Scholarship Applications < | Before Your First Day as a Graduate Student | > Finale
Summer Addresses
Once the school term is over you may be moving back home or going into the field. If you have not made your final decision, please let the schools you have applied to know where they can contact you. If you are going to be difficult to reach (overseas; in the Arctic etc.) please provide a contact name and phone number (your parents or spouse) and if necessary tell them to accept on your behalf.But in all likelihood, by the time summer starts you'll have made your final decision. In which case, at some point during the summer the department will be sending out information to incoming students, so it is still important to let the school know where you will be.
Your First Days as a Graduate Student
By the way, if the school year begins on 1st September, for your first year in a graduate programme you should be on campus before that date if at all possible (and preferably about a week before that). There are a number of things that have to be completed before the term starts and it's good to get them out of the way before the rush begins. Personally, I like to be able to sit down with new students and have time to chat, without continual interruptions, to show them to their office and introduce them to people. Once September 1st rolls around it gets really busy with people wandering around asking where they are supposed to go and what room is such and such a class in and what time is such and such a class--and that's just the faculty!Usually departments will offer an orientation meeting for new students during that first week, and it is important to attend this as much valuable information is given out and everyone's questions are answered at once (it also saves us having to explain the same thing 10 times over). Many summer jobs run until the end of August and you are going to have to decide whether to quit a week early or get on the wrong side of the department secretary (a bad, bad mistake to make at the beginning of your graduate career!). If you are getting funding, you will be paid from the 1st September--where else will you get paid for a full month if you don't turn up on the first day? (Come to think of it, where else will you still have a salary/job is you don't turn up on the first day?) Oh yes, you may also be charged late registration fees if you don't register by a certain date (usually a few days after 1st September).
If You Absolutely Can't Make It
If it is absolutely impossible to get to the school by the 1st September please make sure they know when to expect you. If you don't tell them you are going to be late and turn up on the 14th September, you could very well find that your funding and office have been given to someone else! So, make sure everyone knows when you are going to arrive and make sure that you given them this information earlier than the day before the term begins!Table of Contents
Scholarship Applications < | Before Your First Day as a Graduate Student | > Finale
