Xeno

Living in So cal in isanely expensive.. I would argue $18,000 is barely enough to get by...... (if that). Depending where you live you have to factor in gas, and at least going places from time to time. Gas here is around 3.90 a gallon. Food is also more than other places in the country...

[A] where do most graduate students live?---depends how much you have to spend.. where I can find a nice one bedroom for no more than $1250/mo---- in that area? Not feasible, although you might be able to live in the ghetto "university heights" area sharing a bedroom with someone... and no, the area IS ghetto there are bars on the windows... [C] what the commute from that place would be like?--- not too bad. SD/La Jolla, Oceanside is crazy expensive....you might try escondido but then you woud probably have a bit of a commute..

I think psychology is really a tough place... It depends by what you mean as in "good paying job." I personally do not know anyone with just a BA who has a "good paying job." I live in a major US city with over 8 million residents....soooooo.....psychology is a very popular major and you can't do much with it because of oversaturation. I would suggest getting a certificate in something entirely unrelated like marketing, business, or project management if the whole grad school thing doesn't work... and well taking a sales job selling insurance or something like that. I know it is feasible in some places to substitute teach for about $100 or less a day if that is something that interests you. If you have no work experience in an office though, things might be pretty tough...

Hmmm .. well you shouldn't have lied on your interview... They might can you because of it. As far as transcripts--you mean the audio transcripts? Probably not, employers don't have time for that crap. GPA? Yeah they will verify it. If you wrote down 3.0 somewhere and its really 2.8....I dunno what to say.. Are you still enrolled in school? If yes, pick up another class that is stupidly easy and you can probably claim you will get an A in it, so you gave them your anticipated GPA. If not, well I don't know what will happen. They may drop you, or not...

Nciku is pretty good as a tool. There are some books you should try buying: "Conversational Mandarin Online" by Tim Xie (its a book). Beyond that? Brainscape has some basic flashcards which are useful. Check them out if you get a chance.

Not sure but can you work for a local government office? I know in LA the local governments really like people with poly sci degrees. Oftentimes there are associated organizations that deal in elections, politics, etc, that you could probably get involved with, even at a volunteer level, to build up your resume.

I don't think the major matters as much if you have experience working while in college, even on minute and sometimes obscure junk not related to your major. But you also have to build and craft a story around your resume....your own "brand" if you will. I agree with your last line though.... but having worked in really crappy jobs I wouldn't be so harsh to someone trying to find one.

I'd say take anything...try smaller companies. If you want to do market research, then get into marketing. I think most grads cannot expect a "good" job right out of college anymore...unfortunately. My pay actually went down from $10.12 to a grand $10.00 at my first job (that was with a graduate degree in social sciences btw). If you can't find anything, usually sales or insurance places like to hire people, even if part time..it will give you some experience. You could also (if you really have to ) leave off your graduate degree from your resume...