juilletmercredi

If it is then I must be corny because I've got two hoodies, a couple of Ts and some other paraphernalia. I'm just as much a Columbia student as the undergrads (more, maybe, since I'll be here longer! LOL.) And I didn't pick my program for the regalia but it is a relief that it's quite pretty. I like Columbia blue!

I'm already in graduate school (in my third year) but my plan B and is really my plan A. When I came to graduate school I wasn't planning on going into academia; I was planning to take my PhD into government or military research or into the private sector. I have come full circle - through a vested interest in becoming a professor and back again to realizing that it's really not what I want at all. Since then I've been exploring a variety of careers that aren't academic at all and I plan to get some internships over the next two summers that expose me to industry jobs. Honestly, I'd rather be a management consultant than be a professor at this point. Academia just isn't that appealing to me, and I TA'ed last semester and I was not fond of it. But it's because I'm being realistic with myself - even though the job market in psychology isn't horrible, my degree is an interdisciplinary one and might incur some doubts, and even if I was able to find a tenure-track job it likely wouldn't be in a desirable location. I've been checking out the CHE job listings and they mostly seem to be in places I don't want to live (and I am willing to live in a LOT of places - I love new opportunities and new people).

I'm a city girl at heart, and I was born in New York, but I moved out when I was 5 (too young to remember) and have since only lived in small towns that are suburbs of large cities (usually no more than 30 minutes away from a large city - but not in it, you know?) Most recently I spent my adolescence and the first part of my young adulthood in a small town of about 2,000 people 30 minutes from Atlanta, but I moved to New York for grad school. I love city life in general - I love the energy of it, I love the millions of people, I love all the interesting and exciting things that happen in the city on a regular basis. I also think in the city, it's sometimes easier to escape orbit from the university if you need to get away. My university is two small blips (main campus and medical center) in the larger city and so I don't really have to go very far to escape it's grasp - even a few blocks in either direction has me in a new neighborhood. I think in small college towns sometimes the university has a tendency to consume the rest of the town with its issues, especially if it's a Division I football or basketball team. There are some things I miss about suburban life, though. Number one is space. In any large city the apartment you'll likely be able to afford is going to be far smaller than what you could get in a small town (although I will say Southern cities like Atlanta, New Orleans, Austin, etc., and some in the Southwest like Tuscon might be an exception - I could probably get an apartment in Atlanta twice as large as the one I have in New York for half of what I'm paying here). You'll feel at a loss for storage space and what to do with your clothes, especially if you have two sets (warm and cold weather). I have a relatively large two-bedroom apartment for New York but there are only two small closets in here, one for me and one for my roommate. I have mixed feelings about transit - I love the freedom of hopping on the subway and going wherever I want without thinking about it, and I love the extensive transit system of the Northeast (I go down to Philadelphia and south Jersey all the time on transit, and have visited D.C. a few times). And yet sometimes I would like the freedom of a car to get groceries and just drive to my cousins' in south Jersey without checking train schedules, but between parking, gas, and insurance it would make no sense to have a car in this city. I found my apartment by contacting my university's off-campus housing office, and they gave us listings. A lot of people also find their places on Craigslist (that's how my current roommate found me), although you have to sift through a lot of duds. I am not supposed to work during my program while I'm on funding, which I still am, but since my program only funds for three years a lot of people get jobs if they don't have external funding. I'm in a school of public health that has close ties to the NYC Department of Health so a lot of people find jobs there; or they just look through professors' networks - a lot of the professors need project coordinators (these full-time positions usually pay more than the graduate stipend) or they know someone who needs a research assistant or a project coordinator. Most of the MPH students I knew who had jobs worked as PCs or research assistants; but the ones I did know who had off-campus jobs in the city usually found them through job fairs on campus (we have one at the beginning of the year for master's students who want full or part-time work) or they find them through the professors' foundation or center or project, or whatever. Meeting people not in your immediate circle in New York is difficult. Everyone says that about this place - I don't know what it is, it's this artificial sense of intensity and busy-ness that everyone seems to project. When I was in college in my home city it was cool to just invite people over to your place to just chill, but here people usually either go to bars to meet up or you have to be having some kind of formal shindig at your house to get people over, it's so weird. Most of my friends are in the program, either in my cohort or cohorts that came before or after me - but everyone gets here around the same time and so we're all eager to meet other people and form friendships. You tend to drift apart after you stop taking courses, though; I'm done with coursework and I only see my cohort-mates when we're all in the research area together (which isn't all the time). So you have to all put forth an effort to really connect with people and hang out together in different settings - we've planned knitting parties, dinners out, dinners in (potluck), we contact each other to find out if anyone's going to conferences so we can room together, that sort of thing. If you want to meet people off-campus who aren't in your program, that's a bit harder, but you have to be willing to get out there. I joined a social sports club league (didn't really work out as the others only wanted to booze it up at bars and that's not really my scene). You can also go to city events - for example in NYC if you're LGBT the LGBT center puts on a lot of events at which to meet people, there's SummerStage concerts, there are events on Governor's Island in the summer, things like that. And you can always check out the standby bar scene and just walk up to someone and talk, but that can be a bit awkward sometimes.

