brown_eyed_girl

I have 5 children.  I have should have satisfied my maternal urges in spades.  My youngest two are 12 (yeah, twins...) That said, the cooing, "oh-babies-are-cute" thing still happens every so often.  I think in part that's a biological reflex honestly. I am NOT having any more kids.  EVER.  I love my kids more than I could possibly say, but want no more diaper duty, sleepless nights or sore nipples.  A good number of my age cohort are doing the 2nd family thing either with their original spouse, or with a new one.  My reaction is still "No thanks."
 
What I'm trying to say, albiet ham-handedly is that maternal (or paternal) twinges happen from time to time for almost everyone.  Wisdom lies in realizing the difference between a twinge, and a real desire for parenthood for lack of better terms.  Babies are a pain in the ass.  Toddlers are the same (though more entertaining).  Young children are like toddlers much of the time.  Tweens and teenagers revert to baby status (PITA).   
 
Were my kids worth it? Absolutely.  Would I recommend the same path (IE having biological or any children) for everyone?  Oh hells no.  Feeling guilt, or questioning yourself over not wanting kids ever or not wanting kids "now" is fruitless.  If you don't want 'em, don't second guess it too much.  Live a happy life as someone without them, or at least for the time being.
 
The take away?  Babies are like puppies.  They're always cutest when they belong to somebody else.

About your dog: I think that depends entirely on you and your program. I am in a social science program where the majority of my analysis and writing can be done from home, and I prefer to work from home or from a library (as opposed to my cube in the windowless cube farm). When I was taking classes I was generally there from 9-6 or so, but now that my coursework is finished I am rarely at the school itself. I go for meetings, seminars, interesting kinds of things and I do most of my work remotely. My time is verrry flexible, and if my building didn't prohibit it I would get a dog in a heartbeat. Another thing to keep in mind: a dog can be a great comfort when you're all stressed out over graduate school.

Advice?

Age:
-Don't feel like you have nothing to offer just because you are younger. I was 22 when I started graduate school. You got accepted to the program for a reason, and chances are you are just as equipped as any older students are to successfully complete the program, just in a different way.

-Your older classmates may be just as terrified as you. Talk to them. You have a lot in common. You are, after all, in the same place.

-You will feel like an imposter, like you don't belong, or like you are constantly behind. Or all three. It's normal. It will pass. (Well, sort of.) People of all ages go through this.

Adviser related:
-If you are lucky enough to get both research interest fit and personality fit perfect, congratulations! But sometimes, personality fit is more important than research interest fit as long as the research isn't too different. A great adviser is interested in your career development, likes you as a person, advocates for you, and wants to hear your ideas. Even if his or her research is quite different from yours, they may give you the autonomy to work on your own projects and just supervise you. A bad personality fit will drive you nuts, even if you love his or her research. Consider that when evaluating your adviser fit. (This will vary by field: research fit may be less important in the humanities, more important in the natural and physical sciences. Social sciences are somewhere in-between.)

-Don't be afraid to be straight up blunt with your adviser when it comes to asking about your progress. Ask if you are where you should be both academic program wise and getting-a-job-after-this-mess-wise.

-Be proactive. Advisers love when you draw up an agenda for your one-on-one meetings, come with talking points and progress to share, have concrete questions to ask, and have overall shown that you have been thoughtful and taken control of your own program. Of course, this won't immediately come easily to you, but in time you will work up to it. Every semester I type up my semester goals, and at the beginning of the year I type up annual goals. I show them to my adviser and we talk about whether they are too ambitious, or whether I need to revise them, and how I can meet them.

-Don't expect your adviser to actually know what courses you have to take to graduate. They will know about comprehensive exams and the dissertation, but a lot of professors don't really keep up with the course requirements, especially if their program is in flux. Get you a student handbook, and find out what you need to take. Map it out in a grid, and check off things when you finish them. Show this to your adviser every semester. You may have to explain how such and such class fills a requirement.

-Nobody loves you as much as you, except your mother. Keep this in mind as you take in advice from all sources, including your adviser. Your adviser is there to guide you, but that doesn't mean you have to do everything he says.

Studying:
-You will have to read more than you ever did before, in less time than you ever have before, and you will be expected to retain more than you ever have before. The way that you studied in undergrad may need some tweaking. Be prepared for this.

