plasmatics

If you look at the grad housing rates, that's what they call "1 bedroom, double occupancy". I entered the housing lottery already but I think I'll start looking into EPA also - just to keep my options open.

haha yes - good call!

I'm going for EE PhD, also driving from Massachusetts. Leaning towards on-campus, at least for the first year, because my car isn't that big and it will really limit how much stuff I can bring. I'd love to come back to the east coast when I finish but I think it will do me good to live somewhere totally different for a while.

This may be different at other schools - but at my current undergrad institution, my GPA is only determined from courses I took there. Some old transfer credits are being used to fill requirements for my BS, but only the credits transfer, not the previous GPA. This is great for me, b/c I have a 3.9+ over the last 3.5 years - even though my last undergrad semester before that, in 2000, I took two classes and failed them both! The grad schools I applied to still wanted to see all the old transcripts, and it didn't stop me from getting into a top-5 school. So I really don't think you need to worry about adjusting your gpa, or your previous situation. It's not the most common situation but it won't be the first time they've seen it. Good luck!

I don't think you need to worry about this. You're still going to graduate, which is the only important thing in terms of going to the grad program. If it's really just a scheduling conflict, your school should be able to amend your transcript after graduation to show you had honors. It's doubtful the prof at the grad school will ever know - but if it comes up just explain the situation. It's not like you've done anything wrong!

Just got a rejection letter via postal mail, dated the day before. It's a little bit of a bummer but realistically not the best fit for me.

I'm in an intermediate group - I got a departmental fellowship, which is for the first 3 quarters only, valued at "over $49,000". Since the tuition is 39k I think that means the stipend is less than $10k - ie I would need to take a loan to pay my rent. But on the upside, I get a $350 travel reimbursement for Visit Day -- go figure!