jmaginary

You can also check out the Park Forest area. It's a nice residential area with some newer townhome complexes right by Best Buy, Walmart, Panera, etc. 

Avoid the area directly south east of downtown, this is where the frat houses are so it's quite a bit louder. I live on Westerly Parkway and I've seen some houses for rent over in this area, but that could be the "by room" situation that you mentioned. Overall, the area by the high school is nice and quite. I walk in, another member of my cohort bikes in, and several take the bus. So depending on how you like to commute you can make anything work at this distance. 

This is not even unique to graduate school.
I've said this before; it's still true: 
You're not good enough to be in graduate school. No one is good enough to be in graduate school. There is no great platonic abstract of "good enough" which, if obtained, opens the path to tenure with a choir of angels. Everyone's a failure. Everyone is faking it. No one knows what they're doing. Usually, we call this "adulthood". Being shit at something is a necessary first step towards being good at something. "Talent" and "natural ability" are bullshit terms that mask the absurd amounts of hard work and/or social conditioning of people assumed to have them. 

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...

I learned just how subjective this process really is and to not beat myself up over rejections. There's usually no way to tell why a school/department/POI didn't choose you and it's not necessarily a reflection on you as a person. Sometimes it's because of funding or maybe the POI is doing a sabbatical next year. It could literally be anything. A former professor used to have us say this before every speech/presentation: "No matter what happens, I will still lead a full and happy life." That's what's getting me through this weird and uncertain season. 

1) Not spend hours comparing myself to other students