Monochrome Spring

If there is an IKEA nearby, you can get a lot of the basics for cheap. Not always the best quality, but they do the job. Shipping cost can be high if there isn't one nearby, so check that out first.

Check if you need all of the books in their entirety, as well. You may only need one for a chapter, which you can scan at the library. Or you may only need a book as a recommended, but not required, reading.

I've been in my program for a month now, and registered for classes, but I don't have anything other than that. Don't worry about it; you'll get the information when you need it.

The cheapest I've found is 2900 Place Apartments. A studio is $570 and a 1bdr is $610.

It means that your score should be better than 50% of test takers'. https://www.ets.org/s/gre/pdf/gre_guide_table1a.pdf Verbal at least 151 Quantitative at least 153 Analytical Writing at least 4.0

If anyone has ecology specific questions, I can definitely help there. Ecology tends to be in a weird class of its own for biology admissions. Recently admitted to a dual Forestry/Ecology PhD and currently working over summer as a research assistant before courses start.

I'm 20 (almost 21) and have been driving for only 2ish years, so my insurance is $117/mo. I think I get a discount closer to $100/mo when I turn 21.

I just got a 2012 Honda Fit Sport with about 30k miles on it. It's small enough to park easily and get great gas mileage, but it also has a ton of back storage space. I moved almost everything I own across the country in the sub-compact. When I picked out a car, my requirements were: hatchback, good storage, good gas mileage, few miles on a used car, and comfortable. General basic car stuff. I paid just under $14,000 for my Fit, including tax, registration, etc.; and I was fortunate enough that my grandpa payed for it as a gift for graduating and to help me get around in a new state for my PhD program.

Why don't you email your advisor and ask what he/she would like you to bring?

Whatever you decision, definitely get an SSD in your laptop instead of the older spinning hard drive. I've had so many hard drive failures in a short amount of time, mostly due to the spinning components of the hard drive. I recently had my old computer upgraded to one with an SSD and I'm very happy. The peace of mind that I won't lose my work (even if I back up regularly) is worth it. You can get a 256GB SSD for about $150 on Amazon if you want to upgrade your computer later, too. My 2 cents (I like MacBooks): I know it's a bit out of your price range, but the 13" MacBook Air is about $780 if you get refurbished. 4GB RAM and 126GB SSD (you can get a 1TB external for $60).

Office supply stores will often have $20-50 off one item coupons online. I got $30 off my $80 Microsoft Office, which was more manageable on a low income.

My advisor, who I'm starting RA work for next month, has specified that he likes to meet with his first year students once per week. He does this to make sure that everything is going smoothly and that there is time to catch problems early on. If I decide that I want less or more meetings, it's entirely up to me. But I get the feeling that once per week is still more than a lot of students get. Edit: The weekly meetings that I mentioned are one-on-one meetings. We also have 1-2 weekly meetings for the whole lab group, depending on how many members want to present that week.

http://www.ets.org/s/gre/pdf/concordance_information.pdf You won't be able to say what is a 1000 in the new system, because it is going to depend on your sub-scores.

Excel excel excel. You can add columns with sentences of information like "methods summary", "main results", "relevance to my research", etc. So helpful.

There are new tests that accommodate people who have had the vaccination or have had a prior infection. This coming from my mom who had TB 20 years ago and still shows up positive on the old standard tests.

Email them to ask. I got a C last quarter and asked the finances office to see if it would affect my fellowship, and they said no. The only thing you can do to know for certain is to email and ask.

Definitely wait for those back to school sales too, if you can't find them on sale before then.

You can get a basic Brother laser printer on Amazon for $100 or a fancier Brother laser printer with copy and fax capabilities for $120. I am buying the Canon laser printer with copy capability for $65, but that's just preference. A laser printer is a great investment and I second that inkjet runs out too quickly when you're printing out articles and assignments on a regular basis.

No problem! Good input still.

Just as the title asks: What are you doing before grad school? I figured that we needed a thread to discuss all of the exciting (or maybe not so exciting) things that we are doing in preparation for the big change. Personally, I'm still finishing up my undergrad degree until mid June. Then, I'm moving out to my new university and beginning RA work. I want to keep on top of my studies, because I'm the type of person that can fall behind when I take too long of a vacation from course work, so I'm also taking the Johns Hopkins University Data Science courses on Coursera and reading through my PI's and future collaborator's papers. I'm still figuring out all of the moving details and need to have a large garage sale, but my course load is light so I have a fair amount of time.

I use a leather bottom Jansport right-pack, because I take care of my shoulders. If you want a more professional looking purse for meetings or events throughout the day, you pack away a classic Longchamp bag. They fold away easily so they don't take up a lot of space in your regular backpack.

I would recommend a LoR from your grad advisor for sure. Then two other LoRs from whichever professors you can get the best ones from. Could be UG, could be graduate. But definitely one from your grad advisor.

To the graduate admissions people: "Dear X, Thank you very much for your offer of acceptance to Y University. I enjoyed visiting the program and learning about the research going on there. Unfortunately, I am declining the offer, as I have accepted an offer at another program. Thank you again, Z name" To the specific professors who you had good conversations with: "Dear X, Thank you very much for your offer of acceptance to Y University. I enjoyed visiting the program and learning about the research going on there. I especially enjoyed hearing about your research in Q area and our discussion about R. Unfortunately, I am declining the offer, as I have accepted an offer at another program for such-and-such reason. I hope that we can keep in touch and I look forward to hearing about your future research. Thank you again, Z name" It obviously doesn't have to be that exact template. But you shouldn't feel badly about a more impersonal email to the administration. If you connected well with a particular professor, you can send a more personal email with specifics as to why you chose the other program.

Get used to criticism because you're going to get a lot of it.