TITX

I really have to agree with the competition advice concerning your cohort. As a direct from undergrad, my first year was fairly difficult because I placed a bunch of added stress on my self when I thought about students who had masters or life experience. The former I even took to calling "false first years." A lot of grad school in the first year is learning how to play the game which experienced grad students will simply be better at. This does not reflect poorly on your aptitude if you are playing catch up in this arena...3 years on there is rarely substantial differences between undergrad admits and others.

Taking criticism also resonated with me. It is hard. For many people, grades have been a source of self validation. In grad school, they suddenly become fairly meaningless in a lot of programs. At the same time, the actual critical reflection of your work goes substantially up. I still have to remind my self not be defensive during q/a during a presentation. My advice here is probably of a narrow focus, but I think if you are an externally motivated individual (ie gauge your self worth by the views of others) grad school will be an important place do develop more of an internal focus and it will also be a place of a lot of hard knocks...but they might be good for the soul.

Department politics: I'm still bad at this. My first year I didn't think there was a lot of distention in the department. My second year: I see it everywhere. Be very mindful when Professors ask you about their peers as it is hard to be certain of their motives especially if you do not fully grasp your department's politics.

Start establishing good habits of self care. Get yourself in a strong routine of exercising, sleeping well, and eating right. It will be easy to slip into bad habits with this sort of thing once you're under way, and then it becomes a lot harder to bring yourself back into good habits. Get that stuff drilled down now and your mental health will thank you later.

Just wanted to say it was great posting with y'all. Good luck with your programs!

Yep, Media Mail is the way to go! I'm in a similar position, and that's what I plan to use. Media Mail is cheaper the higher the weight. You can ship 70 pounds for $38!
Here's a link to the USPS page with rates:
https://pe.usps.com/text/dmm300/Notice123.htm#_c059

I'm also thinking this one through. I can give up almost everything else, but I can't sacrifice the library.

How much mileage can you get out of checked bags on an airplane? Maybe even eating the overweight bags fee is more cost effective than shipping?

I know unaffected people's opinions shouldn't matter, but I'm tired of being pressured to compromise my career for my boyfriend's by the more traditional males in my life.. it's just irritating to constantly be held to a double standard.

I was wondering if any current graduate students could tell me if stipends are taxed and, if so, how much is it taxed? Any info is much appreciated!

how is the gay scene in bmore like?

Just wanna say that BME thread has kept me sane throughout this whole process... ❤️ lol

I'm also in the anti-roommate camp due to an absurd amount of drama over the years. No offense to those in their twenties, but seriously, people in their early twenties sometimes have a ridiculous amount of petty, childish reactions to very minor problems.
If you do go the roommate route, I recommend making a list of necessary compatible features and agreeing on them ahead of time. For instance, if you're not super-neat, don't end up with a super-neat roommate or they'll be nagging you because you left like three toast crumbs on the cutting board (personal experience). If you're not into partying, don't get a roommate who hosts a loud party every freaking weekend even though you have to be at work at 7 am (personal experience: same roommate also threw a fellow drunk person off a balcony and had ridiculous, stupid arguments with our equally childish landlord). And even if you partake in some mild substances, for the love of God make sure you don't live with anyone who gets high on cough syrup and repeatedly smashes his vacuum cleaner, or someone who panhandles so he can buy heroin instead of looking for a job (more personal experiences). Getting my own apartment was one of the best things that ever happened to me and is worth every extra penny.

I think the only other thing you have to do is accept your school's offer.

Could the delay in some admissions decisions be due in part to some kind of lag in funding from the NSF due to the government shutdown in Dec/Jan? Like are they waiting to secure funding before they send out the final round of admits and rejects? Just speculating... this wait is entirely exhausting and anxiety inducing...

Just wanna say that BME thread has kept me sane throughout this whole process... ❤️ lol

Just wanna say that BME thread has kept me sane throughout this whole process... ❤️ lol

It's hard to make decisions without all the offers on the table ?
 

Just wanna say that BME thread has kept me sane throughout this whole process... ❤️ lol

Thanks for this tidbit. I'm sure I will, but I hope I adopt a similar attitude as you. It will likely become clearer since my undergraduate research has not been in my area of interest. I think I'm being picky at this point, but I'm very grateful for my one acceptance so far and would happily attend if I don't get off the waitlist at Rice. I still like to hold onto hope though...
And I think there's something to be said about the excitement of being accepted somewhere. I think our perspectives are warped by this forum, because in reality an extremely small number of people earn a PhD. And for a place to genuinely want you to come to their school to do that is pretty cool.

I'm sure we'll look back on all of those rejections later on in our careers and laugh, but they're definitely not fun. Hopefully you get the NSF to lift your spirits

@WaliaIbex I just had an interview at Georgia Tech this past Friday and am hoping for good news soon. I also had another interview at JHU a month ago but I heard they started sending acceptances out to some of the other people that were there.. I haven't heard back for JHU but I also haven't been rejected so I'm kinda in limbo.. Other schools I've heard absolutely nothing from are USC and Rice. Also waiting to hear back from Berkeley's MEng program, but probably won't be accepting if offered admission since I have a couple PhD options now..
I want to have all my options finalized so that I can reach out appropriately instead of sending emails to everyone. Don't know if this is a sub-optimal approach.. All the programs I applied to other than Berkeley were for PhDs in Materials Science. 

New Brunswick has a huge Latin community. According to the US Census data on Wikipedia, New Brunswick is 49.93% Hispacin/Latino. Central NJ is suburban, but New Brunswick has tons of restaurants, bars, the state theater, and is about an hour train ride from Penn Station if you really miss the city. While not as large of a city as NYC, New Brunswick is still a city, and being in a northeastern metropolitan area, is relatively liberal. I'm not super familiar with the LGBTQ+ scene in the area, but I know it exists. Rutgers in and of itself has a huge graduate program which adds to the diversity of an already very diverse city. 

New Brunswick is really not rural! I went to undergrad in rural Pennsylvania and worked for a year in NYC. Central NJ, in general, is definitely more urban/suburban, though obviously not as much as NYC and LA. New Brunswick itself feels very urban. Many people live in Newark, Brooklyn, or Manhattan and commute down into Rutgers if that's a concern for you, as well.  It is only about a 45-minute train ride from Penn Station if you time it right to get on the express train. I personally have two people in my tiny cohort who are commuting from the upper west side and from Newark, respectively.
There is a HUGE Latino population as well. Speaking from personal experience, I can attest that there are tons of Latino communities on campus.  The Department of Latino and Caribbean studies is a major player in on-campus events, and the Center for Latin American Studies hosts tons of panels, conferences, film screenings, and events every semester. There are also a bunch of student groups and organizations.
Grad life is cool here. The vibe is fast-paced, supportive, and welcoming.  Rutgers has a lot of stellar opportunities for research/professional advancement and can be highly interdisciplinary as well. I'm in the humanities, which is distinctly different than the Engineering school, but I honestly love it here.
Queer/LGBT life on campus definitely exists as well.  There are lots of campus groups that focus on LGBT communities, and as grad students, you can participate in undergraduate clubs and organizations as well.

@WaliaIbex Same. I'm not sure how to proceed with contacting GEM reps though as I still haven't heard back from a number of schools.. 

Got a notice from the post office that OSU sent me a letter.  Can't tell from the attached picture if it's a "fat" or "thin" envelope.  Mail won't be here for another few hours.  My heart... My heart...

@TITX I assume you get accepted due to the fact that they do not want to waste time and money to fly you out there lol

Got and official offer from Columbia and was recommended for admission at Berkeley today. I am still shaking.