esotericish

This is the sort of petty cliquishness that comes in most work environments. Think of it like a job, stay professional and try to make friends outside of grad school. That will really help put some perspective on the pettiness. You don't have to be friends with them; I'm certainly not friends with all of my coworkers, I don't even like most of them, but we have to work together. Also, I've always been a fan of "killing them with kindness" when people are unnecessarily rude or mean. It's hard to continue that when all you're doing is being friendly and polite.

Normal hard drives (hard disk drives) is what computers have had for many many years. They've become incredibly cheap to manufacture and you can buy like 3 terabytes for less than a $100. ~25 years ago 3 TB of storage was almost literally unimaginable. It would have taken up thousands of square feet. However, normal HDDs are slow because they have physically spinning pieces and data takes a while to get recalled from them -- think how long it takes your computer to boot up. Enter solid state drives. SSDs do not have any moving pieces, they're just flash memory, so things can be recalled very quickly. This is most noticeable when booting up Windows, for example (it takes about 10 seconds for my computer to restart) or when opening up big pieces of software (Photoshop, e.g.) or video games. However, they're still expensive to manufacture, so the marginal cost of additional space is still a significant premium. Basically there's an inverse ratio between cost and the physical size of the storage device. Think how a microSD card costs. What I and most people do is get an SSD and install the operating system and key pieces of software on it. Then they get a normal HDD which is much cheaper and put the majority of large programs and files, such as games, music and movies.

Yeah I'm starting one in August. With your application if you do really well on the GRE I don't imagine many schools would turn you down. Might be worth taking it a bit earlier so you have a chance to do it again if necessary

I built a desktop for the first time about a year and a half ago. It is surprisingly easy. There're a bunch of good video tutorials and then when you actually start building it you can always find a youtube video of a particular part or step in the process. PCPartPicker.com is a good resource to find the best prices on stuff. The reddit community /r/buildapc is also fantastic.

You have a much better looking application than I did. Make sure you have good recommendations, a good SOP and high GREs and you'll be good to go.

Uber is in the Triangle too now! I've taken it a number of times in NC. Raleigh is a great place to live if you're ok with a car-centric city. It's very, very easy to drive around, it's a very affordable place to live, and there's lots of culture. Tons of young people choose to move there because of the economy. It's in a great part of the state, halfway between the beach and mountains. People, in general, who don't like Raleigh don't like having to drive everywhere. I would happily move back to Raleigh if that was where my career brought me.

Yeah, unfortunately there is not a good way to do this. The only public transportation option involves taking a pretty long bus ride from Dulles to Rosslyn, and then hopping on the metro from Rosslyn to Foggy Bottom. Whenever I fly out of Dulles these days I just incorporate the cost of an Uber into the cost of the trip.

nope! as geodude says you just have to buy a larger stick (4gb instead of 2gb). whoa! you must be doing something really intense for those specs to be necessary.

The cheapest and most noticeable upgrade for a laptop is to add RAM. Not sure how it works with a Mac, but you can get 2gb of laptop RAM for less than $50 I believe.

Yes, but if you have the RAM (~8gb is what I'd recommend for a new computer purchase these days) Chrome is still by far the fastest browser.

I've been doing a lot of research on these. The problem with the new Surface (not the Pro) is that it's not really a laptop replacement as advertised. It only has 2gb of RAM, which is frankly not enough these days, especially for normal computing tasks; a 10.8 in screen is really small, especially for day-to-day work; and, well, for a full-time student I'd personally want something closer to a laptop, not a tablet. Plus, you have to buy the keyboard separately, which is over $100. The Surface PRO 3 on the other hand is very much a laptop replacement in terms of hardware. However, what you're getting for your money isn't a great value -- you can get a more powerful laptop for the same price (same dilemma in buying an Apple product vs. a PC). So I think if you want a more useful tablet, the Surface 3 is good. If you want a laptop with tablet functionality, you should go with the Pro version.

Ha! Right there with you on that.

poli sci checking in

Yeah..my thinking is the structured work environments I've been at the last few years will help me maintain an actual schedule, but I also know my tendency to let things fill up as much time as is available. On the other hand, I do enjoy being able to go home at the end of the day and not have to do anything work related, which would be an incentive to do stuff during the day. The money side of things I'm not as worried about, actually. I have a good stipend in an affordable city, which is only slightly less -- after adjusting for cost of living -- than how much I made in my first two jobs. Also will be living in a dual income household

Amazon has a bunch of well-priced options. I'm a big fan of this one: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00EF16AWW/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&colid=3UPHD10R9GDPI&coliid=I1DXL3B1RSSU5E&psc=1

I've been working in the private sector for the last 3 years or so, after finishing my MA. I'm in a pretty demanding job right now, I work around 45-50 intense hours a week. I'm starting my PhD this fall, and I'm curious -- how did those of you currently enrolled who were in a similar situation find the transition?

I took calculus A/B in high school, which was almost 10 years ago now, and got into a couple top ~20 programs. That was the last math class I took. So no that is not an expectation

Well I'll tell you what a lot of people do to live in those neighborhoods, is they turn a 1 bedroom into a 2 bedroom and 2 bedroom into a 3 bedroom.

Craigslist! If it's a college town craigslist is your friend.

So those neighborhoods you mention are very nice, but they are very, very expensive. I am in a dual income situation right now (currently working full time, salaried) and we couldn't afford to live in any of those. If you live as far out as Tyson's corner you'll probably hate your commute every day. You may be able to find something that borders on affordable in: Brookland, Bloomingdale, Eckington, or Petworth. You can also find some -- I don't want to say affordable -- but nice places in Alexandria either off the Braddock Rd stop or the King St stop. Crystal City is another viable option, same with Pentagon City in Arlington if you look a bit further from the metro. I would also say you don't have to live off a metro in DC. The bus system is pretty solid and I know many people who live here that almost never take the metro.

Can't comment on the individual places. But best of luck living in Durham w/out a car! NC is not very public transportation friendly. Every apartment I've ever been to (that's unfurnished) will come with your basic appliances -- stove, fridge, and maybe a washer/dryer, but that is not certain. If it's unfurnished you'll very likely need to provide everything else including a bed/mattress. However, you're in a high-density college area so Craigslist is your friend. you'll be able to find some awesome deals, but you may have to rent a truck to move the furniture!

Then I'd say it's more likely you'll need a car. You may be able to rely on buses, but I'm not sure I'd want to. Bethesda is more drivable than some other close-in suburbs.

I definitely cannot imagine there are studios in the immediate DC area for that price? In my experience they are in the $1500-1800 range at the minimum. Also, there are some decent options in Northern Virginia that shouldn't be ignored! Many places right off the metro lines that run to Foggy Bottom that are very nice, and you may be able to find a room in a larger house for a good deal. Definitely worth looking into. I'm thinking Alexandria and the Falls Church stops for sure.

Unfortunately there are not any complexes in Carrboro that I would consider within walking distance. However, many would definitely be in biking distance, which is what a lot of people do. I can personally recommend Autumn Woods if you are ok with that. Also keep in mind that the bus lines are fantastic. Chapel Hill/Carrboro is a great area, but living in walking distance to campus is surprisingly difficult. Most of the immediate area are small houses which get rented by undergrads. Also, as soon as you get outside walking distance things become much, much more affordable to the point where, in my calculation, it is totally worth it. And you quickly escape the undergrads which trust me, you'll want.

What do you mean by suburban DC area? And will you be commuting to/from DC?