ciistai

Can confirm they usually send out acceptances in late January.

PhD Classics at Michigan = no interview. Bridge MA = I'm unsure. IPCAA (Classical arch) = definitely an interview over the visiting weekend. Hope this is useful for others in the thread.

Actually I want to add now that I'm taking a break from work. You can get to Detroit with the Detroit Connector, a bus that costs like $6 each way and runs pretty regularly. The centre of town is indeed walkable (you must have been in a different part of town, probably down Washtenaw Ave) and transit isn't bad. Obviously snow affects it but honestly even in terrible snowstorms I've been able to get around fine. Sometimes it is more reliable than the TTC lol. Ubers are also not bad here and since this isn't a huge place it's not expensive to take an Uber across town. Aside from promo-ing my own place (though the deal is really good), the area where I live, the Old West Side, doesn't seem to be home to many undergrads. There are a lot of neighbourhoods like this - Water Hill is another. Those are some good neighbourhoods if you want to avoid the fraternity/ sorority kids, be in walking distance of downtown and everything central, and also afford your rent. Burns Park also seems to be popular and a lot of the streets off Packard too (though you're more likely to get undergrads down that way).

Heya! I'm a Torontonian living in Ann Arbor and I'm super happy here actually. I eventually want to settle in a big city but this place is honestly perfect for me for grad school - I get my work done, but I usually find something fun to do when I have time. 1) The poster above said this already, but it's really nice being so close to nature. You can get to the Arboretum super easily and have a nice walk. Do you love KAYAKING? Well you should LEARN TO because you can kayak here and it's FUN AF. (You can even go down the cascades and capsize like my husband and I did. Really really fun. Except for when he realized he had left his phone in his pocket...) 2) This is a great place to be a vegetarian or a vegan. You will have zero problems. There's a huge veg scene here (look up The Lunch Room, Vedge Cafe) and great options at nearly every regular restaurant too. 3) There are some nice bars that aren't sports bars. My personal favourites are Last Word, Arbor Brewing Company, Mash, Raven's Club. The undergrads hang out usually in very specific parts of campus and I honestly can't say I cross pass with them often off campus. I live on the Old West Side as well and on my street it's mostly grad students and young professionals, and some families too. (If you're looking for an affordable 2-bedroom apartment really close to campus that's ideal for someone without a car, let me know; I'm trying to find someone to take over my lease) 4) Don't underestimate Detroit. There are great museums, there are great restaurants, and there's a really cheap quick bus to get there. Food scene in Dearborn is great - a little less accessible without a car but also, you will make friends who have cars for sure. 5) Really easy to get to Chicago on the train or bus! 6) I'm busy tonight so I can't write a longer post but please get in touch if you want to talk more. Always happy to meet other Canadians here in A2. 7) Congratulations and welcome! If you're in need of friends, I'm a chatterbox and love friends. My husband (who's British) and I have a car. Let's hang out!

I got married and I haven't changed mine, for multiple reasons, but this is 100% one of them! My parents both graduated from high school but that's it. I'm a first gen - some cousins after me ended up going to college after I started, but no one has gone this far. It can be hard sometimes, and a bit alienating. Weird to have friends whose grandparents have PhDs while mine were farmers who couldn't read. I'm doing this for them!

Try calling Wickfield Properties, I don't think they have a two-pet limit but I'm not sure. I am actually looking for someone to take over my lease with them for a 2 bedroom 1 bathroom near campus (2nd and William) either June 1st or July 1st so if you find out that they accept more than two and you're interested in talking about that more, let me know! I'll DM you too

Very many congratulations on both admits. Re: Ertegun - I think the end of March is when they usually notify. Fingers crossed for you over these next weeks.

The Twitter thread in question was about a meeting between Chairs of PhD-offering departments and Liberal Arts College Classics department Chairs. A few schools are finally (thankfully) starting to opt to remove GRE requirements now that many graduate faculties have removed their own overarching requirement for them. Watch this (or their) space(s). The transcript and GRE cost is absolutely criminal especially for international students trying to apply to American universities. I paid over 200 USD for my GRE. I remember Stanford's application cost was 120 USD. Hard when you don't have USD. Trust that these conversations are happening! (Mostly led by graduate students.) Signed, liberal classicist from #classicstwitter.

