kiley

A useful blog today from a 4th year PhD student on advice for new graduate students. I think most of the advice is pretty broadly applicable to other fields as well. Southern Fried Scientist's Advice for New Graduate Students -Kiley

I've had a TCF checking account for almost 5 years, since I opened my account as a freshman at Michigan. I really like it - I've had no problems, even when I had my identity stolen and fraudulent charges were made to my account. They were really good about fixing it right away. There are 2 branches on campus and at least one of them has extended hours and is open on weekends. The staff is really friendly. Linking to the MCard is not that big of a deal though - I guess I've used my mcard a few times at the TCF atm in the union, but it's not a big bonus in my opinion. I've heard that University of Michigan Credit Union is good too, though I don't know from personal experience.

I've heard pretty bad things about U Towers - I've never been inside, but my suggestion is to look elsewhere first. I did have a friend that lived there - she's an outrageously positive person and so she didn't complain much about it, but she did say it was kind of crappy. I think the main problem is that it's old and out of date. The location is amazing though. There are new apartment complexes in that area, on S. Forest as well as a lot of other apartment buildings and houses.

Hey guys - I just saw this post, but I was at the admitted students day (weekend). It was a pretty good time.... a lot of information, but it was mostly useful. There were also some opportunities for socialization where I talked to current students. Everyone I talked to was really friendly and helpful. Some brief highlights: -I didn't see a lot of Durham and spent most of my time on campus. The campus is beautiful, bigger than I expected for the size of the school, and the buildings all seem nice and updated (for the most part). The LSRC, where the nicholas school is housed, is not quite as impressive as some of the other buildings, but it's nice. They were supposed to get a new building but I guess that plan was scrapped for now because of the economy. The school of public policy is gorgeous. (Also -this might be irrelevant to you guys, but the gym is really impressive.) - the career services panel was great. If you haven't heard a lot about their career services and how helpful they are, the networking that goes on, etc, I would look into it a little more. It sounds they can really help you out if you take advantage of what they have to offer. - the main problem that people seemed to have with the program was the big size of last year's class...they weren't quite expecting so many people to enroll so there was maybe one or two classes that were unusually big, and a slightly harder time getting classes, etc. I did hear that they are aware of the problems created by this and took some steps to correct it this year. - I heard over and over again that you can get what you want out of the program if you are assertive about what you want. In terms of courses of study, projects, internships, etc. It sounds like there is a lot of flexibility in what you do, even down to what courses fit which requirements, etc. It's really easy to change your concentration. - the Nick school students have a lot of social events. People seemed to know each other fairly well, were comfortable with each other, and hung out outside of class. Some said there was some degree of cliques forming between different concentrations, but not in a bad way, just due to spending a lot of time together. - The crowd of admitted students there was a bit younger than I had expected, most that I talked to had been out of college for 1-3 years or were going straight from undergrad (although there were a few people there that were older than this). pajarero - I'm going to be a CEM as well so I can tell you a little more about that if you want. If you have more specific questions about the weekend, let me know!

I'm going to the Nicholas School in the fall - I'm not sure if you were at the admitted students weekend there, but it seemed like everyone that was considering other schools was deciding between these three schools and yale. Congrats on getting into these top programs! I can't really help you too much with your decision because I'm not sure exactly what the differences are for what you want to do specifically. It seems to me like there's a lot going on at Duke related to your interests, I'm not incredibly familiar with the programs at Bren or SNRE though. I can also tell you that I did my undergraduate at Michigan and loved it. Ann Arbor is a really cool place to live and SNRE is a great program. Have you visited any of the schools? Good luck!

I would definitely check out the deferring for a year option, if it doesn't affect your research opportunities much. You have a pretty good reason if you're really gaining skills that would enhance your education and career. Of course, I would do that after talking to your boss and finding out if you can stay for another year. If that doesn't work, I would go to Berkeley if I were you, but that's just me!

I'm kind of in the same situation too - CEM at the Nicholas School is my number 1 choice, and I'll probably end up there, but I'm nervous about the debt - especially considering that my other option(s) are fully funded. But...it is an investment, as was said earlier....at least that's what I keep telling myself.