Guest Guest Posted April 11, 2006 Posted April 11, 2006 Hey everybody. I've never posted before, but I feel overwhelmed with my decision process. Anyway, I'm an undergraduate at the University of Wyoming, graduating with degrees in history and philosophy, and after having applied to 6 schools, and gotten into all of them, am having a hard time making a decision. Despite the difficulty, I have narrowed it down to the MAPSS program at UChicago, where I got a full tuition scholarship, the Notre Dame sociology department, where I got a good stipend and health insurance, and the University of California-Riverside sociology department, home of the eminent Jonathen Turner. My main interest is social theory, and continental philosophy, so the latter school makes the most sense interest-wise. Anyway, I just wanted some advice, especially about the MAPSS program. My attraction to it extends from the possibility of using it as a "jumping off" point into a top-ten program, given my decidely non-elite educational background. In anybody's experience, is this possible? If so, do you think I would be a fool to pass the opportunity to go to UChicago? Or do you think I would be a fool to pass up the bargain of going to Notre Dame, and getting a PhD with little, or minimal debt? I appreciate any thoughts.
shellybe Posted April 11, 2006 Posted April 11, 2006 ... the Notre Dame sociology department, where I got a good stipend and health insurance.... sorry guest, no advice for your questions. it will be a hard choice...good luck in making your decision! i do wonder when you found out that notre dame was covering your health insurance? was it in the letter from the dept or from the grad school? i'm not sure if mine will be covered but it wasn't in those letters, so i'm guessing not. also, have you gotten any other info from ND? i'm wondering who my advisor will be and everything. so nervous and excited! thanks and congrats on getting into so many good programs!.
Guest Guest Posted April 11, 2006 Posted April 11, 2006 Shelly, thanks for your response. Its not exactly health insurance, but compared to my other offers it is good. You'll get it to, when you go there. Its something through the university where you get discounted health coverage or something, they explained it to us on the visit day, but I can't remember the details. Also, your advisor your first year, while you take your general coursework, will be Dr. McVeigh. During this time, you can network with other profs and set up your main advisor and committee for future years, depending on your interests. Are you interested in education? If so, ND is definitely the place for you. They have a study center just for that (CREO) headed by Dr. Hallinan, and everybody involved gets a totally kick-ass (very p,ush) office! The rest of the faculty seemed pretty cool while we were there, and the grad students all seemed to really enjoy the university and the program. Also, they just hired a top name sociologist of religion away from North Carolina, and also got a hotshot recent PhD from Arizona who turned down offers from Wisconsin and Berkeley to go there. So, the rankings are climbing! Its definitely a good school and good thing to get in on, which makes it so hard to decide.
Guest evelyn Posted April 11, 2006 Posted April 11, 2006 Shelly, thanks for your response. Its not exactly health insurance, but compared to my other offers it is good. You'll get it to, when you go there. Its something through the university where you get discounted health coverage or something, they explained it to us on the visit day, but I can't remember the details. Also, your advisor your first year, while you take your general coursework, will be Dr. McVeigh. During this time, you can network with other profs and set up your main advisor and committee for future years, depending on your interests. Are you interested in education? If so, ND is definitely the place for you. They have a study center just for that (CREO) headed by Dr. Hallinan, and everybody involved gets a totally kick-ass (very p,ush) office! The rest of the faculty seemed pretty cool while we were there, and the grad students all seemed to really enjoy the university and the program. Also, they just hired a top name sociologist of religion away from North Carolina, and also got a hotshot recent PhD from Arizona who turned down offers from Wisconsin and Berkeley to go there. So, the rankings are climbing! Its definitely a good school and good thing to get in on, which makes it so hard to decide. thanks so much! it's kind of lame that i know so little about the program, but i'm really excited anyway. i am interested in education, and so CREO and Dr. Hallinan are big plusses for me. i read about a major grant dr. hallinan has through the dept of education. what you just said makes me even more excited about going there! again, sorry about the tough decision you have!
Guest shelly Posted April 11, 2006 Posted April 11, 2006 that was me, sorry. my home computer always automatically puts my name as evelyn because i posted that way once...? but my work computer always has me loggin in as shellybe. problems.
Guest HayakWasRight Posted April 11, 2006 Posted April 11, 2006 Hey everyone, My letter of admission said that there is a "health center access fee" that is being covered by the tuition part of my financial award. I don't entirely know what that means or if it is the same for the rest of you, but to me it sounded like gym membership rather than insurance.
Guest bighark_nli Posted April 11, 2006 Posted April 11, 2006 Hey everyone, My letter of admission said that there is a "health center access fee" that is being covered by the tuition part of my financial award. I don't entirely know what that means or if it is the same for the rest of you, but to me it sounded like gym membership rather than insurance. ND's health center is an on-campus clinic. When I did my undergrad there about 10 years ago, there were two full-time physicians and a host of RNs. The access fee might be what allows you to visit the clinic. I got sick about a half a dozen times at ND with ailiments ranging from an ear infection to a concussion. I don't recall having to settle anything up with my insurance at the time, so this level of care may have been free. As far as proper health insurance is concerned, though, you should probably ask the school. Congratulations on your acceptance.
