sabq

I moved to Philadelphia PA from CA over a decade ago. At first, I thought 'why did I ever move to this ###!' Everything seemed different: building style, people's attitude , different stores than the ones I knew, different banks, humidity, toll roads everywhere, roundabouts, and the list goes on. After the first year I got used to it and now I like it so much that I can't think of moving back to CA. I also was with my family and had terrible time searching for housing with a very tight budget. It all worked out at the end.

There are many companies that that have non-contract plans: h2o, simple mobile, boost mobile, metro pcs, ... I used to be with one of the major carriers where I had to commit to the 2 year contracts, insane fees, everything limited and if you go over the limit they happily charge you. Well, no more. I switched to simple mobile two years ago and never looked back. All you need to get a plan is cash. At $50 I have unlimited talk, text, and data (data is 4 gb at 4G LTE and after that it is 3G). This month I plan to switch to their $55 plan and get 10gb at 4G LTE because I plan to listen to lectures while on the bus or waiting for it. Oh, with non-contract companies usually you have to buy you own phone. Fortunately that not so expensive anymore: at eBay I bought the factory unlocked galaxy note 3 for less than $270.

I am with you TakeruK. I hope I didn't imply that students should just be handed the answer to the question. What I mean is we have to guide them enough to figure it out; I would sometimes make up a similar example and show them how I reason to answer it. This method in my opinion is the best way to teach: check how udacity, edx, and Coursera teach, simply awesome. Besides, a freshman physics or chemistry lab should primarily reinforce what was taught in lecture. It should illustrate the main concepts. There is a reason why it is usually worth only 10 to 20% of the total grade. That is why each experiment is designed to take a total of 2 hours (at least where I was). Now when students take the major/upper level labs then I am very critical about everything. This is why in those courses each lab takes a couple of weeks of experimental setup and data collection instead of couple of hours. Finally, I am happy to say that in the Department I used to be they did have lab exams where test scores from all sections can be compared: the performance of my students was a major factor in me earning two awards. So I don't think I'm a total failure.

I had the same problem. I noticed that other TAs let students go home without fully understanding the lab so that they can deduct points and hence have a lower average and make the TA manager happy. I told the manager that I don't work this way and our goal is to teach and the students to learn. Yes, I explain every thing (spoon feed as some may call it) and I don't hide anything. I have seen TAs refuse to help with lab questions so that they can give lower grades because the students could not answer the questions correctly. Is that our goal? The manager can observe every section and decide. The only trouble is that the manager him/herself can be a terrible teacher and want you to follow his/her way. Also, it may be unfair for students who produce the same quality work and get a lower grade because they happen to be in a different section. However, that being not fair is not necessarily you being an 'easy' grader; rather it may be because other are terrible teachers or unfair graders. Bottom line, I would say to the manger that I'm not grading lenient, rather, I are following the rubric and show them a few labs and how I graded them.

I know you asked for a book, but, I strongly recommend you check Coursera's mathematical biostatistics boot camp. You can also check out edx's offers. The MOOCS I completed so far are better than almost every course I took in a 'real' university.

Multiple people-former TAs-told me that in grad school A is for Average and B is for Bad. In other, words it is difficult to get less than a B in grad school. On the face of it, this makes sense: if every one is expected to maintain a B or higher, then the average will be more than a B.

I feel silly for this posting. I will just ask the university on Monday.

I was checking my financial aid status (US domestic student) and it says I received a Graduate Full-Time FPA and it says the Category is "waiver". I am guessing the FPA is an abbreviation for Fulbright Program Adviser. Excuse my ignorance in the subject, but can someone explain to me what that is and what it means? I tried googling around, but I thought the best place to as is at the grad cafe! Thanks in advance!

Yes, I am about 7 miles north of campus. Initially, I looked in Craigslist and Trulia. I had two days to find something. I ran into the place I rented by accident: I drove around and stopped at about 4 real estate places. Apparently, that was more productive than the internet. The process of looking around can (and was for me) be daunting: fill out multiple application and answer a zillion questions and pay application fees ranging from $25 to $50 per adult.

I was in Columbus for three days trying to find an apartment and here is what I found out: 1. Rent can be fairly cheap as in two bdrm for 500 all the way to about 1200 per month. 2. From what I have seen, avoid areas south of the city. If you can't find anything on campus, look at areas north of the city, and better yet, north west. 3. The city is big. Driving 14 miles from point to point is fairly common. Fortunately, traffic is light and it only takes 20 minutes basically from the farthest two points in the city. 4. Landlords/real estate want your income to be around 3 times the rend cost. 5. I rented a 2 bdrm townhouse for $650 in an area near westerville. The place is nice. 6. Utilities cost. Obviously it depends on usage. But here are some numbers: water is about 80 to 100! If your heat and cooking is gas, expect 100 in the summer and 200 in the winter. If everything is electric, including heat, expect 100 in the summer and 200 to 300 in the winter. In other words, if possible choose gas heating. In fact someone told me that in order to keep a three bdrm single house warm in the winter using electricity, it may cost 500 to 700 per month. I guess if you have an apartment, this is not a big issue. 7. I estimated that for every mile you live closer to campus, you can save $10 per month in car usage...so you can pay 10 dollars more in rent and still have the same net cost + convenience.

Quick question: what documents to you need when renting an apartment. I am planning to take a trip to Columbus in about two weeks and hopefully lease an apartment. How do you show your proof of income to the landlord when you don't have any pay stubs yet? Also, if your stipend is, say, about $2000, will they rent you an apartment/townhouse for say $800-$900?

I will be attending OSU for applied math-masters. I am very excited.

Has anyone attended the MMS-bio program? How was it? how many hours a week did you spend grading? What do you do as a GTA? How was the summer internship? Productive? Do you recommend any advisers? After finishing the program, where did you go? I really appreciate your input in advance.

Thanks Goliath15. That's amazing. Many (most?) people finish a PhD with 3 publications or less.

Does anyone have experience with a master's program (applied math)? I am particularly interested in how many publications you were able to produce, if any, during the two year period. It seems that one will be very busy with the course work and very little time for research. Thanks