red_crayons

As a Cornell alum, current Ithaca resident and very likely future Cornell grad student, I just wanted to chime in on this thread.

I really, really love Ithaca. However, housing can be kind of a pain. It's WAY overpriced for the size of the town, and a lot of the apartments are really shabby and depressing. However, you can find nice places if you are persistent and know where to look. I'm starting this process right now, reluctantly. I am hoping to share a two bedroom with another incoming grad if I stay, because I need to be shaken out of my habits and get to know some new people if I'm signing on for another 5 years here.

Fall Creek is the best area to live as a grad/young professional, IMHO. It's near a campus shuttle that runs once every ten minutes during the week, the apartments tend to be nicer and cheaper, it's closer to the few good bars, the houses are charming, and there are nice antique stores and coffee shops in the area. Downtown has a little pedestrian mall, with restaurants and several festivals throughout the year.

AVOID Collegetown (undergrad ghetto south of campus), with the possible exception of State Street or below Stewart Ave. North is ok, but the bus service isn't really as helpful as landlords would have you think, although it's improved quite a bit since I've been here. Cayuga Heights would be a nightmare for getting to/from campus in the snow - mostly downhill from campus, no real bus service. East Hill has lots of new-ish, carpeted apartment complexes, but again, bus service may not be as good as it sounds, depending on your schedule. If you want to have a social life at all, it might be very difficult to do living in East Hill, North and Cayuga Heights.

There's not really parking on campus, and it's super expensive. You may be able to drive to campus late at night or on the weekends, but you will not be able to just drive to your lab on a Monday morning. Buses and hills really start to matter!

I don't know much about Hasbrouck. There seem to be a lot of grad families with babies. Also, they occasionally thrown undergrads in there when they admit too many; it's caused friction recently. I remember dismantling the XL bed frame in my dorm back in the day with little trouble. Bus service directly from Hasbrouck to campus runs from 7ish am to 6ish pm. Otherwise, it's more efficient to walk than to try catching the bus. Bus service to Collegetown and Downtown is improving - every 15 minutes on weekends, every 30-15 minutes during the week, depending on the time of day.

I'm trying to keep my post short - feel free to send me a message if you want more details about places to live.

As a Cornell alum, current Ithaca resident and very likely future Cornell grad student, I just wanted to chime in on this thread.

I really, really love Ithaca. However, housing can be kind of a pain. It's WAY overpriced for the size of the town, and a lot of the apartments are really shabby and depressing. However, you can find nice places if you are persistent and know where to look. I'm starting this process right now, reluctantly. I am hoping to share a two bedroom with another incoming grad if I stay, because I need to be shaken out of my habits and get to know some new people if I'm signing on for another 5 years here.

Fall Creek is the best area to live as a grad/young professional, IMHO. It's near a campus shuttle that runs once every ten minutes during the week, the apartments tend to be nicer and cheaper, it's closer to the few good bars, the houses are charming, and there are nice antique stores and coffee shops in the area. Downtown has a little pedestrian mall, with restaurants and several festivals throughout the year.

AVOID Collegetown (undergrad ghetto south of campus), with the possible exception of State Street or below Stewart Ave. North is ok, but the bus service isn't really as helpful as landlords would have you think, although it's improved quite a bit since I've been here. Cayuga Heights would be a nightmare for getting to/from campus in the snow - mostly downhill from campus, no real bus service. East Hill has lots of new-ish, carpeted apartment complexes, but again, bus service may not be as good as it sounds, depending on your schedule. If you want to have a social life at all, it might be very difficult to do living in East Hill, North and Cayuga Heights.

There's not really parking on campus, and it's super expensive. You may be able to drive to campus late at night or on the weekends, but you will not be able to just drive to your lab on a Monday morning. Buses and hills really start to matter!

I don't know much about Hasbrouck. There seem to be a lot of grad families with babies. Also, they occasionally thrown undergrads in there when they admit too many; it's caused friction recently. I remember dismantling the XL bed frame in my dorm back in the day with little trouble. Bus service directly from Hasbrouck to campus runs from 7ish am to 6ish pm. Otherwise, it's more efficient to walk than to try catching the bus. Bus service to Collegetown and Downtown is improving - every 15 minutes on weekends, every 30-15 minutes during the week, depending on the time of day.

I'm trying to keep my post short - feel free to send me a message if you want more details about places to live.

