SublimePZ

That's fine, it should be something you figure out soon though. As far as filing taxes go, look here: I know you don't pay taxes on all of your stipend, just a portion of it - you get some personal and other deductions, but I cannot recall how much those deductions are. I see. I remember talking to one of my GSIs who described a very similar situation of funding, so while the specific numbers might not be the same, the general feel is. Not very fun either way though. That first year might be a bit tight on your wallet, but you should be able to stretch it out if you have a little money saved up and/or are able to find a cheaper place to live (roommate!) with a good budget.

You want a spider horror story? Approximately 2 nights ago: I had just turned off the lights and slipped into bed, excited that I was going to get a whole 8 hours of sleep before work. My sleep habits are pretty awful (thanks college) and thus I usually don't get that much sleep. To celebrate, I decided to sing a song that's been stuck in my head recently - You and Me (but mostly me) from The Book of Mormon (I just saw it, would highly recommend!). As I stared into the blackness singing about something "incredible" (listen to the song), I noticed a part of my eyesight that was *darker* than the surrounding area. As the words "what in the hell...?" came to my lips, I felt... wait... is that... A SPIDER ON MY LIPS?!?! Commence Freak Out in 3...2...1... Immediate Spitting Start. I sprinted to the light switch, crammed my glasses onto my panicked face and went to survey the damage. Besides all the spit everywhere, I noticed not one... not two... but three giant ass spiders on my pillow + surrounding area. Based on this, I surmised that the three spiders were descending together, trying to land gracefully. One was positioned directly above my eye, another my mouth, and the third... I didn't care to find out. Needless to say, I didn't feel very comfortable sleeping in that same spot and spent the next 30 minutes moving my bed to the middle of the room under solid ceiling. How many hours of sleep did I get that night, you ask? Let's not talk about that... I'm honestly not that afraid of spiders (I put the three spiders on a piece of paper and released them outside), but that legitimately scared the hell out of me.

Only $1500? That seems pretty low. Why are you subtracting $300? I'm assuming for taxes? If you don't mind, it might be helpful to post full details of your financial agreement.

I would advise you to establish dialogue with the POI before asking about your chances if you think that questions about the competitiveness of your application are too intrusive. Emails to POIs are indeed very helpful and I would say that most POIs give very solid advice about your chances (which, just based on stats, look to be very good!).

My mp3 player (yes I use one) is changing genres at breakneck speed: Flobots - Handlebars Tupac - Ambitionz az a Ridah Avenged Sevenfold - Unholy Confessions Queen - Radio Ga Ga Jason Mraz - Sleep All Day

Unfortunately, finding a place in August is pretty tough. Most apartments have people sign leases starting in June (ish) so maybe you can try to find a roommate beforehand that can coordinate finding an apartment sooner? Not sure if you have any friends/family in that area or have connected to your cohort at all, but you could ask around and see if anyone wants to help you out in that regards. Don't do graduate housing. Very expensive for not a lot of space/stuff. Subletting is also a pain.

In regards to parking in Berkeley, you can apply to get a parking sticker from the City of Berkeley for $34.50 per calendar year. This is an extremely cheap option that few students know about. The only downside is that you're limited to areas around your residence. For instance, I lived on Northside with a car for 3 years and using an F (I think that was the zone) permit, was able to park within about a 3 block radius around my apartment. Source: http://www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/Customer_Service/Home/RPP_Residential_Preferential_Parking.aspx Looks like they bumped up the price to $55.00 per year but it is still a good deal. Maelia8 is absolutely correct that the parking situation otherwise is complete garbage.

One of the schools I declined had a specific box that said "Where will you be attending instead?". Tempted to put Hogwarts but that probably wouldn't go so well.

Either the OP is not telling us everything, or is trolling. In either case though, there's really nothing else anyone here can say that hasn't been said already. This thread should be locked based on non-productivity.

