UnlikelyGrad

This is why my mother-in-law doesn't even know which schools I applied to. My parents have expressed preferences, but when they hear my reasoning about why I don't want to go to a certain place, they accept it as logical. Luckily, my dad has a Ph.D. and mom has a M.A. so they both know how important it is to choose your grad school carefully.

Ask a real estate agent. They would know. (My relatives' kids are in Montessori school, so I can't be much help to you with this.)

Have you visited either? If you visit Stanford, you will see that PA might be a small town population wise, but it is surrounded by cities on all sides. It is in a VERY urban area. Believe me, there is a lot of "big city" stuff around, and you don't have to go all the way up to SF for it. I know people who work @ UIUC. At first they thought they'd be miserable in Urbana-Champaign because it is so small and they are definitely both city people, but they've been very happy there. If you can visit UIUC and check out the town, DO IT...you might be surprised. Remember Chicago is only a little over 2 hrs away... Both Stanford and UIUC would be good schools based on your interests. My own personal feeling is that, unless there are MAJOR factors indicating otherwise, you should go to the school that has the advisor you want. At both of those schools you probably won't have much of a chance to go out on the town anyway...prepare to be a workaholic!!

I can't say how happy I am for you! I would send you a virtual hug, but if I did we might scream in each others ears!!!

My original prediction (on the prediction thread) was 3 acceptances, 2 waitlists, 4 rejections. Right now I'm at 4 acceptances, 3 waitlists (I guess, haven't heard from them either way) and 2 rejections so I guess I'm good...

It's very rare to get an academic job straight out of grad school, at least in the sciences. A post doc (or two) is pretty much mandatory if you want to be a professor at a Ph.D.-granting institution.

The exact same thing happened to me at UCDavis; I was admitted to an interdepartmental group, that has no TAs to give. (I can ask the chem department, but they give their own students priority.) They said they have some money, but they don't know how far it will stretch until they see how many enroll, so basically they won't know until after April 15. There's a strong possibility that they may not even have enough to cover a tuition waiver for me, never mind a stipend. It sucks. Big time. Luckily I have fully funded offers elsewhere... I always said that I didn't care how big the stipend was, as long as I had a tuition waiver and SOMETHING, enough to cover fees and books. I still stand by that. But the possibility of nothing? Not sure I can go with that.

I think UW students get free or reduced-price bus passes. The bus system in Seattle is pretty good. Also, if you bike, it's totally feasible to live in, say, Greenwood (2-3 mi north or so?) and bike to campus. I know a number of people who went to UW for grad school and they all lived in Greenwood at one time or another so it must be a cheap place to live.

The schools that accepted me liked to make the reservations (both plane and hotel) themselves. So go ahead and contact them.

I've heard from three, still waiting on six...

Wrong. A thief is one who steals, period. A cheater is one who cheats, whether or not they get caught. Honesty is not the best policy because it keeps you from being punished: it is the best policy because, long term, it is the most beneficial to you and the rest of society. The person who steals deprives someone of that which is rightfully theirs. The thief also start to think that he/she 'deserves' to get anything they want, no matter what it takes to get it. Those who cheat don't learn the material. If they don't get caught, they may get a good grade in the class, but they won't understand what's going on. (Speaking from long experience as a tutor: those who don't learn the material early in the class will be doubly screwed because the later stuff will probably be totally incomprehensible...) I wish there were more honest people in the world. Seems like, nowadays, there are too many people who don't comprehend the definition of the word. **bites tongue, refrains from saying: "When I was a kid..."** Around here, what happens depends on the professor. One professor of mine recently caught a bunch of plagiarists; he called them into his office one by one to test their understanding of the material. If they understood what they'd written (even though they didn't come up with the words themselves), he gave them points, albeit fewer than the rest. I thought this was very merciful...most profs I know will give you a zero for the assignment.

I doubt it. Your advisor may not have been on the admissions committee so he may not even realize that you were ever waitlisted. I seem to recall that my PI was waitlisted at the school that he ended up attending. He did pretty well there, so his "second-tier" admissions status obviously didn't hurt him.

My last acceptance came on a Saturday; I got an email from the prof who'd been assigned as my temp. advisor. And one week later (yes, Saturday again) the admissions office emailed me with the official decision. So it is possible.

