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Etownenviro

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Everything posted by Etownenviro

  1. Hopefully future environmental policy people will find this helpful! Previous Schools A Big 10 University (Go Cats!) Previous Degrees and GPAs: BS Environmental Science with a GPA over 3.6 (math & science GPA over a 3.8) and relatively high GRE scores Previous Work Experience (Years, Type): Worked all throughout undergraduate in various positions in and related to local government and spent a year working in DC for a trade organization for local government Part-time Work Experience: environmental education volunteer Math/Econ Background: I took the entire calculus sequence in college along with macro and micro econ and a decent amount of statistics. I believe it helped I earned very good grades in these classes since none of my jobs directly used these skills. Intended Field of Study in Grad School: Environmental Science/Policy Long Term Professional Goals: US government and then as a sustainability director/dept head of a major US city Schools Applied to & Results: Indiana SPEA ($$$$$) University of Michigan SNRE ($) Duke Nicholas ($) and Yale FES (rejected for less than 2 years of work experience) Best Advice: 1. I STRONGLY second the above advice about speaking with the admissions people as much as possible. I almost applied to 2-3X as many schools but after speaking to admission reps it was easy to drop certain schools from my list even if I was temped by their website and prestige. I ended up choosing the school that was the nicest and most helpful all the way through the application process, they answered by every question and were constantly going above and beyond what I expected. Think about the application period as a trial run for the different schools and you will see which schools operating philosophies best line up with what you want from a program. 2. Don't let perfect be the enemy of good! Especially if you want to work for the government or in (much) of the non-profit sector. I was rejected by my dream school (Yale) and almost sat out this year because I was so hung up on the brand name. I see lots of people here oooo-ing and ahhhh-ing over Harvard, Princeton, etc... and while they are fantastic schools there are so many others. I will be attending my cheapest and least glamorous (sounding) choice in the fall but they will take me exactly where I want to go, give me two degrees in the same amount of time, and it will be at almost no cost to me. It took me a LONG time to decide on SPEA since I had so many friends talking up how great Michigan/Duke were or suggesting I wait a year and reapply to Yale and while it would be fun to say I went to Yale it wasn't worth another year of waiting to maybe get in and Duke/Michigan weren't worth 3-4X more debt. If you have a great offer from a school you would be very happy to attend say yes! Don't dwell on the other schools that didn't offer enough aid or rejected you, remember you are great and you can still be great where ever you end up going! 3. When working on your application try to tell a cohesive story that includes your resume, statements, LORs and any other information the schools ask for. I think it really helped my application that I was able to tie together everything I had done into a thoughtful story. At the same time don't think your story needs to reinvent the wheel. If you want to go into healthcare policy for the same reasons as other people you know then thats great! Don't stress about having similar essays because they are coming from different perspectives. On the other hand if you have a less common story like mine with local government and environmental policy thats fine too, just because its different from what other people are saying on gradcafe or to you when you show them your essay doesn't make your story less good or important. 4. You can do it! Work hard, apply smart (at times take gradcafe with a grain of salt) and you will be happy with your application cycle!
  2. Hey husky4ever I got a 159/160/4.5 in the GRE and have above a 3.6 and received a very large (nearly full ride) scholarship to SPEA. I don't know how much essays and other things like work experience are tired into the scholarship decision but it's possible that a few points could have a big impact if my experience is normal. That being said I found the admissions staff very transparent so you could always ask them how they consider the GRE in with everything else. Good luck!
  3. Looking at that oncourse/onestart thing with the "looking for housing" section so many of them still are for this summer or are posts from undergrads. I wish I wasn't so far away so I could just visit ans find somewhere in person...
  4. Just submitted me deposit as well! I'm excited to get set up with everything and start looking for housing.
  5. When I was there for visit day I ended up taking the bus and I believe the bus that comes from SPEA and the business school stops at all of those apartment complexes so that may be why they are super popular with SPEA people. Also I don't want to live that far away from the school but there are some complexes with swimming pools and all kinds of other amenities if your willing to be like a 10-15 minute bus ride away or probably the same amount of time biking so if those are important to you they can also be found in Bloomington. I also spoke with a SPEA student the other night and they said basically as long as you have a place by the end of July you should be totally fine and that right now a lot of the housing will still be for summer sublets as their school year is just wrapping up. So it seems like it might be a week or two before the fall listings are really up.