Nothing. I saved up some money during the schools year, went home to live with my parents, and basically kicked around doing nothing. I wanted some time to relax before I started what I knew would be a grueling experience, and I didn't have the money yet to move to New York and start graduate classes or what not. I also didn't have the money to travel the world. I tried to find a mindless summer job to make some money, but I couldn't (beginning of the recession), so I just...lounged. It was nice for a month and then it got incredibly boring. The upside was I was really really to start graduate school.

In my cohorts (I'm in a joint program, so there are two) I don't think anybody would care, especially if it were a professor from a completely different university. I have a colleague who is dating a professor in my field - different department, but he's very well known in my field - and no one seems to care. She has openly admitted that his status has helped her pull some strings in certain areas, but she's also a competent and intelligent student, so I'm not entirely sure she wouldn't have gotten into the program she's in without his influence. We're interested in our colleagues' personal lives but not enough to jump to conclusions about your personal worth based on who you date. I think the exception would be if we KNEW that particular person was incompetent and displayed it through her work. But just generally jumping to a conclusion? Hey, professors have girlfriends and boyfriends too, and sometimes those girlfriends and boyfriends go to graduate school.

I'm almost positive that you can still use your maiden name to publish even if it is not your legal name - look at all the novelists who publish under pseudonyms. I think the laws in most states say that you can take on any name that you like as long as you are not using it for fraudulent purposes, and if you are using that name consistently, then it's yours. Here's what I'm planning on doing, with the same problem. I'm simply adding my maiden name to my middle name. I too, love my middle name and don't want to rid myself of it, so I'm going to be Melissa Rene Mylastname Hislastname. I'm going by my last name professionally - my students and colleagues will call me Dr. Mylastname, and I will publish under that name, but socially and legally (ID, check signing, credit cards, passport, etc.) I'll be Mrs./Dr. Hislastname. I'm choosing not to hyphenate because I want to use my maiden name singly in addition to the fact that our names sound stupid hyphenated. I think it will cause more confusion for you to try to change your name professionally when you've published so much already. When people go to search for your name, it will be more difficult for them to find you (where you are in academia, what university, what you are currently doing). You'll essentially have two sets of literature under two different names. But considering that your professional circle is likely to be very different from your social circle, I don't think having a separate professional and personal name is going to be confusion, and I also think that anyone who lies in both can be assured with a simple explanation ("I use my maiden name professionally, and my married name socially." How difficult is that to understand?) Of course the men in your life are telling you to go with convention and give it up. At the risk of sounding pedantic, it benefits men more in society for women to go with the convention and give their name up. I always say that for any man that's insisting that you give up your name for his (especially if he uses the "But I want us to be a cohensive family!" excuse), turn around and insist that HE give up HIS name for YOURS. You'll still have the same last name, right? See how quickly his tune changes then. But, of course, you have to work with your fiance the best way YOU know fit. (Mine doesn't really care so much.)

I'm in a PhD program at Columbia right now. The stipend I had was slightly over $30,000 (it came out to $2594 a month gross, or $31,128). I believe this was the institutional stipend because despite being on an NIH training grant, I am told that my stipend was "topped off" by Columbia to bring it to institutional levels, and the other graduate students who were on GSAS funds said they got paid about the same amount. It's been raised since I've been here and I'm on an NSF now, so I can't be sure exactly what it is, but I think it's actually slightly larger than the NSF funds. The guaranteed funding package is 5 years here. You can also apply for additional fellowships to fund up to 7 years total. For an English literature student, you can apply to teach Literature Humanities or Contemporary Civilization to the undergraduates during your 6th and 7th year (or 5th and 6th - it's a two year fellowship) and that provides funding, although I've heard it's really time-consuming. Columbia students are only eligible for 7 years of funding from the university, though, and only 5 years are guaranteed; after the 7th year you can continue to study until the 10th year but you have to find external funding. I'm in psychology, btw.