As a Cornell alum, current Ithaca resident and very likely future Cornell grad student, I just wanted to chime in on this thread.

I really, really love Ithaca. However, housing can be kind of a pain. It's WAY overpriced for the size of the town, and a lot of the apartments are really shabby and depressing. However, you can find nice places if you are persistent and know where to look. I'm starting this process right now, reluctantly. I am hoping to share a two bedroom with another incoming grad if I stay, because I need to be shaken out of my habits and get to know some new people if I'm signing on for another 5 years here.

Fall Creek is the best area to live as a grad/young professional, IMHO. It's near a campus shuttle that runs once every ten minutes during the week, the apartments tend to be nicer and cheaper, it's closer to the few good bars, the houses are charming, and there are nice antique stores and coffee shops in the area. Downtown has a little pedestrian mall, with restaurants and several festivals throughout the year.

AVOID Collegetown (undergrad ghetto south of campus), with the possible exception of State Street or below Stewart Ave. North is ok, but the bus service isn't really as helpful as landlords would have you think, although it's improved quite a bit since I've been here. Cayuga Heights would be a nightmare for getting to/from campus in the snow - mostly downhill from campus, no real bus service. East Hill has lots of new-ish, carpeted apartment complexes, but again, bus service may not be as good as it sounds, depending on your schedule. If you want to have a social life at all, it might be very difficult to do living in East Hill, North and Cayuga Heights.

There's not really parking on campus, and it's super expensive. You may be able to drive to campus late at night or on the weekends, but you will not be able to just drive to your lab on a Monday morning. Buses and hills really start to matter!

I don't know much about Hasbrouck. There seem to be a lot of grad families with babies. Also, they occasionally thrown undergrads in there when they admit too many; it's caused friction recently. I remember dismantling the XL bed frame in my dorm back in the day with little trouble. Bus service directly from Hasbrouck to campus runs from 7ish am to 6ish pm. Otherwise, it's more efficient to walk than to try catching the bus. Bus service to Collegetown and Downtown is improving - every 15 minutes on weekends, every 30-15 minutes during the week, depending on the time of day.

I'm trying to keep my post short - feel free to send me a message if you want more details about places to live.

I think there's a lot of over-thinking going on in this thread. Grad students at my undergrad/future grad dress worse than the undergrads. Frumpy, nothing fits, old things from the 90s when we were freshmen in high school.

I think anyone who's worried enough to still be reading Grad Cafe will be juuuuuust fine.

Plus, remember how so many of the posters on this forum showed up to campus visits wwaaaaaaayyyyyyyy overdressed? We'll all be fiiiine.

Last year, I got a couple pairs of skinny, non-jean pants (Banana Republic, Urban Outfitters, and Old Navy). Now I just wear those with tunic/belt/sweater, or with hipster blouses, or with a fitted and/or embellished t-shirt. Think the cheaper side of Anthropologie (same shapes, but not as much silk/expensive prints). It works for my casual university jobs, and I'm SURE it will work for grad school. I was middle-of-the-pack dressed up at my department visit weekend, and more dressed up than the grads normally dressed (...I took a class in their building).

So my advice would be to go a step up with your pants/skirts and see how you fit in. You'll instantly feel more adult, and you'll probably realize you're fiiine.

Growing up relatively poor, this has been the case my entire life. $18k for my first post-college, half time (...so I could lurk around campus and keep taking classes ) job seemed like a miracle. Two jobs and almost double that salary right now seems too good to be true. I've paid down college debts, visited my family, bought a new (not all from Salvation Army, oh the hipster/undergrad life) wardrobe, furnished my apartment, sorted out some health issues (which required expensive and frequent doctor's appointments) AND saved up to buy a car this summer.

I think I really lucked out in the last few years, so I'm feeling pretty well set up for going into grad school. Even though my income will go down a bit, I'll have a lot of weird financial stuff behind me, and I can hopefully coast through school. When I get paranoid, I comfort myself with the thought that nothing will be as bad as it was growing up, when my whole FAMILY's income was less than my stipend is going to be. Plus, just knowing that I'll have something that I can count on for FIVE YEARS is hugely comforting.

Plus, I'll be really marketable on the other end, so if academia doesn't work out, and/or I DO get into debt in grad school, I'll have options for paying it back...

