panda123

My wife and I are starting grad school at MIT this Summer (i.e. June). The MIT Family housing options seem to be real old apartments, and there seems to be some sort of lottery going on to get them. We have our own furniture, so are looking for unfurnished 1 bedroom apartments (around 500-700 sq ft). We thought that it might be a good idea to sublet an apartment for the Summer and then look for a place for Fall while we are there, but most sublets are furnished places as the owners come back at the end of Summer. We are willing to pay up to $ 1800, but ideally less for a nice and clean apartment in a nice neighborhood; preferably including AC, heat, hot water; it would indeed be awesome if other utilities such as electricity, internet, and cable also be included. However, it is real hard to figure if an apartment or its neighborhood is good from craigslist. From what I've heard so far Porter Sq and Brookline seem to be nice neighborhoods, but Brookline is a 40 min commute to MIT, and Green line doesn't seem to be reliable. So, where do you think would be an ideal place within a reliable 30 min commute? Also, I haven't had any success in finding an apartment with washer/dryer inside unit; do you think it would be unreasonable to ask for it for $ 1800 a month? I appreciate if you guys could make any suggestions. Thanks!

Thanks for your post. Well, definitely all you said is very important to them, and I guess for traditional courses they just look at your transcript to see how you did on the same course; but, for a programming course I wonder how they want to figure my knowledge. I have done programming for my course projects, thesis, etc, but that's not something easily measurable by looking at a transcript...

Hi everyone, I am invited for a TA interview for a programming class. But, I have no idea of what the interview is going to be about. For the regular classes, I usually thought they would ask you about classes you have taken in that area, your grades in those courses, previous teaching experiences, etc. Would they ever ask detail technical questions or give a problem to solve? And about the programming, do you think they would ask me to write a program or something? Thanks for your help in advance!

Does anyone have any update from CalTech? It seems they have made a few offers on late February, and according to the Results from the last years, it seems all the results in late March are rejections! So, if I am rejected why no one lets me know right now?! Even if they had rejected some people already, I could assume I am on some kind of waiting list, but this doesn't seem to be the situation.

I am going to start my PhD at school A this Fall, meanwhile I want to apply for a few other schools for Fall, 2012, and depending on the outcome, I may want to switch from school A to B after one year. In my new applications, do I have to mention that I am already attending the PhD program of school A? My guess is I should do so, as in the end I will need to make a sevis transfer request. However, I'm afraid mentioning that I'm attending school A, may have a bad impression, and I'll need to explain why I want to switch in my SOP, etc. This might in the end have adverse effects on my future in either School A, and B; that's to say School B might decide not to take me as I am switching after my arrival, and school A might feel upset about this decision and does not offer any financial assistance anymore. After all, I don't want to lose the option of attending school A unless I become sure I can go to school B, and that presumably wouldn't be sooner than middle of the first year. I know transferring from one grad school to another is something that many do, but everything seems so mysterious and scary to me...

Hey all, I was wondering how the schools I mentioned can be ranked in terms of reputation and job placement (I'm leaning more towards academic jobs). I know GaTech is rather new to the top 10 list in engineering, and I haven't seen many profs in top schools with a degree from GaTech. I guess the reputation of advisor is also very important in finding an academic position; right? This factor is to a great extent independent of the school ranking. So, do you think a renowned advisor in Princeton is a better option to go for, or a young and not much known advisor in GaTech? I also mentioned UIUC here as I have some info about it and comparing others with it can specifically be helpful to me. Thanks.