SgtP3pp3r

Alright, so I've been living in Baton Rouge for the past two years and it's not as bad as some would make it out to be. It does get very hot in the summer, and is pretty warm most of the year. The humidity is pretty high regularly as well, but I grew up in places with high humidity, so for me that's a plus. There are lots of places to live that are near to campus, but as far as walking distance you'll want to check out the places just south of campus. Sterling Burbank is in that area but is very pricy, they opened up last year and have really high rent. There are plenty of other options in this area that can be agreeable. Look for University View and Embassy Apartments as a good starting point in that area. These are cheap and are usually in pretty good shape. Very close to campus. There are a few other apartment places nearby that are probably a bit cheaper, but the quality is less. You have El Cid (there's like 3 of them) and Gaslite in this area as well which I personally didn't like too much, but which aren't horrible either. I think all of these have mostly 1bd-1br options, and some 2bd-1br. All around Parker boulevard you will find nice places that are individually owned and rented. There is also the Nicholson Apartments provided by LSU. I wouldn't call them horrible, but they are kind of pricy for what you get. They are small, and pretty old. The biggest advantage they have is the closeness to campus. This is all walking distance. The university has some additional graduate apartments in the north part (Edward Gay Apartments) which aren't bad, but the main problem there is that just south of this is a part of Baton Rouge that I would consider unsafe to walk through on a daily basis, and this is exactly where you would walk through to get to campus. Also on the north side of campus you have places like Campus Crossing, and Tiger Manor. Tiger manor has very nice 1bd-1br, but they are expensive. I've never been to Campus Crossing, but they seemed more Undergrad infested. In the part of town called Tigerland you have lots and lots of apartment complexes which are on the cheaper side. I wouldn't call it unsafe since I have personally never heard of problems, but it does look kind of sketchy in parts. Just south of Tigerland you have Brightside, for me this is a big improvement with respect to Tigerland and there are a couple of nice complexes that have ok pricing. Villas on Brightside are probably the nicer ones and best bang for your buck in the area, they also offer up 2bd-2br. I checked them out when I was apartment hunting. Blox on Brightside is not bad either, but they are a lot smaller than the Villas. There are also plenty of individually owned places you can rent. There are a few other places that are more undergrad-y but not bad over all like Campus Crossing, or Jennifer's Landing. There is one complex that I would definitely stay away from, I think it's called The Zone, on Brightside. It's pretty badly kept, I haven't seen the apartments from the inside, but on the outside they look like they are falling apart. Personally I wouldn't think that you should just stick to something that is within walking distance to campus, what you should do is make sure that there is a tiger trails bus route. The tiger trails buses are pretty reliable, and run pretty regularly within regular hours. Everything in Tigerland, Brightside, is on the bus route. There is another place in Nicholson called Oakbrook, and one beside it called Brookhaven which are not bad at all either. Oakbrook has some pretty good pricing for what they offer, also having lots of variety in apartments and lots of 2bd-2br. This is also within tiger trails. Also on the southern part you have the Highland Crossing apartments, also on the tiger trails. I consider them to be alright, and would never call them horrible, and they are quite on the cheap side. Their biggest advantage is being right next to the neighborhood walmart. There are several Campus Crossing housing complexes, these seem alright, but they seem very much for undergrads. Kinda like Sterling Burbank, or the Towers. Other than what i've mentioned you'll have a lot of other housing complexes scattered everywhere, but will be pricier and most would require a vehicle. If you aren't nitpicky you will find lots and lots of places to live that are great here in BR close to campus. Try checking out LSU off campus housing with your myLSU account. Thats how I found my first roommate and apartment when I first got here. They have a small social-network-like website that's useful for apartment hunting and roommate recruiting before you arrive. The better part is that it is pretty trustworthy since everyone on it has to be registered as a student at LSU, and the postings for places are (I think) approved by the university. So you won't have to worry about scams or rip offs. Good luck!

