peternewman89

I don't bike in Somerville but they are all over the place, much to my annoyance in many cases as they run red lights and dart through pedestrians crossing the streets with a walk signal. There are some accidents, yes, but for the volume of bikers I'd say really it's a lower number than you'd think. Cambridge has a few major streets that are high volume bike routes that would funnel you down to MIT. Also, most of the horror stories you hear about bikers in Boston are in Allston or Brighton, primarily involving undergrads who've never biked before and decide rush hour on a busy street is the best time to learn.

I've got no problem with either one, and am going to be buying a Windows Tablet to go alongside my MacBook Pro 13, but there are a number of things I prefer about a Mac. It's mostly an aesthetics and ease of use thing. Also, I'm a bit surprised nobody in this thread has mentioned anything about Windows tablets such as the Surface Pro or the Thinkpad Helix. I'm deciding between those 2 devices because I'm looking for something with stylus support for notetaking and annotating but also something lightweight and portable to take from one place to another. Either can work for writing in a pinch, though the heavy writing will be reserved for either the MacBook or for an external keyboard.

Maybe it's just that I had blind luck, or maybe it has to do with my subfield (political theory), but I'll be starting in the fall without anything even close to resembling a research question or whatnot, and was told that essentially I shouldn't have anything too specific either. The most specific I got was that I was hoping to study the History of Political thought in the Enlightenment and post-Enlightenment eras. My personal statement explained my past work and what I thought the role of political theory was, what it meant to me and why I want to dedicate my life to its study. Truthfully, I spoke pretty broadly about the schools I was applying to and really only had about 2 sentences that I changed for each school to say who I wanted to work with and show that I knew what they studied and everything. Maybe that was a mistake and that's why I was only accepted into 1 of the PhD programs I applied to, but I'm very happy with where I've ended up and am excited and satisfied with how this whole process went.

I just got an email today informing me that my school will be giving me a nice little stipend to help with moving costs, completely out of the blue and unexpected but a very nice surprise.

What school would you be going to, and how far is the room from Belmont St or Mt Auburn (the bus routes). You'd be dependent on buses a good part of the year, which I personally try to avoid but can be made to work, especially if you're going to Harvard. I've only spent a little time there, but it's close enough to Harvard that for the most part that will be where you are able to be out and about. There was also a decent bit of activity on Mt Auburn in the areas that I was looking at, with a number of shops/restaurants and grocery stores as well. I'd always advise being closer to the T though unless you have a car, but you can make it work as long as you're close to the bus.

Another good one to use is Padmapper.com, basically puts craigslist listing as well as a few others onto Google maps. I've also gotten in touch with a number of apartment complexes and their renting agents using rent.com, apartmentguide.com, and a few similar sites along those lines, as well as just googling property names and using their websites. I'll likely be looking for an apartment or condo/townhouse of some sort rather than a freestanding house so figured it's probably easier, especially when looking remotely, to go through a larger organization.

I'll be moving down with my girlfriend at some point between 7/15 and 8/1, depending on when we can get a lease and find subletters for the last month of our lease in Boston. We're planning a trip down at some point in late May to see apartments and pick somewhere out. Still trying to decide where we'll want to be and figure out how 2 people working different hours can work with one car. Have you heard anything about any housing off Charlotte Pike? There's a lot that we're seeing on craigslist in that area and it's pretty cheap and doesn't seem awful, but we don't want to make any mistakes with something this big.

I had been (unofficially?) waitlisted at UVA, they told me I was relatively low on their Theory list, at that point I accepted a better offer that I had in hand. Maybe a week ago I woke up to an email to check the message center saying I'd been rejected. Have you checked the online messaging center as well?

I asked my department and they said I'll get my first deposit on 8/31. I plan to move in between 7/15 and 8/1. I'm working now so I'm able to save up a little to carry me over through that time. I'll also be opening a new credit card that will have no interest for 12 or 18 months depending on which one I choose to go with, so expenses can just go on there to be paid off at a later point.

