Won $ and Got into Graduate School

[Uchuuko]

I was a finalist for a business pitch competiton, and I tied for last place with someone else in my division. My prize was $1,000 and I was disappointed, but I was glad that I won something.

However, at least an hour after the competition, I got an acceptance letter to a master's program. I don't have to pay tuition, and I was given a stipend. The odds of my getting accepted were against me. I'm glad I won't need to take time off from school. Makes loan repayment less complicated.

[Diana]

That's awesome! Congratulations on both accounts!

1k is no small sum. Are you going to spend it on school or something for yourself?

When do you start your masters program? Is it going to be one of the 1-2 year ones or a longer one?

[galled]

Double congrats!!

Are you a business major?

[Lemon Cheesecake]

WOW!!! Congratulations!!! And placing is no small feat other so don't under estimate yourself!

[MissAutumn]

Congrats, that sounds amazing.

[Uchuuko]

That's awesome! Congratulations on both accounts!

1k is no small sum. Are you going to spend it on school or something for yourself?

When do you start your masters program? Is it going to be one of the 1-2 year ones or a longer one?

I will definitely use some of the prize money to get drivers ed. I was going to have drivers ed for real in March, but the pandemic situation prevented the drivers ed service I was using from meeting with me. I needed the money I used towards the lessons, so I got a refund.

The rest might be used to help my mom find somewhere new to live (my parents lost their house last year, my stepdad left us and is somewhere in Texas, and now he's trying to "ruin" my mom). My mom is relying heavily on me to do a lot of things because she isn't computer literate and doesn't want to be. One of these things was to put in her bank account information in order to get an economic stimulus payment (rather, it was her tax preparer, who told her to tell me to do it when the service that would accept this infromation went live). On the day the website for the service went live, I was really busy and I started my day doing work for this contest. I heard about its being live later that day around 6pm, and so I accessed the website to change her information.

Unfortunately, when I logged in with her information, I already saw an account number that the payment was going to be sent to. I hope this wasn't my stepdad or his party who managed to submit the bank information. My stepdad is even less computer literate than my mom, but he is staying with someone in Texas. I told my mom about this and suggested we contact the IRS, but she wants me to do it for her. She's acts so defeated right now, but I understand based on what my stepdad is doing. He has been lying about her to her siblings, who won't even help her during this time. He has even harrassed my mom and been mean to her over the phone. He even took one of the phones that was my mom's, and is using it to contact everyone. He's being a bully. He even harrassed the tax business that they use by going to their office in Texas. I feel bad about this situation; I didn't intentionally postpone putting in her information, but I have been busy.

Aside from that stuff, about the master's program. I am not sure how many years it will take me. I don't think it should take very long because I'm will be going to a state school. I will be reading more into it; I have not accepted the offer right away because I just wanted it to 'sit'. In other words, I did not want to immediately give my reply, and then it is the weekend. I don't really have a choice but to accept it anyway, so I will take the offer. It's closer to me than any of the sites where I would be taking part in a program I also applied to that would have improved my graduate school application.

[Uchuuko]

Congrats, that sounds amazing.

Thank you.

[Uchuuko]

Double congrats!!

Are you a business major?

Thanks. I am currently a biochemistry major. At least my performance in the competition doesn't reflect my ability to succeed in science. My masters degree will be for chemistry, but there is a biochemistry specialty that I could possibly have define my degree. I am not sure about how to go about it yet or if it is possible; what I read about it was vague.

[Uchuuko]

WOW!!! Congratulations!!! And placing is no small feat other so don't under estimate yourself!

Thank you. I'm not feeling as bad about my placing now, and it has helped a lot that I was accepted into graduate school. That event alone was a bigger feat than the competition in my opinion. The school I got into had an older brochure (they did not have an updated one) that said they had a GPA threshold for admission to their chemistry master's program. I decided to ignore it and apply anyway, even though my GPA was much lower than the threshold. This school even had an application fee I couldn't waive! But I still applied, and here I am. My GRE was above their average for that time, and I had good research experience however. Additionally, one of my recommenders (my mentor for my current research position) is an alumni of the institution.

[Gingerale]

Great about graduate school - you should feel proud and what an accomplishment! I am sure that you will prove to them that they made the right choice in admitting you!

If your Mom and step dad went through a tax preparer then, from what I have read, the direct deposit will go through the tax preparer first to issue it to them and will not go to your Mom's account.

I would have her contact the tax preparer, let them know she is getting, has gotten, divorced and have them issue her the half of the stimulus check. Did she file 2019 as married filing joint or married, single?

If you know what account number it was issued to then look to see if it is one of hers. She should get her own bank account anyway & start putting her money in it. I don't know what happens legally if they are not divorced yet or what the rules for the State of Texas are though but I recommend she make some calls and find out.

You should be helping your Mom but not focusing on her because you have to get your life together as well & the priority was for you to complete the contest. If you had not then you would have not got money at all! I heard some people had difficulties getting on line or being put on hold with the stimulus anyway so you could've wasted your day away. Don't blame yourself.