  6. I visited SPEA and was also accepted to the duel degree and although I'm not specifically interested in international development I did speak with a lot of students that spent time abroad either as a semester or as a summer internship so its definitely possible to get international experience while you are there if thats a concern. Overall I thought it was a really good program with a huge alumni network!
  7. Unfortunately I didn't apply to Berkeley and really don't know anything about the program so I really cannot give you a real comparison. I know they don't have a specific energy concentration but inside of sustainable systems they did have a lot of offerings. I would email michigan and get their course catalog so you can just compare energy offerings directly. I doubt I will be ending up at Michigan, it is extremely expensive even with the aid I was given and I received some great financial aid from other schools. I LOVED the research they were doing but since I'm not 100% on a phd, I'm just hoping to work in government or possibly private sector, it doesn't seem 100% worth it to take on the higher debt for increased phd prospects.
  8. @RicardoBello Thanks! I just checked it out as well and it looks like housing isn't a problem in Bloomington which is good to know! I'm still in shock with how cheap it is, it is kind of amazing coming from somewhere where the COL is very high haha.
  9. @ awex I think I will also be paying my deposit this week baring some crazy offer from another school. The other schools I was accepted to are a good bit more well known on this board and generally considered more prestigious due to their undergraduate reputations so I was struggling choosing SPEA over them but after visiting and seeing the school, talking to students and professors, and seeing that Bloomington has the potential to be a pretty good place to live for a few years helped make my choice a LOT easier. Slightly off topic but does anyone know how early we need to find housing to be able to live somewhere relatively close to campus that is also dog friendly?
  10. I only have one year of work experience but I worked nearly full time throughout my time in undergrad so I feel like that counts for something extra. I was speaking to a student at the gala about that actually and she said that there is a really wide age range that is more dependent on the program someone is in. For example the MSES seemed to be mostly coming straight from undergrad but many of the MPA and MPA/MSES people seemed to have at least 1 if not 2-3 years or work experience. That was just who I bumped into though and what the person I was talking to thought (they were also in the MPA/MSES program so I don't have any info on arts admin). I thought Bloomington was surprisingly nice! It was a wayyy nicer college town than I expected because I was also worried about living in a small city/town but everyone seemed to really enjoy Bloomington and a few people I spoke with said they had never even been to Indie because they just felt like Bloomington had plenty to offer. I stayed around for a while on Saturday and checked out more of the downtown and found it really cute! They have just about everything in walking distance and there is a free campus bus that takes you just about everywhere you could want to go. This is a big plus for me since I'm hoping to not do a lot of driving and wanted to either go to grad school in a city or in a college town where this wouldn't be an issue. I will also likely be paying my deposit for SPEA sometime this week! I think they did a good job with the experience day and that really pushed me over the edge along with seeing all the awesome classes they offer and how they seem to do a really good job of integrating science, policy, and decision making.
  11. What did you think of the program? I really enjoyed it and think there is a good chance I may end up there in the fall. I received a large stipend & tuition remission and hope to work for the government afterwards so this program is a pretty good ft for me financially and seemingly career wise.
  12. I also attended NU undergrad and can also attest it's an amazing school experience and yes in downtown an apt can be 1,200 a mo but honestly as someone who also grew up in Evanstin if your willing to live in south evanston on like main or dempster (both walkable to campus plus there is a free NU bus stop that goes by there) instead of in like evanston place or another large complex near the campus you can pay less than that easily. I lived in really nice buildings and never paid more than 700 including utilities so there are good deals if your willing to look a little! Also for leaving chicago I haven't felt tied or forced to be in the Midwest at all! NUs brand name can take you back to DC no problem if that is a concern for you. $30k is a lot of money but I think the cost of living being lower probably helps the overall cost but obviously NYU is also a great school and it sounds like they can both serve you well.
  13. bump. Does anyone else have any thoughts on Michigan's program?
  14. I'll be there for the MPA/MSES group on Friday!
  15. bump. Is anyone else considering SPEA?
