lpeppersauce

Why would you say that? I'm not necessarily arguing the point, but I'm curious as to where your information comes from.

It looked like you could get a 1-bedroom apartment for as low as $500-600/month if you don't mind the apartment being pretty small with a communal laundry room. Some of the nicer 1-bedrooms seem to be in the $700-800 range and I think the 2-bedrooms in those complexes are in the $900-1000 range. When I visited it seemed like a lot of the grad students rent houses instead of apartments, but I have no idea what the rents are like for those. I'm not certain about the cost of utilities or food, either, sorry. I'm pretty certain I can live decently on my stipend (the same as yours), but I'm unmarried, so it's a bit easier for me. I'm told that the bus system in Blacksburg is pretty good and free for students, so you could probably get along without a car if you lived on a bus line. It seemed like a lot of houses and apartments were within easy walking/biking distance of campus, too. Blacksburg seemed to be a pretty typical small college town. Right near campus are bars, a little artsy movie theater, coffee shops, things like that. There are probably concerts on campus, and I'm sure local bands play in some of the bars and clubs. I think the area around campus is probably pretty lively on weekends, though a lot of it will be undergrads. I'm told there's at least one bar that caters to the grad students more. I know there's also has a big farmer's market in the summer, and I think they do street festivals there sometimes. Christiansburg, about 10-15 minutes from campus, has chain restaurants, big box stores, a mall, and a decent-sized movie theater. If you like the outdoors, hiking and such, there's a big state park with a bunch of trails through the mountains. The scenery is absolutely gorgeous. If you're not looking for big concerts and shows, you can probably find things to do in Blacksburg. It's going to be pretty quiet, but there's enough around to keep most people interested. If you get bored, it's only 4 hours from DC, 2-3 from Richmond, and 4 from Williamsburg, so you can always make weekend trips to bigger cities. I posted to the city guide about Blacksburg and I'm hoping to get some responses from people who have actually lived there. I'm also planning to ask the graduate student coordinator for the contact info of some current students so I can ask them questions. Have you decided on Virginia Tech, then, or are you still considering your options?

It's official, I'm going to Virginia Tech in the fall for a PhD in Industrial Engineering. Anyone else heading out to Blacksburg?

Well, I'm officially heading to Blacksburg in the fall. Anyone have any suggestions for housing? I'd rather rent an apartment vs. a house, because I'd rather deal with a management company than a landlord, and I don't want to do yardwork. My requirements for an apartment are: 1. One bedroom, at least 700 square feet. 2. Washer and dryer hookups. 3. Dishwasher. 4. QUIET. This is a big one for me. I have no interest in dealing with undergrad or just-out-of-undergrad neighbors who are constantly partying. 5. Within 10-15 minutes driving distance of campus. Obviously I'd like something as inexpensive as possible, but I'd choose to pay a little more rather than sacrifice any of those requirements. Does anyone know of anything like this around Blacksburg or Christiansburg? Thanks!

I don't know anything about the Minnesota or Tilburg, so I can't really speak to those programs or the relative strengths of the universities. I can say that I visited Virginia Tech and really liked the program. All the students I spoke with seemed very happy (always a good sign), there was some really interesting research going on, and the professors seemed to be really involved with their students, both professionally and socially. The students also seemed to be a pretty tight-knit group, which is something I was looking for. One of the running themes of the visit was "the program has money." Basically, the students all said that they don't have a problem finding funding, that money is plentiful, and that if there's no funding for research, there are always TAships available. Because it's the #3 ranked program in the country, I think the university pushes a lot of money their way. One note, Blacksburg is a very small town. Christiansburg (the next town over) is a bit bigger, but they're surrounded by mountains and pretty isolated. The closest small city is 45 minutes away (Roanoke) and the closest large city is at least a couple hours. If you don't like small towns, Blacksburg may not be the place for you. That being said, it's also pretty safe. The people I spoke to said that there's really no problems with burglaries, carjackings, or anything like that. Hope this helps. Let me know if you have any more questions!

Just heard from Virginia Tech yesterday that I was accepted with full funding (half TA, half fellowship)! 33andathirdRPM, are you waiting on Northeastern? I'm still listed as "Under Committee Review" there and gotten those two "we're delayed" emails there. Funny thing is, I was invited to a visit weekend there last month and told in an email that I'd been recommended by the department for admission. I emailed a professor at Northeastern two weeks ago about possible funding, but so far I haven't even gotten an acknowledgement that he received it. I'm planning to call on Monday and I'm considering saying point-blank, "I have another funded offer I'm seriously considering. Are you going to be able to fund me or not?" I'll probably put it nicer than that ...

Managing? What's that? As I've waited longer and longer to hear anything about funding ("Oh, you'll hear by March 22nd!" "Sorry, we meant April 1st!" Still heard nothing), I've mostly been eating too much, sleeping badly, and thinking about punching people who ask, "Have you heard anything yet?" in the head. On the positive side, I've been practicing my bellydancing a lot more, because concentrating on the choreography drives grad school stuff right out of my head and jingly coin belts, like ice cream, make every problem a bit more manageable. I've also been trying to knit more to de-stress, but I don't have much time.

