Maleficent999

One thing I'll give the UC system is that they seem to have their health insurance game up to par. I was looking at what my school offers last night and it's pretty much the same coverage I pay over $160 a month for through my current employer.

My favorite was: "We had a very strong applicant pool this year and were forced to make some difficult decisions, but the committee was very impressed with your application in particular. I was one of the committee members who read your file, and believe you bring some unique strengths to our group of graduate students."

YOU GO GIRL!

I'm probably over-thinking this but I'm a female and I'll be going somewhat dressy/business casual. Flats, dark ankle pants, button up that isn't tucked in, and a full-length blazer that's made from a comfortable fabric - not a blazer that's overly stuffy or formal. I've read other people on here say they wore jeans and a nice top and it was fine. I'm erring on the side of caution because I'd rather be over-dressed than under-dressed and also because I like any excuse to wear my nice clothes.

What's considered a good/bad Goldberg score?

I'd like to bump this topic/poll up because there are still a lot of unaswered questions lingering here that are particularly important to both recently accepted and currently attending students. To recap: How do you know when to chill out and let yourself relax? For those already in school or teaching, did you notice any common denominators for students that left your program? Any tips for being better prepared for the work force or more generally as a grad student?

That is a great idea. I looked into it last night and I can work in the writing lab for as many or few hours as I'd like to help drop-ins with their concerns.

Sometimes it takes a while to match scores to applications. They might have done this and not updated the website. I'd contact them to ask for clarification and let them know ETS is showing that the scores were sent. Maybe they didn't end up in the right department. Sooo many possibilities, but I'd call.

I knew it would work out for you! Hooray! Congratulations again.

I haven't experienced the quarter system as a grad student (I will beginning in the Fall), but I did experience both the quarter and semester system as an undergrad. I transferred from a community college that operated under the semester system to a degree-granting institution that used quarters. It took a little adjusting at first, but I ended up liking it better. Things move much faster on the quarter system, which I liked because I'm a fast learner and under the semester system I got really bored with how slowly we got through the material. I had to make sure to pay attention all of the time instead of zoning out once I understood the material, but I don't like being somewhere if I'm not engaged so I prefer this. I've heard some professors say they don't like the quarter system because they don't get to teach everything about a topic that they would like, but personally I found that I learned a lot better with quarters, likely because I was more engaged (out of necessity). I have no idea what we did for 20+ weeks in one class with semesters now! 10-12 weeks is just the right amount of time to submerse myself in a topic in order to understand it and not get bored. If you (or a student) are struggling with the material, it certainly give you less time to realize it. With semesters, there was a lot more time to redeem yourself if you messed up a test or something but once I realized there wasn't that option with quarters, it definitely motivated me to pay attention more closely and utilize office hours. Overall, I think it is more efficient. I got to take a larger array of classes than I would have on the semester system and as someone that really enjoys learning, I appreciated this. So to sum up: Quarters mean you have to teach the material more quickly and be selective with what you include in your lessons. Some students may struggle with the pace, but I think if you emphasize not waiting until there is an issue to ask for help and encourage them to utilize office hours, it should be fine.

CONGRATS!! Very excited for you.

Right around $10k. Thankfully, I attended a city college for 2 years and transferred to a 4-year school for my last 2 years. I took out about $5k in gov't subsidized student loans a year at my degree-granting institution to pay for my tuition and covered the rest + my living expenses by working basically full-time. I don't anticipate taking out any more loans in grad school.

I have a few pages of notes in my notebook with questions I want to remember to ask at my recruitment day. I'm at work so I can't whip it out and type them out right this second but I'll try to remember to add them later tonight. Hopefully they can help out some people. And thanks FertMigMort, I was hoping you were still around these forums! SocGirl is right, your thread was SO very helpful and I think this one will be as well! I'm going to add your suggestions to my list.

The night before I got my first acceptance I had a huge panic attack because one of my top choice schools had sent out some acceptances and I didn't receive one. That night I dreamt I woke up the next morning and checked my email to find I had been admitted. This actually woke me up because it seemed so real. I checked my email and I DID have an acceptance waiting for me, only it was from a different school entirely! I was still pleased because the school is in my top 3.

Good luck!

What day will you be there and what program are you interested in? I'm in sociology and our recruitment day is march 14th.

Thank you for making this thread, OP. I just found out I'll be TA'ing at least the first 4 years of my PhD. I'm assuming (read: praying, hoping, wishing) they won't make me lead a class my first year since I actually come from a discipline closely related to the field I'm going into but don't have a ton of experience in the field itself yet. I have been having stress dreams about it and it's making me sick just thinking about it. However, there are a few things I plan to do regardless in order to prepare myself. I had some excellent instructors in undergrad (there weren't any TA's, only full professors) and I plan to ask if I can sit in on a class one day when I go to visit just to remind myself what I liked about their teaching style and to take some notes for myself. I also have a friend in a different field who TA's a class presently and I'm going to ask him if I can sit in just to see how his students behave. Hopefully I can prepare myself mentally for it if I see it in action. Other than that, I'll probably plan out the lessons as much as I can and make sure I read up on related topics the night before each class...and watch a ton of YouTube videos on teaching.

I'm very excited but also nervous! I'm pretty sure I'll be going there so I want to make a good first impression. Good luck on your visit! Let me know what you think.

Geodude, is there a recruitment day in March for your discipline too?

Same question as the person above, when does this take place? After the beginning of the year or now?

That's good to know though. I didn't think about financial aid from the university. I don't make a ton right now but for some reason it said I'd only be eligble for loans, which I don't plan to take. I'll definitely have to fill out an income adjustment once I get there because I won't be working full-time and will depend totally on the stipend for living expenses.

Can I just say how both terrifying and awesome it is to have a DGS around these forums?! This type of open communication should be the norm, in my humble opinion.

Of course, my info es su info.

Did they let you know you were on the waitlist or did you ask?

I emailed UCSB and was told that they are "finalizing admission decisions this week."