AwkwardPants

I definitely say no to the GPA/honors/awards part. School, city/state, and dates might be okay, but I don't really know if it's necessary.

Yeah, this is very sound advice. If she's interested in grad school because she wants to become a professor, she should find a professor whose research she finds interesting and go talk to him/her about what she should be doing with her time in undergrad. Sophomore year is a perfect time to have that conversation, by the way. The prof might even be able to hook her up with the type of opportunities she should be adding to her CV.

Yes, this. As long as it's ALA-accredited, it really doesn't matter.

That's interesting -- I'd never thought about employers potentially seeing a second master's degree as a sign that you're using librarianship as a stepping stone to a teaching faculty position. I don't think I'd be overly worried about that since everybody in the library field knows that a second master's degree has advantages, particularly for a subject specialist librarian. There's also a long history of "accidental librarians" who end up in the field by some strange twist of fate and come with previous graduate degrees. (I believe entire journal articles have been written on this subject.) I also think most people would assume that you wouldn't go to the trouble of getting an MLIS if you were planning to become a different type of academic in the very near future. In our library, we like to see subject knowledge and we look favorably on advanced degrees in the hiring process, but I don't think they necessarily make the person a more expensive hire. (Of course extra education might factor into any negotiations the candidate engages in, but in this budget climate I doubt it'd matter.) This might vary from place to place, but in general it seems unlikely that another degree will work against you. It's mostly just a matter of deciding when/if it's feasible for you to get one (financially, mentally, emotionally, etc.).

Your idea of getting an MLIS and letting your employer pay for your subject master's degree is not only feasible but also highly recommended. Nearly all universities offer free tuition to employees, and librarians (even at the university level) do not make enough to justify taking out huge loans for either an MLIS or a subject degree. Although it's a little different for the sciences, I still think it's prudent to get your MLIS and start making some money while you work on an MS. If this is what you decide to do, you'll want to inquire about the possibility of doing another degree when you interview for jobs. Most libraries will tell you whether this is something they would support and whether others have already done it. Yes, a lot of job ads do mention an additional master's degree, but it's rare that this is required (usually it's listed as preferred). I'm currently working as a science librarian (biological sciences and chemistry) at a mid-sized state university, and I can only think of a handful of my forty or so colleagues who have additional master's degrees. (This is also true of the librarians I worked with as an undergrad.) Science librarians are also generally in very short supply, so having an undergrad background in the sciences and some research experience will take you quite far already. Getting experience doing the types of things you see in those job ads is definitely more important than additional formal education. While you're working on your MLIS, you'll want to find ways to teach library instruction sessions, do reference work, get involved with outreach, etc. You'll probably also want to get involved with student chapters of ALA or SLA, particularly if you plan to apply for tenure-track librarian jobs. I worked on a research project involving library instruction when I was in library school, and the publication that came out of it definitely helped me get hired. Library school is also a good time to find mentors and build contacts who can support you. I'm leaving the profession next month to start a PhD, but I'd be happy to answer any questions you might have about library school or science librarianship.

I think it's a good idea to contact professors now and explain that you're planning to apply and that you'd like to talk to them about their research. I did this last August, and I found the contacts and info invaluable. It shows that you're serious about their program, and it might help you figure out whether you'd fit in their lab. I don't know for sure, but I don't think PhD programs generally have rolling admissions. All of the programs I applied to looked at their applications after the deadline, invited some people to recruitment weekend or an interview in February-ish, and then sent out offers in March. If you contact professors now, I doubt they'll even ask about GRE scores, and even if they do, it'd be perfectly reasonable to say that you'd scheduled it but hadn't taken it yet. It'd be better to take the GRE when you've had adequate time to prepare than to rush into it before you're ready.

Ha! A measly year? I found a lab with a fifth-year PhD student whose bio and picture hadn't even been added to the website yet. If you want recently published papers, just do a search in the appropriate literature index.

Yes, I definitely agree on this confusing website/needing paper copies thing. I was almost ready to submit my online ap before I realized the program wanted paper copies of a couple of things, and it led to a ridiculous New Year's Eve trip to FedEx. A spreadsheet with dates and dollar amounts and all the picky details for each program can be very helpful. I'd also recommend talking to people in your particular program before you apply if you can swing it. One of my friends who is already in the program I'll be joining suggested that I email professors to set up brief meetings in August of last year, and I found this to be immensely helpful in focusing my statement of purpose and in knowing exactly what I was getting myself into. (I also think that visiting professors early in the process and having them recognize me during the recruitment weekend definitely didn't hurt my application.)

