gsams

Well, as someone who wants to be an academic... it doesn't apply to me. But no, I would not get just a Master's. It would not be extremely helpful to me in the jobs I am looking to do - research jobs.

One of my good friends is STAYING at Indiana to work in their linguistics lab because it is that well ranked. She had presented many, many places as an undergrad. LOTS of people know Indiana, so don't worry. And Bloomington is pretty liberal for the Midwest. It is far different than say Champaign or Lafayette, which may be more conservative.

Curious George, Yes, I will be attending Mizzou. I couldn't be happier with funding, department fit, and placement. Ribhsra, I would honestly wait until next year. Get an internship/job, possibly take some non-degree courses and beef up your applications. Consider asking schools you applied for reasons why your applications did not get accepted and reasons for lack of funding. It's not wise to go unfunded. My ex did and he ranked lower than a master's student in the department. He thought because his parents could afford it, he would do just fine, but departments certainly have a vested interest in funded students first, I believe.

Accepted into Rutgers. Reason for the delay is they were trying to find funding, I guess. Will be saying thanks, but no thanks.

Anyone?

Probably for administrative reasons. I have to pay about $900.00 in fees, but that is okay considering both my aid package and incredibly generous health insurance.

Eh... as an undergrad sans-car, I respectfully disagree. Getting from the East side of town to campus is pretty easy (everything is relatively central). Buses run "regularly" 8-5 M-F, but don't expect it Sat/Sun. I have waited 3+ hours for a bus when 4 were scheduled. So, they are not reliable like the NYC Subway or buses in Europe. To get from the West side of town, good luck. There are several buses, but you may have to change and they are not nearly as frequent. In order to get to my neurologist (West side of town), I often walk 5 miles combined to/from just the EDGE of campus and back another mile and a half to where I live based on the fact that it would take TWO changes and 3 hours to get to/from. Thus, I give up and just walk. The town is not well-thought-out because it has just been added onto over and over. It's a nice little town, but the traffic is hell and getting from one side to another with road construction as it currently in is terrible - add that to the already terrible bus schedule and I disagree. Perhaps you husband could bike to where he needs to go?

Congrats! You came at a great time. Campus is beautiful this time of year. Actually, I am not sure when it isn't haha.

Most leases will be 12 months. It's why I am in the dorms my senior year. I stayed in England doing research until August and knew that I would need to be home for the summer, so I A. couldn't sign a lease because of the 12 month deal and B. wasn't willing to pay the extra when I wasn't living there (many people do, just because they need to). Housing here is expensive for what it is and you have to be careful not to live with undergrads. That is my advice. Don't live North of the Stadium. It's just undergrad party housing, basically. I had friends that lived there my sophomore year and they would migrate back to campus to study every day because of the noise level and constant partying. I can also attest to this, as I work at the stadium and up there almost every single day and yes, every night the noise level is up. the South and East are newer developments and lots of people like these areas. The West is not bad, but you can be in odd areas and have a not-so-good set of neighbors while there. Some places here have more crime than others. Most of the rentals there are houses and a lot of them are nice, but some not so much, so you just have to see. I have a good friend who bought a house on the West side with her hubby and they very much enjoy their neighborhood, but just a few blocks over, it is not so nice. Lots of people sublet in the summers. Many of the people who live on campus in the summer will move off campus for the summer so that they can do work on campus. Thus, if you don't plan to be there, it could be a solution to your problem.

Maybe the OP is like me and finds an apartment that is clean, has walls, and kitchen without the threat of people breaking in every day as nice? IDK. I realize that when I say I want "a nice apartment", I do confuse some people. Those who know me understand my thriftyness to the point of being stingy, so they realize that I can deal with something a bit ugly as long as it is clean. Nice for me is just a quiet, relatively safe (I'm a single woman, so this is a priority), and clean place.

Hygeine would be awkward. I can't deal with conversations while I am working, which is why I am thankful I do not need a "lab" to finish most of my work. I will have a nice, quiet home office with no distractions. However, I think reaching out to the office mates can work if A. they have the same noise worries as you (some don't consider loud the same as you believe it or not!) and B. only can work in the same environment you prefer.

Nothing wrong with living on your own. I refuse to live with someone else after various bad roommate experiences. It will cost me less in therapy over the long run, I figure. Also, as someone who has bad allergies, living with anyone who doesn't understand how very serious spraying perfume or smoking out a bedroom window is is asking for a $400.00 ER bill easily and numerous injections. So, I prefer to live alone. This particular roommate was with me when I was in England, so thankfully - no bills. Still, it would be cheaper now just to not get a roommate where housing is friggin cheap - often cheaper in a 2 bdrm than a well-maintained 1 bdrm. What I suggest is just to take out a loan for what you TRULY need. And get a PT job. If you aren't TA'ing like me, you have 10-20 hours a week that you can be working somewhere.

I'm not using a realtor. The places I have looked at are comfortable with me using a scanner or fax to sign applications. I assume this will apply to the lease.

I'm planning alone off campus. I think I may have found "the place" thanks to a recommendation from people in the department and great reviews on apartmentratings.com. The manager was a really, really nice guy who has lived at and managed the complex for the past 20 years. It has recently been renovated and has a million pluses - you can get satellite! Safe neighborhood, on the bus route, off street parking, and on the low end of the budget. So, I submitted an application and hopefully I get a place there. I wanted a two bedroom so that I could have an office at home that is separate from my living room/TV area and bedroom.

I don't know about the sciences. I am poli sci. Many places let you hang out the first year doing some sort of RA ship. Many others let you do intro classes and that is good for you. Others throw you to the wolves teaching far more than you know.

I emailed the department itself because my status hadn't changed and they told me that they would still be reviewing my application for two weeks. Why?