Definitely. I didn't ask them all at the same interviews (I usually forgot, the conversation was going a different direction, etc.) but throughout the interviews I went to, I was able to ask all of those questions at least once. Certain questions may be more suited for asking the current grad students, however. Questions 1, 7, and 8 in particular. Some of my interviews just started with "I read the abstract of a paper of yours, could you elaborate on your research a bit more?" and ended with 45 minutes of the professor rambling on

Not silly at all! A couple of topics to definitely cover (but not in question form): 1) School area + city - what is there to do, how does that professor like it, etc. 2) Current lab projects 3) What past students are up to after graduation 4) Research + Collaboration opportunities 5) Professor's own research 6) If this isn't answered on the website or elsewhere, TA opportunities? Fellowships? Scholarships? Financial Aid? 7) How are advisor-advisee relationships established? How are advisors chosen/assigned? 8) How close knit are the students? Student groups?

I agree with lewin in the sense that consciously "lying" about your availability from the get-go is a breach of professionalism. This is further compounded by the fact that you'd like to use this job in the future as a connection (references, jobs, etc.). Ask yourself this: How would you feel if someone did this to you? You have to look through countless resumes, do numerous phone interviews, and create a project to work on for the established time only to not finish because the person you hired up and left 2 weeks early. I don't think it hurts to apply to the job, but I do think it's wrong to intentionally deceive your hiring manager. Is it possible for you to start a week earlier than listed + end a few days later than you want?

Definitely this. Understanding + memorizing vocabulary is certainly important, but don't get bogged down too much with absolute definitions and specific words. Especially for the verbal section, your ability to synthesize information and relationships between sentences is much more important.

For what it's worth, the three LORs I got was from an internship supervisor, a completely unrelated field (peace and conflict studies), and then an upper-division biochemistry class. I think the strength of your LOR matters a lot in this case. If you can get your physics professor to write you a really strong letter, I don't think an adcom would care about the fact that it's a physics vs. bio class.

Agreed. The areas that surround Berkeley (including Albany, Emeryville, Oakland, El Cerrito, etc.) are generally cheaper than Berkeley proper but definitely has less stuff to do. Additionally, everything is more spread out in those areas, so not having a car is super inconvenient. <$1000 per month is really only doable if you're willing to live with someone else and sacrifice space/distance. You're right though that food is more expensive in CA, but the trade-off is that it's usually fresher too.

No problem. That is a very good idea. If you're really not hurting for a laptop anytime soon, you could even wait until the November (Black Friday) or December (Holiday) sales which are undoubtedly the cheapest of the year.

This site here: http://www.laptopmag.com/reviews/laptops/hp-spectre-x360-13t compares both HP Spectre x360 and the Lenovo Yoga 3 with Macbook Air and Dell XPS (as well as category average). Further below the charts is a detailed explanation of these rankings. A cursory reading suggests that the Spectre > Yoga 3 due to longer battery life, more powerful processor, and ease of use. Try looking around for deals, but definitely don't pay >$1000 for either one.

Ah sorry, I should have made that more clear. I paid $700/month before utilities + internet. Most months the total was about $730. It is certainly doable on a grad student budget (your proposed $2500/month), though keep in mind CA taxes are higher than the midwest - you'll likely have less than $2500/month. When you get a bike definitely get a legit u-lock + industrial cord if you can, as bike thefts are pretty serious at Cal. The bus system also sucks on north side, as opposed to south/west side where the buses run very regularly. Not sure how much you like partying/socializing/etc., but I personally would avoid Piedmont street South past the International House. The houses along that street (as you can see if you use Google Street View) are largely fraternity/sorority houses. Friday/Saturdays (especially on football game days) it becomes insanely crazy/rowdy. Not really my scene, but if you enjoy that, by all means look for an apartment there. I would also caution living too close to Telegraph Avenue. On the whole though, it's a really safe community (directly around campus, anyways) so there's nowhere I would absolutely avoid - just some places I would prefer not living near.