I've got Windows on the Mac as well for any issues of that sort, and my school furnishes a free copy of Parallels and a copy of Windows to virtualize if need be, so that's not an issue.

What sort of computer do you guys have and use? I'm looking to pick up a new system at some point in the next few months before I start my program. I have a 3 year old Macbook Pro that would be my workhorse, but I've also put it through quite a bit of use and abuse over the years and, if I can, I'd rather keep that guy at home for the most part, doing heavy writing and work on it but I'd like a convertible tablet to carry with me on a day-to-day basis. I've been looking at the new Windows tablets floating around and trying to figure out what level of power I need for the work I'll be doing, as I've never done any real statistical work in the past (as a theorist). Would a machine with an Atom processor and 2 gigs of Ram be able to run Stata and R and do statistical work? Or should I step up to an i5 level processor to avoid wanting to tear my hair out? If feasible I'd prefer the lower-power machine as it would be easier to carry around and have longer battery life, but I'm not going to sweat a difference of a few hundred dollars if it makes a big difference in my actual use.

As MarketMan said, it really depends on endowment and public vs private. I'll be going to a private university that has a sizable endowment and is giving funding to the department. I didn't have any other offers and their stipend is among the top offered anyway, but I heard from other prospectives that they had the authority to match offers to get top students. So it's really an issue of what schools you're dealing with.

I'm starting in the fall and my girlfriend of 2.5 years will be moving down with me. The issue is that she's also applying to medical school this summer and will be interviewing this fall. She's applying to a couple of schools in Nashville, where I'll be, but also all over the country, so it's a total crapshoot, and we have no idea what will come in 2014. Hopefully she'll get into Vandy and we'll be able to go to school together, but otherwise we're looking at 2-4 years apart, which would be terrible, but I think we'd get through it.

With your loans, it depends what sort you have. All of my loans are Stafford, half subsidized and half not. I consolidated them about a year ago to make repayment simpler. I will be starting grad school in the fall, so I called my loan account and they explained that I can defer my loans while enrolled as a full-time student. The subsidized loans would stop accruing interest, while the unsubsidized would keep accruing interest but would not have any required payments. Additionally, and most importantly you can also make payments on the interest that's building up, or apply what you'd like to the principal, without impacting the deferment. Not sure how private loans would work if you have those, but I doubt they'd be as forgiving.

Thanks. I wrote in the Doubt thread about a little spiel about needing to have 'the fire and the guts,' for the experience and the study alone to be enough, and it really is for me. As to placement later on, so much is who you know and who they know, and the good thing for me is that both my undergrad advisor, who I'll stay close with, and my likely grad advisor are both Harvard PhD's who studied under Judy Shklar, so I'm tapped into that legacy. I know that I can write and think that I've got some original ideas and links between works that I'll be able to get published in journals and possibly even up to book form. If I'm well-published and meet the right people, I'm fairly confident that something will come along, and if not, then I'll have some backup work planned (though the girl I'm gonna marry will be a doctor, so finances won't be too huge a concern). Right now it's all the ride though.

It's not a top theory program, but there are a handful of good, decently known people. And yes, the market is horrible.

When I was getting ready to apply this past fall, I had coffee with my undergrad advisor (I was living the in the same area where I'd gone to undergrad after 2 years working). He gave me what he called 'the fire and the guts' speech. To sum it up, for me to pursue this and devote the next 5 years of my life to a PhD, I needed to live and breathe political theory. It had to be enough to keep me warm at night on its own. The market is horrible and there are no guarantees, but that shouldn't even factor into my thinking. My work is part of a greater aim, yes, but on its own it is also something that will satisfy me if nothing ever comes of it. That's the case for me, and I'll have no problem wherever I end up. I want to do what I love doing, and that'll satisfy me.

