I can't imagine anyone is going to think you're 'weird' for having three suitcases of clothes when moving for years to foreign country!!!
To the contrary, I'm worried people will think I'm a freak when I make a trans-continental, long term move and show up with a single carryon, which is the one mid-sized backpack of stuff that I have. I've been travelling a fair amount for work for the past few years and kind of de-accumulated. I tend to buy a very small set of very cheap basics (I don't really need anything more formal than jeans and a t-shirt on a daily basis), wear them until they're floor rags (about four-six months, usually) and then start over. And I have serious dearth of winter stuff, being from a hot climate and mostly working in same. I actually started a list of all stuff to take as some weird procrastination - this is specific items. The black shoes. The blue dress with the pattern - and have managed to get to 21 items. Including, like, that pair of expensive warm hiking socks and my nice grownup pantyhose that I wear for conference presentations. Er. Adulting. And that's the expanded, 'optional' list.
A couple clothes tips I got, was thrift shops (salvation army, etc) and ordering expensive items off-season (like, apparently now is the best time for serious winter gear, so order it and have it shipped to friends to sit around until needed.)
I'm actually more stressed about building up a semi-usable kitchen - I've never had to get everything from scratch. Pots, pans, forks, glasses, dish towels, can openers...there are so many things you don't realize you need until you don't have them...
Furniture I can take or leave, to be honest - most of my apartments have essentially consisted of a mattress and pile of clothes in a box - though I think I'm having some weird nesting instinct at the thought of being in one place for four+ years. A friend got me coasters (coasters!) for Christmas and I was actually delighted (I mean, they're cute and have a pattern that matches my studies, which is why she got them, I was just surprised to be excited by them as coasters, rather than as design per se, you know?) and suddenly imagining the mugs to go with them and the table they'd stand on and having friends over and making them hot drinks in the mugs on the coasters on the table, which might be on a rug...etc. Ok just this train of thought freaks me out. What the hell. (I used to live in an anarcho-marxist commune. I have issues with stuff.) I think its something about the solidity and attention to comfortableness of American life and built environment though - I mean, take driers. They're ridiculous by any measure. No one should even need a drier. And then you get your clothes dried and my goodness, it's delightful. So maybe i'm having this sense of...If I want to do the full experience of this moving thing- get coasters and rugs and dry your clothes and own more than 21 items of clothes. Dunno. Minor existential crisis over here.
Ok, that was a weird digression.
Tl;dr - take your clothes. Suitcases are fine. Just check if its cheaper to ship a mass of items over or take them on the flight.
Respectfully, this is demonstrably false. The reason economists do policy jobs is that a large part of policy design, in almost all fields these days, is applied economic theory. The distinction here is important: economists are not statisticians. Statisticians can run the numbers, but they are at a disadvantage for policy design jobs because they don't know the models.
I don't know how many friends you have at IFIs, but your sample is not representative of degree attainment in these organizations. The majority of people at the IMF are either economists or financiers. Because of the nature of Bank work, it hires people from a variety of backgrounds, but economists are very well represented. It's true that you can hold an economist title with a policy or other non-economics degree, but if OP is sure that they want to be an economist, getting a degree in economics is the most straightforward way to achieve that.
OP, your choice here largely depends on what you want to do. If you want to be an economist, I'd go with PSE. It's a pipeline to the EBRD and OECD, and among economists it's well-known as a top program. Among non-economists it's obviously hit and miss (think carefully about how much economists' vs non-economists' opinions will be weighed in your intended career path). Economics as a field is very cliquey and you'd have to spend some time proving that you're not a monkey if you come from any program this is not "MSc Economics" or "MSc Finance", so if you're certain that you want to be an economist, just get the economics degree.
Chicago is more well-known stateside and to non-economists, but it's also a relatively new program, there is little alumni network and more importantly, people don't really know what to expect from its graduates in terms of ability. I hear you on the practical applicability, but keep in mind that data analytics is a different thing from economics. If you just want to do data work, this is fine. If you want to build economic models, I'd check that the curriculum actually teaches those. They're harder to learn (indepth) than coding.
Consider also whether you want to work in Europe or the US after graduation. If you have work permission in both this is moreso a consideration of what professional network you will build (although it's hard to build a professional network in DC from Chicago and on as intense a study schedule as Chicago degrees usually have); if you need a visa, this should be one of your primary concerns. Further, if Chicago isn't giving you serious money, it's not really worth the extra 50k over PSE imo.
