emilyrobot

Hey Dorinda, congrats on your acceptance, and I hope you enjoy your visit to the city in March! Let me see how helpful I can be about your questions. As far as winter goes, since you're coming from Toronto, I don't think you'll be shocked by the cold. -15 C isn't unheard of here, especially in Jan/Feb, but that would be below average. The wind makes it worse, especially by the lake, but if you know how to dress for the weather (and I assume you do!) you'll be fine. Something to be thoughtful about, though, is the heat of the summers--people focus on the cold of the winter here, but the summers are HOT and (this is the killer) HUMID. Especially in July and August, you can expect days over 32 C, higher with the heat index. I don't know if this is comparable to the summers in Toronto or not. As far as safety is concerned, I don't think you need to start being scared in Chicago, just remember to bring your city sense with you. Lock your bike wheels to your bike frame--don't just lock the frame to a pole--pay attention to your surroundings, let yourself get to know the city etc. There are for sure parts of the city that people call "dangerous" because they're non-white neighborhoods. There are also part of the city that people call "dangerous" because they are! It pays to be skeptical of other peoples' conception of safety, but, IMO, part of being a tough cookie in a major city is trusting your own good sense. Maybe it's just me, but the real danger in living in Hyde Park is getting caught in the "Hyde Park bubble" and not getting to know the rest of the city. About food, a quick google turns up this http://chicago.doortodoororganics.com/about/ which may suit your needs. I can't vouch for it personally, though. Eating local in the midwest in the winter is going to be pretty limiting, but you'll have some good options for organic. Something to consider in the spring/summer/fall is a CSA share. I don't know if they have those up by you, so forgive me if I'm telling you stuff you already know but a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) share works like this: you sign up for a season with a local farm, and in exchange you get a box of fruits and veggies each week containing whatever happens to be ready for harvest. Some of them deliver to your door, others you might have to go and pick up on a given day from a drop spot in your neighborhood. I've had some good experiences with this, and it's kind of fun to not know what you're getting week-to-week. Options vary in terms of how much shares cost, how long the season is, what kinds of things are available, whether you pay week-to-week or all at once etc. Some of the farms will offer you the opportunity to visit the farm at some point during the season, which I've never done but sounds fun. Google around for options and reviews and see what works for you! Chicago is a great city for biking, in part because it's so damn flat--the closest thing you'll find to a hill here is a bridge. The lakefront bike path will take you downtown, as well as into the neighborhoods on the North Side. In addition, many major streets have marked bike lanes, which makes commuting by bike easy. Drivers are pretty aware of bicyclists, especially on the streets with marked lanes. The most common accident is getting "doored" when folks in parked cars open their doors into bike lanes without checking behind them. The city has been really invested in making biking safe and accessible, which is really nice. Good information about biking in the city can be found here http://www.cityofchicago.org/cityinfo/cdot/bikemap/keymap.html including maps of trails and bike lanes and information about taking your bike onto buses and trains. The city is also piloting more "protected bike lanes" which will make things even easier for cyclists: more info on that here http://www.cityofchicago.org/city/en/depts/cdot/provdrs/bike/news/2011/jul/kinzie_protectedbikelanecompleted.html I wish I could be helpful with the dance thing, but I really have no idea. The Joffery offers classes, and Ruth Page is well-known enough to make it onto my (totally non-dancing) radar. The Old Town School of Folk Music probably skews more recreational than you'd like, but it's a cool resource if you think you might want to take a few classes on break dancing or like, Indonesian folk dancing or something for fun. Take a look at this article in Time Out to give you a good starting place for more research http://timeoutchicago.com/arts-culture/dance/66360/top-ten-dance-studios Good luck with your decisions!

