elijahbaley

The first two weeks were very interesting and eye-opening. I realised how long it actually takes to cook dinner (1-1.5 hours). Spending about 10 hours in the university, attending classes, walking between classes, sitting and reading in the office, and then making dinner after coming home leaves me too tired to do any studying at night. The days seem to flash by. If this continues, I will have no recollection of the last 5-6 years when I complete my PhD (which might actually be good thing). I am a bit (actually a lot) behind in my courses and just wish there were more hours in the day. Other than that, I am excited about receiving my first stipend today. Finally, I will have some money in my wallet.

Thanks a lot guys! I am mostly looking at a commute of about 3 miles on weekdays and around 5-6 miles on some weekends. This being said, I don't think I have the budget of buying a new hybrid bike as telkanuru suggested. But I will definitely check Craigslist for used bikes and I am sure telkanuru's advice about that will be immensely helpful. And I surely agree with GeoDUDE's advice of investing in better locks. And what are your views about those $100-150 bikes available in Walmart? Like http://www.walmart.com/ip/26-Mongoose-Ledge-2.1-Men-s-Mountain-Bike/26999421 and http://www.walmart.com/ip/26-Schwinn-Sidewinder-Men-s-Mountain-Bike-Matte-Black-Green/26999374

What factors should be considered while buying a bike apart from the cost? What are your recommendations?

This seems true, come to think of it.

Hello Journey and others! I am joining UMCP for a PhD in ECE with a focus in computer vision. I am really excited. However, I have heard that the College Park area is quite dangerous with incidents of muggings and break-ins being reported regularly. Also that CP is a shitty town in general. What do you guys think?

Anyone looking for roommates?

I received the funding information a day before the official acceptance mail for ECE PhD at UMD.

Thanks a lot fuzzylogician for the valuable inputs. I don't have any doubts that he will be available at least for the next 5-6 years. Also, it is not the case that he is the only faculty at the university working in my field. Thank you for the suggestions. These will be very helpful in making my decision. I have talked to the current students and they say that he is actually quite devoted to guiding them. He is available any time via Skype. Thank you for sharing your experience. I will definitely take it into consideration while making the final decision.

I have to decide between attending UMCP with no strings and UIUC with the condition of working under an emeritus professor. I like the professor's work and probably would have done my PhD under him if I had been admitted without this condition. However, I am apprehensive about the emeritus status of the professor. He spends most of the time in another country but is available anytime to talk on skype and visits the university every 10-12 weeks. My question is whether this is enough? Do people need more face-to-face time with their professors? (More info: I have been pretty independent in my masters. Department - ECE)

This is one of the best threads on GradCafe! Taking up a sport could be very good too. Racquet games are the best. You need just one other person to play with and you can lose weight very quickly. During my third year in college I lost 10 kg in 2 months just by playing tennis for an hour a day.

I don't think there is such a list. And even if there were I don't think you should rely on it. Searching for universities and professors is part of the application process. You learn so much about schools, their programs and, more importantly, yourself during this process. I started in summer for the fall applications and made a list of schools and professors in my field. I learnt a lot about my own interests while going through the web pages of hundreds of professors. This helped me write better SOPs and determine better matches. I shortlisted about 20 universities by August and further narrowed down the list to 15 by September. I finally applied to 8 universities. But these were the 8 universities which were the perfect fit.

I am from India and will be moving to the USA (Maryland) for grad school this fall. I am agonizing over what things should I pack and what things should I buy when I reach there. I think there is no use taking stuff that I can easily get when I arrive there. What do the current students think? Also, what are some essential items that I should definitely pack?

Most of the posts on these threads here seem to focus only on house rents. Can some people write about how much other expenses contribute to the cost of living? And what approximately is the average monthly expenditure. I will be attending UMCP from August 2015 and have been offered a stipend of about $30k before taxes for the first year. Everyone seems to be saying that Maryland is expensive. Considering this I want to know whether the stipend would be sufficient and whether I can may be start a small savings plan on this?

Who is going to UMCP this year and in which programs? I have been admitted to the ECE PhD program and am very excited!

So, how about sports facilities? Does the university or the city have facilities for sports for recreational purposes? I have recently started playing tennis and would love to continue when I join UMCP in Fall'15.