VulpesZerda

I think I'm gonna try for Port Jeff. I hope I find something good and don't have to settle for another area! Also, cats. I want em.

I'm going to grad school straight from undergrad! I realized that I wanted to do research as a career during my sophomore year, and I had a very good idea of the topics that interested me. At first I thought a doctorate was too unrealistic for me academically and financially. Once I realized that the PhD wouldn't put me in more debt, I figured, why not go for it. The decision and goal to pursue the PhD has to be the reason I was so motivated and successful from there on out. You can see the shift in my transcripts! I knew what I wanted to do. I am extremely passionate about my research topic. I figured there was no reason to put it off since I was so sure.

I was one pound away from becoming overweight on the BMI scale when I joined the free site MyFitnessPal. Within two months I had lost 15 pounds and I can actually say it was easy! I still eat "junk" occasionally - if it fits in my calorie/macronutrient goals. I've become pretty crafty, fitting in ice cream when I have a spare 200 calories and not enough fat in my day, for example. The only problem is that I think some of that weight loss was muscle because I haven't been too great at keeping up with my workouts. I definitely echo the posts about getting 8-9 hours of sleep. I love my sleep! Instead of staying up too late working, get some good sleep and pick it back up in the morning. The quality of your work will be better. I don't drink coffee or alcohol but of course both would be fine in moderation. All I drink is water (lots of it) and the occasional tea.

I've been watching Craigslist, too, for a few weeks now just because I've been really bored waiting for other decisions! I saw a few cute cottages that would have been amazing but those got snatched up very quickly. I loved the area when I visited and I am definitely not interested in living in Queens or Brooklyn.

You do not suck! Did it actually say something mean?

Oh my god. That is appalling.

Yeah, I'm kind of stuck waiting for the last 3 programs to make their decisions about me. So I can assume either 1. I'm on a secret waiting list or 2. They haven't yet gotten around to rejecting me. For the record, the program I care about the most pretty much stonewalled me when I politely asked about a timeline. Meanwhile, I have an awesome offer pending, and they really want to know my answer. It just would feel wrong to make a decision before hearing back from every single program.

Very good chance that I will attend, too! I'm just waiting to confirm some rejections from other places.

I'm wondering when would be a good time to start my search? I live a few hours away and wouldn't mind making trips this summer to check out the area and housing. But I don't know when the ideal time would be. This seems to vary from city to city.

Yeah, that's what I should have done! I established contact with one POI there back in summer/fall but he ended up letting me know that he wasn't taking a new student so at the last minute I picked a new professor. But I never established contact with him - did you have prior contact with yours? That's why I didn't choose this method, I didn't want to email a professor out of the blue. But I suppose at this point I do need to know...

A program invited me to their late February interview day back on Feb 7. I wasn't able to attend, but their initial email emphasised that it would not negatively impact my chances. I RSVPed within a few days requesting a phone interview, which was what they thought would be a good alternative. Well two weeks went by and I didn't hear from them. I sent a polite follow up and another few weeks went by! Now acceptances have been showing up in the Results so I called this week and left a voicemail but my call wasn't returned. Jeesh! This is frustrating. End of vent.

I figured I'd mention here how it went when I emailed UConn. Well, not good is the answer. The grad coordinator said they won't tell me anything about my application status until April 1. I mean, obviously I'm not accepted, but it would be nice to at least get a hint. If they could just be a little more transparent I could accept my current offer, be done, and celebrate.

Uh... Yeah that song makes me sick. The lyrics read like a sexual assault in progress.

I was actually very surprised about which programs I got into and which ones I didn't. I thought I would end up at a lower ranking program, but lots of those rejected me. Now I'm probably attending the highest ranked program that was on my list, and I still can't believe that. I think I figured out how this happened though - two of my former PIs are friends with faculty there. I wasn't aware of this until the accepted students day. Connections are important!

Yes! This has me regretting ever setting up an application that notifies me of posts for my programs. Tons of them are just things that 100% belong in the forums. Hahaha, well I appreciate the attempt to up-vote! I hate running out, too!

Good for you! I probably would have ran out of the gym screaming, effectively ending the workout instead of improving it!

I'm with you on this one!

Yes! Hopefully when I'm in grad school I'll travel to conferences with my cohort. Being the only undergraduate in my major who attends conferences is getting old.

Yeah, I could see that bring true some of the time. In my case, the conference is in Times Square so the discounted rooms are still over $250. Unfortunately I'm only going with my advisor so of course we won't be sharing a room. I found an AirBnB that was a 7 minute bus ride away and less than $60 per night! I always look at all the options to double check, but AirBnB will be a great addition to the places I normally check.

I dunno, I attributed that to the fact that not absolutely everyone uses gradcafe. I assumed there were 3 acceptances because that's what grad students were saying happened in the past few years. As far as the waitlists being spread out, it seems (from the email they sent) that they were having an especially difficult time deciding.

So happy for you that you've decided! It seems like a great fit for you! Just out of curiosity, is there really no way around the long commute? That seemed like the only bad downside, but maybe eventually you can shrink that time?

Which one?!

For financial reasons, I would never do what your mentors are suggesting. I personally can't afford to pay for a master's, especially while turning down what seems to be a great offer, fully funded. I don't know anything about SUNY Albany - hopefully someone else can comment on that! I trust my advisor quite a lot, but don't always follow his advice 100%.

Wow, I think you just saved me a few hundred dollars for a conference trip in NYC. Did you feel nervous about it the first time you used it? I've never couch surfed before, but I'm pretty open to it - is this pretty much the same thing?

Hm... I see a lot of these pros/cons having to do with financial costs associated with each place. If you could give a high and low estimate for what each thing would cost you annually ("thing" meaning flights, opportunity costs associated with your husband's work, custody battle costs, stipend, etc.) then you might be able to make a quantitative decision to start with. That would be a lot of math, but could be worthwhile, if you haven't done it already. This makes a lot of sense to me. Since they all have lots of cons, you might as well go for the dream school.