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I'll be at UMass next fall, and I'm super excited! Does anyone know of apartment complexes/neighborhoods near bus lines? I won't have a car for the first year, so I'll depend almost entirely on public transportation. Is that feasible? It can be in any city - Amherst, Hadley, Northampton, Sunderland, etc. Thanks for your help!

I'm going to UMass too! I PM'd you.

My native languages are Cantonese and English, and I studied Spanish in school. My current research interests are mostly confined to English, but I have also worked on Degema (from Nigeria) and Sgaw Karen (from Myanmar). Definitely wouldn't mind working on other languages in the future!

I chose psycholinguistics on the poll, but within that, my interests are varied. They range from information structure (discourse status and focus) to syntax-semantics (particularly in garden-path resolution). Just curious, antecedent, are you at the University of Edinburgh now? If you don't mind my asking, who are you working with? Thanks!

To ShiningInShadows and juilletmercredi: Thanks so much for your comments! Although I'm just replying now, I did read and consider your responses before I made my decision. Ultimately, I chose School A for the reasons that both of you mentioned (and more). Here's my reasoning, if you care: My biggest concerns with School B were the PI's inaccessibility and the poor to fair student-PI relationships. I do think of myself as an independent worker, but as a new grad student, I would still prefer him to be more accessible than he currently is. And yes, 2 out of the 3 TOTAL students are unhappy...they're frustrated mostly because (a) the PI is inaccessible, and ( they have not had many opportunities for publications or conferences, even though they are already in their 4th or 5th year (out of 5). Plus, the 3rd student even refused to respond to my questions about the PI/program. The extra funding was tempting, but ultimately, I couldn't imagine myself spending five years in their shoes. I decided to go for the more established program - great track record, great faculty within and across departments that I can easily work with, great classes and seminars. I don't know about summer classes yet, but my advisor recommended a couple of summer institutes and hinted at possibly paying for part of it As for research, it fits like a glove. The wider range of methodologies available at School B came at the cost of driving more than an hour to use it, which ended up making it a con since School A offers similar methods that are slightly closer. So I'll be at School A - UMass Amherst - next year, and I'm super excited! (School B will remain unnamed.) As my dad told me, I get out of grad school what I put into it, so I'm going to make it a worthwhile experience. EDIT: fixed some minor spelling/grammatical errors

Oh boy, I have such a tough decision to make. But to be honest, I'm lucky/happy to have this choice. Here's what I've considered so far. Similarities between school A and B: Great research fit: I would say this is about 95% at school A and 80% at school B, both of which are solid enough for me Many potential advisors/co-advisors: Both schools have a number of other faculty that I could work with (although the match is not as strong) Mediocre location: Both are located in wintry, rural towns in New England Collaboration across departments: Both schools emphasize collaboration, but I think it's stronger at school A relative to school B Tuition remission at both schools Similar TA/RA requirements Similar job trajectory (everyone is now in post-doc or faculty position) Similar ranking, although this isn't really that important because both PIs are well-known in the field Pros for school A / Cons for school B: Incoming cohort of first years: I didn't meet the other prospectives at school A; I didn't really click with the prospectives at school B (i.e., they already had connections because they work/ed there -- I'm afraid they might be favored?) Coursework: I come from an experimental background, so I want to take classes on the theoretical/computational side of things; that's definitely possible at school A, not so much at school B Current happiness of grad students: The one grad student at school A is very happy; two of the three students at school B are not as happy and possibly even frustrated with how they get along with their PI Relationship with PI: From what I can tell, the PI at school A is very accessible and able to make time for his grad student; this is not true at school B, where the PI might be spread too thin with other commitments (based on what grad students have expressed to me; PI claims otherwise) Pros for school B / Cons for school A: Research breadth: I'll be able to conduct more research at school B, using a wider range of methodologies; in other words, school B has much more resources (including funds to conduct research abroad, etc.) Funding: School A offers $17k stipend for 5 years; school B offers $24k stipend for 5 years -- note that cost of living is *slightly* higher at school B Novelty of the program: The program at school B is completely new (second year), so faculty have a vested interest in committing to it and seeing it grow; the program at school A has been established for a while now, so I'm afraid faculty might be content? PI: The PI at school A does not have tenure yet, although I'm confident enough in him that he'll get it soon (based on quality of his research and number of publications) Is there anything that I'm missing? Any other advice, please? Right now, I'm at the point where I think I should take a break and reanalyze all my data again in a week... Thanks for your help

Fast forward

Break dance

Interesting. I eat my least favorite ones first. That way, I can save the best for last: yellow

I second what everyone suggested. And you should take advantage of the interview for a few additional reasons: 1) Preparation. The more interviews you attend, the more comfortable you'll feel speaking with professors, and the better prepared you'll be for the next one. This is especially true for me since I don't interview well to begin with. 2) Networking. You might end up collaborating with these professors one day, or you might end up applying for a post-doc or faculty position. I think it's worthwhile to start forming these relationships. If anything, it puts you on their radar. 3) Complete experience. You get to see what graduate life is like, both in and outside of the lab. You might be pleasantly surprised (or maybe disappointed) with what JHU and the surrounding community has to offer. I also sent you a PM.

I haven't heard back either, but I know interviews took place last weekend. I'm hoping we can still get good news though!

NYU C&P had interviews last weekend. I wasn't invited, but my friend was. As for contacting POIs before applying, I should have, but I didn't.

Congratulations Des Grieux and mylime!! Misha would be a great person to work with. Some of my friends wrote an honors thesis with her, and they keep telling me what a great mentor/advisor she is. She was also my professor for Language Acquisition. And if you're interested in syntax, you should check out the work by Randall Hendrick

I got an interview for UMD too -- do you mind PM-ing me your POI? Good luck to you!! I recommend UNC-CH -- I'm a senior there now, and the professors, students, classes, community, etc. are top-notch!

Thanks ArtHistoryandMuseum and Minnow!! It seems like Skyping is all around the better method so I'm gonna go with that. I never liked talking on the phone anyways, so being able to see my interviewer will make it more natural. Now I just need to find a webcam...