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Aucitronvert

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  • Location
    Pacific Northwest, USA
  • Application Season
    2017 Fall
  • Program
    Sociology

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  1. I'm about to graduate with my master's and am starting to look for jobs before I reapply for PhD programs. One job that I found recently was through a local (and highly popular) museum! I had no idea that you could do social science research at a museum until now, and I'm pumped. The position is called Research and Evaluation Associate. The more you know.
  2. I don't have any book recs but I will say that although it is good to be prepared, your course should be designed to teach you from the ground up. If they make you take an advanced quant/stats course right away, it might even still be from the ground up but more accelerated. The best prep you can do in my opinion is to see what quant software they use ahead of time and just play around with it. The biggest hiccups you'll find in a quant methods course is not understanding how to get the software to manipulate the data how you're asking it to... in my first bat of using SPSS in grad school, I always had the most trouble with analyses if my variables weren't coded correctly, etc, which are such simple errors but so difficult to understand as a new person once the mistake has already been made. The software can be financially difficult to acquire though, unless you find a torrent or something. Your school should offer prescriptions at a discounted rate in which case it might be best to wait til the fall begins anyway.
  3. I'm waiting to hear back from a waitlist still... I thought that this hell would be over by now! Oh, academia. I had given up but the DGS contacted me one week ago saying they were going to make a decision 'within the next few days.' I'm freaking out because I had finally come to peace with having to reapply next year, and I'm in the middle of writing the final draft of my master's thesis which requires my full attention (yet now my mind wanders). The school is in South Carolina which is on the opposite end of the country from me so I don't know that I want to move to such a drastically different and far place. Of course, if they accept me, I will consider it, but the timing is horrible, and I would absolutely need to visit the school first (meanwhile, thesis). I wouldn't ever be ungrateful for an acceptance, but I'm really on the fence about the school. So, I guess considering all of the circumstances, I'm about a 9 on the scale I wish I could at least get some advice from people but there's no advice to be given until I know if I'm in or not. A rejection might be more of a relief.
  4. My dear friend will be in your cohort. Congrats and have tons of fun!
  5. Thanks!! I wrote back saying I would consider it but need more time. I hope you're right in that they would fund my visit because it's an expensive flight.
  6. After being rejected from all of my schools except no answer from my home institution and being waitlisted at one school that was not my top pick but has a fantastic faculty member there (University of South Carolina), I just received an e-mail this morning saying that the grad committee is meeting in a couple of days to pick someone off of the waitlist and would I like to be considered. This took me by surprise because we're two days out from the acceptances deadline, so I thought I was out of the race and had already considered switching topics to be more competitive and looking into new programs. I was merely expecting a polite "sorry, we couldn't find room for you" e-mail when I opened it this morning. Yes? I would like to be considered? But that doesn't mean I'm going to accept... South Carolina is literally the opposite side of the country for me, I don't have anything to compare it to since I didn't get any other acceptances besides maybe my own home institution (which pays shit and I have already gotten my first two degrees here), and I feel like I would need to get to know them before accepting so I would NEED to fly out there and that's expensive and takes time. All of this while my master's thesis draft is due in a week. Obviously I don't want to say an absolute no, because it may be a perfect fit for me (I'm more into fit than rank). It's also horribly far away from home (physically and in terms of similarity) so it's a huge decision. I guess what I'm asking is, is this a horribly irresponsible decision to even consider since it is high pressure with low time? Or at least, what factors should I be focusing on going into this IF I am accepted? I've got thesis tunnel vision and this is almost completely unwelcome right now. Thanks folks. Sorry for the novel
  7. I've always wondered about this site, and there are some funny numbers on there (I think one PhD student said they made $40,000 a year at Boulder?!). Does anyone have any thoughts on the accuracy of the info on there? Seems like it has potential and I wish it was updated more often!
  8. Aucitronvert

    Eugene, OR

    I can't speak to Eugene, but you can easily escape to Portland for the artist community if need be and anywhere in Oregon for nature.
  9. Thanks for posting, I'm very excited about this. My master's institution just made the top 100 when we were previously unranked! How exciting!
  10. Speaking as someone who has been rejected from all their apps except for ONE waitlist: TAKE YOUR TIME <3 it's kind of frustrating to see fellow waitlisted people tell all the acceptees to hurry up, despite the desperation and heartache. Even if I somehow get into this one school, I'm going to take my sweet ass time to accept because it's a huge decision. If I had more options, I'd take even longer. My cohortmate from my MA program just came home from two whirlwind weekends of school visits and she is so tired, I really hope she doesn't rush to make a decision as we're both scrambling to write our theses and finals which are upon us next week. Just some cheerleading for y'all. I'm so proud of everyone's accomplishments!
  11. I have a friend who was offered funding from one program there and expected more details today but they were not sent, so maybe MSU is behind in general
  12. Aucitronvert

    Portland, OR

    My stipend in Portland is $700 after taxes, and as you can imagine, I have to take out loans and rely on my partner to supplement the cost of living. We are about three miles from campus on the east side of Portland, which is closer than a lot of people get to live. I have a very nice bike ride or bus ride into campus. It's a nice neighborhood, and we have a 2 bedroom apartment with a cat, no outdoor space, and a shared laundry room. I know lots of people who rent adorable houses with multiple roommates, and if I wasn't partnered, this would be my ideal scenario. Maybe this breakdown will help you both: My rent: $1,200 (including water/sewage/garbage). This is a commonish price for rent in Portland, but we are lucky to live as close in as we do and pay this much. The comparable apartments that have been opening up across the street from me are going for ~$1350-1400. February's power bill (we used the heat a fair amount): $95 (January's was $120 which is high for us! But it snowed and was so cold all month). Internet: $80 (stupid Comcast) I can't think of any other costs that directly relate to renting right now. We have a phone bill, a car payment, student loans, etc, too, so it's not easy for me and I hate taking out loans but it's very necessary. If you don't care about living in the "cool" part of town, look at Beaverton and Hillsboro which is very accessible by the MAX and you get more space for your $... although I have lots of friends who live out there and pay just as much as I do :| To answer you both more directly, $1200 is doable but you'll need at least one roommate and can't live downtown unless you find a cheaper place (check out College Housing NW) or have multiple roommates, but downtown is kind of overrated, anyway. $2100 and you'll be fine. You could technically live in my 2 bedroom and live with a real tight budget and be fine. The cost of living in Portland is getting horrible (I used to pay half of what I pay now for more space and a backyard in SW Portland... BLEH D:) but with roommates and budgets, it's totally worth it. Portland is fucking lovely and I'm sad that I want my PhD bad enough to leave. That being said, EVERYONE loves Portland now so the issues will only get worse from here on... although we are finally off of the top 5 places that people move to as of this year.
  13. My gut says not to reach out because of how it will come across, and as you say, there has been no mention of campus visits and my POI and I have only spoken briefly via email once. Thanks for your advice!
  14. I'm curious to hear about people's experiences reaching out to their POI while waitlisted. I haven't done this yet, because there seem to be no pros in my current situation, but do wonder how it may affect my chances of being taken off the waitlist assuming anyone declined their offer (the waitlist I'm speaking of is not ranked).
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