I grew up in Evanston, so maybe I can give folks a good orientation to the area. It's a beautiful little city, with a bit of a college town feel (lots of students, coffee shops etc), very easy access to Chicago (through the CTA, the Metra, some buses and also NU runs some shuttle buses that I don't know much about but I think are free for students). It's suburban, but still diverse, lots of trees and parks and beaches, and very family friendly. It's relatively walkable, but having a car isn't a major inconvenience the way it can be in some Chicago neighborhoods. One thing to note about Evanston: it was a dry city for a veeeeeeery long time, and although things have relaxed somewhat since the heyday of the Women's Christian Temperance Union, the liquor laws are still pretty strict. The result is that there are like, maaaaybe 3 bars in Evanston? If nightlife is important to you, you may want to consider living in Chicago and commuting in. If you're looking into that, there's some really good information in the Chicago thread. Personally, I love Rogers Park, and I feel safe in most of the parts of it, but everyone has a different comfort level, and the best thing to do is visit and walk around and see how you feel. Living in Evanston is a little more expensive that many neighborhoods in Chicago, but it's not insane. Goldielocks, I think you'll find that 1600$ in a housing budget will go pretty far. Unlike Chicago, Evanston doesn't have a lot of distinct neighborhoods. The best way to orient yourself to the area is to think in terms of the El, I think. The Purple line runs through Evanston from Linden (the border of Wilmette, the next suburb north of Evanston) south to Howard (the border of Chicago). The Purple line runs til about 1 AM (later on Saturdays). Typically, if you're heading south to the city, you'll change to the Red line at Howard, but during rush hours, the Purple line extends to the downtown Chicago Loop as an express train (very convenient for anyone who works downtown). The main business district in Evanston is located around the Davis stop, where there's a pretty good collection of restaurants, shops, coffee places, a great movie theater etc. There's a little cluster of bars towards the south end of Downtown Evanston (kind of by the Dempster El stop). NU is in the northeastern bit of the city, along the lake shore, with the most convenient train stops for campus being Foster and Noyes (pronounced "noise") but I think the NU student shuttle stops at Davis. There are smaller business strips near the Main street (south of downtown) and Central street (north of downtown) El stations. As a general rule, you're going to be more likely to find apartment buildings east of the train line, while west of the train line is mostly single family homes (some of them modest, and some of them lavish). Apartments in South Evanston (closer to the Main Street or South Boulavard El stations) are more likely to be inexpensive. The Apartment People, linked up-thread is by bellefast, is a good resource. You can make an appointment with them, and they'll take you around to see places that fit the perameters you set with them. This is paid for by the landlords who list their places, so it costs you nothing! Craigslist is a good way to find apartments, too. Hope that was helpful info!

Hey BB! I don't know too much about Phys Ed programs in general, but it might help to answer your questions if you can say a little more about where you're coming from and what you want to do, ultimately, with your degree(s). Are you currently a high school student? Or will you be getting your Bachelor's as an older returning student? Are you looking to become a K-12 Phys Ed teacher? A coach of some kind? Do you want to work with athletes in some capacity? Or maybe study the relationship between Phys Ed and public health? Or some other thing? What's your dream job? Starting to answer those questions is the best way to find the school that is the best for you.

Hey Blurry! I lived in Logan Square for a long time, so I'd be able to answer specific questions about that area, if you have any. It does tend to be a pricier area than the other two you mentioned, but reasonable living is still possible around there. Bucktown is also something you might want to check into. Behavioral isn't wrong, though--plenty of landlords will list their places as "steps from the CTA" when they mean "kinda close to a bus that runs once an hour during weekday rush hour". If you're not already doing this, you can easily check commute times and walking distances with the google transit directions function--it's so helpful! I'm certain that some of the places you're seeing are "too good to be true"--but some of them are not! That's just the way craigslist is. Also, keep in mind that the listing you see at this time of year are only just a fraction of the amount there will be when you're actually going to move (assuming you'll come in the late summer/early fall). Nobody plans to move during the winter if they can help it, and a lot of leases are timed to come up June 1st or October 1st. I think with an 800$ budget, you'll have plenty of good choices! If you can swing a visit a monthish before your move date, you might look into using a rental agent--they'll drive you around and show you places, at no cost to you, which is really helpful if you don't know the city.

