anoveldave

I'm not sure if this is appropriate posting... but I'm not having much luck with craigslist so I thought I'd try gradcafe. (Mods, please let me know if this is inappropriate or posted in the wrong forum! I will remove the post accordingly) I'll be leaving the East Coast for the West soon, and am trying to unload various items. One of these is my bike, craigslist ad linked here. If there are any new PhDs in the Rutgers area, please PM me and I'll give you a "special gradcafe" price on the bike as a fellow PhD student. I also have a new (used only once) Kryptonite lock with all original keys and warranty information, as well as a helmet to be packaged if needed.

It's good to know (though unfortunate) that this is a common experience with PhD students. I have a friend who did summer camps when he returned stateside from teaching abroad. That seems like a good opportunity to look into. It looks like the PhD is the ultimate hustle.

I'm sure my department will have some way of providing students with opportunities, but I was also curious as to what students do the first summer into their PhD program.

In trying to make a decision about housing (graduate housing vs. off campus options), I came to factor in the length of leases. For the most part, I think it's safe to say that off campus housing options will require a full year's lease. Of course, there are a lot of month to month and 6 month leases, but I'm selecting the worst case scenario I suppose. On the other hand, graduate housing has the normal year lease, but also provides an academic year lease, which is more or less 9 months. As it seems that many new graduate students are from another location and need to establish residency, I might assume that the shorter option lease doesn't factor in too much when considering graduate housing or off campus. However, I was wondering how people plan to, or have in the past, covered their living expenses when school's not in session. A (PhD student) friend joked that I might have to work in a pizzeria to take care of rent and all, but I'm wondering if that might actually be a reality. I would hope to find teaching positions within my university or nearby community colleges, but I was wondering what others (plan to) do in their first summer, and whether that affects their housing decisions.

I'm joining the comparative literature department lafresca. It's definitely more difficult to look into housing from the other coast. I hope to move out in August-September, but I think I need to decide whether I want to enter graduate housing sooner than later.

It looks like there are just a few weeks left before the graduate housing application deadline passes. I've read both positive and negative reviews regarding San Clemente. If anything, it seems like the high cost and percentage of undergraduates are the biggest complaints. A positive might be the fact that you can sign a lease for the duration of the school (which might be good to know if you don't plan to find a job in the area over the summer). I've been looking on padmapper and hotpads, but most of the studios seem to be way more than I expect to budget for rent (~$1300). Craigslist looks to have more diversity and available places, but I imagine you need to be in Cali to check it out. With the encroaching grad. housing deadline, what are other new grad. students planning?

On the same topic, is anyone else hit with the reality of figuring out housing when your stipend is really a salary (teaching assistantship)? It appears that I would be paid months after I would move in anywhere. Recently I've started to look at graduate housing for the first year, and in correspondence I was informed that they could work with me on the payments (because it's all university business). This makes it seem as though I wouldn't be able to even consider living off campus for the first year. Is anyone in the same situation? Not enough money saved up either to handle 2-3 months of living expenses without the TA salary.

That's true... Luckily, I did hear back on my funding and it looks like I'll be able to make a decision and send out e-mails to the relevant people tonight.

In your case, I think I would pass on the first school because it isn't fully funded. I'm in a kind-of-similar-but-not situation (full funding at one school, funding waitlist at another). Both of the schools are great with resources, so I don't have the problem you might have with POIs. However, I've been leaning toward the latter, and the money's the only thing preventing me from making a solid decision. I'm waiting to hear the good news before the 15th from the second school, but will be choosing the first school if I don't hear progress on the funding front by Monday morning at the latest. I suppose you might want to think about whether you would unequivocally accept the partially funded offer if that's all you had, without thinking about the funding waitlist school. If you'd bear the financial burden yourself, then it might be better to accept a sure thing. Otherwise, wait out the second school's funding waitlist, and maybe reapply next year?

As the countdown closes in on the 15th, I'm in a situation that a lot of people seem to be in, with two schools to decide between. In my case, it comes down to whether I receive word on the funding deficit between the two offers that'll allow me to choose the school that I believe is a slightly better fit for me at this juncture. Anyway, I'm sure that there are a lot of people on this forum that aren't applying straight out of undergrad, which means you might have a job of some sorts. As it seems the end of the work day on the 15th is the suggested "deadline," how are those of you trying to choose between two schools planning out your day? I just thought about the overlap, since I work nonorthodox hours (1-9 p.m.). It's too late to think about getting anyone to cover for me, which means I'll have to either make the decision and send out the e-mails before I head into work (accepting one and graciously rejecting the other). If it comes down to the wire, I'm thinking about preparing e-mails for both scenarios and saving them as drafts that I can easily send from my iphone as I sneak into the bathroom during work. Anyone have similar, or better, plans/advice?