  16. I attended the SNRE admitted students day and I was very impressed! First in the morning there was a welcome from the dean who seems great, very funny and easy to talk to. I got the impression she actually really knows the different students and as she has office hours roughly once a week that anyone can go to you really do have the opportunity to get to know her if this is an important factor for you. The rest of the day was spent in rotating break out sessions. In this respect my review might not be the most helpful as I am in the smallest concentration. However, at the different sessions you had the opportunity to meet the professors and again I was impressed how open they all were and friendly. They all seemed genuinely excited to meet the incoming students, especially those they would be advising. If you are interest in doing research during your time in graduate school I think Michigan would be a great place for you as many masters students are involved in labs and participate in research projects. I can say from speaking with my adviser they already had a project in mind that they would like my help with if I choose to attend. Additionally there was a career services information session which was one of the most important/interesting parts for me. I know everyone claims Duke's career services is amazing and I have no doubt that it is but Michigan's seems to be nothing to sneeze at. Both schools have masters project requirements and at Michigan everyone has to do one unless you get special permission to opt out which basically means you want to continue on to get a phd and you do a research thesis. At Michigan you also are working with real world clients in teams so that part of the schools is essentially the same. Also a number of people seemed to get hired out of their masters project or from an organization somehow related to the masters project. Also there are three different career days where companies come and recruit students spread out throughout the year. There is even a day devoted to environmental entrepreneurship! They also have a huge database of past student internships that you can look through once you accept and they offer many services to help you secure jobs and internships. Michigan also has one of the largest living alumni groups and you have access to the alumni outside of SNRE so this is a pretty good networking plus. In addition to the careers services and the professors the students there all seemed very happy with their decision to attend SNRE. The student body is a little less pre-professional and slightly more research oriented but they appear to have the same career stats at Duke and the other major schools so it doesn't seem to hinder students in the job market. One concern I had was that the average salary for Michigan is on the lower end of the environmental schools salary spectrum. However, after talking to the career services they explained it is because they have many students who ultimately choose to work in the environmental non-profit and education field which in general has lower paying salaries. There are also about 10-20 students a year who continue on to get a phd and they also generally bring down the average salary as they have a stipend probably in the 20-30k range. If this is also a concern for you you should contact career services so they can give you information specific to your concentration since that would likely be more helpful than just a class average. As for financial aid it appears like it is easier to get fellowships, TA positions, and even research positions once you get in than it is to get them when applying. I received a fellowship already from Michigan for part of my tuition for the first year but once you have taken a class and excelled in it you can apply to TA for the course. If you are selected then you receive a tuition remission for the full amount during that semester and you also receive a 4-9k stipend depending on the number of hrs you are required to put in as a TA. This is a great deal and can make it wayyyy easier to pay for Michigan. However, these are not guaranteed! So its a BIG gamble but it could result in Michigan being substantially cheaper than other schools you may be considering. I met one student who has only paid for her first semester and since than has had TA ships and has been going for free and being supported with a stipend. I also met another student who expected that they would easily be able to get these and unfortunately is taking out more loans than they expected. This is anecdotal but I would look at these as a big plus but not something you should necessarily count on. You can also apply for TAships at other schools and departments within michigan if you have substantial coursework in another subject like math, biology, geology, communication, political science, economics, etc... Over all I really loved Michigan/SNRE and they did an amazing job at admitted students day of getting people excited to attend(at least in my concentration). I still have one more school to visit but I think SNRE would be a great choice for anyone interested in research that wants friendly and invested professors and a job when you graduate!
  17. I think you can get $300 back from them for your travel plans.
  18. I'm in! And visiting next weekend! I don't think there is an admitted students yet. I don't think SPEA gets a lot of love on this board.
  19. Etownenviro

    Evanston, IL

    No problem! If you have any more questions feel free to PM me! I'm glad we have been able to help!
