DJLamar

I'm currently locked out of the system that would give me an unofficial transcript. My PIN is expired and there's a bug in the system itself that won't let me update it. It looks like I should be able to get in today though, I just have to scan my driver's license and a written, signed statement and email the registrar to get the PIN reset... Yeah, this is why you should always get the transcripts together more than two days before the deadline. But also, does anyone remember if we had to upload transcripts last year or if we had to send them paper transcripts? If we had to upload unofficial transcripts last year as well then there should be a copy of an up-to-date one for me floating around on my office computer (I already checked my home computer and couldn't find it).

Also, if I end up not being able to get a totally up-to-date transcript from my undergrad school and have to upload one from before I actually finished my degree (from my final semester), do you think they'll even notice? I bet they won't even notice.

What if most of my broader impact is in statements of the form "I willl do x" and not "I did x"? I've done comparatively little for that and last year I only got "fair" for broader impacts, even though intellectual merit was excellent -- so I didn't even get an honorable mention. If I have three or four very solid plans for future broader impact, does that even have the potential to stack up to applicants that have done solid broader impact work in the past?

I second Grimm's scoffing reply here. qbtacoma's post sounds extraordinarily self-centered. Assuming first of all that you were to happen to find and really fall in love with a person with "moveable ambitions," do you really think that alone will solve all possible conflicts that could come up? You could end up getting your dream job -- or your only job -- in a place that you're ok with or for which you're willing to settle, but which your significant other absolutely abhors, regardless of whether or not he or she can find work there. What happens then? Taking on the attitude which you've stated here sounds like a wonderful way to ultimately find yourself bitterly alone.

Wow, good haha, I was able to log in. I was about to have a heart attack thinking that I had just forgotten to submit the application and that was why my email address wasn't in their database anymore.

Uh I'm having a weird problem here. I go to log into the awards page and the email and password that Firefox has saved on this computer (from before presumably) don't work. When I go to reset the password it says my email address is not found. When I search my email I see that I only have one email from the NDSEG people and it's a reminder for supplemental materials. I am pretty sure I submitted the application... does anyone have a confirmation email from application submission? Seriously if I forgot to actually submit the application I'm going to punch myself in the nuts. I remember submitting the essays and everything... Can anyone else reset their password?

I would say don't stress about this. Just contact all the schools that have made you an offer so far and ask them if you can have an extra two weeks to decide, and explain to them that you're waiting on a decision that would impact your funding situation. From what I hear, schools don't usually have any reservations about giving you a little extra time.

*sigh* after logging in and not getting the fellows page I tried to just go to bed, and when I went to fiddle around with my phone after an hour of not getting to sleep, I got the rejection email (not even an honorable mention). Too bad. Congrats to everyone who got it. For the rest of us, time to wait on NDSEG now (even though that's supposed to be harder to get than the NSF fellowship...).

Anyone who has gotten the award, post the first letter of your last name so that we can tell if the site is updating in alphabetical order or something haha.

I really wish I would have considered this earlier and bought a new six-pack of beer. I'm drinking my one and only right now :\ Maybe I will enjoy some pastis after this, hmm...

The Ivy thing doesn't really seem to affect the grad student community much. The undergrads seem to have rich parents a lot (or really, that's just my and many others' perception), but that's it. It does inflate rent prices I think (considering that there are 1-bedroom apartments in Collegetown which go for $1400 a month -- you could almost get a 1-bedroom in New York City or San Francisco for that much, I believe). But then those same kids' money is probably largely responsible for the town's economy being able to sustain so much stuff like (pretty) good restaurants and bars, etc. In my experience so far (I'm a first-year), the grad students here seem fairly social and relatively laid-back. My department certainly seems more relaxed than CS departments at some other schools are rumored to be. A huge portion (but I guess not really a majority) of the bars in town are crappy undergrad haunts, but there's still a good variety of nice bars that cater more towards grad students or normal people. And the weather is not so bad. I'm from Georgia and I've been pretty comfortable in the cold this Winter. If you're not used to weather like this place has already, just get a good wool coat, one or two good scarves, gloves, and a hat and you'll be fine.

For other people with transcripts not being marked as received yet: I'm in the same situation. 2 of my 3 undergrad transcripts have still not been marked on the page as received. However, I emailed them about this two days ago and asked about it and they emailed me back saying that "it shows that your transcripts have been received." You can try emailing them as well and see if they say the same thing.

So what happens if one of my letters is late? Does the recommendation form close automatically? That's what I heard and that's what I told this recommender in hopes of getting him to actually submit on time. He has been very late both times he has written for me so far... for PhD admissions he was three weeks late, and for the Hertz fellowship he was about a week late (five or six days after he submitted his letter I was notified that I was not selected for an interview...).

