davidd

@Brandon_S Congrats on your acceptances! Regarding Georgia Tech, I spoke with a professor there, and it does seem like a good program. They definitely tout the "Atlanta Laboratory" as one of their strong points. I inquired about financial packages, too, and the professor told me if it wasn't listed in your initial acceptance letter, don't wait up... However, he did mention that based on who accepts their offers, they may extend some additional aid packages after the April 15th deadline. Check in with the MCRP program director to be considered for the second round of financial aid. On UCLA, I got word of acceptance this past Friday. Based on the other results, it seems like they may have issued acceptances, but not waitlist or rejections. And regarding University of Utah, I can't speak much to the program, but Salt Lake City is great, low cost of living, great skiing and other outdoor activities. Plus, it's a growing area in desperate need of some good planners. The downside is that Salt Lake isn't a very dense city, is very car-oriented, and lacking the diversity of many other locations you're looking at.

Thanks for the advice, and helpful tip on Georgia Tech! Luckily, UW is in-state for me, which makes the tuition difference between UW and UNC pretty much a wash when you consider cost of living... From what I've gathered so far, it seems like UNC grads are pretty mobile and spread across the country (my guess is this is due to the strength of the program?), while most UW grads stay in the Seattle area (but maybe just because it's a good market and the PNW is nice...). Any thoughts or experiences with that?

Accepted to Penn, Georgia Tech, UNC, UW, and UCLA, with no $$$. Rejected from MIT ? Trying to make a decision weighing strength of program versus location. I'd like to be somewhere interesting enough, since my partner will join wherever we end up, but also I imagine there's an impact to job opportunities and focus of the program depending on where it's located. How are you guys taking location into account? Is this a big factor in your decisions?