ntrigue

Same here. Still waiting....

I went to law school in Chambana between 2002-05. I lived in Urbana at a complex called Town and Country (http://www.tandcapartments.com/). For a large one bedroom, I think I paid about $520 or so at that time. It was more expensive than some other places, but it's an extremely grad-student friendly place. The population is primarily grad and professional students, so management is used to working with us. The grounds and apartments are also very well maintained, management office is on-site, and any maintenance requests get taken care of promptly. It usually took me less than 10 min. to drive to campus. Or, if I took the shuttle that is right at the property, it would take me about 15 min. or so to get to campus.

I would definitely second the recommendation for the Semenza book for those in the humanities. A number of people in my program have read it and it's come highly recommended by profs in the dept. as well. Furthermore, I think it's good for people at any stage of their grad school careers.

I received notification via email on Thursday evening as well that I received the fellowship (dissertation), but it's also my understanding that email notification is atypical for Ford. I did not request to have my answer expedited--I haven't had any contact with the office at all. I think there were some questions about this last year, so I'll just mention now that for anyone who receives an alternate, I do have a friend who was on the alternates list the year before last and she ultimately ended up getting it (though, of course, she never did find out where she was ranked on that list). Good Luck.