Wait, never mind, I continued through the application and found the pages with the prompts >_>

I feel a little bit stupid about this, but where are the actual essay prompts even? I had trouble finding them when I looked through the application site yesterday.

Everyone forgot about this topic... how's everyone's first semester of Cornell going so far?

Oh, and the Wikitravel page in case anyone hasn't seen it yet (it's pretty informative): http://wikitravel.org/en/Ithaca_(New_York)

Nope, from what I hear the funky geography around Ithaca prevented anyone from ever doing much with railroads going through the area (this is another reason Ithaca is so small -- geography prevented it from being much of a hub for anything). The nearest Amtrak stop, I think, is maybe thirty miles away in Cortland or Binghamton or something. It's close enough that you could probably get the stuff to the Amtrak stop, get a hold of a car or truck, and make a few trips back and forth without driving yourself too crazy... ...scratch that. From Ithaca's Wikitravel page: Although Ithaca once had rail connections to New York City, Scranton, Philadelphia, Buffalo and several cities in New England, the last passenger train left Ithaca in 1961, with the majority of service ending in the 1930's. Today, the nearest Amtrak [9] stations are on the Empire Corridor in Syracuse and Rochester. There are no direct bus connections to either station, however the two colleges sometimes run shuttles to the rail stations around semester breaks. Syracuse, of course, is about 60 miles away. If I had to drive that round trip more than once in any one week period I would probably start going crazy, so I doubt you want to do it to pick up your stuff Everyone registered? I was pleased to find that they haven't put holds on accounts for past due Bursar bills yet, so I was able to register with no problem despite that I haven't paid for the gym pass I foolishly already bought and the fact that my department hasn't paid my tuition yet. I over-registered (yup I'm a dick :\ ) and have five classes right now... have to decide which ones to drop. I also finally ordered my final transcript to be sent to the grad office last night.

I'm going to be driving from the Atlanta area up to Ithaca, NY in a couple of weeks. It's about a 16 hour drive (according to Google Maps) and I'm hoping to get through it in one day starting early in the morning... I don't plan on having a whole lot of stuff with me because I plan on mostly buying new stuff for whatever I need -- mainly because every other time I've ever moved I've ended up with big piles of junk that I never actually need. Hopefully I'll have my dad and/or one or two of my best friends from home going up there with me, hanging out with me, and then taking a one-way flight back to Atlanta the day before classes start.

Oh ok, if that's all that happens when I don't pay my bill, then I'll be ok. I'll be able to pay it before I actually get to Cornell, I just don't want to waste the money on it while I'm still hanging around Europe and it would be hard to transfer money to them from the German bank account that my pay is going into.

So if I don't pay the bursar bill (that's the only thing that will be on there -- no tuition or anything), will they just charge me a fee perhaps, or are there more dire consequences than that? Also, the other gym that you mentioned -- can you park next to it without a permit in the evenings?

Also, can you believe this? The photo you submitted on July 12, 2010 with your Student ID Card Request form could not be used to produce your Cornell University ID Card due to poor image quality/low resolution. [...] If you are unable to submit a suitable photo at this time, you can be photographed in person when you arrive on campus. In order to avoid waiting in line, we strongly suggest you submit your photo on-line. I really wish they would have said that earlier, even though some here guessed it in advance. To me it's much less annoying to wait in line for five or ten minutes (or longer even) than to take twenty pictures of myself in hopes of a good one, only for the best one to be rejected anyway...

So if the gym fee is in fact due August 7th when the bursar bill is due... what happens if I don't pay it until the end of the month? >_> If I would have known it were due that early and considered the fact that I could have signed up for the gym later then I wouldn't have signed up for it right now... I have enough on my plate as far as money goes until I actually get paid by the school. I looked after posting and the far southwest one seems to roughly form an equilateral triangle with my apartment and my office (with a little less than a 15 minute walk from any one point to any other), so that's decently convenient. I've never been a regular gym person haha. I don't think I've been to a gym even since freshman year of undergrad. I'm looking to a) trim off more of my bit of excess weight (this is already happening with no effort this Summer since I'm living in Munich, just like the last time I lived here... and I think the hill in Ithaca will help keep it up) and build some extra muscle (so I'm thinking a basic routine with pullups, bench, squats, some free weights, etc. for that). I'm up for a gym buddy though -- definitely need as much encouragement as possible to not stop after three times like the last time... I also like the idea of the cookout.

Damn. With the recent stuff about signing up for direct deposit and tuition being billed and all I had momentarily gotten my hopes up that we would somehow magically get the money in a couple of weeks.

Awesome, I've been wondering about this but it keeps slipping my mind to check or ask about it. By the way, does anyone know exactly when money will be disbursed to us? I have the university fellowship if that makes a difference.