LaraAnn85

Haha ok those things help! I'm from San Diego so it was a big factor in my decision, it was there or Indiana which is 2 plane rides away. I am hoping I can find my niche in Phoenix, I just don't think I'll fit in too well with what I've heard of the people there. But I realize I'm not going there for the city, it just happens to be where the perfect program and advisor are! No humidity, good. Hiking, good! I've heard Tucson is nice.... 8) Oh oh and skiing in Flagstaff! You can't ski in the Midwest!

I'm also lacking a bit in enthusiasm because I don't really want to move to Phoenix :? If anyone wants to tell me good things about it (NO more bad things please), feel free!

I applied to 11 while taking 20 units of classes and working in a lab. I honest don't know how I did it. But hey if I could juggle all that and pull off a 3.9, I can do grad school right? 8) (just kidding I know grad school is going to be way harder)

Right now I'm feeling really sad about turning down an offer that I really liked. I really liked two offers and I chose the one that is better for me right now, but it is still really hard to let go of the other one. The people were so nice, I just wanted to accept both! So I think that is making it a little harder for me to be over the moon about the one I have, though I am still very happy about it.

After a lot of deliberation, I chose Arizona State! I'll be starting a PhD in behavioral neuroscience this fall, I'm pretty excited! :mrgreen:

Anyone? Bueller? Anyone?

No problem. I'm at ucsd but only until August! PM me if you want any specific info about housing/the area/the school/etc

Such a good plan, it was my plan too! I turned my student research position into a lab assistant position and thought I'd be working a leisurely 20 hours/week just to make a little spending money for the big move. Too bad I've been working 40 hours/week since I started... :? I think I need to have a little chit chat with my boss, I don't want to burn out before starting grad school!

I would call someone asap. You've already been accepted, the worst they can say is no on the funding. San Diego is really expensive, I'd at least try to get some $$$!

Hmmm. Ok another question- can the master's be done in one year or two? If it's one year, then definitely do the MA, it won't be an incredible amount of money and you can probably get into a good PhD program after that. Of course it is a gamble that you might not get in next round, but just make sure you apply to a lot of places and you should be ok if you got in this time. I guess if there is such a big discrepancy between the schools going for the MA might be better, as long as you can afford it!

You can take off entire weekends in your program? Wow I'm jealous! What field are you in?

I guess they have an NIH training grant (which is a really good thing!) and they want to be sure it is renewed before guaranteeing funding. I think it is weird, however, for it to be up in the air right now. I would e-mail the prof thanking him/her for the offer and then ask what happens if they don't get the training grant renewed. They might be able to offer you an RA or TA, if so ask for how much. If you really liked the school, I'd get it down to this school and one other and then wait to hear back about the training grant and be sure you know what you'll do if it is or is not renewed. I haven't heard of any other schools doing this, but maybe they tried to up the amount of the grant or something weird. I would definitely get more information from the professor though, good luck! edit: I just realized that you said that they are trying to get you on the grant, so maybe it's more of whether or not they can add another student, not whether or not the grant is renewed. In any case, get more info asap! Hope you have another option in case this falls through.

I've heard that you get to go to the front of the line at restaurants in Paris and London if you say you went to Georgetown.

Oh no! That is a tough call. Does the master's have the possibility of continuing on for a PhD at the same school? Which advisor do you like better? And how much more prominent is the unfunded PhD school? What a pickle

I agree, I don't know what the question is! WashU is a notoriously good school with a great reputation, not an ivy but still damn good. I wouldn't even think twice about this situation, why pay $50k at Columbia for just a master's when you can get a PhD at WashU for free?!?!