You guys want to lol a bit? I JUST received an answer from NCSU, and apparently I was admitted. Almost 2 full months past the deadline, and 2 full months since I made my decision. I can't even fathom why they would still send me the admission at this stage if they knew I am an international student and had to decide a while back. It's still a comfort to know I was admitted, but wow was the answer late. I really doubt it has any financial awards tied to it on account of the lateness. I was probably on the waitlist, although I was never notified of this. Had to make my decision months ago, and although a couple of months back this admission would have made a diffrence, it definitely does not now. Maybe my declining will help someone out, but at this point in the calendar I doubt it Edit: Now that I think about it, I even withdrew my application with them after accepting at LSU, so this admission REALLY doesn't make sense!

I agree on talking to the people managing your program to try and get your status changed to J1. But if that isn't an option then, if your wife is earning a wage in your home country, it might be best for you to consider rooming with someone until the housing option clears, or at least for the first couple of months while you determine whether or not it's economically feasible. I will be in a somewhat similar position, except the maintenance fee on my scholarship is a lot lower (1300). Then again, the apartment rent is also cheaper. My wife won't join me until later on, she's still finishing up her studies here in our country. In my case, i've never lived in the US (or even ever been there!) so all the info I have on the cost of living derives of recommendation and university websites

Hey, i'm also going to be looking for a place for this fall. I had been looking around and was wondering if anyone could speak about the Fairway View apartments, or Varn Villa? Fairway seems a little far from campus, but i'm going to be looking into getting a car. What are some of the neighbourhoods I should look into? I have been using http://offcampushousing.lsu.edu as a resource for looking at stuff, but maybe someone could point me in a better direction. I'm also on a very limited stipend and would be looking for something in the same range as Eastside21 ($700-900)

I think he meant the third Master's Degree. Are all of them around Structural Engineering? I was intrigued by this as well.

In the end I decided to go with LSU! I guess there were reasons to go with TAMU, and NCSU as well, but in the end a budgetary restriction was the deciding factor (like almost everything in real life anyway). My admission to TAMU had no offer of cost-sharing with Fulbright, and NCSU never replied. It's April 15th, and so my decision was made. I really didn't want to wait till April 15th to decide, but I wanted a reply from NCSU, and wanted to give TAMU time to decide on funding. I know by April 15th my declining TAMU might not really help anyone out, but maybe someone who was on the wait list might get the admission he or she was waiting for. I'm also withdrawing my applications at UIC and WPI. I'm so glad this part is over, now comes the visa paperwork. Since my scholarship is being overseen by the US Embassy at my country, I think this part won't be as complicated in my case. I really hope things come together for those who might still not have a clear decision. From what I see on the results board, many universities still give out admissions and funding after April 15th, so hopefully you will hear back soon. Goodluck everyone!

Well, it seems it was PhD all long. They sent me several emails clarifying, and in the official letter in the post it apparently says PhD. Unfortunately, it does not seem I have funding. I don't know if the decision is pending, or final, but I was contacted by LASPAU that LSU seems to be the better opportunity. TAMU would be over budget for the scholarship I am applying thru. I was going to wait till today or tomorrow to decide, because NCSU has said NOTHING. But, i'm thinking as soon as I am contacted by LASPAU, I will probably be confirming. Looks like there is a lot of cajun food and jazz in my near future

I'm not sure about this. In one of my admissions letters it said to accept by simply replying to the email, but in the other one I have I'm pretty sure I have to reply thru postal mail (though I'm not sure as i am yet to receive the actual package). Did it say on your admissions letter how you should accept? In any case, you might want to contact the Graduate Admissions office and ask what the correct form would be, and if your reply thru the email (technically not verbal, as it is recorded and written), would hold you to commit to your decision.

