duckrabbit

Quite right, Guessed! I'm in the opposite situation -- I started out at a top prep school, chose to go to a less prestigious private university (for personal and financial reasons), and am starting a grad program at a non-prestigious public school (my program's very respected, but not top-10-ish). So I've got "pedigree" issues of my own, and a different perspective on the issue. I'd just like to say that, in my experience, posh undergrad pedigree means bupkis. Sure, it impresses people and opens doors, and is sometimes accompanied by a rigorous educational experience -- but given the prestige of the program you're entering, you'll have those advantages (and then some, because of course graduate pedigree matters much more!). More importantly, as many people have noted, you obviously got a good undergrad education and are smart and talented enough to have gotten in to your current program. Don't worry about not being able to cut it; you'll do fine. You've already passed the test of worthiness. Considering the stiff competition among applicants, I'd say you're a big fish in a big pond! :-D All you have to do now is work hard, which is apparently what you've been doing for years anyway. And when people look at you like you've got two heads, just take it as a compliment. A meteoric rise from obscurity to Ivy says a lot more about your abilities than a pristine pedigree.

Basille's the expert here, but from the estimates I've seen, $12,500 to 14,000/year gets you the bare essentials (not including car insurance, gas, and whatnot) -- you should be in fine shape! I'm planning to make do with $1500/month before taxes, and so far it doesn't seem impossible. Look earlier in the current thread, and see this threadfor more detailed discussions and itemized cost-of-living estimates. Good luck!

Hey, I'm going from Boston to Chicago (= bad to worse)! Congratulations to anyone going to school any place where exposed flesh doesn't freeze and fall off.

I haven't gotten the official stuff with details like this from the graduate school yet -- just the acceptance letter and the stuff about my fellowship. All the other information (including the bit about the U-Pass) came from the department/current students.

Not that much -- one is ranked about five places higher than the other. However, I have every reason to believe that the program I didn't choose is going to move up in the rankings (new hires, etc.). Also, the school I didn't choose is known for a number of very good departments; the school I did choose is known primarily for the department I'm joining and one or two others.

Congratulations! It really does sound like you made a great decision. Especially since you'll be happy with your research opportunities and the prospect of rewards (= jobs!) when you finish, you'll surely be able to cope with the living situation. (Anyway, nobody's living situation is perfect in graduate school, and people definitely make it.) Prestige doesn't hurt, either! :wink: I ended up choosing the less prestigious school -- in my case the decision hinged (partly, at least) on research interests. In terms of the interests that motivated me to apply to graduate school in the first place, the two departments were roughly equal, but the less prestigious one is home to a professor with whom I thought I'd work especially well, and the location is one I know I can enjoy for 5-7 years.

Philosophy PhD, UI-Chicago

Ooooooh, that was bad! Good luck to everyone still deciding! :-)

This makes me worry a bit. Sacrificing "everything else you'd want in a program" sounds a bit sad.

Wow, this sounds like a really tough situation. I know this may not help, but it really sounds like you can't go wrong. Both choices seem to have a lot going for them (e.g. prestige/smarts of your own advisor seem to matter as much as prestige of the overall program). Once you sort out your priorities and choose, you should be fine! I'd say that you should choose based on research interests (especially if you are pretty sure they'll stay the same), and then ask yourself if you can be happy in the place/situation you chose for the requisite number of years. If you aren't happy, your work may suffer, so it's important to know that you'll be able to cope. I was soooo in the same situation, and sympathize. Congrats on your acceptances. And do post to let us know what you decide.

Oh, oops, I forgot to introduce myself. I'm starting at UIC in the fall. *waves*

Question: The $900 or so that we have to pay in University fees each semester includes a U-Pass, right?

Terrified but excited. I waver between being rational and self-confident and total Impostor Syndrome freak-outs. None of us would have gotten in if we didn't deserve it. There's no way we managed to fool admissions committees who see tons and tons of applications every year. Plus, as long as freaking out just makes us work harder, it can be an advantage. Chin up, people, we're all going to be fine!

Can't decide -- but it's exciting just reading about people's plans! Have fun, those of you who are taking time off, travelling, and sitting in front of TV!!! I'm torn between my desire for money and my desire for relaxation and catching up on reading/preparing for the fall. Matters are complicated by the fact that I'd love to see my friends, but they are about 3000 miles away, so visiting them requires money I haven't got unless I work all summer (and if I work all summer, I won't have time to visit).

Thanks. I try to go with the best academic match, too.

