MsFighter

I've just started my program so I can not tell from my personal experience. However I did do a lot of research and talked to people before I decided to go for J1. The biggest disadvantage of J1 is the 2 yr requirement. If you're not subject to it, then J1 is actually better in 2 ways: (1) more flexibility for J2, J2 can work, study... without adjusting to another visa; (2) post graduation for J1 is Academic training which is up to 36 months while post graduation for F1 is OPT is up to 12 months only (18 months for STEM, but we're not STEM I suppose). The second advantage is not that significant in the academic route though. This is just my own understanding, there's no guarantee that it's accurate. Please take it with a grain of salt. Hope you all make the right choice.

Just to update: I've got my J1 without 2yr requirement and there's no difficulty for my case so far. I think we just need to research carefully and follow the procedure closely then there should be no problem. Best of luck to all of you.

Thanks everyone for the valuable sharing. I'm totally new to the culture so this is extremely helpful to me. I hope we can all share our experience and insights into this quite sensitive issue for future fellas can learn from :)

Thanks TM. So when it is based on level of contribution, how can we establish who goes first and who goes next. Is it a unstated convention that everyone is supposed to know or it can be openly discuss?

Hi everyone, I am reading some advice about building good relationship with your professors and this question come to my mind: what is the convention for putting names of author in a multi-authored paper. Is it alphabetical or in some sort of ways. Please enlighten me. so I can save myself from looking like a fool! Thank you guys.

I have not heard anything from the International Office since then. It's been a month, kind of anxious. How long is the process of issuing immigration form? Should I write to ask? I know several PhD students go on J1 visa, so this is absolutely not something impossible. It's just school-dependent, so I will keep my fingers crosses.

Viking: 'that is just the name for J1. The requirements for eligibility are less than 50% of funding from personal source or loan which I believe most PhD students are qualified. The advantage of J1 over F1 is J1 dependents (J2) can work and study while F1 dependents (F2) can not. This difference is only significant for international students with a family like me :). I'm trying to get J1 so that my spouse can work to help support my two children.

Dear all, I have some questions about visa that really need your advice. I know there is a place for this topic in this forum but it is way more active here so I'm afraid it may take weeks to get them answered if I post them over there. So I'm sorry in advance if this annoys you. 1. Has anyone of you come to us under j1 visa for doctoral study funded by the school? 2. If yes, did you encounter any difficulties in the process of obtaining visa? 3. In my case, my school said "...This might be possible, but I can't make any promises. It is not our practice to issue a DS-2019 this way, but I will submit it for consideration...." which really worries me. What should I do to get a J1 visa now? Thank you all a lot. (I want to give you flower icon as a symbol of thanks, but there''s no such icon here, so)

Ok. I've got it. Thanks. Still very excited :")

Thank Yas and Xan a lot. You guys have always been so helpful to everyone. Xan, when you said you set up for a chat you meant a chat with the professors? Those of your interest or all? You just wrote them an email to ask for a chat?

By the way, some information might be helpful: I will be doing finance at a top 20-25 program. Thanks all.

Thank everyone for your replies. I got the revised letter two days later and already accepted the offer. So now I'm moving to the next phase of emotion: excited yet nervous, really curious about how the taste of PhD life will be. I have read all the posts in the thread A day in life of current PhD student, yet I still have some questions. If you guys by any chance can offer your opinions I really appreciate. Thank you all.

In preparation for a new life style this Fall, I've found this thread extremely helpful. However, I am still struggling thinking about how the first couple of weeks or months will be. I mean there will be a transition period at first when you do not know what to be expected. I have a bunch of questions in my mind that I would really appreciate any thoughts you may have First when you arrive, will there be a formal introduction to the faculty and your cohort, or you just enroll, register.. do all stuff on your own Second, what should I expect about the workload, what should I prepare, academically and mentally to survive? Do we have our own office? do we (I mean PhD students in a program) meet each other frequently? I love cooking, is it OK to bring food to school for other students sometimes? I know these questions are all non-sense and some should be case-specific and I'm sorry if they're wasting your time. I just want to have some ideas about what might happen, so any ideas will be appreciated. Thank you all.

I received a letter of offer from the program director. It was just like any other offers, except for the omission of discussing stipend. One minute later, I've an email from the coordinator saying that it will be modified for the stipend and health insurance coverage. I was a bit confused about how to respond. Should I respond to the director, saying that I will think about the offerm. Does this mean that I am acknowledging the offer, and they will wait for my answer without modifying it. Or should I mention the stipend? Fyi, I have never communicatd with the director, mostly with the coordinator. Or should I just not say anything, wait for the modifed to come, assuming I have not checked my email yet (This sounds a little not right, just some thoughts) As I do not have much experience with US culture in communication, I really appreciate any advice you may have for me. Thís is the school that I will attend for sure, so I kind of put a lot of hopes in this. Thank you all.

I've just finished the interview, 45 minutes, pretty ok, right? We talked mostly about research interest and experience. I think it went on pretty well until the last question about other schools I have applied to. I told them the truth, including rejection, waitlist and acceptance. Do they judge me based on the result? Do they think if I was not accepted into certain programs and only got accepted into lower-ranked programs then I should not be accepted in either? Oh god why do they had to ask that and why do I had to answer!!