ginagirl

I'm living in Baltimore right now and attending the SPH. I don't feel unsafe here, or at least no more unsafe than I do in any city. I wouldn't suggest living around the SPH though, the area doesn't have a lot to offer and isn't as safe as other areas of the city. There is the 929 apartment building in that area though, which is for students. I know a bunch of people living there- it's nice, if not a bit pricey, but they always complain about not having a lot to do in the area/being isolated from the nice spots of the city. I am living in Little Italy right now and I love it. I know that Upper Fells Point, Fells Point, Canton, Hampden, Charles Village, Mt Vernon, and Federal Hill are all common places for the SPH students to live. If you will be relying on public transportation, there is the free Hopkins shuttle that runs from the JHMI campus to the Homewood campus with a stop in Mt. Vernon I think. I've heard that it's pretty reliable. I usually walk or take the Circulator which is a free city bus. I don't know much about the regular city buses. The trick about Baltimore is just knowing where is good to walk and where is not. The city is really spotty, and sometimes even just re-routing by a block can help you avoid unsafe sections. It's something that you'll learn with time mostly. Edit: also, I would say that most violent crime here is unlikely to be random, and within my department I know that there's only been one mugging (a stolen wallet) in the last few years, although that might not mean much. Either way you're way more likely to get hit by a car here than mugged or shot.

I moved from Arizona to Maryland. Most of my belongings weren't worth a lot (ie the cost of a UHaul would have been more than the cost of buying new items), so I decided to sell what I could and then move the rest in my car. This worked out well for me since the apartment I moved into was semi-furnished and also very small. You may want to ask the department if they cover any costs. I was able to get some costs covered (and it never hurts to ask). You might want to also look into shipping via Amtrak or by bus (ie Greyhound), and bulk mailing things like books via postal service media mail if you're looking to save on space during the move.

I think if you will actually be presenting it, go ahead and put it under presentations/conferences. However from your phrasing it sounds like your supervisors just proposed that you do it/encouraged you to apply to do it ("..invited by my supervisors.."). Unless it's already been approved by the conference/meeting then I wouldn't put it.

I sometimes asked "What do you feel sets your program apart from others in the field?". Even with extensive research sometimes it is interesting to hear the faculty member's own perspective on things.

150/month is about what I spend. I do this by keeping it really, really simple and buying the same things every week, which helps my budget be more predictable. I eat cereal or oatmeal for breakfast, and a peanut butter sandwich and an apple every day for lunch. I eat pasta 2x per week, and the rest of the days its a large salad (simple, cheap ingred- no fancy shmancy veggies/greens and nothing organic unfortunately), with quinoa/couscous/ to make it more filling. Usually a box of your standard grain mix can be split across 3ish meals depending on the serving, so these are pretty cost-effective. I also occasionally eat soups when the good kinds are on sale. I don't eat much meat unless I go out, which is maybe once a week at most. I don't buy a lot of snacks either since that can eat up a surprising amt of a budget- I stick with cheap fruits for mid-day snacks since they're healthier, and also filling (kiwis, bananas, oranges). Like rising_star said, my "eating out" budget I count as part of my entertainment budget, since it's more like a treat and is usually a social thing.

When's the last time you emailed the ones who haven't yet submitted? If it's been a while since you've emailed them, I don't see anything wrong with a "friendly reminder". You can also use it as an opportunity to thank them for writing one, etc, since it's almost the end of the process.

I can speak for Hopkins- like you said there is a lot of strength with neuroimaging, but there is also a lot of interest/work in genomics. Some of these programs should have information about their working groups on their website, or you at least might be able to get a sense of what work is being produced by looking at recent publications by faculty and students. You might be able to get some of these questions answered also by contacting programs after you've done a little digging around. It might be a good idea to contact faculty that do work in areas you're interested in, and they might be willing to talk with you more about it or put you in touch with a current student.

Wyatt's Torch seems to be referring to LOR writers.. not POIs

I agree with everything Takeruk said. I did mostly the same except I filled out the LOR section of the applications in chunks (ie 5 one day, and then a week or two later 5 more). This was nice in case they were staying on top of things, they didn't have to do all of them at one time, and it was also helpful since it served as a reminder if they didn't yet do the previous chunk. Every time I input their emails into the apps to send the notification, I also sent them a personal email summarizing the ones I had just submitted, and reminded them of the deadlines.

