woolfie

RE: Bloomington Indiana: It's a small town so it depends on what you're used to. I did not have a car there and I loved it. I lived in the Prospect Hill neighborhood, near west side, and I walked to work/classes everyday. You can walk anywhere downtown and on campus from these neighborhoods. If you need to live near the mall, east side, or the strip mall and movie theater area near Ivy Tech, you'll have to take the bus which is fine for my use, but if you're used to NYC-level transportation you will hate it. I'd suggest not living there so that you don't have that problem. But honestly, there is no reason to go to the east side or west side, unless you just HAVE to go to a White Castle or Fazoli's or Staples. It's just that kind of stuff. And the buses do go there. My advice is to live near west/near south/near east side and walk everywhere. I miss that life now that I live in a city where I have to constantly drive. That city is Columbus, Ohio. Which I will tell you is the WORST city without a car. As is Indianapolis and Vienna, VA. Those are all cities where you sit in the car your whole life and everyone is enraged. It's a stressful life and I miss living in Bloomington where I actually loved winter, because walking in snow is fun, driving in snow is hell. BLOOMINGTON FOR LIFE

Forgive me if I'm speaking out of turn, but I think the poster you are quoting meant that they get 25 inches for the whole year. An few inches here and there usually adds up to 25 inches.

Here is my native perspective on the neighborhoods of Indy. My knowledge is limited, so I might be excluding some parts of town I don't know. I apologize, this is just my take from living there for 20 years. Northside: Meridian Kessler is a nice, very expensive area, and around 52nd to 38th street in the central area of Indy is a very nice neighborhood. Some places are affordable, however. I'd try apartments on 38th street, or Washington Avenue. It's not too urban, but it's not to suburban: you actually might be able to walk to a bar or cafe. North of 52nd gets into Broad Ripple territory which is very undergraduate/partying territory. I'd say north of the intersection of Westfield Blvd and Meridian, isn't bad and gets very residential, but not quite suburban. There is a very cute neighborhood that is close to a lot of nightlife, but still far away enough, called Rocky Ripple. It's nice but not pricey. Going north of here, at this point, you have to have a car, and you will spend lots of time in the car. There are some nice neighborhoods off College Ave, Meridian, Central Ave, etc, in the middle of the city in this latitude. Once you get to 86th street you are on the north side, creeping towards the suburb of Carmel. I personally don't prefer this lifestyle: lots of highways, 4 lane streets, road rage, absolutely no room for bike traffic or walking, and rich gated communities once you are in Carmel. Then suddenly its farmland. Noblesville is its own town, I wouldn't recommend commuting. Zionsville is far out, but if you like the suburbs you might like it. Carmel is conservative, very very conservative, as is anywhere in Hamilton county. Northeast: To the east of central on 86th street, is mall territory: Keystone at the Crossing, and then another mall more east, Castleton. This is all big streets, big strip malls, lots of traffic, and occasional subdivisions. If you go east far enough, maybe to the south a little, (62nd street and Keystone) there are some pockets of okay, affordable neighborhoods, there is also Guiest (sp?) Reservoir once you go even more east, and you get into very rich, big mansions at this point. Northwest: From 71st street to 91st street is some decent housing with lots of trees. Lots of apartments at middle prices. Things change west of Michigan Ave., it gets industrial. Downtown area: The canal area is very nice, and therefore expensive. If I could afford it, I would live there. There are lots of places to walk to, and a very nice canal path way that you can bike/run down and it is a safe area. Also there is Massachusetts Ave, known as Mass Ave, which is known for being an arts district, good food and nightlife, and being a "gayborhood" if you will. It's just east of DT and as far as I know, a bit pricey, but cheaper than canal apartments. This area tends to be liberal. http://www.discovermassave.com/ Southside: I don't know much about the southside; I've known people that lived in Greenwood and I've always considered it quite far. My family is from Southport and they never talk highly of it. There seems to be a lot of crime, and again, it is busy streets and strip malls. University of Indianapolis is there and there are probably good neighborhoods that I'm unaware of. Other than that, I don't think the southside is close to any schools and would be far. I think it's relatively cheap, though. For me, and this might not apply to others, I do not like the suburbs, or the areas of multi-laned streets and highways and strip malls which are on all sides of the city. There is a lot of that in Indy. If you want to know where the unique, cute neighborhoods are, or where political divisions lay, or where good eating is, pedestrian friendly areas, etc, PM me.

Avon is very far away from Broad Ripple. I grew up in Indy and I always considered Avon a different town. Also, it's very conservative and rural, just FYI. Nothing wrong with that, just saying. Places like Avon, Brownsburg, Carmel, etc, are not very friendly towards college students. They are conservative suburbs/farmland.

Then you DO NOT want to live in Broad Ripple. Or at least near the strip. That is exactly what Broad Ripple is like, drunken, puking, screaming 21 yos.

What about the neighborhood surrounding Marquette? Is it a good/bad neighborhood? What is there to do, eat, etc around there? Where are good neighborhoods to live in that are close? Thanks! Also, my frame of references for cities are within the Midwest. I grew up in Indianapolis and I live in Columbus right now. Honestly I don't like either city that much, Columbus I like a bit more, but I don't like how suburban and spread out it is. I'm hoping that Milwaukee, since it is a bit smaller, might be better as far as walking/biking and laid backness. How does Milwaukee compare to a place like Columbus Ohio?

