lm0324

on the reading comprehension: I had the same problem at first. The Princeton Review's "Verbal" book for the new GRE has an excellent section on how to crack the reading comp questions. It taught me how to think like the test writers wanted me to think and my score went way up after I worked through that. (It went from 160 to 169.) on the analytical writing: length, length, length. I've taken the GRE a couple of times now and scored a 6 on the writing portion both times. It seems that the longer your response is, the better your score. It is ridiculous but it works. Good luck!

Butterfingers, I hear you. I am moving to Chicago on Aug 1 from about 1000 miles away. I was apartment hunting from afar for about a month and lost out on three apartments because they just turned over faster than the realtor could send me the photos. I was immensely frustrated. About two weeks ago (six weeks before my move-in date), I flew out for 48 hours, viewed 14 apartments and picked one. It was exhausting, but it worked. I love my new place and I had everything squared away six weeks before the move in date. I made my appointments from about a week ahead of time for my favorite places (though a couple of those rented before I got there) up until I was boarding the plane in Boston to fly out to Chicago. I also kept checking the listings while I was there and scheduled viewings for a few places almost on the spot. It's absolutely one of the most stressful things I have done. And I've been apartment hunting in Boston a half dozen times in the last ten years. Chicago is just something different altogether. But it is possible. I saw a number of listings for Sept 1 in the neighborhood I'm moving to, but it might not be the same part of the city as you. I'd definitely say to pick more than 3 or 4. I had 4 top choices, three of which were great from the descriptions and photos and utterly disgusting in person. 14 was probably too many, but I figured if I was there, I may as well just spend the time looking at everything within my price range and move-in date. Good luck!

I heard from graduate housing this past Thursday. I think it depends on when you will move in. (I applied for an Aug 1 move in date.) The place didn't end up working for my husband & I so I turned it down -- going to try to find non-university housing. Hope that opens up an apartment for someone else who really wants grad housing.

I was accepted to the Hebrew Bible PhD program at JTS on 2/27. I turned down the offer at the end of last week.