rising_star

We get a bill at the beginning of each semester for tuition and fees. You have to pay the fee portion by the due date but not the tuition part, which just shows as an unpaid balance for a week or two because of how long it takes them to process tuition waivers.

What about pursuing a MSW?

Often it takes a year or so for the review to actually appear in print. If you're going to review a book, you should pick something that's been published in the last 12 months max, and 6 months would be better.

Depends on where you are in the program and the kind of research you do. For part of the summer, I tended not to have much to do other than prep for fieldwork. Then, there were the six or so weeks of fieldwork, so those are obviously more hours.

I used to update my CV whenever I had a new accomplishment, like getting a grant or fellowship. Then, I fell behind. In fact, I'm behind on it right now, mostly because I have no idea how to list one of my fellowships. I don't even have a publications section though.

Haven't tried a chromebook because it's netbook size and that doesn't fit my needs. Plus, I like being able to work away from the web and its myriad distractions. I have a Samsung Series 5 Ultrabook that I got about six months ago and really like. It's super nice and easy to use, which is great. But, it wasn't cheap, in part because you're paying for the lighter weight.

Might be easier to just use a car rental service (ZipCar, Hertz Connect, etc.) in Seattle... The cost of renting a car when you need one might be less than the cost of shipping.

I realize that. My point was that my bookstore price matches to basically everything AND they don't charge sales tax or shipping AND they give grad students (TAs and RAs) a discount. So for me, it's almost always either cheaper or the same price to just buy everything at the bookstore.

You might be surprised at the campus bookstore. Ours matches prices to Amazon if you show them your receipt and the printed out Amazon page for a book in the same condition. They also don't charge sales tax and TAs get like a 5% discount on purchases. So, if you were coming here, my answer would be that you'll save money by waiting until you get here to get your books.

Okay, so this is going to sound weird but I'll just describe how I know the people I hang out with the most. - People from my cohort and then, more broadly, from my department - People I met through a hobby that I pursue both off campus and through the campus Rec Center - People I know because they're the in-laws of an elementary school friend who ended up also relocating to this area, though that happened more than a year after I moved here. - And then, people I met through the in-laws. So, people they work with or take classes with basically. That's pretty much it. I'm single though, so I'm not sure how helpful this is for you since you wanted advice from non-single people. But, there are plenty of non-singles that I hang out with and know from one of the above.

It's really difficult to answer this but, I will anyway in the poll. But, you should keep in mind that I (and everyone else) in my PhD program entered with a master's degree either in the discipline or in a related area.

What would be your side project while on the Fulbright ETA?

My school's insurance kinda sucks but, we get it for free for TAing. So, I can only sorta complain. The prescription drug benefits don't kick in until you're out of pocket something like $1000. We don't have dental. For vision, we can get a discounted (or it might be free) eye exam but only for glasses, not for contacts. And I don't think there's any coverage for actually purchasing vision correction if you need it. I've heard it's good if you have a serious emergency or injury, but otherwise it's just not that great.

The quick answer to your question is no, at least not in my case.

I don't know enough about CS to offer insights in that regard so go with the least expensive option.

The same thing happens when you apply to academic jobs.

The real answer is that $100K in loans is probably never worth it. http://mappingyourfuture.org/paying/standardcalculator.htm If you plug 100,000 in, you'll see that the monthly payments will be $1150 to repay in 10 years. That's a lot of money.

I recently bought a new wireless Brother laser printer that duplexes automatically and has a scanner and copier for $100. It was on sale from I think Office Depot. My department only lets graduate students print 200 pages a semester, which you can go through pretty quickly if you need journal articles or readings for class. I find it super convenient to just be able to print what I want whenever I want. The rest of my home office setup: desk, external monitor, ultrabook, wireless keyboard and mouse, portable external HD (these are all on the desk), two bookshelves, one super comfortable desk chair, one papasan chair, and the aforementioned printer. Elsewhere I also have a netbook, Kindle, and Kindle Fire.

If you want to work in LA, you'll be better networked by going to school there now. That said, I don't know anything about your field or either program.

Honestly, I would go with the research you're more excited about. Research is a slog and if you're excited about it, that can make it easier.

5pm in the time zone of the school, which you should probably look up if you don't know when that is. By which I mean, that if you're reading this and you're accepting an offer on the East Coast, you've got 1 hour, 45 minutes to get your reponse in.

Have you thought about the cost of living difference between Austin and NYC? Also, grad school is busy and you will not see your friends as often as you might think. Plus, having an outside friend network may make it harder for you to make friends and network with people in your graduate program. Just some food for thought.

Which field do you want to be in? Do you see yourself teaching intro to anthro or intro to soc? Once you decide, then you can decide about programs. Wisconsin is very well known in sociology and UNC is very well regarded in anthro. I doubt you can go wrong, unless you just can't deal with cold, the funding is massively different, or you really can't figure out which discipline you want to be your home for the next 25 years.

Go to LMU.

I wouldn't spend the extra money to go to Columbia because it's not enough ROI (return on investment) considering how much more you'll spend in tuition and living expenses. If you want to go into international affairs, you'll want to do an internship during your program and I'm sure you can find one in LA, just as there are many in NYC.