Crystal@clear

My poor heart just about gave out when I saw the words "Re: Graduate school application" on the email title. With shaking hands I clicked on the email......................... and it was a reply from the graduate school that I attending now, telling me that my application for graduation this spring had been approved. I nearly had a heart attack just seeing that!! Why couldn't the school give a more concrete title like "your graduation approval" or something.

I just saw this thread after I posted a new topic on travel expenses! I totally know what you're going through. I am in a unfunded master's program right now and I am nearly at the bottom of my savings. In my case, the school only offers a fixed amount of reimbursement and it does not even 1/3 of my flight ticket. I have to give a notice to the program director as soon as possible, but I am still debating on whether I should pay a lot to attend the visiting weekend or not.....

I was recently accepted at a phd program, and I was invited to the visiting weekend in Feb. While the program is providing hotel rooms and paying partially for the flight, I figured that I still will have to pay a lot for the flight alone (not counting transportation fees to and from airports; I don't own a car). The program says that they will only pay a fixed amount for the flight, and it's not that high to begin with. To tell the truth, this school was one of my 'safety' schools and I am not entirely sure if I will attend here in the fall. I am still waiting to hear from 9 other schools, and I am still hoping for a chance at my dream schools. So, I'm not sure if it's worth it to pay so much to visit a school that is not one of my top choices, when I am on a tight budget. I am currently a unfunded Master's student and I have paid a small fortune over the past two years. Every dollar I spend feels really big to me right now I heard that most schools pay for nearly ALL of your expenses (full flight ticket & hotels) but it's not the case with the school I was accepted to Anyway, do you think it's worth it to pay (a lot) to go to visiting weekend, even though you're not sure if you'll attend that school?

I thought I was done when I had sent in my applications and transcripts, but the recommendations turned out to be the most stressful thing. One of my letter writers said that he would definetly "send them by the deadline" when I sent him a reminder mail two days before the deadline. Well, the deadline was the 1st (which was about 2 minutes ago) and he hasn't uploaded any recommendations. I was like a crazy gamer clicking refresh every 2 seconds but now my applications are offically late. Everyone I know tells me that most grad programs understand that the letters are out your control and they accept late letters, but it's hard not just freak out I've applied to schools that are top schools and I'm really worried that one tiny little thing (like late materials) will wreck my chances of possibly getting into those programs. Oh well, I should start writing to the grad programs asking if they would be okay with one late letter. Anyone have any experience with late letters? Did it hurt your admission chances?

I was so happy to find out that I was accepted to my first choice school.................... .....................and now I'm just stressed out about finding a place to live. The school I'm going to attend doesn't offer dorms to graduate students, and the waiting list for school apartments is soooo long (I've heard it takes about a year of waiting) that I have to find a place off-campus. I'm living in Korea right now and won't be able to go the States and find a place to live in person. I'm still in the process of writing my thesis (the school year ends in late June) and not to mention the high cost of flight tickets! So I'm stuck using the Internet to find an apartment. I've looked at apartmentratings.com, rent.com, and sent out emails to a number of apartments I wanted to lease, and a few emails to realtors in that area. From all those emails, I only got one email back which said that they had no available apartments. I've waited a week for more replies, but no replies came back (and I'm starting to panic)......................... At first I was very picky about the places, but now the 'bad' apartments are starting to look very attractive..... If I were living in the US, I would pop down for a weekend trip and look for a place in person; if I had any friends or relatives living in that area, I would ask them to find place, but sadly, I have neither so I'm stuck......... Not to mention I have no credit history, no past renting experience, and no funding. Guess I'm not the most popular prospective resident. What about the rest of you guys? How are you going to find a place to live while you're overseas?