Congratulations, it must feel great to have chosen! I'm in a similar situation, so I'm writing to solicit others' advice. Both departments I'm looking at are known to be nice places and very harmonious and collegial environments. Both are offering me good funding (for the field) and include a first-year fellowship. I visited both places and liked both. All the potential advisors I'm considering are known to be nice. CHOICE 1: - slightly higher-ranked department overall - nobody in particular i'm dying to work with, but several good possibilities - less famous faculty working in my specific area of interest, but they are good - they are working to establish a center for the study of X ("X" being my main interest) - slightly bigger department - cheap place to live, but possibly boring and a bit isolated (although the campus is lovely) - university is big and well-funded, and it shows in the campus and the resources - few graduate students with similar interests, but the students are very nice and talk a lot CHOICE 2: - two professors with whom I really really want to work, including one famous faculty member in my main area of interest - already well-known within the subfield that is my main area of interest - slightly smaller department - slightly more expensive city, but very exciting (and i'm a city person) - university is smaller and less well-funded - i'm guaranteed a dissertation-year fellowship in addition to the first-year fellowship - many students with interests similar to mine, but not as close-knit a group

Everyone hangs out in Cambridge. You'll meet lots of people from Harvard and MIT, but also lots of people from other schools. When I was at BU, I often went to Central Square or Harvard Square to study, go to shows, shop, etc. and many other students did too. In Boston/Cambridge, it's extremely easy to meet other students, and because of the small size of the city (cities), there is a lot of mixing together.

you lived in chicago on $10,000 last year? and you could buy wine? was this for the whole year (summer included) or just the academic year? any pointers for someone who wants to do the same?

Thank you to both of you for the advice!! :-)

I'm female, and am going into a graduate program. I had a very mixed experience as an undergrad -- my professors were supportive and didn't seem to take me any less seriously because I am female, but the occasional fellow student did. Some students were just blatant about it, which made things quite uncomfortable. Also, I didn't know any other "serious" female philosophy majors -- at least in my year -- as an undergrad (I am only aware of one other female from my UG program who went on to graduate study in the last couple of years, but there may have been more). There were very few female faculty in the department where I did my UG work, so I ended up not really having a role model or mentor until the last year or so I was there.

Thank you. Which neighborhoods would you recommend? What was your experience like?

Hi everyone! I don't know if anyone here is still making decisions, but I just got back from Bloomington and wanted to put in my $0.02. The town is small and the campus is huge and beautiful (it's amazing -- the buildings are gorgeous and there are wooded areas and there is even an art museum!). I was really worried about the smallness of the town, but I have to say I was pleasantly surprised. The tiny downtown area houses a huge (huge relative to the total number of restaurants) number of good ethnic restaurants. And the CD store on Kirkwood has a ridiculously good selection of semi-obscure stuff. I'd say that if you're worried about not having access to certain city amenities (good food, things to do) Bloomington can still work for you. If you need to have a wide variety of options on hand, it may not work for you. For what it's worth, I'm a diehard city person and I kind of fell in love with IU and Bloomington.

Hi vatn! You can definitely live on $2000/month, especially if you don't have a car. Do invest in a T pass, though -- it's well worth it even though it can be expensive (sometimes $70-80/month depending what kind you get). When I was at BU I lived on $1000-1200/month and money was very tight. You should do fine, and you can live very well if you manage money carefully. If you live with a roommate(s), rent should realistically cost you $600-750/month. (You can sometimes find cheaper places, but these are often shabbier places occupied by carefree undergraduates!) I believe I spent about $50-75 a week on food. Heat is very expensive, and watch out, because if you get a place with oil heat you will have to pay a whopping bill of $200 or so every time the oil runs out (every couple of months). Your best bet is to get a place with utilities included. I lived with two other people and I believe we each paid about $35/month for electricity.