Hey purpledinosaur, congrats on your acceptance! I don't know too much about Hyde Park in particular, so I'll leave it to others to make specific recommendations about the neighborhood, but I was a vegetarian living in Chicago for about ten years, so maybe I can help out there. The Chicago Diner is pretty good, but I was never really the kind of vegetarian who craved a tempeh Ruben, you know? IMO, the great thing about vegetarian living in Chicago is the awesomeness of our ethnic restaurant scene--Ethiopian, Thai and Indian are all great choices for eating out where you don't have to choose between ordering "a chef salad, hold the meat" or just settling for a plate of fries. Mexican and Mediterranean places can be good, too (depends on which one). Ethnic markets are good places to find veggie/vegan friendly things to eat that aren't at Whole Foods prices (I always bought my tofu from the Korean market around the corner). I almost never felt deprived or restricted because I was veggie. Also, there's the nearly vegetarian (sometimes they have one fish dish on the menu) fine dining place Green Zebra. It's my favorite restaurant in the city--but fancy and pricey! Bad for a grad student budget, but great for bookmarking for celebrating achievements and special occasions!

I don't know the south side all that well, but my take on Bridgeport was never that it was unsafe, just maybe that it was a little boring. I, too, live in a neighborhood that some would consider unsafe (but that I love), though, so I know what you mean about not wanting to take the negative feedback seriously--people's perceptions of neighborhoods are not always helpful. The best thing to do is visit if you can. Do look into Pilsen! It's gotten a little more hip (and therefore more expensive!) over the last couple years, but there are still deals to be had. It's closer to downtown than Bridgeport is and has a good share of art galleries and cultural life. Remember, when looking into rentals in Chicago that whether or not the heat is included in the rent can make a big difference in the actual cost of living (if heat's not included, the landlord has to tell you about how much your monthly heating cost will be before you sign the lease).

Most of the folks I know who go to UIC are Chicago natives, so they just live in whichever neighborhood they already like. It seems like it's pretty easy to commute to the UIC campus via the CTA, and if you live on the blue line, it'll be easy as pie. There may be some student neighborhoods around UIC, but I don't know 'em. What are your priorities for a neighborhood? Open spaces or urban density? Stuff for families to do or bars to go out to?

I'm glad that it was helpful!

Oh, word. It's amazing what this process does to your self-confidence, even when it's going well. It took me about two days to go from "wooo! I'm invited" to "oh, no, what if it was a mistake!" And it would be nice to say hi. I'm planning on scheduling some time to look around the city while I'm down there--I hear Nashville is really cool. Everyone I've had contact with at Vandy has been very down to earth and kind and approachable and stuff, so I'm expecting a friendly weekend.

Hey that's great! Not about the cardiac arrest, but about the rest of it! Is it the same weekend (2/16-2/19)? I'm on pins and needles waiting for the official schedule of events. Anybody apply to the University of Oregon?

Yay! Congrats!

Chicago educator represent! Personally, I don't plan on leaving my apartment again until my toes have thawed and someone shovels my sidewalk.

