OregonGal

You mean when they mentioned the categories? Do you remember who they said to contact about that? I'd go back and listen again but the hosting site for the video isn't responding.

Well I actually have 2 laptops, one of which originated at UCSD My PC gaming laptop is less than 2 years old and while I use it for gaming, it originally belonged to a grad student at UCSD's physics department, where funding is so bountiful they give doctoral students laptops every year. I'll be holding on to that, but at 8+ pounds it's not going to be hauled around to class on a regular basis--it has like, a 19" screen. My metal MacBook is over 3 years old, so that's the one I'm looking at trading in for an 11", 3-lb Air.

Yeah I'm going to be in Oregon for the week between end of summer prep and start of grad orientation in September because I'll be finishing up at my current job just in time to start the prep program. Since I have a beast of a gaming laptop I know I can use for any heavy processing, having a lightweight laptop for class is important to me and if the IT director says an Air is good enough, I'll take him at his word. I'll admit I haven't really even looked hard at other ultrabooks just because I like the Mac OS and I'm pretty embedded in the Apple ecosystem at this point--plus the $300 credit for my laptop makes the Air comparable or cheaper to the other ultrabooks out there.

I'm hoping that if I call them so they can apply the discount, but have in-store pickup in Oregon, I'll be able to pay there and avoid tax entirely which would save around $100. That way you're not ordering online where they can see a CA or DC IP address and try to apply 6-10% tax. The main issue I've heard about with getting the educational discount is that it's hard to get them to apply it online if you're not ordering from an on-campus IP, and you can only get it in person at the on-campus bookstore. However, I've heard you can get them to apply it over the phone if you give them the student ID# and e-mail address. The final part of my thinking with this plan is that a) hopefully I'll have gotten my loan disbursement by mid-September and summer prep will be a test run to see how my old laptop handles the workload. Plus, I really will have gotten my laptop at the absolute last minute like the IT director recommended.

Yeah Coast is the one which has faculty and postdocs because the waiting list is like 40 years long. I liked having the student's perspective on housing; I hadn't realized Single Grad was so close but I definitely don't want to share living space with 3 other people--I've done it before and it is not fun. I also really liked his list of all the amenities Rita has--onsite gym, study room and TV room! I watched the morning session live and the afternoon session later; I have to say that I'm now itching to start grad school and starting to feel the grind of my job more Before I was super doubtful I'd need to get a laptop, but now that IT director has convinced me a bit. I have a 3.5 yr old MacBook so I'll probably trade it in for store credit and get a MacBook Air--I have a gaming PC laptop that I'll be using as a desktop (it weighs almost 10 lbs) so it'll be nice having the ultrabook to haul around. The one thing I'm really going to try to do is call Apple to buy it with the UCSD education discount, without having to buy it in CA--10% tax in San Diego County is a pretty hefty charge! I'll be heading home to Oregon between prep and fall term so I'm figuring on buying it then.

Danskos in general are amazing--super comfortable and pretty cute. I have a lot of friends who are teachers and they swear by them. Pricey, but definitely worth it Here's their listings on Zappos

I have a contract position, so I'm staying through the full term (end of July) and then packing my bags and heading out to grad school. The prep program starts in the first full week of August, so I don't get downtime in between like I was hoping to--I'd prefer to have a bit a vacation before I head into the pressure cooker of grad school, to go and visit family and friends back in my hometown, but so it goes. Definitely I've been hearing a lot of advice along the lines of taking vacation when you can, because it'll be the last rest you get for a while.

You might want to check out the City Guide section--that's where most people are going with their housing questions.

If you want to go directly through Apple, you go to their recycling site and answer a quick survey about what model you have, its condition, how many accessories you held onto, etc. It told me the current market value they'd pay me as of a week ago was a little over $300.

My grad school has told us that they strongly, strongly recommend buying a new laptop for grad school with an extended warranty. I'm reluctant to give up my MacBook, but I acknowledge that it is 3.5 years old and not top of the line anymore. The IT coordinator said that MacBook Airs were good enough (his main exhortation was NO NETBOOK, he ok'd ultrabooks for a MPA/IR program) so I may get that instead--yay SSD and instant startup! The other thing he recommended is to buy your laptop as close to the start of the school year as possible to make sure you have the most up-to-date version, and to buy the extended warranty because that way if it dies halfway through your second year you don't have to shell out for a replacement. One thing that Mac users, and even PC users, should keep in mind is that if your current comp is in decent condition, you can trade it in for money off. In my case, my late 2008 first version of the metal MacBook, in fairly good condition, will net me a $300 credit I can apply to the MacBook Air along with the 10% education discount for about $400 off (40% discount). PC users, might need to go to a 3rd party trade-in but these trade-ins are where "refurbished" laptops come from Also, another thing to keep in mind is... sales tax! I am from a no-sales-tax state, currently in a 6% and moving to a 10% (damn you CA) so it's worth $40-100 to buy outside of CA.

Looking at the blurbs and chapter titles, these books seem more geared towards PhD students than for Masters students. Do you feel that's the case, or do you think these books are still good for those of us who don't need to worry about the dissertation/defense/academic job/tenure stuff?

Remember, for those of us who couldn't make the admit day, they're livestreaming the Q&A sessions! Morning Session (9am –noon, Pacific time): http://www.instantpresenter.com/irps1 Afternoon Session (12:30pm-2:30pm, Pacific time): http://www.instantpresenter.com/irps2

Well, there are two things to remember with those COA estimates: 1) they tend to estimate a bit generously and 2) that's a good thing because those total COA estimates are the basis of people's Grad PLUS student loan amounts, so I'd rather have them overestimate than underestimate and leave people underfunded. Two big things popped out at me for Duke's numbers--$4400 for food and $3300 for personal expenses? Other places I've looked at budget about $1500-1800 for personal expenses, especially since transportation is its own line item, and I certainly wouldn't budget more than $350/month for food! You can cut $1500-$2000 out of that COA just by not assuming you'll be eating out every meal and budgeting $200-240 per month for food costs.

