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funny_bone

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Everything posted by funny_bone

  1. My boyfriend and I are both TX born and raised, currently living in San Antonio. I'll be graduating the first week of July with my BA, and hopefully starting grad school in the Boston area in September. My mom has been living in Saugus, MA, for the last 6 years now, and has a garage apartment that we can stay in while we hunt for a place of our own (no bathroom or kitchen in the mini-apartment though, so the stay will be short!). We'll be making the move north in the last week of July. How can we go about finding an apartment from TX? We only have until September to search, because my mom's lease goes up on the 1st and she's not renewing it (wants to get a loft in the city). That gives us roughly 4 weeks in the city to see some places. Should we even bother looking before that? We wouldn't be able to look at the places in person or meet with any landlords, since we're over 2000 miles away. But is 4 weeks enough time to find something, especially considering it's one of the busiest apartment hunting times in the city? Any suggestions or advice would be appreciated. Everything about New England and Boston is foreign to us. We need all the help we can get!
  2. Thanks for your input, everyone! I've done some thinking and decided to retake them. My mom's stepsister just finished taking hers last week, and has offered to ship me all of her study materials so I can prepare. I'll definitely set aside some time to study, and hopefully be able to improve my scores significantly. I'll also be sure to include a short and sweet explanation of my grades in my SOP, but focus more on how I've learned from the situation and improved. Thanks again!
  3. I was always a great student (top 10% of high school class, all A's first two years of college), but when I moved to a new city and out on my own for the first time, my grades suffered. I work 40 hour weeks in retail, my dad started having a lot of health problems (heart surgery), and I was often just too tired/burnt out to even make it to class. I now have a 2.91 GPA, and this is my last semester. I'm taking 6 classes, and will take 1 more in a 3 week 'Maymester' to graduate by June 1. I'm doing great so far (about halfway through the semester with all A's), so my GPA should be just over 3.0 by graduation. My boyfriend of 6 years is moving with me to Boston in July, both for a chance to live near my mom for the first time in my life (I live in TX), and to take a shot at better schools (he's a graphic design major and I want to go to grad school for colonial American history). I just took my GRE. I got a 159 on the verbal, 148 on the quantitative, and 4 on the essay portion. Not completely dismal, I suppose, but I literally took the test with zero preparation thanks to a crazy work schedule in the weeks leading up to it (class from 8-4pm Monday through Friday, work from 4:30-midnight Monday through Saturday, homework Sundays, repeat). I'm applying to UMASS Boston, Simmons, and Salem State. All have spring and fall admissions (or rolling admissions), require a 2.5 GPA, and want GRE scores reported but don't state a minimum. I don't have a lot of time to study or prep for the test again, not to mention coming up with the money to retake it. However, I'm worried that my transcript necessitates it at this point. Any advice would be appreciated. I need as many different perspectives on this as possible, whatever they may be. Thanks for your time and help!
  4. Thanks for the advice! To address some of your questions/concerns, I actually managed to get through my undergrad with only $17,000 in student loans, $15,000 of which is subsidized stafford loans. I was quite fortunate to receive scholarships that covered my first two years at a community college, and federal grants that helped a lot with the rest. Of course, I'd love to not take on anymore debt than necessary, but I've been fortunate enough thus far that taking on a bit more in loans for my MA wouldn't kill me. As far as taking courses at a community college for my fall back plan, it was more to put off having to pay back student loans than to improve my GPA. I realize that it wouldn't really affect my GPA much, if at all, I just can't afford to start paying on my student loans just yet. I will definitely look into some research assistantships and volunteer positions, however, to help improve my resume.
