Citizen of Night Vale

@Need Coffee in an IV I'll be heading to Dallas. What about you? @Meghanlodon If you need free moving boxes, you could also probably try craigslist or everyblock to see if anyone in your area recently moved and needs to get rid of boxes. Worrying about money during grad school seems very common, especially for masters program. You still have a few months before the fall semester starts, so thinking about how you can lower your cost of living and potentially working before you start will definitely make the first semester of grad school less stressful. Have you thought about selling your stuff? I've been posting stuff online to try to minimize what I'm moving with me. I don't make much but the extra cash is nice every now and then.

@DiDi Maybe you should read some of the threads on http://forum.thegradcafe.com/forum/34-economics/ and http://forum.thegradcafe.com/forum/14-business/ and do a search on the results page to see if any international students were offered scholarships to masters programs in Economics and Business in the past.

Congratulations on getting into your top choice! Regarding moving, you're definitely not alone! I'm very overwhelmed as well. I'll be moving from Chicago to Texas with my boyfriend and two cats. The semester starts at the end of August so I hope to move down there at the end of July/beginning of August. This move will be significantly more stressful than my move to Chicago (I just loaded up my car and moved my stuff into my bf's apartment). This move is my first one that involves me finding an apartment and hiring movers or driving a moving truck. I think you're in a better position than @Need Coffee in an IV and I in terms of moving, since you're already in the same state as your program. I'll be travelling down to Texas in the beginning of June and hope to find an apartment I like in two days using an apartment locator service. Since you live in the same state your program is in, it may be a lot easier for you to visit your new city and check out apartments. Depending on how far of a drive you are from your new city and if you have a car, you could probably do it over a few visits if you need to. Also, since you're with your parents, you probably don't need to move as much stuff in the initial move and can move gradually. I currently work full time and will be working basically until right before I move because I can use the money. If you have free time, working a part time job to save up some money will definitely help you with moving and may make your move less stressful!

@Cat_Robutt Hopefully, my cats will be sedated enough to do no such invading.... One of my cats also has a habit of pooping when she's stressed. We're a 5-10 minute drive away from the vet and she always manages to do that or vomit (or both) before we even arrive. I'm hoping she'll do it once right when we get in the car to start our long drive and that'll be it.

@sjoh197 I wish my cats were more closely bonded! They've made a lot of strides since I adopted the second cat and they definitely get along more than they used to, but I just want to be extra careful with them when they're super stressed.

@sjoh197 My 2 cats get along fine in a large apartment but they're not close enough to keep them in the bathroom together, especially during such a stressful time. I would prefer the pen because it's large enough for them to move around easily, they're separated, and they can see me the whole time. I can also unzip the top and pet or play with them if they would like it.

I'll be moving 2 cats from Chicago to Texas this summer and it will easily be the most stressful part of my move. I don't think I could bring myself to trust a pet relocation service and will be driving them myself. I plan to have my vet provide sedatives (I've used them before and it worked well), buy each of them an extra large mesh carrier and spray it with a cat pheromone spray, stuff the carriers with one or two of their favorite things to lay on, and keep food and water on hand (but from my previous experience of moving from the east coast to Chicago, my cat refused to touch anything). I will also be attaching each of them to a harness with leash in case I need to take them out of their carriers during stops to see if they need to use the litter box or stretch. I have a large foldable pet pen that I have used to foster kittens and will probably buy a second one for the move. When my bf and I stop at a hotel midway through our move, I plan to keep each cat in their own pen with their own litter boxes and food because I don't want them to be super scared and hard to find/grab in a hotel room. These pens will also be useful when movers remove our stuff from our current apartment and load our stuff into our new apartment.

@Sajid If you're coming to the US for grad school, specifically Northwestern (as you mentioned in the Evanston, IL thread), I hope you can find time to do a few races. Chicago has a several fun half marathons throughout the year and the Chicago marathon is a pretty big deal. Also, have fun running in the snow. Winter running is my favorite since the running paths get less crowded since it's colder.

@Sajid I really can't say much about those suburbs. I've been to Skokie and Wilmette but not as frequently as Evanston. Both towns are nice but are very residential. I don't recall seeing apartment buildings in Wilmette, mostly houses. Skokie and Wilmette seem more car-dependent and I doubt public transportation is as good as it is in Chicago and Evanston. Personally, I would not want to live there if I didn't have a car.

@Alyspeechie I'm also moving to Dallas and have found the Dallas subreddit really helpful in finding out what to expect when I move.

I'll be turning 26 right before I start my grad program. I have decided to purchase the student health insurance. My university requires that if a student has health insurance from the marketplace, the insurance must be at least be a gold plan. The university PPO insurance plan's yearly cost is about half the price of any gold-level PPO plan.