Growing up relatively poor, this has been the case my entire life. $18k for my first post-college, half time (...so I could lurk around campus and keep taking classes ) job seemed like a miracle. Two jobs and almost double that salary right now seems too good to be true. I've paid down college debts, visited my family, bought a new (not all from Salvation Army, oh the hipster/undergrad life) wardrobe, furnished my apartment, sorted out some health issues (which required expensive and frequent doctor's appointments) AND saved up to buy a car this summer.

I think I really lucked out in the last few years, so I'm feeling pretty well set up for going into grad school. Even though my income will go down a bit, I'll have a lot of weird financial stuff behind me, and I can hopefully coast through school. When I get paranoid, I comfort myself with the thought that nothing will be as bad as it was growing up, when my whole FAMILY's income was less than my stipend is going to be. Plus, just knowing that I'll have something that I can count on for FIVE YEARS is hugely comforting.

Plus, I'll be really marketable on the other end, so if academia doesn't work out, and/or I DO get into debt in grad school, I'll have options for paying it back...

Q: How long to put up with snarky professors?

A: Until you get tenure.

From her point of view, you don't sound very mature, hardworking, or helpful. She gave you a couple projects, and you sound like you are intentionally failing because you are very judgmental of your supervisor. Why should she trust you? She told you to contact the customer services guy at the corporation that sold the instrument, and you didn't do that. Why not? It sounds like a no-brainer. Just contact them. They owe you.

So what if she's hiring her boyfriend? Big deal? You're caught in the middle of what? Just get your work done. Get your own girlfriend so you aren't judging people who have social lives.

You sound like you are intentionally failing, being immature and judgmental about things unrelated to the project, and running to save your career at the expense of showing loyalty to someone who gave you a chance. I wouldn't want to work with you.

I wanted to start this thread because there are many, many elements of my life right now which are constantly aggravating. I'll be happy to leave them behind when I start grad school. I'm sure we all have these things. So let's list them so we can leave them joyfully behind in a few short months.

Number one on my list? WINDOWS COMPUTERS. Never again will I suffer (as I am now) as a (quite new!) Dell Windows laptop tries to figure out how to copy and paste a PDF back onto another sector of its own hard drive. Never again will I have to wade through meaningless programs in the task manager to terminate the one process that is locking up my whole computer. Never again will I have to deal with desktop keyboards which are too big for my hands and take too much force to use, causing repetitive stress injuries. No more Excel 2007 that refuses to open files in any rational way, no more struggling to work for the first hour at my desk every day because Symantec is doing a virus scan, no more ugly industrial design offending my sensibilities, no more bosses telling me that the Dell from 2004 cost $3000 back then so I should be grateful I get to use it, no more 10 year old Windows XP operating system.

Just my own, beautiful Mac that works how it's supposed to and that I'll use every day while I'm in grad school!

What's driving you crazy as you wait for the days to creep by until you can start school? What are you excited to leave behind, whether it's at your current job, school, or city?

Ok, I just deleted my post, BOO! Google and its silly sensitivity to double return/double control... grrr....

I'm pretty sure Red Bomber is just recycling other landlords' listings. What I've seen them advertise are mostly apartments in complexes in hard to reach places with wall-to-wall carpeting.

Most complexes in general seem kind of unimpressive, and are in hard to reach places. They also cost a lot more than a comparably sized apartment in a house that will almost certainly have better access to campus and/or transportation. I've also heard bad things about the structural soundness (!) of complexes from a colleague, including one that was filled with mold and another that was slowly sinking into the ground because of irresponsible zoning on the outskirts of town (where complexes necessarily tend to be built). Come to think of it, the few people I know who lived in complexes - even reputable ones! - eventually moved out because they could find places in better locations for less money by living in an apartment in a house.

Be VERY wary of landlords who claim to be "on the bus route"!!! The buses are really inefficient in most parts of town. "On the bus route" often means a bus every 30-60 minutes during regular business hours - with little to no service after 6ish pm or on the weekends. Many of the buses don't actually go to useful places, either, so getting to, say, a grocery store could take over an hour even if you're "on the bus route". You could make it work with a car, but parking on campus also costs $600+ per year, and you still need to take a bus from the parking lot to many areas of campus.

Unless an apartment is downtown or in Fall Creek, being on a bus route is kind of meaningless. Downtown/Fall Creek means "generally near the Commons", which is where the major bus stops are. Yet even with downtown, you could still have quite a walk to the bus. Definitely google the distance from prospective apartments to the big commons bus stop(s): Seneca and Tioga, and Green and Cayuga.

