bluewhenitsgray

Northwestern actually does have a bigger endowment.

Yep, I totally got rejected from Yale around that time last year. Think of it as a hazing ritual in the grad school application process. But in all seriousness, good luck.

Emory does conduct interviews. It's a weird experience. Most other places don't.

A 4.0 writing score looks sort of mediocre by itself, but if you can include an example of your writing along with your application that seems to suggest the score is a fluke, it shouldn't be an issue.

Anyone know what's happening with them? Tomorrow is April 15 and I never got a response of any kind. I accepted an offer from elsewhere so it doesn't actually affect me in any way, but I'm kind of curious. A few rejections appear to have been posted in March. Any acceptances?

Food for thought about living in Amherst (literally): Atkins Farms Country Market is a a really one of a kind speciality grocery store that also makes its own apple cider (and cider donuts, which are quite popular). All the food they sell is seriously great though, somehow seemingly fresher and better tasting than bigger name speciality stores like Whole Foods. And they have a little cafe where you can read a book and eat, but it's kind of like a senior citizens center sometimes. The Lone Wolf is the best breakfast and brunch place in the region. It's open from early morning til about 2 or so and serves wonderful food with an emphasis on southwestern flavors. Very nice atmosphere. Extremely vegan friendly, but not in the way that detracts from meat eaters like myself. If you're there early, you might also check out a used bookstore across the street that opens at some absurdly early hour. I believe 6 am. Next door is the Black Sheep, which is a nice hippie coffeehouse, deli, and bakery. Sometimes it's crowded, but it's a good place to go for some fair trade coffee or a delicious croissant. The Moan and Dove is a wonderful bar located on the bus route between Amherst and Hampshire Colleges. It's small, pretty low key except on weekends, and has a great selection of hard-to-find beers. And if you or someone you know is interested in microbrews, try the Spirit Haus liquor store as well. They have a large selection and an awesome-sounding name. The Amherst Brewing Company and Northampton Brewery both brew their own beers and have decent food as well. Chez Albert in the town center of Amherst is a really nice French restaurant. Entrees are in the $18-$25 range, so a bit expensive on a graduate school budget. But it's a nice special occasion place. Sibies has awesome pizza that can be delivered if you live close enough to it. In Amherst's town center, there's a place called Antonio's that sells great pizza by the slice. It tends to be overrun with frat boys, but that doesn't detract from the quality of the food at least.

http://community.livejournal.com/who_go ... 4#t8962614

What's CCN?

Oh yeah, definitely. I just meant it seems smaller than stipends I've heard people getting at similarly sized college towns as well.

Wisconsin: TA position that paid $10,573 in 2007/08. Letter promises the amount "will probably be higher" for TAs during 2008/09 because contracts are currently being negotiated. Read somewhere that Wisconsin is going through financial difficulties at the moment. Not sure if the seemingly quite low stipend is a result of this or rather a general "public universities have less money and more students" thing. Columbia: 22k stipend + 4k during the summer American: 9k "Graduate Honor Award" + $7,280 RA-like position

No real inside information, sorry. But maybe something will start happening in a week or two. Accepted students are visiting Columbia March 30-April 1. It's possible some people leaning towards declining the offer are waiting to visit before they decline. Not sure how accurate this is, but it seems plausible.

Yet, Christopher Hitchens? Kidding, kidding (sort of).

I'm sure there are good M.A. programs still accepting applications, if you're willing to go that route. Columbia's M.A. program, for example, accepts applications until April 1 I believe.

"Business casual" is your best friend in these situations.

American here.

The best the web has to offer on the subject, as far as I know: http://brianjphillips.blogspot.com/2005 ... cores.html

Everyone should have just now gotten an email informing us to expect the Fed Ex letter this week. And I'll definitely be at the open house weekend.

The general consensus seems to be that Harvard has already notified admits and waitlisted students, so if you haven't heard you're very likely rejected. Don't worry though, you're in good company.

I haven't and it's nice to see I'm not the only one.

I had the exact opposite Columbia/Princeton experience: got accepted at the former, rejected at the latter. Guess it worked out for both of us. By the way, where did you find the message at Apply Yourself? I've seen a couple of people note they found messages there for various schools, but I really can't seem to find anything.

To use a car but avoid the parking fee, some grad students at Emory will just drive to a mall parking lot or something and catch a bus to Emory from there. It's less direct, but also saves the $600 or whatever it costs to park on campus for the year.

I applied, but I'm afraid I don't have any more info than you did.

What about places to live while in a PhD program at Columbia? Is it better to go the graduate student housing route, find independent housing in Manhattan, or live outside Manhattan?

I have similar research interests as many of you here. So far I've been accepted at Wisconsin and Columbia. I also got the interview request from Emory. Rejected from Ohio State and Yale. Unofficially rejected from Harvard and Michigan I think. Still waiting on Princeton, American, and WUSTL. What do people think about Columbia for American political behavior and public opinion? Common view seems to be that they're much stronger in IR and Comparative.