chimerical

Housing assignments are out! I actually got my first choice - Rains 2 BR.

Thanks! I had seen that link but wasn't 100% sure if it was always okay or if you needed special permission. Luckily I managed to get in touch with someone at housing and got it sorted out.

Anyone know if there's flexibility regarding your move-in date? I can't make it to campus on the official 9/11/10 move in date but could do 9/12 instead.

I'm about to start a PhD in another social science department and am a bit rusty when it comes to formal math. The political science math camp was suggested as a good refresher. Anyone know if/when Stanford's polsci math camp is scheduled this year? And has anyone here taken it? Any insights into how useful it is?

I'm sorry that things didn't work out, waytooold. You've been a great contributor around here and I've enjoyed reading your posts. Best of luck with whatever you decide to do next! Good luck to you too ootg, I hope something comes through.

They will most likely discuss what they perceived to be the major weaknesses in your application and perhaps even suggest ways to improve for next year. If you're considering reapplying I would definitely take them up on it! Many schools will not give out such feedback when asked, let alone offer it up on a silver platter like that.

Any insight regarding UPenn's on-campus graduate apartments (Samson Place)? Wasn't even aware of that option before seeing it on the housing website. Are they decent?

Since most admits have until April 15th to decide it's not unusual for people to be pulled off the waitlist after that initial deadline. In the mean time there's no harm in accepting your best offer, unless NYU indicates that they might be able to give you a final decision before April 15th. Congrats btw! I'm sure that was confusing but it must have been a nice surprise.

I don't support giving people false hope but it's possible to be frank without being obnoxious or abrasive. There are plenty of people who give honest and accurate advice in these forums without accumulating so much ire.

Congrats to the MS&E masters admits! Perhaps we will see each other around.

Business casual is usually a safe bet. You may be a little more dressed up than the other students but when making a first impression it's better to be a little overdressed than underdressed. If you are female, investing in a pair of comfortable flats will make the campus tour more bearable.

Given the job market in the humanities I would be very reluctant to turn down admission to a top-ranked school with full funding in favor of a school that barely cracks the top 100. Rankings aren't everything but that large a drop will make a difference. And personally, I don't think the commute sounds bad at all, but like Slarti I live in an area notorious for bad traffic, so my perspective may be skewed somewhat.

Did you get a sense of how doable it is to not have a car? Most of the students I talked to said it's a hassle, even if you live on-campus. If I go to Stanford I'd probably live on-campus for at least the first year, but would rather cook my own food rather than eat out all the time, so I wasn't sure if I'd be able to manage groceries without a car.

Most business PhD programs are so small that there's pretty much no way to guarantee admission across the board. As a result, it's actually quite common to gain admission to some top schools and be rejected from others. For example, I've been accepted at top programs (see signature) but rejected at MIT with a 3.97 from a Top 10 university and a 760 GMAT. And I'm honestly not surprised by that. When a program is only admitting 1-3 students, numbers don't matter as much as fit and other idiosyncratic factors that are hard to capture in a stats-oriented profile.