-Corollary: you may find that your methods change with age or interests or time. I preferred to study alone in college, but in grad school, I prefer to study in groups. It keeps me on task and the socialization keeps me motivated. You may find that you shift from being a more auditory learner to a visual learner or whatever.

-You will feel behind at first. This is normal.

-At some point you will realize that your professors don't actually expect you to read everything they assign you. This, of course, will vary by program, but there will be at least one class where the reading is actually impossible to do in one week. The point is to read enough that you know the major themes and can talk intelligently about them, and then pick some of the readings to really dig into and think more deeply about.

-For most programs, don't worry so much about grades. If you stay on top of your work and do what you're supposed to, you will probably get an A. How much grades matter varies from program to program. In some programs, a B is a signal that you are not up to par, and more than a few Bs will warrant a discussion with your adviser or the DGS. My program isn't like that - A, B, it's all meaningless. My adviser doesn't even know what my grades are. But at almost all programs, a C means you need to retake the course, and two Cs means you have to convince the DGS not to kick you out.

Extracurricular activity: What's that? No, seriously:
-A lot of your time will be unstructured. You will have coursework, but most grad classes meet once a week for two hours and you may have three classes. You may have meetings with your adviser every so often and some seminars or things to catch (like we have grand rounds and colloquia that are required), but a lot of time will be unstructured. However, since you have so much more work than you had in undergrad, you actually will have less free time than you had in undergrad. This may initially cause you great anxiety. It did for me. Some people love unstructured time, though. (I don't.)

-Because of this, you'll have to be planful about your non-grad school related stuff.

-TAKE TIME OFF. DO it. It's important for your mental health. However you do it doesn't matter. Some people work it like a 9-5 job. Some people take a day off per week (me) and maybe a few hours spread across the week. Some people work half days 7 days a week. However you do it, there needs to be a time when you say "f this, I'm going to the movies."

-Find your happy place, something that keeps you the you you were when you came in. I love working out. It gives me energy and I feel good. I stay healthy. I also love reading fiction, so sometimes I just curl up with a good book, work be damned. You have to give yourself permission to not think about work, at least for a couple of hours a week. You may also discover new hobbies! (I never worked out before I came to graduate school.)

-Your work will creep into all aspects of your life, if you let it. This is why I hate unstructured time. You will feel guilty for not doing something, because in graduate school, there is ALWAYS something you can do. ALWAYS. But since there will always be more work, there's no harm in putting it aside for tomorrow, as long as you don't have a deadline.

-You may need to reach outside of your cohort for a social life. None of my close friends are in my doctoral cohort. I've met master's students in my program, master's students in other programs, and I know a few non-graduate students I hang out with, too. Go to graduate student mixers. (If your university doesn't have any, organize some, if you like planning parties.) Join a student group that doesn't take up too much time. I had a doctoral acquaintance who kinda laughed at me because I joined some student groups other than the doctoral student one, and I was usually the only doctoral student in those groups, but I met some close friends (and future job contacts) and had a good time.

-DO NOT FEEL GUILTY FOR WANTING A LIFE OUTSIDE OF GRADUATE SCHOOL. This is paramount. This is important. You are a well-rounded, complex, multifaceted human being. NEVER feel bad for this. Everybody wants some kind of life outside of work. Yes, you may loooove your field, but that doesn't mean you want to do it all day long. Some other doctoral students, and perhaps professors, may make you feel bad about this. Don't let them. Just smile and nod. Then disappear when you need to.

Career:
-This is job preparation. Remember that from Day One. Always be looking for ways to enhance your skills. Read job ads and find out what's hot in your field, what's necessary, what's in demand. For example, in my field statistics and methods are a hot commodity, and they're not a passing fad. I happen to really like statistics and methods, so I have pursued that as a concentration of mine.

-Don't be afraid to take on volunteer work and part-time gigs that will give you skills that will be useful both inside academia and out, as long as it's not against your contract. Your adviser may be against it, but he doesn't have to know as long as it doesn't interfere with your work.

-If you want to work outside of academia - if you are even *considering* the possibility - please please definitely do the above. Even if you aren't considering it, consider the possibility that you won't get a tenure-track job out the box and that you may need to support yourself doing something else for a while. You will have to prove to employers that you have developed usable, useful skills and this is one of the easiest ways to do it. But don't overdo it - get the degree done.

