U Michigan 2013

[smellybug]

Where all my peeps at? Are you STOKED?

[dmmar]

YES

 

Who is going to the visiting days?

Edited March 20, 2013 by dmmar

[justlucy]

Sad to say I won't be visiting with everyone else but had a pretty amazing private visit last week. Now I am dealing with the issues of how I am going to move my husband, dog, and stuff from California to Ann Arbor, and where we are going to live.

[Taco Superior]

Sad to say I won't be visiting with everyone else but had a pretty amazing private visit last week. Now I am dealing with the issues of how I am going to move my husband, dog, and stuff from California to Ann Arbor, and where we are going to live.

 

It's 5 Year Engagement time!

[smellybug]

It's 5 Year Engagement time!

Ha! Since Berkeley rejected me and my husband despises the cold, everyone keeps reminding me of this... Justlucy, if you can believe it, I'm moving a husband, two dogs, and two cats away from California. Maybe someone should start a thread about how the logistics of this work. I know it's going to be a loooooong drive. How did they set up your private visit? And maybe I'm just excited/worried I won't find anything to fit my menagerie, but I've already started looking at housing. There's an off-campus housing list here: http://www.offcampus.housing.umich.edu/lt/index.cfm Dmmar, I think I'm going on a private visit. I was there in November but want to look at it knowing I'm accepted this time. They've been slow getting back to me about it, though.

[ComeBackZinc]

That movie makes Ann Arbor seem like a hellscape, instead of a lovely college town with a lot of cool restaurants, bars, and culture.

 

Also I don't get why she would extend her postdoc if her first two years went so well.

[dmmar]

If anyone needs help or advice with moving to Ann Arbor, I actually currently live there and would happy to help! As an admitted student, I know as much about the program as any of you do, but I have some perspective on the town itself, having lived there for a while as a non-student.

[smellybug]

If anyone needs help or advice with moving to Ann Arbor, I actually currently live there and would happy to help! As an admitted student, I know as much about the program as any of you do, but I have some perspective on the town itself, having lived there for a while as a non-student.

 

Thanks, Dmmar. Any areas we should absolutely avoid living? I know Kerrytown and the Old West Side are ideal, but I doubt I'm going to be able to be that specific.

[cougarstigers!]

hi all!

 

i will be heading up briefly for a visit on thursday -- glad to work this out, since i didn't think i'd be able

to fit it into my schedule!

 

i also attended michigan for two years undergrad, so have some -- albeit now dimmed! -- perspective on

the life & times in ann arbor.

 

the telluride house (www.telluride-house.org) is also an interesting resource for folks considering graduate school

in ann arbor; definitely not for everyone (i couldn't do intensive live-in communities anymore, at this time in my life!)

but they provide a full room & board scholarship for interested parties, with a deep committment to service, intellectual

engagement and building democracy.

 

 

 

see you sooooon!,

 

 

 

 

 

cougars!

 

 

ps -- you guys are making me feel like i'm nuts if i turn down berkeley for a colder locale! ugh: maybe i am, haha!!!

[cougarstigers!]

ps -- is anyone else interested in american-sy things? glad this thread finally cropped up! i've been waiting! yay!

[justlucy]

It's 5 Year Engagement time!

 

That was a horrible movie to watch a month before committing to grad school Hopefully after spending the last 15 years together my husband and I will fare a little better than they did.

 

Ha! Since Berkeley rejected me and my husband despises the cold, everyone keeps reminding me of this... Justlucy, if you can believe it, I'm moving a husband, two dogs, and two cats away from California. Maybe someone should start a thread about how the logistics of this work. I know it's going to be a loooooong drive. How did they set up your private visit? And maybe I'm just excited/worried I won't find anything to fit my menagerie, but I've already started looking at housing. There's an off-campus housing list here: http://www.offcampus.housing.umich.edu/lt/index.cfm Dmmar, I think I'm going on a private visit. I was there in November but want to look at it knowing I'm accepted this time. They've been slow getting back to me about it, though.

 

smellybug - Thanks for the link. I thought we had it rough! Will you be looking to rent an apartment or buy a house? So far looking for rentals near campus is difficult if you have a dog. My husband and I are trying to plan a trip out together to look for housing in May but we are already on a budget due to the move. As for the private visit, I was accepted to the PhD in Women's Studies and English, so I emailed Aimee in women's studies and she set up an itinerary for me. I paid for flights and hotel but they offer a $500 reimbursement with receipts. Good luck, we should keep in touch!

[dmmar]

Thanks, Dmmar. Any areas we should absolutely avoid living? I know Kerrytown and the Old West Side are ideal, but I doubt I'm going to be able to be that specific.

 

As far as I know, there aren't any *bad* areas that you should absolutely avoid, at least around the immediate neighborhoods in/surrounding the town. Areas might be better or worse based on your personal preferences though. For instance, I actually don't really want to live in the places more heavily populated with students, and that's something that one could choose to avoid. Not that there's anything wrong with the more heavily student-populated areas—in fact, the town is far less segregated (in terms of students and non-students) than many college towns I've been to. There's areas that are more student-y, but not overwhelmingly so and they blend in with the rest of the town. 

