fillyglory

I've talked to some of the grad students in my program and they all suggested that I look for housing ASAP, best to apply right NOW! I think the situation might be different in different cities, but I think connecting with the people there and asking for their advice can't be wrong.

My last day will be May 11th. My supervisors have known for a while because they were my LOR writers. I love my colleagues here, we have great personal relationships, but since I'm moving from China to the US, I feel like there's a lot to do before school starts in August. Anyway, my job pays poorly right now so the money isn't a great motivation for me to stay at work. But I finish everything well because I have to be responsible to my patients, and the transfer of my current patients to another doctor would be smooth. But still, I am really excited when I think about leaving work and getting started on preparing for grad school!

Hi mallorn above, your list is pretty much the same as what I have in mind, but I haven't written it down yet, especially about the cooking part!

I think ghanada 2 floors above has an excellent idea. I'm in rehabilitation myself and we work with a lot of engineers. Some professors in rehabilitation actually first got a BS and MS in engineering then moved to rehabilitation.

Wonderful idea! I think I'm going to steal it too!

Seems like you finally made a decision. Congrats!

Yeah, one-bedroom probably. I just found out that International Admissions "after reviewing my transcripts, it's determined that my degree certificates are needed as well". Ugh! That's gonna take at another month because my old school is so inefficient this way. And Admissions only told me about this because I asked them, can't imagine what might happen if I didn't check my status. Did you send in your degree certificates along with your transcripts?

I don't know about the US, but there're a lot of these agencies in China, and they're blooming, which I think is because overseas grad schools are harder to get in from here and we are very unfamiliar with the whole process. Anyway, I don't think these agencies would be of much help to you. The way I see it, a lot of people go to these agencies in China because they can't write a great statement or CV on their own (cuz of the language barrier), you obviously don't have this problem. I consulted briefly with one of the biggest agencies here when I was applying (but ended up not using their services), and found the work they do is practically walk you through the application process. They can help you choose potential schools according to your GPA and standard test scores (and the schools are provided by ranking, NOT YOUR RESEARCH INTERESTS), help you with your material writing and GRE, even help you with your emails to POIs. My boyfriend's cousin actually used an agency this year, but the schools they chose for him were all below 50, he ended up choosing his own schools and got into a top 20, which the agency said never was gonna happen! Anyway, here I think they only get paid if you got an admission somewhere, so they like to play it safe, but apparently not in your best interests. I don't know what the agencies are like in the US, but some of it must be the same.

I don't know how your application material is coming together, if you have them right in your computer ready to be sent, then maybe you should apply, because waiting another year will probably be more anxiety for you. BUT, if you're not ready with your material (SOP, CV, LORs...) or if you feel that your current ones are not the best you can do, then I think you should hold it off til the next year. I was kind of scrambling when I applied. It was late October, 3 schools' deadlines were in December, I already had an SOP and CV but they weren't great, but in the hurry, I sent them out with only slight alterations. The next 4 schools I applied to had later deadlines, so I practically rewrote half of my SOP and finally felt satisfied with it. I got rejections from all the first 3 schools and 2 acceptances out of the later 4, 2 are still pending, and I felt that the later 4 schools fitted me better anyway. I realize now that I just applied to the first 3 because they had good reputation and earlier deadlines. So please don't apply until you're ready with your material and don't apply just because you can get it in before the deadline. Hope this helps!

One of the PhD students replied today, she said that university apartments are less expensive but don't cover heating/air conditioning, so the electricity bill is probably going to be higher in the winter. Anyway, since the university housing is limited, we should probably apply for both on campus and off-campus at the same time

Wow, it looks like you've done a lot of stuff in college and I think that definitely helps. But the thing about grad school is research, and you really have to know what you're really interested in before you get into a field, or else you'll probably not be very happy doing the work. I think since you have a broad background, you should probably do something more interdisciplinary, because having done all those work means those fields at least is of some interest to you, and you would be able to excel combining them in my opinion. But still, you have to think thoroughly and find what you heart says. Anyway, you're in your junior year so you still have some time to figure things out. I would suggest choosing 2 or 3 fields that you're most interested in and then try to narrow it down by reading extensively on the current research in these fields. I always get excited when I'm reading something that really interests me, whereas something that's in my field but not my subfield doesn't give me that kind of feeling. I would also suggest you start writing your personal statement for application, the process of writing it made me more clear on my research goals. Don't try to write it for a specific university, you'll have plenty of time later to pinpoint it to the school you're applying, rather try writing it to yourself, if the reasons you write down for choosing the field can persuade yourself, then I think it can persuade the adcom. Good luck!

I got a reply from the coordinator and she just says she's going to reply with more info soon. Still waiting, didn't have me send another application or anything. I thought the online form went straight to the Graduate Admissions Office when I applied though, ISIS have my information and everything. Anyway, I've been looking at housing information on the UI website and thought it would be the safest to apply for a university apartment for the first year, since I don't know the surroundings. I just wrote to 2 PhD students in the lab I'm going to and asked for their advice, guess I'll decide after they reply. Good luck to both of us!

My acceptance letter said to confirm by email. And the school website doesn't show anything but that the materials have been received. Anyway, I got a reply today, it turned out the coordinator's kids were sick and she took a few days off. So everything's alright now.

Thanks!

Yeah I know I'm freaking out a bit, but they said that I only have seven days to accept/decline, and the deadline is this Thursday. So if I haven't got a reply by this Thursday, does my acception still count?