I don't know much about physics programs, but it's very common in chemistry programs--you take the ACS tests (organic, inorganic, physical, analytical) and have to pass a certain number of them. Some schools say you have to pass a certain number, so you keep taking them until you do (with, as you mentioned, a limited number of tries); some say that if you don't pass you have to take remedial coursework. What I've found is that some schools explicitly mention testing on their website, and some don't mention it until you're admitted. By the way, this testing thing is not a new development; my dad had to do this when he started grad school 40+ years ago. He told me that the part he failed was the test on the class he did best in as an undergrad...but he passed tests on classes he'd done poorly on! Go figure! Anyway, I plan to spend the summer studying; I did fairly well on the GRE chem test, but not well enough. (A school I'm waitlisted at specifically mentioned my "low" GRE chem score as a red flag on my application...I got 67th percentile.)

What ever gives you the idea that CCs have a bad reputation? I have relatives in academia and none of them think so. If it makes you feel better, some grad schools only care about your junior and senior years anyway...at least, when I was applying, some only wanted a GPA for the last two years or 60 quarter units.

As a fellow interdisciplinary student, I feel the same way. Note that I also like professors who structure grading so that everyone has the possibility of earning an A. (What is it with the "I must give out C's for ___% of my grades" policies? I don't understand. If everyone masters the material, shouldn't they all get As?) I noticed that about the two interdisciplinary programs I've been accepted to. An unexpected side benefit!

Excellent choice! Yay t_ruth!!

I understand. I'm being fairly secretive about the process too. (Less so here, but most of my RL friends have no idea where I've been accepted.) I'm cramming visits to all 3 schools into 8 days, starting a week from today. I hope I don't get too overwhelmed! And I'm sorry about Berkeley. It can be a great place to go to grad school if you get the right advisor. Even my sister who got the wrong advisor admits this.

So where are you going?

Well, if you're a mediocre applicant, they might admit you but not give you funding, in which case you could only attend by paying tuition.

OK, I'll bite. I lived in Pasadena for 8 years--my husband is a Caltech grad. There are a lot of moderately priced apartments within walking distance of Tech--mostly west of Lake, between California and Cordova. I don't know what current rents are, but 10 years ago you could find 1-bedrooms for $500-$600 if you were willing to live in an older apartment building. (The newer buildings with all the amenities were higher.) Grocery shopping was convenient living in this area. There were a Pavilions (ritzy, expensive grocery store) and a Wild Oats (natural foods) on the corner of Lake & California. W.O. has probably been taken over by Whole Foods by now. Trader Joe's was just south of California & Fair Oaks--about a mile from the Pavilions & Wild Oats. There was a Vons a little past TJ's somewhere. All of these were easily bikeable distances. Also, I think there was a bus line (177?) that ran down California past these stores and Caltech. I liked living in Pasadena. Not as much as where I am now, but it was still a nice town. I do really miss being able to walk/bike/bus to get everything I need.

If you like prospective advisors at both places--which should really be the #1 factor--I would say to consider the following: 1) Location. If you're a city person & the school is way out in the boonies, for example, go to the other place. 2) Location. How close are you to family? You will want to visit, and traveling long distances is more expensive than traveling short distances. 3) Location. Do you like the atmosphere of the city/town surrounding the campus? 4) Climate. I do not like hot/dry, for example; I'd rather live in Minnesota than Arizona. 5) Funding. If one pays more than another...well, why turn down extra money?

Yes, I firmly believe this too. I've had some experiences in life that people would call very, very bad--the kind of things about which people say, "I hope that never happens to me." But I would willingly go through these terrible crises again because every single one of them triggered a huge positive change in my life. One nice thing about being an older applicant is that I've acquired a sense of perspective. No matter what happens, it will not be the end of the world. Cry a little--yes, acknowledging your feelings is important--and then go out and throw yourself headlong into another good cause.* *Could be a "real job" or not. My volunteer work ended up being life changing--I learned skills I probably wouldn't have learned elsewhere and discovered important facets of my personality. Eventually, it was the trigger for going to grad school.

Duncan, Have you visited any of them and talked with the potential advisors? To me this a big thing. I've never been a grad student before but my sisters have and they say MEET YOUR (potential) ADVISOR!!! Sometimes the research sounds good but the professor's personality is incredibly abrasive! Real life story: One of my sisters dropped out of a chem Ph.D. program, taking an MS, because her advisor was really annoying and after a while she couldn't muster any enthusiasm for the subject. I mentioned this to my PI, who is in the same field of chemistry, and he said, "Oh yeah! He's known for being a bit aggravating! Lots of people drop out of his group!"--Note that my sister's former PI also one of the best known people in the world in his subject...Needless to say, my sister says, don't just talk to advisors, talk to their GRAD STUDENTS as well...they will give you the best indication of what it's like to work in the group... I don't know nano materials well at all, so I refuse to give you advice on specific schools, so that is all I have to say. If you can't visit, call the professors and email their grad students. (Most group pages have grad student contact info.) Hope this helps!

Unless he's on the admissions committee, he may not know...