I would say to go with the Econ prof- it seems as if you already have two LORs that will speak well about your research abilities. It may be helpful to have the third person be someone who doesn't necessarily know you in that context, and that still has something positive to say. Either way they both sound like good choices. I don't think it will make a huge difference in the end.

This has been discussed pretty extensively here: Conferences should always be business casual attire, in my opinion. The only exception I've seen so far was at a conference in Hawaii, where some people were SLIGHTLY more casually dressed. But really you should look nice.

If you think you can make time for it, maybe it's not too late to email him saying things have freed up for you, and ask where things are and if he's still wanting to write the review together? You did produce the outline so you have contributed solidly up until this point. I know sometimes it seems like a lot of work but I think as has been said above, there are benefits to following thru with these things, and especially since the fellow asked you to work on something with him, that's a great (and flattering) opportunity. But ultimately it's your decision.

It may raise questions if you don't have a letter from a year and a half long position however..

I would submit no more than 4 even if they allow it. I chose my three strongest for the programs that capped it, and included the 4th for those who allowed, since I felt my 4th still incorporated something different about myself. This is an individual thing and if you don't feel that an 4th letter truly adds something new, it's probably best not to include it. I would say go with 1, 2, 4, with either 3 or 5 as the additional. Obviously this is based just on what you've posted here, but my reasoning is that you should pick either 1 or 3 since they may know you in mostly the same context and for the same purpose. 2 sounds like it would be a strong reference and the length of the relationship indicates this will probably cover a lot of positive things. 4 might be a good choice since he is well-regarded, which normally I don't think carries much weight, but is obviously beneficial if he can also write something thoughtful/positive, and it doesn't sound like he would write a worse letter than 2 or 5. I'm not sure if "drawing on the thoughts of others" is something that is done, but definitely they can draw from your own thoughts, about your goals, etc, so it may be worth sitting down and talking with him about this. That might give him some guidance on what to incorporate into your letter if he doesn't specifically ask.

I think the most important thing is how well they know you. My letter writers are not from quantitative fields and are not well-known. They were, however, able to speak about my preparation/personality in much detail (and very favorably). Each had something different to discuss (research, full-time work experience, TA experience, tutoring) and so each were able to describe a different aspect of my preparations. If you can manage to have recommendations like this, I think that's the best you can do. I contacted a faculty member at a highly ranked institution after admission to discuss potential research, and she said she remembered me due to these letters, so I know that they were a very strong part of my application. Obviously there is only so much control you have over what is said and who you have to choose from. Are there people you're trying to decide between?

Just the department's address should be fine

I am in the same position, so I get how you feel. I am currently working on finishing a manuscript for some research I used to do full-time. I am currently a 1st year MS student. The reason I am continuing to work on the manuscript is because 1) I told my boss I would, 2) she is being flexible about a deadline and is leaving it to me to finish or not (I don't think she would care honestly whether or not it got written), and 3) if it gets published, it's another thing for my CV. I think my best advice is to weigh what you hope to gain vs what you are sacrificing. If you decide to finish what you've committed to at this point, in the future it might be a good idea to think more carefully about what you will agree to take on. If you set clear boundaries from the start, it will be much easier than feeling like you are "giving up" or "flaking" on something you don't have time to commit to. If you don't feel like you can set aside the time to produce something of quality, it is probably best to just say so.

I have also been feeling "off". My nose has been running like a faucet and my throat feels strange (and as I'm typing this, I just sneezed all over my laptop ).. Could possibly be just allergies because I feel mostly fine otherwise. Haven't been able to get on a consistent sleep schedule and I've been having a hard time falling asleep. Need some tea and calming exercises before bed I guess...