Okay, so I signed up for a free trial. Friends of mine who read a lot swear by it. I read a lot, too and I like to keep books that I use for research. I often loan them out to colleagues or students I am tutoring who are writing papers. I have my own loaner library of canon works. However, shipping is ridiculous. Is it worth the $80.00 a year for the shipping? Do you find yourself buying a lot of books online?

Take it with a grain of salt, but don't be afraid to ask. I found out through being asked by one advisor at school A about school B that my potential advisor B may be looking for positions outside of school B. That was a part of my decision. My own undergrad institution heavily recruited one potential advisor at another school, so I was told by an advisor here not to rely on that person as they were looking elsewhere. Academia is a small world and you will be surprised what you find. I was particularly interested to know if people were planning on staying on for 5 years so that they could at least see me through.

Many places don't allow you to TA in the first semester, so you get assigned to RA'ships. Ask when the availability of TA'ships will be. My program allows for both whenever the student feels it is time to switch off. As good projects come along, professors may ask me to get involved (I will be teaching currently), so I will switch to TA'ships.

Two different types of degrees - taught masters (1 year) and research masters (2 years). After auditing classes and talking to students while in the UK for a year, I feel the taught masters are a repeat of material from a US BA/BS. Why? They spend 3 years on a Bachelor's, we spend four. Many places in continental Europe and the UK will allow for you to get into programs with a US Bachelor's when a UK/European student would need a Master's for this reason. Thus, I think you should not waste time on a taught masters. If you want to do a research master's, you will not get funding most likely. Living in England is expensive. I did it for a year. It's great - public transit is awesome, Europe is right there, and you have many things to see and do. Perhaps you are willing to spend the money to embark on that, but you are not likely to get funded. Also, getting loans IN the UK is very different from here. Repayment is quickly for overseas students and just getting a bank account with reasonable benefits is very difficult to do. You have to pay for most things that are free in the US. If you take out loans in the US, you are looking at tons of private loan debt. The ORS was phased out while I was in the UK, as I had friends that went to London to protest it. Coming back to the US with an MsC from something outside of Oxbridge, LSE, etc. is dangerous. Even notable Russel Groups like Soto are not well-known here. My ex had a BsC from Soto in Computer Sci and Electrical Engineering and at conferences would get "shown up" by American PhD students who graduated from far-less notable US universities. Soto probably has the best reputation for this in the entire UK, mind you. So, you must be careful. If you want to work in the private or gov't sector (outside of academia) you face the we-don't-know-that-place issue. If you are going into academia, you face the worry that your Master's was far too concentrated and done in a different style than a US degree. For my discipline, UK programs concentrate too much on politics and not enough on political science, so there is a distinctly different approach to problems and research. While I learned a great deal in the UK, I don't think doing a PhD or Master's there would have helped me in academia in the US much.

Okay, No reply from Rutgers, so email them. I am done with applications and have accepted an offer. They say they are still reviewing my application. Why? Haven't all the decisions been made?

somewhereoutthere, If you want the vultures to leave, stop posting. Seriously. Make your decision in peace. And yes, you have to admit that you wanted advice which is why you posted here and on the other board. Just stay calm, don't reply, and let it go. There is no need to respond.

When I was in the UK many of my friends who were working as RA's had their work taken by advisors and practically used as their own. Many advisors will NOT go out of their way to promote you. You have to find the right fit. My ex had many troubles with his advisor because while the man was a good guy, they were a lousy fit together and the advisor did little to stick his neck out for him. This sort of thing is a red flag and was the final decision as to WHY I chose the program I did. Many advisors published with students and their students were a definite priority. In my experience, I would take school 2 and run for the hills. It doesn't seem as though Dept. 1 is really a place you can see yourself in, which is IMO even more important than "perfect fit" for 5 years. You have to look at these people every day and deal with them. IF you are miserable, you will not progress and it will be a waste of time.

I had a score just over 1200 and got into a quantitative poli sci program - several, actually. Thus, it can be. My 580 Q was on the low-side, but I really did work hard for it. The "easy" questions always tripped me up and I did not like the computer testing. I got in with a fully funded offer to a great school. So, it can be done. LOR's were excellent, I was told my POS was put me over the top by one school, and my GPA was top. I also had plenty of research and teaching experience, which sold me to the department I ultimately accepted.

GRE scores most certainly DO matter. However, they matter some places more than others. State schools (even well-ranked ones) didn't mind my (just above a 1200 and 6 analytical) scores. However, Ivies were not too keen. If I cared that much about Ivies and top 10 programs, I would have re-taken and applied. That said, I managed to get into a good program that fits me well regardless. My record taking the exam was not good. I never took a practice (wasn't in the states when they were offering them and then didn't have time). I took it the first time a week after having swine flu and being off school for a week and got about an 1100 - not a death sentence, but not top. I took it again a month later (bought two new books and studied an hour a day) and increased my score by 110 points. I took that exam with food poisoning, so it was amazing I did that well and didn't get sick. I was chugging pepto during the break, I kid you not. I am not a "math person" either, OP. I don't mind math when it is applied to a problem. If it is a word problem, I am fine. The biggest issue for me was the A, B, C, D questions when you had to choose greater, less, equal, neither or something like that. The word problems and geometry I did great on. My english score was fine and I didn't study much at all. This is by FAR harder to change for some. If your vocabulary is lacking, study those words NOW. I recommend the flash card sites that allow you to try words out. There are a bunch of recommendations on this forum, just look around. I didn't study at all for the analytical and got a 6, so I did fine on that. Seems like you did fine at that, though. Don't rush yourself and be prepared to take it two times. Yes, it is expensive, but your score DOES matter. For some people, it matters more than others. I did very well with my applications and didn't have an absolutely STELLAR score like many on here, but I did fine. However, those scores most CERTAINLY matter!