zs3889

You're fine. I am actually not an applicant this year, I am doing my first year at the U of U There has been rumors that the Chem Department is raising the grad student stipend this year so I thought it would be a good idea to ask around here if anyone is applying to the U. The Biological Chemistry Program (BCP) at the U is actually a pretty sweet deal, at least it is a much better deal than the Chem Department (better pay, easier classes, etc.), but of course it is harder to get in. Good luck! Hope you will enjoy your visit to this beautiful city! From what I have heard so far, Boulder has one of the best chem program in the country. It is getting harder and harder to get admitted to Boulder each year, they are on par with schools like UCB, UNC, etc. Good luck!

The Biological Chemistry Program at the U of Utah is actually not under the Chemistry Department, so the stipend they provide is different (higher) than the Chemistry Department stipend.

Did anyone here apply to University of Utah? Mind sharing the stipend that they are offering? Thanks

Did anyone here apply to University of Utah? Mind sharing the stipend that they are offering? Thanks

Which channel do you subscribe to? I used to live in the northeast and get up early as 8 or 9 in weekend morning to watch EPL games (huge fan of EPL, been following for 10 years +). Now I am moving to the mountain west region and because of the time zone difference, I am gonna have to wake up 2 hours earlier than I used to, which would be 6 or 7 in weekend morning to watch EPL games.....

Had my interview 2 days ago, thought I would share my experience with anyone that is interested. It was relatively quick, as compared to some people who went in for 8-10 minutes, mine ended in less than 2 minutes. Questions asked: - Which university are you going to? - Which university did you attend for your degree? (in the US as well) - What kind of studies are you going to do? (he was surprised that one can actually apply to and attend PhD program without having obtained a master degree) - What is your plan after your studies? - Can you show me a letter that indicates the school will fund you? The last question got me. I almost thought I had to reschedule for another interview. There was one letter saying the school will fund me but I did not print and bring it along. It was the first ever letter I received from the program back in January, so unfortunately I missed that out. I told him that the I-20 has clearly stated the school will provide me funding that is enough to cover both tuition fees and living expenses. However, he did not buy it, and insisted on an official letter. I almost gave up at that time but fortunately I brought my dad's saving bank statement as backup, which supposedly is not required in my case. I told him in case the school won't fund me, which they promised they would, my dad will pay for me. He asked for the bank statement and I handed it to him, took a brief look and said to me "I will approve your VISA".

Edit: Sorry for all the WHINING

Well, I did not call anyone, just emails. Now that I was informed that my I-20 was mailed out last week, all I can do at this moment is simply wait for it to reach. The worst thing is that, it was mailed out by regular airmail, which has no tracking information available, and god knows when will I be receiving it. I did speak to the graduate coordinator from my department in the beginning, and then she directed me to the international office when I started asking about my official letter and I-20 questions. I think the international office is actually the one that should be in charge of these matters. At first, I was sending emails to a person from the international office. A few weeks later (after many times of telling me 'to be patient', and I was patient but I lost it finally), I started sending similar emails to several people from the international office. Guess what, same outcome. All I got was stuff like 'it is still in the process', 'we have many I-20's to process, yours is still in queue', 'you need to be more patient', 'we are trying everything we can'........ It has been a week since it was mailed out to me, and I have not received it yet. I emailed to ask for a digital copy last night and I was told 'we can't send I-20 over email because it is not secure'. I mean what kind of cr*p is that? Sending through email is not secure, and the original copy of my I-20 being mailed out by regular airmail is considered secure? sorry for all the bragging, I am utterly disappointed and just trying to get some help over here.

Thanks for the detailed answers. I am just curious, why will you be receiving only stipends for 10 months in a year? To be honest, I am hugely disappointed by the international office at the university that I am attending. If there was ever an evaluation, I would rate 2/10. I have been sending emails to them, asking about when will my I-20 be ready, and all I got was 'you need to be patient', 'it will be completed very soon', all that kind of crap. Mine was mailed on last wednesday (well, that's what they 'told' me), and it's still not here. Hopefully it will come this week and I'll be able to schedule a VISA appointment next week.