I'll be starting a PhD program in the fall at a fairly well-regarded and rising program in the US. The majority of the emphasis in the program is in the American subfield (more than half of the prospective students were in American) and they'll likely have an emphasis on IR in the next few years as that wing rebuilds. I'm a political theorist with an emphasis on the history of political thought. There will be one, maybe 2 other theorists in the program with me, so I won't be alone in my subfield, and there's one guy who will be in his 4th year when I start. No other grad students will be working in the history of political thought specifically. Political theory is very different from most of the rest of political science, functioning more akin to a Humanities discipline than a traditional social science. I'll be taking statistical courses and methodology training along with my cohort and will put that training to use in coursework for my 2nd field (likely American), but realistically when I'm writing my original work there won't be any place where statistics or any quantitative component fit in. I'm worried as I get closer to moving and starting grad school that I'll stick out within my department, be the outsider, doing something completely different from anyone else and viewed in that way. Is that what theorists are like in your programs?

I'm relocating from Boston to Nashville and am trying to apartment hunt in a very different rental market from 1000 miles away. Not the easiest thing in the world. There's also nothing available at this time in late July/early August, which is when I'm looking to move. I'm planning a trip down but am trying to figure out when there will be a lot of apartments available. It's frustrating. I'm also trying to decide how close to campus to be, as it's cheaper to be further away but my girlfriend and I will only have one car and neither of us wants to be trapped anywhere.

It is? I've been considering it but have had concerns about the battery life and the size of the device; any thoughts? At this point I'm torn between the Surface Pro or a higher end Samsung and the mid-level dockable tablets like the HP Envy, which have their advantages but don't pack the same power.

I've been going through reviews and pricing out as well and am not sure exactly where I want to go just yet. I'm aiming for something that will let me just keep my laptop at home if at all possible. I have a rooted, flashed kindle fire 7 inch tablet that is at this point a small android tablet, but what frustrates me is the restrictive nature of the mobile operating system. It's good for what it is but I'm hoping for something more powerful and full-featured. I'm not a big iPad fan and definitely won't be going in that direction, but might need to take another look at the high-end Android selections. I'll be putting off any purchase until the summer either way, so maybe everything will be better functioning by then (however unlikely that is). Thanks for the advice.

It depends quite a bit based on where you'll be living and what price are like there. You also have to take into account your cooking ability and willingness to stick to a budget and a schedule (so no going out 3 times in a week when you budgeted for one). I currently live in the Boston area, where costs are quite high. I'm working, not in school just yet, but salary is right around what my stipend will be. Currently I budget right around $300 a month for groceries and going out. I live with my girlfriend, who budgets about the same. When I was on my own, costs were a bit higher. I'm also a bit of a foodie though, with one meal a week of a more expensive nature (for cooking at home, so maybe $12 for that night). We also go out about twice a week, once on each of us. My budget in Nashville, where I'm moving, will be somewhat lower, more in the $250 range I think, though that will be adjusted as I go through the first few months and buy food. My main piece of advice, though, is to budget more than you think you'll need. It's much better to adjust downwards than upwards, and anything left over can be put to savings or paying off debt.

I'm starting in the fall and what I'm leaning towards is a Windows 8 tablet with a docking keyboard station. I'd be able to set up a keyboard at home and at my carrel or keep it with me, and could use the system as a laptop or tablet based on need. It'd also be nice to carry around something smaller than a full-on laptop. I also have a macbook pro already, only 3 years old and still perfectly good, so looking more for something more mobile and lightweight personally.

I'm starting in theory in the fall so different field, but for us there is no language requirement for anyone in the department (methods requirements instead). I had a long talk with my advisor during my visit and I'll be learning at least one, probably two languages in the next few years so that I can be a more complete theorist. For us though, language is definitely de-emphasized, for all fields. Though probably half of the comparitivists are native spanish-speakers, so they've got something down already.

I'll be heading to Vanderbilt in the fall, very excited to start. Was there last weekend and they basically rolled out the red carpet and have been accommodating every request I've made since as well. Great stipend for a cheap place to live, just need to find some time to head down and find an apartment in Nashville. Will be studying political theory. Small part of the department, as at most places, but a few good people.