EloiseGC

Ok, I'm here to pitch in my two cents.
 
I'm a born-and-raised Tallahasseean, and I went to undergrad at FSU. If you look at Tallahassee as a couple-of-bars-and-two-or-three-movie-theaters type of town, it sucks. But it's so much more than that! You just have to seek it out.
 
There are sinkholes to swim in (too deep for alligators and snakes, but fresh water! Score!), good bars with craft beer to drink at (Fermentation Lounge, Skyline Motor Lounge, Leon Pub [a smoking-friendly dive bar], and our speakeasy, Alchemy), and shenanigans to be had (movies at the dollar theater are nice, the comedy performances at the Mickey Faust Club House are a hoot, and the First Friday Gallery Hop is great). Tallahassee doesn't openly reveal itself to you, but when you actively look for it, there is a vibrant, locally-oriented culture there to experience and enjoy. 
 
A bit of advice: don't live near the campus if you don't have to. Have a car. Live in the Lafayette Park area, Indianhead, Myers Park area, near Lake Ella, or in Midtown. That's where most grad students reside (at least the ones worth knowing). Waterworks is another good bar- they have Science Salons every Thursday with a visiting lecturer and usually neat demos. The Hop Yard is a bar operated out of an old abandoned Coca-Cola factory from the 20's, and they play old movies on a projector on the side of the building. Visit the local museums, and if you go to the Knott House, ask them to show you their ghost photograph. Wakulla Springs is the best place to go on a hot Saturday. You might spot a manatee! Creature from the Black Lagoon was shot there, as were the old Tarzan movies. Lofty Pursuits has the best homemade ice cream in town. You can see all of Tallahassee from the viewing room at the top of the New Capitol, and you should tour the Old Capital museum sometime. The Tallahassee Museum is AMAZING, and you get to see a bunch of Florida wildlife. Mission San Luis is a DOG FRIENDLY MUSEUM! Black Dog is the best coffee shop in town, and it's on this fantastic little lake called Lake Ella that has an organic market every Wednesday afternoon. All Saints Cafe is the hipster Mecca, as is most of the Railroad Square/Gaines Street area. Crepe Vine is a local chain secretly owned by frat bros. I don't trust it. 
 
If you must go to the mall, go to the Governor's Square mall, not the Tallahassee Mall. The Tallahassee Mall is pretty empty and scary, though it has the only new bookstore in town, the better movie theater (besides the dollar theater), and the best and cheapest nail place. The Paperback Rack is the best used bookstore in town. 
 
Some of my favorite *local* restaurants:
 
Far East Cuisine (Vietnamese/Thai)
Tan's Asian (Chinese/Indonesian)
Ming Tree Cafe (THE BEST CHINESE FOOD I'VE EVER HAD OUTSIDE OF CHINA)
Kool Beanz Cafe- good for dates
Sage- good for dates
Mosaic- fancy restaurant with a surprisingly cheap and delicious lunch menu
Sweet Pea Cafe- nice little vegan cafe
Samrat- best Northern Indian cuisine
Mayuri- best Southern Indian cuisine
New Times Cafe- surprisingly delicious southern buffet. You wouldn't expect it, but it's really good. Go on Fridays or Saturdays for their fish fry.
Shell's Oyster Bar- tiny little oyster shack, weird hours, only takes cash, great food.
Bird's- dive bar with cheap oysters and an amazing burger and veggie burger. Get them with blackened seasoning. Trivia on Tuesdays, Comedy on Wednesdays, Karaoke on Thursdays.
Mockingbird Cafe- date restaurant/good brunch spot
Momos/Decent Pizza/Gaines Street Pizza- best pizza places in town.
 
Befriend locals or been-here-long-enough-to-be-locals. We know where the cool stuff is at.  

Here's a good guide to some nearby natural and historic spots. I wouldn't suggest doing as many in a single day as the guide suggests!
 
http://www.floridabigbendscenicbyway.org/explore/other.php
 
 
Here's a pretty good swimming guide. Check out the rest of the website, too- it's for one of our local food co-ops.
 
http://www.newleafmarket.coop/newsroom/newsletter/julaug-2008/how-make-splash-local-spots-take-dip

Only study what you absolutely love and are crazy about, because your passion is the only thing that will keep you going mid-dissertation. If you don't want to live, eat, breathe, drink, sleep that period of art, choose the one that you do.