-For more academic related ones - always look for opportunities to present and publish. Presentations look good on your CV. Publications look better. When you write seminar papers, wonder if you can publish them with some revision. Write your seminar papers on what you maybe think you may want to do your dissertation on. Even if you look at them three years later and think "these suck," you can at least glean some useful references and pieces from them. Discuss publication with your adviser early and often, and if you have the time and desire, seek out publication options with other professors and researchers. But if you commit to a project, COMMIT. You don't want to leave a bad impression.

-If you can afford it, occasionally go to conferences even if you aren't presenting. You can network, and you can hear some interesting talks, and you may think about new directions for your own research. You can also meet people who may tell you about jobs, money, opportunities, etc.

-Always try to get someone else to pay for conference travel before you come out of pocket. Including your adviser. Do not be shy about asking if he or she can pay. If he can't, he'll just say no. Usually the department has a travel fund for students, but often it's only if you are presenting.

-If you are interested in academia, you should get some teaching experience. There are two traditional ways to do this: TAing a course, and teaching as a sole instructor. If you can help it, I wouldn't recommend doing a sole instructor position until you are finished with coursework. Teaching takes a LOT of time to do right. You should definitely TA at least one course, and probably a few different ones. But don't overdo it, if you can help it, because again, it takes a LOT of time. More than you expect at the outset. If you are in the humanities, I think sole instructor positions are very important for nabbing jobs so when you are in the exam/ABD phase, you may want to try at least one. If your own university has none, look at adjuncting for nearby colleges, including community colleges. (I would wager that the majority of natural science/physical science students, and most social science students, have never sole taught a class before they get an assistant professor job. At least, it's not that common n my field, which straddles the social and natural sciences.)

-Always look for money. Money is awesome. If you can fund yourself you can do what you want, within reason. Your university will be thrilled, your adviser will be happy, and you can put it on your CV. It's win-win-win! Don't put yourself out of the running before anyone else has a chance to. Apply even if you think you won't get it or the odds are against you (they always are), as long as you are eligible. Apply often. Apply even if it's only $500. (That's conference travel!) Money begets money. The more awards you get, the more awards you will get. They will get bigger over time. If you are in the sciences and social sciences, you should get practice writing at least one grant. You don't have to write the whole thing, but at least get in on the process so that you can see how it's done. Grant-writing is very valuable both in and outside of graduate school.

-Revise your CV every so often. Then look and decide what you want to add to it. Then go get that thing, so you can add it.

-The career office at big universities is often not just for undergrads. I was surprised to learn that my career center offers help on CV organization and the academic job search, as well as alternative/non-academic career searches for doctoral students. In fact, there are two people whose sole purpose it is to help PhD students find nonacademic careers, and they both have PhDs. This will vary by university - some universities will have very little for grad students. Find out before you write the office off.

-It's never too early to go to seminars/workshops like "the academic job search inside and out", "creating the perfect CV," "getting the job," etc. NEVER. Often the leader will share tips that are more aimed towards early graduate students, or tidbits that are kind of too late for more advanced students to take care of. This will also help you keep a pulse on what's hot in your field. It'll help you know what lines you need to add to your CV. And they're interesting.

Other:

-Decide ahead of time what you are NOT willing to sacrifice on the altar of academia. Then stick to it.
I'm serious. If you decide that you do NOT want to sacrifice your relationship, don't. If it's your geographical mobility, don't. I mean, be realistic, and realize that there will always be trade-offs. But you have to think about what's important to you for your quality of life, and realize that there is always more to you than graduate school.

-If you don't want to be a professor, do not feel guilty about this. At all. Zero. However, you will have to do things differently than most doctoral students. Your adviser will probably never have worked outside of the academy (although this may vary depending on the field) so he may or may not be able to help you. But you have a special mission to seek out the kinds of experiences that will help you find a non-academic job. Test the waters with your adviser before you tell him this. My adviser was quite amenable to it, but that's because I told him that my goal was to still do research and policy work in my field just not at a university, AND because it's quite common in my field for doctoral students to do non-academic work. If you're in a field where it's not common (or where your professors refuse to believe it's common, or it's not supposed to be common)…well, you may be a little more on your own.

