a little-stitious

I'll be joining Temple in the fall and moving to Philly in August. Potentially looking for a roommate!

I've lived in Knoxville the past 5 years (did my undergrad at UT and am now working here), and I've lived in South Knox for 4 of those 5 years. I've loved living there and would definitely advise you to look at places in that areas. My place is 5 minutes from downtown and just under 10 to campus. South Knoxville is also starting to become much more popular right now (*cough cough gentrifying) so there's a bunch of new breweries, coffee places, and shops popping up in that area as well. You'd also be close to a lot of great parks and greenways (Ijams, Forks of the River). South Knox is also going to be a lot more affordable than looking at areas closer to campus (Fort Sanders) or out in West Knoxville. I'm living in a house right now with 3 roommates and my share of the rent is only $275 so there's some great deals to be found. You'll definitely know when it's game day, but there's much more to Knoxville than the university so you're right about it being less of a college town. I lived in Nashville before living here, and I much prefer Knoxville (as do most people I talk to). It's obviously not a big city, but it's not a small town feel either. I'm having a hard time thinking of cities that I'd compare it to, especially since I don't know what cities you are familiar with, but off the top of my head Boulder, CO reminded me a lot of Knoxville. And my roommate recently came back from a trip to Baton Rouge and said it had a similar feel. Market Square is the main "downtown" area. Then there's also the Old City and if craft beer is at all your scene, you'll want to spend a frequent amount of time in North Knoxville as well. Knoxville is really quite spread out with lots to do, and there's plenty to do in the surrounding areas as well (Gatlinburg, Pigeon Forge, Smoky Mountains). Let me know if you have any questions or want my opinions on particular apartments you've been looking at. I'm familiar with most of the major apartment complexes in the area. And for anybody moving to Knoxville, I could not say enough good things about it! It took me a while when I first moved here to warm up to it because it's not always obvious at first how much there is to do. But I quickly grew to love it and am going to be super sad to be leaving in August.

Quick question about declining offers! To whom should I direct my decision to decline an admissions offer...the department chair or the grad director? Or does it not really matter?

Yikes, sorry about that previous post. Didn't mean to ask that here! For what it's worth, my undergrad was in a sociology program that had a CJ concentration available, and I really enjoyed having the varied subject matter like you mentioned. I think it just depends on the sociology programs that you apply/get accepted to. I applied to both cj and soc programs and ended up choosing to go with a cj one because the sociology programs only had a handful of faculty with focuses in cj, and I'd rather have an entire department that can expose me to more relevant research. I think it comes down to more of a personal preference and what's the best fit for you.

Who should you contact about your decision to decline an admission offer...the department chair or the grad director?

It does seem a bit low. However, I got my undergrad degree in sociology at UT and am still living in Knoxville so feel free to pm me. I can try my best to answer any questions. Cost of living here is really quite low. I'm currently working with AmeriCorps so I'm making a fairly low living stipend (roughly $11,000 for the year) and I've been managing just fine. There are some fairly inexpensive housing options around.

Thanks so much for saying this!! I've been telling myself similar things this past week. It always helps to hear it from someone else. I'm happy to say that I've accepted at the school my gut says is best! And congrats/good luck to you as well!

Thanks for your input! That's the school I've been leaning towards lately. My mentors from my undergraduate school have been pushing for the West Coast school because they love the program so that's been complicating things for me. I haven't wanted to let location be a big deciding factor, but I just keep thinking "if only I could pick up this school (west coast) and put it somewhere else..then it'd be great"

Hi everyone. I'm having an exceedingly hard time making my decision. I've narrowed it down to two criminology/criminal justice PhD programs that are both top 10. If you could read through my pros/cons and let me know what you think, I would really appreciate it!! East Coast School Pros: In a city that I love - the east coast is where I'd prefer to end up long term Really liked the overall vibe/culture of the department and the current grad students. Really collaborative and supportive environment. Strong support for non-academic track (I'm not interested in pursuing a tenure-track professor position) Full funding/good stipend with low cost of living Cohort looks like it will be 5-7 (not really a pro or con to me but figured I'd list it) It's located in the heart of the city so it would be quite easy for me to become involved in more applied research settings/activism/volunteering. Cons: None of the faculty have exactly my research interests, but there are many with overlapping research areas. There is no guaranteed summer funding. There are opportunities for it, but I'll have to search it out. And it doesn't seem like everyone gets it. When I look through dissertation titles and current students' publications, I don't find myself as excited by them as I do with the other program. West Coast School Pros: Really amazing faculty. There are two in particular whose research areas are very close to my own interests. There's a research project I'm really interested in already in progress that I'd be able to join in on right off the bat. (He has told me that I could still work on it even if I don't come there, but I likely wouldn't have as much time to since I'd be involved in other projects as well) Higher ranked (but since they are both top 10, I've not really been using this as a deciding factor) Full funding/stipend + 5 guaranteed summers of funding Cohort likely to be 10-12 (the program is about twice the size - which could be a pro and a con) Looking through past dissertation titles, there are a lot that interest me and are very similar to the types of research that I would love to do. Cons: I'm worried that my potential advisor might be close to emeritus. Higher cost of living (but all the grad students seem to be able to make it work on their stipends) The general department culture/current grad student vibe...I didn't feel as immediate of a connection, but they've been quite helpful over email correspondence. I'm not as crazy about the location. The department overall definitely seems more focused on preparing their students for the academic track, but my advisor is very supportive of my interests in an applied position. The opportunity is still there for me to get involved in similar applied settings, but it would be a bit more difficult logistically as the campus is not located directly in the city. Any feedback would be appreciated!! I'm trying to make my decision by the end of the week.

My gut tells me that yes, some universities do offer different students different amounts of funding, but I don't have much to base that on so go ahead and sprinkle some salt on that answer. But for your second question, yes you can absolutely negotiate. One of the programs I'm considering actually encouraged us to negotiate and let them know what other funding offers we have gotten so they can compete. I was able to successfully negotiate there for 4 additional summers of funding. .

I'm really not sure. Coming from a university that has a pretty big football rivalry with UFL, my impression of them is going to be quite biased haha. Hopefully someone else will have some more knowledge about their reputations and impressions for you. Good luck with your decision!

I can't really help because I don't know anything about your field. I just wanted to say that I could not be more in love with the city of Boulder so location wise, hands down CU-Boulder wins. And if your professors are suggesting CU-Boulder and it's ranked the highest out of the three, it sounds like they also win in the categories of reputation and academic strength, as long as you thought they were a good fit for your research interests.

@limonchello Thanks for posting that! I was accepted to a university today that is asking for a decision by April 3. I'd love to be able to decide by then, but I'll likely be waiting til right up to the April 15 deadline to hear about a waitlist. Guess I'm going to need to email the university with the earlier deadline and mention the April 15 resolution to see what they say.

Thank you for addressing that. As I had mentioned, that's something I have been struggling with - not letting the fact that I am on a waitlist negatively influence my feelings for the program. Your insight on the process helps alleviate my self-doubt.

I'm not quite sure how to go about telling them my competing offer because I'm still not 100% sure what my other funding offer is. The school told me what funding I would receive based on last year's funding package but that I should expect a 2% increase. I guess I'll just go with the amount that I was told. Has anyone one else done any funding negotiating yet?