So you are basically saying a bank statement was not required during your interview because the stipend you will be receiving and the estimated living expenses were both shown in your I-20, and the stipend > expenses? Did you bring any bank statement anyway? It is hard to believe that I have not received my I-20 YET. I have been bugging the international office about this since May and last week I finally received an email saying that it has been completed and been mailed out to me. However, it was sent by regular air mail and no tracking information is available. I literally spent every night of my bedtime worrying about this.

Hey man, I am very sorry to hear your experience. You have full tuition scholarship from your program, but are you funded by them or will be receiving a stable stipend from them by doing stuff like teaching?

Hi guys, Since most of us will be funded by the PhD programs, did anyone of you had to bring or show your financial proof? Like a fixed deposit, to prove that you have the financial ability to live in the US without working illegally? I remember it was required and I did bring a proof of my parents' fixed deposit, when I did the F-1 VISA for my undergraduate studies, which makes sense because my parents and I had to pay all the tuition fees and living expenses.

I accepted my offer in March so I guess mine is taking almost 4 freaking months too. I have been through the VISA process for my undergraduate career, just had to make an appointment with the embassy and went for the interview, got it in the next morning. Hopefully everything goes right for me again this time. I have been communicating with the person in charge from the international office, not my department. In fact, the people at my department are more helpful, unlike the international office. Thanks guys for the replies and suggestions. I have not yet called them but a reply from the person in charge came to me 2 days ago, saying that it has been completed and sent out to me. How long does that usually take to reach us? I know this somehow depends on the destination so there is almost no point asking. Also, if anyone here is attending the UNIVERSITY OF UTAH, send me message if you would like to have a chat about anything, who is attending the same program

Calling on the international applicants!!!! Has any of you guys received the I-20 from the international admissions at your school? I accepted the offer from U of Utah and have not yet received my I-20 until now, despite it is June now and just 2 months away from the beginning of semester. I have been sending emails to the person in charge and she would just tell me to be patient, everything is in the process, and nothing else helpful.

Thanks!! But it is still pending at the moment, heartbeat is increasing! I too asked the graduate coordinator about the chances of me getting rejected by the international office, and I was told that I meet all the requirements and my degree is from the US, shouldn't be a problem, but still I would very much love to have a confirmed answer as soon as possible! Have you been officially admitted to the program?

Accepted the offer from U of Utah, and now the international admissions is doing another evaluation on my admission, but according to the graduate coordinator in the chemistry department, the international admission should have no any reason not to admit me. However, I am still extremely worried about this, I guess second round of heart attack it is, after getting the offer from chemistry department. Does anybody have any insight on this?

early bird

Have been waiting to hear back from UC Davis but still heard nothing from them yet, so I decided to email the graduate coordinator again. He told me in the email that the department has stopped offering admission, and there will be no decision to be made until after April 15th. After knowing that, I realize there is no point waiting to hear back from them again because the other program I am interested in attending (Utah) has a decision deadline on April 15th, and also there is too much risk if I were to wait for UC Davis. Therefore, I sent an email to the graduate coordinator at U of Utah, telling her that I have finally made my decision to accept the offer from them, hopefully everything goes well and I am officially admitted!! So if there is anyone out here who is going to attend to U of Utah, drop me a message if you want to discuss anything about the program, the place, etc. !!! And good luck to anyone that is still waiting to hear back from their dream school!!

----double post----

I was rejected by Boulder like some two weeks ago, good thing is that they are still considering you as an candidate, hang in there! Also, received an admission offer from University of Rochester this morning, I recall that someone here is also waiting to hear from them.

Everybody must be getting prepared for the coming visiting weekends!

This thread seems rather quiet this weekend, with everyone at their visiting weekends, wish everyone luck, this weekend and upcoming weekends. I'm jealous!!

What about UC Davis? Did anybody here apply to their program and has anyone heard back from them yet?

Great! There are several people here will be visiting U of Utah too, maybe you could talk to them and get together during the visiting weekends. I won't be able to attend any visiting weekends so if you found out anything interesting in your visit at U of Utah, regarding the school and the city, hope you are kind of enough to share your information with me!

If not mistaken, the area of study that I filled in the application was biochemistry, and all the faculty that I mentioned in my SOP fall in biochemistry category. Are you waiting to hear back from Boulder too?