psi*psi

So you were impressed by their visit weekend too? Who will you be working for?

UCSB

Wouldn't it probably be a lot easier and cheaper just to drive it? I'm moving from central KY to southern CA, and taking the scenic route. The trip is 3500 miles--so factoring in an estimated 15 mpg (will likely get more; car is 30 hwy when empty) and an estimated $4/gallon for gas, that's still under $1000! (At 20 mpg and $2.50/gal, which I think is more reasonable, that works out to less than $500.) Your trip will probably be much shorter than mine. As far as lodging goes, you can get a room at a decent hotel in a very small town for $30-$40/night, or reserve a campsite for around $20 in a lot of places. Alternatively, if you're renting a moving truck, you can just rent a car trailer...

Me too. Yay for indifference!

Honestly? It's cold. I go through a bad seasonal depression every winter, so I'm better off living somewhere that doesn't experience that season. Plus, I did an REU at UCSB, loved living there, and noticed that most of the grad students really do seem to be happy people with lives outside chemistry. Northwestern would have been at least tied for first if Chicago were warmer, I think. Otherwise, I liked the department and the people and the surrounding area a lot. (Plus, I found an amazing advisor at UCSB, have a cool project or two in the works, and picked out a place to live...)

Really? Then there's nothing I can tell you that you won't find out very soon They put together the best of all three visit weekends I went to--it was fun, informative, and also really organized. The only downside is that we only met with three faculty. Make sure you go see downtown Chicago on the last day, if you're not leaving super early. Definitely, definitely make sure you talk to Emily Weiss at some point! She is an awesome person with cool research in your area.

just finished my last visit (Northwestern)...was very impressed, but I'll be at UCSB in the fall

application fee: $75 GRE score report: $20 burning the official rejection letter from Berkeley: priceless honestly, i would have been very bummed about it if i hadn't realized my second choice was an infinitely better fit. but now i don't care!

If family housing is where I think it is (on/off El Colegio, just slightly west of campus and north of IV?), there's a shopping center near the Storke/Hollister intersection--a quick bike ride away. IIRC, there's a Costco and an Albertson's, and a nice farmer's market Sundays 10-2.

moving (and starting research!) in june

BTW, no qualifying exams at Michigan for chemistry.

Visited UCSB, will be visiting Northwestern at the end of March. Honestly, laid-back is a definite advantage in my field. Materials research is interdisciplinary for a reason--it requires people from many fields of expertise. The more collaborative the environment, the better. I'm not really into competition...I'd rather go somewhere the students work hard but also work together. i'm also a big fan of the fact that materials-division students don't have to take cumes at most schools

I did! Michigan puts together a FANTASTIC visit weekend--they treat recruits really nicely. The facilities are pretty awesome, the labs are nice and very well-equipped. One group had their own XPS, another a (really nice) diffractometer. The buildings (3, all connected) are confusing, but mostly because they're so large as a complex. The research impressed me a lot, and UM does seem dedicated to its chemistry department. Many of the current grad students were pretty cool, and everyone I spoke to absolutely LOVED Ann Arbor as a city. It's a nice place to live, and not too expensive. Lots of awesome microbreweries, too. To be honest, the only thing that really put me off the place at all were some of the other prospective grad students--a few were very nice, but some came off as a bit self-absorbed and not all that friendly. Several profs did mention that UM has extensive support for first-gen students, but after enduring a long "where did YOU study abroad" discussion--largely with other prospectives...it was apparent to me that I'd do better in a more laid-back department. Still, I would probably be dead-set on going to Michigan if I hadn't just visited a program that was a *perfect* fit for my interests. Awesome chemistry there.

I'm in chemistry, not humanities/social sciences, but I'll be there starting in June! Found a nice place to live near campus (but thankfully not in IV).

