carpeimperium

Aaaah, I want answers nowwwwww! I keep telling myself that the chances are so low it's not worth thinking about, and my gpa was a bit below their ideal (although my gre, letters, wtc. were through the roof) but damnit I want answers. Ok, so we know the % for awards is about 11 --- anyone know the % for HM?

Like others have said, living expenses are through the roof. Somerville is the classic grad student ghetto, and it's a bit cheaper than Cambridge. (Although: AVOID a landlord by the name of Jim Mega, a.k.a. Greenwood Management Properties. He's an evil bastard.) Central square used to be cheap, though it was on the gentrification path when I was there, so I doubt it's still cheap. Inman square is decent, though it's a bit of a hike to both Harvard and MIT in the winter. Cambridge Savings bank is a wonderful sweet little bank, one of those banks where everyone remembers your name. They even waived an overdraft fee for me once when I miscalculated my account. And if you go to Harvard do not live in the fucking Walter Groupius designed buildings. They're mostly occupied by law students, though I think there's two designated for GSAS. They're horrible, basically a prison complex. Groupius should have stuck with the shoe factories. Stefani's, on Main St. by MIT: best pizza in town. 3 Aces, just north of Harvard Law School: most excessive subs in town (and tolerable pizza too). Aaaah, I miss Cambridge, I do.

Don't let the maniac rightwingers in the law school and econ department brainwash you. kthanxbye. Other than that, I'm afraid the area kind of sucks. It's a bit of a suburban hell. The campus is pretty though.

Portland is an awesome city. It's possibly my favorite city in the country. Powells alone puts it in the top 10. There's tons of good food, places to go, good music. The city is clean, liberal, peaceful, easy to get around (good public transport). It's close to paradise. The only gripe (apart from the weather) is that sometimes it gets a little too sweet-hippy-liberal for taste. For example, it's not enough to call old people "senior citizens." Oh, no. That's not nearly PC enough for PDX. On the buses, there are seats reserved for "honored citizens." I'm pretty left-wing, but that goes too far.

I'm heading to Stanford this fall, and I'm addicted to coffeeshops. Specifically, I'm addicted to grungy, late-night, full of couches, casual low-key coffeeshops full of local art on the walls, occasional local bands (ideally) young people, students, hippies, gutterpunks, pagans, and the like. Think: Zotz (until it closed) in New Orleans, College Perk in College Park MD, Sacred Grounds (a few years ago) in San Pedro, CA, etc. etc. etc. Someone please tell me I can find such a place in the Bay Area. I'm willing to roam to S.F., I really am.

So for those of us who didn't apply in their application year (working full-time, no time!) and plan to apply in year 1 of phd program, can any of you who applied already give - pointers and tips or - suggestions for books or websites with a clear explanation of the process and how you go about succeeding ? PLEASE? :-) Thanks.

My offers in poli sci ranged pretty narrowly between ~19k-21k for the academic year, health, tuition, etc. plus anything from a couple summers at 2500 to 4 summers at 4500. All implied a couple years worth of ta.

I'll be starting poli sci. Counting the minutes...