duckrabbit

I've been looking forward to graduate school ever since I was a little girl. I don't want kids and am OK with not making a lot of money (I hope to become a professor, and in my field they don't make an insanely high income). What I do want is the privilege of spending several years studying and pushing myself intellectually, then the chance to get a job where I'm paid to do more of the same. History_Nerd said: "Plus, you have to want the lifestyle, I had a moment where I was sitting with a prof my sophomore year having coffee, and I thought, 'Dude, he gets paid to do this. He gets paid to have a chat about history with me . . . '" and I completely agree.

I've heard this too. I took a gap year and fared well in the admissions process. As long as your SOP, essays, LORs, and "stats" (along with field experience) reflect your seriousness, the gap year will probably help rather than hurt you. Your GPA is good, and it sounds like you have a lot of experience, so I'd say don't worry about it, and enjoy your time off!

Hi all, I'm another female worried about proper dress. I'll be a TA in a humanities department in the fall -- do I teach in jeans and a sweater? Khakis? Nice pants? What if I happen to be in the mood to wear a skirt -- bad idea? I have heard that dressing "too well" can be a detriment to female students (people will see you as thinking more about clothes than work), but I am not entirely sure that I understand what "too well" and "too badly" mean in this context. Does that just mean that one should leave one's miniskirts and Jimmy Choos at home (duh), or does that mean that one should wear unflattering clothes and pretend to have no sense of style at all? (I saw that someone on another thread recommended looking as un-feminine as possible.) Sorry if this is an excessively superficial post. I have to make a first impression next week, while visiting schools (I'm not interviewing, just visiting). Reading over the threads about interview weekends made me scared. I have a very comfortable, understated all-black outfit for visiting programs, but now I am worried that it is actually too fabulous. Please advise! PS How horribly ironic that we, who obviously take academic work seriously enough to think about it a lot of the time, are now spending inordinate amounts of time thinking about clothing because we don't want to appear to think too much about clothing.

I know $13K in Bloomington is very doable, based on what others in the forum have said. What about $14K in Chicago? (I believe I can pick up some teaching in the summers, but am not completely sure.) Is it generally easy to find a roommate and a cheapish apartment there (with utilities included, if possible)? Is it extremely difficult to find free parking in Chicago? I've done $14K in Boston before, but money was unbelievably tight. I didn't buy clothes for about four years. Thanks to any who can give advice.

I lived in Davis for a year and studied at UC Davis. My experience at the school wasn't that there was a frat boy vibe, exactly ... but I only took Latin classes so my perception may be skewed or it may have been an atypical experience. I was too young to participate in college social life at the time and am not in a position to say much about it. Many -- I think most -- people who live in Davis absolutely adore it. It is a small, clean college town with a quirky, crunchy-yuppie (if that makes sense) feel. It is the bike capital of the US or something, so everyone rides bicycles. The downtown area, where UC Davis is located, is cute and has a minature-city (or very hip village) feel to it, with many small independent shops and lovely little streets with trees arching over them. The campus is nice, and there isn't much town/gown separation. There is a food co-op to which many people belong. Overall there seems to be a lot of community feeling in the town and the university. It does get really hot in the summer. It is a peaceful, serene, and sunny place and politically tends toward the liberal. There are a few cafes downtown where people hang out -- the Espresso Royale next to campus is especially nice. I remember the music scene consisting mostly of guitar-folk coffeehouse performers and generic punk bands, but things may have changed since then. The consensus is that it is a very nice place to live, with plenty to do. That said, I hated it and was bored out of my mind. I felt like a complete space alien there. It really depends what sort of a person you are and what you like to do, as well as how you feel about insular communities. People in Davis sometimes refer to the "Davis bubble", the perfect little biosphere that is Davis: a clean, quiet, safe, pretty, socially aware, slightly arty and very quirky little oasis in the middle of the cultural wasteland that is the Central Valley. But the "bubble" thing is true in both good and bad ways: it can feel very isolated and homogenous. If it's at all possible, visit there and see what you think. I must emphasize that my experience wasn't typical and that most people fall in love with Davis. If you can't visit, speak or correspond with as many current students as you can.

