Owlie

Indiana is pretty nondescript! I grew up in Cincinnati, so while it's not exactly the same, I can help a bit. (Or I can find people who can help!) If you look away from campus, you should be able to find affordable housing. It's a relatively inexpensive part of the country. As far as culture, it's a college town, so a little more open-minded, I think, than the surrounding region. If you want specifics, I can ask around.

Go early, and if the lab is a good fit and has money, talk to them toward the end of your rotation. Many professors, at least in my department, assume that you're not interested if you don't commit at the end of the rotation. If you hadn't picked a spot by the end of the 2nd rotation, you were screwed.

I probably could have applied to a couple more schools, even though I think my bank account disagrees with that statement. It's nice to have options. I made some of my where-to-apply decisions based on where I wanted to live. That meant cutting out a lot of programs in the Southeast. I probably should have applied to the University of Colorado--Denver and perhaps in the PNW.

Congratulations! Something I'd consider when deciding between the two is the city/town surrounding the university.

My boyfriend is an undergrad in engineering. He should be done in December. We've done the long-distance thing on-and-off for 3 years (he's in AZ, I'm in OH). He has been very supportive of me, and told me that he would be willing to move wherever I got in and chose to attend, but he did give me a few preferences within the list of where I applied. I applied to graduate schools in areas where there are potentially jobs for him. When he moves to wherever I am, it'll be interesting to see how we handle the odd hours that lab work requires...

Rejections from 2/5, interview 2 weeks ago from 1, and yet to hear from the remaining 2 (but they had late deadlines). Part of me wants to be optimistic about the interview, because I haven't seen anything on Grad Cafe yet. However, it's not a huge field, so I'm not surprised if there are relatively few applicants. However, a larger part of me is going to assume a rejection, because as far as I know many places notify quickly after interviews. I still have to finish my MS, and a lab tech job is a possibility, though I don't think it's reasonable because I'd want to reapply next year.

No smoking

3.5/5. My advisor is pretty awesome, and the 3 other American students in the program are too. I've made some good friends. Downside is that the politics in this department mean that I have to tread carefully if I want to get involved in things outside the lab.

You aren't the only one. I went from a top-tier university for undergrad to a middle-tier state university for my master's. I found it hard to talk to professors (apart from a couple) without getting nervous in undergrad. It took me a few months to be able to comfortably talk to my advisor, even though he's very laid back and approachable. (And now I have a beer with him on Fridays...) There's still one professor in this department that I can't talk to because I find her intimidating. I have to keep telling myself that they're not judging me. They're there to teach and mentor, and they know I don't know everything. Otherwise I wouldn't be there. I still use e-mail for important stuff, though.

One program I'm applying to requires a statement of purpose and a personal history statement. I have a relatively low undergrad GPA (3.03--I was an idiot with no real focus in undergrad and bit off way more than I could chew with 2 degrees in 4 years). I took a year off,then enrolled in an MS program in my field. I have a 4.0. (I got my head screwed on properly and focused.) I know most of that belongs in the personal history statement, along with why I want a PhD in this particular field. Should I mention the discrepancy in my personal statement? I'm not planning on dedicating that much space to it; perhaps I'll include a line or two along the lines of "Yes, I realize my undergrad transcripts are checkered, but I think my ability to do graduate-level work is much better illustrated by what I've done in this MS program than in undergrad." It does fit with the overall structure I'm trying to create in my SOP, but I wonder if it will hurt me to bring it up.

Well, obviously I'm not going to e-mail them to ask "So, what are your admissions requirements?" or something. Drives me crazy when people don't read posted information. I guess it's more along the lines of "how do you treat someone who would coming into the program with a master's?", which of course varies by program. I agree that it's probably a little early, but based on their responses I can start narrowing down my list. Otherwise I have a feeling I'm going to have to take out a loan to apply!

Do you want a beater, or something for both commute and fun? Giant is pretty good bang-for-buck, and I got my fun bike (entry-level road bike, Sora/2200 components) for $750. See if you can pick up a used OCR/Defy/Avail off Craigslist. (They're all the same bike, basically. Giant re-branded the OCR to have a nice flashy name a few years ago. It's now the Defy (men's/unisex) and Avail (women's).) Then there's Trek's...whatever. I'm not familiar with Trek. Jamis also makes some nice steel bikes. Check out Bikesdirect--I've heard good things about it in other places, so your money may go further. There's also Specialized and Cannondale, but I'd advise you to pick up something used, because they're expensive. Lovely bikes, but expensive. (Can you tell I've been bike-shopping latey.) Buy a couple locks if you go this route, though.

The biggest thing you can do is swap the tires for slicks, possibly even swapping the wheels. Beyond that, you get into expensive territory with replacing the bars, shifters, cables, brakes...

I'll be starting an MS this fall in my field, but my real goal is a PhD. Is it too soon to start e-mailing programs with general questions? (I'm thinking of starting this once I've gotten set in a lab and can say what I'm doing.)

I ignore them. I live in Ohio, and while we're borderline in-range for brown recluses, I've never come across them. And that article says that most of the time, the bites are harmless. Personally, I find spiders interesting, and since my little wolf spider colony (and the colony of house centipedes) eat roaches--one of the few invertebrates that I hate--I like having them around. Now, if I found a black widow in my house, I'm not sure I'd be so good about ignoring it...