seeingeyeduck

How big is the campus? I've seen the map but I'm wondering if it's easy to get places if you don't bike. I think the have a shuttle? Did you get a chance to see what it's like after 5? The time I visited before the app season, it seemed pretty quiet. Does everyone leave for off campus housing at days' end?

Leaning toward it but haven't gotten the official acceptance letter or funding offer yet...

Beware the CA drought! Life might get a bit unpleasant later this year if involuntary caps are instituted and there are steep fines for over use. Just saying' it's not all sunshine and puppies over here despite the pretty beaches... :|

Though there're probably more anarchists there than communists at this point. Anarchists in the strict sense of the word.

Sleeping, both times. Lol.

Hi guys, In Feb, I was accepted to a couple of schools and withdrew from one that I had been considering but is on a whole different level than the two I was already accepted to. It isn't a safety school exactly since I'd still be more than happy to go if I hadn't gotten into the others, as they have a couple of faculty who are working on interesting ideas. However, it's true that it is a lower ranked school. I thought it was the decent thing to do so they didn't have to make me an offer or process my app, but after writing an email informing the prof I'd contacted during the app process (we talked and he showed me around), he wrote back saying that he thinks if be a strong candidate and he wishes I'd reconsider. I'm not sure how to respond as I thought that withdrawing would save them work. Yet if he is asking me to reconsider then that doesn't seem to matter, and I'm assuming he wouldn't say something like that just so they could reject me. I'm vaguely curious about what they might offer me, but it seems like a bad move to open that app back up just to sate my idle curiosity. On the other hand, one of the schools that accepted me hasn't given me the official letter yet - should I take as many options as possible until they do? What do you think I should do? It makes me sad to know I have to tell people no, especially when I admire their work and they have all been so nice. Plus, it's a small world, so I'm sure I'll be moving in the same circles in the future since all the schools are in one area. I just want to be gracious!

Does anyone know if TAship interviews are the norm? I applied to places where 2nd years do it so no ones mentioned anything like that, but I've been reading about fellowship interviews and wondered if it means that if you're not contacted, then that means you're not getting any fellowships or scholarships?

I agree. I started out with compaq and sony and after getting sic of windows crashes I switched to a MacBook after they introduced OS 10. Never want to go back... Though actually my plan is to use an ipad that we got for Xmas and just connect my wireless keyboard to it. It's got decent storage so I can use it for word processing and internet. Don't really know what else I'd need on a day to day basis. If I wanted to video or photo edit, I do it on my iMac. I debated getting an Air but it seemed wasteful. Anyhow, it's the lightest option of all aside from connecting the keyboard to a phone!

State Farm also at about $800/yr for a '05 Camry. Somehow that seems off but that's what I've been paying. Originally I was on my parents' policy and with their two cars and 10+ years of being a customer they have lower rates and a 20% loyalty discount. When I went off on my own the agent gave me the same rate even though technically I am a new customer since she didn't want me to transfer to a different agent when I moved.

Are there different cultural perceptions of gift giving? I know that in Asian cultures it is pretty normal but I wonder if it makes the interaction seem too transactional in American culture?

I think professors appreciate it when you have genuine questions about the material. As long as you build the relationship on that basis instead of just trying to be friendly for the sake of being friendly, it will be perfectly professional. Your motives are fine - they're there to support you and they know that they will be asked to write letters for some students. Making an effort is still appreciated - they certainly find it more meaningful to write letters for a student that comes to office hours than one that shows up once just to ask for a letter. I don't think it takes long to establish a good working relationship as long as you can converse about the research or course material.

Sounds amazing. Wish I could've seen it. I've only heard good things! Will it become a traveling show maybe?

Btw, I see that Mike Kelley was mentioned a couple of times in the other thread... Did anyone get to go to the PS1 retrospective? I couldn't really fly across the country just to go so I'm curious.

Sometimes people are just really entitled. I once has a roommate who ranted and raved after her bf broke up with her - "how dare he break up with me!" Then she listed all her perceived good traits and attractiveness, while not realizing that no one is obligated to date her no matter how great she considered herself to be. This sounds exactly like that.

Age of exploration when the new world was "discovered," Gold Rush and era of Manifest Destiny, and NOW!

Lol, this thread is hilarious! I've decided to just tell myself that I will hear about the funding and official acceptance in March right before the recruit days even though I have absolutely no reason to believe this. At least I won't worry so much in the present... I've been keeping busy with my work but also checking GC too much while watching Law and Order. There's an episode of SVU that is the same plot as the indie movie Compliance, and it stars Robin Williams. Erm, does that count as learning something every day???

