SocGirl2013

We are pushing for more development stuff at Stony Brook (though I am just a first year one month in). PM me if you are interested in applying/have questions.

Look, it looks like you have the right experiences and CV to get into some good programs, but as people always say all across this board, at the end of the day it's fit that determines your chances and really even with all the right qualifications and the right fit, external factors may prohibit your acceptance. The best you can do is research the programs in depth and apply to the best research fits as much as you can. I don't really understand what you want to study in grad school, and if this isn't something you have considered enough, that should be your first and most important focus. Don't choose programs based on location or even rankings to a certain degree, it will have no impact on admissions whatsoever. Figure out what you want to study and look for programs that specialize in your subfield. Reading your post I feel pretty confident you have the right grades/gre scores/research experience etc., but none of it matters without the right fit and that's where you have to put in work now. Also, there is absolutely no way of telling anyone their "odds" unless I represent some admission committee. Good luck!

I just looked at the rules for this sub-forum and maybe this thread is misplaced. Feel free to move it around mods, I'm sorry for the mistake.

So people from my cohort and I got a 4 bedroom house at an excellent location near SBU. Beautiful house with HUGE rooms and 2000/month for the whole house pretty much an unbeatable deal. Except the lease is 9 months, August to May which is the only down side. One of our roommates just backed out and we don't want to take on non-graduate students because of lifestyle considerations and I wanted to see if there was anyone here going to SBU in the fall looking for housing.

Thanks, I think making sure I do it every day even if it's a few minutes will be the key. I am learning the very basics of Python because my boyfriend who is a programmer suggested it's a good gateway and also apparently viable for statistical analysis. It's also supposedly not that difficult (and so far I see that but I also anticipate it getting very complicated). I want to learn R though, eventually, but I suspect having some knowledge of some other kind of programming ought to help.

I am slowly working through Statistics for Dummies. I'll watch some tutorial vids maybe on that. I'm also trying to learn the very basics of programming on code academy so I can eventually get into R, just in case I want to do heavy quant based/statistical work down the line. I have 0 stats background so I feel this preparation is necessary, and if anyone else is on a similar boat I suggest doing the same. Other than that basically a lot of binge-watching Netflix is going to take place. I don't see a point in the near future when I can do this guilt-free again. I do wanna get into the habit of exercising, though. And read more. Gingin had great advice! I am ridiculously lazy and I'll have short periods of motivation where I end up doing a ton of HIIT and then nothing for weeks, months. That can't happen in Grad School if I want to keep my sanity. So if anyone has good, realistic advice on how to exercise and learn to love it (I am surprised by just how many people out there do) within the next couple of months, I'd greatly appreciate it. All in all Maleficent is quite on point about the last summer of freedom, I think.

My plan is to get a MacBook Air, as well as set up a "desktop" at home, where basically I hook up my laptop to additional monitors, a larger keyboard and a nice mouse. During the day I'll carry the Air around and at night connect it to work on my desk feeling all professional etc. Maleficent, if you are thinking of iMac/iPad combo for wanting a desktop, you should also consider what I am doing as a cheaper option.

bump! so I am totally going here.

I will be attending Stony Brook University this fall.

Sounds like you have great options, however I don't know much about SLP and highly recommend posting at the SLP forum for targeted advice. Good luck!

I have been emailing them every week. They stopped responding like two weeks ago because I am sure they were tired of repeating that they didn't know yet haha. PMing you. Wow, that's rough. I hope you do have some solid acceptances as well to fall back on.

Anyone else having this problem? I have been stuck on the same "I don't know" boat since early in March pretty much because my top-choice school has me on the waitlist for funding and my second choice is all set but I just can't seem to accept their offer and move on. Chances are very slim that I will get the said funding within one week this late in the game, but I just can't seem to let go as there is an irrational part of me that is convinced that tables will turn. This is frustrating me endlessly. I am sure there are more of you out there with similar predicaments, vent away.

This, pretty much lol. I don't wanna grow old at 30 spending every second of my life trying to out-perform every other person in my field. I want to be a teacher, and if I am lucky, the kind of teacher that inspired me to be a teacher at my very small liberal arts undergrad. Why is wanting anything other than being a top researcher at a R1 research university seen as a poor goal/ not a good enough reason to go to grad school? I am genuinely curious about why this is the case, if anyone can shed some light. P.S. Accidentally up-voted OP, I do not agree with OP.

If I were you I definitely wouldn't bother. Those are GREAT scores, and unless you plan on getting a PhD in Econ itself (which you clearly aren't, cause you're planning to do Soc lol) your Quant scores are good enough to be considered for all the very top programs.

I am really disappointed to see some of the fat-shaming posts on Grad Cafe. If intelligent, scholarly people going to get graduate degrees still stigmatize obesity as sheer laziness, it's very hard to criticize the average person on the street, the media, etc. Smh.

Hey, I am so sorry I completely missed your post until now for some reason. Yes attendance was surprisingly high: I didn't even think they had admitted that many people! I didn't get a chance to attend any lectures. As for funding, hold tight until April 14 if it is something you can. It seemed like they really wanted to give answers but their hands are tied because some people who may not use the funding are holding on to it for whatever reason, perhaps they are still making decisions. I personally plan to wait until April 14 and if I don't hear back, to accept another offer that day.

Would you be able to elaborate a little more? By characteristics do you mean like you don't care about rankings etc or you don't care what the programs specialize in as long as they are in CA? It makes a huge difference, cause if it is the latter, you should seriously consider taking some time to narrow down your research interests and then start looking at schools based on if they have multiple faculty working in the area that interests you. Not only will it help you choose the right schools to apply to where you fit and will be happy, but it will most definitely affect whether or not you even get in. Again, I don't know what you meant exactly so feel free to ignore this if it doesn't apply to you lol.

Got my official Columbia rejection finally lol. Though I've known since like, Feb.

Tomato Ketchup. Even the thought of it makes me gag. And I actually enjoy tomatoes in every other form, even raw just by itself.

Stupid teen thriller drama shows like The Vampire Diaries and Pretty Little Liars. I'm just... I can't help it. I know it's bad TV and know what good TV looks like but it's almost as it brain fart helps me relax. Ultimate guilty pleasure.

Hey, no problem! I haven't made a decision yet. I am waiting on funding information from CUNY Grad Center before making one, but it's between that and Stony Brook University. As soon as I decided Binghamton was out of the running, I turned down their offer. As someone stuck in limbo because of funding ambiguity, I understand all too well how frustrating it can be. I had full tuition and TAship for 15K/year from Binghamton, I hope it goes to you! It's definitely worth asking, at least. Please let me know how that conversation goes, and feel free to PM me if you need to talk!

I just officially turned down Binghamton's offer. I really really hope the funding goes to someone who needs it.

I think it's a great way to get anxiety out of the way. I waited until I saw some results posted on Grad Cafe from my schools so I knew the chances of getting an answer is higher. It doesn't always work, but I got one acceptance and one rejection from calling and asking.

Hahahahahhahahahahahhahaha I am actually dying of laughter.

*bump* It was really nice meeting some of you guys today. So what are your thoughts post visit day?