Neist

Depends on the state. Some have more lenient standards than others. I'm not sure how RA/TA/GA-ship income is counted (it might be job training, not income), and some states heavily weigh an individuals 'resources,' of which a car can be considered (or not, depending on the state). You're usually only allowed $2,500 in resources total, and that number includes any money you have in the bank, and sometimes one's vehicle's equity. However, assuming you meet the standards for your state, then you should be able to get them assuming your income is low enough for your area. I say that income usually has to be low enough, but not always. Again, I'm not sure how GA-style incomes are counted, and that matters. For example, if you're an undergraduate who qualifies for work study in Oklahoma, you automatically qualify, regardless of income. I suppose it's possible that funded graduate assistantships might be considered similarly, but I'm not sure for certain. Me and my family will definitely be under poverty income guidelines, so it doesn't matter either way for me personally, but it's difficult to even ask. I was told I have to apply for SNAP benefits before I can even talk to a SNAP person, and I not going to apply for SNAP benefits until after my stipend begins. Hope that's not too confusing?

Hm. I've never rented an apartment that had a monthly income requirement, so I'm not sure! Have you tried calling them? Doing so might not be all that helpful, but it's probably worth a try.

What really screws up the laundry expenses is a child. They make everything messy all the time. I've honestly considered investing in a good pair or two of jeans so I never have to wash pants anymore (because you really aren't supposed to wash really raw jeans often, if at all). We try to buy dish soap that only has natural ingredients in it. It's a little softer on the hands, but it still doesn't fix the problem.

Oooo. We've never had a dish washer. That's pretty fancy. The apartments I live in now (and will be staying in) have free laundry facilities, too. That's a significant expense one doesn't need to worry about. Three people's worth of laundry is easily $40-50 a month.

Yup! And to be honest, my interests line up with probably more than half of the history of science department in one way or another. It'll be a good place, I think, and only two acceptances were offered funding this year out of a much larger pool (sometimes they only offer one slot). I was quite lucky and I'm very thankful for opportunity I've been given.

I think people are often lured by larger stipends, but sometimes the smaller stipends are in significantly cheaper locations. I'm only going to be getting 16.5k a year and I'll be supporting three people on that, but it's not all that difficult to live in Oklahoma off that much income. It's definitely a little on the poor side, but with SNAP benefits we'll be pretty comfortable. I'm probably going to take out a thousand or two in loans each year to pad it, but it's definitely doable. I'd be living luxuriously if I was single.

I wouldn't worry too much. My understanding is that these applications are more heavily judged on the merits of the proposals themselves. It might have helped you out a bit, yes, but you're an undergrad, like me. You can always apply next year (I'm sure I'm going to have to as well)!

Glad to hear you're happy with your choice! Also, have you considered Zipcar? At least until you find a car you want? Looks like State College has a few Zipcar lots. As long as you don't have to commute daily, it's a pretty decent option. http://www.zipcar.com/universities/state-college-pa Also, I'm probably going to see if I can use on of the out-of-department electives in the history of science side to get a another library class or two. My research requires a lot of technical training. Yay for plans! That's awfully convenient. But then again, I'm not a huge fan of driving. It's tedious and time-consuming. That's one of the perks of staying in Oklahoma. I'm living in an all bills paid two bedroom apartment for under $700 (including cable and internet). Even cheap cities tend to be more expensive than that. It's a pretty big perk, I think.

The MLIS side has a pre-defined course rotation out of a surprisingly large catalog of courses, so any specific course might only be offered once in three years. And there's pre-requisites for those courses. Do you like the outdoors? You'll be pretty close to quite a few parks and wilderness areas. I've only been to Pennsylvania a few times, but it's probably one of my favorite states. I'd like to live there eventually.

Thanks! And it's much more relaxing, indeed. I've started looking at class rotations and schedules for next year, and I'm thinking balancing the timing between two degrees is going to be hairy. Good thing I'm good at planning.

So, I gave up on hearing back from RPI and decided on a program. #SeeTheSig. Relieved the process is over. Now, I'll just cross my fingers for a positive NSF GRFP result.

So, I've decided to take the funded, dual degree offer I landed. It's far too rare of an offer to turn down. I shall soon be in the land of MLIS grad students, even if I have been working in libraries for over a decade now.

So it took my school a million years to verify my offer acceptance, but now that it has, I'm confident posting it here. I'm going to attend a dual degree program at OU. It's hard to turn down a fully-funded dual masters degree that aligns with a decade of my professional experience.

