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svent

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Everything posted by svent

  1. svent
    2. Don't know about Engineering, but in CS, USC's classes are huge. Their algorithms class has like 500 students! They basically admit as many students as possible, especially internationals. According to Wikipedia, USC has 18k undergrads and 23k postgrads. That should be awfully telling. They're one of the biggest private schools in the country, so don't let "private" fool you. 4. USC is in a horrible neighborhood. San Diego (and La Jolla) is beautiful. Fantastic weather. USC is very far inland, which means hot summers. It might be half an hour from the beach with no traffic. Realistically, you won't be that lucky most of the time. UCSD seems to have a stronger name when applying to industry. I've met plenty of people from UCSD/UCLA in SF. Don't know anyone from USC. 6. ...and you can save more if you work an extra couple months. UCSD is also on a quarter system, which may let you graduate faster (5 quarters, possibly even 4, instead of 4 semesters). 8. Who cares? USC has a good football team. UCSD is a better school. I'd avoid USC at all costs and pick either UCSD or UCLA or UT Austin (if you get in), depending on your interests. On the flip side, USC may be cheaper to live at since it's in a terrible area. UCLA area housing is really expensive. UCSD area housing is kind of expensive. UT Austin would be the lowest COL though. UCSD is probably also the best school for getting recruited to Qualcomm if you're interested in them. I'm not on the engineering side but I imagine they have some pretty good opportunities.
  2. svent
    I wouldn't call Philly cheap, but it's not absurd. Still way more expensive than the midwest or south. I know someone who went to Harvard, and she visited several days with her folks and found it damn near impossible to find a place to live. I guess she wanted her own place though.
  3. svent
    Yep, and you probably need to save beforehand. Moving costs and first month expenses, since your paycheck will be a month behind your rent check. Maybe even 2 months of expenses if you move in a week or two before school starts and not the week of. I've heard some people take out a loan to deal with the first month, but that would make me nervous.
  4. svent
    If you want to go to Harvard (or Penn), that's fine. But at least be aware that these schools are major cash cows, especially at the Master's level. I know some people who wasted 2 years and $100k on programs at both schools, and it didn't help them one bit. I imagine Harvard would be better around Boston/NY and Penn would be better around Philly/DC. But who knows? I bet it's easier to find cheaper housing near Penn, but it's not in such a nice area. I hear Boston area housing is insane. Penn tuition might be a tad bit higher, not sure. To answer your question, yes, I'd turn down Harvard. Actually, I didn't even apply there.
  5. svent
    Whatever. I think they're both good schools that also happen to have extremely overpriced Master's programs in many fields that are basically $50k/year networking events. I'd never pay for something like that. There's a reason half their programs are substantially easier to get into than their undergrad program.
  6. svent
    Going to school is the beginning of your career, not the end. If the name of your school is your biggest accomplishment by the time you die, you had a sad life.
  7. svent
    According to Wikipedia, KU has 28k students (probably more now, number from 2014). I don't think grad enrollment is that important of a number (other than schools like USC, where there are more grads than undergrads, which are clearly giant cash cow schools), outside of your own department. A lot of them are in their office all day, a lot of others barely ever come to campus. It's the undergrads who will make things seem crowded. Before I visited either campus or looked up the numbers, KU certainly seemed bigger, but that's probably just because they have a great basketball team.
  8. svent
    Not sure. I was only there once many years ago at a big conference. Seemed like a pretty big campus, but I didn't really do any exploring. I think I liked the KU campus better, but I was alone there so I had time to explore. Plus I was there last year, so I remember it clearly. I don't think either one has an amazing campus or anything, just go by academic/career factors really. By the way, I don't think IU is that much bigger than KU. 33k students vs. 28k. I'm just talking undergrads. Wikipedia doesn't have a figure for number of grad students at KU, and I think undergrad is a more useful number anyway (other than the number of grad students in your specific department). I don't have anything to back this up, but I feel like IU has more students not from the area, while KU is pretty much Kansans only.
  9. svent
    When I visited Lawrence, it seemed like an interesting town. When I visited Bloomington, I was only at the university, so not sure about the town. Both are near a decent-sized city (Indy/KC), but I'm not crazy about Indy or KC. IU is actually kind of close to Chicago, which is a very big city. Columbus also, which is a decent-sized city. Other than KC, the only major city near Lawrence is St. Louis, and by near, I mean a 4-5 hour drive. I think both towns are pretty inexpensive. The answer is probably to choose based on research, advisors, stuff like that.
  10. svent

