scarvesandcardigans
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Posts posted by scarvesandcardigans
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On 2/5/2019 at 9:26 PM, LuxAeterna01 said:
I’m told the bus systems there are awesome.
But is it drive-able?
Also just, how is living in the area?
The bus system is fairly reliable. I use the local app and if you track where the bus actually is and use the bus regularly enough, you can adapt to the routine (I only say this because you might just hear that the bus system is terrible). The free shuttles from the commuter parking, I have heard, tend to be very packed, which has resulted in some of my classmates being late to seminars because many people are trying to get to campus. If you live far enough from campus, as a student or employee, you can get a discounted all-route bus pass ($15/mo.), which I have, and it has been great.
I personally don't think that State College is the most drivable place in the world, but it's not bad. The "downtown" grid has many one-way streets, so you'd have to learn those pretty quickly. If you live close enough, I recommend taking the bus or walking. There are downtown parking decks that you can pay for per day that are closer to campus (or per month, but this can be pricy), but if you plan to commute or drive to campus, you will likely have to park near the Bryce Jordan Center and take the free shuttle in. If you're a postdoc or staff or faculty member, you might be able to get an on-campus pass, BUT I have heard that it's very expensive. If you are going to get groceries or run errands, I have never had a major issue with driving. I prefer Wegmans and all of the stores in that area for major grocery/home shopping, so once you are out that way, the traffic clears up a lot. If you live in a town like Boalsburg or Bellefonte, there are buses that will take you into State College that, for the most part, seem pretty reliable.
The only time I would say that State College is NOT good for driving around is home football game weekends. Downtown fills up very quickly, and really in general, for a small town, it gets very congested, especially when the weather is still really good. I've heard that during the football game is the best time to go grocery shopping, though...
There are many construction projects going on near Atherton close to campus, which can be difficult to navigate, and I say this because the same projects will probably be there after the summer and into the fall, too. Construction projects seem to never end here. Really, if you can avoid Atherton St. close to campus at ALL, I suggest it. The road is not in great shape and work on it has been going since I arrived (2 years ago).
I like the downtown area for its local places, like Webster's (used books, good food, records), Appalachian Outdoors, and various restaurants. There are some chain staples like Starbucks, Panera, and even a new Amazon pickup location, but the local places are usually really good to at least try out. There are many options for groceries (Wegmans, multiple Weis locations, Giant, McLanahan's), there are major stores like Walmart, Target, Dick's Sporting Goods, etc. I personally like that there are a lot of local outdoor activities that you can do. Rothrock State Forest is close, and it has a lot of trails and places to check out. The surrounding towns like Bellefonte, Boalsburg and Lemont are nice for half-day or day explorations (Café Lemont all the way!). There are a few gyms, yoga studios, music shops, and other (not food) locations downtown. My favorite day to go into downtown is Sunday, when the downtown parking is free. It seems to be the least crowded day of the week (depending on the university events).
It's a nice place to live overall, as long as you are aware when there might be high traffic times or how to avoid certain congested areas. If you venture out of town you will find the more interesting local spots. There are buses that can take you to Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, NYC, DC, that don't usually cost that much, which makes State College a very centrally-located place to live. Also, gorgeous in the fall!
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9 hours ago, gonza said:
Good morning everyone,
Just curious to know what you guys consider to be a good/average stipend for being a Grad Instructor or TA/RA? I was offered a stipend to teach a Spanish intro course as part of the financial package and hoping to find more information on this as a first year PhD student.
Let me know what ya'll think are average stipends for PhD students that are also teaching right from the start.
Thanks!!!
Hi friend! I think @Ciboney said pretty much everything (GREAT information). One thing that I would add is that if you're planning conference travel, this has to be factored in (along with the taxes, potential university fees, etc.). I only add it because if you're going to 1-2 conferences per academic year, if you're doing research, it can be an important financial factor to take into account regularly, since you'll have to set the money aside to be able to afford travel. Many universities offer reimbursement, though it might not always be 100%, and is usually paid back to you after you've already paid for your travel.
I simply felt this was important to add because conference costs have taken me from feeling like my stipend is "really great for where I live" to "really not enough" very quickly. I know it has no direct bearing upon the relationship between teaching load and stipend, though the weekly flexibility you have for conference travel just might...
Just my $.02. Good luck to everyone in this application cycle!