I know I'm late responding to this, but I need to echo this comment about time - even my in-person interview at Michigan was only 15 minutes long, and my Skype pseudo-interview with AAMW was a 15-minute conversation with one faculty member too. That's pretty standard in terms of time.

Hi everyone, I've popped my head onto this board a few times over the years. I'm very grateful for all help so far - my husband arrived last February (2018) on a J2 visa, received his EAD in early May, started working in late May - happy happy all around! We couldn't have done it without your help. Well, now it is TAX SEASON. International students at UMichigan are given free tax software via the international centre but not much in terms of support for how to go about filing. Dependents get absolutely zilch from the same office. My husband has been working for a US subsidiary of a larger UK company and needs to file his taxes, but he doesn't even know what forms he needs, nor what kind of questions he should ask to find an accountant who can properly handle his filing this year. We're very scared of the IRS and want to do everything correctly! Could anyone who is a J2 dependent or HAS a J2 dependent share your experience with filing? Was it complicated? What kind of forms did you need? Did you see an accountant? What should we look for in an accountant - do we need a CPA or someone more specialized, a tax attorney, etc? (If it helps - I'm Canadian, he's British - I got here in 2016 so we're still non-resident for tax purposes.) Any help super appreciated. I've emailed the international caucus of my union to see if they can put me in touch with any Js kicking about, but most international students here are on F visas, so I'm not hopeful.

Hey so, kind of a weird post but wondering if anyone else kicking around A2 has some insight. I've been here since Fall 2016 and living in an apt on the Old West Side with a couple of different roomies and most recently with my husband who finally made it over from the UK (ask me about J1/ J2 visas, go ahead!!). We've kind of outgrown the outdated 2-bedroom shittily-insulated apartment life and are planning to move sometime next summer (our lease is up Aug 18th 2019). We're torn between trying to look for a little single-family home with at least 3 bedrooms or 2 bedrooms and a basement (for us and our future catchildren) that's in budget - easier said than done - OR for a pet-friendly condo that has at least 3 bedrooms/ 2 beds+basementy type space. We're okay with moving further out from downtown than we are currently - my husband is a young professional and I'll be a candidate next year so will have much less coursework/ fewer reasons to be on campus. We'd ideally like something that also has an exercise room since we are paying monthly at the YMCA and could cut that cost out and re-deploy that money towards rent for a place that includes it. Do you live in a hip and cool and good condo complex? We were looking at Arbor Landings, but saw a lot of reviews that complained about poor maintenance response time. Tell me about your dang cool condo experiences. But not if it's $2K a month pls

*pops head in* Hey! I'm in a Classical Arch PhD program so let me know if you have any questions. I do like to make an appearance on the board from time to time to see if anyone applying is in need of some info. Good luck with your apps

Hi all, me again! I posted in here ages ago and I'm happy to say that my husband arrived in Michigan on Feb 8th on his J2 visa. We are ecstatic after living on different continents since August 2015! He's taken a bit of a rest for the first 10 days of being here but now is going to get started on the EAD application. I was wondering if anyone has any advice about writing that letter of explanation. I have budget breakdowns that show that I can support myself and my husband for the duration of my PhD program, through combined funding from the uni and from the Canadian government, but I've also heard that I can't show that I have TOO much extra. I really don't lol so I'm safe! I'm just wondering how to phrase the reason he's seeking a job. Primarily it's that he obviously wants something to do, but also are we supposed to say that he'd like to continue his career and also have $ for recreation? I'm very paranoid as I had an extremely frightening experience in early January when flying to Detroit from Toronto - border agent at the pre-check at Pearson berated me for 25 minutes claiming that I was trying to circumvent the system by having my husband come here and work... I've proven that I can support myself plus him, and supported myself without a single penny from him in the first year and a half of my PhD, with my funding... I suppose part of the problem is that my husband is a mechanical engineer so if he gets a job in his field (and he's likely to, since we're in Michigan) he'll be making good money. He's prepared to make minimum wage if necessary, as long as we can be together, and I didn't think that there were rules about how much a J2 can make! My international centre says there is no such rule but I want to be very conscious about how we phrase this letter...