In my case, it doesn't state in the admission letter that April 15th is the deadline. In fact, it says the letter of admission is valid for 1 year from the date of that letter, as long as I have the approval of the admitting program. Check on the AIS website, and look on the bottom part, where it says "Correspondence". You should have a new message there with a digital version of your admissions decision. I haven't received the one in the postal office either, and what I mention above is from what I could read on the digital version. In any case, the only real hurry would be if you are an international student, to get your visa papers ready (like me )

What a roller-coaster! Today I received a letter of clarification from TAMU indicating I just might have been admitted to the PhD program after all! I am so freaking confused right now... I received an email with a letter from the Director of the Graduate Program Office stating that I was being recommended for admission to the PhD program. However, I also have a letter from the Director of Admissions saying I was admitted to the Master of Science program! WTF! I have no idea what to believe. The Civil Engineering department sent me the letter from the Director of Graduate Program Office (saying PhD), after I inquired about whether or not the MS decision was a mistake. I don't want to build castles in the sand, because the letter from the Director of Graduate Program Office (saying PhD), says clearly that it is not the official letter. I think the one from Graduate Admissions (saying MS) is the official one, however it leads me to believe they made a mistake! If the CE department, the Graduate Programs Office, and the Admissions Committee all agree I was admitted to the PhD program, can Graduate Admissions really override that and say I will only be admitted to MS program?? I wrote them all asking WTF (nicely of course), and hopefully I will get a quick reply. So far they have been replying quite swiftly, hopefully I can get clarification before the final weekend and enjoy a much needed respite during Easter week. Is anyone else applying to TAMU? Has anyone had as much difficulty as me or had any news? What about NCSU? Anyone? Edit: Just to clarify, I have NOT received anything thru the postal mail yet. All of this was electronic, thru email and the AIS.

So, I never heard back from UIC and WPI. The application to these two universities was more of a hassle than the other three, and on their websites my status is marked as incomplete. I tried and tried to update the information that it listed as missing (which was in fact sent), and had no luck. Resent the results from ETS (for WPI), reuploaded my transcripts, and now they say they want transcripts in the original language as well (for UIC), despite LASPAU having told me there would be no need. I'll be surprised if my status ever changes from incomplete. Jeez, i'm real glad I did not end up depending on these applications. They never even took off! Just blowing off some steam. Sorry to vent out here guys. I can't wait for this whole application process to be over. For any applicants reading this in the future, be sure that even when you have good news this is a stressful ordeal. I'm not sure how helpful discovering thegradcafe has been for me. I think it might have done more harm than good. I end up checking results every 3 hours. Even now, when I am only waiting back on one University, it's a hassle. I guess the only "helpful" part is seeing in the forums that I am not alone in the suffering. In my particular case, I'll be glad when April 17th comes around, and then my decision will have to be rendered. I am 99% sure what my decision will be (and i am real excited about it!), however that 1% is what keeps me up at night. That damned "what if".

Well, I guess I did good on not celebrating early. The admission I got from Texas A&M was for Master of Science. I wrote them to make sure this was their recommendation, and they answered that they had very limited resources for PhD admissions, and upon concluding the degree requirements I could continue on to PhD without another application. I haven't received the full documentation, so I have no information on funding, but judging from the response I got, I expect funding is probably not an option. I was pretty psyched about going to TAMU, but perhaps not enough to redo my Master's Degree. I have a very good offer from LSU, and as it stands, I do not think I will turn it down. In the end, I do believe everything happens for a reason. Perhaps it was not in my life's best interest to go to Texas A&M.

Ok, so i got good news from TAMU. I was contacted by my POI and he said he was recommending me for admission, and I should get an email soon. He said "Congratulations!" so i'm guessing he's pretty sure about it. He literally said nothing about whether or not there was funding being considered or not. But i believe that is what is taking so long. I've been hounding around admission, and poking for my status so much with TAMU that i decided not to push my luck by asking. I'll just be patient and wait for the letter. My status on AIS still hasn't confirmed admission which is why i am waiting on posting on the results page. I'll post it up when i finally have official confirmation, but I'll hold any celebrating until I know about funding.