You may have misinterpreted what others said on this thread about houses. Renting a home may work if you have enough people. But you really want to rent an apartment IN a house. Most houses in the Fall Creek/Downtown area have 3-5 apartments. Most landlords in those areas only have a few properties, and tend to be clueless but eager to make you happy. Really, the more properties someone owns, the less you should trust what they tell you about their apartments.

In general, though, apartments in houses downtown/Fall Creek tend to be charming, with lots of hardwood and original windows, mostly grad students and young professionals, close to everything, parking with the property or easily and safely on the street, lots of porches and yards, etc. Laundry can be a pain; many houses don't have it. But there are several strategically placed laundromats which make this completely tolerable.

There also seem to be some nice apartments in buildings on the Commons (part of downtown), over restaurants and stores. They're more expensive, but there's something to be said for being 500 feet from 15 restaurants, 5 bars and the biggest bus stop in town.

I've retyped all this too many times in the last month - look at my post here for some searching strategies:

You certainly know best, but I would advise you to think really hard about this. I think it's okay to take out some loans for programs that offer less-than-ideal funding, but unless you're going to a top-5 program, I would advise against going the loan route. There's a great deal of uncertainty in terms of academic jobs right now, and the loans would add a ton of pressure when you graduate. Plus, even if you fund your program, it doesn't guarantee you'd be able to get any teaching experience, which will be important when you job hunt (you can certainly perform outstanding research on your own, though -- however, travel to conferences may need to be paid out-of-pocket). On a brighter note, there's certainly the possibility that you could get funding in subsequent years, but there is some risk to this. I guess, at the end of the day, if no offers come along, I'd suggest you try to find some work for the next year and re-apply come winter (and yes, go through this arduous process again, but hopefully having learned a couple of things) -- it is unfortunate, but not uncommon.



I'll also disagree with the majority of this statement. Applying to places just because they're good schools is certainly inadvisable; you should only apply to places that have programs/faculty that offer a good fit for your research interests. However, if the place fits your interest, but appears to be a "reach" -- still apply! I know plenty of folks (myself included) who got into programs they never thought they had a chance at. It's honestly a huge crap-shoot, especially when you consider that the admissions committees often rotate members every year and are looking for students with certain research interests.

I imagine this is a really difficult time for you, with the April 15th deadlines nearing and still so much uncertainty plaguing your outlook. But I really hope you're still able to think about this with a level head and make the best decision.

What about taking a read through your SOP you used to get into your program? Sometimes being reminded of why you were excited in the first place is a good thing.

I keep a journal that I only write in when I am happy and when things are going well. No negative thoughts. If I am having a particularly rough day I look through my writings and am re-inspired by my initial goals and how many things have gone well.

Exercise helps too

Growing up relatively poor, this has been the case my entire life. $18k for my first post-college, half time (...so I could lurk around campus and keep taking classes ) job seemed like a miracle. Two jobs and almost double that salary right now seems too good to be true. I've paid down college debts, visited my family, bought a new (not all from Salvation Army, oh the hipster/undergrad life) wardrobe, furnished my apartment, sorted out some health issues (which required expensive and frequent doctor's appointments) AND saved up to buy a car this summer.

I think I really lucked out in the last few years, so I'm feeling pretty well set up for going into grad school. Even though my income will go down a bit, I'll have a lot of weird financial stuff behind me, and I can hopefully coast through school. When I get paranoid, I comfort myself with the thought that nothing will be as bad as it was growing up, when my whole FAMILY's income was less than my stipend is going to be. Plus, just knowing that I'll have something that I can count on for FIVE YEARS is hugely comforting.

Plus, I'll be really marketable on the other end, so if academia doesn't work out, and/or I DO get into debt in grad school, I'll have options for paying it back...

Hi, everyone! This post is for any of you who are still applying to programs in February or, perhaps, for those of you who are receiving disappointing results for applications and are interested in submitting to one or two more schools with hopes for Fall admission. I want to share some information on my university's doctoral program in Rhetoric and Writing Studies, which has an extended deadline of February 15 and which may appeal to those of you with research interests in rhetoric, discourse, mass media, and communicaiton technologies.

My academic background and interests were fairly interdisciplinary through my BA and MA, although much of my focus had been in Writing, English, and Communications. I ultimately found that Rhetoric and Writing Studies was a good way to pursue my varied and interdisciplinary interests through the lens of rhetoric and discourse--the one thing all of my interests had in common.

