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gradgirl

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Everything posted by gradgirl

  1. I went to a catholic school for my undergrad degree and I'm not catholic (nor am I particularly religious). I had no real problems with it, and I suspect as a graduate student it would be even less of an issue. You see people going to mass, but that's about all. It was never forced on me. The administration operates in keeping with a catholic code of morals, so I found some of Notre Dame's policies a little outmoded and not very open-minded; however, a good percentage of the students actively rebel against traditional Catholic values by doing stuff like wearing "Gay? Fine by me." tshirts and other such things. My brother is doing his undergrad work at a catholic school right now and he's a self-proclaimed atheist (or was a couple years ago, anyways; I haven't talked to him about it in awhile and he's not very vocal about it)...and he completely loves it there. I know you want an in-depth answer but I'm not really sure what to say. If you have more specific concerns about it, I could try to address them. Also my experience was as an undergraduate not as a grad student, so I don't know.
  2. Hey, I hope you're hanging in there... I just wanted to say that I just finished the whole application process to PhD programs in English this spring. I was a nervous wreck too... but I survived! Try not to worry too much... I think once you've done the best you can, a lot of it is really beyond your control and you just have to hope for the best. I'm not doing medieval lit (I'm in 20th century lit, with an interdisciplinary focus), but if there's anything I can do or advice I can give you regarding the whole application process in English feel free to drop me a line. So many people on this forum and over in applyingtograd kept me from losing my mind this past fall/spring that I'm really anxious to return the favor and help as many people as possible ) Also, you've said you applied once and feel like you have a better idea of what to do now... that was definitely the case for me, too. When I applied to MA programs, I was basically going in blind and ended up somewhere sort of mediocre at best... but after my MA I felt like I had a much better idea of what to do (or NOT to do, as the case may be) in my application packets. My instincts about what I'd done "wrong" the first time around and how I needed to correct it seemed to be, for the most part, correct. Good luck!
  3. So, I'm headed to a great program with an assistantship. However, they're on the quarters system and i won't receive my first paycheck until October 31. Is it just me or is this a really long time to go without a paycheck??? At my MA institution I didn't get paid until September 15, but we'd get two checks that month (the 15th and the 30th). The first time I moved here I came on Aug 15 and just lasting a MONTH until that first paycheck was rough. At my new school, they expect me to show up mid-August again for a repeat of TA-training, so I'm going to be there more than 2 months without any income aside from a very small stipend for the TA training. Geez. I started saving a little, but my last paycheck just came in this past Friday and I'm starting to freak out a bit now. I have a job over the summer, and a free place to stay for 2 months, but the job's not going to pay a whole lot. I'm a bit concerned.
  4. Ugh. That sucks. I recently locked my Livejournal to friends-only because I had some privacy issues with it. Hopefully if it's locked it's safe. Facebook is another one I've heard that some employers have started to look at. Of course to view any facebook profiles they have to have someone who has an account through an institution, but for academic jobs of course this is no problem. I locked my Facebook so faculty/staff can't view my profile, but who knows if that even does any good.
  5. Okay, so there's a good chance I might be coming to OSU for my Ph.D.... can anyone give me a clearer idea of where exactly "Short North" and "Clintonville" are? Are there street names that designate these areas, or are those street names themselves? What side (north, south, east, west) of the city are these areas in, and where is OSU in relation to them? Probably preliminary I know, but I'd like to have a sense of where I might be living if I go there.
  6. Congrats! Congrats! Congrats!!! I'm the happiest for you ever This is such good news.
  7. Yeah, they've already made TAship and RAship offers too. I have to wait for the first round of students to reject offers and then see if I'm lucky enough to get one of those. They've told me to sit by the phone on April 17. Really sucks not being amongst their first choices, but at least they admitted me and there's still a chance... In other news, is this normal?? Not knowing what's going on yet on April 8, that is. Does this make me us some kind of second-class grad applicants? It seems like a lot of people had their deals sealed way back in March, at a time I hadn't even had any offers and/or info yet on anything. I only applied to one Ivy, but most of the other programs I applied to were top 20 or 30 programs in my field... I know I shouldn't judge my worth by this process, but it's so hard to detach it from myself... and this is the second time I've had no clue what was going on and where I was going to end up until well into April.