[Uchuuko]

Great about graduate school - you should feel proud and what an accomplishment! I am sure that you will prove to them that they made the right choice in admitting you!

If your Mom and step dad went through a tax preparer then, from what I have read, the direct deposit will go through the tax preparer first to issue it to them and will not go to your Mom's account.

I would have her contact the tax preparer, let them know she is getting, has gotten, divorced and have them issue her the half of the stimulus check. Did she file 2019 as married filing joint or married, single?

If you know what account number it was issued to then look to see if it is one of hers. She should get her own bank account anyway & start putting her money in it. I don't know what happens legally if they are not divorced yet or what the rules for the State of Texas are though but I recommend she make some calls and find out.

You should be helping your Mom but not focusing on her because you have to get your life together as well & the priority was for you to complete the contest. If you had not then you would have not got money at all! I heard some people had difficulties getting on line or being put on hold with the stimulus anyway so you could've wasted your day away. Don't blame yourself.

Thank you. The school that accepted me is so awesome for letting me in. I'll do my best for them, and especially so if I got accepted at the discretion of a professor who want me to work for them (I'm thinking that they might have a research assistant position that I would be a good fit for; I had to write about the labs I would like to work for in my personal statement).

I'm really hoping that the bank account is the tax preparer's. I wanted my mom to tell the tax woman she works with for about the current situation, but she ultimately did not when she talked to said tax woman. I really don't know how things are supposed to look on the website, and I hope there was no opportunity to change the bank account the money would be sent to (in that case, we really would need the IRS's help). I am not given the date that the money will be sent, so hopefully there's still time. I think I should contact the tax preparer and ask about the information I am seeing; the woman does know me and I don't want to tell my mom to do it since she didn't the first time. We will hold off on contacting the organization for the application for now.

My parents filed married and jointly. I asked my mom if she knew of the last four digits of the account number (that much was shown to me on the website), but she did not recognize it. She does have her own bank account, but its information does not match that which is on the application for the stimulus money.

[Lemon Cheesecake]

What a mess! Divorce is never easy, even if it is amicable, there are always legal matters and those can be costly.
Your Mom should let the tax person know of the change in her status, they may be able to amend the 2019 taxes if they were separate for 6 months of last year and if not then for 2020 taxes. Actually your Mom may not need to pay anyone to do them this year, save money and do them herself.

Did you file your own taxes? Even if you did not make money in 2019 you might want to submit it anyway so that you can get a stimulus check too.

[Uchuuko]

What a mess! Divorce is never easy, even if it is amicable, there are always legal matters and those can be costly.
Your Mom should let the tax person know of the change in her status, they may be able to amend the 2019 taxes if they were separate for 6 months of last year and if not then for 2020 taxes. Actually your Mom may not need to pay anyone to do them this year, save money and do them herself.

Did you file your own taxes? Even if you did not make money in 2019 you might want to submit it anyway so that you can get a stimulus check too.

My mom prefers to do taxes in person. I did file my taxes online, but I don't qualify for the stimulus check because I am claimed as a dependent. I was so upset when I found out I wouldn't be getting anything. It's a shame because my mom believes that every American would get a check like the politicians said on television- what I mean is that the politicians who said so lied.

For the divorce, my mom told me to find papers that could be signed and filed with a count for the divorce. She was told by one of her brothers that his former wife filed for a divorce with him by herself and it was resolved (I don't remember if she told me about it being free). I think I found some forms she could use, but I also gave her a phone number for her to call in order to get a consultation to know how to go about petitioning for the divorce. She even wanted me to fill out the forms, but I really would like some more information on how things should be done first so I don't mess anything up.

[Lemon Cheesecake]

I don't think it is so much lying as a misunderstanding of what is being said. If you make over a certain amount I don't think you get any check, and there was something mentioned about $500 for dependents but I don't think it counts if you are over 16 and that check would go to the parents anyway. Wouldn't it be nice if you found out you did qualify! Time will tell. It's only a bandaid anyway, I look at it as a means to make sure lower income people have enough for food. Some States the amount doesn't even pay for rent.

It really is up to your Mom what she wants to do, maybe she can have one of her brothers help her rather than putting the stress on you. But I think it very sweet that you are trying to look out for your Mom.

[Uchuuko]

I don't think it is so much lying as a misunderstanding of what is being said. If you make over a certain amount I don't think you get any check, and there was something mentioned about $500 for dependents but I don't think it counts if you are over 16 and that check would go to the parents anyway. Wouldn't it be nice if you found out you did qualify! Time will tell. It's only a bandaid anyway, I look at it as a means to make sure lower income people have enough for food. Some States the amount doesn't even pay for rent.

It really is up to your Mom what she wants to do, maybe she can have one of her brothers help her rather than putting the stress on you. But I think it very sweet that you are trying to look out for your Mom.

I'm also worried about the effect these checks will have on the US economy. I've been feeling like becoming an expat, which I have considered on and off before now.

Thank you. This thing is a huge mess for real. I am relieved that I don't have to worry about he competition anymore; I have more time to myself now.