skeeterjo

You should think really hard about turning down a fully funded PhD for an MA elsewhere.

Hi! If you are able to tolerate Upstate New York snow, you will not have a problem with South Bend snow. We generally get less lake effect snow than New York. This year most of the lake effect snow has been in the county to the west (La Porte county). As you probably know, lake effect snow is generally unpredictable and varies greatly from year to year. I would not worry about this factor.

Undrafted free agent is correct, northwestern Indiana has wild winter weather because of lake effect snow. My husband and I were caught in zero visibility snowstorms (absolutely terrifying) more than once this past winter. Lake effect snow can be erratic in location and can produce several inches of snow per hour. In January we had accumulating snow every day for two weeks and got a foot of unpredicted snow one evening. As a first year graduate student, I would definitely not entertain the thought of driving an hour+ each way to class in this climate. As a point of time reference, my husband drives from La Porte to Portage daily to work and it takes about 45+ minutes. Notre Dame University is another 45 minutes from our home.

Yes, it is certainly possible to live in the middle-although probably not very practical for library research needs, etc. Chesterton, IN would be your best bet for the South Shore (Dune Park station to Hyde Park, Chicago) in that you avoid the train slow down in Michigan City. The drive to South Bend would probably be around 1 hour 15 minutes-very easy traffic going east. I would hope that maybe one of you would have a class free Monday or Friday on your schedule and could instead do an occasional 3 day weekend at U of C or Notre Dame.

Hi Volcano, Congratulations on your Notre Dame admit! I often travel to Chicago from northwestern Indiana. The drive to University of Chicago is easy and direct as the university is on the Indiana side of the city. However, if you want to go public transportation,the South Shore connects South Bend and the University of Chicago (Hyde Park) stop. Their website is http://www.nictd.com/ You will notice that the train only goes to South Bend a limited number of times a day. We used the SS line combined with the red line CTA (subway) Chicago to travel to Northwestern University so it can be done. Good luck!

Cornell, Fantastic news for a weekend! Thanks for sharing! I bet you get accepted to a lot of places this year!! Woot!

Mega congrats Cornell07!! Fantastic news!!! Time to have fun! Any funding??

Of course you can edit the last two paragraphs of your SOP. However, you do run the risk of not presenting your "case" adequately for admittance into a specific program if you self impose such limits. I would instead impose a limit on the length of the SOP-2 pages of extremely meaningful dialog would be great. Look at it this way, you are asking x university to provide you with tuition and support for 6-7 years. There are hundreds of applicants for the top programs out of which a very small percentage will be accepted. Your back up school may be someone else's first choice. Keep in mind that due to our country's recession, funding may be more limited in 2009 than last year. Just do your best Technocat so that you have no regrets. By the way, schools have a backup plan too-the dreaded waitlist.

Listen to Rising Star about not mass producing your applications! This is 5 star advice. If you are not a good fit for a school, don't waste their time and your money. Research your schools, read books written by potential advisors, and submit an intelligent SOP.

This wonderful site might help you compare the living stipend. The rest of the decision is up to you! Best of luck! http://www.bestplaces.net/col/default.aspx

Thanks for the advice. Both programs offer full funding. The Phd program is where I really want to go and I have decided to honestly present my case to the PhD university. The MA University has emailed me that they would let me out of the offer if I want to go elsewhere. That being said I do believe that I would not receive an offer from the PhD university if they found out if I signed with the MA university. I am sure that this has happened to others in previous years. I really want to go to the PhD university and think that I will hang in there. If nothing else the PhD school is in a beautiful state (warm too)!

I have already asked for an extension from the MA program and was told that there are no extensions but that they would let me out later if Phd offer comes through. I sort of think that the PhD school might have a problem with this but maybe I am overreacting.

Hi, I have a dilemma. I have been accepted for MA degree at an average university. This offer expires March 28th. I am at the top of the waitlist for a top 5 program for a PHD. I have been in contact with both universities. The MA university advisor is telling me to go ahead and sign and that he will let me out of the deal should I get the PhD offer. The Phd university is telling me to contact them before signing anywhere else (they have gone to the waitlist every year) I hate to let the MA go and then have the PhD offer fail. I am thinking that there is something very wrong about accepting and declining and that doing so could potentially nix the Phd offer. Any thoughts??