  20. Etownenviro

    Evanston, IL

    I also did my undergrad at NU(and grew up there) and you can find apartments any time of year with the caveat being that if you want to live REALLY close to campus like within less than a 10 minute walk a lot of those will be gone but you can find some all year round.One of the nice things I think(although I'm extremely bias) about Evanston is that yes when you are near campus it feels like a college town but the truth is the vast majority of people living in Evanston are in no way affiliated with the university and work in downtown Chicago or in a farther out suburb so this means that there are apartments and houses available all year around instead of a crazy apartment mad dash where there is nothing left by April. If you aren't SUPER picky about where you live I don't think you will have a problem at all finding an apartment that works for you and your partner in Evanston over the coming months. I'm guessing you really aren't interested in living with undergrads and since it looks like your an English phd I would assume you will mostly need to be on south campus so if you choose to live south of campus you will probably have a way easier time finding an apartment and there will be fewer undergrads and more young professional/families. Here is a map of Evanston, I would check out apartments near main because its pretty near south campus where presumably you would be, there is an NU bus stop near there that you can take if you don't feel like walking, and its near a combined L and metra stop which would be probably a plus if your partner is working downtown. Also you may find the rent is a littttle cheaper in south Evanston although that is really variable. There is also a cute shopping district there and your near the beach if that is your thing over the summer. You might also like the apartments on Central street past Ridge, its not a bad walk to north campus and there are both campus and city buses that go past there. Additionally there are some shops and places to eat as well as having access to a metra and L stop for getting downtown. These can also be a little cheaper than living right near campus.
  21. I don't know if this is possible with the short amount of time left before decision day but I found it pretty helpful as well to look at linkedin, get lists of jobs by concentration if possible from the career services of the various schools you are considering and finally to go to any alumni events the schools are hosting. I was able to go to one for Michigan and another school I applied to and they were very helpful in seeing where graduates go not only in their first job but where they are 5-10 years out. This also gives you a chance to learn about what it was like to graduate with a specific degree and what their whole career path was like. I only really know about Michigan because I also applied there but a huge percentage do a dual degree(it looks like between 35%-45% depending on the year) with SNRE so if you have in state tuition after attending Michigan State than maybe that is an option if you want to cover both bases? Also at least at Michigan you can apply for assistantships formally and things like that once you are in and accept (or at least that is my understanding). Also if you are considering taking a year and working? I took only one year off from school and received financial aid/assistantships/fellowships (money in some form or another) everywhere I was accepted. It looks like a year of work experience can make a difference sometimes when it comes to financial aid(according to people on gradcafe and generally from talking to other admitted students but take this with a huge grain of salt since I have no comparison). Also taking a year off let me save up some money, not enough to pay everything obviously but enough that it will make to difference with loans and debt. Taking a year off let me network with alumni of my undergrad who have careers I admire and learn from them about where to apply/what concentrations they see as the most relevant in the future. This really helped me loosely understand what I would like my career path to look like so when I met with the career services of the different schools I could figure out if the schools would allow me to do what I wanted and to learn if they had connections to the kind of organizations I am interested in. This let me apply to only a few schools that I knew would get me where I want to go which at least for me is making the decision process a little easier since my decision is more coming down to finances and location of school and graduates.
  22. @MorlockHolmes That is the program I was thinking of! It is something I'm interested in as well since I'm hoping to work for the government upon graduation. After visiting Duke I feel like the debt is a lot but its fairly manageable. The $62 in tuition turns into $39(using your #s as an example and with the assistantship converting into a scholarship in the 2nd year which is standard at Duke) and students standard is living seems to very significantly! Some students seem to live fairly extravagantly (I think aka buying only food at Whole Foods, owning a car, living w/out roomies, going on many vacations etc...) while others are living very much on the cheap (in a house with multiple roomates, shopping at krogers, eating lots of cereal and yogurt, biking/walking everywhere etc...) and that difference can be $10-$15k! so if your willing to live on the cheap end of things for $10k a year it becomes 59K of debt. Which isn't insignificant! But it a lot better than 90k... Also you might find out that you are eligible for work study! At Duke there is a pretty wide range of the work study pay scale but basically you could find yourself making an additional 3-10K a year which could cover a large portion of your living expenses. Also there are some scholarships at Duke that open up in your second year that you can apply for once you submit your deposit I believe. Also students said that over the summer