I'm a "full-time student" but that's because I've registered for a residence unit; I only have one class left (I'm a 3rd year doctoral student). I also TA a class: Monday & Wednesday @ 1:10-2:25 (TA) Monday & Wednesday @ 4:10-5:25 (and one recitation session from 5:30 to 6:30 on Wednesday) I also have lab meetings, advisor meetings, departmental colloquia and other random things interspersed in there. In my first and second years I was taking 4 courses a semester as well (with the exception of the last semester of my second year, in which I took just 3). My doctoral program required 60 credits of actual coursework and I had to take that many to be finished with my coursework in a timely fashion. Everyone else in my program was also taking 4 courses a semester. It's not easy and people from other departments will call you crazy because that's not the norm (I'm in an interdisciplinary program and the students from my secondary department's eyes would go wide when I told them I was taking 4 courses. They took 2 usually). And your research will not progress as quickly as people taking 2 courses. But whatever, I will be finished with my coursework at the end of this semester. I will add the caveat that I did not TA any classes during my first two years due to my courseload. THAT would've been crazy. Do people within or without your department think you are crazy? If the people who think you are "crazy" are all students within your department, including more advanced ones, then perhaps you need to reevaluate your courseload.

-You need to get sleep. We tend to think that if we just stay up later and wake up early, we can get more done. You will actually be more productive if you get more sleep. I learned this the hard way, but no matter what I try to get at least 6 hours of sleep a night (and I usually aim for 8. I reserve the 6-hour nights for big deadlines.) You will have more energy if you sleep 6-8 hours a night. -Start an exercise regimen. I know, you're like how the hell am I supposed to fit in time to exercise? Even 1-2 hours a week of low-impact exercise will change your energy levels. You'll feel more energetic and more focused on your work. -The corollary to that is to take care of yourself. Eat healthily; keep a lot of options that you can grab quickly but that are still healthy (sandwich meat; salad stuff, etc.) Drink lots of water and avoid soda. If you keep your body healthy you will have more energy as well. -As was already said - make sure you take at least one day for you. That's not to say that you'll never do any work on that day, but the majority of the day should be time for you to veg out and do whatever - catch up on your television shows, listen to music, laze around, sleep all day. Whatever. You'll look forward to that day for the rest of the week and you'll keep yourself pushing so that you can reward yourself. If you have no short-time rewards, there's nothing to work towards, so you lose motivation. I also like to reward myself with a little purchase every now and then - I love shopping. I am the most productive when I am happy and satisfied (and as I found out this summer, when I am depressed and unhappy, it has a destructive effect on my worth ethic). And like fuzzylogician said, I come up with a lot of great ideas when I'm cooking. -Also as fuzzylogician said, prioritizing is helpful. Fact of life is you will very rarely get everything done that's on your to-do list or that you know that you need to do. Select what the most important things are, and work on those first. Let the other things to the side. If you get an impossible soft deadline from a professor, discuss it with them (talking about side projects and not classwork). Remember the mantra of "good enough." I'm in a doctoral program so this is from that perspective, but in classwork you only have to do well enough. Save your biggest energies for the career-forwarding work - research, publications, presentations, fellowship applications. Find out what's most important for your career and focus on that as your first priorities.