I'm currently a second-year doctoral student in Rhetoric and Writing Studies at the University of Texas at El Paso, and I have never regretted my decision. It's a strong program with good funding, ample teaching experience (Assistant Instructorships in First Year Composition, Technical Writing, and Workplace Writing), a low cost of living near campus, and many options for pursuing your research interests and making a mark in the program through working with our dedicated faculty. Our students, who have backgrounds in English, Communications, Linguistics, History, Spanish, and other fields, present at major conferences and publish regularly; I have two book chapters coming out later this year and two national conference presentations in the Spring. The program has also been successful placing graduates in faculty appointments around the U.S.

By way of this background, I'm posting to let you all know that the application deadline has been extended to at least February 15, and some applications may still be accepted even through the end of February. The application requirements are fairly doable, and you can even apply to a join MA/Ph.D. plan if you are coming straight from your Bachelor's degree. The sooner you apply, the better, but I know the program is interested in getting more applicants from outside of Texas, so I encourage you to apply. If you have any questions about the program or applications, feel free to contact me (rjlambert@miners.utep.edu). There is also plenty of information about applying on our site: http://academics.ute...aspx?tabid=3302

Good luck with your applications this year, wherever you apply!

R.J.

All of these academia and motherhood threads ignore the fact that having children while holding a 9-5 job (which is really more like 8-7, in my experience, with extra work and lunch and commute, etc etc) wouldn't work very well, either. Working sucks. You have no control over your time. This is a big issue for me these days: how do I fit in doctor's appointments and schedule around health concerns when I'm expected to be a butt in a chair certain hours of the day?

At least in academia you get more flexibility with the hours you work, and choose whether you work from home or the office or somewhere else some of the time. I'm going to grad school partially with the intention of having more flexibility so that I can resolve some lingering health issues. No joke. I'm super psyched to be able to work from 7am-11am, take the afternoon to go to class/gym/lunch/socialize/run errands, and then work again into the night. A regular work schedule doesn't let me work when I'm actually productive, early morning and late evening.

My parents owned a business when I was growing up. My sister and I learned how to cook, do laundry, and amuse each other early on, and got good at leveraging friends' houses and parents for getting around to after school activities. And when we were little, there were neighbors and family friends who took care of us if our parents needed to get extra work done or be away until late in the evening. You need a support system to make this work - but a lot of academia is about building networks anyway, right? Colleagues and cohorts and blah blah?

I suspect a lot of the tricks used in my family to enable parents to work at home would translate well to taking care of children as an academic. I guess having seen how it worked for us, I'm not so scared of trying it myself when the time comes.

I also have a tendency to not care about what people think of me and do what I want for my own reasons; aiming to have kids by 30 probably falls into this category. That personality trait may mean I'm screwed in academia ANYWAY, so...

I think there's a lot of over-thinking going on in this thread. Grad students at my undergrad/future grad dress worse than the undergrads. Frumpy, nothing fits, old things from the 90s when we were freshmen in high school.

I think anyone who's worried enough to still be reading Grad Cafe will be juuuuuust fine.

Plus, remember how so many of the posters on this forum showed up to campus visits wwaaaaaaayyyyyyyy overdressed? We'll all be fiiiine.

Last year, I got a couple pairs of skinny, non-jean pants (Banana Republic, Urban Outfitters, and Old Navy). Now I just wear those with tunic/belt/sweater, or with hipster blouses, or with a fitted and/or embellished t-shirt. Think the cheaper side of Anthropologie (same shapes, but not as much silk/expensive prints). It works for my casual university jobs, and I'm SURE it will work for grad school. I was middle-of-the-pack dressed up at my department visit weekend, and more dressed up than the grads normally dressed (...I took a class in their building).

So my advice would be to go a step up with your pants/skirts and see how you fit in. You'll instantly feel more adult, and you'll probably realize you're fiiine.

I think there's a lot of over-thinking going on in this thread. Grad students at my undergrad/future grad dress worse than the undergrads. Frumpy, nothing fits, old things from the 90s when we were freshmen in high school.

I think anyone who's worried enough to still be reading Grad Cafe will be juuuuuust fine.

Plus, remember how so many of the posters on this forum showed up to campus visits wwaaaaaaayyyyyyyy overdressed? We'll all be fiiiine.

