squaresquared

glad I could help!

With the new Canada Line that was built for the winter olympics, in addition to all the buses that head towards UBC, there are many neighbourhoods that you can choose to live in that would keep you accessible to the campus and everything else. Downtown Vancouver is very compact and it differs from many US cities in that we don't rely heavily on freeways to get to destinations. I find in many cities in the USA, everything is very spread out. Traffic downtown is pretty horrible during rush hour, I was stuck in it for 2 hours last Friday! Tons of people live in the neighbourhoods right around campus (West 4th which is basically West Point Grey, Kerrisdale, Kitsilano, Dunbar area). You could also check out Richmond, which is part of the Lower Mainland and in close proximity. From Richmond on the direct bus to UBC it takes about 50 minutes, 20 minutes if you drive, and if you want to head to downtown Vancity from Richmond using the skytrain it takes 20 minutes. You may find cheaper rent out that way. Richmond is actually where the airport is located. To get into Vancouver, you can take the Canada Line, which will take you past multiple stops on the way to downtown. The neighbourhoods around UBC are for the very wealthy, but you may find housing with roommates that is quite affordable. The areas around campus have a lot of boutique type stores (down West 4th/Broadway) and are less big box. There are tons of places to eat with all different cuisines. Vancouver is actually quite well known for our fusion food. Very multicultural city. Plenty of clubs/bars/concerts/sports. You can take a bus to the mountains for skiing, snowboarding, snowshoeing etc. (Grouse/Whistler/Seymour/Cypress) or go hiking on trails through forests. You can try out the Grouse Grind which is a tough hike that tons of people do. You can go kayaking, sailing, running, cycling on the seawall, check out Stanley Park, take the Sea Bus across to the North Shore (North Vancouver, West Vancouver), walk across the suspension bridges in Capilano or Lynn Valley, go whale watching. Really, there is a TON of stuff that you can do and everything is either right in the city, or super close to it. You can even hop on the ferry over to Vancouver Island (Victoria) where you can check out parliament buildings and other neat stuff. Tofino is on Van. Island where lots of people go for surfing! (wow, I should work in tourism ) Campus is pretty large. It is surrounded by a park which is basically all forest with trails. There is a golf course and also beaches. Wreck beach is probably one of the most mentioned beaches because it is a nude beach! Of course we are right by the ocean and you can see the mountains from certain areas on campus. Very pretty in the winter on a clear day when the mountains are covered in snow! In certain areas of Vancouver, you get almost a 360 degree view of mountains. The buildings on campus seem to be either stuck in the 70's or modern. We only have a few stone buildings left, which is slightly unfortunate in my opinion. Science buildings are way nicer and have better everything compared to the Arts. The CHAN centre is on campus which hosts performing arts events. They always have orchestral performances going on throughout the year and special talks. There are several pubs/bars on campus and restaurants. There are several museums and gardens too. You pay for a bus pass each semester of school, I think it is about 98 bucks (mixed in with your other fees), and that is extremely handy to have because you can go anywhere on the bus using it, through multiple 'zones'. Bus fare is not cheap for the average rider, so this saves students a lot of money! It rains a lot in Vancouver which I am sure you have heard. It is definitely true, but on the plus side we usually don't get much snow. Summers are nice with a span of hot days (30-ish degrees). Most places don't have air conditioning, so the hot summer heat can feel extremely warm in apartments because we mainly rely on fans. People who have moved here have told me they found it hard to make friends here compared to their home cities. We like our personal bubbles in Vancouver ha! People are always (well, usually) willing to help out if you have any questions. Wow, this has turned into a novel! If anyone has more questions I'd be happy to help. I've also been posting on that other Vancouver board that was linked by another user.