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On 4/16/2018 at 8:56 AM, atomintheuniverse said:
I managed to get a decent lease there for 950$ a month excluding electricity. I was just wondering if anyone has been there before considering that all I had to go with were pictures
Education here! I was offered 30k a year as stipend money. Hopefully that should be enough for a decent, ramen-fuelled lifestyle, heh
Executive House is nice. Someone in my program lives there, and I've visited a number of times. The living space is pretty large and well laid-out. The person that I know has a deluxe (larger) 1BR and he has a large couch, chair, large television and coffee table in one part, and his L-shaped desk and bookshelf in another. The kitchen space is enough room for a dining table. The kitchen in his unit is somewhat outdated, as is the bathroom. Old tiling, older cabinets, etc, but the appliances seem new and they work well. There is a balcony and sliding door which is also a bonus. The hallways can be a little confusing to navigate and some of the stairwells are narrow, so keep that in mind when moving furniture in. There are elevators as well. It seems to be pretty quiet and is mostly rented by graduate and professionals, and all of the apartments on Waupelani are similar, so it's not a high-noise area. The CATA bus comes often and seems to be reliable. You can get a RidePass for $15/mo for unlimited rides based on the distance that Executive House is located from campus. It's a nice place for sure, electric is reasonable since it's only plugins (~$25 average/mo). You should be more than able to live comfortably with your lease and $30k.
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On 3/8/2018 at 4:48 PM, Clongoria90 said:
I have been accepted and told I unofficially have a TA position lined up from my POI at Rutgers in the PhD program for Applied Physiology and Kinesiology. I have not heard anything else for funding or how much to expect per month.
Is there a ballpark number I can at least expect per month? I'm trying to get an idea of what I can work with but I can't find any information on that program specifically (it's new --> 2014 start)
I found this when I was looking into Rutgers' stipend info last year: https://uhr.rutgers.edu/policies-resources/salary-schedules/aaup-aft-faculty-salary-schedules/full-time-ta-and-ga-starting
It's a bit outdated, but my offer was something close to $26,000 before taxes with annual increase across four years. I had the academic year appointment which was 9 months, I believe. When I asked the current students they said that they were earning something around $2,500 per month after taxes.
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On 3/2/2018 at 11:40 AM, Halek said:
Hi! I just got accepted into the ecology program and am planning on accepting.
I've started reading back through this thread to get ideas on where to look for housing. Does anyone know how reliable Craig's list is in the area? Some places I've lived it has been a great resource to find housing, others it has all been scams. Also, does anyone have experience with busing onto campus? I'll have a car, but I'd rather not drive in bad weather in the winter.
I looked a little bit on craigslist, but (at least in my experience) a lot of it was people looking to sublet. I know that the State College website has its own listing service with a lot of apartment info from around town. If you want, PM me and I'll see if there's anything that I've looked into that might fit what you're looking for! (Note: I worked in real estate and just went through a search for my next apartment in State College so all of the information is pretty fresh
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About the buses, if you live outside of a 3/4 mile radius from one of the downtown bus stops, then you can get a discount pass from the university for $15/mo. The PSU ridepass webpage has a widget that determines if any address qualifies for the discount. Otherwise it's pretty expensive, like $80/mo. or $2 per ride (one way) if you don't have a pass. There are two campus shuttle services (Loop and Link) that are free for students to use to get around campus, but they don't go much outside of the campus area. Most times that I've ridden on the CATA, it has been fairly empty. There is an app that you can use to track its whereabouts, and the few times that I used it, it was fairly reliable. Hope that helps!
- th3redrabbit and Halek
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3 hours ago, senorbrightside said:
It's $18,000 Canadian a year for the tution/fees alone, not counting housing and food and stuff. Not too feasible unless I win la lotería mañana, considering I don't play...I wish though. Ojalá.
A friend of mine is in this situation in her PhD, she took out a loan to cover some fees and then asked the department about applying for funding in the second year. Until then she is doing work outside of the degree program. It's totally doable, if that sheds a small bit of light on that scenario! Sending good thoughts your way.
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On 2/28/2018 at 1:28 PM, Kimia said:
Yes, I have to pay them myself too. Sorry if it's a dummy question
what is Wolfline? I have to pay 2000 $ per semester.
It's the free bus system that can carry you around campus and around Raleigh! Very convenient, sometimes very full, and there's a mobile app that they have which in my experience was pretty reliable.
