biochemm

What subfield of nutrition are you looking at, if it's metabolism/biochemical/molecular I've just been through the process, but I can't speak to clinical/international. There weren't a huge number in this year's biomed applications thread but you can browse through that for some more ideas. You might also want to move this thread to a different subforum, you might not get that many replies on this one but maybe the public health or biology ones?

PhD Nutrition, in the Biochem/Molecular track. The program here is awesome, lot of the big discoveries in the field have come from here so I'm pretty excited.

I haven't been but the grad student housing (all three locations) are supposed to be quite nice.

I'm a Canadian in the US, so my situation is even weirder, but I've heard either an education savings fund (if you plan on having a kid) or doing some wacky workarounds with HSAs might give you some tax avoidance. I think there are a fair number of resources on google and whatnot. Interested to see what else people can think of here.

I was talking about the Harvey Street ones. The other two you have to pay electric but the other utilities are included. Either way all three you need to pay a bit extra to get an A/C installed, heating refers to the heating systems for when it's cold, not the A/C

I personally found a sublet on facebook for a few months, then looked for a new place while I'm here. I've heard that the campus run housing is really nice and everything included so that's good, it just might be a little ways away from downtown and probably equidistant to campus

This is all pretty much accurate. The 80 bus is like a campus bus that runs every six minutes east and west through campus. You can look up all the other routes on their website I'm sure. With segregated fees (which you have to pay) you get a bus pass valid all fall, and then another one valid for spring/summer as long as you're here. There are a lot of different areas to live, some quiet and some not, I think people have summed it up in the Madison city guide. You can check cdliving.com, craigslist and campusareahousing.wisc.edu for places, or google the facebook group UW madison sublets if you want something short term

City has been awesome so far, although it gets fairly cold during the winter (and it's apparently been mild this year). Any time it has warmed up there are a ton of people outside tossing a frisbee or whatever. The main socializing that seems to go on is mostly bar related since the state is known for its beer, so finding other groups/stuff to do takes a little more effort. Madison is really bike friendly and the downtown/campus area is well served by transit (outside of that a little less so). As to housing some places seem really nice on the listing but are grungy inside or whatever. I'm signing a lease (they all seem to start around Aug. 15 here) for a 250 sq ft studio on Lake Mendota for about $725 plus electric, there are cheaper options if you want to have a house or roommate or live further away, and more expensive options if you want to be closer to campus or in a nice place. One big thing to check for in housing is that heat is included, apparently it costs a ton in the winter so either get it included or budget for that as well.

Did a quick search and didn't see a 2016 thread up. Accepted my offer at UW Madison for the IGPNS PhD program (nutrition) and looking to meet some other grads. I'm actually currently in Madison on a short internship anyways but I'm a little anxious about finding friends in a similar situation (graduate students) since it seems like a lot of the people I've met are either undergrads or much older. Let me know if you have any questions about the city and I can answer a little (only been here since Jan), otherwise let's all get to know each other.

Decided on UW Madison. I ended up emailing in my declining decision to BU like I said since the site wasn't working.

I interviewed in the second weekend, heard back Feb 17th (although the website still hasn't allowed me to submit my decision, I'll probably just email in). They did say that you should be getting a response within 2 weeks of the interview either way, if you haven't heard maybe check your spam folder or I guess it could be a waitlist? Weird

The first two schools at which I interviewed I was required to be sponsored by a specific PI's funds to be admitted. Obviously I enjoyed meeting other PIs around and was told that the possibility of switching exists if something didn't work out, and that rotations allow you to get a feel for those other labs. Again, I guess you guys are looking at much differently run programs, so I appreciate the input on BU which I imagine is closer to what you're used to, and why I asked in the first place.

It seems like this is another quirk between a small program/umbrella program. Thank you for your opinion, and I wish you a calming Thursday.

Congrats! EDIT: sorry for the wall of text guys Yes, although it was the one dude at UT, 5 at UNC and 6 arranged at UW madison I guess we have different priorities here? Never mind the fact that I wouldn't be able to determine the fit of any of the 6+ labs I might actually care about before signing on, because I'm not interviewing with any of the people directly in my field. Already said that I am keeping an open mind in the initial post, I'm still going to the interview because A. its paid for and B. it could turn out that these guys have interesting projects AND be a good fit. I was disappointed because I've already determined that many labs already qualified for the first part. It seems like you're being antagonistic for no real reason. I posted asking for experiences in the interviewing weekend since one had already happened, which could have told me about extra time to meet relevant profs or things to note while I was there.

Given that my other interviews thus far, and my future interviews have all been scheduled with potential PIs I'm finding it odd that they do it this way. I guess it's just because BU runs the umbrella program, whereas the others are all specific programs right off the bat. Still seems weird that I'm expected to want to go to a school in which I haven't met someone under whom I would actually work. Alternatively, maybe its a sign I should be getting in contact with the other PIs there on my own. Who knows