As previously posters have mentioned, Prince George is a northern city in the province of British Columbia, while Vancouver is a southern city in British Columbia. Pretty sure Prince George is cheaper than Vancouver to rent, since mostly every city is cheaper than Vancity! I'd say you would be looking around $600 per month (possibly less or more depending what you look for). It is a large rural city, so it does have big box type of stores but lots of smaller boutique type stores as well. If you like the outdoors than you will like PG, but it does not compare to Vancouver at all. They have called, and some still call, Prince George 'the armpit of BC'. It can get smelly in the summer because of the pulp mills. The town is industrial based and relies on logging/pulp mills. The people are very friendly and it gets cold in the winter, more snowy than Vancouver but less rainy. It is about a 1 hour flight from PG to Vancouver. Way different than Vancouver though that is for sure!

does anyone know if Iowa is done with decisions? or how they give out their decisions? I never heard either way yet, but noticed there were acceptances/waitlists on the results board. I'm debating shooting them an email.

When I eventually get in, complete my program, and find myself in a permanent living situation, I'm going to frame them all and hang them on my wall.

Has anyone harassed any of the schools in Texas to find out if we should be hearing anything soon?

That sucks bigtime. which ones do you have left to hear from?

If it actually says word for word 'congratulations, you're in' that is a pretty hilarious statement! hahah That is what they should all say. Cut the paragraphs of 'thank you for considering our program blah blah blah' and just get straight to the good stuff 'YOU'RE IN!'

How many people are they interviewing?! I find this quite unreasonable that they would not grant you a phone/skype interview. I'm not sure what more you would gain by showing up in person, in terms of interview quality. If I were in your shoes, I'd re-evaluate the program/school/location etc., to see if it would really be worth it to you to spend the $700. Have you heard from other schools? Did you apply to other schools? What do you think your chances are like with other schools? Thinking about all of those types of questions may help you decide if it is worth it or not. Like the previous poster mentioned, if you have applied to schools near the area, maybe you can kill multiple birds with one stone and visit those locations. This is a rough spot to be in, so I feel for you!

Once we get our results, we have to remember that Ashley is ONLY the messenger....

I am going to assume that if I didn't get an email from Iowa....that I should be waiting for a rejection letter? I noticed that everyone who got an email on the results page was an acceptance/waitlist. Does anyone else know anything about this?

*insert nail biting emoticon here

I think Houston will be sending out results soon if anyone applied there. They let me know I'd have to take the Post-bach program, since I'm missing some courses that US students take in the communication disorders undergrad program.

I don't see why a phone interview or even a skype interview would be a problem. No harm in asking. The worst they can say is 'no'!

what is up with the huge amount of applicants!! AHH!!! I'm starting to think it will be a godsend if I even make it to a waitlist haha!

UBC and TO results came mid to late march for me last year.

I see people are hearing from Iowa on the results board. Anyone who has heard back want to share their stats? I hope all the other schools send in their results this week! ah!

That, I'm not sure of! Sorry!

I'm not sure if anyone has applied to University of Memphis, but I remember reading one comment about it on here awhile back. I know that for audiology they are making final decisions this Friday, so they might be doing the same for Speech.

Maybe that is a good thing that yours didn't change! Yes mine changed to the cryptic message of 'a decision has been reached. communication will be made'. That change for me happened around....I'd say 1pm (PST) and then as I said, I got the actual rejection email right at midnight, central time.

Maybe you are waitlisted? Did you check your junk mail? I received my lovely rejection right at midnight central time. Perhaps you can call them to see?

So, I think it might be safe to say that everyone who doesn't have this is either rejected or waitlisted. Darn.

For those accepted to UNC, does your status say accepted, or does it say something else? Maybe if we know that, we can try to decipher the cryptic 'receive a communication' message!

Congrats!!! Now this means I have to check the website immediately and become even more scared than I already am..... Edit: mine still says that a decision is still not available! WHY!!! THIS LIMBO STATE IS TORTURE!!!

I'm glad you guys find me interesting with my glamorous foreign-ness! WHY DON'T YOU WORK IN ADMISSIONS!?!?!? heheh I'm from Canada, so not too exotic and foreign (dangit all). And yes I've applied to other schools. I applied to U of Arizona, UT-Austin, UW, University of Houston UNC (as you know). I'm worried though since the majority of students accepted are American and the competition is super high for the program. I love how the States has so many schools that offer the program -- major plus in my book! PS: My UNC status online hasn't changed either.