ewurgler

Hey all,
I attended ucsd as an undergrad, have lived here for 5 years, and am dating someone who did undergrad and currently grad at ucsd. It is a fantastic school and place to live if you know the right things. Couple of notes:
Neighborhood:
Do not live in La Jolla. It is terribly rich, isolated, and hard to commute. The grad housing is ok in price, but you can get a much better deal if you are willing to drive a bit or shuttle to get to school. The neighborhoods I have lived in and recommend are:
South Park (15-20 mins to school). It is old with great prices, cute coffee shop, restaurants, bars, close to downtown, balboa park (museums, hiking trails), close to cheap grocery store.
North Park: Has a bit more "character," a bit louder, but still charming with great housing prices, tons of bars, old shops, coffee, walkable events. Close to balboa park and hillcrest.
Hillcrest The gay neighborhood, filled with unique and fantastic restaurants, bars, bookstores, coffee, close to balboa park, near a UCSD shuttle service. Slightly more expensive than north or south park.
San Diego has lots to do, extremely moderate weather, and is a surfers dream town. However, public transportation is nearly non-existent, and the area ucsd is located in is rich, stuffy and rather isolated.
That said, I loved undergrad and am looking forward to a new city for grad school. My boyfriend loved undergrad and loves grad (comm). But, if you like to watch the leaves change color, enjoying wearing scarves and cuddling up with hot coco, you will not like. It is honestly 80 degrees right now in january.

This is so annoying--it really bothers me that my undergraduate experience is like night and day to mostly everyone else I know.

Grades completely took a back seat after I found something I was truly interested in and the majority of people around me did the minimum possible to get into law school, mba, or make lots of money.

I'm not sure what makes them so entitled, but I DO think the focus on money or a graduate career that will ultimately make you money (law school) makes average students feel deserving about grades because they have a career goal/lifestyle goal that requires it.

All I have to say is WATCH OUT for me as a TA. That shit will not fly when I am grading papers.

College is about disorientation, rethinking and challenging much of what we assume to be "true" and "real." I can't think of 3 other people in my undergrad who shared this view.

ejuliast:

I am also in soc and think there are some important things to consider, and that will make a difference in me deciding:

1) Are you funded? How long? What types of jobs? Any summer funding?

2) Research Match? Who has the people you most want to work with? Will they stay at X University? Do their current students have good things to say about them? Do you click with them personally?

3) Cohesiveness of the department? Does the faculty get along? If you work with X, will Y automatically hate you? Are there major fractures? Do the quant people hate the qaul people?

4) If you want to do mainly quant or qaul, is that respected there? Are they known for that?

5) COurse work: How much is there? Is that how much you want? If you have a clear idea of what your diss will look like, lots of coursework will be annoying.

6) Teaching: Do they ever let you teach your own class? Is that important to you?

7) Size of department: Do you want to have a lot of attention, or do you want a large department?

8) Time to completion: How long is average for this department? (I know berkeley and Madison have a rep for taking longer).

9) Placement: Ask what this years PhDs have waiting. Are they good at placing at R1 AND top liberal arts (if that is something you MAY want)? Are these positions tenure track?

10) Do the graduate students seem happy? Are they well supported? DO they get along/socialize together? (A big one for me as I want some friends )

11) Can you live in city X on your stipend the way you want to? There are clearly big differences in cost of living on your list. Can you be comfortable with your pay?


These are obviously LOTS to think about, but on my last visit to indiana, I asked them to talk about other schools I am considering (some had gone there) and what they think is different about their school. They tended to be honest, saying "its a really strong program, and if you like this type of program, there would be better."

For me, it will come done to whether I like my potential advisor (his work and him personally), whether I get along with the grad students, and what department is supportive and not "strike out on your own type of place." I am not totally clear on what my eventual diss would look like, and I don't want to be in a sink or swim place.

Also, at my visit to indiana, they all said Berkeley has A LOT of hits, but a lot of misses, and it is a sink or swim department. It is up to you to make it, there is very little support. (I got rejected, but they all felt the need to tell me about it).
Also, I am from CA, and LA is incredibly expensive to live in. UCLA is in a rich area, all of LA has horrible traffic, so unless they give you 25k a year, you will be living in a dump or spending 2 to 3 hours a day commuting (seriously!). Berkeley and Stanford are also both in really expensive areas (Stanford in one of the riches areas in the US).

I also had an undergrad prof who went to NYU who siad they have big problems with support of grad students and completion times are long.

Ok, probably more than you wanted, but there you go. I am a big believer in going somewhere I think I will flourish at rather than somewhere that has produced the most superstars. You obviously have an amazing list to pick from, so now you have the luxury to grill the grad students and faculty while you visit. But trust your instincts on your visit. You will be able to tell whether or not people are happy, enjoying being around each other, etc.