-Every so often, you will need to reflect on the reasons you came to graduate school. Sometimes, just sit and think quietly. Why are you doing this to yourself? Do you love your field? Do you need this degree to do what you want to do? Usually the answer is yes and yes, and usually you'll keep on trucking. But sometimes when the chips are down you will need to reevaluate why you put yourself through this in the first place.

-To my great dismay, depression is quite common in doctoral students. Graduate work can be isolating and stressful. Luckily your health insurance usually includes counseling sessions. TAKE THEM if you need them. Do not be ashamed. You may be surprised with who else is getting them. (I found out that everyone in my cohort, including me, was getting mental health counseling at a certain point.) Exercise can help, as can taking that mental health day once a week and just chilling. Don't be surprised if you get the blues…

-…but be self-aware and able to recognize when the depression is clouding your ability to function. Doctoral programs have a 50% attrition rate, and this is rarely because that 50% is less intelligent than, less motivated than, less driven than, or less ambitious than the other 50% that stays. Often they realize that they are ridiculously unhappy in the field, or that they don't need the degree anymore, or that they'd rather focus on other things in life, or their interests have changed. All of this is okay!

-You will, at some point, be like "eff this, I'm leaving." I think almost every doctoral student has thought about dropping out and just kicking this all to the curb. You need to listen to yourself, and find out whether it is idle thought (nothing to worry about, very normal) or whether you are truly unhappy to the point that you need to leave. Counseling can help you figure this out.

-Don't be afraid to take a semester or a year off if you need to. That's what leaves of absence are for.

Lastly, and positively…

…graduate school is great! Seriously, when else will you ever have the time to study what you want for hours on end, talk to just as interested others about it, and live in an intellectual community of scholars and intellectuals? And occasionally wake up at 11 am and go to the bank at 2 pm? Sometimes you will want to pull out all of your hair but most of the time, you will feel fulfilled and wonderfully encouraged and edified. So enjoy this time!

I like your gratefulness rant. We could all use more of those.  
 
I too am pretty grateful. I've got a great boyfriend, some really wonderful friends, a fine-for-now job that has given me tons of great experience in my field, and in the Fall I'm going to one of the best PhD programs in my field and getting paid to learn stuff -- what an awesome luxury. Life is good.  

Hi everyone!

Just wanted to let you all know that I've accepted my offer from the University at Buffalo. Thanks all for your help and advice!

1. I don't know the rest of your record (GPA? Honors program? Internships?) but generally speaking, if you don't have a lot of experience in your field, yes, you are more likely to get into a masters program than a doctoral program. An MS is not required for PhD programs, but it's probably your best bet of building experience and proving yourself to PhD committees, unless you land a job in your field and build practical experience by working for a year or two after undergrad, which is another route a lot of people take. It's probably possible to get into a PhD without a lot of research experience in your field if all other things are aligned right - stellar grades, GREs, letters of rec, experience in related areas - but especially in the sciences research is key. 
 
2. It's my understanding that a lot of people make up for unimpressive undergrad careers by excelling in their masters programs. I think admissions committees usually give more weight to your most recent work, and will take into account improvement. It's not rare to see someone who went to mid-tier institutions for undergrad and MA work end up in top-tier doctoral programs for this reason. 
 
3. If your end goal is a PhD, it's my impression that the rank of your MA/MS institution matters much less than the rank of your doctoral program. If your end goal is a terminal masters, then the rank of the MS program may matter a bit more. In either case, go to the place where you think you will have the best combination of research experience, mentor support, possibilities for work/research experience in the surrounding area, and departmental funding. How much debt you are willing to take on is very personal, but you may want to look at projected starting salaries of people in your field and think about how long it will take you to pay off your loans with that salary. Should you worry about dead-ends? I personally don't think so, since there are really no guarantees in this job market; spending a few years in a grad program seems as good a use of your time as any, and more education does still correlate with higher pay in general. 
 
4. Rank matters in terms of job placement and the resources you'll have, but so does the reputation of your individual POI/research lab or group, etc. Debt-wise, most PhD programs are funded (at least for 5 years), and most will tell you never to consider an unfunded one. That said, it's still a serious investment of time, energy, and resources. Even going to a top 5 program doesn't promise that you'll get a job on the other side. So do it because you love it and can't imagine doing anything else, and by all means try for the best program for your needs. And be aware that rank is not everything... there are people from mid and low-tier institutions who will be successful, and people at Ivys who won't be.  

