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biscuits

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Everything posted by biscuits

  1. Kendall doesn't really have a nearby grocery store, if that matters to you. You'd be trundling halfway to Central Square. There is a Whole Foods right next to Central (I know, stupidly expensive), and Porter has your typical grocery store. There is something called a "Market Basket" nearish to Porter, but it is full of feral grad students and soccer moms fighting over ridiculously cheap chicken breasts. I fear it, but hear it is relatively safe around midnight,
  2. I wouldn't obsess over the size of the hard drive unless you are planning to carry around obscenely large data sets or video libraries on a daily basis. External hard drives are quite cheap and are an easy way to add storage.
  3. Possibly, but unless they have some internal goal of offering everyone a minimum amount of funding, I don't think it would seriously affect their funding awards.
  4. I think that's totally fine, particularly if you really value her input when making these types of big decisions.
  5. Congrats on your acceptance! I am not a Texas native, but I have talked to lots of people about Austin (also considering an offer), and I'm originally from the South. There are some vague cultural similarities. Location: Probably much hotter and possibly more humid than you have ever really experienced. Austin is not a desert, so there will be grass and trees. But yeah, it's hot. I've found that a lot of folks in the north east think nothing of walking a half mile or even a mile to go the grocery store, etc. This will be much more painful when it is 95 degrees out on a semi-regular basis. On the plus side, the winters are much milder, and spring actually happens at a decent time of year. Culture: Austin has a reputation for being a liberal bubble within Texas, and I think that's largely the case, but it's still not the same environment as San Francisco, etc. There is also the rest of Texas to contend with. However, as long as you aren't insisting on striking up intense political discussions with total strangers, I don't see this as a huge problem. There are also a few big cultural differences - I think for "Yankees", the biggest ones will be religion and guns. Both are a very vibrant part of everyday life for many people down around here. People will have guns, and will enjoy shooting them at things - things being targets and/or deer, not people - but this does not mean they are crazed with violence. It's just a hobby/sport to them. I know many people - primarily those from regions where personal gun ownership is almost non-existent - who have had a very hard time coming to grips with the prevalence of guns in regions where gun ownership is the norm. I would advise anyone to make an attempt to understand the regional culture before instigating bar-room brawls over gun control. You don't have to agree with it, but you should make some attempt to understand where other people are coming from. Religion! Lots of people attend some sort of church, and are happy to have you join them, but are also happy for you to do your own thing. Some people, however, will try to actively convert you. Be wary of dinner invites that turn into prayer-meetings (this has happened to more than one friend), but keep in mind that generally people are very nice if you indicate that you have different beliefs. Be aware that if someone indicates that they will "pray for you" after a heated debate, this is generally a passive aggressive insult. Also, anything along the lines of "bless his heart, he just doesn't {X}" is also typically an insult. As with anywhere, don't put up with people being hateful little turds. People: I've found that people in the lower half of the country are much nicer to strangers than people in the northern half. People may start conversations with you in the grocery store. They genuinely want to know how you are doing and are happy to help you if you are lost. In Boston, at least, folks just stare at you suspiciously and then try to run you over as they speed desperately towards the nearest Dunkin Donuts. This concludes my rambling.
  6. To be honest, I think it would be a bit odd. I'm all for the spouse coming down with you and checking out the school, the city, possible neighborhoods to live in, etc. But I think it's a little weird for the spouse to attend the actual admitted student panels and events. What questions are they going to ask? Is the spouse going to introduce themselves as "Spouse of Admitted Student"? Are they going to be eating food/picking up swag that the school has budgeted for admitted students? (The last point is not terribly important. I think these schools can swing an extra sandwich.) I'm getting a faint whiff of helicopter parent (spouse?), though I'm sure that's not the case for your situation. I just am confused about how the spouse's presence for the admitted student information sessions (as opposed to, say, the admitted student dinner or other social events) is going to help you make your decision. My future-spouse and I are weighing the pros and cons of each school together, even though we are applying to different sorts of programs. Our final decision will be a mutual one. But future-spouse can't really tell me whether or not I'd like the intricacies of one MPP program over another - he's not me, he won't be taking the courses, and frankly his academic-brain works very differently from my own. It's up to me to make a program-based decision (yea/nay/possibly) - naturally, he'll make similar decisions on his own programs - and we'll make the overall decision by factoring in our personal program preferences, money, location details, etc.
  7. Also received my funding amount today - and also quite low! That knocks Michigan out of the picture for me. To be honest, I was dreading another frozen winter . Congrats to everyone who got in!
  8. Sherpa and I are in the same boat. No word in inbox or spam.
  9. If we want to get super ritzy, get an inflatable mattress. Most grad students will either lack a spare bedroom or will have cannibalized it into an office. Your visiting friends will thank you. Invest in one with an electric pump, if possible. Alternatively, get one of those sleeping pads that people use for camping. All of these options take up less space than a spare bed and/or futon.
  10. Still haven't heard anything on my end. Twiddle, twiddle.
  11. Yeah, I'm not terribly hopeful - although it doesn't look like they're using an automated system. Then again, they may be desperately scrabbling around in order to factor the additional "waitlist" acceptances into their funding calculus. (As they should.)
  12. As a counterpoint to Revolution, may I offer an excerpt from a recent post by the SSIR: "Myth #5: The talent won’t work without the big prizes. It’s just not true. In the nonprofit sector, the mission-focused ethos has drawn many top executives to work for $84,000. Let’s consider cancer researchers again. They face a salary cap of $179,700 placed by the National Institutes for Health. Pallotta would argue that the best talent would therefore not be drawn to study cancer. However, talented cancer researchers who love their work have made much progress (while puzzled economists have concluded that“scientists pay to do science” when they forego higher pay in the biotech sector). The breast cancer mortality rate has dropped substantially from 100 percent sixty years ago to 23 percent today, a success that did not hinge on big salaries for talent. In fact, much of this success hinged on funding from the sector that Pallotta did not even mention—the public sector." Full post: http://www.ssireview.org/blog/entry/persistent_poverty_in_a_smug_meritocracy
  13. Here's hoping that Michigan meets their self-imposed funding notification deadline today!
  14. biscuits