@Aequorea I would also like to add - when you drive, pay attention to the street signs. When you see a sign for a speed camera or red light camera, slow down or stop at the light. I think these cameras aren't as active as they used to be and some may have even stopped since they've been quiet controversial here, but you never know which ones are working. This city wants any excuse to ticket people, so it's best to just follow the rules.

Chicago requires each car to have a city sticker that has to be renewed every year. I think I paid about $86 for mine. When I first moved, I didn't change my license plate to an Illinois one and had my own parking spot in a parking garage so I didn't bother getting one. When I moved to another apartment, got an Illinois license plate, and started parking on the street, I got ticketed around $200 for not having a city sticker. After I paid the ticket and bought a city sticker, I had to pay extra for not having one in the first place. The city sticker thing is robbery but it's safer just to buy a city sticker than to get ticketed. I also think I read somewhere that they can ticket cars without Illinois license plates for not having a city sticker. I work in Hyde Park and constantly see Chicago city workers walk up and down the streets ready to ticket people's cars! I suggest buying a shovel to keep in your car for winter. You never know when you have to shovel your car out. Also, invest in a good pair of snow boots and coat.

I don't think there's anything wrong with you asking him for LOR. You worked with him on a project and he could speak about your knowledge base and research experiences. He doesn't need to know overall how you are as a person, but how you are in relation to the field you're interested in. As your LOR, he would of course understand why you would be applying to other programs. You can't just put all your eggs in one basket.

@katpillow Dallas. Chicago has really grown on me and I'll be sad to leave it, but I'm very excited to have a lower cost of living for a few years. Congrats on your acceptance into Northwestern! I really love Evanston. I'm not sure I would want to live there among a ton of students, but I frequent the town a lot, mostly to watch movies and eat Edzo's and Hoosier Mama Pie.

Don't accept an offer if there's a chance you may change your mind and decline. You will make a bad impression of yourself and might even make the people who submitted letters of recommendation look badly as well. If I did this in my field, I would be embarrassed if I met people from the program I accepted then later declined at a conference or something. My field is small so there's a good chance that could happen.. Ask for an extension.

THIS. I feel like this is what I'm going to enter this Fall. I come from a middle class family and commuted to a small private university from home but will soon be attending a large private university with a billion+ dollar endowment. I've read many of the undergrad kids come from rich families in the area and Greek life is exceptionally strong on this campus. I'm excited to start my program but the thought of seeing these kids makes me cringe.

It seems you're interpreting your struggles as an issue between you and your program instead of understanding your own individual struggle as a student. I don't think there's a point in emailing your professor that you realized what went wrong because finding out your mistakes and learning from them is a student's job. I would show your professor that you're capable of doing well in the class by doing better on future assignments and your final. It's also more of a student's job to be proactive than the adviser's. I don't think anyone should expect advisers to contact students and make small talk about how you're doing in the program. Professors are busy people and can have odd schedules. If you need to speak to your adviser about something, contact him. If he's away, thankfully, there are many other forms of communication other than meeting in person. Everyone goes through a learning process in finding out that grad school is different from undergrad and that it requires students to make adjustments. Although happiness is important, you should start thinking about grad school in a more professional manner. Think about your career goals, how attending your grad program will help you achieve them, and how to get the most out of your grad program, not about what makes you happy, sad, hateful, etc.

@SpeechieM Besides Newark, I probably would also avoid Paterson.

Hi all. I randomly saw this thread on the Recently Updated Topics list. I didn't attend Montclair State but I used to live in the town over from Montclair and can try to answer any questions you have about cost of living and the surrounding towns. You may want to try Clifton (or other Passaic County towns instead of Essex County) for apartments, it's more affordable and a short walk or drive away from MSU.

Great post! I've been living/working in Chicago for a few years now but will be moving out of the city this summer to attend grad school. I have lived at the Edgewater/RP border and currently live in Andersonville, a bit south of Edgewater. My current neighborhood is more family-oriented and there are few students, but it's easy to get to the red line and Ravenswood Metra station (the Union Pacific line stops in Evanston). It's slightly nicer but more expensive than Edgewater/Rogers Park but more affordable than Lakeview (For now. Rent is rapidly increasing). If anyone has any questions about Edgewater/RP/Andersonville/Uptown, I can try to answer them for you!

I would email the program to see what the deadline to respond is.

That may be a good thing. There are two ikeas by me and because it's so affordable, most of my apartment looks like an ikea catalog and I kinda hate it.

I think your decision depends on how comfortable you would like to be when you move. Would you be okay with spending a lot of your time in the few weeks before you start your program setting up your new life? Or would you rather take your time doing it? If you're not moving with a lot, 30 days seems like a sufficient amount of time to set yourself up.

When I declined offers, I emailed the DGS of the programs I was accepted to and wrote something like, " I am grateful to have received admission into ______ university's graduate program in _____ for Fall 2016. After much thought, I regret to inform you that I will not be accepting this offer. Please let me know if you have any questions."