engimo

My friend is a grad student there and she lives in Turtle Creek: http://www.toftreesapartments.com/. They have pretty nice two bedroom places and they are on a bus line that runs right to campus (and to a grocery). Her roommate has a bike and she bikes to campus, even during the colder months, so it is definitely doable to live there and not have much use for a car. There are also no undergrads there, and it's in the middle of a resort, so it's a nice place to live.

Likewise. I've started looking for housing and thinking about moving down there.

I have no idea why you would want to stay on campus. It's horrendously expensive and the conditions are not very good. If you're willing to walk a few blocks or take a bus, you can find a much better, cheaper place off-campus.

If you're looking for culture, Stony Brook is not the place to be. It is very much a commuter school, so about half the students leave on the weekend, and there is no real "college town" around it. You can take the train into NYC, if you'd like, but that gets expensive and is a bit of a hassle.

I've been accepted to UT Austin, but I don't know if I am going there yet. They're paying me to come visit, however, so I'll see how I like it when I visit.

I got an email and a subsequent phone call from the graduate admissions director.

Well, I haven't heard anything from anywhere (except Penn. State), and I've applied to a couple of those schools mentioned (including Berkeley, you bastard ). I'm assuming this means that I'm not a 1st round pick for anywhere, which is a little depressing. At least I haven't got any outright rejections, though.

I applied to a bunch of top schools, and I haven't heard anything from any of them. The only school I have heard from is Penn. State, which accepted me.

Yeah, that's a sore spot, I guess. It's better than not getting in at all, though, isn't it? Plus, considering where I applied, being a second-tier acceptance would still be pretty great.

Ahh. That makes me feel a little better, but it doesn't make waiting around suck any less.

People have been accepted into UChicago, Berkeley, and Cornell, starting last Friday. Where's my letter?

Yes, but I know that I will get into at least one school with funding. I'd rather go somewhere more prestigious, but it's definitely a good "safety school".

Seriously. If someone isn't enthusiastic about writing a letter of recommendation then you probably don't want them writing it for you. I've talked to people who have agreed to write letters for people that they don't really want to write them for, and they've said that it is much more difficult to write a quality letter for that sort of person. Plus, how exactly would you enforce that? A professor could just say that they didn't want to write you a letter, and then they would have no obligation to write it.

I applied to 12 schools, but with the exception of the one I am guaranteed to get into, they are all top 20 (most top 10) schools.

Jeez. This make me feel young, for sure. I'm the only one less than 21 that is applying so far.