Kitten

I would agree with everything fishasaurus said above. Additionally, you should categorize the criticisms. If tenants are talking about visible things like cabinets falling apart and low water pressure in the shower, you should know if this will be true or not of your own unit. Hopefully you tried out these things when you visited and won't be surprised when you move in. If the criticisms are mainly about management concerning things like cheating you out of a deposit, you should be more weary to sign a contract with such people. Everything can seem good until you need repairs and to move out. Yes, document everything and ask for a walk-through when you move in and move out. However, this is something you should ask the management if they can guarantee doing. Some places will refuse to do it even though it may be written in the contract you sign. Save all your correspondence! I'm in the situation of trying to sign a lease without first seeing the apartment (I live abroad now). I've relied on Yelp and apartmentratings.com heavily to make my decision. I also noticed the dates the reviews were written and if there is mention of recent upgrades and management changes. I think we both won't know until we move into our respective places, but sometimes there is no better option.

Having the pressure of paying back debt can be a real emotional burden. Debt may also limit your ability to pick up and move to the location with your dream job at the drop of a hat. However, there are great non-profits in the Bay Area and Berkeley is such a nice place to live. It comes at a high cost though. Have you calculated living expenses realistically? I faced a similar situation while considering several schools and I chose the debt-free route. I want to graduate feeling like the world is open to me and I am unburdened to make my next move. This will also speed up the process of finding a place to settle down and buying a house.

Hi MPPgal, I think it might be easier to go through a service than look by yourself if you have strict preferences. I worked with Paul Greenamyer at Smart Austin Locating [paul(at)smartcitylocating.com]. I just got confirmed for an apt pre-lease. The place I got doesn't meet your requirement so I can't pass on the info to you. Good luck!

I confirmed my intention to enroll at LBJ this fall. Has anyone else confirmed recently? Join the facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/groups/593380364015310/

That's amazing, AUSAJAG. Congratulations!

I didn't get an email either and my decision is also up on MYFAID. I'm glad I saw your post. Now I don't have to keep waiting!

Here is an email from LBJ about the statistics requirement for the MGPS program: As for your questions about your “statistics” preparation for our curriculum. Here’s a few suggestions for some online courses you might consider: http://www.statistics.com/intro-stats-for-credit/#register (Statistics.Com) http://extension.berkeley.edu/catalog/course26.html (UC-Berkeley) http://courses.webhost.utexas.edu/dec/college/coursedetails.cfm?CourseID=539 (Stats for Psychology via UT-Extension) http://www.universalclass.com/i/course/learn-statistics-101.htm?gclid=CP_j2N7akLYCFY6PPAodlVMAbQ (Universalclass.com) http://www.phoenix.edu/courses/qnt351.html (U. Phoenix online Business Stats) Any of these online courses provide the necessary material to get you ready to start our first quantitative course in the MGPS program. I would ask that when you satisfactorily complete the selected course, you provide us (Prabhu) with a certificate of completion, grade report, or some other verification. If you are not in a position to register for a formal online course, you can study the stats on your own and then take my “validation” exam when you arrive here in August. The material (topics) you’d want to cover would include: 1. Basic Probability concepts. 2. Descriptive Statistics 3. Sampling and Estimation (e.g. Sample Sizes, Confidence Intervals, etc.) - 4. Intro to Inferential Statistics such as (hopefully at least one, and hopefully two, of the following): a. One-sample hypothesis tests (of means and/or proportions) b. Intro to Simple Linear Regression c. Intro to Design of Experiments and Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) (not req’d for MPAff or MGPS) If you elect to study on your own and take a shot at my validation exam, then some good resources to help you study on your own would be: - The Kahn Academy (http://www.khanacademy.org/) - http://onlinestatbook.com/ - http://davidmlane.com/hyperstat/ As Prabhu had indicated, you do not need to have any Calculus preparation for the MGPS program. -- I will take the risk and study on my own. There's also a statistics course with udacity that seems to be good and sufficient.

screw proctored exams I am doing the self study. Free and probably more entertaining as I watch reality tv while doing it. I'm gonna miss Korea, karaoke nights and all.

