greenpointgrad

Hi, I was in Nashville for UG and a couple of years after, and during this time I knew a handful of students who didn't have a car. However, all of them had access to a car and friends (like myself) willing to schlepp people to and fro. The Hillsboro village/ 21st avenue area is your best best in terms of access to laundromats, grocery stores, coffee shops, bars, restaurants and even a movie theatre. However, if you're interested in going to East Nashville (the 'hip' area of Nashville) or the 12th South area (lots of good restaurants) you will need a car. Personally, I would make it a priority to have a car if at all possible, though parking at Vanderbilt is horrific. A walk from the hillsboro area to Vandy's campus ( in particular the english dept bldgs) would take you maybe 20-30 minutes - not a bad walk at all. As far as rents go in that area, I have a friend who had an amazing 1 bedroom for probably $800/month. I've lived in that area, and I would say that you are probably going to pay around $500/mo minimum for a room in a 2bd or 3bd. If you want to live alone, I would say you're looking $800 minimum although I'm not really sure about that. In short, I think Nashville wants to be a small progressive city that is walkable and bikeable but it's not there just yet. It's a great place to live,though, and feel free to PM me with any questions about Vandy or Nashville.

Craigslist. In NYC, craigslist doesn't carry the "creepy" connotations that it does in other areas, at least in terms of housing. I've used Craigslist - in the sublet and rooms shared categories - to find housing in Brooklyn on three separate occasions. Each were positive experiences and I payed alot less for rooms than most of my friends.

Because it's funny and entertaining?

how 'bout them Berkeley rejections today? At least I saw this one coming.

Congrats, Cinemaaa! Looks like Berkeley overlook my talents. I'm in at UCSB and going to Northwestern's interview weekend, so still feeling good. I share your love of Audition. I slept through a good 30% of the movie and still walked away absolutely terrified. Congrats again about Berkeley!

I'm assuming this is for the Film track too. ughh.

Thanks for the info. I guess the rule is that there is no rule, which is consistent with much of the app process.

Wow, thanks for sharing this. I am attending an interview weekend for a humanities program and have been wondering how these things work. Were you given any indication how many students would be offered admission, or the number of students the department would enroll?

Haha I thought about making an area code list too, but thought it was too obsessive. Now I don't feel so bad. *summoning my post-its*

I've gotten a few emails about incomplete materials but that's about it. Even then I've analyzed to death those email and phone conversations. MY GRE score hasn't been received, you say? Wow they must really want me! Ahh, the pleasures of self-delusion.

I get to resume hanging out and going out with friends again, and occasionally I get 8 hours of sleep/per night again! In moments of insanity I plan to give bikram yoga another shot. Oh, and work on building my record collection.

Here goes nothing. This was incredibly difficult for me to write, but goes along with my new year's resolution to be more positive. -3.78 GPA and 3.91 in my major, from a fancy top-20 R1 undergrad UG -graduated summa cum laude, in the top 10% of my class -phi beta kappa honors -managed to graduate with honors in my major, along with 2 minors -wrote an honors thesis and, through massive editing (read: rewriting), have produced a decent writing sample -spent a semester abroad, studied a bunch of French - good GRE: 750V/680Q/5.5AW - 2 good LORs, 1 great LOR, from my UG advisor who said that I was one of only a handful of students he would absolutely encourage to enter this field -4ish years of 'real world' but unrelated experience which has provided me with invaluable perspective, ambition, drive, etc. Wow, that was weird.

I've got an admin assistant gig at a private high school/middle school.

I love XM radio, particularly Deep Tracks. Besides that, I enjoy T.Rex, Dylan, The Rolling Stones, Fleetwood Mac, Moodly Blues, Steely Dan, Big Star, and The Boss.

Damn, that's a lot of coffee. I also tend to listen to a lot of classic rock while working on apps. Contemporary stuff doesn't do it for me. Now that's obsessive.

Out of the many obsessive rituals I've developed during this long app season (6 months, I'm looking at you), perhaps the most neurotic is my compulsive need to consume some sort of beverage to mitigate the pain of a 5-hour editing-writing-forum-checking session. So far, my triumvirate of libations are 1)seltzer water, 2)coffee, and 3) red wine. Depending on the day of the week, Kombucha may substitute for #3. Any one else love to consume beverages while working on apps? Share your neurotic ways here.

I'll be 26 next fall. I finished undergrad in 2k6 and needed all 3-4 of those years to get serious about grad school, while in the meantime having a lot of fun. All the same, the idea of finishing school at 33 takes some getting used to.

Thanks for the advice! After careful consideration (read: obsession), I've decided to take the plunge and contact a few profs. I"ll let you know how it works out for me.

Eleven, a healthy mix of M.A. and Ph.D.programs. The higher the number, the larger the shame if I get zero admits!

I am applying to Ph.D. and M.A.programs in Film and Media Studies this fall and am confused by the contradictory information I've received about contacting professors in this field. For those of you who are current grad students, do you feel that contacting or not contacting helped/hurt you in the admissions process? To fellow applicants, what sort of advice have you received? I have 2 years of coursework ahead of me, and as such, I'm not sure if it even makes sense to contact potential advisers at this point. Not to mention that efforts to contact profs this late in the game may seem rushed and last-minute, as my first deadlines are only weeks away (Dec 1). Any suggestions or advice would be greatly appreciated, and best of luck to everyone.

thanks for posting this. i'm applying to that very department.

This is my first year applying to film and media studies MA/PH.D. programs, but from the info Ive gathered from this site and others, I would seriously consider broadening your range to include more schools. If you're interested in television studies, you'd want to check out USC's Cinematic Arts program. Faculty include television people like Ellen Seiter and Marsha Kinder, and , as of this year, Henry Jenkins. I think UC - Santa Barbara' s program also has curricular strengths in Hollywood/American film and studies of fandom and stardom, as does U Iowa's program. U Texas at Austin appears to be very much oriented to a cultural studies approach and would def be able to support you in studying all of the areas of concentration you mention here. If, like me, you hold only a B.A., you'd have to go through the M.A. program which I've heard is normally unfunded. Of course, faculty like Janet Staiger and Thomas Schatz are a big draw so it may be worth it. Brown, on the other hand, appears very theoretically focused and holds to certain approaches (psychoanalysis, post-structuralism) that schools such as Texas and Wisconsin have traded-in for cognitive approaches and reception studies. That said, I am applying to all of the schools I listed above and plan to somewhat tailor each Sop to the theoretical and critical bents of each school. Northwestern conducts interviews sometime in the early spring, but i haven't heard of any other schools doing the same. I think their cohort is usually composed of 4-5 students but I could be very wrong. Anyway, I hope this helps, and good luck!