Hi! I'm originally from Reno and am actually there now visiting family before going away to school again. The natural environment around Reno is amazing. As I'm sure you know, the town is nestled in a valley among the Sierra Nevada mountains. It's the desert, so there isn't what you'd call lush greenery. The mountains to the east are totally bare except for sagebrush; the ones to the west are forested with pines. Because of the different air masses meeting overhead, we get incredible cloud formations and gorgeous sunsets. If you enjoy the outdoors, and especially if you like winter sports, this is a fantastic place to be. Lake Tahoe and the various ski resorts are a quick (one hour, give or take, depending on your exact destination) drive away via I-80 (if you are going to drive there in the winter, chains are a must). Now, I am the least athletic, least outdoorsy person you will ever find and I think Reno's a bit boring. But the hundreds of thousands of people who disagree with me can't be wrong. Oh, the weather here is very decent. It's extremely dry (although we do get some snow in the winter, it is nothing to be alarmed about -- it's true that the city doesn't plow and salt the way they do in areas that are more accustomed to snow, but the stuff usually melts off so quickly that the inconvenience only lasts for a day or so). In the summer it rarely gets above 85F, and in the winter 20F is about as cold as it gets. Because it is the desert, nights are significantly cooler than days at all times of year. Plan to carry a sweater with you even in the summer. The town of Reno is quite small. Actually, the metro area is comprised of Reno and its sister city Sparks. Fortunately for some, but unfortunately for students, the real estate market is just now cooling down, and housing costs are relatively high, especially in desirable parts of town. There are several decent neighborhoods, with the safest, cleanest, and most expensive located in the south part of town and the Caughlin Ranch area. Children are assigned to public schools by means of a simple zoning system, so you will want to look into the individual schools when choosing a place to live. I had an awful experience socially in public elementary and middle schools here, although educationally it wasn't too bad. My younger sisters are in the public school system now and actually like their schools quite a lot. I'll be happy to tell you whatever I can if you want to talk further about this. There are also a few decent private schools around and at least one charter school. And I am told we are getting a Davidson Institute campus, so if you have super-gifted children there will be a nice resource around. As for culture and such: The local papers, public libraries, and shopping are fairly awful. You will probably find yourself using the UNR library almost exclusively, taking out a subscription to a major newspaper, and shopping online. Reno tries very hard to shed its casino/bar/brothel/meth image, and succeeds to some extent. However, the reality is that the economy here is based in part upon gaming, and it is more of a presence than in areas of (for example) Connecticut or California that happen to have casinos. There are definitely parts of town that reflect this, and there is a sizable population of drifters, drunks, and degenerates, particularly downtown. There is a very sharp divide between these aspects/areas of Reno and the also-sizable yuppie element (concentrated in the south part of town and distinguished by its penchant for Humvees and other luxury vehicles, custom homes, and blandness -- but not, unfortunately, by its intellectual or cultural interests). However, the city is trying to encourage the local arts scene, which is receiving a bit more attention these days than it used to. Downtown is showing signs of gentrification, particularly around the river, where some galleries, cafes, and boutiques have sprung up. The downtown area is also home to a jazz club, a hall where the orchestra performs, the Nevada Museum of Art (smallish, but its architecture was featured in one of last year's issues of the New Yorker, and they do get some neat exhibits), an outdoor ice skating rink (in winter), various festivities during the Artown festival, a Century cinema that runs one independent film at all times, and the Bruka Theatre company. UNR also sponsors various sorts of things like screenings of foreign films and jazz and classical music performances. There is also a group of Japanese student playwrights who present their work fairly often (I'm not sure if any of it is in English, though!). UNR itself is located just north of downtown. There are some cute and relatively affordable apartments and small houses nearby. The campus is pretty and serene (though not especially safe at night) and has a few gardens, including a nice rose garden, and a little pond. I've only used the library for philosophy stuff, but it is quite decent for that at least. The campus culture is laid-back and friendly. My interactions with faculty and students there has been overwhelmingly positive. I was never a student there, but my sister did both her undergrad and graduate work there and just loves the place. She speaks especially well of the English department and at least one faculty member who does ecocriticism. The yuppie influx has made Reno slightly more kid-friendly. There aren't nearly enough hands-on museums and such for kids, but there are several really nice parks (including Rancho San Rafael, which houses a small safari museum and various bits of land in their natural state), lots of music teachers, a couple of dance schools, all sorts of sports leagues, and a rash of those shops where you can choose a ceramic item, paint it, and have the thing fired in a kiln. The community college and (I think, but I'm not sure) the art museum also have special classes for kids. Oh, and there is one caveat to what I said about the public libraries earlier: Sierra View branch actually has quite a nice children's section. My little sister has been getting ten books or so from there every week for years and never seems to get bored. There are a fair number of good ethnic restaurants (Thai, Indian, Chinese, Japanese, Vietnamese, Mexican, Greek, Salvadoran), although you may have to drive kind of far to get to them. As far as I know we have no great bagel deli, no Ethiopian food, and good pizza is hard to come by (unless you like the healthy California kind). There are some healthy-foods restaurants like Pneumatic Diner and Deux Gros Nez, a couple of nice wine shops (Wine and Cheese Board, Ben's Liquors, and I'm told there is a new one in the brand-new Sierra Summit mall that has some more unusual offerings), and a great taco shop that's open 24 hours. I can think of two natural foods stores, Trader Joe's and Wild Oats. There are a couple of decent independent record stores and a Tower. Groceries aren't super-cheap, but they aren't horribly expensive. There aren't any good video rental places around, but there are several Blockbusters. Also, and this is probably obvious, although Reno is small it is not a small college town. In fact, if you didn't know UNR was here you'd never guess it. Most students have jobs off campus, so I suppose they blend seamlessly into the environment, and unless you are right by the campus you will not notice a student class loafing about. You will probably want to have a car. We have a bus system, but it doesn't serve all parts of town and it can take forever to get around using it. Some people do bike, but I wouldn't recommend taking your kids round in one of those trailers that attaches to a bicycle because there aren't bike lanes everywhere and many drivers may not be familiar enough with such contraptions to keep an eye out for them. Well, I hope some of this helps. Please post again or message me if you want more specific information or if I've left something out. Congratulations and good luck!

Thanks very much -- I really appreciate your offer of advice! I'm looking at UIC. I don't mind commuting a little via el or bus (I think 40 minutes is the longest commute I want to deal with) if it means cheaper rent, although of course I'd prefer to live near the campus (I'll live on campus if it's really cheaper). I also prefer having roommates, so I will probably be sharing a place with other people, provided I can find others looking to share a place.