kahlan_amnell

Yes, it is possible to take public transit when it is cold and snowing and it is fine to walk around. Just make sure you have warm enough clothes. Dressing in layers is a good idea so you can adjust to changing temperatures. Buy warm clothes before you think you'll need them, people from warm climates often don't expect it to start getting cold as early as it does. Ask people who have lived there for a while how cold it gets, or check a weather website for average temperatures. If it is too snowy for public transit to run, you wouldn't want to be driving, and your school will very likely be closed anyway.

Sure feel free to P.M. me, I'd be glad to answer any other questions.

Ok, I'm getting a little worried. I need to get to the Spokane Airport on Friday September 4th for an 8:25 am flight. I don't have a car. Wheatland Express won't get me there that early. The only other shuttles I've found cost over $100 one way. Does anyone know of any cheaper options that run early in the morning? Is anyone headed to Spokane on the evening of the 3rd or very early on the 4th and would be willing to give me a ride? I'd be glad to pay for gas. Also, I need to get back from the Spokane Airport to Pullman on the 7th at around 11:00 pm. Can anyone help me out with that? Also, I am desperately looking for a cat sitter to check in on my cats while I'm away. Does anyone know one in the Pullman area? Thanks everyone!

My week has been going well so far. My classes seem interesting, and my TA assignment seems like it will be manageable. I'd be glad to meet for coffee sometime, though I'm not sure when. It sounds like you're really busy!

Where in Long Island? Sorry you're not liking it so far, but there are lots of really nice places in Long Island. Go exploring other towns and you'll probably find a lot of them.

It varies by school, so you would have to ask the schools you are applying to what their policy is or look for it on their websites.

I went to Fordham for my undergrad. It is quite easy to get to Manhattan from the Fordham campus in the Bronx. There is the inter-campus van, called the Ram Van, that will take students between campuses. There is also Metro North, a commuter train, that goes from right outside the gates to Manhattan's Grand Central Station and various other places. There are two subway lines, the D and the 4 that are within walking distance of the Fordham Campus, and both go to Manhattan. The area around the Fordham Campus is a bit run down, but it does have some great features. It is near the Little Italy of the Bronx, Arthur Avenue. There are wonderful restaurants and food stores there. Also, the campus is right across the street from the Bronx Zoo and the New York Botanical Garden, so there is a lot of green space around the campus. The campus itself is rather large, and quite lovely. I hope that helps, please let me know if you have any other questions about Fordham.

Yep, I agree. This is the only sub-forum here for people who are currently grad students. Undergrads feel free to post in the other sub-forums, but you might want to wait until you are a grad student to post in this one. jasper.milvain, that sounds like a good survival plan. I left during some of the boring parts of mine to go get other things done, like get my advisor's signatures on a form I needed to turn in. Your plan sounds much more fun.

No thanks for spamming.

Yep, the general orientation I went to here was pretty useless. I think that most orientations cater to the lowest possible knowledge level, making it boring to most people. Anyway, I start classes tomorrow!

Why do you want to do an online program? Such programs are not generally good preparation for Ph.D. programs, and will not be viewed positively by many universities. I don't even know if there are that many online programs for History, but online graduate degrees are generally viewed as a joke in academia. If you want to do a MA, do a traditional one. That said, your stats look pretty decent. No one can predict who will get in and who won't, but I'd say you have a good chance.

Schools vary in what they do with GRE scores, you would have to ask the schools.

I grew up in New York City, and am currently living in a small town. Both have their advantages and disadvantages. I agree with you that it can be difficult to meet people in a big city unless you make an effort at it. Big cities can also be overwhelming to those who are not used to them. They can also be really distracting, I've seen lots of people choose schools in big cities for undergrad mainly because they wanted to live in that city, not because of the school. They spent too much time doing city things, and not enough on their work. Also the college was often a poor match because they were thinking about the school's location rather than the school itself. However, cities do have advantages. Many of them have great public transportation, and you'll never need to own a car. There are wonderful cultural opportunities, such as museums, concerts, and plays that you could visit every day if you had the time and money. There are stores that sell just about everything you could want, and restaurants that serve just about any type of cuisine. Many businesses are open late or open 24 hours. Small towns can be difficult to adjust to if you are not used to them. There may seem to be nothing to do because there are not as many options that are there all the time as in a city. However, small towns that have colleges tend to have lots of cultural events passing through, so you just need to be a bit patient if there isn't one around right at the moment. The stores in a small town might not sell quite everything, but if you look around you can usually find what you need, and if you can't there is always the internet. There may not be quite as many kinds of restaurants, but there are usually a few good ones. It is much easier to meet people in a small town, and unless you are living somewhere so small that everyone knows everyone else, there are usually new people to meet. It is much less distracting living in a small town. Personally, I prefer small towns. That being said, grad students are often so busy they don't really have time to enjoy or not enjoy their surroundings much. I'd suggest you apply to schools in a variety of locations, and decide once you get acceptances which one is the best fit. Consider applying to some "compromise" locations, in large towns or small cities. Do remember that a school's fit is much more important than it's location when choose a grad school, and don't apply places you wouldn't want to go just because they have a good location.

For a basic cup of drip coffee it isn't a bad place to go. Their chai lattes are also decent. However, I wouldn't buy their espresso drinks.

Does anyone know a good cat sitter? I need to be away for a long weekend at the start of September, and I need to find someone to take care of my cats.

Me too.

I was talking about actual coffee shops. There were a couple of them in the small town in NH I lived in. I've never lived in the area you're living in though, so I can't comment on the presence or absence of coffee shops that open before noon. Sorry about the lack of coffee.

10-15 minutes is really short, I wouldn't worry about it unless the buses don't come that often or are unreliable.

What city/town did you move to? I'm originally from the East Coast, and even in small towns I've lived in the coffee shop/shops opened at a more normal hour of the morning.

None of us can really evaluate your chances, since grad school applications depend on so many factors, many of which are never clear to anyone who isn't on the admissions committee. That said, I notice you listed extracurriculars. Those don't really matter at all in graduate applications, unless they are in some way related to your field of study. Good luck with your applications!

There is a thread about this on the history board: viewtopic.php?f=51&t=18913

That depends. Do the departments at all of these schools function as one department? If they are independent departments, then no problem. If they work as one department divided between different locations, then it might be a problem.

Most states require that you switch your license and registration within a certain number of days of arriving in the state with the intent to remain there. Also, you need to do so if you want to establish state residency, which many schools require for students that have tuition waivers.

So, I went to as much as I could of the graduate school orientation. Anyone who missed it, you didn't miss much. If you want to see the PowerPoint presentations they showed, they gave them to everyone who attended on a USB drive and I would be happy to pass along a copy to any WSU grad students that want one.

That isn't always the case, some of my applications asked me to list all employment as a separate question from related work experience.