gsams

My keyboard keys as I actually get back to work on my thesis!

Liszt, Yeah,I have heard this. The good news is I don't think my department is opposed to me taking things outside the major. I am required to take a minor and outside courses. So, I am sure I could swing something like it! That is an advantage to the top running program right now.

Joro, From what I hear from current grad students and profs is if you don't make that time to go outside and do what you want you will not be in a good place mentally. You will have to make that time, sure, but learning to schedule it all is part of the work, right? I forgot to mention, I love basketball and am currently doing a 1-credit course as a stress relief. Does anyone do intermurals? I am not the best player in the world by any standards an am 5' tall, but I am a good sport and really enjoy it. I would love to do it next year, too.

Riding. I used to be an active equestrienne before I left the country, but I can't do it right now. Having a car is nearly impossible right now due to UG finances, but next year I am going to start lessons again. My emiritus advisor told me to start doing it again because by riding, I will save my sanity Important.

Bhou, Was this directed at me? If so, thanks so much, but I write mostly for fun. One of my thesis advisors really believes I should write something. I have a lot of stuff - fiction - but it is a hobby, I guess. I'm a wuss and afraid to submit it to publishers because it isn't the same as getting an academic journal paper reviewed. I can take that criticism.

Post grad, WUSTL notified by email all who were accepted. I got a rejection from there and got it in the mail. I would email them and ask. They were the first school to notify me. Gah! I want to hear from Nebraska. I am supposed to hear next week, but will be at a conference and they are mailing them Anyhow, shouldn't complain. Was notified of a big honor for my thesis and made about $1,000.00 today.

Okay, this is encouraging. I am waiting until next week for the official funding notification to come through (the waiting is killing me, even though I seem to get a grant or scholarship a least once a week!) but then I will start calling. I am going to ask my aunt. She's moved a lot around the country and may have tips.

I guess as a single woman living alone, I would not want strange men or women helping me that I found on Craigslist. Seems like a good way to look for someone to rob. I will look into a getting a quote from a moving company, I just really don't want them calling my phone all the time. It's annoying enough to have car dealerships calling. Let alone moving places. I would much rather receive an email. How do I find if they are reputable? Is there a review site? Like I said, If I can break even with deductions and moving costs, I would be super happy and wouldn't have to pay tax in April really.

Check with your school. Type in "University of X health insurance" and something should come up. Most schools offer something at a reduced rate. Sometimes it sucks, other times it is good. My UG institution didn't offer the best health insurance to grad students, but the place I am seriously considering does have great offerings. If you are getting a stipendship or fellowship, it may cover all or some of your health insurance, too.

Just buy them here. I am an American who moved to the UK and left everything at home while I was studying there (a year). It worked out fine. When I moved back, I either donated or gave away the things I had bought to other students. You could blow out an outlet pretty easily. It is actually easier to do that in the US than it is in the UK according to a friend of mine who is an electrical engineer. Things are cheap. A coffee maker is like $30.00-$50.00.

Okay, I am 5' tall. I am a very small woman. I am looking at moving either 400 or 500 miles to a school this summer from my hometown. SO MANY logistical issues. Here is some background. I am buying a SMALL car - Hyundai Accent, Kia Rio, Nissan Versa or similar - and am looking to move. I very bad allergies to pets, smoke, and dust mites. I am also terrified of bed bugs, so I would like to not buy used upholstered furniture. I will be living in an apartment and I don't know if there will be a place to ship large parcels (ie mattresses). I am moving ON MY OWN and know no one. Here are my options: A - buy everything there. Either ship it to my residence or pay for the delivery fee. However, I will have no furniture and I am going to have to ship the rest of my things by post (not very much). B - Buy things as a find them and ship them in a POD or something. I would rather do this than A because I can write off moving expenses on my taxes. I can't account for expensive furniture purchases. problem with B is that I have no one to help me move something like a mattress or bed into the house. I am not able to lift things like this. I don't have anything that is particularly heavy, but if I bought it at ikea could reasonably carry it? Anyone have problems with getting things delivered to apartments? Any small people move themselves? How did you work around it?