I feel the same as wordbird. I really, really want a dog. I love dogs. However, my program and apartment is in New York. New York is a very dog-friendly city - there's a dog run in the park a block away from my apartment, as well as a jogging path and such - but my lifestyle is not a dog-friendly lifestyle. I travel at least once a year for conferences; I fly home 2-3 times a year, and I have extended family and a significant other in New Jersey who I visit 1-3 weekends out of the month, especially during the summer. Even when I am at home, if I had a dog, I'd have to walk it (there are no fenced yards here), be home to feed it, and have enough time to give it exercise. I wouldn't MIND doing that stuff (indeed, "Sorry, I have to go feed my dog" is a great excuse!) but I don't know if I actually could do that stuff. I do work best at home, but being in the coursework phase of my doctoral program I'm not home a lot anyway. The poor doggie would be in the crate and/or alone in the house much of the time, and then when I wanted to go away I'd have to put the dog up in a kennel. My mom has a dog and a kennel for a few days can cost nearly $100 - that's an extra expense on top of my own travel expenses. Uh, no thanks. Not to mention dog food and leashes, toys, vet visits...I don't have that kind of money. Then I thought about getting a cat. I think my lifestyle would be better suited for a cat, but I'd still have to cut back my weekend visits to my family and I'd still at least have to find someone I trust to come check on my cat(s) every time I needed to go somewhere, or board them, or find a catsitter. It's not that difficult - there are lots of people in the department with cats who are willing to take one or two extra kitties in, or who are willing to check on cats. I'm still debating getting a cat - I'd love to have a furry creature to love and spoil, and I like cats almost as much as I love dogs - but I know that I definitely could not have a dog. So what I did instead is I started volunteering for the ASPCA I'm still in training but volunteering with them will give me the opportunity to interact with dogs and cats at least once a week. I also agree with Emilee's advice to adopt a dog, if you do get one! My volunteer position with the ASPCA is an adoption counselor, and we have a match program so we match the dog's personality with yours. We do full health and behavior evaluations, and we train the dogs - so a lot of times you can get a dog who is not only already houstrained, he or she already knows some commands and is already spayed or neutered! We don't do home checks when we adopt our animals out and a lot of shelters in New York don't. I will say this, though - I don't live as far north as Edmonton, but it does get pretty cold in New York, and I wouldn't mind walking a dog in the cold weather. Then again, I like cold and snow, so I don't mind.

I got a Kindle 2 last Christmas season when they were around $260. I still get a little bitter when I see all the improvements with the new generation accompanied by a lower price sticker, but hey, that's the way of the world in electronics I suppose. In any case, I love it. I'm also one of those people who prefers the feeling of paper and books in my hand, but having a Kindle doesn't mean you have to exclusively read on it. It's very convenient to carry around, especially on the subways and buses or when you want to pop it out in the waiting room or something.

I, for one, am totally on board with eliminating tenure and going for contracts that can be negotiated from anything from 3 to 10 years. I've got several personal and more general reasons. Personally, I'm a young academic in my mid-twenties who'd love to teach at the college/university level - I want to teach undergraduates psychology, and especially to love research and usher them into research careers. Problem: my fiance is a military member. His chances of moving from base to base his entire career are a lot lower than a lot of other job specialties (he works on a special plane that is only stationed at two bases) but they are there nonetheless. If I had the opportunity to sign 3-5 year contracts to be a university professor, that would be great. Under the current system it's possible that I could go for a t-t position only to have to leave it 3 or 4 years in because we have to move. I think 7-10 year contracts are better for more stable young academics, because that gives you enough time to establish a lab and some connections and relationships with the students at the school, settle in, and be a real asset to the school - but still have mobility when/if your needs change in 10 years, you decide you want to move, your spouse find a great job in a new city, your kid wants to attend a prestigious boarding school 1000 miles away, whatever. Personally, as a young academic, the idea of tenure does not attract me to a job. Job security is nice, but I prefer a balance with flexibility. And I certainly would rather not commit to living in a certain place for my entire life. What if the city goes downhill, or the cost of living shoots up and I can't afford it anymore, or crime skyrockets or something? I'd rather get paid 35% more (and I believe they mean a 35% increase on a t-t professor's salary, Alette, not an adjuncts) and have a 7 year contract. For a more moderate view, though (I realize that there are a lot of young academics who would balk at losing lifelong job security, although it's not appealing to me) I can see a system working where maybe 1/3 of all positions are tenure-track and the other 2/3 are contracted positions for 7 to 10 years - with no adjuncts. All positions benefited and properly paid a salary. I'm also in favor of a reworking of the tenure system so that it rewards teaching and service for those who are more interested in that than research.

