singinglupines

Mid-April should be fine. A lot of complexes only require 60 days notice so stuff starts opening up in June for the 2018-19 school year. I think getting a lease to start in June will be tricky. Most run Aug-Jul ish. Your best bet would be to sublease a place for the in-between time.

You might want to look into different companies, including the smaller ones that use the big carries' networks. Sometimes their terms and conditions vary quite a lot. I personally got a prepaid phone to get started, but I know it's possible to get a plan, sometimes by putting down some deposit. Once you're in town, try and see if your university has an arrangement with one or more carrier, or try to visit a branch near the university to find out more. The ones near a university are usually better at dealing with international students than other random branches. This is also true for banks and other places where not having a SSN might cause some inconvenience. 

I'd recommend looking in Carrboro. It's where a lot of graduate students live, and there are also lots of young families who live there. A lot of it is walkable to downtown, there are free buses to campus, but it's not where you're going to find the big parties. 
I recommend looking at chapelhillrent.com. I've found several of my apartments through that site.

Finally heard back from my last school, and I have officially accepted an offer to University of Rochester’s Chem Inorganic program!  Hang in there everybody!

STATUS UPDATE Got accepted by OSU! Finally! And I still have 8 schools left! Hope all the other applicants hear great news soon!

Somebody's an All-Star....
 
ีUniversity Of Wisconsin - Madison Physics, PhD (F18) Rejected via Other on 14 Feb 2018 ♦ A 14 Feb 2018 Some-body once told me my study habits were going to role me. I ain't the sharpest tool in the shed. I was lookin kinda dumb with my application done and the night I hit myself in the fore-head, cuz My scores were nowhere near good enough for this school. rip, I so badly wanted to go here. Didn't oficially get rejected but at this point I have given up hope.

On Valentine's day...
 
Roses are red, violets are blue, Harvard said, "Nah, we just don't like you."

Can you imagine?!?

First good stats one of the year coming from a Harvard PhD rejection:  "As a patriots fan, New England really hasn't come through for me this past week."
 

All my applications fail, today.
Before that, I was depressed so bad that many friends recommended me to go see a doc. To be honest, the moment of to be rejected by my top & last choice, is not too bad. The waiting drained me out, but accepting what happened and making plans for future are not too hard to process. It's the answer that we need the most.
It's my 3rd rejection from Harvard with 8 years' hard work. I thought I gonna die if I fail this time.  But I am tougher than I thought. 
Good luck to everyone. Each one of you, will do better than you expect. 

One pet peeve of mine is the "safety school" BS. Like, I get it. We apply to a range of programs--some more attainable than others, some we want more than others. But you shouldn't look down on the "safety school." Don't apply if you have no intention of attending and will actively hate the option if you get in. And don't get so comfortable that you assume the safety school is just a given. Don't underestimate the difficulty of this process.

Oklash,
I empathize so much with you. Please don't give up on yourself. Please don't even consider the thought of hurting yourself or worse. You deserve life! You deserve happiness. You can and will find your path. But I know that sounds so much easier than it is actually done. But please, listen to me:
I have been where you are. A few years ago, I applied to graduate school and got rejected at 6/8 programs. This crushed me. None of my top schools seemed even remotely interested. I was rejected swiftly. One acceptance was to my safety school. One acceptance was to a good program, but no funding. I was living at home. I didn't have a source of income. I was in a very bad relationship, which was ending. I didn't think the amount of loans I would have to take out to go to school and minimally survive was a good choice. I just couldn't bear the thought, and I said no. This devastated me. I felt like such a fuck up. I spent hours and hundreds of dollars to apply to these schools. It felt like such a waste.
My parents were pressuring me to move on. They didn't exactly see what this meant to me. I dreamed of going into academia. I really wanted to teach. And I felt like it would never happen for me. I felt like a crucial part of my identity was lost. They told me to get a job somewhere and move on. The only job I could find was at K-Mart. Meanwhile, my professors and advisors told me, "There's always next year. This happens. Just try again." Try again? As if this is easy? As if this is affordable? It's neither. This process can be soul-crushingly difficult. It depressed me. I spent months deeply, clinically depressed. Not many people understood what I was going through or had the bandwidth to relate to me and talk to me. I felt so alone.
But, I chose to just adapt and to go on a totally different path. It was not easy. I changed career tracks. I didn't like it. I still don't. I struggled to find work outside of retail, but eventually did. It was meager, however. Finally, I met my then boyfriend (now husband). I began to learn that life is not linear. Life often does not make sense. The path is arduous and twisted and broken and frightening, but sometimes, there is method to its absolute madness. I would have never met my husband had this all worked out the way I had hoped. I also realized that your career does not have to be the only way you find fulfillment in life. There are ways to engage in your love and research interests outside of academia. Focus on finding those things. Focus on filling your life with people who you connect to and can confide in. You need support during this process. You need friends and love. And sometimes, that is the greatest fulfillment in life.
Like you, I have a BA in English and philosophy. I felt really unemployable where I was living in the Midwest. But when I moved to a metro area, I suddenly found I was very employable, just not in anything I deeply care about, which has been okay temporarily. I have worked in an off-shoot of my field, and I have spent time building my resume with professional experience. I have saved up money to apply again to graduate school and fund some of my education, should I get in. I spent years preparing to try again. And, in that time, I focused mostly on healing myself--repairing the broken confidence, proving my commitment to myself, and polishing the skills I need. My time away from school and this process has honestly been so well spent, and I have hope it is paying off.
My advice for your situation is to consider doing those things: take a year or two or three to build your resume;  consider moving to a metropolitan area where there are more jobs, if you can afford it; stay committed to your field through independent study, research, and attempts at publication; research different programs, maybe try a completely different batch of schools; seek out professionals in your field to provide you constructive criticism on your applications; find friends and a support circle; find other hobbies and things that make you feel good; focus on your mental health by seeking medical attention, talking to a therapist or loved one, taking a break from this process, taking a vacation (or stay-cation), taking up a new hobby, trying new exercise, etc.; and finally give yourself a break.
Listen to all of us in your shoes. We are all struggling. You are NOT alone! You are NOT a failure. You should not blame yourself so much or feel so worthless. It's just NOT fair to yourself. Give yourself some credit for all of the hard work and effort you have put in. Give yourself credit for taking a risk and trying again. Look at how far you've already come. You are GREAT. Please don't forget that! <3

UPDATE: Was accepted to University of Delaware! 
First ever acceptance! Third round of applications - don't give up if you really want it!

Yeah the profile pic works. Just got in Cornell! 

After months of incredibly anxious waiting, I opened my email this evening to find an on campus interview invitiation!!! I whooped excitedly, haha. I’m just so happy to know that I have some sort of chance. But now I’m nervous about what to expect for an on campus interview ?

Also agree with this. I'm starting to realize that your favourite research and advisor are so important to grad school. I know people that go to prestigious schools that hate it there because they don't like their work. They tolerate it, but they aren't passionate about it- this is something you are going to be working on for years. Not just for a semester. You need to be able to handle it and even enjoy it for a long time. 

The first thing I do when I wake up : Check my email &  Go to "Result Search" section and type in my field to see if someone else got an offer from the schools I applied to ..
This whole process is seriously killing me!