One of my thesis advisors and closest faculty contacts is a very young tenured prof. I have known her since she first came here (4 years ago) and she had only one child then (he was two, I think). Two years in, she had baby number 2 and still intends on having a third, I guess. She said the same thing that MOST of my female friends who have kids here and teach say - childcare is hard. If you can pin that down, you are golden. The other tenured faculty member I know who is a mom just adopted a little boy. She had to sort out child care months in advance, but other than that was fine. Child care here is outrageous. It isn't that expensive, but good places have mile-long waiting lists. If your partner is supportive or you have another support system and a place to stash the kids, you will be fine. Plenty of women do it. Our university is actually actively looking for ways to make things EASIER for female grad students and faculty members. They are recruiting women left and right and trying to impress them with the family-friendly environment.

I am a first gen GRAD student. My Dad went to college and got a Bachelor's in accounting. He is a banker. My mom is just now getting her BS and she works in engineering and has for the past 30 years. I barely have any debt from undergrad - 20k of which about half is from spending a year abroad in another country and and another 5k will be "flow" money towards buying a car and other things for my apartment for grad school. My parents were BIG on education. My mother struggled with a learning disability that was NEVER diagnosed until my sister was diagnosed with dyslexia when she was 15. So, for all those years, she struggled without any reason. Now, I am helping her to get past some of these barriers with her coursework in econ. I am a tutor and specialize in students with learning disabilities. I would really love to continue working with these students in grad school in some capacity. Regardless, my mother was really well read. She got past it and reads slowly, but has a vocabulary that would put most of you 700+ on the GRE Verbal to shame. My Dad isn't a reader, but her memorizes things and is clearly intellectually gifted. I am gifted and don't feel ashamed to say that, but I think more than being gifted, I am a HARD WORKER. I will kill myself to accomplish something and don't half-ass anything. My parents are both from working class families. My mother's family was Catholic and very large. Her Dad was an artist and did not hold down a job for long, mainly out of having few skills and bad health. Her mother was the best damn cleaning lady around and she was the bread winner. With 5 kids, it was hard. My Dad's family was better off. His parents were both factory workers. He attended Indiana (my university) based on scholarships, jobs he worked in the summer, and his father's social security benefits (he died when my Dad graduated from high school). My Mom's family was not supportive of any education above high school other than seminary. She didn't even get support for high school because she was a girl and her mother never finished high school. My Dad was clearly gifted and got tons of support from his family. His father said again and again that he wanted him to finish college and left him a small savings to do so with. My parents wouldn't have allowed me to go community college because I was a much stronger student then that and it was obvious. I had to pick a state school and I chose IU because it was not Purdue, was my favorite basketball school, and had a top-30 poli sci program. My Dad wanted me to do science or business. I had shown great aptitude in both chem and bio, but I didn't love it, so I chose poli sci. He was upset at first, but by now fully supports me. My mom didn't care what I did. Both my parents fully support my decision to go to graduate school and have offered to help me with some bills, but I feel they should focus on my sister who starts her UG at IU next year. I'm an adult and I can pay my own bills! Like many of you have said, certain family members have made mentions that I will "forget where I came from". I come from a very small city in Northern Indiana. People are conservative. A lot commute to Chicago and have good jobs. A lot, however, worked in factories and are bitterly now on unemployment. When I mention to certain relatives that I will get a PhD, I get responses like, "Oh,so you're never going to get a job and do anything with your life." Or, "Oh, well, those of us in the real world will continue to do stuff that matters." I think most people don't understand academics. Even the poli sci majors I tutor mostly are confused by academic careers, so it is understandable. We mainly target kids towards law school, much to my dismay as there are lots of talented prospects here! I try to explain things, but it doesn't make sense. The only thing my grandmother cared about when I said I was going to get a PhD was the fact it would take 6 years and that my eggs would "be bad". Never mind I wasn't going to have kids anyhow, but it is pretty hurtful. I know they don't mean it, but this is something I really am passionate and so very excited about, yet people don't "get" that. They just make you feel bad. Any suggestions on how to deal with that?