From what I've heard, you usually would just be a TA for a lower level intro course. When I visited schools most first years said they were a TA for Psych 1, which anyone who is going to grad school for psych would be able to do without a problem. Those kids would mostly be freshmen and ~4 years younger than you, of course there will be some older but that's ok. By the time you TA for upper division focused classes, you should be prepared. I'm sure sometimes you get stuck with classes outside of your specialty, but the professor should give you all the information you need to do a good job. Anyway, I'm sure it won't be horrible. I got an RAship and I'm stoked about not having to TA right off the bat, but I'm planning to do it by choice further down the road just for the experience

I never heard a word from them either.

I can't say anything for sure about UCSB, but down here at UCSD the campus is about 40% asian and 40% white. I'm sure they have demographics on their website but I'm too lazy to look it up. I would assume that Purdue would be much more 'white' than UCSB though.

Where are you from? I am from Southern California so I know UCSB well, and I interviewed at Purdue in February so I am a bit familiar with it. I'm not an engineer so I don't know about rankings- is there a huge discrepancy between these schools? Did you go visit them all? Which advisor is better? Based purely on location, obviously UCSB wins, though Santa Barbara is unbelievably expensive to live, I hope you got a great stipend! West Lafayette scared the $*@% out of me as it is approximately 1.25 hours from civilization. That said, it was lovely and the people I met were SO nice I can't even explain it. I am not going to Purdue but I left with a very good impression of the school, I think if you're from the Midwest or used to that kind of life it would be great. But being from San Diego, I think I would die in West Lafayette. Looks like I'm headed to Phoenix anyway!

So where are you going to end up? I take it you're from the East Coast! I think I'm headed to ASU....hurray for more sunshine 8)

Certainly. You talked to grad students at ASU and they were negative? What department are you in? I actually felt that the grad students in my program at ASU were the happiest, most cheerleaders for their school kind of people. At my other option school the grad students seemed happy enough but talked about how sketchy funding has been (apparently my advisor would be fine) and a faculty member told me there is a lot of tension and cliquishness between the students. I talked to people who have completed both programs a few years ago and the one from ASU couldn't say enough good things and the one from my other school told me ASU would probably be a better option.

That's a good point, plus it's JHU!. If I got in there I'd definitely go there.

My school is on quarters, last quarter was my last one so I am a free woman! But I was having serious senioritis toward the end of it, I missed classes 4 weeks in a row for interviews, and I was spending far more time thinking/worrying about grad school than my current classes. Somehow, and I have no idea how, I pulled off an amazing GPA my last quarter But it feels sooo nice to come home from work and not have anything to worry about, I better not get used to this!

Call them!! I called one of my wait lists yesterday and they were like "oh i'm so sorry we didn't let you know, we have all of our acceptances in so please go ahead and make your decision."

Yeah I think that's kind of a rash, quitter-like attitude. I am having a hard time deciding between two schools too and have gotten a lot of good advice so let me try to help. Look at your potential advisers (not the school, not the program, not other advisers) and look at the track record of their former students. For me, being able to land a great post-doc in a location of my choice (ie. back on the west coast) is extremely important, which is why I'm leaning toward one adviser with a very good reputation of training great students. Are both of the advisers tenured? That seems to be a big deal, my other option adviser is an assistant professor, has only been in the current program for about a year, and has never had a grad student. Of course someone eventually has to be the first student, but it's something to consider. Are the funding offers comparable at each place (taking into consideration cost of living)? Climate is important, but as an afterthought, research interests are far more important! Someone recently told me- you will be in 70 degree weather for 90% of your day anywhere you go, the only difference is whether that is because of air conditioning or heating. That said, driving in snow sounds scary. I think being in a bigger city is nice for grad school, being so busy I want to be able to have fun things to do when I can actually find the time! How about the other current students or potential new students? A lot of people say go with your gut, but I think it is important to weigh all of the options and make an informed decision. For undergrad, I ended up at a school that I didn't think I would until the very end. I chose it because of it's reputation producing great students and I could not have asked for a better undergrad experience. I'm not sure if any of that helped, but good luck with your decision! If you hate it, try to stick around for a master's and then go elsewhere, it's not the end of the world