Last year, I got a couple pairs of skinny, non-jean pants (Banana Republic, Urban Outfitters, and Old Navy). Now I just wear those with tunic/belt/sweater, or with hipster blouses, or with a fitted and/or embellished t-shirt. Think the cheaper side of Anthropologie (same shapes, but not as much silk/expensive prints). It works for my casual university jobs, and I'm SURE it will work for grad school. I was middle-of-the-pack dressed up at my department visit weekend, and more dressed up than the grads normally dressed (...I took a class in their building).

So my advice would be to go a step up with your pants/skirts and see how you fit in. You'll instantly feel more adult, and you'll probably realize you're fiiine.

My $0.02 on this:

- Cornell Card. I had it as an undergrad. It shows up on your bursar bill, but it's billed separately, and gets finance charges applied separately and, I think, at a higher rate. My parents flaked out on helping me pay it, I rolled it over from semester to semester, and eventually spent over a year paying it back. Boo.

It's a credit card that's semi-attached to your bursar bill. You can use it many places on campus. You can use Cornell card and Big Red Bucks (prepaid food account) at dining halls, campus cafes, and for food in campus stores. You can't use BRB for NON-food, so Cornell card would kick in for buying books, medication, etc. Except at Gannett, the health center, where you can charge things directly to your bursar bill.

I'm not doing Cornell card again. I have a regular credit card if I want to put off paying for things, and it has a lower interest rate, too. Meh.

- Gyms at Cornell are like the libraries: There are several small niche ones, and a couple big ones with all kinds of people. One of the bigger gyms (Helen Newman) has very limited free parking after 5pm. Another (Teagle) has a parking garage pretty close by, which is I believe also free after 5pm. Luckily Teagle is also very close to Upson, and close to collegetown, and it's the biggest gym, too.

I LOVE the gym system. None of them are perfect, but there's so many, and they're open all the time. It's very convenient. And it's wonderful to have a cheap way to stay active during the long, long winter. The nice private gym in town is $50/month for students.

- Parking. Don't bother registering if you're not getting a parking pass. It's just so they know where to send the tickets!

As staff, I can buy packets of 10 day parking passes. You can do that as a grad student, too. I'm not buying a parking pass, but I'll buy packets of 10 as I need them. I live downtown and drive to campus about once a week, when I'm running late or have extra stuff to drag along. It helps that one of the zones that those work for is literally 10 feet from my office door...

- Payment. I know nothing about this. I am really getting pissed with all the super shady emails. Cornell Bursar signature, meaningless Sallie Mae subject line, and all text? It couldn't possibly look more like a scam. I refuse to use it, and I'm going to continue dealing with all money issues in person, in Day Hall, at the Bursar's office. Thanks, but no thanks, Cornell.

Cornell's billing practices are the worst part of the university, IMHO. They nickel and dime you, and they have high turnover in financial aid/bursar so no one can answer complex questions, and now they have this horrible, sketchy payment system. Signing up for NetPay right now is making me feel really paranoid.

But mostly... I'm SO EXCITED. Yay being a student again!

Edit: OH MY GOSH. I can't even express how much I hate the way they apply credits to your bill!!! They bill in early July, but don't apply credits until sometime in August, leaving the next 3 weeks for me to worry about funding mysteriously being pulled and not being able to pay my bill. ARGH. Their billing system does no favors for those of us who tend toward paranoia and panic.

I think there's a lot of over-thinking going on in this thread. Grad students at my undergrad/future grad dress worse than the undergrads. Frumpy, nothing fits, old things from the 90s when we were freshmen in high school.

I think anyone who's worried enough to still be reading Grad Cafe will be juuuuuust fine.

Plus, remember how so many of the posters on this forum showed up to campus visits wwaaaaaaayyyyyyyy overdressed? We'll all be fiiiine.

Last year, I got a couple pairs of skinny, non-jean pants (Banana Republic, Urban Outfitters, and Old Navy). Now I just wear those with tunic/belt/sweater, or with hipster blouses, or with a fitted and/or embellished t-shirt. Think the cheaper side of Anthropologie (same shapes, but not as much silk/expensive prints). It works for my casual university jobs, and I'm SURE it will work for grad school. I was middle-of-the-pack dressed up at my department visit weekend, and more dressed up than the grads normally dressed (...I took a class in their building).