Coya, if you like Chapel Hill I think you'll like Atlanta - it's not so much of a college town, but it has a perfect mix of the vibrancy of a big city and the laid-backness of a nice Southern town. It's definitely not walkable, though. But if you like the energy of an urban place with nice planning and yet without the ugly stuff, Atlanta's where it's at. As far as New York - I love urban landscapes and I think tall buildings and sparkling lights are far more attractive than large open fields and farms. However, it's the intensity of New York that is getting on my nerves. This city - just the energy of it, the vibe - it's stressful, and it makes ME stressed out and sort of nervous. That's why I'm really looking forward to escaping to a smaller city when I move away from here, and living the suburban lifestyle. I also agree with you - I wouldn't work at Harvard.

I agree with Alexis. Really, as much as you want to plan (I'm a planner too) there are too many uncertain variables for you to come up with a really solid plan now anyway. What if you don't get into Brandeis? What if your research interests change to align more with a program in the NJ area? I think like she said you should apply to a variety of programs, see what you come up with, and discuss it with your partner when that time comes around.

I'm the type of doctoral student that would rather be in a particular kind of area - and do any kind of research job there - than follow the academic job market to whatever it takes me. For instance, I'm not willing to be a professor in Mountain Home, Iowa. I'd take a non-academic position in New York before I moved to a rural area just to be a professor. Anyway, where would I want to live? in order of preference: 1. Atlanta (where I'm from) metro 2. New York/Philadelphia metropolitan area 3. Washington D.C. metropolitan area 4. Anywhere else on the East Coast between DC and Miami 5. New Orleans area 6. Boston area 7. Austin, San Antonio, Houston, or Dallas, in that order 8. Portland/Seattle/Pacific Northwest 9. Chicago I'd also be happy at a place with no graduate researchers. If I become a professor, I want to work with undergraduates mainly.

LOL, I could never afford to buy anything in New York. If I had done graduate school in Atlanta, where I'm from, yes I definitely would've considered purchasing a house and then renting some of the rooms in it out to other graduate students. The only downside I can really think of is when you get a position afterwards, if it's in a different city, you'll have to unload your house and it may take longer than expected to sell. (But if I had gone into graduate school in Atlanta, I would've stayed there anyway, so it would've been more of a long-term thing.)

Columbia has some housing up in Riverdale in the Bronx. If you live on the 1, it's easy - ride it straight to Columbia. The 4 and the D are not as easy. With the D you'd have to get off at 125th and take the m60 - which wouldn't take much time at all - or switch to the C or B at 125th and walk across Morningside Park, which is kind of a b*tch because of all the stairs. With the 4, I guess you could also take the crosstown m60 to 116th and Broadway. But honestly, depending on how far into the Bronx you live, getting to Columbia's main campus from Brooklyn might not take that long (from Carroll Gardens if you take an express train I could see it taking around 45 minutes) and it's a straight shot or maybe changing one train instead of to a bus. Plus the Bronx doesn't have a reputation of a "cool borough" like Brooklyn. As a matter of fact, while Brooklyn has been able to shake it's reputation as a dangerous borough, the Bronx still conjures up images of 1980s New York for people. As for EHS, I also looked them up. First of all, as a graduate student it would've been horribly inconvenient for me to pay them by the semester. I get paid semimonthly and I wouldn't have had the upfront money to do the payment. Second of all, $1200/month was a lot more than I was willing to pay - and that's their lowest price. At their lowest price, I'd probably also being in their lowest accommodations, which was a triple. They don't list their prices for singles anymore on the website, but I'm sure they are plenty more than $1200 a month. You can find an apartment for less than that elsewhere in the city, but even if you are going to pay $1200 a month, you might as well get your own freaking room without all the rules that a dorm requires - for example, if you want to have overnight guests you have to complete forms, and you can only have one, and they can't stay longer than 3 nights in some places and guests who stay longer than 4 nights have to pay. If I'm going to pay $1500 a month for a room I want it to be my own room AND not have any silly rules about who I can have in my space. I also think all of them are like dorm rooms; none of them have their own kitchens. Honestly, if you wanted a room with a kitchen you could find a studio in Queens or Brooklyn for cheaper than that. Lastly, I think as a student we can't be picky about what we consider - or at least not so picky as to exclude an entire borough for consideration. Why would you not want to look in Brooklyn at all? A commute from Williamsburg or Greenpoint would probably take you around 45 minutes, a little longer from the rapidly gentrifying Bedford-Stuyvesant and Flatbush areas. But for other Manhattan and Queens areas that are a quick commute to Hunter - East Harlem is obvious and has cheap rent (I have some friends who live there, including two who live in a really nice 2-bedroom brownstone apartment on 130th and Lenox for $2,000 a month). Other than Astoria and Hunters Point, look at Sunnyside, Woodside, Ravenswood, Jackson Heights, Kew Gardens, Forest Hills, and even the western part of Flushing.