they made between 5-10k which would be enough to not go into more debt over the summer and maybe even pay some of the 2nd year with. Additionally you can always ask for more financial aid. If they say no they say no its not like they are going to take away you admission and who knows they might be able to up your financial aid by a little bit? Also is getting a phd something you really want? It can end up placing you out of some jobs and depending on your field within environmental science/management it might not be super valuable in the private sector. Duke seems to market their MEM like an MBA where you do take some management training courses, networking opportunities, professional development skills, summer internships etc... Those are things you really wont get through a phd program. Also while phds are generally funded they are funded at both public and private universities so if a phd is that you want you don't need to restrict yourself to only large public universities. When it comes to masters at public universities you will likely pay more or the same at Duke and Yale because public universities generally have less generous financial aid than private universities. While there are assistantships available you wont know till your in and that can be a pretty big gamble(for an MS at Michigan that is the difference between free tuition plus a stipend and 40k in tuition and another 15K in living expenses...) Finally Duke graduates at least in my chosen concentration make about high 50s-low60sk at graduation so there is a financial opportunity cost to think about when getting a phd as although you may have little to minimal debt upon graduation your missing out on 3-4 years so 150-200k and as one school I applied to showed phds don't end up making substantially more than ms/mem students so its unlikely that you will have a super high paying job after a phd at least initially. Also check out the financial aid calculator, I put in my numbers and played around with it a little. You can also think about it in terms of if you make the average salary you will get about 3,600 a mo after taxes(roughly) with 10 years it assumes you pay 600 a mo for your loans but if your willing to up that amount you can pay them off much faster and greatly reduce what you pay in interest.For example I personally with living pretty decently in my ideal city would be able to pay it back in about 5-6 years and reduce my interest payments by a little less than half. http://www.finaid.org/calculators/scripts/loanpayments.cgi If you have some savings or can save some money in the next few months that can be really helpful too! I'm lucky in that I always knew I would go to grad school so I've been saving for a while so I will have fewer loans to take out because of that. Sorry this post is another big one! You can tell financial aid has also been on my mind a lot and it doesn't help that most of my family works in the financial industry in some way or another so they constantly want me to go over these calculations. I think its not easy but absolutely not impossible to pay back that amount of debt and you certainly wont be in debt forever esp with some forethought and careful planning. I hope this helps you and any lurkers out there thinking about this and making these decisions because this is something I wished people has discussed more in past years when I was lurking on this board from time to time. EDIT: It sounds in this that I'm super advocating for you to go to Duke but that is because its the only school we have both been accepted to. I'm sure the financial stuff is roughly the same for Yale? I hear New Haven is slightly more expensive but I've never lived there so I have no first hand experience with Yales cost of living. Also Duke is middle expensive school I was I got into(I have one that is significantly more and another that is significantly cheaper) so I'm not sure I'm going to be attending there anyways.
  23. @sparkles21 what did you think of Duke's admitted students day? are you planning on going to SPEA's next weekend? I don't know how helpful stats will be since I think they care more about your letters/essays and things like that. Here are mine anyways: Undergrad: Top 10 non ivy university with a decent amount above a 3.5 majoring in a science GRE: 159 Q/160V/4.5 W I also have 1 year of work experience and worked almost all throughout undergrad. I think my stats are about in line with the average-lower end of what you will find on this message board BUT I don't think this board is an accurate sample size of everyone applying so take all this with a huge grain of salt!! Best of luck!
  24. Is anyone planning on attending SNRE's admitted students day this weekend? Also is anyone else curious about the employment differences that come with having an MS instead of an MPA/MBA/MEM? Thanks!!
  25. Etownenviro

    Evanston, IL

    Many NU grad students live in like Lincoln park or even wrigglyville, if I were you and wanted to live in chicago I would look for places near where the purple line express stops so you don't have to transfer trains getting to campus since it runs all the way into evanston w/out any transfers! If you want to live in evanston which is SUPER safe but away from undergrads then check out central street by the football stadium! There is a bus that stops by there or you could even take the train to campus. It's cute and there are little shops and places to eat a few blocks away and you won't run into NU undergrads all the time like if you lived only a few blocks from campus. You can also go south and live on main or dempster both have stores and a variety of places to eat and you can easily take the campus bus, train, or honestly even walk if you are going to the south end of campus as it's only about a mile. The rent is cheaper there than near campus, there are almost no undergrads and if you have kids there are a few schools both public and private a few blocks away. It's a great area!
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