2.7 uGPA and middling GRE's. I got my BA years ago and worked in various fields. When I decided to go back to school I researched the programs I was interested in (Botany and Ecology) saw what courses they required and the spent the last two years in community college. Over that time I got much better grades, formed great relationships with my professors and worked in many internships. Because of all that I got very good LOR and just was accepted to UC Riverside with a full fellowship. You can overcome a low GPA, but you need to put in the work. 

I relate to this... I am very conflicted about the baby thing. I always thought that I would have a husband and kids but as I get older, I'm just not sure anymore. There are so many different things that I could be doing during those 18+ years. Do I want kids more than I want all of those other opportunities? I worry that I only want kids because society tells me I should. At the same time, my mom is a nanny and I have grown up around kids. I am very comfortable around them and enjoy their company, especially once they get to be around 3 years old at least.
 
I guess we don't necessarily have to make these decisions right know. I KNOW that I want to pursue science and think that MAYBE I want kids. Since of the two, science is the more sure thing, it makes most sense to go after that one right now.

I don't really care for children, especially babies. I like the idea of having kids and the whole family thing, but the actual process of carrying a child and giving birth freaks me out. Plus being responsible for a tiny helpless creature is a tall order.

But when I get together with my best friends from high school, the ones that have children make me feel like I'm missing out and that I've pretty much blown my chances at having a family by pursuing an academic career. Not intentionally, but it still makes me feel a little conflicted about my life choices. Of course, one friend did tell me that she thought it would be really hard on me to have kids after having a career. I'm not sure if that means it will just be hard to balance things or if she expects me to drop everything like a few of my friends did and become a stay at home mom, which would no doubt be crappy.

I certainly don't regret my pursuit of science and academia, but I'm really starting to wish it didn't take me 10 years to get a B.S. I would have far fewer student loans and I'd be finishing up my PhD by now instead of just starting, which would make starting a family so much simpler. Then again, maybe tomorrow I will hear a screaming child and all of these feelings will go away. Blech.

I feel this conflict. For me, the fear is more not knowing where the heck I'll be when I finish my degree - as in, where will I be physically living, how long might I be there, and will I ever even have the money to support having a child?? If things work out relationship-wise I've even thought about having a baby during the dissertation phase when at least I'll be sure of health insurance and flexible hours, but there's no way to know if that would work out with a partner by then. I've also seen how it can slow the whole dissertation completion process down, but it can be even more problematic to have a child in the first few years at a new assistant professor position, and by the time I'm past that stage I'd be starting to worry that my eggs may no longer be viable (and then we get into the whole cost of adoption or fertility treatments). Sometimes it seems as though the whole thing is fraught no matter how you go about it, and there will be a major sacrifice - of time, of money, of sanity - no matter how you go about it. And the human body does not always obey deadlines either

Do you enjoy law? I know multiple people who went to law school because it seemed like the reasonable thing to do (rather than pursuing less concrete fields like psych), hated law school but trudged through it, and are now saddled with hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt even after considerable scholarships, AND have realized they hate law and want to do something else. Once you're in that situation, it's pretty hard to switch fields since minimum loan payments on that much debt are considerable, and it's hard to find other jobs that pay as well as law ones. Obviously this doesn't happen to everyone and you might love law and excel at it, but something to consider for sure.
 
My two cents are that if you go into law you either need to be passionate about it OR be the type who is attracted to stability and sees law as a steady career path, but doesn't necessarily seek fulfillment from their career. If you are not passionate about law but do seek an emotionally rewarding career, go for the PhD instead; otherwise if you are anything like my friends you may be throwing around the term "soul-crushing" a lot. It's definitely a hard choice and not something anyone on here can tell you... and I am biased because I'm pursuing a humanities PhD despite the bleak job prospects. But I really am a believer in the idea that you'll do best at what you love, I never expect to make a lot of money, and even in the worst case scenario I'm still getting paid to learn for the next 5-7 years, which I'm pretty excited about. 

Love yourself, don't study law. Having half of your tuition covered is also incredibly awesome (seriously, congrats on that!!). But the risk is still a bit excessive if you're on the fence.
 