Soros Fellowship for New Americans For "new Americans" - permanent residents, naturalized U.S, or the child of at least one U.S. naturalized parent who has no US-born parents. Field is open $25,000/year for two years, plus tuition For undergraduate seniors, bachelor's degree holders, and 1st and 2nd year graduate students 30 New Fellows a year Deadline: November 1, 2010 http://www.pdsoros.org/overview/ Ford Foundation Predoctoral Fellowships -U.S. citizens pursuing a research-based PhD in certain fields (basically humanities, social sciences, and sciences; no practice-oriented programs including education and social work, but engineering is eligible); preference is for scholars who will contribute to ethnic diversity of the college teaching workforce, but anyone is eligible if you are committed using diversity as an educational resource -$20,000/year for 3 years and a $2,000 honorarium to your school -For undergraduate seniors, BA holders, and PhD students who still have at least a semester of coursework left Deadline: early November http://sites.nationalacademies.org/PGA/FordFellowships/PGA_047958 APA Minority Fellowship Program -For ethnic minority students pursuing a PhD in clinical, counseling, or school psychology, or other mental health areas (MHSAS) or in neuroscience (DPN). U.S. citizens or residents only. -3 years for MHSAS; 2 years for DPN; stipend amount changes year to year (they don't give it, based on NRSA guidelines) -Deadline: early January http://www.apa.org/pi/mfp/psychology/predoctoral/index.aspx (MHSAS) http://www.apa.org/pi/mfp/neuroscience/predoctoral/index.aspx (DPN) National Research Service Award for Predoctoral Fellowships -There are a couple of categories of these: one for MD/PhD & other dual doctoral degrees (The F30 mechanism), and then one for just PhD candidates (F31) - and then there are two types of F31s, the diversity one (Parent F31 - Diversity) and the "regular" one (Parent F31). They also have one specifically for nursing students. -This fellowship is unique in that you have to write the equivalent of a FULL GRANT to the NIH - it's 12 pages, and you have to have a research project and training plan, plus support from your mentors. Because of this, it's best suited to students who are already in a doctoral program, usually in their 2nd year or higher. -Field is open; just have to do health related research. -Current funding levels are $21,780 for FY2010, but they are revised every year. Contribuition to tuition and fees. Up to 5 years. -3 Deadlines a year: April 8, August 8, December 8. For the diversity fellowships, they are April 13, August 13, and December 13. HOWEVER, for AIDS related applications, the dates are May 7, September 7, and January 7. http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/pa-files/PA-10-109.html http://grants.nih.gov/training/F_files_nrsa.htm IBM: -for doctoral students doing research interesting to IBM ( computer science and engineering, electrical and mechanical engineering, physical sciences (including chemistry, material sciences, and physics), mathematical sciences (including optimization), business sciences (including financial services, communication, and learning/knowledge), and service science, management, and engineering (SSME).): Don't have to be a citizen. -1st year PhD students and up -1 year of support https://www.ibm.com/developerworks/university/phdfellowship/ Also, here is a page with some other ones, including ones for sociology, accounting, management, science education, engineering, the physical sciences, and biomedical sciences: http://www.gradschools.com/Article/Graduate-Fellowships/1676.html Another link: http://staff.lib.msu.edu/harris23/grants/3gradinf.htm

