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Is anyone else here accepted to Tufts? I'm pretty sure I'm going to accept their offer and I'm looking at apartments and for potential roommates. Just trying to plan ahead :)

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Is anyone else here accepted to Tufts? I'm pretty sure I'm going to accept their offer and I'm looking at apartments and for potential roommates. Just trying to plan ahead :)

What is the roommate situation in grad school? Like must things I suspect it probably "depends" but is it normal to live alone? seek out roomies? roomies in the same field? yada yada yada.

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I am fine as long as I have my own room. Everyone needs personal space, you know? As long as it isn't loud every single weekday night past 11pm I'm pretty chill. I think if you're in a city area, it is necessary to have roommates (hence why I'm doing it).

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For the last three years, I've split rent with my parents. I'm not sure how this arrangement is going to turn out going forward; I'm hoping for a stipend from Syracuse (nothing is official yet, why am I planning on anything?) and the living expenses are relatively close to what they've been for me in College Station, so I'm hoping to be able to take on all the rent expenses. Working all summer too, so I'm gonna save everything and put it toward that.

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You know what’s interesting? All of us in here are stressing about getting into the “best possible” PhD program and are often feeling glum because, though we have acceptances, they aren’t what we were hoping for (I’m including myself in that, by the way). 

 

According to the 2012 US Census, though, only 3.07% of Americans hold a PhD. That’s it. 

 

No matter where we end up, we still kick more academic ass than 97% of the population. :)

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What is the roommate situation in grad school? Like must things I suspect it probably "depends" but is it normal to live alone? seek out roomies? roomies in the same field? yada yada yada.

Most people I know don't live alone, though I am in the NYC area. From what I gather, the majority of people live with their SO/spouse and the rest live with roommates. It's not unusual to live alone at all, but most people just can't afford to pay rent and utilities alone. It depends on what area you're in I guess.

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What is the roommate situation in grad school? Like must things I suspect it probably "depends" but is it normal to live alone? seek out roomies? roomies in the same field? yada yada yada.

 

It varies. Depending on the cost of living in the area it can be worth it to have a roommate or two, rather than spend an exorbitant amount on a tiny studio apartment. Or, the extra cost might be worth it to not have to take a chance on someone new, esp. as a first year student. Here it varies; besides people who live with their partners, a lot of people live alone, but some also have roommates with fellow English people or grad students in other programs. In a more expensive city like New York (or even just a more expensive neighborhood in Chicago for schools like UIC or Loyola) the breakdown might be much different. Visiting days are a good time to ask current students what they do about the living situation, where/how students tend to live, etc.

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You know what’s interesting? All of us in here are stressing about getting into the “best possible” PhD program and are often feeling glum because, though we have acceptances, they aren’t what we were hoping for (I’m including myself in that, by the way).

According to the 2012 US Census, though, only 3.07% of Americans hold a PhD. That’s it.

No matter where we end up, we still kick more academic ass than 97% of the population. :)

May I gripe about the fact that I haven't been accepted anywhere yet? sigh

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What is the roommate situation in grad school? Like must things I suspect it probably "depends" but is it normal to live alone? seek out roomies? roomies in the same field? yada yada yada.

 

I would say it varies depending on your monetary needs, where you end up, and your life situation. I lived with roommates for my last two years of undergrad and my first year after undergrad because it was cheaper. I've lived with my fiance for roughly the last 3 years because we're committed to each other, it makes sense to just have one place since we were always at each other's place anyway, and it's cheaper.

 

That being said, here in the midwest where I'm at, I could very well live by myself and get by monetarily in most places. But in a lot of the major cities, that wouldn't be the case.

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You know what’s interesting? All of us in here are stressing about getting into the “best possible” PhD program and are often feeling glum because, though we have acceptances, they aren’t what we were hoping for (I’m including myself in that, by the way). 

 

According to the 2012 US Census, though, only 3.07% of Americans hold a PhD. That’s it. 

 

No matter where we end up, we still kick more academic ass than 97% of the population. :)

 

I agree with this, which is why I want to be happy about where I got accepted (my last choice school, a 63 rank, in a smallish college town that I wasn't relishing but would take in a heartbeat).  And I would be, if only I could get funding.   

 

At this point, I no longer even expect to get into my five remaining schools.  Three are safely "in my league," but I think the fact that they are in very popular cities means the applicant pool is huge, and I have little chance of standing out among that many people.   I just want the funding at the last choice school.

 

But yes, I agree with the concept of being appreciative of where one gets accepted!

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You know what’s interesting? All of us in here are stressing about getting into the “best possible” PhD program and are often feeling glum because, though we have acceptances, they aren’t what we were hoping for (I’m including myself in that, by the way). 

 

According to the 2012 US Census, though, only 3.07% of Americans hold a PhD. That’s it. 

 

No matter where we end up, we still kick more academic ass than 97% of the population. :)

Thank you for whacking me over the head with that perspective slap. I needed it. :)

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Is anyone else here accepted to Tufts? I'm pretty sure I'm going to accept their offer and I'm looking at apartments and for potential roommates. Just trying to plan ahead :)

If you don't get any response from Tufts people you could also ask for Brandeis or Harvard since they aren't too far away. Belmont is a lovely little community right between Brandeis and Tufts. One of my sorority sisters grew up there and I've visited a few times. Although...I guess take my advice with a grain of salt b/c I'm from SoCal and a 10-20 min drive is nothing to me. :) I've seen people in some of the city threads say that living that far from a campus is undesirable. 

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I am quite happy to have been accepted at a rank 63 school with an 80% placement rate :) not to mention, I can rent a house there for what I've paid for my last apartments (which have been in not so great areas and also have both had a cockroach and ant problem). It kind of confuses me that people aren't excited about it?? I mean to each his/her own, but getting accepted anywhere right now is a miracle between shrinking funding budgets and more people applying.

I'm just bummed that I may not get into my own department this time around. Womp. My poor fiancée may have to give up other offers in the city that she's gotten because I didn't get into a program there.

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Purpleperson, that sounds like Syracuse (63, smallish college town, etc)... Am I wrong?

 

Edit: I just realized there are like ten schools ranked 63.

 

New rankings come out on March 11th, so maybe there will only be a half dozen instead of ten this time ;) I also applied to a school that was ranked 63. Haha. 

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So I haven't posted on here yet this application season, but I've been wait-listed at UT Austin and I'm pretty confused about the process. From others' posts I've read it seems like some schools invite wait-listed candidates to their visit weekend? In the email I got notifying me of my status, the graduate adviser had this to say about it:

 

This year's recruitment visit for our prospects will take place March 20 – March 22, and it will be rather close to the official decision deadline that we hear of their decisions.

 

I figured that meant I wouldn't be invited. But then if I am miraculously accepted off the wait list, I wouldn't have the chance to visit and meet with people in the program unless I scrambled to get there by my own volition, right? Do you guys think it would be appropriate to ask the graduate adviser whether I might visit the campus before I actually hear their decision on my application?

 

One of my recommenders got his PhD from there, so I plan on asking his advice, but I don't know whether he'd know anything about the current protocol for admissions. This is my only hope so far after 4 rejections, so I don't want to make the wrong move!

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