    Laptop!

    For ThinkPads, at least, it also appears to be very easy to switch out the hard drive for a third-party SSD. This will save a bundle when you are ordering your new precious. $600 to IBM, or $200 to a reputable third party manufacturer? Easy choice. Plus, you can get a drive that is considerably larger than the ThinkPad's standard SSD model.
  15. There was a very helpful older thread on these forums which I am now unable to find, but essentially the poster reminded us that cognitive biases come into play as we make these decisions. OK, yes, obviously. More specifically, the negative aspects of a decision loom larger as that decision becomes closer. (Three cheers for loss aversion!) Certainly we should weigh all the relevant pros and cons of a decision, but keep in mind that your mind may be panicking as the temporal proximity of grad school's opportunity costs increases.
  16. The dog will likely make things much more difficult for you. Try looking for a house/roommates out in Somerville or Medford. Landlords who own a single house or small building will be more flexible than a large management company. That being said, you'll have a hard time finding a place that will take a dog over 50 pounds (15 to 25 pounds tends to be the maximum range). Ideally, the dog will have references from previous landlords. The nasty thing about the Boston area is that broker fees are quite common. The fee generally works out to a month or so of rent, which means you can often be paying first, last, security deposit, and broker's fee upfront. To get around the broker's fee, you'll need to contact landlords directly - again, smaller landlords are your bets bet. Ask current students to see if they can provide you with the numbers of some landlords, or if they know of good apartments that are opening up.
  17. At least he's excited about the fact that the women are super-smart and accomplished?
  18. I spent a summer re-teaching myself high school math in order to improve my score on the GRE. ....I hate geometry. The GRE is also designed to trick you rather than to test your mathematical knowledge, so don't assume that math skills alone will get you to the finish line.
  19. According to my economist fiancé, STATA is better for programming and big panel data sets. SPSS is much more of a push-button interface and thus harder to tweak - it's less flexible. Although, apparently IBM recently bought SPSS, which means there might be some changes coming down the pike. SAS is very expensive compared to the other programs, which means it may be hard to experiment with it until you're in a situation in which it is needed for work.
  20. This thread has apparently turned into the gradcafe version of a walk-off. It's been so long since I saw Zoolander...I should rectify that this weekend.
  21. You may want to check out the tuition rates here: http://www.ro.umich.edu/tuition/tuition-fees.php You'll have to scroll down to get to the Public Policy (graduate) section. Don't forget to tack on several thousand more for rent, food, etc. Right now it looks to be approximately $40,000/year plus living expenses. I hope Michigan releases funding information soon - personally, I'm reluctant to book travel arrangements without knowing if the program will be affordable in comparison to other offers.
  22. I can't answer that question directly because I've been applying/evaluating through a domestic lens. However, you could try checking the list of recent employers for both schools, or emailing career services directly to enquire about alumni in the international arena. Obviously the career services staff will be interested in recruiting you - and thus be enthusiastic about their school - but employment statistics should give you a relatively objective point of comparison.
  23. Hmm. Heller is known primarily for its work in social policy. Heller's primary reputation comes from its work in poverty alleviation and income/asset inequality. They are also busily increasing their focus on health policy. LBJ has a more well-known international focus. However, I think employers might ask why you chose the MPAff program instead of MGPS if you are interested in international studies. ETA: I don't mean to be a Debbie Downer! I like both schools very much - I'm just trying to figure out how your goals would slot into them!
  24. For those who are interested, Codeacademy has a free series of courses for Python: http://www.codecademy.com/tracks/python Their courses are especially good for folks (like me) who learn via practice.
  25. First of all, CONGRATULATIONS to traumerei! That's awesome that you were admitted to one of your top choices (I'm assuming..unless you are shaking in revulsion? ). Second of all, the troll is trolling. It's what he does. He clearly gets off on making people upset and stirring the pot. He will also continue to come back to get his nasty little troll fix as long as he continues to get a reaction. So: stop responding to him! I recommend that we ignore him completely. Pretend his comments are invisible. If he insults someone/you, don't legitimize him by acknowledging the petty attempt. Eventually he will get bored and wander off.
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