I went through my undergrad career preparing for it, worked an internship concerning international law (environmental and immigration), and worked in law for a little over a year after undergrad. No one likes it. It's soul-sucking work. Your morals and personal beliefs are put on the back-burner so that you can pursue billable hours. The job market isn't even that great for JDs. At my last firm, we would onboard associates for about 50k. And please don't get me started on the horror stories I've read (Ivy League grads competing for paralegal positions, stacks of unread resumes for a foreclosure attorney position, etc.). You don't study law for the sake of learning, you study it to make a living. It's a professional degree that you have to be firm on wanting, otherwise you'll get left behind in the job market.
 
Obviously, your mileage may vary. But at least you can BS your way into a decently paying job with an English PhD if need be. It's harder to find work as a JD because everyone thinks you'll want exorbitant amounts of money to stay. Your boyfriend will - and pardon me for being frank - have to get over himself. 

Delete the first three sentences in that email before you send it.
 
Prof X isn't angry, just trying to recruit you into their grad program still. You didn't piss them off.

Thanks to everyone for the kind words. I got into Columbia and Vanderbilt, so I'm over it

What kind of museum work do you want to do? I'd start looking at the LinkedIn's of the people at the museum you work in now and/or places you would like to work, as well as job listings at those places, to see what degrees lead to the jobs you are interested in. In the museum where I work, people with Museum Studies degrees do mostly admin work, whereas curatorial assistants and even some junior curators have Art History MAs. Other museum professionals have degrees in things like nonprofit management or communications. The Art History MA could also lead to jobs in auction houses and galleries, whereas the MA in Museum Studies could lead to work in museums that aren't art related. Just things to weigh in terms of figuring out what kind of degree would be best for your needs. 

hi! PhD in Islamic Studies, nice to meet you all

I'm in the social sciences. Funded MA programs exist and they mean that you TA (grade papers, lead discussion sections) each semester in exchange for a full tuition waiver (both in-state and out-of-state tuition, if applicable) and a stipend ranging from $12-20K/year depending on the program.

This depends entirely on the type of work you want to do.  Overall, an MA in Art History will allow more flexibility.  
 
I studied Religion as an undergrad, and then have worked in museums and in the field for 3 years since graduating. I had no problem getting into graduate programs and have lots of options at this point. My background is in archaeology. 
 
My personal opinion is to approach any museum studies degree with great caution.  These degrees are designed more for people who want to work in educational programs at museums, or outreach, etc.  Most, though not all, people with these degrees do not have as much mobility as art historians.  There is also generally  much less funding available.  
 
If you enjoy working in a museum and your experience is good, that should be all you need.  Take one or two museum studies courses, but be careful about the degree seeking UNLESS you decide that you care less about the historic aspect/working/writing about the art and care MORE about the museum business side of things.  
 
Even so, I would personally still recommend that you seek an art history degree and continue working/interning in the field for more experience.  Remember, you can always get a Museum Studies certificate enroute to your MA in Art History.  Many programs have these to coincide with their art departments.  Much better to earn a certificate along the way, then to shell out money for a program that isn't as specialized.  
 
One last thought - if you ever decide to pursue a PhD, the "museum studies" degree will not be attractive to admissions committees.  Unless, you're applying to some type of PhD in Museum Studies or Business Management.  
 
Remember, many museum directors do not have a degree in anything related to museums.  Sometimes not even in art.  Often times they come from strong financial backgrounds, and may have studied business or fundraising.  
 
You sound like you have a lot of enthusiasm and love what you do.  My advice is to determine what exactly you like the best about what you do - and then try to foresee which path would help you better reach your goals. Working on a museum studies degree may still make you happy and successful - but it does come with limitations and may produce extra work/costs for you in the long run.  
 
GOOD LUCK!   

Wow. So sorry. And... this is exactly why I've been holding off on making a Facebook announcement of my admission before I get my final GSAS letter. 

As for safety in the area surrounding Columbia - it's quite safe. Columbia is actually in Morningside Heights and the Upper West Side; it borders Harlem, but as of yet there only relaly only administrative buildings in Harlem -unless you are in the School of the Arts; I think there may be studio space up there. The southwestern part of Harlem that you're going to be close to is also pretty tame - I wouldn't call it sketchy. I lived in the area for 3 years (at 119th St, just south of Harlem) and of course was a student there for 6 years and I never felt unsafe walking in the vicinity of Columbia at night, and that includes on 125th St when I've been up there shopping or to the movies or something. Before that, I lived in Washington Heights - a neighborhood that I would say borders on sketchy sometimes - and I also felt safe there, too. Where things start to get sketchy is in central and East Harlem, I would say, east of Adam Clayton Powell/7th Ave. But that's far from Columbia (I mean, relatively speaking - it's not really easy walking distance...I mean, you won't accidentally wander there).