  8. I'm still waiting, too. I'm in English. I've had 2 acceptances, but I'm waiting to hear about funding. Can't go without funding. Waitlisted at two places. And i've heard nothing from 3 other programs (2 of which are probably rejections; the other I still have a glimmer of hope). It IS dangerously close to the deadline. I didn't want it to play out this way, this time around. When choosing my masters program I ended up making lots of decisions the day of the deadline. This is so stressful.
  9. Oops... sorry for my delay.. I've been really wrapped up in work so I haven't been checking the forum as much as before... Unfortunately I'm not going to be a lot of help on your specific questions. I haven't heard of Riverside North. The city isn't super biking/walking friendly; in some areas there are no sidewalks, and if you want to go from, say, Notre Dame campus to the shopping area on Grape Road, there are no sidewalks on or near Grape Road. I can't speak much for public transportation; my mom has always been very fearful of it so I tended to avoid it. I know in some areas of town the system is rather unsafe, but the bus that runs from ND's campus to downtown or ND's campus to other places may be better than other areas. ND/Saint Mary's/Holy Cross also has a shuttle between campuses and around the parts of ND's campus which can be nice if you need to get from one side of campus to the other, although it only makes a few stops (grad housing, Library, Debartolo, and possibly Bookstore I think.) A lot of students bike around campus; my brother uses his bike there constantly to get from his dorm to class, the library, and his gf's dorm. It's off-campus where things are much more car-friendly. I'm not sure about parking but I believe there's a visitor's lot over by the stadium (south of the stadium) in which you can park without a permit. Also, there's a smallish visitor's lot on the east side of Juniper, across from the Library and beyond the faculty/reserved lot. However, they may have closed Juniper or made other construction-related changes since I was there last. Hope this helps... sorry I can't offer more knowledge about your specific concerns!
  10. Mildly reassured by the fact that the rare acceptance to somewhere good is still trickling in... There hasn't been much news lately on the results page, but about half of it's been good news of waitlistings and acceptances from BIG programs where I thought the game was pretty much over (ie. Delaware and Mass-Amherst)... so maybe all hope isn't lost for my last 3...although, it IS virtually April now... maybe I'm being unrealistic :? I'm still waiting on a funding offer from a school I got admitted to and really want to attend. I probably wrote about this before, but they've told me I'm essentially waitlisted for funding... they only made 4 funding offers to PhD students and those people have til April 17 to decline, at which point I might get an offer. Do you guys think it's tactless/inappropriate to contact the department to ask how far down the funding waitlist I am? I mean, I don't want to seem like I'm grovelling for money and have no dignity, but if I'm 3rd or 4th or below there's a pretty good chance I'll not be getting an offer, and I'd kind of like to know... I already called once about a week and a half ago, though, to find out the fact that I was waitlisted for funds in the first place and I don't want to be annoying...
  11. Hey, congrats. I just got a rejection email from WUSTL earlier. I hope you get in.
  12. So... I just found out that Temple has updated their admissions status stuff on their website, OWLnet. However, i cannot find ANYWHERE any information on an ID number from them, or a pin number, or a username, or anything. I went through all of my files and my email. I have the information I used to log into my online application, a receipt from paying online, and a confirmation number for payment. I've tried every possible combination of everything I can possibly think of... Any ideas???? I'm going crazy here. Did they snail-mail these ID numbers and passwords at some point and I just never got it or something? And is it just a randomly generated number that I'm never going to guess? My social sec. number wasn't working for it.... Any help ASAP would be great... this is a huge distraction now. Edit: also, their website is completely uncrackable--i mean, you can't do ANYTHING to get a pin number emailed to you without knowing your univ ID number. grr.
  13. I'm still waiting on 4, too. 3 are probably rejects; jury's still out on the 4th. That 4th school is rumored to be conducting phone interviews last week and next, so we'll see. It's really a drag because things around here are really slowing down; on the results board, I mean. On the programs starting with "E" page, there are only 6 results left today... previously there were 100+ almost every day, or at least more than 75. It seems like so many people already have this resolved and know what's going to happen to them and I still have no clue what I'm going to do or where I'm going to be. :cry:
  14. Yeah, at my school I didn't get paid until September 15 and my offical "start date" was August 15. This meant my security deposit and August's rent as well as food for survival until Sept 15 all had to come out of savings. So did the money to fund some basic furniture-type things for my apartment after moving. I'd definitely save up. The good thing is, I got TWO full paychecks in September--the one on the 15th and one on the 30th. I'm not sure what exactly the logic is behind this. It would've been nicer to just get a check at the end of August instead of them holding out for 15 extra days.