  5. Hey, everyone. So, I've made some posts before about my plans to move from my current location in San Antonio, TX, to Boston, MA, next summer. My mother lives in Boston and I've never had the chance to live near her, and I plan to study the historical archaeology of colonial America in grad school. Since I'm graduating this spring, a move to Boston for grad school just makes sense. My boyfriend of 6 years and his younger sister will be making the move with me (we've all lived together for a year, and my boyfriend and I 2 years before that, and get along great). Here's where it gets tricky. I had a few rough semesters after a transfer to a new school, a move to my first apartment 3 hours away from my hometown, a new job in the new city, and a messy divorce between my father and stepmother. I shouldn't have let it affect my schoolwork, but it did. I transferred to my university with a 3.76 gpa, and now I'm at a 2.91 (yikes). I'm doing very well this semester now that I've gotten my act together, and if I keep it up and can get to roughly a 3.2 by the time I graduate in the spring. While this isn't terrible, it also isn't competitive. To make matters worse, I didn't choose my anthropology major until last semester. I was an English Lit. major until I took my first anthropology course and fell in love. Unfortunately, I didn't learn about the importance of field schools and research assistantships until recently, and no longer have the time or money to do any of these things before application season rolls around. So, here's where I stand. I've found several schools in the Boston area that look promising (Salem State University, UMASS Boston, and Simmons College to name a few). I don't want to take any time off of school between my undergrad and grad, and I can't really afford to start paying back student loans anyway. I'll be applying to these schools and a few others in January with my fingers crossed that I'll be accepted into at least one. However, I need to assume that I won't be accepted, and have a fall-back plan in place. The plan: would it be a good idea to take classes at a community college or undergraduate program in the meantime? I was thinking I could always take a couple of language courses, or maybe even some more anthropology and history courses. I would do a field school or two if possible, and try to get some research experience. Does this sound reasonable? Any help or suggestions are welcome, and thanks in advance for your help!
  6. Hello, everyone =) I'm planning a movie to the Boston area next summer (mid to late July) for grad school. I'm hoping to be accepted into one of the programs I'm applying to, and if I do I'll need to find work to cover my bills while still working with my school schedule. I have been working part-time at a nearby Target for 2 years now, and they've been amazing at scheduling me around my classes. I would be eligible to transfer my job to a Target store up there, but I'd really love to find something with better pay. I make barely above minimum wage at the moment, and have to work a minimum of 30 hours a week to pay my bills. I realize this isn't too terrible, but I've been taking 15 hours a semester, so between that and work I have little to no free time. I've lived in Texas all my life, so when I move to New England I'd love to have the chance to see a bit of my new home and the surrounding area. So, basically my question is this: how difficult is it to find part-time work that pays over minimum wage? I've been limited to retail and food service down here with my busy school schedule, but if I were to take classes in the evening to open up my availability, what would my options be? For some background, I'll be moving up there with my boyfriend of 6 years and his younger sister. We'll all be working and splitting the bills 3 ways, but we'll need a 2 bedroom apartment that also accepts pets (we have a 4 year old dachshund and she has a 9 year old cat). Plus, I'm aware that the cost of living is much higher in the Boston area. We can afford our bills on 30 hours of part-time work down here, but just barely (and our total rent for our 2 bedroom/2 bath is only $663!). I'll have my bachelor's in anthropology (which basically qualifies me for nothing), and going to grad school for a master's in either history or historical archaeology (depending on which programs I get accepted to, if any). Ideally, I'd like to work an entry level position in a museum or with a CRM firm, but I realize those positions rarely open up and are incredibly competitive, hence he surge for any part-time work that will pay the bills in the meantime! Any help or suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks!
  7. Hmm, I haven't thought about not taking my car. All three of us have our own vehicles, which is pretty much a given in Texas =) I've never used public transportation before as it's virtually nonexistent down here, save for an unreliable public bus. We were planning on bringing our vehicles, but if we could get around just fine without them, we have no problems selling them before we leave! What extra costs are there that we don't have down here? We have to renew our registration and inspection once a year and have valid insurance (which, for me, is about $75 a month for full-coverage). From what SSU's website says, there is a shuttle that takes students from downtown Salem to campus. There are 3 different stops that the shuttle makes, including the commuter rail station. So, if I lived along the T, I'm guessing this means I could simply take the commuter rail downtown, then the shuttle to campus? Sorry, really have no idea how the train systems work!
  8. Hello! I am planning a move to the Boston area next summer to start grad school in the fall. My top choice school is Salem State University, and my mother lives in Saugus, MA. I, however, have lived in Texas my entire life. Basically, everything I know about New England comes from articles online. To put it simply, I need anything and everything you have to offer. The basics: My boyfriend of 6 years and his younger sister are coming with me (we all get along great, have lived together for the last six months, and have no problems with everyone chipping in for their share of the bills/expenses). They are both applying to Salem State as undergrads, and I'm applying for a MA in history. My boyfriend and I both work part-time in retail right now, and have been working for the same store for 2 years. Our boss has already assured us that they can transfer us to a store in our new city, and my boyfriend's sister will be looking for a part-time job when we arrive (her parents pay her portion of the bills right now, since she's the baby of the family and the only girl =P). I'll be looking for a better/higher paying job since I'll have my bachelor's degree when I arrive, but for the time being my current job will have to suffice. What we're looking for: Since we're planning on going to school in Salem, we'd like to live close by. Right now we live in San Antonio, TX, and it's about a 15 minute commute to school and work. The commute up north is something my mom has already warned me about, but ideally we'd like to live within a half hour of the school. We pay just under $700 right now for a 2bd/2ba 900 sqft apartment, and we have a 15 lb dachshund and a cat. Since we'll be working with roughly the same income when we move, something as close to this as possible would be ideal. However, we know that the cost of living is higher up there, and our parents are willing to help out if necessary until we can find better/higher paying jobs. So, I guess what I'd like to know is if anyone has suggestions for what areas we should be looking in, and what we can realistically expect to pay for an apartment up there. And, of course, any info you have to share about the area in general would be more than welcome! (Sorry for the wall of text!) (I guess I should also add that mother owns a home in Saugus, and has a fully finished basement apartment with 2bd/1ba and a fireplace. She's offered to let us use it rent free if we just pay for the utilities. She's had it listed for sale for awhile now with no luck, but it would give us a place to live so we can take our time apartment hunting and getting more familiar with the area.)
