geographyrocks

That's actually quite a bit of research. I think geoDUDE is right in that funding is harder for Masters than PhD. Almost all of the masters students at my school are funded through TAs. And since the department is allotted a certain amount of money from the graduate department for TAs, they have to meet the standards that the graduate school has which is typically a GRE of 300. Of course, the graduate department has to prove themselves to the overall budget committee of the university. The university had to prove themselves to the government which initially provides the funds. Is it absolutely ridiculous to be rejected just because of the GRE? Absolutely. It's unfortunate that some of your POIs didn't have outside funding. If they did, I think you would have very different results. And I'm not convinced that you'll be rejected from all of the schools to which you applied.

Not that this matters, but I had to remind myself that I didn't write that. I actually did the exact same thing. It's really strange to start at a program where the majority of students are straight out of undergrad. It gives you a really unique perspective and I've found that I have a completely different attitude than most people.

Out of curiosity, how much research experience do you have (aside from your senior thesis)?

I'm in a different field so this may not apply, but I didn't receive any information until July. That's probably not the answer you were looking for. Have you checked to see if they have the graduate handbook online? I skimmed through that while I was waiting and most documents they offered on the graduate studies website. I'm confused. Her profile does not indicate that she was admitted (just applied) so even if she withdrew her apps, that wouldn't get you off the waitlist.

Arizona is a great place for water resources! Congrats!

Is program two in a different city with a lower cost of living?

Are you paying on private loans? Federal loans automatically defer during graduate school. Edit: never mind. You specified that in the original post. Private loans are terrible!

Not to dash your hopes, but your GRE scores are quite low for UC Boulder. It's a very popular program (over 600 applicants) which means there are a lot of spectacular profiles. However, if your POI has enough pull, your scores may not matter.

I concur with the previous posts. Simply say: I would love to attend, but I can not support myself on the financial package that was offered.

I need to learn how to deal with low-grade confrontation. For example: I share an office with one other person. There are two chairs. When I came in to the office, my chair was being used so my officemate could discuss whatever she was looking at on her computer. It wouldn't have been a big deal except there was no acknowledgement of my presence. I sat down my stuff and stood there for a couple of minutes before I left. (I'm still irritated by it!). I have trouble deciphering what to do in these types of situations. Help? I don't want to be a jerk, but I'm fairly certain this is not the way to handle it. My initial reaction is to yell: get out if my chair! But I know that's not the proper response either. Signed Socially awkward(and not the cute kind)

For future reference, it's always better to call because the graduate coordinator gets hundreds of emails. I send emails for committee meetings so there's a written reference and then I just hunt down all of the professors. My life got a lot easier when I realized how much more efficient this was!

If you plan on going through the school's financial aid office, I believe that you must have a FAFSA on file. So it's better to apply and not need it than need it and not have it. I can't think of any downsides to filling out the FAFSA. I filled it out this year even though I know I wont be needing it just in case.

Did you contact a POI at UNM?

That happened to me yesterday except I was in a grocery store trying to leave. This woman had her child walking beside her. They were walking slower than most 95 year olds. No big deal except I had about a thousand things to do and needed to get home to my sick boyfriend. She kept looking back at me like I was doing something wrong. I don't know why I don't just tell people to move when they're behaving like @sshats. It was obvious I was in a hurry. I also got stuck behind her vehicle when leaving the parking lot. She drove almost as slowly as she walked.

This is a timely post that brings up some great questions to ask during interviews and visits. https://tenureshewrote.wordpress.com/2015/02/16/prospective-students-and-lab-culture/

Judging by the results forum, it looks like the majority of rejections go out in April.

Yikes. I hadn't bothered looking into repaying while still in school yet. If it ends the automatic deferment, I definitely won't be sending in payments. Savings account here I come! FYI: It doesn't appear that there are any penalties if you begin to pay off a Stafford Loan while still in school. http://www.staffordloan.com/stafford-loan-info/faq/what-are-the-penalties-for-early-loan-payments.php

My total monthly tax that is withheld is 9.5%. That comes out to be roughly 7.65% to federal and 1.85% to state. If this were a normal job, I would be looking at about 20% of my check going to taxes.