  15. gradgirl

    Pets anyone?!

    Easy solution... get a kitten instead It'll love you and play with you, doesn't need to be let out, and will grow into an aloof adult who won't make demands of your time. Hehe. Really though... all cats aren't aloof... and they really are a lot easier to care for, IMHO.
  16. I was forced to choose between a 1 year program and a 2 year program as well. I ended up opting for the 2 year. Yes, with a two-year, not all of your credits will transfer if you switch programs for your PhD. But, one of the major reasons I went with the two year (aside from the fact that it was funded) was simply that I didn't want to have to reapply to graduate schools AGAIN the first fall I was in graduate school. Where are you going to get 3 recommenders after having been a grad student for only 3 months? My advisor at the time told me that programs would think it odd to still be getting recommendations from undergrad professors after having been in graduate school. Also, I didn't feel like one semester was going to be enough time for me to actually learn what it was like to be a grad student and to narrow my focus sufficiently to be a more competitive candidate. The pressure would've been on to write the perfect writing sample in my FIRST semester of graduate school. It just didn't seem possible to me that I'd be that much better or different of an applicant after only 3 months/one semester of grad school. With the two-year program, I feel like I've been able to settle myself a bit, get to know some faculty here, and put together the best applications I could after having a year+ of grad school experience under my belt. I was also able to present at a couple of conferences, etc. It was definitely the right decision for me.
  17. I can't speak a ton about housing because I just lived in the dorms. But, you're definitely right that you can find cheap housing and expensive housing; it really depends where you look, how close you are to campus, etc. There are a lot of complexes around that are about the same quality and price. Most places are about 500-600 for a 1-bedroom. Castle Point isn't too bad and is really close to campus; my cousin lived there for awhile and liked it, although all of the kitchen appliances were a lovely avocado green. That complex is primarily a student complex; you'd probably find a lot of social stuff going on there but it might be a little noisy as well. (It's in a great location though, near to stores/restaurants and campus.) You might check out Park Jefferson as well; it's in a sort of nice quiet area, but a bit further from campus. I have a friend who lives there now and he likes it quite a bit. I would stay away from the south and west sides of downtown South Bend. If you go far enough to the south of South Bend (maybe 15 mins/6-7 miles south down by Ireland Rd.) there are some complexes there that might be okay (Irish Hills is very cheap and not too bad, but not many students live there; a lot of youngish locals do)--but the immediate south side of downtown is pretty sketchy. I would avoid the area between downtown South Bend and Ireland Rd., as well as areas immediately west of downtown. I've heard negative things about ND grad housing--but I can't speak directly to that myself. I knew someone who lived in Fisher (?) and I visited there once. My impression was basically that it was rather small and dark, and he lived with a random law student, but I don't remember a whole lot about it beyond that. If you are looking at houses and/or have a specific street address/intersection where you want to live, I could check a map for you (or heck--call my parents who live there and see what they have to say) to see if it's a good/bad neighborhood.
  18. I'm going into English. I decided to call and ask, just to see if I could get a clearer picture of what was going on with the funding situation. Apparently they're only offering funding to 4 new PhDs this year and they've already made those 4 offers, so I have to wait and see if anyone will turn them down. The bad news is, those people have until April 15 to decide, and while the school told me they'd call me the minute they knew if they had an offer for me, I'm going to have to let other programs know by April 15 too. I can't turn other schools down in hopes that this one school will end up having an offer for me. It really sucks. I don't have a ton of offers right now, and this school was my second choice so I was really hoping the funding would come through. Still waiting to hear back from 4 programs, but from what I've gathered from the message boards, they're looking pretty bleak.
