radagast

What about cell phone service? I am considering switching to Sprint during the summer but want to make sure the service is okay in Ann Arbor.

I am from the city as well and I am going to have a super difficult time leaving this fall. It's a wonderful place to be and really has a lot to offer! So, housing ranges from moderately to really expensive. I currently live in the lower Haight and pay 825 dollars per month in rent plus utilities. However, I live with four roommates (who are awesome and there are absolutely no problems but I wanted to give you that caveat.) You can find great deals on rooms in shared apartments but living on your own can be expensive. As my best friend is in a PhD program at UCSF, I actually have some insight into what areas are best to live in. She lives in the Nob Hill area which, while not super far from school, has been pretty isolating at times. I would suggest looking around in the lower Haight, Haight Ashbury, NoPa, Cole Valley, inner Sunset, Hayes Valley and some parts of the Mission for location and convenience sake. Just a reminder, if you are in neuro or bio you will be spending time at both the Parnassus and Mission Bay campuses so you want to locate yourself in the middle of the two places. Rents in the areas I mentioned for shared rooms are usually around 800 dollars but I don't know how much a single apartment would cost. Buses run through the city as do rail lines so you can getting between places isn't difficult at all. People complain about Muni but I think it is perfectly fine. Craigslist is a great way to find a place in the city. Pretty much everyone uses it to find roommates and though there are some sketchy people, it's relatively safe. OOOO also the outer Richmond and outer Sunset are way colder than the rest of the city. Just something to take into account.

I recommend taking a year off as well. It seems from what you write that you don't quite know what your interests are or where you want to end up and that process can take a while to figure out. Also, you want graduate schools to be able to see all of your qualifications and it seems your academic record will substantially change as a result of all the courses you plan to take senior year. I took this past year off from schooling and it really made me realize how incredibly young I am. It's important to have some life experience, I think, before entering into a PhD program. It's made me a lot more cognizant of the world around me and (as a result of teaching in an underprivileged school) has allowed me to realize what a blessing the opportunity to do graduate work is.

Just taken off the waitlist at Michigan. As that was my only prospect I am pretty ECSTATIC about the decision.

University of Michigan just waitlisted me today so they are letting out those responses right now.

Hi all! I have heard from both Boston College and George Washington this week. Both have turned me down for the PhD, though George Washington has accepted me for the masters and Boston College is strongly considering me for theirs. Just wanted to let you all know!

I think Jeppe might have been saying it sucks because the person got a decision already, not because they got waitlisted.

The snowstorm hit last year around this time too.

Also Wisconsin let someone know via snail mail today, according to the results page.

I teach third grade in English and Spanish. Though this is not strictly academic, I have furthered my language skills!

This was just unnecessary. The poster wasn't trying to insult the person who used the abbreviation. They were merely trying to explain the correct terminology. Personally, I am grateful I now know the way to abbreviate Japan/Japanese so I don't offend someone in real life later. If the person had said "nig history" when referring to Nigeria, I would certainly say something about not abbreviating the word that way. Anyways, we might as well learn the correct way to write it now so that, in the future, we know how to refer to different subfields.

I really hope that this thread does not completely devolve into an angry chain of posts back and forth. As a first time applicant, I use this site for information and honestly to get a bit of a laugh in now and then. I am the type of person who really wants to know what's coming and waiting in the dark would probably be much more difficult for me. I like that here I can get a rough guideline of when I will hear back and also read about other people who are in my same shoes. I have been reading gradcafe for two years, since long before I began the application process because the whole thing is much like a blog to me. I get to read about others experiences, gain knowledge for myself, and provide myself with a modicum of entertainment every day. I work at a public school and thus can't access facebook so this forum has become my new procrastination tool. And let me tell you, I have been a member of loads of ridiculous forums in the past from a college admissions to a white supremacy; from baking to parenting. (I am neither a white supremacist, baker, nor a parent. I did get into college though.) That said, Ticklemepink and StrangeLight, as much as you say to chill out and wait, you are also still members of this site. Your advice can be an excellent help, which I thank you for, but when you tell us to chill out or log off the forum, you have to realize that you are refusing to do exactly what you tell us to do and have gone through this rodeo before. Obviously the site functions as something in your life as well, be it as entertainment, news, or simply a place to feel knowledgeable. People will disagree on this forum, and there has been much more disagreement in this year than last. We should all take a step back, grab a beer, and realize that none of this arguing is helping anyone. And everyone, could we cool down on the swearing? I watch It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia and work with lower income third graders and thus get enough of that in other places. Don't use the vocabulary of a gross TV show or a nine year old trying to shock others in order to get your point across. Lastly, I would like to say that I get Lunar New Year off from teaching (February 3/4) and thus am doomed to sit around refreshing my email while getting paid to lesson plan. I might have to take some vacation time just so I can go do something else, like eat cupcakes and sing in the shower. All day.

We are almost there. We'll definitely be at the beginning of everything when Wisconsin releases sometime this week or next.

Hopefully I will be 22 when I start (I took a year off after undergrad but also started kindergarten early). I think for some people it makes sense to take longer but I have spent this entire year just aching to get back to researching and writing. A PhD is the right path for me to take at this point in my life.

The first three links that show up when you google me are a video profile of a day in my life at my undergraduate institution. Honestly I think this is a pretty great thing as it shows both my personality and my passion for history. I would probably even benefit from a google search.