BuzzinAround

Awesome! It's nice to hear someone else is attending the school too.

Has anyone heard from Portland State recently? I was waitlisted a few months ago, but I still have heard nothing. I've already accepted an offer, but I just think it's kinda strange.

You will definitely need a car. Atlanta is a car dependent city. MARTA has trains and buses, but both are rather inconvenient and inefficient. They also do not cover much of the city anyway. You really only have one choice, and that's the graduate student housing on 10th street (Graduate Living Center). It's not that far from the MS buildings on west campus. I would advise that you live off campus, especially if you have a car, as it is MUCH cheaper and you avoid the crappy housing on campus. Just stay out of Home Park (the neighborhood immediately north of campus), as that's not the safest area (it's a student ghetto), and the housing options there are pretty bad anyway. See my previous posts on where you should look for housing, if you have reliable transportation.

I mean, why would you want to oust yourself and air your dirty laundry out for the whole internet to see? This is why we have PM.

Have you checked with the program? Health insurance wasn't included in mine but the school does offer it for quite a low monthly rate. I think I need to opt into it separately, which is annoying but at least something is offered from them.

I'll be attending Wright State University's I/O Psychology PhD program in the fall! Let me know if anyone else is attending Wright State.

I think this blog post, and the site in general, should help you out http://neoacademic.com/2011/06/14/grad-school-should-i-get-a-ph-d-or-masters-in-io-psychology/#.VRH0ykIpq70

Hey there! Anyone else attending Wright State in the fall? I'll be in the psychology department. Where is everybody else?

Yeah, I would say any apartment complexes off Boulevard from North Ave to Memorial are not going to be safe, clean, or quiet. Also, look into ProMove. They're a relocating service that is absolutely free to you (they get a kick back from the complex you choose to live in). You just give them your preferences and budget constraints and they'll find you some places that are a good fit.

I've lived in Atlanta for a few years, so I hope I can help. I would avoid apartments and properties off Boulevard because it's not the safest or cleanest area. It's one of the only streets in Atlanta that has a section 8 only housing development, which is locally known to be a hotbed for drug violence. L5P is nice if you're into the alternative and hipster lifestyle. It's relatively cheap but a little seedy. Inman Park is one of my favorite neighborhoods in Atlanta, but the rental prices are going through the roof right now thanks to the development of the BeltLine and high-end apartment developments. I would generally avoid anything in SW Atlanta (i.e. south of I-20 and east of the I-75/85 connector) and most places in downtown proper. I would aim for somewhere in Midtown (the residential part south of 10th st, west of Monroe, north of Ponce, and east of the interstate) because there are always great deals to be found there, but you have to be there and look. These places go fast, so the owners just put up signs instead of going through an online process only to have the property go in a day or two. Other good neighborhoods are Virginia Highland, Poncey Highland, Candler Park, Lake Claire, East Atlanta, Kirkwood, Edgewood, Cabbagetown, Piedmont Heights, Grant Park (lots of GSU students in this area), and Lindbergh. Areas that look appealing but would be out of reach on a stipend are Buckhead, most of Midtown, and most areas in NW Atlanta. Crime is sort of dispersed across the city but is generally worse the further south and west you go. It also helps to live close to a MARTA train station, as Georgia State has its own station. Best of luck!

I have officially accepted my offer at Wright State! Let me know if you're also attending! In turn, I rejected offers from the University of Houston and Northern Illinois University. I hope this helps people out!

Thanks for the advice! I'll have my car with me when I move, so I shouldn't have any problems there.

Wow, thank you! I'll likely be going to Wright State, but I would prefer to live closer to Dayton, as I like living in urban environments much more than suburban (I'll be coming from Atlanta, so I guess it makes sense).

I noticed that there wasn't a thread on Dayton, which is the town I will likely be moving to for grad school. Any opinions or insight on the city and surrounding areas?

I disagree that it is extremely important in bold font. It's common knowledge that the schools use it as a good way to filter out applicants and ultimately compile a list of applicants after the first round. This "bar" for making the short list is at a different level for each program. However, if you've been watching the results page this year or in recent years, you probably noticed that applicants with stellar scores or even perfect scores still didn't get accepted into certain programs. It's cliched, but yes, there are other aspects of the application that matter a lot more than your numbers (i.e. GPA and GRE scores). I wouldn't freak out future applicants about this test. I went into my GRE thinking it was the single deciding factor in my application, but I was proven wrong after my results started coming in and after I talked with other applicants. YES, it is definitely important, but you should certainly focus on other aspects of your application, especially research experience.