Politics and Gender Studies. I really enjoyed both and tried to bring a perspective from each into various classes. My gender studies work makes me a hate a lot of essentialism, though. And for that, taking psychology was incredibly infuriating. My department doesn't have a lot of gender influence, but our gender studies department is one of the finest in the world and it is growing. The interdisciplinary work will in the future, too. We have one young prof who only does gender and politics research which is AWESOME, but I didn't get to experience all of that. Two of the places I have applied and one of my acceptances had a great gender studies and politics connection. I might minor in it in grad school.

I would say it would be good to own a car anywhere in Indiana, but I will let the Boilermakers on here let you know. As an undergrad here at IU, while the buses do a decent, they are limited in use when you need to get to a doctor's office, go somewhere on a weekend, etc. Lafayette has a better bus system than IU I have heard, but the Midwest pretty much is a car-necessary place.

It's actually not a big deal I don't think. I got a 6 the first time and a 4 the second. I don't think it's a very good test if there is THAT much variance. I was sick both times. First, with the swine and second with stomach flu. I hated the GRE. I was so glad to be done.

I know! I have a conference to attend next week, so I won't be around to receive mail Friday/Saturday. So, I would like to know, but can't. Oh well, I just want to be done with it and know whether they want me or not.

Yellowshoes, I emailed them. Adcom will meet this week. They are going to hopefully send them out in the mail on Monday.

I have family in St. Louis and just remembered that my great uncle is emeritus in bio at Columbia - it's one of the problems with having a large Catholic family, you forget who you are related to! I will definitely be making the trip often. I am getting a car. Currently, I am 4 hours from home. I wouldn't even consider that prohibitive with a car (but I don't have one, so I must rent/catch a ride). I love St. Louis and have been to Kansas City once on the way to Colorado when I was 9, but I don't remember it, so I will check it out! Thanks for the heads up!

It is very flat. The campus is not the prettiest thing in the world, but there are things to do. Of all the states schools in the country, Purdue actually has the largest population. Lafayette has cold winters, some snow (not a lot for me, I am from the Chicago area and we get a lot more), and icy rain which is the worst. If you enjoy basketball or football, it will be fun. Housing is not too expensive, but I am dealing with Purdue's sworn rival (Indiana) for my undergrad. Beautiful campus here, hilly. Probably prettiest state school ever. However, miserably more expensive. Warmer, though.

Will post here later (once all have come back). I am also going to post this on my blog which will hopefully help kids out.

Bobb, Thanks for the tip! LOL Beebly, I'm not staying with a grad student at this point. It's an unofficial visit with the department, so I booked a hotel. I am not driving all the way there alone, which is good because it will be a looooong drive. Thanks for all the ideas! Very helpful! I am hoping to make the most out of it and looking even more forward to it now that my official funding has arrived. Penelope, Thanks for the advice :-D

I am going to visit Mizzou in about 2 and a half weeks. Staying there for a couple of days. Should I ask specifically to meet the faculty I am most interested in? Should I wait for them to suggest the faculty I can meet? What graduate students should I ask to meet? Would it be beneficial to meet a first/second year and an advanced student based on the fact that they would possibly have different advice? What have you been told to ask? I am assuming business casual dress is a requirement? I have already done a few of these and that is what I wore. Any specific questions you can suggest? I am just so overwhelmed and excited!

No kidding! I vaguely remember it being email, but I would check again if I were you. I am taking a drug that messes with my memory while I am adjusting. I am having terrible migraines and the memory problems are far better than living in a dark room for three weeks. I am really happy with the department with Mizzou so far. We'll see. UMSL was a very nice dept. to visit, too. I have met several grad students and dept. members, so they are nice, but the money is not there.

I got into UMSL (not unexpected) but they didn't give me funding. I am the first alternate. I certainly like their head of Public Policy, but will stick with comparatives at Missouri where I may have a fellowship AND Ta'ship.