teaganc

I'm not sure you should really be asking people to decline spots, since you are keeping open three spots to wait and hear from a WL school. If you think other people should decline offers they won't accept, why haven't you declined 1-2 of your acceptances?

I don't know that you need to say yes to ALL of your programs while you wait for a decision, and if any of them found out, I think they might be allowed to withdraw your offer. Obviously you don't need to say yes to the later deadline one, so if you said yes to one and waited for the later deadline school, that would give you two choices. If funding is the number one issue, say yes to the school where you are most likely to be funded. Rutgers MLIS program, for example, is generally well funded; I believe at least one of the professors has a DARPA grant of 1 million+. They also give RAships to students as they get grants, and I know they are waiting on the results of a few grant proposals. Also, they will give you in-state tuition after the first year if you live there for 12 months during your first year. (I'm not trying to convince you towards Rutgers, but I was admitted into SCILS, so I know something about them and nothing about your other schools).

I was given a delicious cigar-shaped chocolate to celebrate once. It was solid chocolate, though, and personally I prefer a creamy filling.

I plan to show up with a sign that says, "I want federal student loans and low tuition for public universities subsidized by the state, but refuse to pay taxes to fund these services!"

Why would any school have an obligation to admit you? Lots of people get rejected from their UG school. I suspect that the reason you are WLed for funding is that the department wanted the other students who were accepted more. I suspect this is also the reason you were waitlisted at other schools... you were a candidate they would accept, but there were other candidates they wanted to accept more. Without a lot of detailed info, no one can tell you how to make yourself a better candidate for those programs except the people working in admissions in those programs.

If you want to work in academia, you need to understand that each school operates in a larger academic community; just because you decide not to enter a program doesn't mean that you won't, in the future, need a job from that program, members of that program, or friends and colleagues of members of that program. I'm not saying that they will remember your rudeness forever, and tell all of their friends about it, but when they or someone they know is hiring, and they see your resume, they might remember your name and think, oh, that person doesn't keep commitments. In most circumstances, it's simply not a big deal, but if you say yes, and everyone else has said yes, they might reject people on the waitlist because they are out of spots. Then, you say no; sure, they can go to those waitlisted people and ask if they want a spot, but they might have already accepted another offer, and the school is forced to either take one less person then they planned or accept whoever will take them instead of their first choices. Maybe they'll remember the person who caused that inconvenience later, and when a friend who is hiring calls and says, "have you heard of this person?", they will tell them. If you want to work outside of academia, however, or probably just outside of the US, there is probably no or little potential negative impact.

I wouldn't go too far out of your way or spend too much money to visit a school you haven't even been accepted at, but if there are schools nearby that you plan on applying to, maybe you can meet with a professor of interest, sit in on a class, etc.

I know people who successfully dated professors, but I'm not sure enough of them are available and the right age to make that a viable plan. I would try to meet people outside of grad school, especially if you have some other hobby(s), or at the very least, date people outside of your department. Dating within the same department is just asking for drama.

I'm in a similar situation, and I don't think I'm planning on flying up at all; I just can't afford the flight, and I think that the worst that can happen is, I'm stuck in a not-great apartment for a year and then I move. I am also looking in Northampton, and haven't been able to find anything available later than June 1st, which makes me think that apartments opening in July and August either don't exist or just aren't on the market yet.

A good rule of thumb is, never live anywhere in Southern California more than a few miles away from a major freeway, or your commute to anywhere will be miserable. The 215 is less helpful, really, because there just isn't as much north and south of Riverside. The 60 and the 91 are better options, and both will get you to LA/the ocean within about an hour or so in zero traffic, and about 2 in average/medium traffic. Also, depending on how much you want to be on campus, I would suggest living in Fullerton, Anaheim, Orange, Yorba Linda, etc. (basically, somewhere west of Riverside and along the 91) rather than in Riverside; you'll commute up to an hour each way, certainly, but if you spend more days in a week off campus than you do on, you'll be in a nicer place, both in weather, location, and potential things to do. I would try Rent.com or similar; one of the nicer things about apartment hunting in SoCal is that almost all apartments are part of apartment complexes, not individual apartments, and apartment complexes often put listings online. I like Aimco (a company that owns complexes), though most of their locations in the area are closer to Orange than to Riverside. I think maybe Pine Lake Terrace is commutable, and reasonably nice?

I might have to join, assuming I don't get off CMU's waitlist. Though honestly, I might just give up. It's already my second round of applications and even though I did so much better this time, I still failed. It sucks so much, I just don't think I can do it again.

Since you only applied to one school, you really have a lot of leeway on when you make a decision; you don't have to hurry to accept another offer before you hear back from the waitlist. And since your other option is reapplying next year, I don't see what harm it would do to wait and see what happens with the waitlist. If you are accepted, that might be the right time to ask if there is any flexibility between the tracks if you start taking courses and find another track better suited for your interests. You might also ask if people take courses from all tracks, or just the one they are admitted into. Once you've been admitted, they aren't going to rescind your offer for asking questions, and the answers will give you a good picture of whether you should accept the spot or reapply next year to the different track. If you aren't accepted, dilemma solved.

I think that if you want to go to this school, interviewing will most likely increase your chances. Of course, if they are interviewing you after April 9th, I have to assume they won't have a decision by April 15th, so if you have other offers that require you to notify them by April 15th, it's probably not worth the effort. If you have no other offers, I would do the interview. $500 is not a small amount of money, but the application process is expensive in general, and it is an investment in your future career.

Generally, Full time = 100% = 40 hours/week. So 50% = 20 hours and 25% = 10 hours. I suspect that if you go slightly over 25% some weeks, it will not be a big deal, and obviously some people just ignore those restrictions all together.