Not telling for another three weeks--I still have a visit left. (Not Berkeley, though, they rejected me. :,( )

i just turned down admission offers at michigan & georgia tech...hope this helps out someone on the wait list

Lex is a pretty nice place to live. It's shockingly progressive for a city in KY, the cost of living is extremely low, and most areas are very safe. Beware of traffic and bad drivers--a light turning green generally means you need to wait a few seconds in case someone else is running the red. Avoid Nicholasville Rd between 4 and 6 PM if at all possible, because you won't go anywhere very quickly. Also avoid most campus areas on days of football games, and downtown areas during basketball games. (Word to the wise: don't root for Louisville, Duke or UNC--you'll upset some of the locals.) You will probably want a car, because it's a bit sprawly and the bus system isn't great. Parking is only a problem near campus most of the time. Be forewarned--if a sign says you will be towed, it isn't lying. (Exception: although the city's parking authority has claimed they're stepping up enforcement, this is an empty threat so far. It's rare to see someone towed from a "permit only" residential street, excepting a few weeks early in the semester.) While there are many new bike lanes around town, motorists are generally oblivious to cyclists here except in the campus areas. You may not encounter too much in the way of KY accents--Lexington, like Lousiville, is basically a midwestern city and doesn't have too much in the way of a quirky dialect. However, people do move here from other parts of the state. Ice storms are not as much a concern as one other person on this thread seemed to imply--we may get a minor storm every to every other winter, but the bad ones come about every 5-6 years. (2003's ice storm was several times worse than 2009's, by the way.) There isn't too much snow in winter, since the weather is finicky. (Beware, though: no one here can drive in rain or snow.) We frequently see 70 degree days in December and March, but temperature swings of 40 degrees overnight aren't unheard of. Summer is pretty uniformly hot and humid. It has also brought us some serious droughts in the past few years. If you want to check out some of the more local businesses/restaurants, the campus area is a good place to start exploring (please keep them open, they rock!). I disagree with a previous poster's characterization of Sqecial as a head shop--it's more an independent bookstore. (Paisley Peacock, which was downstairs for many years but is now closed, was the head shop.) The coffee at Coffea is highly recommended, as is the ambiance. Marikka's is an awesome little bar, if you're a beer drinker, and it mostly caters to a grad-student-age crowd. If you'd rather patronize large chain stores, Fayette Mall and/or Hamburg are full of them. (Hamburg is a labyrinth. Good luck finding your way around.) There is a smoking ban in restaurants/bars/most public places here. If you have kids, some of the public schools are pretty good.

I'm a lifelong Lexingtonian...email me if you have questions.

Meet with your potential advisors, meet with their grad students and try very hard to get honest answers out of them. Helps to know what sort of environment you work best in. Do you want an advisor who's fairly hands-on or one who is never in town? Cooperative or competitive environment? Small or large group size? Find out how many semesters of TAing are expected of you beyond the first year--in some groups, grad students don't TA much, but others aren't so lucky. Funding is really, really important. You don't want to be in the position of being unable to order solvents/glassware/chemicals you need for your research! Find out if the other grad students get along with each other. Ask about facilities available at the university and the support staff in charge of them. (Both are important--there's no use having badass diffractometers without a good crystallographer.) Talk to OTHER grad students in the department--ask them who not to work for. See if the profs in the department get along or if there's a lot of infighting. All other things equal, what sort of area do you want to live in? UIUC is in a really tiny college town, Northwestern is close to Chicago. (Don't know much about Ithaca.) Check the cost of living in these areas. Find out what there is to do in the cities on the rare occasion you're not in lab. If you won't have a car, check out public transportation. Find out if there's a good bus system and if the streets are bike-friendly. Remember, you're not attending the school just for the research. While that's extremely important, you also have to remember you'll be living there for around 5 years. You don't want to be doing amazing chemistry in an area you hate--it's easier to be productive if you're happy!

I was talking this over with a few other prospectives...maybe they wait for their first/second choice people to visit and accept or decline their offers, in order to see about how many first-years they'll have, and then email people who are a little further down on the list.

has anyone actually gone through with it and called? what did they say?

adam matzger (and he was super nice!) when are you visiting?

that's how i heard from them as well! makes me even more excited to go there since it was someone i want to work for

Yes! I'll be there March 6-8th.

When do you think is appropriate to give up on a school? I'm still really, really hoping to hear back from Berkeley...but their visit weekends are in mid-March, and it's already mid-February.