tourist

Like others have pointed out before, grad school certainly isn't glamorous, and it's solitary, and full of theories that don't always amount to much (first impressions here). I'd say tough it out, but then again I've personally been through a couple episodes where when I realized that something didn't feel right, or wasn't for me, I made the decision to get out of it and try something else. If that's how you feel, then I would encourage you to go with your gut instinct. Good luck.

This. But I can't do without regular smoke breaks. Good luck.

Well, most of my info I got from reading here and talking to students. For the most part, I've been told to stay away from the stadium area or north of campus because of football games and loud undergrads. Other than that, I believe any other cardinal direction should be fine. I found a very nice townhome (and also very affordable) about a mile south of campus, a little south of Bryan Park. It's a very nice area with residential homes and it's fairly quiet. From what I've gathered, the west side should also be nice. I personally wouldn't want to be on the east side where you're too close to the mall and there's way too much traffic. Also, I think much of Bloomington depends on whether you'll have a car or not. The buses run fine, but from my two trips there it seemed that mostly everyone needs a car. Good luck!

So I heard that this weekend the Little 500 went on in Bloomington. Anyone have thoughts on it, personal experiences, etc.? I looked it up on Wikipedia, but I wanted to read the opinion of someone who has witnessed it. What's it like? Thanks.

Ahhhhh.... Fond memories of my alma mater. (not UGA, but an SEC school). Good thing the clean-up crew was there bright and early on Sunday mornings. Truth be told, SEC sports is a totally different animal from Big 12...more rabid. Cheers.

To Medievalmaniac, I think those emails are fairly long. Although I'm in a different discipline from Literature, I think you have to keep them somewhat shorter. Judging by the replies you said you'd received, I guess it varies somewhat by discipline. I kept mine to no more than 10 or so lines, and out of about 25 emails that I sent out I believe only a handful of the responses were longer than 5 lines. My main worry was not to bore them or scare them with the length of info, so if I were just starting out, I'd try to write a few short and sweet emails and see how that works, and then you can work from there. I, too, was unsure of what to write, but if you can think of a template that you can tailor for each school, then you'll be fine. Also, don't gauge your chances by favorable responses either. For me, at least, that wasn't the case.

Depending on how far from Bloomington you live, then it would be a good idea to visit. I live 4 hours away so I could reasonably drive there with no problems. I did the same thing, I signed a lease on a townhome before ever seeing it, but visited it last weekend. I saw the landlord, talked to him, saw the house, the town, etc. It's a good thing to do, if you can. I'd be wary of signing on a place before seeing it in person, especially if the company advertises for it (like many in Bloomington do). It seems like they take advantage of the fact that many people who can't go there before August will just blindly sign and then be in for a surprise.

Hey there, I noticed you'll be attending IU in the fall. I will too, but in a different department. I was wondering what range of stipends IU offers. Mine will be 14k for 10 months. If you don't mind sharing, what will yours be? I think (and hope) that my 14k is enough to survive. Nice to meet another fellow, future Hoosier!

RockEater, that's awesome. Best of luck to you at Brandeis! Who knew that tax day could also be a happy day? Congrats.

At least you'll find out on the 15th. I wish you good luck and hope that you'll both join me in Bloomington in the fall. If not that, then maybe Chicago will work out. Crazy (and good) things can happen in a matter of minutes. Keep your head up.

Have you found out what your placement on the waitlist is? It seems like important information, but I don't know whether they would divulge that.

For bioengineering, I say pick WashU. It has a really strong medical program. Thus, great labs, equipment, and the works. Plus, Nashville can be fun. I may be biased, though, because I've never been to Madison. Good luck deciding.

I agree with that, but I figured since this is a "social science" program where PhD applicants who get rejected like myself get accepted into without requesting for it, then it wouldn't matter. As to people waiting for spots for it, I'm not so sure about that. But then again, I guess a measly email won't hurt. Thanks.

I just have a question about withdrawing. Since I've already accepted my spot at IU, should I notify the Chicago MAPPS program and tell them that I'm withdrawing? I haven't paid one bit of attention to any of that and replied to none of their emails. I was going to wait for my spot to expire after April 15. I don't mean to offend anyone who may be accepting their offer, by the way.

I can't believe this is even a topic. Seriously?