Cashmere

I'm also curious about this. I have seen a few stylus reviews on youtube, but the writing often looks chunky and blocky with lots of space in between individual letters and words. I'm not sure if this is just a function of the inexperience of the individual using the stylus or if it's something inherent to the technology. Those of you out there who frequently use a stylus to take notes directly on your PDFs, does the electronic format mirror your typical writing style fairly well (i.e., is it possible to write in condensed spaces using smaller strokes)? My handwriting tends to be scrunched and small in general, so I'm wondering if I would have any trouble getting the iPad to register my strokes.

Anyone else headed to UCSB? I just got back from visiting Santa Barbara a couple weeks ago and absolutely loved it. I'll be entering the Anthropology PhD program in the fall.

Hey everyone, I figured I ought to reopen this thread because I'm sure there are at least a few of us out there that will be in Santa Barbara next fall. I was just out for a visit a week and a half ago and absolutely loved it. Now that I'm certain I will be attending, my thoughts have turned toward the logistics of living in SB. I won't be bringing a car with me and likely wont be able to afford one until I'm at least a couple of years into my program; from what I've seen, campus and the surrounding area (Isla Vista, some parts of Goleta/Elwood, Hollister Ave area) seemed really bike friendly, but I really liked the atmosphere and vibe of the downtown area (I'm a coffee fiend and tend to do a lot of my studying in coffee shops) so I'm torn on where to focus looking for apartments. Would it be doable to live downtown without a car? I know the bus transfer station is downtown, but can't guarantee that I would be able to find a place near enough to avoid all the necessary transfers to get back and forth from campus. Anyone have any experience living downtown without a car? If so, do you spend a lot of time in the office/on campus? I'm also drawn to the Hollister ave area near the family housing complexes (or even Elwood, etc) because of what I've heard about the farmer's markets and such, and part of me feels that it would be best to be close to campus and able to go in whenever I need to. So I'm obviously torn. Is there anyone out there with experience that can give me suggestions on where to live during my first year in SB?

So I'm in an interesting quandry at the moment. I have managed to narrow down my options for next year to two solid programs at two very different universities. Of these two universities (B and A) I am much more drawn to A and feel as if I would have many more opportunities and resources at my disposal through my years as a student there. The only issue is that my funding package at A is significantly less than that which B has offered me. So far this sounds just like an introduction to your typical "negotiate for more funding" post, but here's where the twist comes in. I haven't actually recieved an official award letter (university letterhead, etc) from B, but was told by my POI during my visit and through email that they have awarded me full funding and assistantships for my incoming year. Now when I told my POI at university A what university B had offered me, he said he would be able to push for more funding for my incoming year to cover non-resident tuition costs and match the competing offer. The only problem? They need a copy of the official funding letter from university B. Now, when I pressed B for an official letter, the grad secretary proceeded to break down the costs of attendance and my award in full in an email, but there is no official letter in sight. They seem to be treating the issue much more casually than I expected and in the email the secretary seems to shrug off the necessity for an official letter because "[they] can take care of all the financial details when get [there] and set [me] up in Payroll". I asked her nicely if she could send me an official letter for my records, but I feel like if I keep pushing the issue they are going to catch wind that there is something up, namely I am trying to get my hands on an official award letter so I can use their offer to get myself more funding at university A, which is where I really want to go. How far is too far? Aren't they required to provide me with some sort of official documentation? I really don't want to step on any toes as I greatly enjoyed my time visiting university B and enjoyed talking to the grad secretary in person, but I also don't want to lose out on additional funding at A because of any hesitation on my part.

I've found myself in quite the confusing situation. I recently received an offer of admission from a great public state university but was informed by my POI that I was unlikely to be awarded a fellowship directly by the graduate division. This means that any funding I am awarded has to come directly from the department (departmental fellowships, assistantships, etc), which is understandable as it was the department committee's choice to accept me, but I just now received the official funding letter from the department and was surprised at how underwhelming it was. I received a very light non-resident tuition and health insurance fellowship for my first quarter and have been guaranteed a TA position for my second quarter, but that is it. No additional guaranteed funding for the third quarter or for the rest of my time in grad school. I've been up and down the list of overall fees and costs of attendance, and there's just no way that any student could make it work without taking on an inordinate amount of student loans. Of course, I am expected to pay out of state tuition until I establish residency, and once that happens fees do drop considerably. But even so, without any sort of guarantee of assistantships or additional fellowships for the coming years, I'm likely to be jumping into grad school with absolutely no safety net. And that just doesn't sit well with me. Part of me just wants to express my gratitude; the amount that the department is willing to pay me is considerable for a two quarter time period, but in total it adds up to barely 30% of what it would cost me to attend the school for my first year. My POI mentioned once before that he does have some grant money that he would be willing to apply toward an additional stipend, but the amount that I would have to ask him for to cover my cost of attendance would be pretty high, and I'm unsure of whether or not he'd be willing to shell that kind of money out for an incoming, first-year student who likely won't yet be able to take up an RA position. Obviously my next step is to talk to my POI, but I just wanted to float the question out here for the board. tl;dr version: Do schools/departments often admit students and award funding packages that they know will not cover the majority of a student's cost to attend? I could understand if this was a terminal MA program, but it's a PhD program. Any thoughts?

