mahist10

Someone mentioned budget update request emails for Eastern Europe / Eurasia. I received one on Wednesday. I don't want to be more specific than that, since I'm sure the fellowship staff do monitor this site.

I wouldn't worry about it. I had below a 3.5 in chemistry courses, and a 3.6 overall - wouldn't be surprised if we went to the same university... I've heard that employers understand how rigorous the chem programs at the top-10s are, and I know that graduate admissions officers are pretty sympathetic. You certainly shouldn't pad your GPA by taking easy courses - they'll see right through that - but I do recommend taking a couple classes outside of the chem department that interest you. My classmates in chemistry destroyed the curves in the upper-division bio classes, and I found that the lab report-writing experience easily translated to producing fine papers in beginning graduate-level social sciences courses.

I received my undergraduate degree at Stanford. Speaking from experience, there is very little to do in Palo Alto - a couple expensive bars and restaurants. Stanford is rather isolated, so without a car it will be difficult to do things off-campus. Stanford has a graduate student pub, but it's pretty lame (a number of students complained about the prevalence of drinking in the pub). There is also an on-campus eatery called the "Treehouse," but the food kind of sucks. At least they sell beer. It's difficult to get to San Francisco - it'll probably take about an hour by CalTrain or car. That aside, it's an excellent school, and the social sciences faculty are brilliant, dedicated, and involved. You won't have much time for non-academic activities, so Palo Alto's suckiness doesn't matter that much.