Either way, you can get into IFIs with whichever one you choose and both will benefit your career about equally in the long run. You'll be fine if you just go with the one you prefer.
According to an email with a McCourt faculty member: "The fine print is as follows: the second year is conditional on academic performance during the first year of at least a 3.0 GPA. In the past 5 years, not a single MIDP student has lost funding for the second year."
I checked, 5244 is not a department code at all. From what I understand on the link, there is no specific department code. I think the best way would be to email a screenshot of your order confirmation when you first sent your GRE scores + all of your valid info including your GRE registration number and ask them to check in their records again. This happened to me in one of my schools and they asked for this information. After a bit of following up they were able to find and verify my scores. If this doesn't work, send them the screenshot you pasted above and ask them what the net step should be.
I created an account just to respond to this topic, after reading the first 15 pages and enjoying not only the thoughtful responses, but the evolution in recommendations alongside tech. I am chiming in with what works for me. I was a non-trad undergrad and begin graduate work in a Humanities program (literature concentration; apparently I want to be poor forever) this coming fall. The ink is barely dry on last semester's final papers, and I'm already nerding out hard about school supplies.
When I was first giving college a try (mumble) years ago, I just used any old crap, as long as it was cheap. Now that I'm older, and have wasted about a Brazilian dollars replacing cheap junk, I believe in "Buy once, cry once." After much trial and error, this is what worked for me as an undergrad, and what didn't.
Osprey Celeste Backpack -- Amazon reviews made me choose this over North Face. For one, it's lighter. For two, it was much cheaper. I paid about $60 for it. I got a year-old model on Amazon for extra savings. It's perfect in every way. Has a pocket for everything, carries a bunch of stuff (I think 29 L?) but is compact in size. Also came in Candy Orange. (Orange makes me happy. It's the little things.) Super durable, looks and behaves good as new after two semesters of hard use.
Moleskine Cahier Journals -- Spirals are the worst. By the end of a semester they come apart on me. I get the new XXL size cahier, which is about notebook paper size, and after my brother's Barnes and Noble employee 30% discount and including tax, I pay a little over $5 a piece for them. One notebook holds an entire semester's worth of notes for 15 hours worth of classes, two semesters in a row. Plus my husband, who has some artistic ability, has fun decorating the plain kraft brown cover for me. I love how smooth and fine the paper is, and how narrow the lines. I also use a smaller Moleskine journal for notes on each major paper I'm writing. (Little bit of trivia: I had to call Moleskine customer service once, and inadvertently found out how they pronounce the name: mole-uh-SKEE-nuh. Who knew?!)
Moleskine Planner -- I got the 18 month weekly academic planner. It's my bible. I have used it for two semesters, and will use it this summer and in the fall, at which point I will probably switch to a 12-month daily. It's been great, but I think having a full page for each day will be even better. I got the Peanuts edition because Snoopy makes me happy and, again, it's the little things.
Stabilo colored pens -- My husband had a set of these that lasted 20 years. I found them in the garage, necromanced them, and used them for a semester, when they started to finally dry out, so I got another set. I use them to color code my planner. Each semester I assign a color to each course so when I write in my planner I know which class the item is for at a glance. I use that same color to head and date note pages in my Moleskine. There are enough colors that I don't have to reuse the same color two semesters in a row, so I don't get confused. They also come in a durable, attractive little striped plastic case.
Stabilo Boss highlighters -- I wouldn't believe Amazon reviews that these last 10+ years if I hadn't experienced Stabilo pens. These highlighters are smooth, vibrant, and perfect. After a semester of heavy use, still going strong.
Columbia Regretless rain jacket -- These are $100 or so retail but I found one for $20 on Amazon. It lives, rolled up, in the bottom of my backpack. Super light, so I forget it's there until I need it. This has saved me a million times over on my half-mile treks to/from the parking lot. Much better than an umbrella. It zips up all the way up to your nose and the hood tightens down with a drawstring and has a little visor over your face. I stay bone dry from the hips up in this thing.
Skechers waterproof work boots -- These look like ugly-adorable hiking boots but are actually mens workboots. If it rains, even though these aren't my favorite shoes fashion-wise, I wear these and they never fail me.
Teva sandals -- Or anything comfortable. Essential in Texas where it's hot 9 months out of the year.
Contigo 20 oz. Autoseal tumbler -- I just lost this the other day after a year of hard use and almost cried. It has never ever leaked, it's easy to clean, and it keeps hot stuff hot and cold stuff cold for hours. You need a bottle brush to clean the inside thoroughly.