GRE,TOEFL scores: GRE 740Q/800V/6.0 AW Academic details: Graduated cum laude (cumulative GPA 3.33) from second-tier private university with a lower-top-50 Leiter-ranked philosophy dept. Philosophy GPA: 3.6. Good background in history of philosophy, but very weak in contemporary philosophy. No publications. Good LORs, I'm told, and a writing sample germane to my primary areas of interest (I think it was good, but I got basically zero feedback from my UG professors before submitting it, so who knows). Extracurriculars: Research assistant in a psych lab, tutoring job, National Merit Scholar, had a full-tuition merit scholarship at UG; not sure if this counts as "extracurricular", but I did do an independent study. Schools applied to: PhD programs at Harvard, WUSTL, Pitt, U Chicago, UIUC, IU, UIC, and Johns Hopkins. Rejects: Pitt, U Chicago, and [although I haven't officially heard yet] Harvard, WUSTL Admits: UIC, UIUC, Johns Hopkins, IU (all with funding)

Hi! I'm a ten-year Bostonian and have a little insight on this subject -- here are a few thoughts: 1. It's a very expensive place to live. Cheaper rents can often be found in East Cambridge, Somerville, and Allston. I lived in Allston throughout college. The cheapest rent I ever had was $450/mo (subletting in a big apartment with 6 other people, something I wouldn't really recommend as graduate-student friendly); the most expensive was $650 (neither price includes heat/electric). Some areas of Somerville are wonderfully quiet; Allston is a bit on the dirty side and most buildings are full of rowdy young undergraduates. Brigham Circle is also a great place to live; neighboring Mission Hill is somewhat cheap but the neighborhood isn't the best (I did live there during high school, though, and personally have no bad experiences to report). 2. Watch out for your heating bill. It can get really expensive. Places where rent includes utilities are a good idea, although the temperature may not always be optimal. 3. It's really nice to have a car in Boston/Cambridge, especially when it's time to go grocery shopping. However, it is extremely hard to find parking if you have out of state plates, as many (maybe most) streets only allow those with neighborhood-resident stickers to park there. You may end up either parking far away from your apartment or paying a lot for a space. If you're there for the long haul (i.e. if you're entering a PhD program) it's a good idea to get MA plates and a resident permit sticker for your neighborhood (it costs about $15 and enables you to park on many streets). 4. I have no clue what the actual statistics are, but the crime in Boston is really not that bad -- stay out of Roxbury, Dorchester, and Mattapan when you are alone at night if you are really worried (even those places are not the urban jungles they are sometimes made out to be, but still there's no reason to risk it). There was a rash of muggings in Allston last year, but nothing too crazy. Overall, it's a pretty safe city and I always felt comfortable there. 5. Places to hang out: someone's already mentioned Charlie's Kitchen in Cambridge. Some good music venues are TT the Bear's, the Middle East, Paradise Rock Club, and Great Scott. There are tons of good coffee shops around. There are dive bars, hip bars, and yuppie bars. There are a million book shops where people tend to congregate. You'll find good places no matter what your taste, I think. Good luck. Do post again if you have more specific questions. Congratulations!

Hi everyone, Congratulations on your offers! I'm also considering an offer from IU. The department in question is great but like many here I am worried about living in a small town -- I'm from Boston and once lived in Davis, CA, where I was totally weirded out by the smallness of the place (although it is a very nice town and many people love it). I'm visiting next week and will post whatever I find out in case anyone here isn't visiting before deciding. I know Bloomington is supposed to be great for jazz and classical music -- do any rock fans here know about venues, concerts, etc.? Everyone keeps mentioning the beautiful natural areas nearby -- which sounds lovely, but I'm not the outdoors type at all. Are there any other naturephobes here who have experience/impressions of Bloomington? Also, I have a car but am generally used to living on a very tight budget. Is 13K a year enough to live reasonably well in Bloomington, without financial help from parents?