I definitely don't think anyone expects you to have a thesis idea at this point. In some ways, having a too-specific research direction may be detrimental to your application process if a program doesn't feel they can support you in that particular area. All a program would expect from you at this point is an interest in the field of biostats and maybe just some general area that you are interested in, whether it might be more theoretical or more applied. In response to this, any statistical work you do is the work of a statistician and is relevant. As a biostatistician you may be expected to work on any number of projects in a variety of fields. That is the nature biostatistics. At this point it's about deciding if what the work you had done previously is at all what you are interested in or if you would like to explore a new area of application. A program would be interested in hearing about that too. As an aside, I'm not sure who exactly was telling you that you needed to propose a thesis topic either in your SOP or to faculty. Unless the program asks you specifically, I would say that you don't need to force one if you don't have one. I'm sure some people do have grand plans and address it in the SOP or to faculty, and that's fine, but this is about YOU and what YOU have to offer the program. It's their job to decide if what you are bringing to the table is what they are looking for. There is no sense in forcing/faking some idea and then possibly eating your words after they admit you to the program when you can't back it up. Not everyone can offer a thesis topic at this point, and I think that's fine.

Thanks for the suggestions, I forgot Greyhound/Amtrak do shipping. And yes it is hottt here right now. I have only been here for a year (I'm an east coaster, raised in NJ, lived in DC for a year prior to this) so luckily most of my wardrobe is still 4-seasons appropriate.

I don't think all of the stuff that I will be leaving behind added together is more than the cost of the Uhaul (which really is over 1000 for the move I am making), and also I probably won't even need to replace most of it when I arrive. At this point, for better or worse, I'm only bringing what fits in my car. I am probably going to mail 4 boxes of items home (books, small kitchen appliances) for <100 dollars, to save space.

Yea, they have a 5 lb book of practice problems but I don't know if that will give you the strategy part you're looking for. I think it's just a ton of practice problems, but I don't know because I haven't used it.

I would recommend Manhattan Prep- If there is a specific area or question type you feel you are struggling with, Manhattan has strategy/practice books for each math topic (algebra, fractions/decimals/percents, geometry, number properties, word problems, and quantitative comparison/data interpretation). If you can pinpoint where your issues lie, this is a pretty cheap option ($20/book), and a purchase of any book gives you access to 6 free, full online practice tests that you can take as many times as you want. You can probably also find them elsewhere online for cheaper. I got the QC/Data Interpretation one because I was struggling with that question type specifically, and I thought it helped me with speed/logical approach/shortcuts/tricks. I'm sure all of their books do the same sort of thing for those different topics. I also found it hugely helpful to have so many full practice tests at my disposal. http://www.manhattanprep.com/gre/store.cfm

I know it's light- but renting a truck and towing my car for that distance would be in the thousands of dollars, not to mention a majority of the stuff I own currently I won't have space for when all I need to furnish is a bedroom. Right now I have a fully stocked kitchen, a "furnished" living room (mainly a cheap Walmart futon and a hand-me-down coffee table), a kitchen table and chairs, and other odds and ends (lamps, rugs, side tables, storage bins/baskets). I don't have a lot of high quality or expensive furniture, and some of it is even passed down from family, so it didn't seem worth the expense.. hopefully this wasn't the wrong mentality to have. I plan on purchasing a cheap bed when I arrive, and also a desk, which I don't even own at this point.

I will be making the move from Tucson to Baltimore in a few weeks and have an apartment full of stuff. I have been renting on my own for two years in unfurnished apartments, so I've accumulated quite a bunch of belongings (somewhat out of necessity) but I will be moving in with roommates in August and thus need very little of what I have now. I am going to make the drive with what fits in my car and either donate, trash, or sell the rest, and re-purchase any items I still need when I arrive. That being said, any car packing suggestions? I have a general sense of what I can keep and what I can get rid of, but does anyone have strategies for packing a pretty small car? I have a two-door, 4-seat hatch back. The back two seats fold flat to give me a sizeable space to work with, but my three duffel bags/luggage pieces already take up about half the space, and I think those will be filled with clothes and shoes. I'm worried that the day of the move I will still end up with more stuff than I can fit. My dad will be driving with me, so loading up the passenger seat too won't work. Have any of you done a full "trial pack"? Should I try to avoid boxes and instead tuck items into nooks and crannies? Any way around the bulky duffel/luggage issue? I'd love to hear what worked and what didn't from people who have done it. Note: I looked into roof racks, but I don't think they'd be worth the money/hassle to install. Anyone disagree with this? Also I don't think my car can handle a hitch.