nutellarain

That was my plan too. Thought I've actually been thinking that I might be happier living off-campus, possibly in SD proper. I like to have separation between work/school and home.

Uhh was this with SHORE? I'm just on the regular waitlist and have heard nothing about a deposit...did you get housing already?

On the gradapply website where you applied/accepted your offer it has a link to "set up password for UCSD PID", once you do this you can access email using your PID as username through Tritionlink. I already had a bunch of emails about grad events when I logged on.

Congrats everyone! For all you CA residents, make sure to check your UCSD email. My statement of legal residence info was sent to that account (they ask for a lot of documents). I just randomly decided to look at the email account and found it, now I have just 1 week to mail them a bunch of docs.

I'm worried about that as well...my current plan is to move down a bit early and stay in a cheap airbnb (or maybe look for a summer sublet?) while I check out all the neighborhoods and search for housing. After hearing what a nightmare parking is, I really want to commute by bike or public transit. Also, congrats!!

Accepted at UCSD as well! So excited to start in the fall. Does anyone know what happens if you don't get housing by your move in date? I put down August 1st as my date, I assume if they don't get you a place by then, your name just stays on the wait list? edit: nevermind, it looks like you just stay on the list

Honestly, I don't think it has anything to do with your stats, school, etc. 3 semesters of research experience is pretty short, especially if that was not a full time job. Most people I met at my interviews had at least a two years. If you applied the first time around with even less research experience, I can see why you didn't get in. Sorry for your troubles though, I'm sure it is very frustrating

Yeah I'm applying with a partner as well. Decided against Rita since the units are furnished (I already live in California and don't want to sell all my furniture). Best of luck! I'm deciding between UCLA and UCSD as well, it's a tough choice.

When I talked to them, they told me they would notify everyone by April 11th. I haven't heard anything since then, though I know other people have been waitlisted or rejected. No idea what's going on! I'm still not sure where I want to go and decided to pretend I got into UCLA in the meantime for working on making my decision (rent research, etc). I've narrowed it down to UCSD, UC Irvine, and UCLA. If I end up not getting in to UCLA, that makes it all the easier!

Great, thanks That's definitely within my bike commuting range.

Hey All, I would love some neighborhood advice. Unfortunately, I didn't get to see any of LA besides Westwood and the airport when I visited and have no feel for what LA is like. I currently live in San Francisco (did not grow up here though) where everyone is pretty biased against LA, so it's hard to get real advice! Are there walkable, fun neighborhoods within biking distance of campus? By walkable I mean I could easily walk to a grocery store, bars, shops etc. in that area/neighborhood. I understand LA is HUGE and not walkable as a whole, I just prefer not driving to hang out at a coffee shop or have a beer. I really really would prefer to bus or bike to campus - I am used to biking on busy roads up next to cars so that will not be a problem, 5-6 miles away is probably my limit (i.e. Santa Monica or West Hollywood). I appreciate any suggestions!

That is my main concern with UCLA as well, I was offered the same stipend for much cheaper areas. The graduate housing is over half your income alone... Le prospective grad, I definitely agree about the grad student driven mentality at UCLA. Some of the labs at UCSD are HUGE and grad students are really not the focus. Though I have heard that you can get just as good (or even better) mentoring from postdocs in those sorts of labs. I'm just going to have to decide if I want a more independent driven project or more attention from a PI. I did really love how centralized the science depts seemed at UCLA, it felt like much more of a community.

Hmm, I don't work in neuroscience so I don't have any specific tips for that. Honestly, I would just email A LOT of people whose research aligns with your interests. You can look at universities or research institutes in areas you are interested in living in. When I was looking for a lab tech position, I just set quotas "I will apply to X jobs every day" and stuck with it until I found a job. It sucks and takes forever, but you will find someone eventually. Make you sure you mention you are willing to volunteer unpaid.

Actually, one of the post-doc MBBS left in September for a PhD program in Germany, so it is definitely possible. I suppose I should also mention that both of these people were already in the US when they were looking for jobs and thus probably had a much easier time landing a post-doc. If I were you I would just apply everywhere, email various PI's etc. We actually just took another postbac who went to med school in Egypt, but is taking a gap year before taking the USMLEs. Unfortunately, he is having visa issues (he is Iraqi and was applying for asylum) and is stuck in Washington DC at the moment. He applied to volunteer in our lab from overseas though!

I'm having a similar issue since I had one school offer me a lot of extra money. I've decided to consider money in a "can I live comfortably without worrying about it" frame of mind. I want to have my own bedroom, be able to eat real food (not top ramen for every meal), afford upkeep/gas for my car, and have a bit leftover for fun/savings. I think UCLA's stipend is a bit low for the location; I'm planning on doing a bit of craigslist research for the area to see how feasible living on the stipend would be.