Henry Hudson

I prefer to be in walking distance (to me, up to two miles), preferably along streets that are bikeable. I also like to be somewhere near bus routes for bad weather days. I live about 3 blocks from the small downtown campus here, where my office is, along with my grad program office. Main campus (where the library, most services, and the classes I teach are) is about 5-6 miles away, and I have the choice of two bike/pedestrian trails to get to/from there even without bus. I'd prefer to be closer to the library, but it works. Sept-April, buses run at least once every 10-20 minutes, ad May-Aug it's often nice enough to bike regularly (buses vary quite a bit, but no worse than once every 40 minutes). I like to be close, but don't want to be in a student ghetto, nor anywhere too expensive. And I definitely prefer urban to suburban housing, unless said suburbs are close to a woodland trail network or something similar to offset the blandness of suburbia.

I'm not a veggie put there seem to be plenty around: shops, restaurants and specialty sections of grocery stores. It's quite common.

Buffalo is also has a fairly cheap cost of living. I don't know MSW at all, so that's all I can contribute.

I've never lived in Troy, but have hung out there, and had friends who lived there. It is very livable, with great markets, restaurants and cultural centers in easy walking distance of downtown. It's not a high crime area, but there is some. It is not completely gentrified, and is still affordable - to poor and to students. And it's fairly mixed; there is no single area that is predominantly of any particular demographic or income background. There are buses that serve not only Troy but the entire Albany-Schenectady-Troy area. http://www.cdta.org/ You do not need a car, unless you live waay outside of town. I can't advise you on the new biotechnology building, on-campus graduate housing or your stipend amount.

awesome! thank you!!!!

most banks offer pretty good student deals. In my experience, the big banks offer better deals than credit unions. pretty much all banks issue bank cards that use a national debit system called Interac. You can use Interac at almost any store or restaurant, but not really online. CIBC is thus far unique (as far as I know) in offering a bank card that uses the Visa network, which one can use as a regular debit card or in place of a credit card (online, or in non-Canadian stores/restaurants). Interac is generally usable in US bank machines, but not always; it gets a little quirky. Being from the US, the CIBC card is more what I'm use to for bank cards. I have both CIBC and Royal Bank of Canada accounts. I'm happy with both banks thus far. I don't really use mobile phones, so I can't advise. For groceries, I like Loblaw's and its variants: Superstore, No Frills and Independent (among others). They carry two generic store-brands; No Name and President's Choice, the latter of which is generally quite excellent. No Frills is Loblaw's discount branch, lacking the service departments like the butcher, seafood or deli counters, but carrying pretty much a full line. There are plenty of other chains in the Toronto area, including Sobey's (and its discount line, Price Chopper. If you go to the US, don't be confused by the US Price Chopper chain. Totally different outfit). The Kensington Market area of Toronto has some really great small shops, and is the best place to find high quality/low cost cheeses, specialty meats and local produce. Nearby, Chinatown is chocked full of bargains, both food-wise and in general merchandise. Honest Ed's, a but north of there on Bloor Street (which is a major east-west avenue, by U of T) has Honest Ed's, a humungous discount variety store (roughly two city blocks, and multiple stories). That larger neighborhood, called The Annex, is a mix of trendy and cheap finds: bookstores, second-hand stuff, etc. And lots of Korean places, too.

If I were you, first of all, I'd get on WSU for clarification on funding. Don't guess, find out for sure. Without funding, what do you do? still go? work? loans? apply for grants/fellowships on your own? If you plan on any outside employment while you're there, Albany will have better options. Small college towns off out on their own generally have a surplus of well-educated people competing for the same small job pool. Despite Albany's woe$, there are still plenty of school districts (for example) (urban, suburban and even rural close by) to substitute in - and get useful experience in your field. Moreover, plenty of them are within public transit (if that' an issue). Various parts of the Albany metro area have fairly active arts/culture scenes. I'm honestly not sure what the live music scene is like these days. Food-wise, there is a great deal of ethnic variety, in restaurants and even small groceries. I can't compare to Pullman because I don't really know that area. But at a glance, it doesn't look like a lot out there (in terms of human-based infrastructure).

possibly, but it really shouldn't matter. It's not like they were willing to invest in you, nor were you sitting on funding that could have gone to someone else. and presumably your future supervisor wouldn't have poured a lot of effort into you as of yet either. If s/he was really worried about filling a quota for supervisees, s/he could have beaten the bushes to find you some funding. so the only real blow to the non-funding U would be to their enrollment numbers - which they have to expect, if they're not funding people; even real life-related funding issues will likely cause acceptees to back out. unless the unfunded program is the perfect/irreplaceable program, I'd choose the funded.

if it is feasible to take a year, off, definitely do so. doing grad apps while also doing senior courses is a pain in the arse. your app may be more rushed than you'd like, and you won't have as much time to do proper edits. relax, enjoy your senior year, and develop the prof relations you'll need. take that year and recharge your batteries. if you get antsy, maybe try to develop a paper into an article in your year off.

