[Middletown, CT]

How cheap is cheap for rent?

Is the campus/town generally pretty safe? It seems like there aren't that much public transportation (within and to other cities), so a car may be necessary for me. What's the parking situation? Is it easy to get involved in campus activities/clubs? Haha, this is REALLY specific, but if you know anything about Wesleyan's equestrian team (I just saw that it exists, couldn't find much else information)...

On a more academic note, would undergrad humanities classes (i.e. creative writing, anthro, foreign language) for a science/maths grad student difficult to get into?

Thanks a lot for your reply!

From Wes itself, you can get a 1BR apt for $650 to $750, I think. My friend's less than a block from the science center and paying $450. It all depends on what you want.

Public transportation exists but it's not like living in a big city. There are buses to Meriden (where there's a train) and Hartford (I think once an hour). However, if you want to go grocery shopping, you're going to want a car in the winter. Parking is really easy, available streetside (or you can pay for university parking, it's cheap). I doubt you'll ever drive anywhere on campus, I have a car but I use it almost exclusively to get to Hartford or restaurants. Most of the time it sits in a lot.

People are shockingly friendly at Wes. If you see someone doing something neat, just go up and ask and they'll be enthused to tell you all about it or let you join in. I did sailing on a whim with no experience. If you're into the idea of spinning fire (http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1b/Feuerpois02.JPG), they're incredibly friendly and always practicing.

I actually know a fair amount about the horse people at Wesleyan. Their barn's not too far away, I went to a competition they hosted once. I doubt they're particularly good but they are active. I can give you the email address of a few members if you want.

As for undergrad classes, I'm not entirely sure on the policy, and it depends a lot on the class, but I'm sure that you could get into something within those three subjects. I didn't really like the anthro class that I took but I do know a happy anthro major. It's not a foreign language per se, but I took a few semesters of American Sign Language, and I highly recommend it at Wes.

[Middletown, CT]

Can anyone else share their experiences at Wesleyan/Middletown? I'm going there for grad school. Mostly wondering about university subsidized housing vs. finding something on, say, craigslist, places to go/hang out, what the vibe on/off campus is like. Thanks!

Hi, I'm a current senior at Wes. I've loved my time as an undergraduate there.

I'm not entirely sure about how graduate housing works. All undergrad housing is university-owned (mostly neat woodframe houses for seniors). Grad students live off campus but really nearby. Rent is cheap. There isn't that much offered on Craigslist. I'm friends with some graduate students (finishing this year) who live at the corner of Cross and Fountain and they've been pretty happy with that location, I think.

Some graduate students hang out with undergraduates, some keep to themselves. It's a small campus and community, so there aren't going to be the resources of a big state school. There aren't a million other grad students.

In terms of things to do: there's a good south Indian restaurant (Udupi), there's decent pho, and a few other good restaurants. Campus is great when the weather's nice and there are usually bands to see on weekends if you're into that. Middletown's not a real city, so don't expect there to be much going on outside of campus.

The vibe is very relaxed and noncompetitive. If you have any more specific questions, I can try to answer them.

[[CS] Academics vs Social?]

If both schools would require you to make your relationship long distance, then what's the problem? From the way you write about School A, it is obviously superior in every regard to School B, with the possible exception of distance from where you currently live. But in the long run, is that really going to be an issue? By going to grad school you'll be investing a lot of time and energy into your future. Doesn't it make more sense to invest that time and energy someplace you feel great about? Someplace that is highly ranked, has a great supervisor, awesome research, happy and successful students?

If you're considering School B only because you don't feel as if you'll need to immediately end your relationship, then perhaps you should rethink your options, especially considering your thoughts that said relationship has a 'pretty good chance of falling apart.' Your graduate degree will last a lifetime; your relationship (by the sounds of it) won't. You're obviously psyched about School A, so you might be making a mistake choosing a school you feel less passionately about because of a relationship that probably won't last.

Your argument is convincing and probably right. I keep on coming back to "but what if my relationship doesn't fall apart? But the what if it does? But what if I really end up liking my advisor at school B? But I know I like school A!" Additionally, the Student Outcomes ranking on the NRC places school B in the top 10. So what if I don't publish as much or have as great of an advisor; students seemed happy at B and seem to go on to get jobs.

[[CS] Academics vs Social?]

I got into a top 10 school (school A) and another place ranked around 40th (school B ) for computer science.

My potential supervisor at the top 10 place is amazing, does awesome work, his students are happy, his lab travels to conferences all over the place, the other students are great, and when I finished my visit, I was 90% sure I wanted to go there.

Then I realized that it'd require ending a relationship and moving pretty far away. Am I making a big mistake by not picking school A? While school B is closer to the life I know, it'd still put me in a pretty inconvenient long-distance relationship that has a pretty good chance of falling apart. People at school B go on to do fine, is that good enough for me? How the heck am I supposed to make such an impossible decision?!

Thanks so much in advance for any advice.

[[CS] Academics vs Social?]

I've moved this to the appropriate place to freak out: http://forum.thegradcafe.com/topic/21191-academic-vs-social/

The post was:

I got into a top 10 school (school A) and another place ranked around 40th (school B ) for computer science.

My potential supervisor at the top 10 place is amazing, does awesome work, his students are happy, his lab travels to conferences all over the place, the other students are great, and when I finished my visit, I was 90% sure I wanted to go there.

Then I realized that it'd require ending a relationship and moving pretty far away. Am I making a big mistake by not picking school A? While school B is closer to the life I know, it'd still put me in a pretty inconvenient long-distance relationship that has a pretty good chance of falling apart. People at school B go on to do fine, is that good enough for me? How the heck am I supposed to make such an impossible decision?!

Thanks so much in advance for any advice.