Designated

Thanks for the note! I remember hearing that about Boston. I am actually renting a room in a house so I will have parking on the driveway!

Hmm... I don't think so. The graduate coordinator I spoke to has been there for maybe 10 years at least. I'm fully funded and I don't think in-state or out-of-state fees apply for my PhD program. So it sounds like everyone pretty much kept their car insurance in the dark about going to grad school in another state. I wanted to be honest and find out if there were any rules/laws I'd be breaking, both from the car insurance company's point of view and from the police department.

Thanks, guys! But in terms of car insurance, did I screw myself over by telling my car insurance company that I will be going to school in MI? Did you guys keep it a secret from them? Or did they know and not care that your car was in another state for most of the year? My car insurance company is adamant that I cannot be covered under my CA policy because my car will be in MI and they said that I need to switch over to a MI auto insurance policy. I've called 2 MI auto insurance companies and they've both told me that I need to become a MI resident to get MI auto insurance. Did you guys run into this problem or were your car insurance companies in the dark about your schooling?

Thanks runonsentence! You're right about filing taxes... I didn't even think about that. I could still help my parents out, but it would be a more difficult and a big hassle since we will have be on different car insurance policies and maybe even using different insurance companies. *sigh*

So how many of you out of state students changed residency? How many of you out of state students kept your home state residency, car insurance, registration etc.? I currently live in California and will be going to school in Michigan. I am getting conflicting information on residency and auto insurance. I was going to type up my confusing story on why I prefer to stay a CA resident and keep my CA auto insurance (the gist of it involves my immigrant parents who do not speak English and depend on me for a lot of things, one of them is dealing with our car insurance), but I won't get into that. If anyone is interested, this is the information I have gathered so far from the various people I have spoken to: CA DMV - the CA DMV told me that since I am only going to school in MI, I can still be a CA resident if I use a CA address as my permanent address and my Michigan address as my mailing address. Even though I am currently an independent and have been living on my own in an apartment for the last few years, I was thinking of changing my permanent address to my parents' address and then using my new Michigan address as my mailing address so I can get letters from the DMV regarding my license, car registration, etc. My CA auto insurance - my CA auto insurance company said that even if I am technically still a CA resident with a CA license, I am considered "living" in MI and my CA auto insurance policy cannot cover me and I need to switch over to a MI auto insurance company. If I was much younger and still living with my parents, it would be possible for me to keep my CA insurance, but since I am much older and an independent, I cannot. Random MI auto insurance company #1 - said that within 30 days of moving to Michigan, I needed to become a Michigan resident: get a Michigan driver's license, license plate, etc. They said that I needed a Michigan driver's license in order to sign up for their car insurance. Ann Arbor Police Department - the Ann Arbor Police Department told me that since I am just a student and since I am not establishing residency by buying a house in Ann Arbor, I did not have to change residency and can keep my CA license and my CA tags/registration. Should an officer pull me over and question me, I can explain to them that I am a temporary resident and just going to school. My grad program's coordinator - she said that she suspects most grad students keep their home state residency, car insurance, etc. Random MI auto insurance company #2 - also stated the "within 30 days" thing at first, but I told them what the police department told me above. I asked if I needed to be a Michigan resident to sign up for their car insurance and they replied that some companies will allow me to sign up with a CA license, but I would eventually have to become a Michigan resident because where I park my car at night most of the time is where they consider my residency. So far, it looks like I cannot keep my CA auto insurance and I need to change over to a MI auto insurance. And in order to change over to a MI auto insurance, I need to become a MI resident and go to the DMV and get a MI license, registration, etc.

If you know them well enough, try to think of things they like or enjoy. I sent mine thank you cards & a gift card. 2 of my recommenders who teach at the same school have raved about a particular restaurant on Facebook so I got them gift cards to the restaurant. They were both excited and surprised at the gift. The other recommender is very fashionable and I remember him commenting on stores he likes to shop at so I got him a gift card to one of those stores.

No from UCLA and Chicago (via email). Oh well, at least I have Michigan and Boston University so it doesn't hurt as much.

Got the Berkeley rejection today (email with link to application). No email from Chicago yet... I'm patiently waiting.

Great! Anyone else going? Besides the planned events, I want to explore Ann Arobor. If anyone has suggestions on must-see or must-do things, I'd appreciate it. I'm actually a Michigan football fan so must stop by The Big House... even if it's just outside.

One of my acceptances is Michigan and it's my top choice. I was invited by my program to attend Graduate Recruitment Weekend March 17-March 19. I wasn't sure if it was just for my department (Anthropology) or if all grad programs are doing this. Anyone else heard of this and is planning on going?

Congrats on Duke & UCLA!

Thanks! I'm cultural, but also have an interest in linguistic anthropology.

Thanks, C'estLaVie. Good luck to you! I saw on the results page that people emailed the department directly only to find out they've been rejected so I figured decisions were already made and people who were accepted have already been informed.

Hey guys, I heard back from Boston University! I was accepted, but on the wait-list for financial aid... "Congratulations! The Admissions Committee of the Anthropology Department is recommending you for admission to the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. In addition, the Admissions Committee is recommending that you be placed on the wait-list for financial aid. You will receive official notification from the Graduate School within the next week."

I got into Michigan... to be honest, my interests are in BOTH sociocultural and linguistic anthropology, and I kinda forgot which subfield I ended up choosing when applying to Michigan, but now I'm pretty sure it was linguistic anthropology since they included the Linguistic subfield head in the email to me.