@surlefil - I found my first apartment on Craigslist and also one of my roommates that way (I listed it on CL when I needed to replace a vacating roommate). Lots of my friends have found listings on CL. It's totally safe; you just need to see the apartment with your own eyes first - or send a trusted friend to go, take pictures, and do an evaluation. New York landlords are pretty skilled at taking pictures from angles that make apartments look bigger/nicer than they are. Basically, if it sounds way too good to be true, it probably is.

I definitely agree with @higheredhopeful that a broker's fee is worth it if you can afford it and you know you will be in NYC for a long time (and 5-6+ years is a reasonably long time). If I were moving back to New York for a permanent job, I would hire a broker. That said, I've only ever rented no-fee apartments and very few of my friends have retained brokers when renting (I do have three friends who bought their apartments and of course used agents then).

Updating people because calling definitely did help find out faster. I got one letter this morning and three phone calls confirmed what I expected. I didn't make it into any of the PhD programs, though I guess on the bright side VCU said that it was possible to get into the PhD program following a MS

I was accepted into both of those schools too! I'm not likely to attend either due to the lack of funding, but I would've gone to Annenberg for Strategic PR had the money been there. I attended the Prospective Student Visit Day at Annenberg back in November and sat in on the MCM session. Overall, what I felt I learned was that while MCM has their different specializations defined, their program is more "academic" and broad compared to the MSPR program which is more practical.
 
Meanwhile, the big letdown I have about Medill at Northwestern is that the IMC doesn't teach you anything with design and branding software. Don't get me wrong, their course selection is nice, but how can you teach me about "branded content" if you don't even cover the skills to create brands from scratch? Not to mention, it's more expensive than USC Annenberg although the program doesn't last as long (15 months compared to 2 years at USC).
 
If these were really my only two options, I would attend the MCM program at USC - mostly because of the opportunity for specialization, lower cost, and nicer weather.

Sorry, brown_eyed_girl, I didn't mean to pick only on you either! And what I said should not be taken personally. What I was talking about was a generally unspoken rule that everyone should be aware of. I've seen it happen many times that people knowingly wait and wait to tell other schools after they've already made a decision, while other people get left on the waitlist until the last possible second. Sometimes departments don't even have a chance to tap into their wait-lists at all because candidates wait until the very last day to submit their decisions. So, the decision to linger and not tell schools that are still considering you about your decision can have serious repercussions for other people.
 
Even if you haven't heard from the place in question, you could very well still be on a wait-list. It sometimes happens that committee members are not allowed to contact people on a wait-list until they know that they can make them an offer. By all means, just drop them a quick line and let them know that you're out of the pool. In the meantime, I wish you (and everyone else who has gotten into a program of their choice) heartiest congratulations and much success in your studies!

I actually did let McGill know that I had accepted another offer almost a month ago (along with the other school that accepted me outright) but they just never changed my status from waitlisted to rejected until the 1st. I didn't know where I was on the waitlist just that I was on it so I'm assuming that my status didn't change until the first because it didn't matter - they knew I wasn't going there so updating my status on the portal probably wasn't their top priority.
 
Good luck to all of you who are still waiting on schools! I hope you all get positive responses and they arrive as soon as possible.

sorry brown_eyed_girl... certainly didn't mean to pick on you! i just didn't read very far up into the thread... there's no harm dropping a line to your POI and/or the department admin. at the school you haven't yet heard from to let them know you've accepted an offer elsewhere, but you hope your paths cross in the future...

I don't appreciate my ethics being called into question. I am aware (and compliant) of the rule to notify other programs to which you've been accepted as soon as you accept an offer, but if a school hasn't gotten back to me by now (or been in any contact since I submitted my app - no interview, no contact with POI, etc.) I assume I have not been accepted anyway. Correct me if I am mistaken and I'm happy to resolve the issue with a quick email... but let's not put this in grave moral terms. And I'm not sure why these responses are to me rather than Happy Little Pill or Kantekst?