Some universities even have acknowledged advisers to write the proposals. My university didn't seem to have any useful to me, but they apparently exist. I'm not even sure how I found out about it. It probably isn't as pervasive in the history of science as the actual sciences, so most people, other than graduate students (I'm an undergraduate currently), have no idea it exists. I'm hopeful. The only real worrying parts of my proposal are stylistic worries. Was the tone proper? Was a too forceful or soft? Is my proposed course of study 'sexy' enough to win the fellowship? I really want my feedback, more than anything.

Can't speak directly of McGill, but I've taken courses with Ragep when he was at OU. He's an impressive scholar. It's only anecdotal, but I'm sure McGill is a decent location if he's the standard of faculty members.

Have you considered a Casper matress? I have no idea if they are any good, but I listen to enough podcasts that their ads have me brainwashed. Also, you're talking reference management software? I really like Paperpile. It's cheap, and it's cloud base, so it can be accessed from any computer without added software. But a lot of people I know use Zotero and love it just fine. I don't know anyone who uses Mendeley or Papers, but then again, I'm not in the sciences either. Maybe other programs are more common?

Congrats!

It'd have to be a expensive fake, at least at my testing center. They expelled more effort looking at my ID than they do at an airport. Did this person mention what field it was in? The scores might not matter as much, depending on the field.

I don't even see how that would be possible. They were pretty thorough checking my identity when I took mine. I was shocked how thorough they were, even. Maybe if you had a close-aged sibling who looked similar, or a twin, but as @ExponentialDecay commented, it's not worth the effort. Would his brother take his graduate courses for him too? Write his dissertation? Where would it stop?

Does your accepted school offer funding? I'd just go with funding, at this point. It's pretty late in the game, and who knows if you'll ever get off the wait list.

Sounds like it went well! It just now occurred to me that, given your correspondence was probably not in English, the informal "tu" would have certainly been slightly embarrassing. In English, I've never considered such a tone as important, but it's definitely more formalized in other languages.

One can casually email Latour and ask him out for coffee? Maybe I've live far too reserved. Hah.

Are you aiming for $800 pre or post utilities? If it's the former, you can probably stay close to anywhere you'd like (as long as it's not close to the gentrifying downtown area, which is getting rather expensive). Oklahoma City has a fairly low cost of living, almost absurdly low. Even in Norman, which is one of the pricier cities in the greater metro area (because it's a college town and all), you can can get studio-sized apartments in the $400-500 range. I live in OU-owned apartments in Norman and I pay under $700 all bills paid, including internet and basic cable, for an unfurnished two bedroom apartment. As an example, here's the rates of a company I used to live in's apartments. http://www.elite2900.com/rates.html They aren't stupendously nice, but they are well-managed. One bit of advice that I'd definitely offer is be careful of areas in the greater downtown area that seem awfully cheap compared to other offerings. The downtown OKC area can be fantastic, but it can also be not so fantastic. If the "nicer" options close to the HSC campus are too expensive, and you don't want to try to get university housing, I'd look towards Edmond or Norman or even Moore. It's pretty easy to leave the HSC campus and go north or south to any of those areas. If I were in your situation, I'd strongly consider university owned housing at HSC or Norman. I live in university-owned housing, albeit on a different campus, and I have no complaints. It's very well-managed and affordable. Also, any hesitations about safety are probably somewhat negated by the bubble a campus tends to impose on surrounding areas. And I suggest Norman because you'd have access to study locations other than the HSC campus if you didn't want to commute. Again, just my preference, but Norman is a town in which a person can generally move about the greater campus area without car, and if I were to commute, I probably wouldn't want to drive a car any more than was necessary. All that said. These are just my opinions. Feel free to disregard them if you like. Have you asked HSC if they have suggestions for housing? That might help. Also, if you live closer to Bricktown, be wary of the traffic on weekends. They tend to stack sporting/music events at the same time, making traffic horrible. Let me know if you have any other specific questions!

What sort of budget you aiming for? Edmond and Norman are definitely nicer than the majority of OKC, but also more expensive than the majority of OKC. Also, I'm not sure about the quality of HSC apartments, but the area around the school has steadily been gentrifying over several years. Meaning that if you want to live close to campus, I'd live in university owned apartments. I bet that other options are expensive. What sort of things do you value living around? I've lived in the greater metro area my entire life. I could pinpoint general areas with some more details.

I know, right?! Although, I admit, I put a lot of effort into mine. About a year, actually.