winterbadger | Entries tagged with postgraduate study

I was still wavering about my plans for this autumn, but I've had two pieces of news today that sealed the deal.

One was a conversation with a friendly real estate agent I trust, who assured me that having a large student loan outstanding would not be a bar to getting a mortgage a year or two down the road if I want to, providing I were earning well. Apparently it's all about monthly payments, not debt vs. savings, which I had feared would be the issue. One of my friends who is a part-time realtor seconded this advice when I mentioned it to him.

The second piece of news just turned up (again, in my spambox; I need to have a word with Gmail). I got awarded a scholarship for my MSc studies that will cover almost a third of the tuition. I had not thought I'd get anything, and if it did figured it would be much less than this. This makes up a substantial portion of the difference between what I had originally calculated and the cost estimate the university sent me, enough that I'm OK with the handling the remainder.

( Read more... )

Current Mood: discontent

I contacted one of the US International Recruitment Officers from the university who had emailed me earlier, to express my concern about the delay in response and the expiring of my online application account.

Within 12 hours, not only did she reply (while on vacation!) to let me know what the timelines are and to reassure me that all was OK, but she got another officer to check directly with the admissions home office to make sure my info was OK.

Yes, good admin doesn't necessarily predict good tuition, but good admin is a whole lot better than bad admin!

Current Mood: pleased

OK, coming down to the wire making a choice between Edinburgh and Glasgow. I need to decide in the next day or two.

As to cities, I have to admit I have a slight preference for Edinburgh over Glasgow. That said, U of Edinburgh is doing its best (unintentionally) to discourage me, while Glasgow is doing the opposite.

Glasgow gave me an answer quickly. Edinburgh made me wait and then insisted that I re-submit several forms before they would give me an unqualified acceptance.

I've gotten several emails from Glasgow, including a welcome to prospective students from the department and a personal email from their recruiter in the US, letting me know when she would be in my area. I've gotten one email from Edinburgh, telling me when there are (not even "inviting" me to) some online information sessions. And they're being hosted through Blackboard, which I hate.

The U of E enterprise IT system is, frankly, crap. It's confusing, modular in ways that have no outwardly apparent reason, provides redundant (possibly even contradictory) information in different locations, and is not user-friendly. Just now, I tried to upload one of my references, which came in two PDF files. The system would only accept one as my "reference" but assured me I could add another as a secondary type of file. I submitted the first page, but I can now find no way to submit the other or to withdraw the first and submit the two together once I find a way to combine them. I've emailed them to the address given for the appropriate admissions office and gotten an "out of office" reply, which is not encouraging.

And I've now just discovered that several of the Edinburgh scholarship funds have closed their application window; until now, they had not indicated they had an application deadline, and the acceptance deadline for the program offer is still several weeks off. At Glasgow, their scholarship funds' application deadlines are clearly stated and have not yet expired.

(Not to mention, of course, that Glasgow's tuition fees are several thousand pounds lower, and the cost of living is likely to be a bit lower there than in Edinburgh.)

I'll add that last time I was doing this dance, the staff at Glasgow were quite ready and willing to answer questions about their program, including questions about post-study placements, even when the answers were not necessarily encouraging to prospective students (IOW, they didn't sugarcoat things or prevaricate when asked tough questions).

Edinburgh, I love you, but your university isn't representing you well.

Modified rapture.

( News from Moidart (or at least Edinburgh) )

Current Mood: pleased

( You find stuff like this in there... )

Having mentioned it, I should explain. I'm applying to two GIS programs:

one in Edinburgh

and one in Glasgow.

This is partly because I need a little more time to decide which direction I want to go with a research degree in history (my ultimate goal) and because I think having not just training but actual academic credentials in GIS would be good either for working in history or as a new career path of its own. It builds on what I already have (training and experience designing, building, and maintaining databases), some limited training and experience in GIS systems, and a lifetime love of maps (it was really a love of maps that got me into wargaming to begin with--the map-love came first).

Current Mood: confident

I'm filling out university application forms. They want to know the names of the scholarships, grants, and loans that I will be using to fund my studies.

But all the scholarship, grant, and loan programs they list as options require one to have an offer letter in hand before applying.

So I'll put down all the ones I intend to apply for. But that's not, strictly speaking, what their questions asks for...

ETA: Also, someone needs to explain to the people who program the University of Edinburgh's scholarship finder that US citizens are not eligible for Chevening Scholarships...

Current Mood: amused

Ugh. Lots of things need to be done. All together it's way too much to contemplate, so I lie on the couch and watch Swedish TV mystery programs. So I've broken down everything into bite-sized tasks, doing a couple of which earns me a little extra something, like half an hour of Annika Bengstzon: Crime Reporter and a cup of tea. Still, about 30 task-items are going to take the rest of today and a couple of evenings this week.

Nicholas has gone to visit his aunties for a few weeks. At this point, I'm not entirely sure what we expect to accomplish from this, other than to give them a bit of cat company and allow everyone (feline here at #4 to have a bit of a timeout and reset. Maybe when he comes back, thigns will be a little less tense. I may take this opportunity to replace all the cat boxes, too. Several of the current ones are many years old, tatty, and *round* (Neta's idea). Who the heck makes a round cat box? Not someone who ever tried to scoop it with a square scoop, that's for sure.

Odd scrabbling noises from somewhere at the far end of the house. Under the floor? In the wall? In the attic? On the roof? Hard to tell. It's happened before. I think maybe a squirrel has a stash in the eaves somewhere.