I'm still waiting on Virginia Tech and funding from Northeastern. I called the graduate program director at Virginia Tech and was told that they're aiming to have everything out by April 1st. I've emailed the POI at Northeastern, but so far no response. I really hate all this waiting. Does it seem to you guys that we're hearing later than most programs?

I'm waiting on word about funding from two schools I've been accepted to (and for me, no funding = no grad school). They've blocked access to home email accounts here at work, so I can't obsessively check it every 30 seconds. Instead, all I can do it sit here and stress about it, and then run back to my car at the end of the day to check email on my phone. I'm so unproductive at work right now, it's ridiculous. So I actually like weekends right now. Even though I know I probably won't get those emails on Saturday or Sunday, at least I can do my obsessive checks. Being stuck without email during the week is killing me.

I spoke to the office at Virginia Tech, who said that they should be finalizing everything and posting them on the status website this week. It looks like a couple people have already heard, too.

Still waiting on anything official from Virginia Tech. Accepted to Northeastern, but no word on funding yet. I'm leaving this afternoon for a visit, and I'll talk to professors and beg for money while I'm there. No word on the fellowship I applied for at Rutgers, either. So, no news, really. I'm getting very tired of waiting on funding decisions.

I'm having this problem too! A school that was not initially my top choice is rapidly moving into that position. It's ranked #3 in my field, has plenty of funding and a good research fit, and is in a town I would enjoy living in. Unfortunately, it's also where my BF will probably end up in a year or two, so my mother is convinced I want to go there so I can be closer to him. Like you said, it's a perk, but definitely not my deciding factor. But now, everything good I say about the school, she filters through a lens of "making excuses to go there to be closer to BF" and tries to convince me I should go somewhere else instead. It doesn't help that it's in a town she would hate living in, and she's projecting that onto me and telling me how miserable I'll be there. At this point, I'm just keeping quiet about the whole thing until I hear about funding. It's probably terrible of me, but I'm kind of hoping I don't get funding anywhere else so she can't complain about me going where I want.

Sorry, just a bit of a rant: After I submitted my applications, I resigned myself to waiting months for admissions decisions, and I was fine with that (ok, stressed as hell, but that's beside the point). I didn't expect to have to wait this long to hear about funding, though. I've heard all my admissions results, and not a word about funding from the three schools I was admitted to. One, I applied to a particular fellowship, and when I submitted the application I got a reply that said, "It may take awhile." No idea how long awhile is. One, I've been invited to a visit in a week, and the invitation said, "You may hear about funding soon. if you don't, the visit is a great time to come meet the faculty and beg them for money." (It used different words, but that's what it meant.) The third, I haven't even gotten an official acceptance yet, but I was invited to a recruitment weekend almost a month ago, which I was told was an unofficial acceptance. While I was there, they said that they have plenty of funding, no one goes unfunded, it's not a problem. Well, that's great, but I'd love to hear something official. Is it typical to have to wait weeks or even months after an acceptance to hear about funding? I mean, acceptances are great, but I just can't afford to go without full funding, so I still can't make any real decisions. And the waiting game goes on and on and on ...

- "You should go to the school in Boston, because there are more schools and companies around to collaborate with." - "Well, so much collaboration is done over the internet now, and you really don't need to be there in person. Besides, the other school is much more highly ranked in my field ..." - "I'm not visiting you in Blacksburg, so go to Boston." And the truth comes out.

Has anyone heard from Virginia Tech at all? I was invited to the Recruitment Weekend last month, which I was told was an unofficial acceptance, but I'd love to hear something official and I'd really love to hear about funding.

I wonder how many people they accept every year and how many applications they get.

I'm glad to know I'm not the only one with parental pressure here. I kept getting, "Why would you want to go to School A if you get into School B? Ask anyone on the street about School B, and they know it's really good!" Well, Mom, because School A has the #3 ranked program in my field, a couple professors with very close matches to my intended research, and a close-knit, happy group of students. Yes, the average person on the street won't know that much about it, but it has a lot of name recognition in my specific program, being so highly ranked. School B has a wonderful program with a lot of name recognition, granted, but the research fit isn't as good and the students in the program seem less tight (not to mention the funding is harder to get). The truth is, Mom wants me to go to School B because it's in the city where she grew up and she would enjoy visiting me there. School A is in a small town in an area she doesn't really want to visit. And she just doesn't understand that overall name recognition of the school to an average person is less important than name recognition in my field. She's also afraid that I'm only interested in School A because chances are pretty good that my boyfriend will end up there in a year or two. Because, of course, I base all my major life decisions on what my boyfriend could be doing in two years. Anyway, I showed her - I got rejected from School B! I couldn't go even if I wanted to! Of course, now she thinks I'm settling for School A and has suggested I wait and reapply next year. I'm probably going to a top 5 program with full funding! In what way is that settling? I've decided to just stop talking to her about it until I get all the final results in. Save the argument for another day.

