Sumac77

I've been out of the student game for a while, so when I heard that companies like Amazon give discounts on things like shipping for current students I got excited: http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=200500380 What other discounts or websites are there to help out new and returning grad students?

Oops, that should have said "be a little too dangerous for me." I'm with you on driving safely kcald716. I don't make phone calls as they're too distracting for me, but brainstorming aloud to a voice recorder works. And listening to research might be the same as listening to radio or podcasts, I'll have to see how much concentration it requires. Good idea on the CDs, thanks!

Ha! I love the laptop/wheel mount. But I'm thinking that might bea little snare for me. Unfortunately no public transportation, or else I'd definitely take it. NPR, coffee and relaxation all sound good. My dad used to commute super far like this and always got a lot of his writing done via voice recorde, so I'll definitely give that a shot. Wondering how I can knock out some reading as well.

We will be living about an hour from my school, and I'll have to make that trek (driving) two or three times a week. Who's got some tips on using this time productively? Apps? Voice recorders?

This is a great thread! I'm curious about many of the same questions, and would really like to know people's experiences with lenders. Any credit unions/banks you can recommend that have worked with graduate students before? I'd be purchasing alone, with parents co-signing, in the NJ/PA area.

Congrats RandiZ!! Real estate shopping sounds fun! I grew up in the area, and have to say that I do miss it quite a bit. I'm with you in the same boat- funding is a real breaking point. The head of my program emailed to say that they don't give out funding offers to students who aren't enrolled yet. So that makes this one a bit tricky.... Hope you hear some good news from your program soon, and good luck with the home hunting!

Got an email from the edd program that was,an unofficial acceptance to the program, and it is also reflected on the check status page. Yeah!

One other thought for reducing paper usage, and I'm not sure if this works for you, but I convert my PDF's into MP3's. Sounds crazy, but there are a few programs that you can buy that do it. I went with NaturalSoft, which has a free version (not cool) and a basic version (very realistic voices). It takes me an hour to convert all my pdf's for the week into a read-aloud version, and then I put it in my ipod and listen to it on the train, in the car, while I walk, whatever. If I'm on the go, I stop the playback where I want to take notes and use my voice recorder to tape them. Later that day, I open up the computer and put my thoughts down in organized fashion into my notes. The process could probably be simplified by someone with better knowledge of the app world, in fact you could probably do all of the above with an iPhone. The only downside is that, as a visual learner, I have no reference for what the articles look like, so if I actually need to go back and read a few I have to search through my notes for the author's name first.

I know this is probably discipline specific, but is anyone able to average the number of hours they spend working on reading/writing/research per course (3 credit hours)? I'm interested more in the jump between Master's and doctoral work. I averaged about 5 hours of reading and coursework per course during my Masters, and I'm struggling with the same question of how many courses to take as I start my doctorate because I anticipate a greatly increased workload. Thoughts on this? I'll be in Education, so not worrying about labs and things like that at the moment.

I'm curious about the difference in demands between masters and doctoral programs. The course work must be considerably more difficult, so I wanted to know on average, how many hours you spend reading/researching/working for each course or credit you took? Thanks!

Also curious!

Well, it seems there's some activity on the results board. One respondant was called for an interview, so that's a good sign.

Oh man. That's a ways off! Thanks!

It may not be exactly the same type of program that was discussed earlier, but I did my Master's at Lehigh. They've got awesome faculty and a very cool program. It's in the Comparative and International Education department. My masters was in Globalization and Educational Reform, and my professors there were phenomenal. I also got some great contacts, and work right out of the program. I highly recommend checking it out.

Hi all, I'm waiting to hear back from Rutgers GSE for an EdD application. We've talked about this briefly on the main thread, but I wanted to open it up here directly. It seems like most acceptances in the records went out about this time last year. Have you guys heard anything else for EdD or PhD since our last convo? I've emailed grad admissions and the GSE, but might as well be sending smoke signals.