Trader Joe Spiced Chai tea -- I gave up coffee in January b/c my OBGYN said it can mess with hormones. I didn't die. Instead I drink tea now and this is my fave. Other chai tastes like medicine. This is $2.50 a box for 20 tea bags. Add a dash of heavy cream, stays hot for hours in my Contigo.
Brown Betty tea pot -- If you're a tea drinker, this original ceramic pot handmade in England is not expensive and makes the best pot of tea ever. Might still be available on Amazon.
Google Drive -- I am ashamed to say I only discovered Google docs and Google Drive this semester and I don't know how I lived without them. My kindle Fire has trouble with it but I edit on my iPhone. I love being able to hop on a computer in the school library and pull up all my work without lugging a laptop around.
Google Docs -- Why would I ever pay for MS Office again?
Kindle books -- Have saved me a lot of money, plus you only have to remember one item. I think my kindle might be dying, though, so I may be going back to paper for a while. It can be a pain when page numbers don't sync up with the prof's edition, but I love being able to search the entire book rather than flip through page after page. Really helps when writing papers.
Bic Atlantis pens -- Smooth, bold line without being too bulky. (The Bic Velocity was too thick and messy.) Inexpensive. I may switch to Pilot G2 though.
Avery Six-Pocket Organizer -- This is basically 3 folders in one with six transparent pockets. I used to carry a big binder with a divider for each course but it was bulky. Now I carry this to keep syllabi for each class (all instantly visible in the transparent pockets) and stick handouts behind them. Very slim, light. My notes stay in my Moleskine. I often need to print out journal articles, so I keep a separate slim binder for each individual research paper, and only bring it with me when I need it.
Lap desk - Really handy if you use a wireless mouse with your laptop.
Netflix/Hulu/Amazon Prime -- Essential.
Amazon Prime for Students -- A discount on Amazon Prime. Check it out.
Evernote -- I've been paying the $6/month for premium but I may stop. For a semester I religiously scanned and uploaded every page of notes, but I didn't use the digital versions enough to make it worth it. This semester I stopped using it almost altogether, and didn't miss it. I use Google Docs way more now.
External wireless mouse and keyboard -- Makes using a laptop more flexible and comfortable
Bluetooth keyboard -- Works great with my kindle. Wouldn't use it for big jobs like writing papers, but for my Digital Humanities course where we needed to bring a machine, it was more convenient than lugging my craptop.
Noise-cancelling earbuds - I found some good ones on Amazon for $9.99. Now I can go to the Pub on campus for lunch and barely register the terrible pop music.
Friends -- I have two "school BFFs." We have basically nothing in common outside of school but we don't need it. We have our suffering to unite us. Find buddies and support each other. It helps.
Things I plan to acquire:
Lenovo Thinkpad - I need to replace my old craptop and my brother, who teaches computer programming, recommended this. A lot of his students use it.
WD 1TB external hard drive -- I will probably use this when I start my TA-ship next year. For now Google Drive is fine.
Dry erase board with markers -- My husband uses this at work and wants us to get one, put a week's worth of more detailed planning on it alongside our regular monthly calendar.
Avery Multiuse Ultratabs -- I will probably get these for my Moleskine daily planner because it doesn't have tabs and I like to be able to see the months at a glance.
Moleskine Chapters Journal -- I'm considering doing a bullet journal type thing so I can organize non-academic aspects of my life, which for a while have been woefully underrepresented. This has several sections and a table of contents page, so you can have sections for finances, household, fitness, medical, etc.
Brother laser printer -- We have a Canon MG 5200 Inkjet with a scanner and copier that prints color. Ink is EXPENSIVE. I can get a monochrome Brother that duplex prints for $79 refurbished on Amazon, and I think it will save a lot of money. We'll keep the Canon for fancier jobs.
Chacos sandals -- These are a sorority girl staple but they're popular for a reason. Waterproof, adjustable straps, last forever, lifetime guarantee with free repairs. Worth the hundred bucks, especially in this climate where it's hot but it flash-floods often.
Believe it or not, I could add more, but this is long enough. I hope it helps someone.
Kristen
Hey y'all! This is my first time posting here, but I just got a call from Harris and was accepted into the MSCAPP program with some funding! Looking forward to meeting many of you at the admitted students day!
I'm in! but no emails, just that I can check it in the little envelope in the application system.
where to check the scholarship awards? I haven't seen any mention of it in the Congratulations email; does this mean I've got none?
jontwk got a reaction from yoh_rrg in Harris 2018