The absurd over-analysis of a basic term that will never leave our study's vernacular is representative of the downfall of academia. If we are going to sit around and argue semantics, rather than contributing important research or aiding in conservation and protective efforts for the monuments we have in this world, then we deserve to be the butt of every joke directed towards us.
 
I loathe this sort of discourse when it has no obvious end goal. It's so unproductive. 

I'll be entering into my program in the fall for my PhD, and I also come from an Art History family. Dad, sister, and mother are PhDs or PhD candidates. 
 
Most places have an 18 hour credit requirement, even for MAs (and especially for those programs that actually fund their MA students). I would just take those few undergraduate classes as a special student (they'll still go on your transcript) at whatever university is closest and then apply the next application season. Take as many in a semester as you can handle, work, save money, get your application materials finalized. 

Ok, I'm here to pitch in my two cents.
 
I'm a born-and-raised Tallahasseean, and I went to undergrad at FSU. If you look at Tallahassee as a couple-of-bars-and-two-or-three-movie-theaters type of town, it sucks. But it's so much more than that! You just have to seek it out.
 
There are sinkholes to swim in (too deep for alligators and snakes, but fresh water! Score!), good bars with craft beer to drink at (Fermentation Lounge, Skyline Motor Lounge, Leon Pub [a smoking-friendly dive bar], and our speakeasy, Alchemy), and shenanigans to be had (movies at the dollar theater are nice, the comedy performances at the Mickey Faust Club House are a hoot, and the First Friday Gallery Hop is great). Tallahassee doesn't openly reveal itself to you, but when you actively look for it, there is a vibrant, locally-oriented culture there to experience and enjoy. 
 
A bit of advice: don't live near the campus if you don't have to. Have a car. Live in the Lafayette Park area, Indianhead, Myers Park area, near Lake Ella, or in Midtown. That's where most grad students reside (at least the ones worth knowing). Waterworks is another good bar- they have Science Salons every Thursday with a visiting lecturer and usually neat demos. The Hop Yard is a bar operated out of an old abandoned Coca-Cola factory from the 20's, and they play old movies on a projector on the side of the building. Visit the local museums, and if you go to the Knott House, ask them to show you their ghost photograph. Wakulla Springs is the best place to go on a hot Saturday. You might spot a manatee! Creature from the Black Lagoon was shot there, as were the old Tarzan movies. Lofty Pursuits has the best homemade ice cream in town. You can see all of Tallahassee from the viewing room at the top of the New Capitol, and you should tour the Old Capital museum sometime. The Tallahassee Museum is AMAZING, and you get to see a bunch of Florida wildlife. Mission San Luis is a DOG FRIENDLY MUSEUM! Black Dog is the best coffee shop in town, and it's on this fantastic little lake called Lake Ella that has an organic market every Wednesday afternoon. All Saints Cafe is the hipster Mecca, as is most of the Railroad Square/Gaines Street area. Crepe Vine is a local chain secretly owned by frat bros. I don't trust it. 
 
If you must go to the mall, go to the Governor's Square mall, not the Tallahassee Mall. The Tallahassee Mall is pretty empty and scary, though it has the only new bookstore in town, the better movie theater (besides the dollar theater), and the best and cheapest nail place. The Paperback Rack is the best used bookstore in town. 
 
Some of my favorite *local* restaurants:
 
Far East Cuisine (Vietnamese/Thai)
Tan's Asian (Chinese/Indonesian)
Ming Tree Cafe (THE BEST CHINESE FOOD I'VE EVER HAD OUTSIDE OF CHINA)
Kool Beanz Cafe- good for dates
Sage- good for dates
Mosaic- fancy restaurant with a surprisingly cheap and delicious lunch menu
Sweet Pea Cafe- nice little vegan cafe
Samrat- best Northern Indian cuisine
Mayuri- best Southern Indian cuisine
New Times Cafe- surprisingly delicious southern buffet. You wouldn't expect it, but it's really good. Go on Fridays or Saturdays for their fish fry.
Shell's Oyster Bar- tiny little oyster shack, weird hours, only takes cash, great food.
Bird's- dive bar with cheap oysters and an amazing burger and veggie burger. Get them with blackened seasoning. Trivia on Tuesdays, Comedy on Wednesdays, Karaoke on Thursdays.
Mockingbird Cafe- date restaurant/good brunch spot
Momos/Decent Pizza/Gaines Street Pizza- best pizza places in town.
 