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On 1/8/2018 at 1:43 PM, dmueller0711 said:
I had two online classes I TA'd for over the Fall semester. At least for me, I rarely had interaction with the students that I did not initiate myself. Most of my work was editing the online classroom, updating documents for the professor, and grading essays and forum discussion posts. I may have had 5 unsolicited emails from students the entire semester. In my experience if you want interaction with the students you will have to create it: comment on their forum posts, email students just to check up on how they are understanding the material, and always add substantive comments to their work when grading. Otherwise, it was mostly receiving a to-do list from the professor every week and doing those tasks.
Agreed. The instructor on record will usually have a developed schedule of due dates and tasks for you. But for the most part, I did not hear from the students unless I contacted them first.
My $0.02: I TA'd an online language learning course during my second year in my MA. My experience was mostly giving feedback to online submissions, including multiple choice, fill in the blank, and some open-ended writing. It was difficult at first to translate feedback language into an online setting (since you don't have body language, things like that), especially if you have to grade, because the students will usually not go to you if something is unclear, but rather the instructor on record. My line of communication about feedback with my instructor on record was always very much open. They also had two in-person assignments that I would make sure to attend if possible so that I could have face-to-face interaction with those students. I also made sure to log the hours when I did my grading and wrote down what I had graded so that I would know what parts of the semester (ex. right before/after an exam) were taking up most of my time so I could plan accordingly - though this is something that can be done for in-person instruction as well, it was particularly useful in the online setting.
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On 2/19/2018 at 10:15 AM, Kimia said:
Hello everyone!
I recently got admitted to NCSU with 2200/month (without tax) for TAing. Does anyone know whether this amount is enough for my monthly expenses? I am moving from another country so I don't know anything about expenses in the USA.
Thank you all in advance!
I think that this is a good amount to be able to live with in Raleigh. For more info on saving, I would be sure to ask if your program pays your university fees for you. They were around $1,100 per semester and I was required to pay them myself when I was there. These fees are used to pay for facilities that you can use for free (and incentive to use those things) such as the gym, Wolfline, etc.
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On 2/25/2018 at 9:50 AM, devbioboy said:
Some other good on-campus workspaces that I've encountered over the years include Hunt Library (on the weekends) and the Natural Resources Library in Jordan Hall. In the nearby Cameron Village, there's a branch of the Wake County Public Library that I know people also use. In downtown Raleigh, some people frequent Morning Times (hip coffee shop) to do work on the weekends. Also, I totally agree with Cup a Joe, Global Village, and Liquid State being amazing places to get coffee and get work done near campus!
Agreed with all of these. My favorites were Cup a Joe and Global Village - though to be honest Global can get kind of packed sometimes and they have limited seating for their popularity. They are busiest in the late morning (in my experience) but if I went in the afternoon, it was usually less crowded. The Cup a Joe in the Mission Valley shopping center was always less crowded for me as well. Sometimes, the Bruegger's Bagels on Hillsborough street can be good too. There is also one located in Mission Valley for an alternate location.
If you don't mind walking a little bit, only a few minutes away in Cameron Village is Benelux Coffee. They have amazing coffee (and waffles) and they aren't too busy most weekdays.
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I heavily considered the current research and labs that were available within the department, as well as affiliated departments that would benefit my research. This meant doing a little digging into recent publications from researchers in the departments that I would be working with, looking at conferences in the field as well, since this is where the up-and-coming research from the department can be found. I also made sure that there would be more than one professor who had multiple research interests in common with me. In my MA there were only two that had research interests that aligned with my own, and only one was willing to entertain my research ideas. I considered summer opportunities, research and travel grant availability (general funding and support options, really).
I also weighed the town or city where the universities are located (though I did this before the application process even began), when the options became real choices that I had to weigh, then learning as much as I could about the cities, transportation, cost of living, and things to do were important. The funding packages were important, but when it came down to making a decision between my two top choices, it was the visits. If you are offered a visit, by all means, take it! How I felt when I was interacting with the professors, actually in the town or city, and amongst the other graduate students was the deciding factor. Though both programs that I had to choose from were incredible and similar on paper, the visits solidified my decision.
Much of what others have said about family, cost of living, and coursework is also quite valuable. Best of luck!
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11 hours ago, Carly Rae Jepsen said:
Congrats to you as well @Green.Mango !!! Are you planning on visiting IUB? I'm trying to arrange a visit for March, theirs was also my first app!
@Monsieur Vénus thanks for the heads up. They sent me some estimate of what the stipend might be and they also mentioned that living in Bloomington was very affordable. Before making a decision I plan on visiting campus and seeing the funding offer.
