caezar86

I agree grad housing seems like a convenient option, you don't have to worry about horrible management (hopefully, I've never had problems with management in university-owned housing), and as the previous poster said, utilities, etc are included. You have to sign up ASAP to get your position in queue, and don't have to commit to anything until about a month before your estimated move-in date. The furniture is probably standard issue, won't be your own if you get 2-bedroom single student shared, but I'd be fine with that if it means close to campus and meeting other grad students. Oh yeah, does anyone have experience with the specific graduate housing buildings, in terms of which ones are nicer to live in, better location, newer building, etc?

Thanks! It seems like a lot of the posting on craigslist right now are big corporate/managements, and it's taking a while to sift through to the small mom n' pops. Yeah, also, when is the best time to start seriously looking for housing for the Autumn quarter? I know a lot of places probably don't free up until later in the summer. As I'm searching now, most of the places are for summer sublets, and not for the fall.

So, I'm having trouble finding some reliable management with a good selection of apartments in Hyde park. Any suggestions?

Can anyone give insight as to why MAC managed property is to be avoided? Are they all bad? They do own a great deal of the apartments, if not them, where?

Yeah, that sounds about right. I think 5 of the apartment buildings have 2-bedroom furnished units for 2 single students to share. I'm not thrilled about it since I want to furnish my own place too, but I think it could be worth the social networking the first year to bear with it, and get a non-university place after that.

I don't know why the original post is getting many negative votes. I think it's a legitimate question, and a good one at that. I realize that someone who asks such a question about vacation days risk sounding lazy and not as serious about grad school. I totally agree that this is a question for students, not the professors. However, that being said, wanting 3-4 weeks off, especially for international students is not unreasonable, especially taking into consideration how much work is being done the rest of the year. Some professors are fine with longer vacations as long as you produce results the rest of the time. Others balk. It varies from prof to prof, and where you are in your degree at the time. It is also something to be negotiated with the professor. Also, American grad students tend to have this self-flagellatory approach towards grad school, taking almost a grim sense of satisfaction in clocking hours working weekends, and comparing how few days of vacation taken. It does seem to be the norm, but that doesn't mean it's healthy! If you can work out something that suits you and is acceptable to your prof, go for it!

Congrats, and all the best!

Hi all, I know there was a bunch of acceptance decisions in mid-February, but my question is, has anyone received a rejection yet? I know it's mostly likely a rejection from Michigan since there was no acceptance back in February, but we're trying to figure out if there is even a chance of being waitlisted. Called the UMich CS office today, the response was that decisions will come out in the next few weeks, but no guarantee...basically a non-response. Any insights? Thanks!

I don't mean to be an enabler here if you're not sure of what you want to do, but personally, "don't contact them unless you haven't heard by the end of the month", and it's the next month already, that's (in my mind) practically an invitation to contact them. But that's just me!

That is certainly a strange tale. Guess we won't ever know for sure unless you happen to run into this professor and extract an explanation out of her!

Hey all, so for UChicago CS, a few admits were submitted on GradCafe earlier in Feb, and it looks like a bunch of rejections were made last week. Any idea if you haven't heard from either camp yet means you're on a waitlist? Wonder if contacting them would be okay, or just to wait? Anyone else in a similar situation either at UChicago or another school? Thanks!

That's just cruel!

Mt Pleasant, as previous posters have said, is not the most exciting town. However, if you're an outdoors kind of person, they have a terrific park system with walking and biking trails connecting several parks in town. They also have a decent disc golf course by campus that's also a park. There's also a few lakes around that's good fishing during the summer, and a groomed cross-country ski trail for the winter. There's also farmer's markets during the weekends and some week days, and community events like art fairs and music fairs during the summer. For a small town, it's not that bad, but don't expect city life from it. The university also has music and theater events, and a pretty good gym. PM me if you have any other questions.

Hi All, To tack onto this thread, I'm applying with my SO, and I'm worried that if he doesn't get into our top choice school (I've been interviewed, and it's looking positive, he hasn't heard back, and it's not looking good), I'll be crushed, and not able to console him to the capacity that I would want to as a partner. I know he tried his best, and if it doesn't work out, he'll be equally if not more disappointed. How should I approach this? Anyone else been in a similar situation? Thanks! (We're applying to different programs at the same schools)

My sig. other applied to the Umich CS PhD program and hasn't heard back yet. Looks like around 10 admits have been submitted on the results page, this is not looking good! From previous years, seems that the likelihood grows much smaller after the first couple of days of admittances. I wonder if there's a waitlist...

I'm in a similar situation, with my boyfriend and I applying to different programs. We applied all overlapping schools, 3 in one city, and 1 in another. I've already heard back positively from 3 of my schools, but he hasn't heard back yet from any of his, which has later notification dates according to past posts on this forum. One of my acceptances is one of my two top choices, and they've said that I have until April 15th, but feel free to respond earlier. I'm thrilled, and would love to tell them I want to go there, but am holding off on the response since being in the same school/area together with my boyfriend is my top one priority over anything else. As for institutionally speaking, you probably already know that they are not allowed to require a response from you until April 15. From what I understand from friends who have applied past years, this date is flexible depending on the institution. My friend contacted them and asked for an extension for making her decision, and they allowed it. You should probably only do this with your top one or two choices if you're accepted to multiple schools, and let the others know you definitely don't want to go their and let some poor waitlisters in on the action.

I've noticed this too, people talking about how they work 50-80+ hours a week, almost as a badge of honor or a point of pride (although I'm sure this is necessary for some programs), and while that may be fulfilling for some, I would hate it. I'd probably burn out within the semester on such a schedule. In my experience as a Master's student working alongside other MA and Ph.D. students in the same program, it all depends on the professor. Mine is a bit more demanding, and doesn't really approve of taking breaks outside of the regular federal/staff holidays, with the exception of a week or two each year. Other profs don't care, and their students take upwards of 3 weeks/year in addition to holidays.

So what ended up happening? Any updates?

You could probably also try to find out the acceptance rate of the interviewers of the top schools you're interested in so you can decide if it's relatively safe to drop some of the "bottom" schools. Some "interviews" are more of a recruitment day, and pretty much mean you're a shoo-in as long as you're not completely catatonic and can speak English when you actually show up.

I don't know how long it's been like this, but the rating sheets login page is back up.

Me too... >

Anyone else get any email notifications?

Holy crap, really!? Wow, it's finally time...?

Where does it actually say "approximately one week"? When I go on nsfgrfp.org, it still says "the approximate timeline for notifications is within the next two weeks."

There's no need for using "gay" as a pejorative.