Befriend locals or been-here-long-enough-to-be-locals. We know where the cool stuff is at.  

Ok, I'm here to pitch in my two cents.
 
I'm a born-and-raised Tallahasseean, and I went to undergrad at FSU. If you look at Tallahassee as a couple-of-bars-and-two-or-three-movie-theaters type of town, it sucks. But it's so much more than that! You just have to seek it out.
 
There are sinkholes to swim in (too deep for alligators and snakes, but fresh water! Score!), good bars with craft beer to drink at (Fermentation Lounge, Skyline Motor Lounge, Leon Pub [a smoking-friendly dive bar], and our speakeasy, Alchemy), and shenanigans to be had (movies at the dollar theater are nice, the comedy performances at the Mickey Faust Club House are a hoot, and the First Friday Gallery Hop is great). Tallahassee doesn't openly reveal itself to you, but when you actively look for it, there is a vibrant, locally-oriented culture there to experience and enjoy. 
 
A bit of advice: don't live near the campus if you don't have to. Have a car. Live in the Lafayette Park area, Indianhead, Myers Park area, near Lake Ella, or in Midtown. That's where most grad students reside (at least the ones worth knowing). Waterworks is another good bar- they have Science Salons every Thursday with a visiting lecturer and usually neat demos. The Hop Yard is a bar operated out of an old abandoned Coca-Cola factory from the 20's, and they play old movies on a projector on the side of the building. Visit the local museums, and if you go to the Knott House, ask them to show you their ghost photograph. Wakulla Springs is the best place to go on a hot Saturday. You might spot a manatee! Creature from the Black Lagoon was shot there, as were the old Tarzan movies. Lofty Pursuits has the best homemade ice cream in town. You can see all of Tallahassee from the viewing room at the top of the New Capitol, and you should tour the Old Capital museum sometime. The Tallahassee Museum is AMAZING, and you get to see a bunch of Florida wildlife. Mission San Luis is a DOG FRIENDLY MUSEUM! Black Dog is the best coffee shop in town, and it's on this fantastic little lake called Lake Ella that has an organic market every Wednesday afternoon. All Saints Cafe is the hipster Mecca, as is most of the Railroad Square/Gaines Street area. Crepe Vine is a local chain secretly owned by frat bros. I don't trust it. 
 
If you must go to the mall, go to the Governor's Square mall, not the Tallahassee Mall. The Tallahassee Mall is pretty empty and scary, though it has the only new bookstore in town, the better movie theater (besides the dollar theater), and the best and cheapest nail place. The Paperback Rack is the best used bookstore in town. 
 
Some of my favorite *local* restaurants:
 
Far East Cuisine (Vietnamese/Thai)
Tan's Asian (Chinese/Indonesian)
Ming Tree Cafe (THE BEST CHINESE FOOD I'VE EVER HAD OUTSIDE OF CHINA)
Kool Beanz Cafe- good for dates
Sage- good for dates
Mosaic- fancy restaurant with a surprisingly cheap and delicious lunch menu
Sweet Pea Cafe- nice little vegan cafe
Samrat- best Northern Indian cuisine
Mayuri- best Southern Indian cuisine
New Times Cafe- surprisingly delicious southern buffet. You wouldn't expect it, but it's really good. Go on Fridays or Saturdays for their fish fry.
Shell's Oyster Bar- tiny little oyster shack, weird hours, only takes cash, great food.
Bird's- dive bar with cheap oysters and an amazing burger and veggie burger. Get them with blackened seasoning. Trivia on Tuesdays, Comedy on Wednesdays, Karaoke on Thursdays.
Mockingbird Cafe- date restaurant/good brunch spot
Momos/Decent Pizza/Gaines Street Pizza- best pizza places in town.
 
