gingin6789

FULL OF CREPE IS LIFE. You seriously must go there. Living around the corner from that shop is dangerous for my wallet! Ahhhh you will love it! Dang, sounds like cost of living will be awesome for you here! Everyone back home was shocked at the cost of living for me. I went to undergrad in Lancaster, PA though ... quite rural. My husband had a nice, two-story townhouse-like apartment in Lancaster with two roommates and it cost $1250 total, so only about $400 a person. So my friends are like "Dang, your Bethlehem apartment is expensive!" but I'm like "it could be worse!" Lehigh's funding for my program is very generous. I hope it's the same for English! Are you coming to visit before you make your decision? I know your main concern is with cost of living, but I should reiterate the mountain aspect again. I took the flat campuses I attended in undergrad for granted. This place might leave you winded if you're not used to a campus on any type of hill.

*heavy breathing*

Yeah the privileged white undergrad population threw me for a loop, too, but all of my students have been wonderful so far! And the Greek life is HUGE here. About 30-40% of the undergrad population is involved in Greek life. It was a shock for me, too, coming from a community college and a larger state school for undergrad with not much Greek presence. Yep, there's a casino, the Sands casino, built on the bones of the now-defunct steel mill. The small town I come from was a small branch of the steel mill in Bethlehem, so it was nice to have a sense of home, being from a family with generations of steel workers. Classes at Lehigh tend to start on 10 past the hour (like 1:10 and 3:10, for example) because, back in the day, steel workers would get off work at 4:00 and would need time to get to campus for classes. Fun fact. Cost of living isn't bad if you have roommates. It's steeper if you live alone. Finding housing information is tough, so I ended up in the basement of an apartment building, in a two-bedroom unit by myself. It's a small unit, and if there were two people, it would be around $500 per month, including rent and utilities. For me, living alone in the two-bedroom unit, it's around $1,000 a month. it's a nice apartment though, besides my bedroom being under the stairs and hearing folks go up and down the stairs. There's this company called Campus Hill that controls a lot of the off-campus housing. If you go with Campus Hill, know that they do quarterly payments, so you'll be paying rent once every three months instead of once a month. My other TA friends rent out bedrooms of houses with roommates, and they only pay $300-$500 per month. I may be paying a lot, but the good news is that even paying $1,000 is doable on my stipend. Money can get tight, but it's doable. Average coffee, plain, would be about $2, I'd wager. Fancy beverages are in the $3 - $5 range. There are cafes everywhere. Chains such as Saxbys, standalone places such as Deja Brew, breakfast-y diner-y places like the Blue Sky Cafe and Alexandra's Bistro, and even the crepe place, Full of Crepe, has excellent coffee. And of course there is a Starbucks attached to the school booskstore. Lehigh actually has a semi-famous sandwich shop nearby called The Goosemen (aka The Goose aka the Goosey Gander). Definitely an authentic, family-style feel to that sandwich shop, and they take their sandwiches very seriously. Fantastic sandwiches. They run about $3.79 a sandwich.

Ugh that sounds like the perfect dinner plan!! Jealous!

YES to all of this! Brew Works is awesome: great beer and food. Vegan Treats is a nationally-known vegan bakery and located on the north side of town across the bridge from campus. There's actually a little bus station right behind my apartment building where students often take buses to New York City for the weekend. Also about vegan-ness: Veg Fest happens in August and is an awesome vegan/vegetarian festival! I'm not even vegetarian, but the food was PHENOMENAL.

Hi there, I'm at Lehigh now. The university and campus are nestled into the side of South Mountain, with the town of South Bethlehem near the bottom of the mountain. There are restaurants everywhere! Coming from a small urban town, I wasn't used to having so many places to eat within walking distance! It's pretty sweet! The undergraduate student population is largely white, wealthy, conservative, and involved with Greek life. Greek life is a huge deal to undergrads here, and I was shocked coming from campuses that were more a mix of socioeconomic statuses, races, and political ideologies. If I was shocked, you'll be shocked if you're a TA by the conservative-ness of campus. Despite any political leanings, the undergraduates are polite, nice, and pretty open-minded, overall, to me as a TA! Among graduate students, there's a definite mix of races, socioeconomic statuses, and political ideologies. I'd describe the graduate student community as liberal, overall, at least in the programs I've interacted with. Over half of the graduate students here are international students. There is some tension between Lehigh undergrads and residents of South Bethlehem. Undergrads call people from Bethlehem "townies" and think that the residents are "ghetto" and uneducated which peeves me because I'm from a town a lot like Bethlehem. I don't know too well what residents think of Lehigh students, but those I've talked to have been really nice. If you live in south Bethlehem, there are grocery stores and a Rite Aid within walking distance, as well as many restaurants to choose from. I don't drive, and everything here is walkable, which is nice. If you have any other questions, let me know!