As far as I know (and someone please correct me if I'm wrong) your loans automatically defer while you're still in school. I know I'm not paying on my loans (nor have they hounded me about paying them) although I plan on starting after I pay off some higher interest debts. I guess my perspective is somewhat different than most people because I was older when I obtained my BS and I had absolutely zero help from family. I've been in crisis situations where I had no one to to ask for financial help so I'd rather have it and not need it than need it than not have it. Crazy to some? Probably. But that's what I choose to do and I didn't choose it lightly. That being said, some schools have emergency funds that you can apply for if you do have an emergency financial situation. You should check to see if your school offers that.

I was sick for five weeks. FIVE WEEKS! During that time I cycled through several illnesses and a couple of different antibiotics (both with their own fun side effects). Five weeks of being a plague monkey. I've been better for about a week. So now that I'm better just in time for Valentine's Day and my birthday (which are very close together), my boyfriend comes down with some horrendous flu that renders him incapable of moving off the couch...except for video games of course. How the hell did he survive five weeks with plague ridden me and then succumb to some illness no doubt acquired when we went out on Wednesday? And my office flooded due to glass pipes in the wall. GLASS PIPES! Which won't be fixed until the end of time (rough estimate) so I have to move to a new office. Not a big deal, but I'm behind on research and my birthday sucked and I've spent all day doing chores and schoolwork. WAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!! I'm seriously considering a temper tantrum...

Just be honest. Your POI may understand or he may not. That really depends on him. I think your situation is understandable given the circumstances. If you waited until April or later to rescind the offer, you would really be burning bridges.

Most programs do. They send out their "definitely no" rejections first along with their "definitely yes" admissions. They have a wait list going and possibly a secondary rejection list. Using the numbers from my department, about 50% of people offered admission decline and so the offers goes on to the wait list. I have to imagine that many of those people have acceptances elsewhere and so there is another round of people who reject the offers of admission. Another reason is because graduate committees and chairs are held by professors. Those professors have other things to do than just admit people. I'm struggling to schedule my committee meeting and I'm doing it six weeks in advance! These people are super busy and admitting graduate students is not their top priority. And the reason why people don't get personalized rejection letters outlining why the person was rejected is because they don't have time. I realized that you're frustrated, but you really have to think about these things instead of just thinking that these schools are out to get you. They're really not. The graduate chair in my department is legitimately sad when he has to sign the rejection forms. Are some schools jerks? Of course. But you gotta give some of these people the benefit of the doubt. One last thing. Do you really want a rejection letter that tells you that you weren't admitted due to shear dumb luck? In most cases, that's why you are rejected. The POI has too many students or several didn't graduate when they should have. There's no money. It just so happened that 10 super-duper candidates applied this year when usually only two super candidates apply. It is really scary how much of this comes down to luck in the end.

I just don't want someone in the future reading that and choosing to not contact professors when they really should be. It is most definitely field and department dependent. Some programs will specify on their website that you need to contact a POI. Other programs don't specify but secretly require it. Some don't require it all because the POI's have no say in who is admitted. It's so hard to give advice on that aspect because departments vary so greatly. But sometimes it makes the biggest difference like I was saying about my department. There were really stellar students that were rejected from my department this year simply because they didn't contact a POI before they applied. I know because the graduate advisor told me. I had no idea they placed so much emphasis on contacting POIs!

Apple does have student discounts. I can't remember what they are, but I'm sure a quick google search will find them. I can't say anything about the Surface Pro as I've never used one. As for the iPad, I've never had a problem finding apps. I downloaded Microsoft Word to my iPad yesterday so I could edit Dropbox documents. The interface is very useable IMO. I've had my iPad for less than a year so I don't really want to comment on durability. I will say that some apps on the iPad really eat up power so if you do something like read documents on it all day, you'll need to charge it at night. I don't like typing on it, but you can always order a keyboard which are ungodly expensive in the stores but fairly reasonable online. I'd say the benefit of a non-Apple product is that the accessories seem to be cheaper.

One important thing that you haven't mentioned is connected. How well connected is the department? The connections you make through the faculty and the department are what will REALLY help you after you graduate. Another thing is, how well do you work when you're miserable. You already stated that you would have to "suck it up" to go to school B. That doesn't sound to me like it's a place you want to be. Grad school is hard on its own. You shouldn't add being miserable in your precious free time to that. My biggest piece of advice is to try not to stress until you meet the faculty at school B. I think your decision will be easily made after that. Really focus on who your advisor will be and how well you two will get along. It seems like both schools have good things to offer, but I feel that advisor fit is the most important.