sshopeful, you're not being annoying! Everybody has to start somewhere, and this process is confusing and intimidating. It's good that you're asking questions and starting your research for a good fit this early About your youth: I don't think it'll be a problem. Education grad schools kind of have a weird make-up, because a lot of people pursuing higher degrees in Education (especially, but not only, EdDs) are doing so in order to become administrators in schools. Those folks pull up the average age in grad school, because no matter how fancy your degree is, you're not going to be a good candidate for principal and superintendent jobs with only a few years of classroom experience, so they wait 'til they're older and more experienced to start. But, since that's not your career path, you shouldn't compare yourself to that cohort of students (and I don't think admissions committees will compare you to them either). Does that make sense? People more interested in academic careers than administrative ones probably start their PhD/EdD programs earlier, but there are fewer of them, so the average age still stays high. The general advice for anyone pursuing a career in academia is go to the best school that your can get into, and try not to pay any money (even borrowed money) for your degree. Job prospects are better in Ed, generally (depending on your sub-field) than they are in many other disciplines, but getting a professorship at a research university is always going to be tough. Don't be afraid to ask potential programs about how folks fare on the market after getting their degrees. Also, ask what those programs will do for you to make sure you're competitive when it's time to go on the market, and take a hard look into what sub-fields are super-competitive. I don't say any of that to be discouraging, so please don't take it as such--just food for thought as you continue your research. Pulling up your quant score on the GRE (the others look really strong to me!) will be helpful both in terms of getting you into good programs and in terms of securing you funding at those programs. Buy a book and study, or take a class, or find a nice math teacher at your school who'd be willing to tutor you. There's some good advice on these forums in the GRE section for good study materials and programs. Then, take a look at the average (or minimum, if they publish that) scores for the programs that you're interested in and compare 'em to your performance on practice tests, and see where you are. Again, don't count yourself out if you can't get your score to perfect--even if you're below the average/minimum for the programs you love, your research and classroom experience might help you over that weak spot. Either way, it costs you nothing but the application fee to find out if they'll admit you. If I remember right, Vandy's cut off, at least in the dep't I'm applying to was 1300 combined (on the old scale), and you're only 130 points off from that. Here's another couple programs that might be good fits for you, at U of Wisconsin Madison http://www.education.wisc.edu/ci/esl/ and at Michigan State http://www.reg.msu.edu/academicprograms/ProgramDetail.asp?Program=6740 which are both in really highly ranked Curriculum and Instruction departments. Take a look, see what the faculty are writing and if anyone in particular rings your bell.

Thanks! Let's all pledge not to beat ourselves up over this process anymore. Easier said than done, I realize, but it's a worthy project.

Aw, man, I feel like this forum is both a blessing and a curse. I'm sorry to have been (however indirectly) the cause of your freak out--I've had more than a few of those myself throughout this process, and so I've got a ton of empathy for you, friend If it helps, I have no reason to think that the way Vandy does things for the Special Ed program has any relationship to the way they do things in other programs. Good luck to you! And also to everyone else applying!

sshopeful, IMO, your background is far from poor. You've got both practice and research experience and your GPA isn't a disaster. I Imagine there are a lot of departments that would be good fits for your interests (here's one, for one example off the top of my head, at Vanderbilt http://peabody.vanderbilt.edu/teaching_and_learning/graduate_programs/doctoral_programs/language_literacy_and_culture_specialization.xml ). My guess is that you'd be most likely to find people doing work that interests you either in literacy program or in special ed programs. Here are the questions I think you'll need to be able to answer in order to find the best program for you: What do you want to do with your degree? Do you want to teach at a university? do research? do you want to specialize in qualitative or quantitative research, or mixed methods? Or, would you rather work in policy? be an administrator? Are you interested more in the achievement gap in terms of K-12 education, or in higher ed? Look for schools that will train you for the career you want. I started my search for the right grad school by reading current research. Anything that I read that made me excited, I'd look up the author and see where they taught, and then looked into what that program was like. That's the path I'd recommend to anyone. A lot of schools will have somewhere on their website the average profile of students they've admitted, in terms of GRE scores, GPA and (sometimes) years of classroom experience, and that should give you a sense of whether a given program is a reach for you or not. I wonder if your self-assessment of your academic record is so (overly, IMO) harsh because you're comparing yourself to other posters here, or grad school applicants in other disciplines. Keep in mind that the academic job market in the humanities is really, really dire, so there's a lot of pressure on English, History etc applicants to be perfect. There's a lot more money and a lot more jobs in Education, so having a 4.0 in everything is less important. Don't count yourself out!