Congratulations on IUB! It's a gorgeous area and it really is affordable to live there. (And hello from the Spanish side of the Languages section!) My $0.02 on IUB is to be sure if you will be required to pay fees out of pocket. My offer last year required that I pay the ~$1,000. It might be a good point of negotiation if you are really interested in their program!
And to everyone else - congratulations on admits, and if you are still waiting, hang in there! Sending good thoughts.
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On 1/27/2018 at 9:39 PM, Carly Rae Jepsen said:
outrage culture on twitter? at the same time i live for the drama it causes though
Self help media (90% of them anyway)
super hero movies (except for Spiderman with Toby McGuire cause it was the first movie I watched on theaters)
Taylor Swift's new bad chick persona.
Maluma (reggaeton as a whole, actually. Apparently it's mandatory to like it if you're Latino).
undergrad party culture
I agree with all of these except Maluma, but only because I haven't listened enough to have a good opinion, but like, everything else is spot on for me
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11 hours ago, pochyuca said:
Hi everyone!
Looks like you're all mostly literature concentrations, but I'm applying for MA in Hispanic Linguistics - UC Davis, U Arizona, UIC, UIUC, Indiana, NC State, and Ohio State. I did my undergrad at Indiana and know that you will all love the program and professors there!
So far I've heard just from UC Davis and NC State - is anyone else applying for linguistics programs?
Lots of good programs here! I did my MA in Hispanic Linguistics at NC State. And the program at Indiana is really great as well!
And a quick word of encouragement for everyone - keep hanging in there! Sending good thoughts to everyone applying!
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It's usually optional. Most schools use this info as a tool to size up what other programs they are competing against, and it's by no means required for you to report that information.
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Hi friends! My partner has decided to move to State College in the fall and I am sticking my feelers out there for any potential leads for jobs. I can talk more privately about his skills but essentially he has multiple years of experience in home repair and construction, primarily, among other things. He's also looking to enroll again in school so anything part time or with flexible hours as well. Maybe not the best place to look but I'm putting it out there just in case. If anyone has any info please let me know!
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On March 14, 2017 at 4:45 PM, hantoo said:
Hey Everyone,
I just finished undergrad at Penn State and know State College extremely well, and had friends that lived all over the area, and I myself lived downtown 2 out of my 4 years there. If any of you have specific questions about anywhere you're considering checking out or just about what PSU life is like in general, feel free to ask on here or message me!
Just as a general comment: most of the graduate students I am friends with at Penn State live farther off campus and have a car, or just take the bus in during the week. The farther off campus you go, the nicer the apartment, generally speaking. To be honest, I would suggest that you avoid living right down town near campus, as that is where all of the undergraduate students live, and Beaver Ave. and College Ave. tend to be fairly crazy places most nights of the week, and are basically insane on weekends (i.e. if you are not interested in hearing people screaming all night Thurs.-Sun. in your building and in the streets and finding half-eaten slices of pizza and other gross things in your stairwells and hallways, avoid the close to campus living options).
The absolute nicest off campus living area in my experience is The Retreat, but it's also more expensive than other options--the apartments there resemble town houses, most allow pets, you'll likely get your own room, there's a pool, little backyards, and things that you just would not otherwise have closer to campus. Park Forest is also a really nice area with townhouse-like apartments.
Another apartment option that is slightly closer and likely more affordable would be University Terrace. It's pretty far east from campus, but if you don't mind the walk it's not terrible, and you can certainly take a bus if you need to. A lot of undergraduates live out there, but I think it's at least slightly more tame than living in the middle of downtown. There are lots of houses on West College Ave., and if you can find a solid group of roommates to live with, that could be a decent option too. White Course Apartments is Penn State's "graduate and family housing" option, but I don't know much about it and never went there.
This is a lot of great info, thank you! Do you have any knowledge/comments on Lion's Gate or Vairo Village? I've also been in contact with some people from ARPM but I see that they have a lot of not so hot reviews online.
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First, congratulations on two offers! This is definitely an exciting time. While I don't personally have any experience with either of these cities in particular, I have visited schools that are vastly different from where I am used to in terms of diversity and pace/style of living. I'm also from New York so I totally understand how different it can be going practically anywhere else. I think my first question is for UMiami, do they offer any other funding to you in terms of research grants, summer opportunities, or things like that? It might ease the housing situation a little bit. Have you talked to students at UMiami? They might have some insight on the living situation or how they make ends meet, other sources of funding, or things like that.