You should ask her about how much one-on-one time you get with professors. I've heard that lots of teachers there don't really even have their own office space and they give students an option to advise with local artists who aren't employed by them, but that is essentially a way for them to farm out some of the advising work. I guess you don't know about the MFA yet, but you could ask about class size and studio space. I saw some of their studio spaces, and it's basically a bunch of open topped rooms next to each other with a doorless entry. Some students put up a sheet for privacy, but if you need to work with sound, it can be awkward - you'd have to wear headphones most of the time. You shouldn't leave any valuables in the space so maybe also ask about locker space. If cost is an issue I'd definitely ask her about some financials and if there are scholarships or aid you can apply to. Will you need to work (cost of living is fairly high in the city)? If so, ask them if they help students find internships or jobs. If you've actually been accepted, then I would say that the call is more for you to ask questions and them to woo you. Grill them! It's a pretty big investment to go there, so no question you have is too small... If you really can't go visit before deciding, you could also see if they'd be willing to refer you to a current student or recent grad if you have more questions later.

Yeah, I live in the area and while it is possible to get by with $30K, it will be tight and there won't be much in the way of luxuries or travel aside from what you save for flights. To give you some idea, the costs here have become pretty comparable to NYC, if not worse, because at least NYC has more random little cheap street eats or cheap hoods. There is no such thing as a cheap hood near Palo Alto. To give you some perspective, there are a lot of tech people here and their average salary is $100K. Unless you're from NYC already, take your current budget and add 30-40% to it. That's how much you'll likely need to maintain your current lifestyle in the Bay. But in concrete terms, a lot of your budget will depend on what housing you can live with. Since you're willing to share a room (maybe around $700+/mo), you will have a lot more leeway. Eating out here costs >$6 for a premade sandwich to >$10 for the cheapest sit down meal (closer to $20 by the time you add tax and tip). If you don't eat out too often, it can be manageable. If I were single, my grocery budget would be $40-50/wk, but that's because I shop at the Asian stores (there's one in Milpitas, I think, but that takes a car to get to) and mainly batch cook a lot of noodle soups. The benefit of the Asian store is cheap produce, but it's not gonna be organic. There's a Trader Joe's right by campus, which is fairly affordable, but I would assume it's a little more to shop there or at Safeway. Gas here fluctuates from 3.60-$4.50/g. It's usually about $65 to fill up from almost empty for me. If you bike (or only drive once a week or so), don't drink out, don't buy coffee out, don't have cable and don't eat out, it's doable. I don't know if you have savings, but I'm assuming you'd want a little bit of emergency money and not just be down to your last penny all the time, so budget hard before you come out here. If you give us a bit more about your lifestyle, we can give you a better idea. I think you could still save enough for flights, but it all depends on what else you'd like in your life - ie other travel, entertainment (a movie at night would be around $12), shopping, etc. You can get cheap clothes and shoes at chains if you're okay with that, and if you can live without Netflix, Stanford's Green Library has an insanely comprehensive DVD library (though it tends not to have trashier fare).

This is great. Thanks for starting this! Francis Alys Chris Burden Laurel Nakadate Miranda July James Turrell Photographers: Trevor Paglen David Zilber Charlie Engman Taca Sui

Wait, can we start a special thread for that? It'd be cool to have the names collected instead of looking through this one? I was hoping to brush up on contemporary installation and performance artists before the fall, so this is perfect!

Yeah, I'm just trying to nail down the pieces that I can, like transportation research and looking at the faculty's work. Also helps to apply to other things that I want to do in the interim and keep churning out the work!

The reason they get away with being egotistical is because they've made some sort of contribution whose value others can't deny. Or they are super rich. You have some publications but that is not the same as creating the theory of relativity. I'm assuming you're not super rich. And keep in mind that Einstein's work wasn't recognized in the beginning either. Unfortunately his work was theoretical and he could work on it without a lab. You can't, so if you want to get into a lab, maybe you need to consider the non-academic factors in your application. Yes, liking egotistical people or not is a personal preference but if most other people don't then they are unlikely to admit you to their schools and labs. That is a fact of life and it has nothing to do with logic, though if your so egotistical that you don't work we'll with others, then, rationally, they are perfectly justified in choosing someone who is just as accomplished AND can get along with everyone in the lab if that's what they have to do to keep the lab running smoothly. I don't think you realize that you can do the things that the big egos you mentioned did without the ego. We can name just as many if not more accomplished people who aren't big egos. The best thing to do, as others said, is to just ask Berkeley why they didn't accept you.

Doesn't mean she's not seriously ill. The delusions, the paranoia, it's all pretty standard for psychosis or schizophrenia. And it's incredibly hard to get someone help in this country unless they actually hurt someone or themselves even if they are stalking and harassing. If they don't want treatment or meds, not even family can force them. Makes it really difficult to deal with these situations... It's too bad.

Yeah, it could totally be automated so no one has to manually update it either. But maybe they want to cultivate patience and not obsessive checking of their websites! What I wish schools would do is just be very explicit about timelines and when they make each wave of decisions. That's just good transparency considering the window for finding out is one to two months long! I can wait a few weeks but not knowing when official word comes down or when I can have enough info to make a decision for over a month is lame. I don't think that's too much to ask.

This is good advice but I did want to note that Allan Desouza has been hired by Berkeley since. Also, for those of you considering coming to SF, I'd just caution that we are in the middle of a real affordability crisis here, so if you don't have good funding, really research rents and food costs, because we have become virtually the most expensive place in the nation. It's still doable to do it on a student stipend but if you have to take out loans, it might hurt. Just keep that in mind.