I don't know about the sciences, and maybe it's different, so take the following with the amount of salt needed I've talked to several profs at one of the universities that I'm applying to, and the conversations were so informal that I kind of didn't even realize that they were probably interviews. There were no pop quizzes, nothing that could remotely be called "grilling", we just kind of talked--about the state of the field, about my previous work, about their work and how they work with grad students, about the strengths of their program. It felt like they were not so much trying to vet my qualifications, but rather that they had decided I was qualified based on my application, and were trying to get a sense of what kind of co-worker I'd be. Based on my experience, I'd give the same advice I give to folks going into job interviews--be polite and personable, have a few (concise!) things in mind to say if they open with "tell me about yourself" and have a few (smart, thoughtful) questions in case they ask if you have any at the end of the talk. Keep in mind that they may be trying to impress you as much as you're trying to impress them. How were your other interviews? Did you feel like you were being examined?

I like to spend this day every year doing a little reading about Dr. King, and I happened across the following in one of the online document archives I was browsing: "King took the examination on 3 February. A table enclosed with the test report indicates that his verbal aptitude score is in the second lowest quartile and his quantitative score is in the lowest ten percent of those taking the test. In the advanced test in philosophy, King's score (on a scale of 100) places him in the lowest third, while his other scores (on a scale of 800) are in the lowest quartile in all the subject areas except literature, where he placed in the top quartile." http://mlk-kpp01.stanford.edu/index.php/encyclopedia/documentsentry/doc_510306_000/ So, whatever the GRE is measuring, it certainly isn't an infallible measure of your global verbal skills, guys. Arguably the greatest orator in American history couldn't crack the 50th percentile on the verbal. Just thought I'd add some perspective for all of us who are fretting over how we measure up.

Hey, no problem! I'm glad it was helpful. If you know principals in the school district that you want to work in, I would recommend that you reach out to them to ask about masters/certification programs. They'd be able to give you a good picture of what programs are impressive, both in terms of who they've hired and student teachers that have come through their building. I'm not saying you should definitely not go Ivy for your masters, but there might be programs you overlooked that are actually impressive to administrators (and cheaper to boot!) Likely, no matter where you do a teacher training program, you'd be able to transfer your certification to NY. However, you might have to retake some tests before you get a permanent certificate (either before you begin teaching or within two years of teaching). If you complete your teacher training in NY, you'll just take those tests as part of your program requirements. It's not a big deal (the tests are easy), but it costs money and is kind of a headache. It's no great impediment, but it is something to be aware of. Besides asking your programs of interest detailed questions about what kinds of field experiences and/or student teaching you'd complete, I'd ask the following questions: - Specifically what kind of certification will you get? Are there opportunities to gain supplementary certifications or endorsements? Administrators love flexibility, so if you can get a middle school certificate in addition to your elementary certificate, that's great. If you can get any kind of extra training/certification in science, math, special ed or bilingual ed, that'll open doors for you--those are typically areas of need for schools, and if you can't nab a position in a district you love teaching 4th or 5th grade, you might be able to get a different position and transfer to another grade level in a few years. - At the end of your program, will you count as "highly qualified"? In which subjects? - How will they prepare you to work with the RTI (Response to Intervention) framework? With differentiated instruction? With the requirements of NCLB? With school-wide positive behavior supports? These are the buzzwordy kind of things you'll need to talk intelligently about in interviews, and IMO, any program that can't answer those questions for you is a program that is not connected enough to what is actually going on in schools. - How will they prepare you for classroom management? (If courses in classroom management are optional, as they are in some programs TAKE THEM. When you're in field placements, talk to your mentor teachers about their strategies for classroom management, talk to principals about school policies for discipline, think carefully about stuff you see that works and doesn't work. IMO, this is the real make-you-or-break-you stuff for new teachers). That's all I can think of for now! Good luck to you!

