Networc

If you haven't already seen the email, one of our (future) classmates setup a Google group (link is in the email).

Are there any other ISPs in southwest Durham that offer higher speeds than Time Warner Cable? Anyone have any experience with TWC?

Add UIUC to the list. +1 to everything else blankslate said.

I think it might have been the essay prompts. UVA wanted two essays and, rather than put the time into two good essays, I split my overall template into two and tweaked it to answer their questions. End result: two really short essays.

Yep, I'm all set for UNC. Regarding specialization, I'd love to get involved with research in networking, security, virtualization, and/or distributed computing. I feel like there's plenty of intersection between those areas that, if I were to get involved in one, I wouldn't be locking myself out of the others. Plus, I'm in the US Army, so I can't stray too far from my specialty (i.e. graphics would be fun, but the Army wouldn't be too happy with it ). I'll be living off campus, hopefully in southwest Durham (looking to avoid a commute through Research Triangle Park).

Me! I'm American, though.

What about an Asus PadFone (once released) and remotely connect to a powerful desktop?

Thanks to both of you - great advice!

I've been working on a small project that I would like to eventually put on GitHub and write a few blog posts about. I have a feeling that the project could be a springboard for a Master's thesis, but I'm worried that if I open source it now, I won't be able to do any grad school work on it later. However, I feel like posting it now will help me gauge whether or not the project is actually useful or just a silly hobby. Plus, there's always the nagging desire to get something "on the street". So, my question is: would posting the code and blogging about it now prevent me from using it as the foundation for a future Master's thesis? (or any research, for that matter)

Going to UNC-CH!

I found the following at: http://www.cs.unc.edu/cms/research/research-areas/computer-graphics "Computer graphics research at UNC investigates the representation, creation, and manipulation of image data that serve as the visual interface between people and computers. One of our primary research focuses is interactive graphics where the main challenges are the rapid generation of photorealistic images and high-quality simulation in response to user inputs, as well as the development of both software and hardware mechanisms for human interaction with graphical systems." To me, this description seems very similar to how they describe HCI: http://www.cs.unc.edu/cms/research/research-areas/human-computer-interaction Your best bet is to contact someone like jyyhope said. If the Ph.D. acceptance letter is like the Master's, then you should have been given a 'contact professor' for correspondence. I'd start there.

d1991: What is considered Southwest Durham - is it the area roughly bounded by I-40, 751, 55, and Scott King Road? Everything I've street-viewed in that area looks really nice. Would it be hard to find a house to rent in that area (is everything for sale)? Thanks in advance!

Received official notification from the Grad School at Purdue that I was admitted! I had a good feeling after the Skype interview.

If you find a school that publishes their admissions data in a format similar to UNC-Chapel Hill, then you can actually compute the acceptance rate for US citizens vs. International applicants. For instance, Computer Science in 2010: Total Applied = 432, Total Accepted = 114 (Total Acceptance Rate = 26.39%) Int'l Applied = 352, Int'l Accepted = 69 (Int'l Acceptance Rate = 19.6%) Therefore: US Citizens Applied = 80, US Citizens Accepted = 45 (US Citizen Acceptance Rate = 56.25%)

My wife and I were able to take a 1 day detour while on vacation this summer and check out the Chapel Hill campus and then we drove around Cary for quite some time (it was recommended by my boss who is from NC, but not Raleigh-Durham). I think my wife is set on an area like Cary, if not Cary itself. If I get accepted to Duke or NCSU, then I think our choice of a place to live will be much simpler. It seems like I'll only have trouble deciding if I get accepted to Chapel Hill. Would the commute from Cary/Morrisville to Chapel Hill be a killer? I'm okay with a drive, but I don't want to spend my whole day in traffic. They all seem like great schools, so if my quality of life would be better with the shorter commute, then I'm willing to make that call.