's culture. At my department, the most effective way to give constructive criticism of a professor or a course is to fill out the department-internal course review pages at the end of each semester. The profs here take the department-internal reviews much more seriously than the university-wide reviews. They don't take ratemyprof seriously at all. On a related note, it's also important to consider the audience/purpose of your reviews. For example, even if your profs don't take ratemyprof seriously, but if other students do, then it's still worthwhile to write an (anonymous?) review for other students to see. At my dept, although the internal reviews are publicly available, students mostly use the university-wide reviews to choose electives etc. So, I spend my time writing with professors in mind for the internal reviews and with classmates in mind when writing the university-wide review.

No, don't do this. It will give the impression that you are trying to seek an advantage by forming a direct connection with the admissions committee. What you could do instead, if it's the norm in your field, is to email professors who study the subject areas you would want to do your PhD with and let them know about your interest. This Skype meeting or phone call can also help you decide if you would get along with this person and can help you decide whether or not you would want to apply there. Don't bring up the admissions committee question and don't worry whether or not they are on it. The point of the conversation is for you to find out whether the school/prof is a good fit for you.

There definitely should be a way for you to get them without paying for them. It will depend on the department, so ask around! For two more data points: at my Canadian MSc school, the prof provided me with an extra copy that they had. At my US PhD school, I only TA'ed grad courses that I already took in first year so I already had the book. Other options for obtaining the texts could be the course reserve in the library, or depending on your actual duties as the TA, you may not even need to own the actual book.

Although I am not in CS, I think if possible, you should consider doing more CS courses in the Fall and then finish off your Econ courses in the Spring and potentially graduating. Another option is to do another year of undergrad and get something more substantial in CS, like a minor perhaps. This might cost more money but it could cost a lot less than a Masters program in CS. Also, it would really help to get letters from your CS profs if you are going to apply this year, so taking CS courses earlier would be better! They can at least write about your potential for CS materials.

In my field, you find out about your abstract status approximately.... 3-4 months in advance for international conferences 2-3 months in advance for national conferences 1-2 months in advance for regional conference Basically, the more people and the further they have to travel, the earlier you'll find out. It also depends on whether it's a regular meeting (e.g. an annual meeting for your society) or if it's a special one-time thing. For the former, many people will attend no matter what so there is sometimes less notice. For the latter, many people may choose whether or not to attend based on whether or not their abstract is accepted for an oral presentation. Also, for students and postdocs, the big and faraway meetings are expensive and require us to apply to other travel funding sources and sometimes you need to show that you are giving a presentation in order to qualify for the funds.

I second everything fuzzy said, and especially these two parts!