I moved from Chicago to Berkeley for undergrad, so I think I should be able to give you some tips. I'm not sure of the exact prices, but I do know that grad housing is really expensive for not that many amenities (see here: http://housing2.berkeley.edu/graduate).I do know that most grad students live in non-campus housing (apartments, co-ops, etc.) I split a one-bedroom apartment with a friend for $1400 a month, utilities and internet not included. It was one block away from campus on north side with a washer/dryer in-house. When I first started renting there, it was above average, but by the time I graduated (May 2014) it was a little below average. I would say try to find something of comparable price, but beware that living directly in Berkeley is crazy expensive (especially closer to campus). If you're ok with taking buses and/or biking to Latimer or Stanley Hall, which is on the east side of campus at the top of a hill (I see your program is chem, so that's probably where you'll spend most of your time), then I would suggest living at the bottom of the hill somewhere off of Oxford or Shattuck. Berkeley's living situation is split into three parts - North, West, and South side. West side is comprised of Shattuck and is essentially the downtown part of Berkeley, with a lot of restaurants/cafes/stores. South side is where the majority of the undergrads live - it has stores and retaurants (chipotle, subway, etc.) but is a bit more college-y. This includes the majority of undergrad housing in addition to the fraternities. It is usually much rowdier there, especially during parties (Friday/Saturday nights, etc.). North side is, in my opinion, the quietest area - there are a lot of non-students that live there in houses, with only one real street that has anything (Euclid St. - pizza, burritos, sandwiches, cafes, etc.). The co-ops are also mostly on north side (though a few on south side too), but I don't recommend living there for your first year (http://www.bsc.coop). My suggestion? Try to find an apartment to split with someone on North Side near the LeRoy/LaLoma/LeConte/Ridge area. It's extremely close and quiet, and provided you have a car, parking is plentiful (compared to South side where there is usually no street parking available). It's unfortunately more expensive than south side, but worth it to me. Alternatively, finding an apartment further down College Avenue (away from campus) on South Side is a good option too - much cheaper than North Side, plus you get to a really nice area of Berkeley/Oakland.

Congrats! It sounds like you couldn't really go wrong with either choice, but I know those decisions can be pretty tough. Hope you like basketball...

I use a backpack, but only because I don't own a messenger bag. I'd say it depends entirely how much "a lot of stuff" is. If you're prone to carrying a lot of books plus a laptop, definitely use a backpack. Otherwise, a messenger bag is definitely classier and more professional looking. On a related note: http://www.phdcomics.com/comics/archive.php?comicid=176

It was definitely the coyotes.

SeanDDavies and MathCat give really good advice about docking stations + monitors vs. tablets (laptop replacements) in addition to a desktop. With a docking station, your laptop functionally acts as a desktop while you're at home but is still powerful enough for all of your needs (except gaming, but that's a different story). I'm not sure if I understand this statement. Are you afraid you'll get something like a knock-off brand/generic brand from amazon/ebay/newegg? If so, I think you're misunderstanding how the system works. It's not like buying clothes or accessories. Now, if that statement was targeted towards refurbished machines, you're right there's an inherent risk, but generally speaking the lower price outweighs that risk.

The drought is most certainly a climate problem as well as the increasing population (just look at the gentrification numbers for San Francisco alone), but the fundamental problem is agriculture. I remember reading (i'll try to find sources) that agriculture takes 80% of the water, while personal use is somewhere around 15-18%. Inherently speaking, California (esp. central, where most of the farming is done) is a desert. Things such as almond trees and alfalfa sprouts require an enormous amount of water to sustain - daily watering is a necessity. I personally try to stick to a reduction in water usage as much as possible (navy showers, only flushing #1 once a day, etc.) but there's only so much people can do on an individual basis. Edit: http://www.kcet.org/updaily/socal_focus/commentary/where-we-are/in-a-season-of-drought-where-does-the-water-go.html and http://www.mercurynews.com/science/ci_25090363/california-drought-water-use-varies-widely-around-state

Most of the time the admin is someone that's been sending out the emails about interviews or application status. If there isn't anyone designated for that role, then try looking around on the program's specific website for info about people you can contact. Since it's so close to the April 15th deadline (that many schools stick to strictly), I would advise calling over emailing.