yeah, looks like quite a gap between Atlanta and DC. Unless you plan to get to either of those metro areas frequently, you could either explore Chase's online banking options, or seek out a local bank. I don't know the area, but if you do open a new account, I will advise you to find out what bank the university uses. As a new account, they will not likely be as trusting regarding deposits clearing, so a big check from the U will likely clear faster into your account if the U's check is also through your new bank.

yes indeed. bad grades happen. your record also shows how you moved on and got better grades. My own CC experience in the 80s-90s was full of grades across the spectrum; I replaced my Fs before graduating by re-taking and getting better marks. That also shows willingness to overcome mistakes. who sounds like a better candidate, the one who has learned from bad patches, or the one who has yet to face them? even without the whole detailed "sob story," you can allude to overcoming life difficulties, becoming a stronger person and being a more dedicated academic as a result of those experiences.

I'm 42. My only rejection for PhDs was from UMich, which is a pretty competitive choice for any age. 2/3 acceptances otherwise. For my MA apps, at age 40, I was 3 for for, with UBC as my only rejection. I haven't felt any age discrimination, personally.

I had applied to York 2 years ago for my MA. They didn't get back to me until late March, and even then, we played phone tag for a week or two.

I was accepted at SFU (History PhD) back in February. There are 2-3 other SFU acceptees around these boards, in other programs, too. But I guess not all programs are on the same schedule there.

I don't disagree with the others, but to me, it seems like getting published (even reviews) and presenting at conferences would be ways to beef up your app. I would also make inquiries with those who did get in at your top-choice school, and your POI there as well, and keep a continuing dialogue as well.

Hi Safferz! You may want to apply to both US and Canadian programs. It can be a tough time to get into many choice US programs. Having an MA can make you a stronger candidate.

People who really know you, and know your work, are much more important. That aid, a prof from 6-8 years ago who got to know you will still likely remember you; you may need to remind them of some details but they'll still likely have a sense of who you were.

Good luck. As a fellow non-Canadian, I write this in hopes it helpful to you: 2 years go, I applied to York for an MA, and was accepted. But there was no foreign tuition waiver (at least at the MA level), so that made their package less competitive. The director did speak with me directly, though, and while noting with the funding deficiency I probably would not accept, he encouraged me to reapply for my PhD, and assured me funding was much better for hD studiesl. This was no earlier than late March, but possibly in April.

The non-standardized deadlines is a pain. My SFU deadline was Feb 28; UAlberta is tomorrow. SLS, I chose SFU primarily on my supervisor (1st), funding (2nd), overall program (History) (3rd), interdisciplinary potential (with Native Studies) (4th) and location (5th). Reputation and work of supervisors was more important to me in even selecting schools to apply to. like PV, I'm not Canadian, but have been living up here for most of the past 4 years. Nowhere near permanent, though... yet.

I would suggest that may vary depending on the school and their process. One potential PhD supervisor and I hit it off so well, and had so many common interests and experiences, that even before my app was in she told me I was a shoe-in. But yes, at a large, more competitive U that would be less likely to be the case, and more as Riotbeard describes. In my field, having a working relation with someone geared to my specific topic was more important than going to a big-name school, though. The might not be the sam choice for everyone.

jessiko, I was accepted at UAlberta in mid-late Feb. My results post should show in the search. There was someone else from this forum accepted there this year, someone doing Japanese history. I am declining there, so maybe that'll open up a spot for you. I hope. UA offered a 15k annual TAship and a full tuition waiver (c.$8750ish) I got a better offer from Simon Fraser, and hit it off quite amazingly well with my supervisor there. I've also previously been to UA for summer courses (undergrad) and archival research (in March), so if you have some location-specific questions, I may be able to help. Bumblebee, I applied to UBC for my MA two years ago. They were the last ones to get back to me, and my only rejection. Hope you have better luck.

depends on where it was shipped from. internal US mail is quite good and generally quick, once its in USPS hands. But there is variance depending on where outside the US something is mailed from. it's hard to give a generic answer.

nice to see ya both! Ana, I love Montreal. Did my BA at Plattsburgh so I was in Montreal quite a it.

I would say DEFINITELY contact potential supervisors ahead of time - and nice and early. Start a dialogue long before the app process. Even if they're not taking on people, or even if they don't think they're the best-fit you may think, their recommendations can point you in the right direction. And who knows? you may hit it off. Come decision time, you have a key inside voice pulling for you - they want good people to work with, too - and reaching out well in advance shows you are on the ball. I agree - don't be scared by listed tuition; go where the people are. A supervisor who is directly in your area, other faculty, and other campus resources - related interdisciplinary programs/institutes too. People are more important than school rankings (but there's nothing wrong with going for both). Size of grad programs are important, though - or else you're going to be the sole grad student in a class of upper-year undergrads, with no real grad peer interactions. Keep editing your writing samples. Not every day of the year, of course; put it aside and look at it anew every month or two. You'll still find little things to tweak, to improve. Project a clear sense of what you plan to do, and demonstrate you have a solid, feasible plan. Even if it changes, you want to show you can assemble a solid proposal - and show you have a solid idea of where you're going.

how is your area for getting to SFU?