rising_star

Given that you'll have to form a committee of 3-5 faculty members, it makes sense to be in contact with more than one faculty member. That's the only way to make sure your interests will be fully supported in the ways that you need them to be.

You won't have FICA and Medicare taken out of your paycheck, just local/state/federal taxes. I'd double check about the state tax rate because, in every state I've lived in with an income tax, some portion of my paycheck was taken for that, even though I sometimes was able to file and get all or almost all of it back. The tuition waiver is not taxed.

Mine was only 75 pages in its first draft, about 15 of which I wrote in a week in December as part of a class paper. My thesis ended up being 105 pages as my advisor kept saying I wasn't explaining enough stuff. Stupid need to put ideas and background from my head onto the page... Personally, I just find deadlines really motivating.

Fit is way more important than ranking. If you won't be happy there (due to the advisor, your peers, the weather, distance from home, or any other factor that matters to you), do NOT go there. And, if possible, avoid applying there (though sometimes you can't know that you'll hate a place until after you visit which I don't think you should do unless you've been accepted with funding). Then again, there are no recent rankings for my discipline, at least not until the new NRC ones come out. As I say a lot around here, those 96 rankings were *published* in the year my advisor earned a PhD. He's written 2 books and published in every top journal in the field since then... Needless to say, my department is not highly ranked then (around 20) but has worked throughout this decade to add talented faculty and graduate students and make ourselves into *the* place to be for certain fields of study. That said, if you hate hot weather, you can't come here since it'll be 105-115 for the next three months. So definitely take those kinds of things into consideration. As far as how to factor things into fit, here's how I rated them: 1) Advisor (do we get along, interested in my research, interaction with students, mentorship abilities) 2) Weather (I can't stand snow. In fact, I only ever applied to one cold weather place and it snowed during my visit) 3) Communication with advisor's students (I always contacted students of my prospective advisor to get the real deal. Students are very forthcoming via email, phone, and during your visit) 4) Interests match well with those of others on campus (it's always good to have interdisciplinary connections and I have to have them for my work) 5) Distance/cost to get home (I have sick family members so I need to be able to get home affordably on a regular basis so things far away weren't always a good "fit" for me)

La Voz, I wouldn't worry about the deadlines thing or volunteering with a charity. Honestly, most programs review all applications at the same time so it doesn't matter whether you submit it a month early or on the day of deadline. (I'm a procrastinator and it didn't hurt me at all to send in everything at the deadline. Plus schools know things get lost and don't blame you for it.) I would make sure to provide recommenders with a detailed SOP, CV, and that sort of thing so they can write the best letter possible about you. The government internship sounds like a good idea.

Are you absolutely positive you won't get a W-2 for your stipend? Is it from a fellowship or an assistantship?

Mine all had the same ideas and research interests but read differently for each school I applied to, in addition to having a customized "fit" paragraph (sometimes two) for each program. The introduction would change, the description of my thesis was more or less detailed depending on the program, and I made sure to point out the other resources on campus that would benefit me, in addition to mentioning specific faculty (all of whom I'd been in contact with prior to applying). That approach worked really well for me as I got in with funding everywhere I applied.

I'm saying get private loans because sometimes those are distributed directly to the student, rather than through the university. You'd have to call around to see if anyone will give you that option. Or maybe you could ask other students in your program how they've dealt with this issue in the past? Presumably you're not the first and only incoming Columbia grad student to wonder about this.

I found having two foster dogs which had never lived inside before to be extremely helpful for writing my thesis. (And no, I'm not being sarcastic!) It also helped to work a part-time job that had 4 hour shifts. So I'd divide my day into 4-5 hour chunks (helped that it's when the dogs had to be taken for a walk) during which I'd work, dog train, write, and relax. Though I had a crazy thesis writing thing and wrote something like 50 of the 75 pages in 3 weeks in January. Oh, and I didn't do much weekend work because my out-of-town bf would come visit. I think the time crunch + dog demands forced me to be super productive with my time.