And I can't remember which organizations Dr. Weaver has connections with. They didn't appeal to me personally so I didn't place emphasis on that part of our talk. If you want to contact her: http://www.utexas.edu/lbj/directory/faculty/catherine-weaver

Have you guys seen the list of recent employers at this website? http://www.utexas.edu/lbj/careers/data

looking_to_sea, I am trying to get the stats requirement for the MGPS program at LBJ. Does anyone have experience or advice about taking an online stats class in a country outside of the U.S.? I will be in South Korea until August so I don't have the choice of taking a community college course or online course in the U.S. For Independent Study, I am supposed to take the final exam with an education officer at the embassy. The embassy in Seoul is 2 hours away and I don't know if they will allow me to reserve someone on a Saturday just to get my online credits done. HALPPP me, please.

I was sent an acceptance email on March 13th with the funding offer in the same email: "This award will be paid out at $5,000 per year over two academic years (Autumn-Spring) beginning Autumn Quarter 2013, and again in Autumn Quarter 2014. Please note that should you seek and accept a research, teaching, staff assistantship position, or any other employment at the University of Washington that provides a tuition waiver (including tuition exemption for employees) and stipend, that award will supersede this offer." I am currently located in South Korea, although not an international student. Perhaps that's why they decided to email instead of sending by post. Also, does UW generally not give large funding offers because its tuition is relatively inexpensive?

lacanadiense, That info is reflecting job placement within the first year after graduation. It may look different after that, but the school doesn't have that info now. The map on this page may give a better idea of where people end up in the long term: http://www.utexas.edu/lbj/alumnifriends From the map, it seems like many grads go to the East Coast. I asked the same question to the MGPS grad adviser a couple of weeks ago and she said that a lot of people are either 1. from Texas and want to return to their communities, 2. grow to like Texas and want to stay, 3. get picked up by the local network (get hired through UT alumni connections). It seems like she was trying to say that a lot of grads stay in Texas by circumstances, but also by choice. She herself has fed grads into international organizations. You can also ask LBJane about this. S/he is an alumnus and has commented on similar posts in the past.

Thanks and sure. Is it normal for someone to do this in a post or a private message? I'm not sure, but I don't feel the need to be secretive so I'll just do it this way. GPA (public, 4-year university): 3.91 GRE: 167 V, 164 Q, 5.5 AW Experience: Advocacy work in college, teaching English abroad for 3 years. SOP: I mentioned JFK's speech and how I disagree with a part of what he said based on what I've observed in my community (growing up) and abroad. But I left it on a positive note for what I want to do in the future. I focused on showing the reasons for my commitment to public service. I applied to grad school not assuming that any school is a 'safe school.' Thus you can see that I applied to a total of 20 schools. I did not want to delay school another year and my boyfriend also applied to 20 programs (in a different field) to increase our chance of ending up at the same school in the fall. It was SO very expensive to do this, but we feel like it has paid off so far. Now that I've gone through the application process, I realize that I'm less concerned with which school accepts me and more with how much funding I am offered. From those funding offers, I will choose the best fit. I got a great financial offer at another school and if Harvard doesn't come through with an equal amount (which it won't), I will humbly decline the offer. Don't give up hope if you think that this is THE program for you. Good luck to every one, no matter what your next step is!

It's not a bad idea! I teach English in Korea now. I was sent an acceptance email this morning for the MPP program. Just don't teach 6th graders!

And Austin is expecting a Trader Joe's in 2014. I am not ashamed to say that this has affected my decision.

Hello everyone! I'd like to add myself to this thread since the LBJ School is at the top of my prospective schools list. I was accepted to the MGPS program for fall 2013. My focus will most likely be in the areas of international governance, international law, human rights monitoring, human rights advocacy, and transnational non-profit work. Does anyone have similar interests or is planning to move to Austin with a partner (like I am planning to do)?