I'm in the same boat. I will soon be visiting Salt Lake City and though I'll likely get a thorough feel for the area after a few chats with current grad students, it is always nice to make as broad of a query as possible; does anyone have any information on what neighborhoods most grad students prefer to live in? Also, how's the beer culture in SLC? I'm a huge craft beer fan and would love to find a couple great bars that serve local brews. I have also heard that Utah has some strange liquor laws in comparison to the rest of the country, are there any locals that can weigh in on this?

Yeah, same thing here. Still waiting on Duke Evo. Anth. Maybe I'm just deluding myself with wishes and dreams, but I feel like there are enough of us here on the forums that we ought to have seen a few results posted if acceptances really went out earlier this week. Hmm...

Yikes, this isn't overly encouraging (especially since I haven't heard a peep from Duke since their barrage of emails earlier this season). I take it this information is coming from the DGS of the department? I haven't seen any updates on the results board yet, so a part of me is hoping that they're still in the process of sending out the majority of the acceptances and that I'll hear very soon. I don't want to give up yet, so I'm still keeping my fingers crossed that some good news comes our way today.

cigar boat

Yeah, I'm also still waiting to hear from the Evo Anth department at Duke. Not a word from them thus far, and I have yet to see any notifications of interviews on the results page from this season. Looks like we're all being kept in the dark. And yeah, I got a kick out of all of duplicate status updates via email. What do you want to bet that there was some strange problem with their email system and all of our results are just floating around in email limbo?

This. It's disconcerting how many people I come across on Facebook who explicitly note that they hate reading and/or have not read a book for leisure in a decade or more. In many respects it's impossible to know that you're butchering certain idioms when you never see them in writing. For instance, "all intensive purposes" rather than "all intents and purposes", and "mind as well" in lieu of "might as well". These drive me insane, as it's painfully obvious that the individual has never seen such phrases in written text.

For those of you out there who have scheduled independent visits to schools/departments in the past, what do you find to be an adequate length of time to view the facilities, meet professors, and get a general feel for the location? I was recently invited to attend a graduate preview weekend, but due to scheduling issues with two POIs I won't be attending during the formal weekend slot and thus have to make the trip out on my own at a later date. At the moment I'm planning on spending a total of three days at the university, but because of flight times (arriving early afternoon on Day 1, departing late afternoon on Day 3) will really only be able to spend the entirety of Day 2 visiting campus and chatting with professors. The other two half-days will likely be spent with current graduate students and getting a feel for the city (which will be just as important as meeting with members of the department, in my opinion). To be honest, I'm not overly worried; I'm sure that this will be more than enough time to accomplish what I want to. Before I booked my flight though, I just wanted to hear some quick thoughts from you all in the gradcafe community. So anyway. In your experience, what's the ideal length of time to spend visiting a school?

First off, another round of congratulations to all of you who have heard good news in the past week. Also, I just wanted to say thanks to all of you who are posting "insider information" on a number of programs; it's helping to ease the nerves tremendously knowing that, although many of us are competing for the same positions, we're still willing to help one another out. Right now I'm curious about what you just posted about Duke, rudy-dugoo. Have you heard whether all department decisions will be going out this week (and if they are, any idea what day?! ) or if this is just restricted to cultural applicants? I know it's been mentioned previously that evo anth will be notifying people toward the end of February, so I'm hoping that all of the decisions go out at once. Here's to hoping that this week brings some more postives for everyone!

Yep, I know the feeling. I'm in funding limbo for the moment now and "patiently" waiting to hear more specifics. I'm finding that I am constantly filled with mixed emotions and have to continually explain to exited family members and friends that an acceptance without funding doesn't /really/ feel like an acceptance. I'm the kind of person who doesn't like to get my hopes up without due cause, so I'm trying to hold back on scouring craigslist looking at apartment availabilities and just generally getting overly excited about what life could be like if I were to get a solid support package. I often get the sense that I'm being a bit ridiculous. I am truly thankful that I've been on the receiving end of some good news so far this season, but even more good news would be better. Oh, woe is me.

I've had no news at all from Rutgers Evo thus far. There isn't much of anything on the results board either from past seasons, so I'm completely in the dark about when to expect a decision. You say you had an interview (and before the application deadline to boot)? I could only interpret that as good news; someone must have been excited about your application. Fingers crossed! Hopefully we hear something before the middle of March. Anyone else have any inside information?

uncharted land

Ah, I see. Thanks for the clarification! I figured it was worth a shot to ask. Things have been pretty silent for me thus far; now I guess it's right back to waiting.

Ahhh, I'm starting to get anxious about hearing back from Duke. Knowing that it's ever so close doesn't help the situation. On another note, does anyone have any information on the state of things at UCLA? I know there have been some whisperings/results from the archeology hopefuls, but have any biological applicants heard anything as of late? The application deadline was right at the beginning of December so I can't help but feel like I'm right on the edge of hearing something.

I just got an email from the graduate secretary at UCSB letting me know that the department has admitted me. Waiting now to hear officially from the Graduate Division, but they've invited me out for a "meet and greet" weekend at the end of February. It's really too bad that the UC system is hurting as bad as it is; my POI informed me during my interview that at this point it'd be unlikely that I would get any significant funding offer. Oh well, still excited that the first news this season is good news! Now back to waiting on the remaining nine schools.