Befriend locals or been-here-long-enough-to-be-locals. We know where the cool stuff is at.  

I actually disagree. If you've received multiple acceptances and you KNOW for certain that you won't be accepting the offer at one of them, decline as soon as possible. It's courteous to the department, and it makes room for other students who are still waiting on admissions decisions. 

What do you do after you've been accepted?
 
Drink, take a nap, and don't check your email for a week!
 
They'll tell you everything you need to do. Maybe pop an email back thanking the department for your acceptance, and ask them what the funding situation is (if they haven't already told you). Also let them know if you accept or need more time to decide.
 
All in all, just relax! You'll know what to do when the time comes. It'll be pretty straight-forward. 

That's what I was thinking. I'd hate to hold on to a spot that someone would love to have.

I would hope most people would do the same since it could be one of us on the wait list after all. We all know how much it sucks to wait, right? ; )
 
I must confess, however, that I feel sort of strange about the whole declining offers thing, since, in all honesty, I'd probably give an arm and a leg to get into many of these programs. Yet now that I got in, I will be turning them down. But as one of our gradcafe friends has wisely put it, I should go where the money is--and that's what I will need to do after all. The good news, though, is that I only applied to programs which I would absolutely LOVE to be a part of.

I actually disagree. If you've received multiple acceptances and you KNOW for certain that you won't be accepting the offer at one of them, decline as soon as possible. It's courteous to the department, and it makes room for other students who are still waiting on admissions decisions. 

I actually disagree. If you've received multiple acceptances and you KNOW for certain that you won't be accepting the offer at one of them, decline as soon as possible. It's courteous to the department, and it makes room for other students who are still waiting on admissions decisions. 

The majority of the last 5-10 pages of this thread have been sarcasm so you don't need to go all Gloria Steinem on us. 
 
Regarding the drinks thing. I'm a guy who's never bought a girl a drink at a bar unless we went to the bar together. But I have seen girls get harassed at bars so I do sympathize. One thing I would say though is, a girl should have enough common sense to refuse a drink if she doesn't want to further be bothered by this guy. Accepting a drink doesn't mean you owe him the right to take you home, but you probably should at least give him the right to converse. You don't just say, "Sure, I'll take a drink," and then walk to the other side of the bar (unless you're an alcoholic on a budget). So I don't have much sympathy for girls who accept drinks and don't want to be bothered at all. I do, however, for girls who respectfully decline a drink and still get harassed. There's no excuse for that. I would say the likelihood of you getting harassed if you respectfully decline a drink is probably much less than if you accept or disrespectfully decline. 

A lot of women I know actually find it uncomfortable when men buy them drinks because it puts pressure on them. Can't tell you how many times we have to go in and "rescue" a friend from some guy at a bar who's angry because he bought her a drink or who has the wrong idea because he bought her a drink. Or if she refused the drink altogether and he won't leave her alone.

also funny to see men think women have privilege because men buy them drinks/food. Sorry for centuries of oppression and not paying you equal wages and having an entire society built that objectifies you! But none of that is really that bad compared to HAVING TO BUY DRINKS OR DINNER (a tradition that formed because women weren't allowed to have wealth back in the day, so of course the guy had to pay).

Uh, there are way more important things than free drinks... Just saying. Although I really should stop following this thread.

Not all attractive women get free rides.. I think the same can be said for attractive guys too.

Pretty sure attractive guys have to buy their own drinks, last time I checked. 

http://youtu.be/sztf4hcGrB4

Just my love for you, daahhhhhling.
 

Asshole.

Just my love for you, daahhhhhling.
 

Oh Loric, why didn't you quit gradcafe like you promised? We were all really excited for a while to not have to deal with your trolling.
 
You ruined Christmas. 

Oh Loric, why didn't you quit gradcafe like you promised? We were all really excited for a while to not have to deal with your trolling.
 
You ruined Christmas. 

Also, my signature is a pun, so that's TWO bad puns. Don't sell me short, man.