Guest shelly Posted April 11, 2006 Posted April 11, 2006 ND's health center is an on-campus clinic. When I did my undergrad there about 10 years ago, there were two full-time physicians and a host of RNs. The access fee might be what allows you to visit the clinic. I got sick about a half a dozen times at ND with ailiments ranging from an ear infection to a concussion. I don't recall having to settle anything up with my insurance at the time, so this level of care may have been free. As far as proper health insurance is concerned, though, you should probably ask the school. Congratulations on your acceptance. thanks, my letter also said i don't have to pay the health access fee, which i think was somewhere between $100-300, i can't remember right now. but i think health insurance is required, which i know is much more expensive than that. oh, well, will make do!
Guest Guest Posted April 11, 2006 Posted April 11, 2006 Mine says the same thing as Hayak. I think it might be a little more though. When I visited my host mentioned something about a co-pay system, or something. Again, I can't remember the details, but I remember it sounded like a good deal, though it is certainly not health insurance. And shelly, what do you mean by you "have to have health insurance"?
Guest shelly Posted April 11, 2006 Posted April 11, 2006 Guest said: Mine says the same thing as Hayak. I think it might be a little more though. When I visited my host mentioned something about a co-pay system, or something. Again, I can't remember the details, but I remember it sounded like a good deal, though it is certainly not health insurance. And shelly, what do you mean by you "have to have health insurance"? i'm not sure. i get so confused and i can't remember which school requires students to have health insurance. i know i should really have it anyway, just in case. when was the visit day? was it for all accepted students at the time or something? i was just recently accepted from the wait list. thanks
Guest Guest Posted April 12, 2006 Posted April 12, 2006 shelly, the visit-day was in early March. It was for all accepted candidates (at that point), and 8 showed up, out of 12 (I think). It was informative, and flattering (to say the least). But, yeah, I wouldn't worry, I don't think health insurance is like car insurance, especially at a private university like ND. Anyway, I think I may accept the offer. Gonna pull an 11th hour thing, arriving fashionably late.
shellybe Posted April 12, 2006 Posted April 12, 2006 shelly, the visit-day was in early March. It was for all accepted candidates (at that point), and 8 showed up, out of 12 (I think). It was informative, and flattering (to say the least). But, yeah, I wouldn't worry, I don't think health insurance is like car insurance, especially at a private university like ND. Anyway, I think I may accept the offer. Gonna pull an 11th hour thing, arriving fashionably late. thanks. too bad i didn't get to go to that visit day, but i'm sure i'll go visit soon. it was driving me crazy so i looked it up and this is from http://www.nd.edu/%7Euhs/html/insure_bill.html "Health Insurance for undergraduates is encouraged but not mandated; however, graduate students must be covered by a health insurance plan" that's ok. like i said, i should get insurance anyway. congrats on your almost decision! i'm confident that i will be happy there and that you will be too if you do accept.
Guest guest Posted April 18, 2006 Posted April 18, 2006 For the econ folks we need to be on campus a couple weeks earlier so that when classes officially start we can hit the ground running...are any of you who are in other programs forced to do the same thing? By the way, when i went to the campus I expected the surrounding area to look rough (particularly the south west of campus) but there I saw 2500 sq ft well kempt homes...perhaps i didn't go far enough? Additionally, anyone know or hear anecdotes regarding the comraderie level of the grad students?
Guest HayakWasRight Posted April 18, 2006 Posted April 18, 2006 I really think only us econ people have to be concerned with arriving early. I can't think of any other programs for which grad level studies are so significantly different than the undergrad version. I know there will also be masters level econ/policy students, but I don't know if they have to worry about math camp or if it's just econ/econometrics. I'm still quite curious to see how the dual department thing will work for us. In terms of housing, the area immediately outside of campus is quite nice, but if you go into town and literally cross the rail road tracks, there's a significant difference. I think I remember someone saying that there were certain areas that should be avoided, but overall off campus housing is cheap and better than on campus options.
Guest shelly Posted April 18, 2006 Posted April 18, 2006 My fiance didn't like the area south west of campus. I think North of Lasalle/Lincoln way, South of Angela, West of Michigan is where i mean. That's where we drove around and he thought it looked like a not-so-good area. But honestly, I didn't see much wrong with it. The homes were older and some weren't kept up so good but most were. But like I said, we were a little lost and only saw select areas.
Somedfjd Posted April 20, 2006 Author Posted April 20, 2006 Do you think that If I will get to South Bend only a month before classes start I will have a enough time to find a good apartment? :roll:
Guest shelly Posted April 25, 2006 Posted April 25, 2006 Do you think that If I will get to South Bend only a month before classes start I will have a enough time to find a good apartment? :roll: sorry for the delay shaddy. i wasn't going to respond because i don't really know but i will respond because no one else has. i had very little trouble finding my apartment in south bend this month. and i have a medium-sized dog so i thought it would be harder. so i'm inclined to say that you would have no problem at all finding an apartment within a couple of weeks. BUT i don't know if it will be harder closer to fall semester. i know in some cities with larger schools, apartments really fill up in august when students return for school. i don't really think south bend would have that problem, especially since most undergrads seem to live on campus and it's not as big of a shcool as some. so that's why i was hoping someone who lives in south bend already would say. try the classifieds on the south bend tribune http://www.southbendtribune.com/ and http://www.rent.com. i accidentally threw away the page i had with lots of apartment info but i found it all online anyway, so i'm sure you can find it. congrats and good luck!
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