Nice gaming yesterday (1866), saw Argo, and then had dinner with C&M and watched the opening match for DC United. Some good things, some not so good; Houston is a tough team, so I don't have a problem with us not winning there. Talked to C&M about grad school and got some unexpectedly negative reactions that I'm goign to have to ponder over.

Argo was awesome, BTW. I was remembering as much as I could of Guests of the Ayatollah as I was watching it. Despite it having some institutional flaws, I do admire our Foreign Service. I so wish I could have been part of it. Good work by Affleck (who is one of those people, Julia Roberts being another, whom I seem to be the only person to enjoy their work; ah, well). Marvelous acting, too from Alan Arkin and John Goodman. Nice cameos for Kyle Chandler, Bryan Cranston, and Victor Garber.

Had a very nice date this morning with someone I will call The SCAdian. Brunch in Arlington, lots of good conversation, very appealing person. Hope to see her again.

Right, on with the chores!

Current Mood: busy but also sleepy

So, I sent off a request for advice to the email address listed for the professor in charge of postgraduate history studies (whom one is advised to approach directly) at Very Old and Famous University ...

This is the question I asked:

( Read more... )

Here is the reply I received, six days later.
( Read more... )

Really? Really? Do you think if all the relevant information was to be found on your website that I would have written to you (or, rather, to your boss, who is apparently too busy to do the job the university has asked him to do, and so has delegated it to someone)?

Current Mood: annoyed

I submitted my FAFSA...

Current Mood: curious

I've talked to The Archivist and gotten comments and recommendations from him about possible research topics. I've narrowed down the possible topics to, essentially two, reflecting two divergent directions I could go in with my studies.

Topic Area #1--early modern Britain, especially Scotland: the development of structures of political power and authority in Stuart Scotland, either a comparative study with Tudor England or a focused look at the conflict between the centralising movement under James V and his successors and the traditionally independent Lordship of the Isles.

Topic Area #2--the American revolution and the history of the British Army: the integration of non-English officers (especially Germans) in the British Army during the American Revolution. The Archivist is especially excited about this idea, as anyone who knows him will understand. :-)

I had ideas for #3 and #4 and so on (the War for Three Kingdoms, Jacobite politics and espionage, Canadian/Scottish/American experience of WWI), but one has to *narrow down*, not expand, at least at this stage.

The leading contenders for history studies (at least in *my* book) right now are Glasgow (early modern Scotland), Edinburgh (early modern Scotland, American Revolution), Strathclyde (early modern Scotland), Stirling (American Revolution), Leeds (British military history), Birmingham (British military history), and Exeter (British military history). Yes, three universities from South of the Border!

I think the next thing to do, having developed a short list of professors at these institutions who work on topics I'm interested in is to start contacting some of them and see whether they are encouraging or discouraging.

Application deadlines vary among these universities, from March to August (!) for entry in September or October of 2013.

ETA: And the application deadline for this Scotland-only scholarship, is May.

Ignore unless you're really interested in such things. ( If you're barmy, click here... )

Current Mood: angry

Three completely different answers sent out by the Home Office in the space of a week.

First, PSW not to be changed.

Next, PSW to be eliminated.

Now "The Post Study Work route will be closed in 2012, but graduates who have an offer of a skilled job from a sponsoring employer with a salary in excess of £20,000 will be permitted to remain." (A further summary policy document linked to says that "The normal Tier 2 requirements will apply, except for the Resident Labour Market Test.") My emphases.

What the hell is going on

Current Mood: angry and confused

The comment period ended today on the UK governments' latest demented plan for cutting the country's immigration rate by 90%. This set of plans targets students, and includes stricter controls on programs of study, higher standards of English fluency, elimination of any work-study other than on-campus employment, denial of any extension of stay (including, presumably, changing from a master's program to a doctoral one), and elimination of the post-work study visa that allowed those obtaining university degrees to work in the UK for two years after.

Informed observers suggest that responses to comments and a final policy decision should be forthcoming in the next few weeks.

Current Mood: aggravated

A decision that wasn't easy to come to. ( I'm not moving to the UK )

Current Mood: sad

( all administrative requirements satisfied )

Current Mood: relieved

Have got all my applications sorted out (for some reason they thought I was applying for a course in environment and energy management as well) and are promising a decision in 15 days.

Current Mood: on tenterhooks

So, three are fully submitted and under consideration (Abertay asked for two references but apparently they're happy to proceed with just one).

Three are awaiting verification of references, which I guess means contacting the people who supplied them and checking that they did actually supply them to me.

Two are still waiting for one reference; not from the same person, but from people I've pinged several times over the last month. If I don't hear anything from those folks early next week, I'm forgetting them and sending in different references--I have a couple in hand now to substitute.

Apart from those I guess it's just down to waiting to hear at this point. Rather startling to think that I could be matriculating in just four months if one of these comes through.

Current Mood: pensive

Application #7 on its way. Two more to file, for which I have to have the references in hand.

Current Mood: accomplished

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"I have been but little in," said Ninian hastily...

..."and you [sleeping] there like a winter badger."

Entries tagged with postgraduate study

OK, I'd been havering still...

a dose of cold water

U Glasgow International Recruitment Officers FTW!

fumes

(no subject)

see, this is why it's always worthwhile to check your spam folder

so... yes, grad school

ah, the glory of Catch-22

chores and miscellany

NOT helpful or responsive

one step further along

Postgraduate Studies: Round # 274

more visa waffle (warning: swearyness inside)

oh, FFS! can't they make up their minds?

now we wait

(no subject)

here's what I'm thankful for today

Abertay

PG applications: weekend round-up

one more done