A car is a good idea because there is definitely a premium set on Metro-accessible housing; if you have a car you can find a cheaper place. However, you'll have a not-so-short commute if you want to live in a 1-bed or studio that isn't outrageously expensive. I have a friend who lives in a nice studio in White Oak (north of Silver Spring) in a complex called the Enclave. It's 15-30 minutes from UMD depending on traffic by car, and their listings start at about $1000. That's an example of what you can get if you have a car and aren't Metro/nightlife dependent.

First off, thanks for coming to us with a well-informed and researched "X v Y" post--it's clear that you already know a lot of what is generally recommended to be looked into. I'm a little surprised that the living costs at Duke are that high? But I will say that San Francisco, pretty as it is, is not a cheap place to live. UC Berkeley is a big school so I'm sure there are a lot of TA/GRA positions available; you might want to ask Goldman what their policy is and how much they support students looking for those positions because I know at UCSD IR/PS they discourage students from TA-ing their first quarter but actively support them looking for positions in subsequent terms.

Also, and this is complete supposition based on what I'm thinking about doing... but there are a LOT of us who are moving a ways for our degree programs. I know that I'll have a decent sized room in a 3-bed 2-bath apartment with cool roommates opening up, so why not post it in the DC thread in June or July? Best case scenario, it saves a lot of hassle on both ends. Hopefully enough people will think about doing the same to make life easier for a lot of people on the forum

I've been essentially living on a grad school budget the last year as an Americorps member. With my long office hours I've found that batch meals cooking makes a huge difference. I cook 2-3 times a week and reheat the rest of the time. I tend to buy big batches of boneless skinless chicken breast on sale ($1-2/lb, 5 lb package) and freeze most of the breasts for future use--I'm currently trying out putting the breasts in foldover sandwich bags first to make sure they don't freeze to one another. For breakfasts I usually have cereal, OJ and coffee--lunches are reheated brown bag (I rarely eat takeout, too expensive) and dinner is either the last of the leftovers or the next batch. My basic budgeting is for $2/meal. Casseroles are a great time-saver; throw them together, and either bake and portion out for lunches or freeze for later eating. Slow cookers are also a great investment for cooking--you can even prep the night before and stash the bakeware in the fridge, then pop into the cooker in the morning. Another note for farmers markets--the ones near me can take WIC/SNAP (food stamps) payments. You get the wooden tokens (can't get change from vendors), and the one closest to me even gives you bonus money to help you stretch your benefits even further ($5 in "fresh produce" coupons for every $20 you buy of tokens using the EBT card).

Yep! I went to UO for undergrad so my knowledge of Eugene is a couple years old, but should still be relevant

I would say that you've just described how you were a leader. You make sure that everyone knows what they're doing, you have leadership responsibilities (training and customer relations) and even though you're not a manager, you are recognized as a valuable employee because you were selected for those increased responsibilities. I think that's what they're looking for in "leadership"--not just where you can say "I was in charge" but how you displayed attributes of leadership--organization, keeping people on task and informed, supervision of others, etc. You can say "I made sure X and Y happened so Z could get done/be prevented", without having a title like Foreperson or Shift Supervisor.

Woo OR! If you have any questions about Portland/Eugene don't hesitate to ask... if you're going to OSU, I'm sorry I would suggest focusing your search in June/early July. A lot of places that come up are looking for someone to move in pretty quickly, so if you look in May a lot of people might come back with "sorry we're looking for a June move-in date".

My mind is boggled by an engineering professor saying that no one with below a 3.9 GPA should apply for grad school. I was a liberal arts major, but I was friends with engineering students at a large university with a separate school of engineering, and they told me about how their freshman courses were there to weed out the weak by giving them tests where a score of 10% was a C on the curve. Their scholarships had a lower GPA maintenance requirement than mine too because of the hard grading at that school. I've always thought that graduate programs in the hard math/sciences disciplines would be more forgiving of GPA than liberal arts/professional programs, not less.

It's one thing to say "dream school" when there's a $10K difference. It's another to go for it when it's an $80K+ difference, in a profession that is going through a rough transition period. I don't know anything about NYU's J-school, but I almost applied to Syracuse in a completely different program because of the opportunity to take a PR dual degree from the Syracuse J-school--from what I've heard, it really is one of the best schools for journalism so I wouldn't think you'd be missing out too badly on the chance to make networking connections. You can also take a summer internship in NYC between school years. Graduating debt free also means you can afford to take a prestigious unpaid or low-paid internship after graduation, without having to worry about covering that $700 loan payment.

Quite frankly, I wouldn't trust a US News ranking past the top 25 or so. Past that, when you're ranking several hundred schools and the middle 75% are fairly equivalent, I don't think there's a huge difference. Go with the program that you feel will fit your research interests and your personal needs better.

Well, presumably if it's a requirement of admission you have to pass or not be admitted. That's what my deal is--provisional upon successful completion of the summer prep program or relevant university coursework.

Village West is a quad--4 people, 2 bathrooms, 1 kitchen--which I'm not willing to deal with. I'm looking forward to sharing a kitchen with only one other person! Single Grad is even worse, because there's only 1 bathroom to share between the 4 people, and there's no dishwasher. They're also the oldest buildings, I'm pretty sure. I'll take a shuttle/bike ride and buying furnishings over dealing with that