  19. One of my advisors told me SPECIFICALLY to NOT mention professor names, becuase it can narrow your options--that is, if you express an interest in working with Professor X but he has no openings for new advisees this year, you're done. He said it can also put you in a situation where you're the victim of department politics you're unaware of--ie, you express an interest in working with Professor X but he's not on the admissions committee and Professor Y is, and Y gets annoyed that you hadn't mentioned HIS work. and is instantly soured toward your application. Also if they're getting a LOT of people who name the same specific person they want to work with, they probably get tired of hearing it... he said if they have someone really famous on their faculty in your area, of COURSE you'd want to work with them, and you dont need to express the obvious. And he mentioned the fact that it's better to approach a program with more of an open mind in case the person(s) whose names you drop are going to go on sabbatical/retire/who knows what... you want the PROGRAM to be a good fit, not just specific people. This said, I didn't mention any names in my SoP...he pretty well scared me out of doing so. However, I did my homework on the profs in the departments, and i tailored each SoP to make my interests sound as harmonious and relevant as possible to the work that specific profs in the department were/are doing. In one case, I even contacted a specific prof to gain more info on his research interests and the program in general, and while I never mentioned his name in my SoP it was pretty obvious who i'd be a good match for when it comes to advising. I think it's not a bad idea to let the school "fit you in" to their department rather than staking out a claim and being as presumptuous as to assume where you'd fit in best. But that's just me. I'm sure others would violently disagree with me on this.
  20. Damn, that was me again. Once again I failed to notice I was logged out. Sorry.
  21. THANK YOU...thank you thankyouthankyou. *sighs with relief.* I may still contact them to make sure... I feel kind of dumb doing so since I know that even if they DO have everything there's a pretty good chance it's going to be a rejection, but it would be nice to know that my application was at least completed and given a fair review. I actually didn't/don't know as much about their program as I probably should--I decided to apply there at the last minute upon the advice of my advisor, who went there himself and studied modernist literature. Anyways thanks and congrats again--it sounds like you had a good visit! Best of luck
  22. I just discovered that you can check your app status on the U of Delaware website... and when I did, it's saying they've not received my writing sample!! I sent it along with all of the other stuff--how can they not have it?? I overnighted it in an envelope with my recommendations, a copy of my GRE scores, and a couple other things. Those of you who have gotten in/heard from Delaware--was it showing all of your stuff as "received" on the website? Who do I contact about this--the grad school or the dept office? This sucks so much... I might've paid $60 for nothing if they've already made their decisions and lost my writing sample somehow Damnit damnit damnit... and I have to worry until tomorrow because it's Sunday now.
  23. Thanks for all of the great info... once I hear about funding I'm probably going to have more questions about the area
  24. gradgirl

    Bloomington, IN

    Hey everyone, I just went to Bloomington yesterday for some research (it's only about two hours away from where I am now.) I just wanted to say that I'd forgotten how nice their campus really is. It really is in a beautiful part of Indiana--coming from someone who grew up in northern Indiana, presently lives in central Indiana, and has frequently traveled through southern Indiana, Bloomington really stands apart from the rest. There are HILLS there, and trees--and on the highway(s) into town, you'll even see rock "cliffs" and little streams and things. Now, I know this is really unimpressive landscape next to the scenery in other states, but I just want to emphasize that it really isn't like the rest of the state, which is totally flat with lots of cornfields. I had a moment, during lunch looking out a window, where I actually felt as if I were somewhere BESIDES Indiana--Pennsylvania, perhaps. I didn't apply to their PhD program even though it's ranked very highly in my field simply because I've been so eager to get out of Indiana--but strangely, I might've actually felt ok about going there since it has a different "feel." Campus has lots of little stone walls, a little "lake" with a grassy area, a stream that runs through next to the Memorial Union building, an old cemetery, and lots of trees. It feels a little historic. I give it a big thumbs up as far as aesthetics go and as far as midwestern schools go. If you're used to the Rocky Mountains or something, you'll be unimpressed I'm sure... but for someone used to cornfields and drab nothingness, it's really quite nice. This was only the third time I've been to their campus, and the first time I'd visited in the dark and the second time I'd only gone to the libraries, so I can't really speak much for the surrounding areas or the "town" of Bloomington itself. But yeah, I just thought I'd share because I was so pleasantly surprised and had a really nice time visiting and doing research.
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