A general question or two about residence requirements (I dunno if answers can be generalised or its a "it depends" situation...). Are universities pretty strict about such requirements, or is is pretty easy to persuade them to waive them? (e.g. for reasons of distance, finance, work, family etc)? If it is feasible to negotiate, what is a good strategy? On the one hand, you don'r want to raise it too soon, but on the other you don't want to be already enrolled in a program before you find you can't meet the residency requirements and the university won't budge on them. Thanks A
Ask the school how flexible they are...that is where I would start. You do not want to enroll and find there is not flexibility. I would think the best thing to do is be honest from the start.
In one case I was told that the primary reason for the residency requirement was to attend graduate seminars. After a bit more discussion it turned out that these were typically videotaped and that for a small fee (really just a couple of dollars) I could have each seminar copied and sent to me. When the topic turned to my own seminar presentations, I offered to videotape my presentation and be available by phone following the showing in order to answer questions (I suppose you could do a video-conference call now). They still seemed a bit stuck on having me there in person even though they couldn't really explain the shortfalls of my offer. My conclusion was that they simply were unprepared to break with tradition. My guess is that the time is quickly approaching when these sorts of arrangements will be routine. Jack
