ERR_Alpha

I second whoever said research fit is the most important. I cast a wide net last season with really no goal or direction. I lucked out that Penn State happened to like me at a pre-interview weekend and was looking for more students fresh out of undergrad. If I did it again, I'd reach out to profs beforehand and look for programs where I could be in the biochemistry program, but still research with chemistry profs.

The FAFSA asks for the amount you receive from inheritances I believe. I'm not sure if there's a legal way around it.

My boyfriend and I just visited a bunch of apartments in State College if anyone needs help. We also decided on Toftrees.

One of my old professors recommended tutoring. He said he was charging something like 50 an hour for physics tutoring while he was in grad school. Theres a bunch of websites for tutoring you could list on.

BU rejected me on April 15th and Tufts was the only one later. Seems to be a Boston area thing.

I never got a feedback form. My biggest peeve is that I was told in January I'd hear "shortly", and then got rejected in late April. They would never just say "we interviewed people and you didn't get one" it was constantly "you're under consideration" which was obviously a delayed rejection.

Working at my old high school job (ice cream sundae, anyone?) and trying to save money and pay off my car loan. I might also attempt to get in good enough shape to run a half marathon!

Tufts reject. Officially done! The blood bath is over haha

Yay Penn State!!! I'll be there in the fall if you have any questions

BU PiBS reject finally. They were the absolute worst with communication. I wouldn't apply there again if I was doing this twice.

It was the shortest rejection I've gotten haha. "Too many qualified, thanks and good luck!" Haha

Finally got my Hopkins reject. Still waiting on rejects from BU and Tufts.

I just had to google what that meant... Haha

Congrats!!! I'm still waiting on Boston too. Weird process they have.

It's so strange because even though I don't know you guys in real life everyone feels like my friend! I'm really sorry to hear that

My boyfriend pointed out that funding may be an issue at these smaller, lower ranked places too. Just goes to show no school is really a "safety school"!

Really not sure what you mean by this but good for you I guess?

Just got my UNH rejection. Funny how you can get rejected from the lowest ranked school you apply to and get into better places.

My SO is still figuring out his life so I'm not sure of my housing situation as of yet. My department is sending my housing info at the end of April. Since I have a car I think I have a lot of flexibility and shouldn't really have an issue finding a place in a month or so. @Munashi where did you wind up finding a place?

Maybe I will try Mendeley. Is it free? I'm now a safari user so it's frustrating to go back to Firefox just to cite things.

I got my undergrad from SUNY middle of nowhere and a prof at Dartmouth said, and I quote, "What's a SUNY?" *eyeroll* But I also came to SUNY for financial reasons and I don't regret any of it. I'd rather graduate debt free then have the "prestige". I think any decent person wouldn't hold it against you. If they do, then they're not worth it anyway.

I didn't have to pay a deposit for Penn State. Just had to sign my life away haha

My boyfriend is in a similar situation for his MS. Even for just two years the debt he'd be in would be so crippling we'd likely have to delay buying a house, starting a family, etc. He's looking into jobs related to his field so he can boost his application the next go around to secure funding. I wouldn't recommended going in anywhere unfunded. I would look for maybe non tenure teaching positions? (I don't know much about your field, apologies) But showing schools you have teaching experience would probably help your chances.