stilesg57

Best bar? Yikes, there's lot of good ones. Depends what you're looking for. I tend to like pubs, dives, and music venues. The Ould Sod is a great Irish pub right next to the Normal Heights neighborhood sign on Adams and about 34th St. There's a bunch of bars on that strip of Adams. Northpark is up and coming for sure, getting nicer all the time. U-33 (or something like that) near 30th and University is a decent place for dancing. The Red Fox on El Cajon near Texas is a weird little gem even if you're the youngest person in there by 20 years - worth visiting for the experience alone. I didn't spend much time in bars in Hillcrest since it was far enough away to be a drive and if I was getting in a car I was going to OB or PB (Winston's in OB is the best underground-ish music joint in SD - I love it) Hillcrest is home to more upscale bars, more expensive bars, and gay bars.

Best coffee shop to hang out at? There's lots, but Pete's in Hillcrest on University was may favorite.

Biking on University? Not the worst call in the world, but definitely not the best. I'd use side streets as much as possible - luckily, just one block off University/Washington/El Cajon and there is no traffic.

Yes, particularly Hillcrest. A lot there, actually. Substantially less in Northpark, but not absent by any means. My car was broken down a lot and I was unemployed a lot while I lived in the area, so I would walk all over just because it's always so nice outside. It was never weird or dangerous or anything.

Don't know about tennis courts being free (there are a bunch near the dog park, but I was always walking a dog and never looked at them), but just about all of the western part and the north eastern part of Balboa is great for hanging around and throwing a frisbee. Beach is great for that too. I love to hike and there are several great hikes within 15, 25, and 50 minutes of Hillcrest/Northpark.

As for police, there is a "hole" in the middle of the area from Park blvd to Texas and El Cajon to Balboa Park that's a bit rougher and has a stronger police presence than the rest of it. However, it's SoCal and there are cops everywhere - I've never seen so many just driving around. Very annoying. In the nightlife areas (most of Hillcrest, Park St. in University Heights, Adams St. in Normal Heights, and near University and 30th in Northpark) you won't have any problem being loud at night. Don't live east of the 805. Honestly, if you want to go nuts OB is THE place to live. It's insane. Really fun, but after six months I honestly got a little tired of being accosted by people wandering around on hallucinogens four nights of the week. I lived most recently on Adams near Texas overlooking Mission Valley and have liked that location best for price, neighborhood character, etc. Good luck and if you have an addresses you're looking at that you don't know are sketch or not message me and I'll let you know. Enjoy SD - I'm jealous!

Couple thoughts:

First, that article is referring to PhD seekers, and for them it makes sense. Not as much for professional degrees, especially law and MBA.

Second, I was freaked out about debt before I started my program, and now I'm not so worried. I've met with a lot of alumni in the last few months - a LOT of them - and nobody's complaining about debt payments. I even started politely asking because it never came up.

Take that for what it's worth. I don't know more than a handful of people within 5 years of my age (26) with just a bachelors who are as happy with their job and their income as MPP alums. I walked into my program with ~$10k of debt and completely unable to get the kind of job and salary I wanted; I'll walk out with ~$80k and few if any regrets. I'm not worried.

One thing to remember is that the actual course curriculum you put together - what you actually learn from your degree - doesn't matter nearly as much as the three letters of your degree, where it's from, and what the school's alumni/career center situation is. This is why many MBAs are all too often academic jokes; they're designed to be two-year networking programs, not to teach a ton of graduate-level knowledge. But the three letters are better known than "MPP" so they generally do better in the private-sector job market.

Sorry to be cynical but that's what I'm seeing. Virtually nobody has asked for my transcript, but they all see my resume and go "whoa, Duke eh? Nice." Depressing, but true

A little bird told me...

Decisions have been made and they go out tomorrow. Open House for admitted students is on Friday, March 26th. Good luck everybody!

Yes.

Decisions are finished and admission, conditional admission, and waitlisted letters will be available online tomorrow by the afternoon. Financial aid info and a welcome letter will follow in the next couple days. Rejections will come out later

It's a tough field, but good luck!

I just met with Admissions and they said they've got all the decisions made but they're sending them out tomorrow. I dunno - maybe they'll send them out today. Try to relax I guess

I can't say because I haven't seen your application, but there was a definite effort to get exclusively experienced students. My class has just three or four direct-from-undergrad students, whereas the 2nd year class is nearly half straight from college. That is definitely the direction the program is going, and with so many more applicants they can do it. 6 government internships is really legit though, so don't count yourself out!

Best of luck!