Just as a follow up, I wrote the TAMU graduate admissions, and civil engineering departments and they both confirmed that my application was in fact available to the admission committee. So, i'm hoping the whole mix up was just a misunderstanding. In the email they sent me it said they would let me know as soon as a decision was available, but it also said the response from TAMU could come as late as the end of april :S I really, really hope i get a response sooner than then. I also wrote NCSU and they said my decision was not yet available from the admissions committee on my application, she said she would make an inquiry. I might be getting ahead of myself, but maybe i got an admit and funding is up for discussion. I'm trying to stay positive.

I have a friend who is currently a PhD Candidate for Structural Engineering at TAMU, and I asked her to inquire about the status of my application. She managed to speak with someone who had knowledge of the application process, and everything I mentioned above resulted from her conversation directly with him. Apparently they looked me up among the applicants, and I wasn't listed. The response you posted seems like the standard response one can expect from the department. Today I sent a service ticket to graduate admissions, and a few minutes ago they replied that my application had been made available to Civil Engineering, and I should inquire with them as to the status. I imagine, they mean for me to contact the person you mention. I also suppose, when I send an email to Civil Engineer, it is very likely that I will get a similar response to the one you posted. Anyway, i'll write them as a follow up, and then play the waiting game.

Ok so I got good news, and i got bad news. The bad news is that i managed to contact the graduate coordinator at Texas A&M, and he said that he did not receive my application from graduate admissions... This means that he has not even reviewed my file yet, due to some unknown problem. Neither he, nor I knew why. On the application information system (AIS) page, it stated that everything was fine and dandy, and that Civil Engineering had access to review my application... however this was not true. The good news was he seemed interested and enthusiastic about reviewing my application and asked that i send all the application documents directly to his email address while graduate admissions sorted out what happened. So at least I haven't been rejected from TAMU yet. I guess the moral of the story is, don't trust the AIS. Hopefully i'll get a response relatively soon, since I have a deadline on my tuition award at LSU. I explained this in the email, which will hopefully help me out in terms of speeding things up. I just hope I won't be put in a position where I have to decide whether or not to decline the offer from LSU without even having gotten a response from TAMU or NCSU. NCSU has been silent throughout, and am thinking about reaching out to them as well. Not graduate admissions, but specifically the graduate coordinator in Civil Engineering.

Well, im closing off March Week 3 without any more responses. Hopefully we'll all have good luck on Week 4. According to the graphic, this is the big one. I've started to dislike weekends because I know I won't be getting any responses until monday...

Hopefully it will mean your status will be updated within the next couple of days. On my one and only admit so far, the status actually still says "Under Evaluation", and then at the bottom of the page "Decision Status: Available Beginning 2/13/2014". I figure the "Under Evaluation" is the status they set when the committee is actively reviewing your file, and in my case it was never changed. Maybe the email you got means something along the way. I got the admission email about a week after the status was updated, and then a flimsy letter thru the post with the decision. I imagine they sent out that mail to quell the masses, because they are aware that this is the busy week in terms of responses. I havent gotten any other responses so far. I'm really hoping to hear something soon. I was offered full funding on my LSU admit, and I will have to give an answer back soon. The full funding decision came in a little over a month after the admit. I just hope I have a response from the other universities before the time is up. I have until April 16th to decide. There were a couple of NCSU rejections popping up in the results search, so I'm hoping maybe not having heard anything might be good. I just hope they are not simply keeping me on a waiting list and not telling me about it. I asked a friend who is currently doing her PhD at TAMU to ask around about the admissions, but she hasnt gotten back to me. Do you guys think it's a good idea to email the department inquiring about my status, or just wait it out? *Edit* Forgot to mention that the full funding is only for the first two years, and only covers tuition fees... so actually its not full funding, its a full tuition award. The letter was very specific that this award was NOT RENEWABLE in big bold letters. So I guess I'll have to hunt down an assistantship before my award is up. Thankfully the Fulbright scholarship im applying thru will provide a maintenance for the first two years, else i would be left out in the cold.