My impression, in general, is that masters programs in education are much less selective than doctoral programs (and masters programs in a lot of other fields). The issue for folks is usually in paying for the degree, as you're not at all assured of funding. What do you want to do with your degree? If you want to teach, I'd think carefully about applying to programs that would require you to take out more loans than you'd make in your first year or so of teaching. Also, it might be worth considering alternative certification programs (whatever that looks like in your state) instead of a MAT, especially if those programs give you a lot of classroom experience. Classroom experience is really the key, IMO, both in making you a better teacher and in making you more attractive on the job market. My (undergraduate) education degree required full time-student teaching (~40 hours/week in classrooms) for an entire semester. I felt like, by the last four weeks or so of that time I had a real sense of what the day-to-day of teaching really was. I know fellow teachers whose programs (masters or undergrad) required less classroom time, and I don't think they felt as prepared as I did. You also want to think about where you want to teach. Certifications/licenses aren't impossible to transfer from state-to-state, but it's a headache to do so. If you know approximately where you want to work when you graduate, it might make sense to choose a program near there, both because then you'll know for sure you're seamlessly certified to practice in that state, and because you'll know (hopefully) know some principals close to your grad school (I got my first two teaching jobs in part through contacts I made during student teaching/observations and practicums). What is your undergrad degree in?

I don't think an MAT would hurt you, either when applying to schools or going on the market after your EdD. Also, keep in mind (at least in my state) a lot of employers will pay for all or part of your masters degree while you're teaching full time, but, typically only for degrees that would make you better at your current job, not ones that would prepare you for a different job--so your employer might fund all or part of your MAT or an MEd in instruction or something, but not necessarily for an MEd in leadership. Also, it's my impression that years of experience in the classroom and extra practice-focused degrees are beneficial when applying to EdD programs and in the market after, so I don't think the MAT is less relevant than the MEd. If an MAT is much easier to get, then go for it! FWIW, expect your first few years in the classroom to be really hard, in terms of workload and materials prep and all that. I wouldn't have been able to take masters classes part-time during the school year in my first two years, make sure you give yourself time to establish good habits in the classroom before you start more school.

Hey, thanks for the thoughts, Eigen! That's a really good point that going in with a bias might put me in a good position to ask skeptical questions. It sucks that you got such a rude response from the school you turned down--that strikes me as pretty unprofessional. More than one person has made an analogy between applying for graduate school and the early stages of dating, which seems to be pretty insightful. I guess the school you turned down isn't too great at "break ups"

Hey folks, I'm just looking for some feedback here. I'm currently applying to PhD programs for fall of 2012. I've only applied to two programs, both highly ranked in my (somewhat small) subfield, both programs I think I'd be a good match for, both programs I'd be thrilled to attend. Things are going pretty well, and I'm excited about this process. Here's the "problem": professors from school A got in contact with me while my application was still in progress (not officially submitted). Their responses to me have been really positive, everyone has been really kind and there's talk of invitations to a recruitment weekend and extra fellowships above and beyond their normal funding offers (just that I'll be nominated for them, nothing official). That's great, and I'm super excited. I've heard nothing at all from school B, but school B's application deadline was just this past Thursday. Now, maybe school B just isn't that excited about me, and that would be OK (not everyone is a good match for every program), but maybe their process is just different and I'll hear from them eventually. So far, I've been trying to keep myself from getting too wrapped up, emotionally, in my excitement about school A, so if school B does end up being interested in me, I'd still be in a good place to evaluate their program at least somewhat neutrally. I'm afraid if I let myself feel too committed to school A this early, I won't be able to really "hear" any of the positives about school B. But that restraint is getting harder and harder to maintain as things keep going so well with school A. I'm genuinely psyched about school A. I'm also genuinely psyched about having this ambiguity be over, so I can start thinking about where I'll be living next year and really start planning in earnest. My questions are these: should I keep trying to keep an open mind? If so, how? I'd almost prefer, at this point, to just never hear back from school B, so my decision is made for me, but making a decision like that this early seems crazy.

