smck99

They said the visit would be March 2-3. They didn't mention if there were different visits for different specialties though (I applied for biological at BU)

Boston University: March 2-3 California Institute of Technology (Caltech): March 1-3 or March 22-24 Cornell: March 2-4 or March 30-April 1 Colorado State: Feb 17-19, March 9-11 Georgia Tech: March 15-17, April 5-7 Johns Hopkins University: March 16-18 Montana State: March 1-4 MIT: March 30-April 1 New York University: Feb 16-18, Mar 8-10 Northeastern University: Feb 25 Northwestern University: March 8-10, 15-17, 29-31 Ohio State University: March 2-3, 16-17 Penn State University: March 16-18 Princeton: Feb 24-27, March 2-4, March 16-18 Rice : Feb 23-26 or March 9-10 Scripps: Feb 23-25 or March 1-3 Stanford: March 1, 8, 15 or 22 SUNY Stony Brook: March 9, March 23 Texas A&M University: March 2-4 University of Arizona - Tucson: March 15 - 18 UC Berkeley: March 1-3, March 8-10, March 15-17 or March 22-24 UC Davis: February 16-18, March 11-12 (one is more condensed than the other) UCI: March 2, 9, 16 UC LA: January 27, March 2 or March 23 U Chicago: February 16-18 or March 8-10 University of Colorado at Boulder: March 9-10, 15-17 U Florida: February 17-19 or March 16-18 UIUC: Feb 17-18 or March 2-3 or March 23-24 or March 9-10 (Pchem) or March 30-31 (Pchem) UMich: February 2-5 UNC Chapel Hill: March 9-12 or March 30 - April 1 U Oregon: March 16-18 UPenn: March 16th-18 U Rochester: March 17 USC (Southern Cal): Feb 16-19 or March 1-4 or March 22-25 University of Tennessee Knoville February 24-26 UT Southwestern (Interview): Feb 2-4 UVA: March 15th-16th University of Washington: March 9-10 Yale (General Chemistry): March 22-24

I just got a phone call today, so hopefully they'll be contacting people this week. Good luck!

dog tired

blood bank

I don't know about LA, but you can actually get by in Boston on a budget. Mass transit is good enough that you can move into cheap areas and still be connected. You can live in some pretty decent neighborhoods for cheap because like half the population of Boston is made up of students.

My advisor sent this out to some of us the other day. A lot of it is the same as what some people have been mentioning, but I'd thought I'd share in case it might be helpful: Those of you who have been accepted to graduate school(s) will presumably now be looking at dates to visit those campuses. I thought I'd just share some general thoughts on this process, as someone who's looked at it from both sides. When I went to visit, I had NO IDEA what I was supposed to be doing or learning. I made at least one critical error, but I got away with it. Here's my little bit of advice. 1) The most important thing to remember is that this is not the school interviewing you. This is YOU interviewing the school. You've already been accepted. The visits are set up to convince you to matriculate. Don't be nervous about impressing anyone - you'll have that chance at the school of your choice in the fall. This visit is all about learning what you need to learn in order to make the right decision. 2) The right decision, in my opinion, is the one that finds you a school/lab/environment where you can be HAPPY. I'm not going to lie: graduate school is hard, and graduate school is long, and graduate school can be very painful, and very depressing. Lots and lots of people drop out when they realize these things. So to me, the goal is to pick a place where you're going to be able to complete the degree. Some ideas on this specific point: a. Pick a school where there is more than one group you'd like to join. Do some research ahead of time to see whose projects look interesting, and ask for meetings with those professors. Ask them if there's room in their group. Ask them how many students they're planning to take. If there's only ONE professor at a school who interests you, what will you do if their group is full? b. Find time to speak to the STUDENTS in that group. Ask them what life is like. Ask them what sort of hours they're expected to work. Ask them if their boss is hands-on or hands-off. Ask them if they're happy about that. c. Ask those same students if they get along in the lab. Ask them if they socialize. People underestimate this. The other students in the lab are AT LEAST as important as the professor in determining whether or not you'll be happy. Do you like them? Can you work in a close space with them 10+ hours a day, 5-7 days a week, for 5+ years? d. Try to find out how well the graduate students are integrated socially throughout the department and the university. If your group is small and/or antisocial, are there other folks around that are easy to find? e. Be aware that everyone at the school IS trying to impress you. Some of them will lie. So talk to the other VISITING students about their impressions. Did they learn anything you didn't? 3) Get a feel for location, access, housing, transportation. Don't underestimate what a difference this makes. 4) Find out the details about money! Are you guaranteed a stipend? How much? For how long? Are you required to teach? How much? What happens in year 2 or 3 when (at most schools) you're supposed to stop teaching - are you guaranteed an RA? Is health care included? Is dental? That's all I can think of for now. Good luck!

substance abuse

I haven't seen anyone else applying to Northeastern on here, but just in case, if you get an invitation to the open house it means you will be accepted even though the email says that it doesn't necessarily mean anything. I was confused, but my POI said they only send them to people who will be accepted. For some reason though they don't send out the acceptances until after the visit.

