euphonius38

I need some advice on MIT graduate residences if anybody has some info to share. I would prefer to live in a one-bedroom/studio apartment, furnished. So far from what I've seen, The Warehouse, Ashdown and Sidney Pacific seem like good matches. Anyone care to elaborate on one of these? Thanks.

received letter, PGS-M. yay! letter sent to vancouver, dated march 20.

still no word. i hope they didn't get my address wrong...

Just got an email from Harvard, and of course they get my address wrong. They sent it on March 9th and they're only telling me this now. It's really quite annoying. I'm pretty sure I know what it is but it would help to know before making my final decision. Since they only correspond by letters, there is no way I'll know till next week. April 15th is coming up faster than it should.

So, at the end of the day these are my two real options based on research possibilities. I have to try to decide pretty soon, but I'm not sure what factors should be the most important. I'm interested in doing single-molecule biophysics, and so both places have faculty that I would want to work for however, I would most like to work for a supervisor at UIUC. With fellowship UIUC is offering me a stipend of 26k, while Stanford offers 30k. Taking into consideration living costs, it's obvious that I would be better off at UIUC. However, I also think about the living environment. Honestly I don't know if I could live in Urbana for five years. I know Palo Alto is small too, but at least it has San Fran close by to escape to. I'm more of a city person I would say... Anybody have any thoughts?

Does anybody know what the tax rate on stipends are from Stanford? They just set the stipend for this coming year to be around 30k. I'm not sure how much that is after tax and what it really amounts to living in California.

that's the best thing i've heard all day! haha

I might give them a call, but not expecting much either since they are probably really tight on funding. I'm international, so chances are pretty slim. I need to know so I can coordinate visits to other schools.

Wow. I still haven't received any news from them, I guess that they've already reviewed your file. Duncandam, would you mind me asking whether you are an American in-state resident or international? Thanks.

Anybody else finding it really hard to do any work? It's my last semester and all I'm hoping for is to pass all my classes. It's hard to stay concentrated at this time.

I would give it till the end of Feb to the beginning of March. It's a busy year for all these schools. Who knows, a letter might be in the mail as we speak. I'm also waiting to hear back from Berkeley, but I'm not a California resident or American citizen so my prospects don't look that great.

Agreed! The excitement of every email or opening your mailbox is starting to get tiring. haha

It seems like Chemistry admissions have slowed down quite a bit from the looks of the Results page. I wonder if this is it. But I think that it may just be the result of a larger pool of applicants this year, so just have to wait it out. Super fun!