I know where you are coming from, im waiting out on the decision from some universities before making a decision myself, but the long draw on the other universities is making me doubt whether or not i got in. Im holding on to hope as i have yet to see Phd acceptances to the structural engineering programs at these other universities. The one admit i do have is without an assitantship. I was nominated for a tuition award, but have not received any further word on how this went. It's frustrating that an admit can turn into a rejection if funding cannot be obtained. Finally, i just want to tell you that the last thing u should lose is hope. I'm clinging to the idea that these universities are still deciding on funding, and this is why they are tsking so long. But this is just how i calm my anxiousness, anyway, even if it doesnt come thru, its not the end of the world. Sure, its money that went away, but next year u can try again, diffrent universities. In my case i have a fulbright nomination, so it is imperstive i procure an acceptance. I doubt the fulbright evaluation committee would aprove me for a second consecutive year... So this has to come thru for me, this year. Wish u the best of luck. (Where di u apply by the way?)

Actually as far as I know when you accept an offer, it is binding agreement. Like you said, if a school revokes admission, it is usually on grounds of something misrepresented, or misunderstood during the application. I'm applying with the auspice of Fulbright-LASPAU and they have repeatedly advised me NOT to accept an offer until I am absolutely sure. I'm not entirely sure, but I don't think you can go back after you agree to accept. At least not without some sort of repercussions, or having to jump thru a bunch of hoops, and dodge a lot of red tape.

I'm waiting on a decision for structural engineering, but for phd, from Texas A&M. I've been checking the ais like mad, but in status it still says that the department has my papers for review and will contact me if anything else is needed. Congratulations on your admit! Maybe they do masters first then phd slots, or maybe thats just wishful thinking. This doesnt bode to well for me :S

Yeah, Judging from results postings from previous years, some of my universities do the same... It's unnerving because it means I might have to make a decision before I have received responses from all programs. I don't know if this is some sort of strategy on their part (if that would make any sense)... or just plainly leaving things until the last minute like you said.

For International students WPI has it for March 31st, LSU has a May 15th deadline, and NCSU has March 1st. The financial aid deadlines for these programs are earlier, however, I don't know the dates. These dates are what I wrote down when I was selecting unis, so these are probably specific for the Structural Engineering programs at each University. You should check with your specific program.

I couldn't say. Usually, if the university can offer funding, they mention something along the way of it on the department website. You could also try contacting someone at the department to inquire about it, but maybe the best course of action is to wait it out. Now, I applied for a PhD so my experience might be a little different; but what I tried to do, was research the program and faculty at a university extensively before applying. Then I would contact faculty at the University before applying and would ask if support might be within the realm of possibility if I applied. I'd give them the gist of my work experience, situation, and why I felt I was a good fit for their research group. I also offered to send my CV and transcripts if they needed to make a better assessment. Most of the time the faculty members wouldn't respond, but a few of them did. Some showed interest off the bat, and encouraged me to apply, while others bluntly said they wouldn't be taking in students. In the end, I only applied to programs where at least one faculty member with similar research interests as my own recommended that I apply. If their response was ambiguous, didn't seem interested in me, or I got nothing in the way of encouragement then I didn't apply. If you made contact with someone before applying, maybe you could inquire with them. A lot of big name Universities fell off my list of applications on account of not getting a positive response from faculty, but then again, maybe it wasn't in my best interest to work under someone who would not give me 5 mins of their time for an honest opinion.

I know what you mean, and this has me worried. I got my first admit thru the website, but have received no email notification or anything in the mail... Should I be worried? On the website I got a link to a page that had a congratulations message, saying I had been admitted so maybe it's just me panicking for no reason... but I can't help notice that nearly all admits are notified by email. I tried to calm myself down by thinking that maybe it's because I'm being considered for a Fellowship, TA or RA... but there is still that lingering doubt. Such a foul after taste. Edit: Completely different discipline however xD I fell upon this thread thru a search in the forums. Guess i'm just desperately grasping for support.