So my advice would be to go a step up with your pants/skirts and see how you fit in. You'll instantly feel more adult, and you'll probably realize you're fiiine.

Huh. My university coaches everyone to put GPAs on their resumes. For i-banking, executive positions out of the b-school, for English majors going into Americorps, for fellowship applications, for EVERYTHING. Career coaches and professors here say that if you don't have your GPA, employers will think there's something wrong with it by default.

Maybe this is different for academic positions. But this thread doesn't jive at ALL with what I've heard from where I did undergrad/will soon be going to grad school.

Edit: Of course, they also say to include GPA if it's more than 3.3 or 3.5. If you're below that, they say not to include it, and basically imply/believe you're screwed for life. Because this place is so warm and friendly...

Huh. My university coaches everyone to put GPAs on their resumes. For i-banking, executive positions out of the b-school, for English majors going into Americorps, for fellowship applications, for EVERYTHING. Career coaches and professors here say that if you don't have your GPA, employers will think there's something wrong with it by default.

Maybe this is different for academic positions. But this thread doesn't jive at ALL with what I've heard from where I did undergrad/will soon be going to grad school.

Edit: Of course, they also say to include GPA if it's more than 3.3 or 3.5. If you're below that, they say not to include it, and basically imply/believe you're screwed for life. Because this place is so warm and friendly...

Checking the Ithaca Craigslist would be one option. Looking for open rooms in an occupied unit might help with getting honest answers about what the apartment is really like, rather than just getting the landlord's pitch: http://ithaca.craigslist.org/

Off-Campus housing is another. I recently met someone from that office, and she was energetic and dedicated to helping students: http://dos.cornell.edu//dos/ocho/

International Student Services Office might have helpful advice, or mentors who you can talk to. Duh, if only I had followed through and BECOME a mentor this year, I might be able to offer you formal help!: http://www.isso.cornell.edu/

Also, talk to your department. Ask to be put in touch with current students, postdocs, or young faculty. Some of them may be looking for housemates, or have friends who are. They'll probably be very honest and willing to help, since you'll be their friend and colleague for the next few years!!

Talk to people. Get in touch with landlords, current tenants, or someone you might be able to sublet from via email. See if they'd be willing to talk on the phone, or via Skype. Everyone has a camera, at least on their phone, so ask if they'll give you a photo tour of the apartment (may work better with current tenants than with landlords).

All of this carries the caveat that I haven't done a long, blind move, but this is what I would do. I charted this out for myself when I thought I might be leaving Cornell for Madison or Boston. Also, you can PM me with specific questions.

As a Cornell alum, current Ithaca resident and very likely future Cornell grad student, I just wanted to chime in on this thread.

I really, really love Ithaca. However, housing can be kind of a pain. It's WAY overpriced for the size of the town, and a lot of the apartments are really shabby and depressing. However, you can find nice places if you are persistent and know where to look. I'm starting this process right now, reluctantly. I am hoping to share a two bedroom with another incoming grad if I stay, because I need to be shaken out of my habits and get to know some new people if I'm signing on for another 5 years here.

Fall Creek is the best area to live as a grad/young professional, IMHO. It's near a campus shuttle that runs once every ten minutes during the week, the apartments tend to be nicer and cheaper, it's closer to the few good bars, the houses are charming, and there are nice antique stores and coffee shops in the area. Downtown has a little pedestrian mall, with restaurants and several festivals throughout the year.

AVOID Collegetown (undergrad ghetto south of campus), with the possible exception of State Street or below Stewart Ave. North is ok, but the bus service isn't really as helpful as landlords would have you think, although it's improved quite a bit since I've been here. Cayuga Heights would be a nightmare for getting to/from campus in the snow - mostly downhill from campus, no real bus service. East Hill has lots of new-ish, carpeted apartment complexes, but again, bus service may not be as good as it sounds, depending on your schedule. If you want to have a social life at all, it might be very difficult to do living in East Hill, North and Cayuga Heights.

There's not really parking on campus, and it's super expensive. You may be able to drive to campus late at night or on the weekends, but you will not be able to just drive to your lab on a Monday morning. Buses and hills really start to matter!