The best way to do this is to talk to a lot of people and estimate your living expenses. Check out the cost of living in your area. What does rent cost? How about average utilities? How much do standard groceries (milk, eggs, cereal, bread, etc.) cost? What does it cost to go to the movies? How much is gas, if you're driving? Ask the departmental coordinator if she can put you in touch with some current graduate students at your university who might be willing to talk to you about money matters, and ask them how much they spend in an average month and how much they think they can get by on. In my experience most graduate students are pretty open about money because none of us have a lot of it and we're all making similar stipends anyway, so there's no need to be secretive. For example, I live in New York City. My current stipend is $2280 a month after taxes, and I think that works out very well - it covers all the necessities and I have some left over for extras (saving 10% traveling to see family or my boyfriend, the occasional vacation, eating out sometimes, etc.) I think that with the cost of living in this area, I could live on less - maybe down to like -$1900 a month, although it'd be a struggle. I wouldn't be able to save much if anything, and I'd have to cut out many of the extras, but it's survivable especially if it's only for two years (I'm in a doctoral program so I'd go nuts, but...). Indeed, last summer I did make around that much; our tax situation changed over the summer (GRAship ended, paid on casual pay) and after taxes I was making about $400 less per month than I made during the school year, so I stop socking the savings away, cut out a lot of the eating out, and I didn't buy a metrocard every month - but then, I didn't need to, since I live walking distance from one of my departments and didn't have to go to the other one as much. And if you lived out in Brooklyn you might find rent cheaper than mine ($900/month for sharing a two bedroom). $1900 a month here is a little less than $23,000, so I'd say the average person could get away with taking out around that amount for living expenses and be fine. And if you can get away with $23,000 in New York City, you can get away with less somewhere else. If I lived in Atlanta, for example, on my $27,000 after-tax stipend - I'd be living in comfort! I'd have air conditioning! I'd have cable! I'd have my own place! LOL.

Columbia has a similar program - or rather, a couple of them. Certain statistics MA and PhD students can become consultants for pay through the department, and we have an institute here where any student who has a substantial quantitative background can do paid consulting (the institute pays us; it's free of charge to the students and professors who ask for consulting through there). We've got a lot of consultants from the stats department, as well as from psychology and a few from political science. I think, however, that given that both of them are prestigious departments and that your ultimate goal is to get a PhD next, you should go to UNC - the department is ranked higher, it's half the price and the living expenses will be a lot lower than Columbia's. If you wanted to take your stats degree to Wall Street I may have a different answer, but if academia is your goal then UNC is probably the better choice.

Don't pursue a program just because that's where "resources" are. I mean if there are legitimate connections between your interests and cognitive psychology, then by all means, get into it. But if you're really a social/personality person and you have no interest in cognition, then drop it. By no interest I'm not talking about workable interest and viable connections or even the potential; I'm talking about zero. Best case scenario you get rejected from all of the cog programs; worst case scenario, you get accepted into one and end up miserable there. If you are interested in blending social and cognitive, and if there are any common interests with professors, consider Columbia - here you get a general PhD in psychology and you have the opportunity to "specialize" informally by working in labs with people. There are several students here who bridge social/personality research and cognitive psychology research. Working with more than one person is more the rule than the exception here. If you're interested in couples and close relationships my advisor, Niall Bolger, is pretty big in the world of couples research and has done a lot of research on stress in relationships.

I agree with the above - and, in addition, consider other career fields and choices and don't rule anything out. I think it's wonderful to begin preparing for the PhD this early in the game, but it's also a good idea to consider other paths to what you want to do and other things you may be interested in. For example, if you want to counsel people with eating disorders, there are many routes besides getting a PhD in clinical psychology; for example, you could become a licensed clinical social worker or perhaps a school psychologist. Don't narrow yourself to one field so early, and don't be so single-minded in your pursuit. I went straight from undergrad to a PhD program and while I can't say I regret it at all, sometimes I wish I had spent more time exploring and even spent 2-3 years working first to get a better grasp on life. I think I may have found some opportunities other than doctoral work that would've gotten me where I want to go. In addition to that, don't focus on time to completion. Everyone wants to get done in 5 years or less, but life happens. I think you should hope and plan for the best but accept the possibility that if you actually do go onto to doctoral work, it may take you more time than you expect. Nevertheless, it IS good to look for universities that have decent time to completion rates (I think 5-6 years is reasonable to expect). One thing you CAN do this early, however, is start exploring summer options. Doing research experiences in the summers of your undergrad career will boost your application, and it's good to start thinking about them earlier rather than later. It's too late to apply for this summer, but that's okay; consider beginning to research summer opportunities in the early to mid-fall of next year because some deadlines for summer programs happen as early as November, although the majority of them are probably sometime between January and March. The National Science Foundation sponsors a lot, so you can start on their website, or you can search "Research Experiences for Undergraduates" or "REU" or "summer undergraduate research", things like that.

Some places will...for example, I studied abroad and got credit from the School for International Training in Vermont for my classes, but the notation and the grade on my home school's transcript sufficed for every school I applied to, and I didn't have to get additional transcripts from SIT. I would, like others have said, contact the schools individually.

