FutureEdPHD

It depends on the housing market in the city you're moving to. I would suggest generally looking about 1 month or so in advance. 2 months would be the earliest though, unless you're looking at living in grad student housing.

After the 15th deadline, you’re going to have to get a written release from CSU since they offered you a funding package. I’d assume that they’d be willing to do so since nobody wants to have someone in their program who wants to go elsewhere but sometimes departments/grad schools can be a little petty. Advisor fit is huge in this process since you’ll be working closely with them for the next few years so I’d definitely take that into consideration. Ranking can also matter too but it’s not everything. You have to look at which program will best set you up for the future that you want. Good luck making a decision!

Yes I'm bringing my car because I figured that I would need it. I'm looking to be close-ish to USC but also open to other areas depending on how far. It looks like I'll have class Monday-Thursday and I'm also working on campus so I'll need to be near there most of the time.

Looking to move to Los Angeles in early August but have no clue where to look! Anybody have any suggestions? I'm totally fine with roommates and don't really have many requirements except that my bedroom door has a lock on it.

It'll be okay! I freaked out when I first saw my itinerary for the schools I visited too. The meetings are usually really low key because they are just trying to get to know you better and convince you to choose their program. I would brush up on the research interests of each of the professors and maybe have a few specific questions for them but truthfully you may not get to them because the meetings go by pretty quickly.

Penn GSE is ranked higher based on the US News and World Report but it also depends on what you want to do with your degree. That could completely change how others value the weight of the name behind either program.

The same thing happened to me with another program. It ended up being great news but sometimes the departments don’t always update everything at the same time. Like the poster above just said, check with the department or maybe the enrollment management office to see if they have an update to your application status.

Don't worry about the timing! At most schools, you have until April 15th to make a decision, regardless of the pressure from individual departments. It's understandable that they want a decision soon, but it's also important for you to be able to take your time making such an important decision.

After I visited Temple yesterday, I decided to commit there. It came down to cost of living and the type of life that I want to live and Philadelphia won out pretty easily. I've always loved living in the heart of cities and College Park is just too much of a college town for me. Even though it's super close to DC, i'd never be able to afford living in DC as a grad student. Thanks for the help!!

I feel like I was much more competitive than I would've been straight from undergrad because I have a solid 6 years of work experience in my field. Those experiences really helped me explain my "why" for pursuing the PhD in my personal statement. Good letters of recommendation helped a lot because my undergrad GPA wasn't amazing and my quant GRE score was pretty rough compared to my verbal and writing. I have a feeling that some schools definitely were more focused on the GRE, which knocked me out of the running but thankfully I was still able to land somewhere!

I'm somewhat leaning toward Philly because the cost of living is so much cheaper. I can easily find a room share close to Temple for 500-600 and I've seen a few others that are even cheaper than that. The only issue with the fellowship is that it's 29 hours that I'd be actively working for a nonprofit each week. With that amount of work hours plus 3 doctoral level classes, I'm unsure what my personal quality of life would be. I worked full time as a teacher while I was getting my masters, so I'm not stranger to working and going to school BUT I was hoping that I wouldn't have to live that life again while getting my PhD.

Excitement: I have 2 good offers to PhD programs that are excellent fits for me. When I first applied in the fall, I was scared I’d never get in anywhere. Worry: Making a final choice is much harder than I thought it’d be. I’m super nervous about finding housing that isn’t going to eat up the majority of my stipend.

That’s great info!! Should I just look on Craigslist to try to find a group house?

Housing is the part that’s making me pretty nervous. Everything seems to be at least $1000 even with a roommate. Where do grad students actually live?

Do their websites have any information about when decisions should be expected? If the information is posted on the website, just stick to that deadline. However, if it's after the posted deadline or close to it then go for it. I totally get the desire to narrow things down and find a place to live.