I don't know much about Hasbrouck. There seem to be a lot of grad families with babies. Also, they occasionally thrown undergrads in there when they admit too many; it's caused friction recently. I remember dismantling the XL bed frame in my dorm back in the day with little trouble. Bus service directly from Hasbrouck to campus runs from 7ish am to 6ish pm. Otherwise, it's more efficient to walk than to try catching the bus. Bus service to Collegetown and Downtown is improving - every 15 minutes on weekends, every 30-15 minutes during the week, depending on the time of day.

I'm trying to keep my post short - feel free to send me a message if you want more details about places to live.

That's a tall order!

As you said, your office will be on the south edge of campus. Looking at the grad housing guide, you would have 3 Cornell (but not really on-campus) living options: Hasbrouck, Thurston Court and Maplewood Park.

Maplewood Park is southeast from campus, kind of in the Belle Sherman neighborhood. It's up a slight hill, a 5+ minute walk from the center of Collegetown, 15 from Upson, and 20-25 from downtown (but downtown is VERY downhill - you could take the bus up/down the worst part of the hill). You'd also be about a 5-10 minute walk from East Hill, where there are banks, grocery stores, a bakery, and a CVS. You'd also be pretty near one of the best kept bakery secrets in town. It's also a great neighborhood for running, if you're into that. There are no convenient bus routes to campus, though. You could walk the 10 minutes to East Hill to catch the 2 or 3 times an hour bus, or just walk to campus. It would be a good location for getting to/from Collegetown restaurants and bars. It's about a block farther than most undergrads live, so it would be quiet, but still quite walkable to campus, collegetown, basic stores, and bus routes to everywhere else.

Thurston Court is on north campus, probably 20 minutes walk from Upson, with Upson being down a mild incline. You could try to crowd on the morning buses (every 5-10 minutes) with the freshmen, but it is unpleasant. You'd be pretty stranded as far as Collegetown/downtown for walking (20+ minutes to Ctown, more for downtown), but you could take the bus every 10ish minutes during weekdays, 30 minutes weekday evenings, and 15-30 minutes on the weekends. You could also take the bus every 15-30 minutes to the mall area, where there's a Target, couple grocery stores, a bunch of banks, chain restaurants, and mall stores. It's about 15 minutes to downtown via bus, and 15 minutes to the mall area via bus (in the other direction). You'd probably have to rely on the bus for a lot of your transportation, rather than being able to walk everywhere (in the winter, at least!), but on the weekends it runs to/from downtown and Ctown every half hour until 2am. You'd be surrounded by undergrads, though, and mostly younger undergrads. You'd probably hear the frat party caravans from Wednesday-Saturday night.

Hasbrouck is north of north campus, north of the freshman dorms, and quite uphill from campus/Collegetown. You wouldn't necessarily hear them, but you'd have to walk through the hordes/take the bus with them on weekend nights. It would be a 20+ minute walk to Upson, 25 to Collegetown, and downtown would be effectively unwalkable. There would be good bus service to campus every 15 minutes right from Hasbrouck during weekdays, but only from 7 am to 6:15 pm. If you walk 3 minutes across the street to a parking lot, you'd have similar service to campus, but every 5-10 minutes. You'd have to transfer to another bus on campus, or walk 5-10 minutes to the twice hourly mall-downtown route to get anywhere else. Nights/weekends you'd be able to take the mall-downtown bus to collegetown/downtown (same route as mall, in opposite direction). Without a car, you'd be very dependent on the buses, and potentially very isolated. It's far, far away from the areas where the majority of grad students live (downtown and Fall Creek). I also see lots of families with babies coming from/going to Hasbrouck - it might be unpleasant to have a crying infant next door. I would say it's the least appealing option, at least by my standards.

I think Maplewood Park could be a very excellent place for you. It's nearest to Upson, and easy to walk lots of places. Living in Hasbrouck could end up being very time-consuming and isolating. None of these locations are actually ON campus, though, although they are Cornell owned. Good luck!

Same story for me! Actually, I came to undergrad with a printer, but it died sophomore year, just when I started to have a lot of papers to write...

I got myself a printer last winter. It was $120 for an HP color/b&w, print/copy/fax dealie, and it connects to all computers in my house via my wireless network! It's pretty sweet, and much less than I expected, since I hadn't bought much computer equipment in a few years.

One suggestion I would have for a printer is to find one where the color cartridges are separate (blue/magenta/yellow, as opposed to one big cartridge). Then you can replace individual colors as needed, and not waste blue ink just because you've run out of yellow. It'll cost an extra $10-$15, but you'll make it up by the second time you buy ink!