Morningside Heights is a very safe neighborhood patrolled by Columbia cops, very nice, many Columbia students. I would say that outside of Columbia housing, it's not very affordable for students, and even Columbia housing is kind of expensive (apartment shares range from $787-$1339 per month). I'm a Columbia doctoral student now and I was on a training grant last year; the stipend I got was $2280 a month, but I'm funded through the medical center, and the downtown campus students just got a raise that put their monthly stipend slightly higher than that (originally mine was more). I currently pay $900/month in rent and I like it like that, but I also save $200/month. I could probably live comfortably on up to around $1100/month by saving and spending less (I like to shop and eat out!), but I think more than that would be stretching it a bit...although I had a friend who was on the same stipend who was paying $1200 (including utilities and everything). So I'd say as a Columbia student on a stipend unless you have outside help or are going to supplement with loans, look for places where you can pay around $1100-1200 a month or less in rent + utilities. Anything more than that will probably be a stretch. Given that, the "best" place to live has a lot to do with your individual preferences and your program, as well as if you have any children or spouses to worry about. I'm a joint student in the School of Public Health (which is uptown at 168th St) and the Department of Psychology so for me that place is currently Washington Heights, in which I'm walking distance from the SPH and a 30-minute trek door to door to most of my classes and my lab on the main campus. Most of the grad students I know that don't live in graduate housing live either 1) in Harlem - which is slowly gentrifying and a lot of students live in some of the better parts, and it's inexpensive 2) in Washington Heights/Inwood - pretty safe neighborhood, and also inexpensive here, with a short commute to main campus and to Midtown/downtown for exploration and fun 3) in Brooklyn - cheaper than Manhattan; popular neighborhoods are Carroll Gardens, Cobble Hill, Williamsburg, Greenpoint, Clinton Hill, Flatbush, and sometimes Bushwick - Brooklyn Heights and the downtown Brooklyn area are also nice, but expensive 4) and, sometimes, in Queens - also cheaper than Manhattan, neighborhoods I know people live in are Kew Gardens, Astoria, and Long Island City. If you don't mind a longer commute the Brooklyn neighborhoods have a distinctive flavor and are cheaper. Harlem and Washington Heights/Inwood are great for shorter commutes. If you live along the E, F, V, R, or 7 in Queens then you shouldn't have to take more than two trains into Columbia (all of those connect to the 1 at some point).

The only time you should get spyware or viruses and your computer becomes "completely unusable" after a year is if you click every darn thing on the Internet. I bought an IBM in 2004 and gave it to my aunt; it is stil running (it's just slow because it's got like 512MB RAM). I have a friend who had a Toshiba for 5 years before it died. I've had a Dell for 4 years with no antivirus on it and it still runs fine, I just decided to buy another computer last year - a Sony, which is also overpriced. The Dell works absolutely fine. I installed McAfee on this Sony to protect it - had it for a little over a year and it also runs. My mom's had a good running Dell for about 5 or 6 years and it still runs fine. Like someone already pointed out, the hardware on Macs aren't any different from the hardware on PCs. The moving parts are mostly made by the same companies. I like the Mac OS; it's great to use, but it's not that it's not susceptible to viruses. It's just that fewer people MAKE viruses for the Mac. And, like I said, if you're careful with what you click and you know at least a little about the Internet you can avoid getting some heinous virus that will destroy your hard drive. It's certainly not true that you'd have to replace a PC every 1-2 years. I've known people who have had PCs last just about as long as Macs last, and I HAVE met people who have had Macs crap out on them after a year or two. It's really about comfort level. Apple is very expensive for the components they offer you. Even my overpriced Sony was about $300 less than an Apple Macbook Pro and I've got twice as much RAM and HDD space as the Pro I was eyeing, and a faster processor with a similar graphics card. I've also got HDMI output which has come in handy when I want to watch Hulu on my television. Thinkpads are great computers; they are built like tanks. Like I said, I bought a Thinkpad when they were still made by IBM and not Lenovo and that thing is stiiillll going 6 years later. It's got a floppy disk drive, lol. Toshibas can be hit or miss from what I've heard but I've had generally good experiences with them. I bought a Sony because I've heard they are also durable but honestly I don't think they're any more durable than Toshibas; my bezel cracked and I don't even know how.