This is the key point. Get experience with different libraries or with archives and you will figure out what you want to do. Library school is dull. Even if you could hand-pick every class individually, library school would still be dull. You may get the occasional fantastic prof or interesting class project, but mostly you will just have to grit your teeth and dig your way out of the busywork. After my first semester, I started specifically looking for courses taught by adjuncts because the tenured profs in my department either had never worked in a library or hadn't worked in one in 10+ years. And unless theory is your thing, they will not have a lot of wisdom to impart about how to be a great librarian. Nobody can tell you what the librarian job market will be like in two or three years. At the moment it's pretty bleak, but that's true of the job market for just about every profession. So for now, the best thing you can do is spend your time in library school by making yourself a stand-out candidate from day 1. Get involved, get a job, go to conferences, make friends with the librarians at your school. One of the best things you can do is read job ads religiously and then figure out how to get the skills/experiences that hiring committees want. I don't think it's the norm for academic libraries to require a second master's degree. At some places it's preferred (especially for subject specialists), but the vast majority of practicing librarians I know don't have one. In fact, the best strategy is to get your MLS while getting into as little debt as possible, get a job, and then let your university pay for your second master's degree while they also pay you. Oh, and the rule for academic librarian job searches is as follows: you can get a job quickly, you can get the type of job you want, and you can get a job in your preferred geographical area, but you only get to pick two of the three. Anyway, sorry for the information overload. I'm a young academic librarian who is jumping ship to get an unrelated PhD, but I'd be happy to answer any more questions if you have them.

I wouldn't worry too much just yet. A lot of library school types are nervous/shy around new people, and the book is a good way to hide without feeling awkward. When I was in library school, I had even more friend-classmates than I did in undergrad since everybody took the same five core courses and saw each other in the building just about every day. Once you can share horror stories about problem patrons at your on-campus library jobs and ridiculous busywork and that weird person in your Reference class (I can guarantee there will be at least one), then people will be much more friendly and comfortable with each other. Also, make sure you get involved with your student chapter of ALA/SLA/whatever because the friendly outgoing go-getter types will gravitate toward them. Plus, if your library school is like mine, the student chapters of professional orgs will organize fun events where you can hang out with your classmates outside of class. Oh, and get used to the group work. It's not going away, but it's thankfully sometimes less painful in library school than undergrad. And honestly, it's good practice for when you're a librarian because 75% of the work you'll do will be with excruciatingly dysfunctional committees, especially if you work in an academic institution.

I definitely agree with everybody who says that you should wait (or look online) to see if you get a printing allotment as part of your fees. My last university allotted graduate/professional students so many pages per semester that I never used them all, even though I did all of my school and personal printing on campus.

Yeah, in my opinion this is pretty much right on. There are some nice small houses for rent south of campus in the Bryan Park area. Living downtown would be cool, although some of the buildings are ridiculously expensive. Like 2-3 times what you'd pay in other parts of town. I disagree on avoiding the east side, though. There are some quiet graduate-friendly apartment complexes along 10th St. on the east side of town, and the 6 bus runs past there every 20 minutes to take you directly to the Kelley School of Business. A lot of grad students in Business and Library Science live in that area of town (complexes include Fountain Park, Woodbridge, Meadow Park, etc.) I agree that you should avoid the College Mall area, though, which would be on the east side of town south of 3rd St. There's a lot of traffic, strip malls, and undergrad-oriented apartments in that area. I don't think it'd be quite as bad as living north of 10th St. near the stadium, but I bet it'd be pretty close.

Your first paragraph is full of great things that you've been doing, so keep up the good work there. Research experience and forging relationships with professors who can write letters that really speak to your qualifications with some amount of depth is a great idea. It sounds like you have a good grasp on what it takes to go to grad school and to be successful in doing research. Somebody correct me if I'm wrong, but it seems like nowadays it's more common to apply to a PhD program in the sciences without a master's degree. I don't have one, and I got into two-thirds of the programs I applied to, including my top choice. There isn't a magical formula for getting in because admissions committees consider each person as a total package -- do your research interests match the lab spaces they have available? can you write a statement of purpose that for some reason stands out from the rest of the pile? at the interview, do you have a personality and communication style that will suit the culture program? Your grades for this semester probably won't be a positive factor for you (especially since they're in relatively important science subjects that your competitors have probably taken too), but they won't necessarily sink your application if the rest of it is solid. When it comes right down to it, it's all a magical guessing game. Just do the best you can and hope it works for you.

Eh, I think this depends on who you choose to hang out with. Some of my grad school friends at IU party, but it's usually in a more controlled and respectful way than your stereotypical out-of-control undergrad party. Often people might meet in bars to chat over drinks or for some special event like karaoke night, but nobody will pay attention to whether you choose alcoholic or non-alcoholic drinks. You could also join a social/recreational/hobby club or a church to meet people with mutual interests that don't center on drinking. Chances are, you'll meet many people in your program who are just as serious and focused on their studies as you are, and you'll have enough in common that this won't be a huge deal for you.

Yeah, this won't be a problem. A fair number of people apply to grad school before they finish undergrad. You'll just submit your transcript as is (most likely before your fall grades are even posted), and that'll be good enough for them. There are many pieces of the application that the admissions committee will use to gauge your strength as an applicant, and your grades are just a small part of that. However most schools will also still want a complete transcript that shows you finished your BA/BS if you do matriculate in the fall following your graduation from undergrad, so you'll probably have to submit a copy then too. Really not a big deal.