When I made my choice, it was pretty similar. A lot of money, or the community. When I visited the program where I would be well-funded, I didn't feel comfortable there. Definitely out of place for a lot of reasons. When I visited the school that had a greater sense of community, there were more opportunities for everyone to create a feeling of "home". I ended up choosing the community feeling over the money because I couldn't imagine living in a place for 4-5 years where I didn't feel comfortable, regardless of the money that the program offered. That's just my personal experience.
Of course, I am definitely not the best authority on this, but your situation sounds very similar. Wherever a person feels the most comfortable (in the environment as a whole) is the place that I think they will thrive best. Best of luck with your decision!
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27 minutes ago, Yak1030 said:
I'm glad to see that none of the people on this thread appear to have been "shut out" of everywhere they applied to (though I could be mistaken). It doesn't appear that the people on the English/Literature side of things have been as lucky.
I've been following the Linguistics threads closely, it looks like across the board things are very competitive for them this year. We have a great group of scholars here, I think!
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4 hours ago, erasingdinosaurs said:
Thanks @scarvesandcardigans! I ended up emailing someone else at UVA and got a really nice reply in under 10 minutes. Emailed someone else at UNC and was told I'd find out in early April (so late!). I think I'll withdraw my applications and accept an offer for an MA. I'm so excited and I think this is the best fit for me!
Yay! Is it where we talked about??? If so that's super exciting! It sounds like you are super excited so that's awesome! Something to celebrate for sure, congratulations!
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On March 7, 2017 at 10:57 AM, erasingdinosaurs said:
Hi everyone! So I'm waiting to hear from 2 more schools. I'm not exactly expecting acceptances (which is okay, they're PhD programs and I'm pretty set on doing the MA first), but I do want to hear from them before I accept/decline the offers I have. So, I guess I'm wondering if I should keep on waiting or if I should assume I've been rejected. The schools (UNC and UVA) have sent out acceptances and I've emailed both to ask about a time line for when I would get my results (UNC gave me a generic reply and UVA never responded). I'm not really sure what to do now. I don't want to email and ask them again, but I also want to know if I'm on a wait list or even if I've just been plain rejected. I'm not really anxious to hear from them, but I'm worried that I'm waiting too long to get back to other programs. My first offer was made over a month ago now. Anyone have any advice/guidance?
I agree with @Yak1030 100%. I also want to add, this was kind of a "mini flag" for me when you said that UVA never responded - One of the best slices of advice that I was given was to "go to the place where they seem most excited about talking to you." The schools who make you feel like you should be lucky to be communicating with them may not necessarily be the schools you want to attend.
Also, if you are certain that you won't attend either of these programs, then you can just let them know to withdraw your application. I'm sure that you know this, but that can help you in moving closer toward your official acceptance without waiting on other institutions!
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19 minutes ago, Yak1030 said:
And the University of Iowa has officially offered me the assistantship with great benefits!!! I am beyond thrilled and am definitely accepting !
Funding for two years for the master's and four more for the PhD (which won't require a second application). Iowa City, here I come!
Nice, congratulations!! That's awesome! Now I know who to collaborate with in Iowa.
That has to be so exciting! Celebrate this!!!
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7 hours ago, granadina said:
I have heard nothing from UPenn, but I did see a waitlist entry for them on the forum. Also, saw an interview from NYU from March 3rd, so I suppose there is still some hope, but the outlook doesn't feel great.
I called Rutgers last Tuesday and they said the rest of the decisions should go out in the next few days, but I have heard nothing from them either. One of the schools I have an offer from wants to know by March 10th--should I call or email Rutgers again? I don't want to bother them, but I feel like I don't have all the info. that I need to make my decision.
I can talk to you in depth about Rutgers privately if you want!
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Hey guys! So good news - I accepted an offer of admission to Penn State (!) the other day. Does anyone have any other news to report? I hope that everyone is hanging in there!! I'm sure that you will be hearing from some of these programs very soon!
- xolo, cactilio and strudelbox
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Sociolinguistic/Phonetic Grad Schools?
in Linguistics Forum
Posted
Yes! Came here to say the same thing. I graduated from the sister program in Spanish (sociolinguistics track) and I'll add that the programs in linguistics at NC State often allow their students to take courses in other departments for credit. The courses in the program in English/Linguistics are intensive, taught by very accomplished researchers, cover a wide array of topics, and there are a lot of outreach opportunities that you can get involved with. Being fully funded is also a plus! All of their graduates who have moved on to PhD work have been accepted to competitive programs (Georgetown, UC Berkeley) as well.