born2cessna

Mine says 4 years as well, which conflicts with the NDSEG website that says "the Department of Defense (DoD) plans to award approximately 150 new three-year graduate fellowships in April 2017." I'm not complaining, but would also like a confirmation. Congrats on the fellowship!

Hey FreeThinker15, I went to Urbana-Champaign for undergrad and I loved it. If you aren't driving to campus every day (which is totally reasonable and parking on campus isn't cheap) then I would stay between S. Neil St (West of campus) and S. Vine St (East of campus). I definitely know people outside of that range, but I think its pretty easy and most convenient to stay close to campus. How far North/South you should go depends on where you'll be working. The bus lines can be found at www.cumtd.com (lol its supposed to be read C-U, M-T-D). The bus is free with your student ID. Landlords: A popular landlord is CPM (Campus Property Management - not affiliated with the Uni). They are hit or miss - if you never need anything from them, then its fine and they have good prices. However, if anything breaks or you need something special, then good luck. They have a bad reputation for caring about their tenants. My landlord was Hunsinger Apartments, a small family owned business. They were also cheap and fixed things cheaply (as in they did minimal work), but they were nice and responsive. I had a bat in my apartment after hours and someone came over within 30 minutes and stayed for 2 hours while we figured out what to do with it. The Tenant Union may help with landlord reviews, although I'm not sure if you have to visit in person. http://union.illinois.edu/see-and-do/other-resources/tenant-union Location: You'll be closer to the parties in Champaign, but its also mostly undergrads. You'll find more graduate students in Urbana. I personally think the housing in Urbana is more unique, prettier surroundings, and its usually cheaper. You will be farther away from the bars, but there is plenty of public transit available. If you won't have a car at all, then grocery shopping might suck. I would check out where the grocery stores are when planning. That was all basic information...since I lived there for 4 years I have plenty to say, if you have more questions!

Eventually I'm going to have to make a final decision. I don't have 100% all of the info I need to make a decision, but I have enough to really consider my options. For those who are lucky enough to have options, how are you basing your decisions? What is important to you? Research, faculty, funding, rankings...? I'm personally having a hard time choosing a "Choice A."