When I first mentioned applying for PhD programs, my boss and coworker insisted on explaining to me, over and over, that my company will pay for me to get a PhD part-time while working here full-time. Why would I want to take a huge pay cut and go back to school full-time? I said that I want to go into academia, which means I need teaching and research experience, which I would get during grad school through assistantships, which I can't get if I'm a part-time student. Also, many programs don't take part-time students, and I have no interest in working on my PhD in the evenings for 8-10 years. I like to leave at least a little bit of time free in the evenings to preserve the illusion that I have a social life. Then they said, "But doesn't [not-very-good local school] have a program you want? I'm sure they'd let you go part-time! You could keep working here! Do your dissertation on one of your work projects!" I had to bite my tongue to keep from saying, "You don't understand. I want to go back to school to get away from this job. Being stuck here for 8-10 years while working on a PhD part-time in the evenings would be hell. It's entirely possible I'm going to lose it and hurl my computer out the window like a discus before this fall, and that's only another six months!" Then they said, "Well, I'm sure you'll get in everywhere," to which I did NOT reply (showing much restraint), "Even if I don't get in anywhere, I'm still getting the hell out of here!" To clarify: I have other, much more noble reasons why I applied to grad school. The fact that my job sucks was just an added motivator.

Just got my rejection this afternoon. it looks like a lot of rejections have gone out today.

According to the results search, one person has, but I haven't heard anything personally. I hope to hear sometime this week.

At least one of them. Just two hours until I can leave work and check my mail. This is killing me!

Looking at the results from last year, I expect MIT sometime this week. I'll be frantically checking the results board and this forum at work, since they've blocked outside email here and I can't check that. Stupid IT people. Don't they realize I'm freaking out?

It's probably too soon for anyplace to know about open apartments, etc. for the fall. As far as I know, most require 60 days notice before you move out, so they may not know about vacancies until May or June. It's never too early to start looking for a place, though! If you get your name on their list now, they can contact you when something becomes available. What are your criteria? I was very picky when it came to choosing an apartment, and I was pretty happy with where I ended up.

nugget3 and sooshaloosh, I'm not there anymore, but I did a masters program at NCSU in 2008-2010, so I may be able to help you out with apartment stuff. A lot of students live along Avent Ferry Rd just south of campus. North of campus is more of a business section, and south is residential. In general, the closer to campus the complex is, the less expensive it is, but the closer ones also tend to be less well maintained and a lot louder, because they cater to undergrads. $500-600/month is pretty typical of a one-bedroom right near campus. Personally, I lived about 4 miles away, paid ~$750-800/month, and had a nice apartment where I didn't have to deal with the undergrad party noise (my complex was The Summit at Avent Ferry). They've put in bike lanes along some of Avent Ferry, so biking to campus shouldn't be too difficult from there. Personally, I drove because I don't like biking and a parking pass for campus is pretty cheap. The WolfLine services the apartments closest to campus, but it didn't go all the way out to mine. There's a Food Lion right there on Avent Ferry a couple miles from campus - not particularly upscale, but a perfectly adequate grocery store. For more shopping, Cary is only a few miles away and has all the big box stores, a pretty nice mall, a movie theater, and a lot of restaurants. I wouldn't recommend trying to bike to Cary, though, because the streets through there get very busy and a bit confusing. Also a couple miles off of Avent Ferry Rd is the big farmer's market run by the Department of Agriculture. It's open year-round 7 days a week, and it's huge. All the farmers in the area come and set up booths to sell their produce, and there's also butchers, dairies, bakeries, florists, wineries, and pretty much everything else you could want, though, obviously, the selection is seasonal. There are also restaurants there, and on weekends the crafts building opens up. It's one of the things I missed most about Raleigh when I moved away. Strawberry season down there is just to die for. Where I am now, "farmer's markets" are just produce stands that sell the same imported produce as the grocery stores. Anyway, I hope that helps. Please let me know if you have any other questions!

Hey everyone! I just found this forum yesterday, so I'm a little late to the party, but I hope you don't mind if I chime in. Here's my background: Applying for PhD programs Undergrad: Notre Dame, Mechanical Engineering with a minor in manufacturing Undergrad GPA: 3.4/4.0 Grad school: Masters in Integrated Manufacturing Systems Engineering from NCSU Grad GPA: 3.9/4.0 GRE: 167Q, 170V, 4.0AW Professional experience: 3 years as a modeling and simulation engineer for a large manufacturing company, 2 years engineering internship during masters LoR: 1 from masters program director, 1 from undergrad manufacturing professor, 1 from current boss No publications, no real research since undergrad because my program was a professional masters I've applied to: MIT ORC (still waiting) Northeastern (still waiting) Northwestern (rejected) Rutgers (accepted, waiting to hear about a particular fellowship) Virginia Tech (invited and went to Recruitment Weekend, so probably accepted, but I'm waiting on official word) Based on previous years, it looks like MIT ORC's decisions should go out next week or the week after, but I have no idea about Northeastern. I don't do waiting very well and I don't have access to my email here at work, so I'm just obsessively checking the results page here instead. Congratulations to everyone who's gotten acceptances and good luck to those who are still waiting!