    Newark, DE

    svent replied to a topic in City Guide

    Don't commute from Wilmington, it's a pain. Traffic is pretty bad if you come during rush hour and Wilmington isn't that exciting either, and is more expensive. Newark is pretty spread out. There's Pine Brook, which isn't great (the leasing "office" seems kind of creepy), but pretty decent for grad student housing. It's close to campus and has a bus that brings you to campus I think. There's also plenty of places away from campus to the east (near Bear) that are more for young professionals/families. A bit more expensive and a little bit of a commute, but you can avoid the 95 traffic. There are also some residential areas to the north (Pike creek/North star area). No need to venture all the way to Wilmington if you don't want to live near campus.
  11. svent
    You'll have to wait and see. It's well known that the UCs are pretty broke. Don't do an unfunded PhD, especially not in California.
  12. svent
    Actually there's a fair amount of crime in Newark, especially around campus. Pretty surprising for a relatively small school.
  13. svent
    A bodybuilder's diet is the opposite extreme of a $100/month diet (they probably spend more like $1000/month). What I can say for sure, having grocery shopped in many different areas of the country, is that meat and produce are quite expensive, but when I get an occasional bag of candy or chips, it is VERY cheap. Same thing with fast food (which I don't eat myself). This is why poor people don't eat right. I'm not 220 lbs either, nor am I a bodybuilder, but I do workout a lot, and I also eat a fair amount, including well over the ridiculous expectation of 50g/day of protein. I believe staying active (and consequently, eating more) is important for your mental health, which is extremely important in grad school. If your income is so bad that you're considering only spending $100/month on food, the place to save money is likely rent.
  14. svent
    Chicken breasts are where to go for an efficient source of protein. Are you really defending $100/month as a reasonable food budget? What do you do if you're a 220 lb bodybuilder eating 200+ grams of protein per day? I'm not talking about the food labels that base everything on a diet eating 50g/day, which is absurdly low. Yesterday I went to the store and spent about $25 on food that'll last me about 4 meals plus a few snacks. $400 is a reasonable food budget, not $100. Sure, it can be totally doable to go under $400, but I sure hope you guys don't actually have a straight face on when you say eating on $100 is no big deal.
  15. svent
    You ignored the part about protein. Even if you go for cheap $3.49/lb chicken, that adds up. There's a reason poor people have more health problems caused by poor diets. Healthy food is expensive, a bag of candy or a happy meal is dirt cheap.
  16. svent
    "Lower ivy" is a pretty ridiculous term, but no more ridiculous than people who have a hard-on for seeing the name Harvard or Yale or Penn, and who wouldn't even recognize UCLA as a top school.
  17. svent
    I think schools usually require you to keep a 3.0 to get renewed for your TA job. Some schools may say 2.7 or 3.3 or something like that. Would you be concerned about maintaining a 3.5 being a requirement? I know it's grad school grading and all, but still seems a little high.
  18. svent
    Food is very expensive. Even if you cook everything, healthy food ain't cheap. Especially if you like to workout and prioritize eating non-trivial amounts of protein. Sure it may be possible if you eat nothing but dollar menu items at McDonald's. But then the medical bills will catch up to you. There is no free lunch.
  19. svent
    I think Yale is a "lower" ivy. It, along with Penn, is more of a top 20 school than top 5 in most fields I've looked into. I've never met anyone from there in STEM fields (fellow students going there, professors who'd done their graduate work there, etc.). I've met plenty of people from Harvard, Cornell, Princeton, even Penn. It has a great law school though. I guess it's very highly ranked at the undergraduate level.
  20. svent
    Lots of schools do this, but the ivies are notorious for this, especially Harvard and Penn. Plenty of people spend $100k on a Master's from these schools and get nothing out of it.
  21. svent
    You're paying tuition. You don't owe them anything. It's pretty expected go to somewhere else anyway.
  22. svent
    There's no way they're going to talk to other people about you (well there is a way, but it's unlikely). Doing that might even violate some FERPA thing. You have an acceptance. You're in the driver's seat.
  23. svent
    Gee, send an email and potentially have a choice to make, or do nothing and let someone make the choice for you. You paid $100 to apply. Why the heck are you so uncomfortable asking for information?
  24. svent
    Don't go to USC. It's in an awful area, there's 0 chance of getting any funding, and it's more of an immigration program than a CS program (at the Master's level). Their algorithms class has like 500 people. This screams weedout. Social life? You think you're going to be hanging out and partying with the undergrads? You make your own social life. Go to UCSD if you want master's, UCR if you want PhD.
  25. svent
    Slightly OT, but I recommend using a cheap pay-by-the-minute phone. Mine cost me like $20 and my bill runs about $25 every couple months. Considering the low pay of grad students, it amazes me how many throw away hundreds of dollars per month on their fancy iPhones. I believe it's also useful in forcing you into real socialization and not just staring at facebook 20 hours a week. I'd rather spend the extra money on decent food.
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