I was in town this weekend too, and this pretty much sums up the vibe. I did my best to stay the hell away from the north side of campus, but I still saw tons of drunk undergrads walking around downtown. It's pretty much girls in insanely high heels and not much else, parties spilling out onto front porches, staggering drunk kids on the sidewalks, an abundance of pizza carts, a noticeable increase in police patrols, and all the undergrad bars packed to the gills. Little Five weekend is somewhere between irritating and amusing, but you can avoid most of the ruckus if you live in the right part of town and avoid downtown/campus for that weekend. And fortunately the undergrads really only party like this once a year. It's definitely not representative of a normal weekend in Bloomington.

Yeah, these are some of the reasons I'm living off campus. I have a cat, and I also want more control over whether I have a roommate and who I choose, what sort of rules I follow, etc. I think on campus rates are a little higher than what you would pay off campus, but they're in the same ballpark. (There's quite a wide price range on apartments, but you can find something more interesting/unique for less money if you look.) Plus I don't know how parking is handled for on-campus students who have cars, but I'm willing to bet it's a pain. I knew a girl who lived on campus for her first couple of semesters and she seemed to think it was okay, but she ended up moving off campus eventually. It's really just a matter of personal preference. I do know that quite a few international students end up living on campus, and family housing seems fairly popular for single grad students with kids.

Oh, by the Big 10 type, I mean that undergrads there sometimes live up to the "big state school party culture" sterotype. So frat culture/tailgating/non-serious students can definitely be found at IU, but that of course isn't really the case for the grad student population. I would say that the IU student population is unfortunately predominantly white, and I think that's true of the queer community too. There are certainly some students of color, although there is definitely not a large black population. Still it seems like the kind of place where most people can find a niche, so hopefully you'll be able to carve out a comfortable place for yourself.

In my opinion (as a dyke in her mid-20s), the queer scene in Bloomington is pretty great. Although the undergrad population sometimes skews toward your typical Big 10 types, there are many queer/hipster/hippie/whatever grad students and young adults in Bloomington. The website of the GLBT Student Support Services might give you an idea of the climate and resources available, and I'd also recommend checking out the list of queer campus groups, which is a great way to get connected with like-minded people. There's one (fairly well-trafficked) gay bar called Uncle Elizabeth's, and it often hosts karaoke nights, drag shows, etc. The university itself is pretty inclusive and has fair policies concerning domestic partner benefits, etc. I've only lived in "red" places, but I found Bloomington to be a very refreshing change. Do you have any other specific questions about queer life?

Well it sounds like you've made your decision then! Bloomington is a great place, so I bet you'll like it there.

Choosing a graduate program is a pretty big decision, and it'll have an impact on the rest of your career. You need to find the school that's right for you based on the qualities that you think are important. Your parents won't be attending graduate school -- you will be. So at the end of the day, you have to take responsibility for your own happiness and success.

Two years ago when I tried to find an apartment for just a semester, I called all over the city and couldn't find a single place that'd let me rent for less than a year. It's kind of a landlord's town. You could try subletting maybe? I ended up signing a year lease and then subletting to a friend after I graduated and that worked out pretty well.

I lived in Fountain Park (managed by Regency) while I was working on my master's degree, and I never had a problem. The maintenance is fast, the people in the office were pretty nice, and I always felt I was treated fairly. The 6 bus comes every 20 minutes or so during the school year and takes you directly to the north side of campus. In a complex of that size, you're always going to get at least a handful of people who are dissatisfied. I also know a few people who lived in Meadow Park (cheaper and a little farther out) who were pretty happy there. Fountain Park isn't really the cheapest place, but it's definitely cheaper than some of the "luxury apartments" you'll find closer to downtown. (Think undergrads who are getting blank checks from mommy and daddy.) I also wanted to point out the Graduate and Professional Student Organization (GPSO) Housing Board. Actually the whole GPSO site has good information for new grad students. You'll find some of the major complexes advertising here but you'll also find some of the small-time landlords interested in advertising specifically to grad students and not to the whole Craigslist-reading world. When I moved to Bloomington the first time, I signed a lease on a two-bedroom/two-bathroom place at Fountain Park in May and then posted an ad on the GPSO board to find a roommate. I had a bunch of people reply and ending up taking the person who seemed most suitable. So if you have any other questions, I'd be happy to try to answer them. I loved Bloomington the first time, and I'm pretty excited to be going back for my PhD.

What type of 24-hour place are looking for? Many of the grocery stores are open 24 hours, as well as the Wells Library (IU's main library). Bars stay open until 3am. My favorite 24-hour place is the Cresent [sic] Donut on the west side of town. Delicious cheap donuts any time of the day or night! I recommend checking out the art museum on campus and the awesome public library. Also make sure you squeeze in a meal or two at one of the many ethnic restaurants on 4th St. (Siam House is my favorite.)