rising_star

I think you need to turn down Oregon and hope you get in off a waitlist. You definitely should transfer somewhere though, to avoid the academic incest thing.

I mean, it's up to you, really. It sounds like the best choices are University 2 and Univ 3, based on what you've presented. Have you talked to grad students at each school? Spoken with the potential advisors? Found out about the work the lab is doing? I think that maybe should guide your choice as much as straight financial considerations.

Hey there, I'm also considering UofA. There's a thread about Tucson over on the City Guide that has some good info. Everything I've heard about Tucson is that it's wonderful if you can tolerate the heat. It's close to Mexico and Phoenix and about 3-4 hours from some beaches in Mexico. Oh, and there are mountains nearby. I don't know anything about computer science so I can't help you there.

Please reply here: viewtopic.php?f=30&t=13934

3 courses is the standard in graduate school across disciplines. Presumably this is so you have time for your assistantship responsibilities as well as your own research. Not to mention, the classes are supposed to be harder.

Yea, I've definitely been there. I think all the stress just takes its toll or something.

Not all MA students pay for their degree or take out loans. I didn't.

I would definitely email the director of graduate studies, rather than just your (potential) advisor. And anyone else your letter says you should contact.

I don't know about that. Many universities are now requiring that you have another offer in hand before giving faculty a raise... I think once you've invested in that process, it's easier to consider going to another university.

Nope, not crazy! I started the summer program for my MA exactly 2 days after I graduated from undergrad. I moved out of my dorm on graduation day, moved to new area the next day, went to program orientation the next day. It helped that I had family in the new area to stay with.

I couldn't slack off at the end of undergrad. I had three courses plus a senior thesis plus senior comprehensive exams. It wasn't a fun end of the year but it did keep me working until mid-May. For the record, I pretty much took a week off after I turned in my thesis but, with 2 lit classes, I still had plenty of reading to do, two final papers to write (due one day), an exam (4 days later), and comprehensive exams in between the two. But I did end the year with fun! Flew to CA for a graduation then packed and went to Six Flags.

Well, just ask for the names of current students. You should be able to find their email addresses on the department's website. Retirement is tricky to ask about but you definitely need to. Remember, this is a career move. Get all the information you can!

Undrafted, Don't get me wrong, there were plenty of people who did know! Most of the graduate students knew and some of the faculty. It came up a couple of times when like my class would get invited to a profs house and I'd send an email and be like, Hey can he come too?, and they always said yes. In fact, one of the invitations I got last year (which was to an event for everyone in my subfield) specifically mentioned that I should bring him because he's always welcome (dif subfield and all). So it was never a huge deal, at least not that I know. But honestly. My advisor found out like 6 months into our relationship because we were doing a faculty hire and they were out to lunch and he mentioned something about my work and she (my advisor) asked why he knew about my research and he answered that I'm his girlfriend. Then she told me about it at our next meeting. But the happy hour thing... I never imagined we'd fool a bartender for a year, especially not one who saw us every single week. My point in all this is that it can work. It may not be the easiest thing but it's definitely possible. I have to say, none of the three intradepartment couples have classes with one another (as in, guy and gal are never in the same seminar), which probably makes all of our lives easier. It definitely wasn't my plan to start dating someone in my department but it happened and it's been great for both of us.

Yeah, I don't think room and board will be 2K. It'll probably run you much more unless you do couchsurfing and do your own cooking... Even then, it'd be tight trying to do it for just 2K. 2.5-3.5K seems much more realistic to me. Personally, I'd probably be willing to deplete my savings somewhat for a trip of a lifetime. FWIW, I spent about $1300 to move in to my apartment (first month's rent + security deposit + bed + desk). I got lucky in that my family (80 miles away) gave me a dresser, desk chair, headboard, and bed rails. I also moved in with someone else so I only had to furnish my bedroom, which saved me a bunch of money. Otherwise, estimate about $150-250 (for cheap pots + dishes) for the kitchen, several hundred for the living room (couch, TV, DVD player, chair), one hundred for a kitchen table, not to mention the start-up food costs of stocking cabinets and whatnot.

It's generally not acceptable just because you're in a position of power over the person that you're teaching. You could date once that has passed but you definitely shouldn't be dating someone while teaching them or advising them (if a faculty member). My department has about 15 incoming students each year, a mix of master's and PhD. So it's really not that much bigger than yours, we are a tightly knit department, and it really hasn't been a huge deal (at least not that I know). For whatever reason, lots of people that know him and I didn't realize we were dating until 6-8 months into our relationship. This included my advisor, a bunch of assorted other faculty, and the bartenders at the happy hour we attended every single week. In fact, the aforementioned bartender found out just in the past month or so, even though we bought all of our drinks on the same tab for over 6 months. *shrug* It hasn't been a big problem for anyone. I would say what helped was that we've always had a no PDA rule when on campus. So nothing more than holding hands when walking in or leaving. That makes everyone more comfortable, imo.

See I'm willing to live in a place I'm not that excited about (I'm not excited about most places though) in order to be in a department that I really want to be a part of academically, intellectually, and socially. Because really that's who I'll be spending most of my time with. And I stand by my earlier statement that if you aren't happy with either option then re-apply. Grad school is tough enough. You don't want to start out negatively and it seems you have negative feelings towards both School A and School B.

I got my acceptance to LSU (geography) a while ago but have yet to hear from them about funding... It's driving me nuts since they're one of my top choices.

See, I don't know. I dated someone in my department for 2.5 months before anyone found out (we told people). No one other than our close personal friends knows anything about our relationship and that sort of thing. But then I'm in a broad discipline and we never had classes together or anything like that. It hasn't been a problem at all. Incidentally, there are two other couples of graduate students, one of which is getting married this summer. The other couples are all doctoral students; my boyfriend and I are master's students.

It's not a tough decision. If you aren't excited about either school, don't go. But it sounds like though you like the town of School B, you wouldn't be happy in the department there. Since the dept/lab is where you'd spend most of your time, I'd say steer clear of School B.

I use weather as a category and also football ranking. But that's just me. :wink: Seriously though, my spreadsheet lists funding amount, work required, health insurance, any additional fees, etc just so I can really compare the money being offered. I luckily applied to schools that all have a similar cost of living so I don't really need to factor that in. I would definitely factor in faculty, placement record, external funding opportunities (and success rate), summer funding, and any fellowship support you might get.

Princeton has master's degrees?

It's tough to say for sure not knowing the difficulty of the exam or the student's performance. It could be that the exam was directly in his area of interest and he performed miserably on it. Would you still call the professor petty then?

Honestly, picklejar, I don't think a lot of the duplexes have been well maintained over the years. Like Park East is kinda bleck, at least the couple I've been inside of. I don't know about the other duplex communities but definitely be wary of location (things out Jefferson Rd, North Ave, or Commerce Rd) will be harder to find a tenant for.

Which degree are you ultimately interested in having? Do you want a master's or a PhD? That should help guide your decision making along with the general rule to never go unfunded to a PhD program

Money isn't everything but it sure is a lot of things.