To this year's admits, I'm a Rutgers alumnus (undergrad) and Jersey born and bred. The Brunswick area has definitely improved just over the last ten years. I commuted during undergrad, so if you do have a car, it will most definitely open up options. Traffic gets to be tight during normal commute hours (especially around 4-6 in the afternoon, heading out of New Brunswick in any direction, there are some major highways that run through there), but I live about 20 miles away and a normal commute was between 20-40 minutes on any given day. I would definitely recommend against living near College Ave or downtown Brunswick. It can definitely get rowdy as plenty of underage undergraduates have nowhere to go but house parties. If you have a car, there are plenty of grocery options, and the train's right there as well (runs until about 1 a.m. or so). Honestly, a car would be great because it's hard to get around in Jersey without one, and gas prices are cheaper here than most other places in the country. Of course, you can take public transit, but I've grown up with only bad experiences on the buses, though I should reiterate the trains are really great (and getting better at decreasing schedule delays each year!). The only thing is the price of parking permits seem to increase every year, but there are ways around it if you ask around (i.e. Sears parking lot behind Livingston campus). I usually bought a permit for the cheapest lot, and then brought a bike to school so I could just get to different campuses. New Brunswick isn't too bike-friendly, but there are paths that link between campuses. I had a friend who lived right off of Livingston campus in a private apartment complex not affiliated with the school, and also saw many off-campus grad students around there on my normal bike ride from Livingston to College Ave. Piscataway and Somerset are definitely areas within biking distance to campus, though it'd be around the half hour to 45 minute mark. I believe there are NJ transit buses that service those areas to New Brunswick train station fairly smoothly. You could also live a little further away (Edison) and take the train down as well. I don't think New Brunswick has the sort of college town nightlife that would make you want to live in close proximity. I say this because New Brunswick is connected to a lot of major roads, and there are definitely towns with different vibes that aren't too far (like Metuchen). jennypol: I don't know how easy it is to look at places when you're not physically in town, but there are plenty of hotels and motels near the Raritan. Route 1 has a lot of accommodations for truckers passing through, so I'm sure you could find a fairly cheap motel to stay at while you look for a place. Maybe see if your budget allows for a rental car so you can visit options in different towns as well. From friends' experiences, it seems that rent prices go down a decent amount as soon as you're outside of New Brunswick and its expensive neighboring towns (Highland Park).

I agree with tarrman's point. It is not only a bad idea to enter into a PhD program unfunded, it doesn't make much sense because there's never any guarantee of return on the investment. On the subject of "Asians," do you mean international students from Asia or Asian Americans? Actually, it doesn't matter. Like tarrman wrote, in a PhD program (and in your career in any field), you'll encounter competition, from those of all races, socioeconomic backgrounds, etc. It's understandable that you might want a diverse cohort for personal reasons, but I can't imagine you'll get too far in life if you're deliberately blocking out people of a certain group. Please don't use this "get out of jail free card." I'm Asian American and I find it just as offensive as qualifying any racially charged statements with "well I have an yellow/brown/black friend." If you will be attending a program in the U.S., you'll be able to find plenty of people different from you and with different education backgrounds. And productivity ultimately depends on the individual.

The wording in the agreement does read as though it's only for offers of funding, but I can't help but feel that it's through extension of admission. I meant that the April 15th deadline seems to be a legal thing. //edited because my decision anxiety manifested in my wording.

I'm in a completely different field, so I can't say much regarding Bioinformatics PhD programs (let alone even guess in which school it might be housed). However, I think it's important to note that most graduate programs can't legally force your decision before April 15th (as far as I know), unless your school hasn't signed the national grad. school agreement on the decision date. Secondly, I'm actually communicating back and forth with a school regarding funding, and I do feel like I've pushed a bit to get an answer. It seems that there's department funding that usually goes to continuing students, which isn't given out until May. I basically expressed interest in the school but was up front about having received an offer from another school. I would suggest that you underscore the importance of funding, and how it would impact your decision. Again, I don't know enough about bioinformatics to know whether it might be an investment worth the risk (as a JD might be... or might have been five years ago), but I wouldn't take on any loans for graduate school, and that's speaking from experience as much as in my current 'prospective PhD student' status.

That's a great idea. gwarner13, do you think it would be better if I personally contacted current grad students or if I requested the department put me in touch with one? I feel that it might seem like I'm asking for my hand to be held if the latter... ghijklmn: Thanks! That definitely gives me some confidence in making an *objective* decision. Both of the schools are on the west coast and it's not possible for me to make the cross country trip in the next week or so. I suppose it's down to doing enough of the research to make an educated choice.