Congrats on your acceptance, proud of you!!!

Out of curiosity, how many of you are applying/ have applied to archaeology programs? It seems like there are very few archaeologists on this board applying this year, but maybe I've just been less attentive to detail in my lurking this time around...

I was also working full-time, 8:30-4:30. I tried to spend a lot of time reading to prepare for the term, but I was also preparing to teach at a field school the following summer, so that took up loads of my time. I did try to force myself to take breaks, because after a lengthy applications process (which can start quite early if you're applying for particular grants, like I did), you need some time to rest!!!!

I went from humble beginnings at York University in Toronto to a fully funded place at the University of Oxford to a PhD program at the University of Michigan. So, imho... no.

Thank you so much!!! I know I've encountered you on these fora in the past talking a lot about your J process so you have always been incredibly helpful! It turns out that when I submitted my request for our certificate on Saturday (!) it was processed immediately so it should be at my parents' house by this week. I get back home on July 30th so I'm thinking that I should have more than enough time to get an official, certified copy sent over to the UK if I go to the post office on July 31st, so he can take it with him. Just in case I'm also going to send him all of my past travel documentation and a USB with our wedding photos. We've been living on opposite sides of the Atlantic since August 2015 so I'm pretty anxious about what we'll need to "prove" our relationship... I'm hoping they won't be as intense with us as they would be for an immigrant visa. Michigan's int'l office has been incredibly easygoing about the whole thing so I'm hoping our luck continues...

Hi friends! I'm a PhD student living in Michigan, originally Canadian. I just got married in May and am switching from an F1 to a J1 so that my British husband can apply for a J2. We've just submitted his application and also scheduled his interview for late August. My q is - does he need an official copy of our marriage certificate in hand for his interview?? I've ordered two copies to my parents' house in Ontario but I'm not sure when it will arrive so I'm a bit nervous that this interview may be too early for him to actually have this with him... TIA!

3 days late on this but congratulations on everyone for surviving this trying process!!!! Be sure to check out some of the city guides on the forum as you prepare for your move. The Ann Arbor thread really helped me, especially when I was looking for a place to live but couldn't make it down to A2 to check places out.

Classics or IPGRH?

Also, forgive me for SO many posts at once, but if my inbox is any indication, it's Ertegun Scholarship interview season! As I've mentioned elsewhere, I was an Ertegun Scholar from 2013-2015 while I did my MPhil. It feels like ages ago that I interviewed, but if you have an interview and have any questions for me please don't hesitate to reach out to me! (I've got a long night of reading so I will be online for many hours...) My biggest point of advice for anyone interviewing for this is to BE YOURSELF... if you have more specific concerns do let me know

Amazing albeit strangely-timed news! I'm surprised Trinity's deadline is so early, given that it's really in the first week of March that the other UK schools start sending out loads of acceptances (I got into Oxford in the first week of March four years ago). Definitely don't pass up the interview with Cambridge! Though Durham is a great school too - two of our first year Classicists went there. Wishing you luck with the interview whenever it is!

Congrats and welcome! Not sure if we met at the weekend (since I think I only met one of the Classics prospectives, and I'm an archaeologist myself) but I'm so glad that we stood out as a program and a community. Looking forward to meeting you (if we haven't met already)! Edit: having looked through previous posts of yours, I think you may indeed be the only Classicist I met at the prospectives weekend! Glad you're coming to join us

This advice is all great and also the same advice I was given last year when I was in the same position. I emailed a great program to turn down their offer and everyone was so lovely; I received multiple warm and effusive emails wishing me the best of luck, and some even passed very flattering words about me on to a former professor of mine from my alma mater whom I see frequently (who, of course, told me). They won't be upset and this is all part of the process for them as well as for applicants.