shirechai

how about the other side of Friendship across from... Penn Avenue? (okay, it's been about 8 months so I may be a bit rusty... the road that goes up into garfield) A good friend lived in a HUGE first level 1br and I doubt she paid much over 600...also check bloomfield, edgewood/swissvale, and polish hill. you can live pretty cheaply on the north side, but it's nowhere near the campuses. regarding winters, it entirely depends where you're coming from. compared to Boston, winter was a BREEZE. compared to Singapore (where I live now), I'd say pretty frigid. winter 07 was full of nippy overcast days and flurries, but very little build-up. regarding social: you spend a lot of time hanging out with your cohort. there are many bars to be found. some live music as well, but more often it'll just be the bar. head to the south side for clubby excitement, lawrenceville/bloomfield for the indie scene/art galleries, and shadyside for the more upscale/queer scene. this is an EXTREMELY rough guide, and I'm sure someone else will iron it out. regardless of your interests or inclinations, I'd recommend a visit to Your Inner Vagabond Coffeehouse in Lawrenceville for some good old-fashioned lounging on pillows and baclava. I don't want to give away the treasures of the city in one wall post; suffice to say that you should be able to find enough to do and people to do it with. my main recommendation would be to join http://www.thisishappening.com/ -- it's easy and free, and then you'll get a weekly email loosely tailored to your interests. you can also join different departmental listservs to find out about films and lectures. it's quite easy to access the event calendars for the different universities. -shirechai

Hi there- I received my BA (English) /MA (Literary and Cultural Studies) in one fell swoop (different schools, but graduated june '07 and may '08), now ALMOST through my first year teaching and wondering how many years I should spend in the real world before heading back. Part of me thinks that I should just go with the 2 year minimum teaching experience required by most of the programs I looked at and apply for Fall 2010 or instead give myself some more time/an extra year or two to teach before heading back. Any thoughts on playing the numbers game? In the current economic state, it seems better to stay put in a job, especially as I'm overseas... The other half thinks that if I want to do any comparative work, I should really have some substantive experience with at least one other school system/region/country... I'm currently teaching in Singapore, but my practicum was in the states (MA-certified for MS English) and have done some volunteer work for schools in PA, but no full-time teaching in the States. interested in: middle schools, school reform (small schools, IB, coalition of essential schools, big picture, etc.), community/service learning, arts ed, bilingualism (french/english, swedish/english), multiculturalism, sociology of education (particularly gender, language, and speech impediments) Pretty sure I want to apply for: ECS@Penn ICE@SUSE CIE@TC CCE@Harvard LLSC@Berkeley JPEE or LLC @ Michigan and am curious about programs at Wisconsin as well. Would love to gain insight or advice from anyone! I've found that many of the programs I'm interested in do not list current students-- is the best way to find them by emailing the program, or is there a better way to look for CVs via google? ALSO- I have not seen many/any professors at these schools doing research on Middle Schools. Do you know any? Thanks! -shirechai