  9. Okay, I'm not sure if this is the right forum for this, but I'm desperate (Sorry in advance for the long post). I am starting the grad school search, so that I'm prepared to apply when deadlines approach this coming winter (I'm a planner, I know!). Unfortunately, as I browse through chat rooms, message boards, and forums I become increasingly anxious. I am currently attending a satellite branch of the University of Texas system. Not a "small" school, but not a name that screams "prestigious" either. I was originally an English lit. major, but switched to anthropology last semester after falling in love with an Intro. to Anthro. course. I've since done a great deal of research and chatting with professors, and I've decided that archaeology is my field of choice. Here's where it gets fun. I am a member of Phi Theta Kappa. That's it. My school has only one honor society for anthropology majors, and I won't be eligible to join until the next round in the spring of 2013, the semester I graduate. I am financially independent, and therefore cannot afford to attend any field schools or excavation programs offered during the semester or summer. There is only one museum in my city that is not run by small families or volunteers, and they are not currently offering internships, volunteer opportunities, or job opportunities that will meet my financial needs and/or work with my school schedule. I am and always have been a relatively good student (3.76 GPA at the moment), I'm confident that I can do well on the GRE as I am an excellent test taker, and I have met a few professors that are more than willing to help me prepare my application and provide references although I've only known them for a few short weeks (my school may be small, but the profs are AMAZING). Am I any competition for NYU, my school of choice? Through all of my 'googleing' I've discovered that most applicants have incredibly impressive resumes, and at this point I feel like my application would be a waste of time and money. Help me? Please? Any advice is welcome!
  10. Thanks for the response! That was kind of what I was expecting. I'm leaning towards archaeology now with all of the research I've done, because it just seems like it would offer me more career opportunities since it's a broader field than forensic anthropology. I don't have any museum experience yet, but my school has an archeological conservation society, so I'm going down there this week to talk to them about volunteer/employment opportunities. Thanks again!
  11. I'm currently in my second to last semester of my undergrad. I've been sifting through grad school webpages trying to get an idea of where I want to go from here, and so far I've only made one decision: I definitely want to go for my PhD. As far as a career goes, I know I want to work in a museum, preferably in a curatorial capacity. Ideally I'd like to work hands-on with artifacts as much as possible. I've been strongly considering a career in Forensic anthropology as well, but have recently decided that I would prefer to work in this field only as a supplement to my primary field of focus. With that being said, which sub-field would be most beneficial? I have been bouncing back and forth between archaeology and physical anthropology. NYU is my dream school, and their master's program for human osteology sounds incredible. Their PhD. program for archaeology is amazing as well, with the added bonus of coming with a fellowship (if I'm accepted, of course). Thoughts?
  12. You should look into Texas State University in San Marcos, TX. I know it's not a huge school, but they recently created a forensic anthropology department, complete with a body farm for research. It's worth looking into. =)
  13. Wow, that's great to hear! Perhaps it's just the norm at my university then. That's comforting to know!
  14. Traditionally it seems that most undergraduates finish their programs in the fall semester. I, however, will be completing mine in the spring. Rather than taking a break after receiving my B.A., I'd like to start graduate school in the fall of that same year. Unfortunately, I'm a little concerned about whether or not that will hurt my chances of being accepted into a graduate school. My goal school is the GSAS at NYU. If I were to apply to this school before the deadline in February, would I still be considered for fall admissions, despite the fact that my undergrad will not be completed until AFTER my application has been submitted? Or would I be (hopefully!) given some sort of acceptance conditional on my successful completion of my undergrad? Thanks in advance for any help!
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