I grew up a few hours away from State College, and then moved out to the West Coast, so maybe I could help. It is less diverse, racially, ethnically, culturally. It is less tolerant of non-traditional lifestyles. People have anti-abortion rallies, occasionally, and there was even a demonstration of people arguing that homosexuality is a sin. Central PA is also home to some neo-nazi extremists, too. State College is in the middle of nowhere. Sure, you can drive to other places (and being from CA, you will probably find the idea of driving two hours each way to get somewhere for a weekend less daunting), but in general, you will spend most of your time in the State College area. There is a large Greek presence, and State College is a party town for undergrads. Having said that, it's not a terribly unpleasant place. If you like sports (and I have NEVER met a West Coast native who was a true sports fan--sure, some of them claim to like this team or that, and some even occasionally watch a game here or there, but none of them are true fans), State College is a great place to be. I went to Penn State footballs games as an undergrad, and I didn't even go to Penn State. Their swim team all gets tattoos of a lion footprint. I love that, because I really like sports. It's not terribly diverse or tolerant, but it's also not overly intolerant. You won't really be hassled for any particular political belief (which is not always true in CA); people may say homophobic things but if you are gay, you aren't in physical danger, and if they find out you're gay after making a joke, they'll at least have the decency to be sheepish about it. When school is in session, there is a very active nightlife in town, and you will find a good selection of bars, restaurants, and other things. The college supports some more artistic and culturally diverse activities, if you want them. The food is not terrible and in general, the people are surprisingly friendly, once you get to know them (or if you see them during a football game). Not too far from Penn State, you will find a lot of nature opportunities, hiking, kayaking, mountain biking. You will be close to the Poconos if you want to ski in the winter (personally, my favorite resort is Camelback; it's not super close, but you can drive there for a day easily). You can drive to the jersey shore for a week in the summer (or the beach in DE or Maryland) and almost everyone does, so you might even find people to share a house with. Bottom line: after you graduate, get the hell out of State College, even if it's just to Pittsburgh or Philadelphia, but it's not that bad of a place to be in for the few years it'll take to get a degree.

Excellent link! I've just discovered what my partner's new advisor makes... and it's almost 200k. My partner's stipend? 14k. I should think that, at least for him, this disproves the whole, your stipend will be better than your salary thing.

Seriously? Earthquakes? That is what you are concerned about? They have been predicting "the big one" in CA for years, but it hasn't happened. Honestly, prediction of earthquake technology isn't very advanced beyond predicting the next day or week or so. And if said "big one" occurred, it's far more likely to occur in Southern California, which is so far away, it will likely barely, if at all, affect Northern California. And if said "big one" occurs, AND it occurs in Northern California, it's most likely to happen on the Hayward fault, which isn't even the closest fault to Stanford. And if said "big one" occurs, AND it occurs in Northern California, AND it's along the San Andreas fault (there is a less than 21% chance of this happening in the next 60 years), it's likely that causalities in the less populated areas (like Stanford) would be minimal. Only 20 people died when Northridge (which, by the way, is half an hour from my house... and no, I'm not worried) had a 6.7, which is the magnitude used in all of the calculations of potential major earthquakes. Almost 3,000 people died in 9/11. Outside of worst case scenarios, consider the crime and murder rate of NYC vs. that of Palo Alto. You really think NYC is safer? Go to Columbia if you think that's a better school, but not going to Stanford because you think you'll be safer at Columbia is a little silly.

I would also mention the funded offer in your communications with the school. You could say something along the lines of, "I have received a funding offer of x at university y, and while I feel strongly that your program would be an excellent opportunity, I am not in a position to accept an unfunded offer." And if they still jerk you around, go with the people who have given you funding and not been sneaky about the whole thing.

It seems like you prefer Buffalo; since they are MA programs, I assume they are both unfunded, but I don't know the different in cost between the two. I will say that I don't think UMass is so much more prestigious than Buffalo that you should select UMass on prestige alone.

You can, but April 15th is a deadline, not a magical date on which all of your fears will be allayed, all of your questions answered, and the perfect decision floated down from on high and back-lit with angelic lights. I'm not sure how deciding now is any worse than waiting 2 weeks and deciding, especially when you have (I assume) all the information you are going to have already.

LOL @ ! But we all know that more modern zombies, like those features in I Am Legend and 28 Days Later, don't make needing-brains-moaning sounds, so I think these are the older, slower, human-brain-eating-only variety. I am in such a silly mood today.

We would still see stupid mistakes, I'm sure, but we would have the option of withholding all or part of our application fees if we received subpar service. Now that's a system I can get behind.

So I finally got my official letter from URI today (after I called and bugged a secretary into giving me an answer almost 1.5 months ago). No offer of funding, which I knew. Does anyone have experience with this program and getting funded after your first year?

Do you know if anyone else has been accepted by this department, and whether they were accepted via phone, email, or letter? If they were accepted by phone or email, and the department is citing policy as a reason why you can only get your letter via mail, I would say bad. Otherwise, neutral.

That could definitely be a problem, if it is a program that a lot of people look down on. But if you have a number of publications (I've heard the 2-2-2 rule is best: 2 publications, 2 conference presentations, 2 service-related activities, but there is no reason you can't go above and beyond that) in reputable journals when you are on the job hunt, they'll know you are capable of acceptable scholarly work. If you go to national and international conferences and network, it'll be your name, not the name of your school, that stands out. Maybe (probably) you would have a bigger advantage if you weren't working against the name of a school, but there is no guarantee or even logical reason why next year shouldn't be even harder than this year, so I wouldn't count on getting into those better programs if you reapply. Also, weren't you accepted to UCSC? If this is the school you are so worried about, I wouldn't be. It's not a huge name, but I don't think it'll be a huge handicap either.