geologyninja13

Congratulations on your acceptance Alana! I agree with all of the people above. Don't worry about "keeping up with the Joneses", there will always be people in your program who are richer and flashier than you. That doesn't mean that they better students or future educators. In any case, you can dress professionally from the workwear section of Target. I would avoid ripped jeans/converse/graphic tees, but well-fitting shirts and dark jeans (or any other casual-friday kind of business wear) are hard to mess up! And if some bozo judges your for your clothes rather then your mind, that's their mistake.

I got into San Diego State and Oregon State University to study the geography of groundwater for my Masters degree! I have a dilemma, though San Diego offered me a $9,900 stipend (only guaranteed for one year) to be a R.A. and would cover my tuition. Two professors are doing significant work on groundwater modelling for agriculture that isn't being done anywhere else. My potential advisor is an early career professor who just started at the university and I would be her first grad student ever. Oregon State offered me a $21,000 stipend to be a T.A., and would also cover tuition. Guaranteed for both years! The department is bigger, but they have a more holistic/less technical focus and do not currently have a person doing modelling, but I could skip over to Civil Engineering to take classes in it. My advisor would be a professor very close to retirement who is doing pretty much exactly what I want to do as far as groundwater management but no longer does much modelling. He has advised over 30 students who have gone on to good careers. However, I would have to be very independent in finding my thesis topic and project. Would it be worth going into debt in San Diego to work on the more concrete technical projects, or would you recommend hanging tight with the better funding (for more work, tbh) and hustling to get research I wanted? ~Courtney

Does your department have any grad student offices, or classrooms that are unoccupied at certain times? I used those even as an undergrad (had grad student friends) and found them quiet and more accepting of my hot tea addiction than the library

Hi! For those on the forum outside your academic field, what is SOAS? I'm struggling with deciding where to go for my masters degree too, so I made a comparison table - each school has a column and then in the rows I compare things like funding, advisors, campus life, departmental strengths, etc. Maybe that could help you as well? I know I was overwhelmed by the amount of factors that go into this decision, and I can imagine that you are too! It's so hard for another person to tell you where you should go, especially if we don't know your background, research interests, or goals for your degree (you mentioned a career, what are you aiming for? ) I could send you a copy of my table if you'd like. ~Courtney

Hello there! I applied to four masters' programs to specialized in geographical applications to groundwater management. I received acceptances from three! I was planning on visiting all three (driving to SIUC tonight to visit tomorrow). I live in Tennessee. Oregon State - offered me T-A position and funds towards visiting them. Top choice San Diego State - no aid package yet, no funds toward visit. second choice Southern Illinois University Carbondale - Full scholarship, research fellowship, minimal cost to visit I'm agonizing over whether to visit San Diego State. I could technically afford to, but it's a sticker shock. How many of you visited all the schools you were accepted for, and have you ever committed to a school sight-unseen? And what kind of considerations and questions did you look out for in a post-acceptance interview? Sincerely, Courtney Vanderbilt '13 Environmental Policy

Hi Meep95, Pressuring a student to commit before the April 15 deadline is considered unethical among graduate programs.It should be perfectly reasonable for you to state that you cannot give them an answer yet, as you are waiting for more information to make an educated decision. Maybe in your email asking for an extension, mention some aspects that you like about the school/professor so they know that you are still interested.