*pats on the back reassuringly* Sorry to hear this, gordyn. I'm so glad you got a UW acceptance before this! My rejection from Emory went to the Updates tab of Gmail ... so I didn't get a notification either that day!

Go, @macadamia tea, @SushiBar, and @Port Lake!! Rock out, guys!! *throws some confetti for all of you*

Wishing you and the other Harvard applicants the best of luck, @Shay825and @nowayjose<3 *makes everyone some cookies and delicious coffee and tea* You guys here in the sociology forum are all great applicants who really have put their all into this process. Proud to have you all as my friends. :-) (sorry, that was so cheesy)

I had an interview a week ago, and my interviewer said they were gonna meet "in a week" to make some decisions, so... I'm running around in circles now, metaphorically. Not really running cause I'm too tired.

Another Harvard acceptance on the board. Said they got notified yesterday via phone call from chair.

Februgatory! Haha! That's a great one. I'm hoping for some news today, too... But if I have to wait another weekend, it won't be too bad.

I didn't contact anyone beforehand, and I've been doing well thud application season... So far... One rejection so far though. Now, I had met many professors before from one of the programs I applied to because that program accepted me for their Master's program, so they already knew me. But other than that... No, I didn't reach out to profs! I got a really nice email from one of the profs I mentioned in my SOP (I never met him before). He just wanted to congratulate me, said he hoped I'd join the program, and that he looks forward to meeting me... *curls up under my blanket and starts getting teary-eyed* I really needed that nice message on a day like today..

Thank you, @Shay825 @goofylemon @ConsciousKid For the reassurance and support! Sorry for random spacing, I'm on mobile and my phone keyboard freaks out sometimes when I post here.

Definitely a typo!! *not claiming it though, obvs* *I had a dream last night* that I saw Brandeis admits on the board, and my heart sank cause I didn't get one. Then I saw a post here where someone said "Brandeis will send out their decisions by midnight." and I ended up getting an email and thought I was rejected, but I got waitlisted! I was so relieved in the dream to get waitlisted at Brandeis haha. This was all a dream though. Cause in years past, there was only 3 spots and over 80 applicants. Hopefully we get some good Brandeis news soon!!

Congratulations, @goofylemonon your official acceptance!

When I do stuff like this, my sister says "Hi, my name is Gingin and I go to college!!" lol!!! I'm so sorry you hurt your nose though!! Get some ice and a treat to help you feel better!

Maybe just order them once and see how you like them For me, working at home was more out of laziness. I wasn't feeling well this morning, and I didn't wanna waste energy getting ready and putting on uncomfortable clothes ... so I decided staying at home was best! Plus, it was rainy out today, too, I think (I say "I think" because I'm in a basement apartment and can't usually tell what's going on outside).

I stayed home and worked from home all day. And I actually got a lot done! I got a surprise package from my husband ... a box of Cheryl's cookies (http://www.cheryls.com/cheryls-home)! We never do anything for Valentine's day (Because we both usually prefer not to), but he sent me a box of heart-shaped cookies! They're soo tasty! So, that's my good news for today! Nothing on the PhD program front, but that's ok! *shares cookies with everyone*

Sorry to hear about that =( and I'm here with hugs and tea for the other folks who got turned down by Berkeley, too! I know I was relieved to have closure from Emory, too! I did see a Princeton admit on the board, by the way. I know a bunch of folks are waiting for news from Princeton!

Congrats, @SocPhDreamer, @goofylemon, and @spicytunaroll on interviews and acceptances!! @ConsciousKid I hope you get brought in off the waitlist!!

*hugs and offers you some tea or wine* I really hope you hear good news... I'm still rooting for you and thinking positive thoughts for you too!

Could be more than one day though! They're still rolling out Davis acceptances, for example, when in years past, they've sent them out all at once. So even if Berkeley sent acceptances all at once last year, it might be different this year! Don't give up hope! :-) And yes, congratulations to the Berkeley admits so far!

PM'd you!

Be on the lookout!! Maybe one (or more!) of the programs you get accepted to will do the same thing your acceptance letter! If that happens, be sure to tell us you got some confetti! For now *throws confetti for you*!! Thank you!! I truly appreciate your congrats!! :-)