JHIE

No problem! $1000 for 2 bedrooms might be a little high, but I always look for a bargain. My first choice is usually to find anywhere nearby campus being rented by the owner; condominiums or houses are often for rent in the area and are usually better equipped for family living than an apartment. Usually the apartment communities (owned by a leasing company, rather than a private owner) are more undergrad focused and are more expensive. I found my current place on tampa.craigslist.org which is a 3bed/2bath condo shared with the owner - my room/bath are $495 per month, utilities included. My partner lives in Cambridge Woods apartments with two other people (3bed/2.5bath) and the rent is $450 for the room and shared bath plus utilities. Since you won't have a car, you'll want to be on the bus route and my best suggestion is the 42nd street area. There are lots of standard apartments as well as condos for rent in that area. Good luck! Let me know if you have other questions

My partner and I will be attending TAMU in the fall. What areas should we be looking at? Goals are to stay close to campus (both engineering so near those buildings), will have one car but prefer to walk/bike, quiet graduate students, want clean/bug-free homes, yard/porch would be nice, 1-2 bedrooms and 1.5-2 bathrooms preferred. Is apartment or condo style living best to look at in this area with these goals?

I've lived in Tampa for 8 years and over 3 years at USF. Many students, grad and undergrad, commute to campus from as far as Sarasota/St Pete. I couldn't imagine doing that and wasting so much time in travel but many people I know have taken that route usually because of family or work in the area they live. If you plan to be a full time student only, live near campus and save the time. Someone else suggested to stay east of Bruce B Downs - I second that opinion. Considering this issue, I blocked the areas on the map below that I feel are good and bad to live around campus. This doesn't mean to say stay out of those areas, I simply feel in my experience living here that the best housing is found in the green and the worst in the red. I have found most students (grad & undergrad) I know without cars live in the 42nd street area just north of campus. Traffic and parking sucks so a 1 mile ride can take 10 minutes. First week of classes, expect 30 minutes.

Didn't get it: G/G, G/G, VG/VG Congrats to those who did!

Is there a change on the application website for those who received an acceptance?

Tennessee shouldn't be pushing you to make a decision or threatening to give away the position. The April 15th deadline is still far away; if they're pressuring to decide now, I don't think that is an environment I would want to work in. Personally, I wouldn't worry too much about the exact $$$ - so long as its enough to live comfortably. I'm not sure about the cost of living in Tennessee, but Purdue's location isn't particularly expensive and I met lots of grad students there who are comfortable. However, if you have a good offer from Tennessee, and your advisor is a great match, then go for it! I hear over and over that your advisor should be the top priority for selecting a program. Good luck!

I also applied for the pre-doctoral fellowship with Industrial Engineering as primary field. So anxious about hearing from schools I haven't thought about this potential award for a while! Really hope I get either this or NSF.

I gave a handwritten thank you card and chocolates to each recommender. I'm still local though.

Anyone else apply to Purdue or TAMU? I've heard back from both schools so far (invited to visit weekends) but no official acceptances yet. Just curious what others have heard from these programs. Still waiting to hear back from the 8 other schools - no positive or negative responses yet

Sounds like you're accepted, congrats! I didn't apply there so I couldn't tell you exactly what needs to happen, maybe email the graduate admissions representative.

Finally heard something today! Invited to visit Purdue; waiting on UMich, Northwestern, Northeastern, Stanford, USoCal, UnivFlorida, GATech, and TAMU.

1. University (school, major, gpa) State school: Undergrad in IE (3.53/4.0), Masters in Eng Mgmt (4.0) 2. Research experience (projects, publications) 12 months with one prof., varied projects. Currently working on publication 3. GRE/GMAT 154/157/3.5 4. Recommendations (professors, supervisors, managers) 3 strong LOR; department head, research advisor, research advisor/professor 5. Other relevant info many years work exp, 9 month internship in related field