This is a myth that's been out there for over a decade. What we see instead is universities replacing TT jobs with adjunct jobs. I don't know about you but I want benefits in whatever job I get. Plus, as has already been said, it's not like all of the people that didn't get jobs this year will magically disappear. Sure, some of them will go with a Plan B and not pursue full-time work in the academy but others will keep doggedly pursuing that goal for the next several years. It's important to keep that in mind while you're in school.

1) I'm pretty sure I didn't berate you. 2) I told you what happens for my friend who is a PhD student at GSAS. If that isn't applicable to your situation, then perhaps you are the one that needs to provide more details to us. 3) If you don't think you'll be able to get your refund from your loans when you need it, you should pursue private student loans, as I mentioned before. Have a nice day!

First of all, you really should be talking to Columbia's financial aid office about this and not posting here. We aren't going to have the specifics that you need. 1) You could seek out loans on your own. 2) It's highly unlikely that the refund money wouldn't be available to you until the end of the semester. What will probably happen is that the loan money will be applied to your tuition bill and after the drop/add period ends, you will be able to request and receive the refund check. It's worked that where at every school I've been to and for my friend who is currently at Columbia.

Win! FWIW, I think the number you apply to really depends on your discipline. As I've said before (here? elsewhere? can't remember!), people thought I was nuts for applying to 7 PhD programs because that was deemed entirely too many by most of them.

papajohn, if you know the address, you should be able to look up the bills online. Within the city limits, all of those bills you listed would come on a single bill from the City of Tallahassee, which provides electric, water, gas, and garbage/recycling service to its customers. It also includes the bill for the fire department, and I think something else to. I'd expect to pay at least $100/mo, more depending on how much you use the a/c.

I used "GRE for Dummies" and the Princeton Review book. I found them both extremely helpful.

The Kaplan paper test?

We have a graduate student lounge which has a refrigerator (with freezer) and a microwave. A lot of times I make extra food for dinner and eat the leftovers for lunch. Not to mention, I do eat a lot of fresh fruit, a decent variety of fresh veggies, and a lot of frozen veggies. I don't buy organic but I do by locally-grown produce both at the grocery store and at the farmer's market.

This is entirely dependent on where you live. I spend about $150/month on food and I never eat ramen. I eat healthy food that I prepare myself, some frozen dinners, and my favorite cereal (Raisin Bran with milk) all the time on that budget and, often don't even spend the whole $150. My rent with utilities is a flat $450/month. Then again, even if I did live at home, I would give my mom money for rent, utilities, and food because, if you're getting a stipend, it's the right thing to do.

If it helps, I spend about $120-150/month on groceries for one person. I don't make my own bread or anything like that but I do use my crockpot to cook meals and try not to eat out much. I also buy things like frozen dinners for quick dinners after a late day at school. I do bring my lunch with me basically every day though.

How exactly would that help? I'd have to go to a lower quality program approximately 1900 miles from where I currently am in order to live with my parents. The reason for the short commute is to be able to spend more time on research, studying, relaxing, or whatever and less time in a car/bus/train just trying to get from one place to the next.

Several of my friends have found their most recent places via Craig's List or livejournal (the fsu_noles community is quite active).

Could be that no one knows what VLSI is...

I've never lived more than 3.5 miles from school... I'm a fan of living close. Right now, I live 1 mile away and I love it because I can walk or bike to campus easily.

I think there are plenty of people that see these connections. Often they are environmental engineers or in geography departments, working across disciplines. In response to your post elsewhere, you may want to look at Johns Hopkins University. The real question though is whether you see yourself in a hydrology, engineering, environmental science, or geography department. If you're applying for the master's first, you may want to consider which options offer funding...

I would clarify two things about what Joel said. First, lock your frame and rear wheel together, as the rear one will cost you more to replace than the front one will. Second, it isn't quite that far from grocery stores and Target if you live to the east of campus. If you live in about one mile east of campus (Sam Hughes, Blenman Elm, Catalina Vista), there will be a Whole Foods on Speedway and a Safeway on Broadway within 1-2 miles of your house. There's a Target, Home Depot, and Office Depot just to the west of the intersection of Broadway and Alvernon, which wouldn't be more than 2 miles away. It would be further to get to Sunflower Market, Trader Joe's, or any of those stores.