Oh I hear you, I thought the same thing, about going overboard with applying. But I have more than just getting in at stake: the location would be very beneficial for my partner and me. Our financial situation is very tricky right now and having a convenient location for various reasons will really help us. But yeah, I should probably just sit back and wait, though I have the money, I feel obligated to apply to all the places that interest me so as to have as many options as possible. Does this St. Bonaventure U have rolling admissions, or a deadline that hasn't passed?

I see an accept for UIUC.. anyone claim it? Anyone get rejections yet?

Does anyone know anything about Marquette's MA program? It seems like it's funded, but their website has very little info. They have rolling admissions, which I think means I can apply anytime, though their financial aid deadline is in February. Thinking about a last minute application as I freak out about getting in...

I meant... I did contact them about never receiving my transcripts and they said they would notify me if they didn't. Maybe I should call them again, but they said they were having a delay in processing and that they would contact me if it was incomplete... I'm so reticent to contact them a second time...

Nah, see, if I get all excited about how I'm going to get in, when the rejection letters come, I will be let down. But if I assume I won't get in anywhere, and I do, it will be a happy surprise. I like setting my expectations very low, so that I am always pleasantly surprised.

I see one rejection post from Michigan State, but nothing for U of Michigan, which is what I'm assuming you mean by "Michigan"? I think U of Mich is behind- the website still says that my transcript has not been recieved, but I contacted them over a month ago and they said they would notify me if my application is incomplete. Since then I've heard nothing, and the website status hasn't changed. I think they're going to be a while.

This is my second time. Last time it was four programs, this time it's 16. If I don't get in this year, my partner and I are moving to a bigger city to find jobs. I've decided I will try one more time, a third time, applying to schools in the area. If the third time still gets me no results, I will give up. I've already spent thousands of dollars on apps, I would need to focus on getting a well paid, satisfying professional job at that point. I don't think I could handle a fourth year...

I work in an undergraduate admissions office at a large state university. Another thing that most people don't realize, that I deal with a lot, is that people will send in their test scores or transcripts, but they don't fill out the application until later. So I constantly get calls saying, I sent my test scores in november but they aren't showing up yet, why has it taken three months? When in reality they had just filled out the app the day before and we are swamped trying to match things. I still have checklists that say all my materials aren't recieved, and I waited two months to contact one program and they still hadn't updated it. We just gotta sit back and wait at this point, they'll let us know if they need something from us.

Oh, and also, he is apparently directing his adaptation of As I Lay Dying http://screenrant.com/james-franco-as-i-lay-dying-movie-sandy-98274/ What is up with this guy? There's no way he's could be doing quality research at the same time...

Here's James Franco on last night's Daily Show: http://www.thedailyshow.com/full-episodes/tue-january-25-2011-james-franco I don't understand how you could be a graduate student in the morning and then do the Daily Show in the evening, recieve an Oscar, do the Today Show, etc. I have a theory he is a set of twins posing as one person.

I have very very low expectations, so I am just expecting to get rejected around the board. My boyfriend is finishing up his graduate degree and if I get rejected, we are moving to a bigger city near his family and I will try and find a job that I don't hate. I will probably reapply next year, but to only schools in the area.

Ah, well I have just a BA. I did not recieve any email, but I'm assuming the decisions would be make at around the same time.

What is considered astoundingly poor? Most sites say that their accepted applicants should score in the 75th. Though everyone I have ever known has scored lower than this.

I want to second this. I spent all summer/fall studying for this stupid test, and I did the same- read through all the Nortons and read classics I hadn't read. I think in the end it helped me with maybe one or two questions. It's difficult because there are not very many practice tests out there- I took two and they were the only ones I could find. I ended up in the 36 percentile but on my the ETS practice test I got in the 75th. I think that ETS intentionally makes their practice test easy so that the test is very competitive. I have a hard time with test anxiety and I would read a passage and have to read it a second time and just not calm down enough to comprehend it. This is what got me, I didn't end up finishing the test, I had about 40 questions left when the time was up. If there is a way to practice reading under pressure, I would do that instead of studying Nortons. Maybe spend one weekend on Nortons, just the very famous stuff as a refresher. I tried to do everything and it was pointless.

Has anyone else applied to UIUC? I am most confused by them- I am not sure whether I applied to the MA or PhD program or whether in applying to the PhD program one is automatically considered for the MA program. Either way, I am wondering if anyone knows when one should be hearing from them, or has heard, or knows any insider info to how their MA/Phd situation works.

Yeah, I applied to one school purely for their very high stipend for MA students, but I absolutely do not want to live there, and I have no interest in the school. I wish I'd used that money for other schools that I'd rather go to.

Yeah, I don't get it either. I heard from someone in the program that he's even teaching undergrads. That doesn't seem real... Maybe when you're rich and famous you can do whatever you want.

Yeah, I think I paid too much attention to the rankings. I wish I'd applied to more Ohio schools, the ones very close to me and in state for me. A professor poo pooed some of them because they were lowly ranked and I listed to her. Now I'm regretting it because I don't care about the rankings, I want my life to be easier and they seem to be fine schools. I also only applied to PhD programs if they were in the top 25, now I wish I didn't care.

What does RSTC mean?