Right, it's not actually called a reading comprehension test. It's a graduate admissions test, designed (like IQ tests and SAT/ACT tests) to assess your aptitude, not the skills you've already acquired. I don't think too highly of the GREs, honestly. It's certainly not perfect test by a long shot. Some of the validity research is kinda self-fulfilling (for instance, if the receipt of fellowships is dependent in part on GRE scores, it makes sense that people with higher GRE scores would be more likely to finish their degrees, because they're more likely to get funding). A lot of the weight that admissions programs put on GRE scores has less to do with people thinking that the GRE is a great test, and more to do with how heavily US News and World Report weights average GRE scores of students when ranking programs. So, I'm not super invested in defending the test itself. However, as an applicant to PhD programs in education the following is kind of a hobbyhorse of mine: these tests are extensively researched, by both ETS and independent evaluators. That's the reason everybody has to sit for an experimental section, for example. Populations and averages are compared, the test is normed, individual results are compared to future performance and results on other, similar tests. That doesn't mean they're infallible, of course--some of the research will even demonstrate specific flaws in the test. None of the questions are just made up by some dude, and it seems pretty arrogant to me when people critique standardized tests based on what makes sense to them. Not that you can't criticize! But you should have a basic understanding of the ways that tests are designed and written and some ability to read the research that looks into their effectiveness. I know hard science types don't always take the social sciences terribly seriously, but we do have methods, some of them rigorous, to look into these types of problems. I try not to bother Biologists with my kooky theories about how to revise taxonomies of living things (let's categorize by size and color! That just makes sense to me!), and I wish my own discipline ever got the same measure of respect. Whew, I guess according to the rant above, I have Feelings About This. To be clear, the above rant isn't directed to any individual person here, please don't take offense!

Hey, no problem! I'm happy to help, because talking about how awesome Chicago is is one of my very favorite hobbies. Also, it's distracting me from my own grad school anxiety, and I'm hoping any advice I can give you will serve as a kind of "pay it forward" thing when I'm planning my own move. I thought of a few more things that might be important considerations: Bedrooms! A lot of Chicago buildings are old, which means great things (fabulous woodwork trim and hardwood floors, sometimes built in bookcases, big, pretty windows etc.). But it also means that bedrooms are, typically, small. Like 9x9 small. Especially in 3 bedroom places, you can expect small rooms (or one human sized rooms and two little ones). That's a totally doable amount of space, but if you were planning having space for a desk (for you) or a lot of room for playing (for the kiddos)in the bedrooms, it might be a tough squeeze. Happily, a lot of places come with an extra room (commonly listed as a den, an office or a sun room) that would make a great study space or a playroom. It's not a big deal, but I thought I'd mention it. Schools! I have no great information on public schools in the city, unfortunately. My impression is that the quality of neighborhood schools vary pretty widely. There are a lot of magnet schools and charter schools--not all of those are better than neighborhood schools, but some of them are--and there's testing/applications/lotteries to get slots in those. If your kids are school-aged (or will be school-aged at some point in your living here) you'll probably want to find someone more knowledgeable than I to talk school issues with. Transit! As a full-time grad student at DePaul, you'll end up automatically paying for a U-Pass along with your tuition and fees (I think). A U-Pass means you get unlimited rides on all CTA buses and trains during the academic terms (you're on your own during breaks, sadly). It's a nice perk, and can be a serious money saver. Note, though, that the Metra trains aren't included in this, nor are PACE (suburban) buses. The Metra is more of a commuter transit train. It runs deep into the suburbs and costs more than the CTA trains. The CTA runs the elevated and subway lines (named for colors Red Green Brown Blue Pink etc and we call them El lines, even when they go underground) and is best for general daily trips if you live inside the city. If you don't have a car, or don't plan to bring your car with you to grad school, Chicago has car-sharing programs (Zipcar and I-Go) which are worth looking into. It's great if you want to rely on public transit for most of your needs, but still want the option of taking a car for the occasional trip to the grocery store or weekend away. Seriously, let me know if you can think of anymore questions (even if they're preliminary). Happy to help!