California Institute of Technology (Caltech): March 1-3 or March 22-24 Cornell: March 2-4 or March 30-April 1 Colorado State: Feb 17-19, March 9-11 Georgia Tech: March 15-17, April 5-7 Montana State: March 1-4 MIT: March 30-April 1 New York University: Feb 16-18, Mar 8-10 Northeastern University: Feb 25 Northwestern University: March 8-10, 15-17, 29-31 Ohio State University: March 2-3, 16-17 Princeton: Feb 24-27, March 2-4, March 16-18 Rice : Feb 23-26 or March 9-10 Scripps: Feb 23-25 or March 1-3 Stanford: March 1, 8, 15 or 22 (may combine with a Friday visit to Berkeley) SUNY Stony Brook: March 9, March 23 UC Berkeley: March 1-3, March 8-10, March 15-17 or March 22-24 UC Davis: February 16-18, March 11-12 (one is more condensed than the other) UCI: March 2, 9, 16 UC LA: January 27, March 2 or March 23 U Chicago: February 16-18 or March 8-10 University of Colorado at Boulder: March 9-10, 15-17 U Florida: February 17-19 or March 16-18 UIUC: Feb 17-18 or March 2-3 or March 23-24 or March 9-10 (Pchem) or March 30-31 (Pchem) UMich: February 2-5 UNC Chapel Hill: March 9-12 or March 30 - April 1 U Oregon: March 16-18 UPenn: March 16th-18 U Rochester: March 17 USC (Southern Cal): Feb 16-19 or March 1-4 or March 22-25 University of Tennessee Knoxville February 24-26 UT Southwestern (Interview): Feb 2-4 UVA: March 15th-16th University of Washington: March 9-10 Yale (General Chemistry): March 22-24

house sitter

tear here

Haha, I'd be careful about turning it off. I've been checking my spam folder, and most of it is stuff I definitely don't want to be receiving in my inbox...

Actually it just came today! I'm assuming you should have one too. What visitation weekend are you going to?

wagon train

I'm in the same boat. They said it would be a week or two, and that was two weeks ago. At least you're not alone!

It might be a good idea to let the interested professor know your GPA and ask him what he thinks. I was in a similar situation, and I told the professor and just asked him if he thought it would be realistic for me to be accepted or if I should do something to make myself more competitive and try next year. He was very receptive and was still interested in my application. If the professor is going to see it anyway, you may as well tell him yourself I think.

This might not be the kind of thing you're looking for, but I'm in a similar situation and I've been working as an office security guard. It's boring, but as long as it's temporary it's not a bad way to earn some money-- at my company the starting pay is $14/hr.

That makes sense. I think I'm just stressing out because I'm still waiting to hear from a bunch of schools so this is just one more thing to worry about. I think I'll bring her with me. Thanks for the advice!

I'm trying to decide if I should bring my wife with me to visitation weekends. I think it makes sense to go by myself so I can get to know the program without worrying about her being bored or something. I'm also not sure if it would be weird or something-- I want to make a good impression and I'm not sure what professors would think about me bringing someone else. At the same time though, this is really exciting for me, and I'd like to be able to share it with her. Is anyone else having the same problem? What do you think?

California Institute of Technology (Caltech): March 1-3 or March 22-24 Cornell: March 2-4 or March 30-April 1 Colorado State: Feb 17-19, March 9-11 Georgia Tech: March 15-17, April 5-7 Montana State: March 1-4 MIT: March 30-April 1 New York University: Feb 16-18, Mar 8-10 Northwestern University: March 8-10, 15-17, 29-31 Princeton: Feb 24-27, March 2-4, March 16-18 Scripps: Feb 23-25 or March 1-3 Stanford: March 1, 8, 15 or 22 (may combine with a Friday visit to Berkeley) UC Berkeley: March 1-3, March 8-10, March 15-17 or March 22-24 UCI: March 2, 9, 16 UC LA: January 27, March 2 or March 23 U Chicago: February 16-18 or March 8-10 U Florida: February 17-19 or March 16-18 UIUC: Feb 17-18 or March 2-3 or March 23-24 or March 9-10 (Pchem) or March 30-31 (Pchem) UMich: February 2-5 UNC Chapel Hill: March 9-12 or March 30 - April 1 U Oregon: March 16-18 UPenn: March 16th-18 USC (Southern Cal): Feb 16-19 or March 1-4 or March 22-25 UT Southwestern (Interview): Feb 2-4 UVA: March 15th-16th University of Washington: March 9-10 Yale (General Chemistry): March 22-24