bkflyer

Tentative date of April 11 for visitation day. Not sure about reimbursement.

I was accepted to Washington and am still waiting to hear about funding. I will be in the department of Education if I go there, but my area is civic education and my advisor has a dual appointment so I expect to take a few classes in Political Science as well. Would like to go to the visit day - does anybody know if they are paying for students to come? So far, I have only received an email acceptance.

I'm not sure if they will reimburse for expenses. I got a phone call from Dr. Johnson a little over a week ago and he said that they were going to have one, but hadn't set the date yet. I'll just be driving out for the day, so I didn't ask. But I was really impressed with him and all that he told me about the department. I almost didn't apply there at all and now am seriously considering it. My options were much narrower than most people, though, because I wanted to stay in Southern California. I only applied to one school out of the area (Washington). I'm still waiting to hear from one last school (UCI) and to receive my financial packages from two places and then I will be able to start thinking clearly about making a decision. Right now, I am checking my email constantly and trying to compare known and unknown quantities, which is really not all that effective. The waiting really is the worst part . . . I'll follow up with the grad adviser and let you know if I find out anything.

I lived near Irvine for a couple years after college and have family and friends in the area, so I will try to address a few questions about housing and lifestyle. If you are looking between Irvine and San Diego, I would check out San Clemente and Oceanside. San Clemente is a very laid-back town - full of older beach cottages and surfers. Oceanside is a bit bigger and has more of a military presence (lots of Camp Pendleton families live there). Also there is an amtrak line (Pacific Surfliner) that runs from San Diego all the way to San Luis Obispo with stops in Solana Beach, Oceanside, and Irvine. the Irvine stop is not at UCI (unfortunately), but the school has a sustainable transportation center that could help you figure out how to get from the train station to school. The train follows the coast and is very relaxing and beautiful - not a bad way to get to school. For people looking closer to Irvine, it depends on your age and what kind of lifestyle you are looking for. The Newport peninsula is nice because you can ditch the car and ride your bike around to bars, restaurants, the beach, etc. The area between 30th and PCH is known as the war zone and is known for young people and parties and the area from Balboa to 15th Street is mellower and nice for couples and people who are over the party scene. There is a great little coffeehouse on 31st which has good food and atmosphere (including the requisite mismatched furniture and resident cat) and a few pretty good restaurants (my favorites are Ho Sum Bistro for the mixed salad and the homemade pasta at Il Farro). There is also a new shuttle from Newport Beach to UCI. The key with this area is that most of the homes are owned by individual property owners so the prices vary widely and bargains can be found. The two best ways that I know to find the best and cheapest places are to drive around and look for signs or a website called West Side Rentals. It has rentals in Orange County and Los Angeles. There are other good towns, depending on how much you want to drive. When I just couldn't take Orange County any longer, I moved to Long Beach, which is a really great, diverse, interesting city. Good bars, coffee shops, restaurants, museums, etc. and is close to both LA and Orange County. It would be a bit of a commute to Irvine, though (30 minutes without traffic). For the vegetarian/vegan, Orange County is not as easy as LA or the bay area to find veggie fare, but it's probably easier than many other places. There's a Veg Out guide for Southern California that lists lots of places to check out. Hope this is helpful. I agree with a previous person who said that Irvine isn't the best cultural mecca on the planet, but it does have good qualities and close proximity to the beach, the mountains, the desert, and great weekend destinations (Los Angeles, Mexico, Las Vegas, San Diego, Santa Barbara, etc). You could certainly do worse.

I was also accepted to the UCR program in Political Science and am considering the offer. I was born and raised in Southern California, so my thoughts about cost of living are probably biased, but Riverside is definitely cheaper than LA (which is where I live now). I am honestly not sure how I am going to survive on a grad student stipend, but I am told that it's totally possible. With $1500 per month, my tentative budget (based on campus housing and a cheap lifestyle) is: Rent: $700 (for a small one-bedroom) Utilities: $200 (includes phone, internet, etc.) Auto: $200 (includes insurance and gas - my car is paid off) Food: $200 (enough for groceries and 1-2 cheap meals per week out of the house) Misc: $200 (basically anything beyond the basic necessities of life) Not sure if I will really be able to pull it off, since I have been in the working world for several years, but I am going to give it a try, since this is something I have always wanted to do. A car in Southern California is important, but you can definitely get around Riverside without one and it is very possible for a couple to share a car if you are flexible. I live in LA and, though I have a car, I take public transportation all the time because I prefer reading a book on the bus to driving in traffic. You can get from Riverside to downtown LA on the metro and can get from downtown to just about anywhere else on the bus, train, or metro. It's not the best system in the world, but it does work. I don't know much about Riverside specifically, but there is so much to see and do in LA and Riverside is only an hour away. My plan (if I go there) is to try to be in Riverside 3-4 days a week and get away on weekends as much as possible. As for the job market, it really depends on what the person does for a living and how tolerant you are about commuting. I know lots of people who work in or near downtown LA and live in Orange County, Long Beach, Riverside, etc. There are also places to live between LA and Riverside that aren't so bad. Have you heard yet when the visitation day is going to be? I spoke with one of the professors a couple weeks back and he said the date had not been set.