Tinyboss

If you have the brainpower to do math, stats could be unbearable.

If you have a TA at my school, they pay 75% tuition, and you get a stipend in the $18k range. So, you could look at it as "fully funded with at $16k stipend", but I guess this scenario is what the OP had in mind with "partially funded + stipend".

A few Iowa-specific things: the river runs through town and through campus. The main campus and downtown (bars, bars, restaurants, liquor stores, and bars) are on the east side, and the law and medical schools, hospital, and athletic facilities are on the west side. There are many large houses within walking distance on the east side, converted into apartments. It's a very undergrad neighborhood, though, so if you like your evenings quiet, I wouldn't recommend it. The west side has more traditional apartments and condos, and a more grad student/family demographic. You probably won't want to walk from the west side, but it's an easy bike ride, and as I said above, you can probably find something on or near the bus line.

One important thing: GRAD STUDENT HOUSING SUCKS (Hawkeye Court/Hawkeye Drive apts). It's cheap, but unless you just can't afford an extra $100-$200 a month, don't do it. The units are extremely small, the floors are vinyl tile, and the walls are cinder block. My washing machine is in my kitchen and the dryer is in the bedroom. There are practically no closets, no countertop or drawers in the bathroom (just a toilet, and a sink sticking out of the wall). The kitchen barely has any cabinet or counter space, and there's no dishwasher, nor room for one. On the plus side, there is regular bus service to campus, but you can find real apartments that are on or close to the bus lines, and I recommend you do if you're outside walking distance. Cambus is a good system, and parking on campus is a chore. My wife and 5-year-old and I are moving to a new place in the Fall, thank god. I can't offer much advice on good areas--we wanted to keep our kid in the same school district, so we didn't look at anything outside that small area. We just drove around and wrote down phone numbers. The only other (obvious) thing is that fall rentals fill up fast, so try to get on it early. As I get ready to hit "Submit", I'm realizing that this exact post, names changed, probably applies to 50 different schools in the US.

I'd post there.

I've accepted their offer, and I'm currently living in Iowa City. I transferred to UI last year to wrap up my undergrad. Anyone else?

It does vary by school and program, but in general, it is quite uncommon for a PhD student to be unfunded ("treat acceptance without funding as a rejection" is common advice), and quite common for MS students.

I emailed a polite and concise inquiry to my top choice (deadline 1/15, first round offers out) and got this: Very friendly and as helpful as it could be at this point. That was Friday, six days ago. I wish I knew how many "a few days" will be. I'm not going to email again.

Rejections from the first round of weeding may or may not come first (not all schools bother to let them know immediately). First-round offers come in a cluster, and when some of those guys go elsewhere, slots are opened for those who didn't get a first round offer (waitlisters). Then the final rejections come last. I'm sure there are exceptions, but that's typical. As you can see, an acceptance or rejection can come at any time, but you can definitely tell if you've missed the first round. After that your chances are diminished.

Yeah, it would be nice if the results page asked for GPA, GRE, publications, etc.

I think the general process goes like this, from earliest to latest: 1) Weed out half or more of the least appealing applicants (possibly notifying them immediately, possibly not) 2) Notify the first round of accepted applicants (if you're not in either of these groups, you don't hear anything yet) 3) Hear back from the first round admits, find out which ones are going elsewhere 4) Fill those empty slots from the remaining pool of applicants (This part might take several iterations, as the waitlisters may have already accepted another offer) 5) Notify everyone else of rejection So if you're in that middle ground between first-round offer and outright rejection, you may not hear anything for a long time, possibly April. That's where I'm at with my first choice right now. It sucks.

Is this not what you're looking for?

I mailed my top choice Friday (also 1/15 deadline), and got a very friendly "we still don't know". I wouldn't hesitate to ask. Just don't pester them.

None of mine shared. Though one of them is on the adcom here, and told me that I "have very strong letters". I saw one from across the room, and saw that it is one and a half pages, though I couldn't make out anything. I'd love to know what they wrote, but I'll never ask.

Did you sign something? If so, what did it say?

This.

So will we be known as the cohort who had it tough in the Doldrums of Aught Nine, or as the last cohort to have it easy in the Good Old Days?

I don't know if they'll ask for it, but if you think it will improve your odds, you can ask to have it added to your file. I've heard of schools being happy to do that.

I've been using Netflix streaming to my XBox to watch old-school favorites like Knight Rider, The Incredible Hulk, and The A-Team. I didn't remember them being this cheesy! My favorite is when the Hulk is wrestling a bear, and you can see the green make-up rubbing off onto the bear.

It's calculated to cause your wife to leave you during the second year and take the kid with her, freeing up your time for studying! Seriously though, I have a wife and 5-year-old, too, and I'm going into a PhD program this fall. It's intimidating. Thankfully he's school aged now, so daycare isn't an issue...yet. We plan to have another soon!

The department at my current institution is only admitting half the usual number this year. Sounds like it's bad all over.

THAT should be your SoP!

I'm sorry to hear that, rae. Thanks for the information, though--that's exactly what I was wondering about. Good luck with the rest of your applications!

Not to get into hair-splitting territory, but if a glance at the GRE/GPA boxes is all the review that's required, it's still a review! ;-)

You pay them to review your application, and they do review it. A detailed response is not promised by any school I'm aware of, so you did not pay for that.