 

Ann Arbor has a decent bus system, so one thing you could do (if this is important to you) is check potential apartments against the bus lines. 

[smellybug]

smellybug - Thanks for the link. I thought we had it rough! Will you be looking to rent an apartment or buy a house? So far looking for rentals near campus is difficult if you have a dog. My husband and I are trying to plan a trip out together to look for housing in May but we are already on a budget due to the move. As for the private visit, I was accepted to the PhD in Women's Studies and English, so I emailed Aimee in women's studies and she set up an itinerary for me. I paid for flights and hotel but they offer a $500 reimbursement with receipts. Good luck, we should keep in touch!

 

Thanks for the info.!

 

Since we're used to Bay Area rents, we're looking to rent a duplex, probably. Everything is affordable compared to this area of the country.

[smellybug]

Going to visit on the 10th of April...

[justlucy]

Does anyone here have experience with the McKinley rental company? It seems like all of the large apartment communities are owned/managed by them?

[dmmar]

Does anyone here have experience with the McKinley rental company? It seems like all of the large apartment communities are owned/managed by them?

 

I would avoid going through a rental company. My fiance has lived in Ann Arbor longer than I have and has experience renting from a few of the Ann Arbor rental companies, and his general opinion is that the companies kind of screw over the tenants. I would try to go through individual renters instead, if possible. 

[BunnyWantsaPhD]

So, U of M was my dream school. I'm thinking about reapplying next year. If anybody is willing to share information, I'd love to hear what your qualifications are and why you think you got accepted. The major thing I'm worried about is my GRE scores. They're around 580 in the verbal. Is that just way too low to even consider being qualified? Thoughts, suggestions? Help!

[crazyhappy]

That was a horrible movie to watch a month before committing to grad school Hopefully after spending the last 15 years together my husband and I will fare a little better than they did.

 

 

smellybug - Thanks for the link. I thought we had it rough! Will you be looking to rent an apartment or buy a house? So far looking for rentals near campus is difficult if you have a dog. My husband and I are trying to plan a trip out together to look for housing in May but we are already on a budget due to the move. As for the private visit, I was accepted to the PhD in Women's Studies and English, so I emailed Aimee in women's studies and she set up an itinerary for me. I paid for flights and hotel but they offer a $500 reimbursement with receipts. Good luck, we should keep in touch!

Hi, I'm applying to the Phd in Women's Studies and English for 2014...if you have any advice, I would totally appreciate it!

[smellybug]

So, U of M was my dream school. I'm thinking about reapplying next year. If anybody is willing to share information, I'd love to hear what your qualifications are and why you think you got accepted. The major thing I'm worried about is my GRE scores. They're around 580 in the verbal. Is that just way too low to even consider being qualified? Thoughts, suggestions? Help!

I have an MA in English from a largely unknown state school, 4.0 graduate GPA, and great verbal/writing GRE scores. But, I think more importantly, my interests match with the program's strengths and my sample and SOP were tight. There's an ongoing debate about how much the GRE scores really matter here:

 

 

If you're applying in comp lit and want more information about what my application was like, you can totally PM me.

[BunnyWantsaPhD]

I have an MA in English from a largely unknown state school, 4.0 graduate GPA, and great verbal/writing GRE scores. But, I think more importantly, my interests match with the program's strengths and my sample and SOP were tight. There's an ongoing debate about how much the GRE scores really matter here:

 

 

If you're applying in comp lit and want more information about what my application was like, you can totally PM me.

 

Thanks! 

[justlucy]

So, U of M was my dream school. I'm thinking about reapplying next year. If anybody is willing to share information, I'd love to hear what your qualifications are and why you think you got accepted. The major thing I'm worried about is my GRE scores. They're around 580 in the verbal. Is that just way too low to even consider being qualified? Thoughts, suggestions? Help!

 

Hi bunnywantssomemoney, I would not worry about your GRE scores too much, I was accepted to U of M and my GRE scores were horribly low, which was not due to lack of preparation but just nerves I guess. When I went to visit U of M after receiving my acceptance I met with several people who were on the admissions committee and each of them mentioned the strength of my writing sample and SOP, so I would suggest that you work on making these strong. My strategy was to use my senior thesis as my writing sample and to show in my SOP that I have both direction and flexibility when it comes to my education. Hope that helps a little. Good luck! 

 

Hi, I'm applying to the Phd in Women's Studies and English for 2014...if you have any advice, I would totally appreciate it!

 

Hi crazyhappy, I was a comp lit major in my undergrad! I think that might actually be a plus when applying to the Women's Studies and English program. Like I said above, to bunny, the best advice I can give is to work hard on your writing sample and SOP. Of the four schools I was accepted to, the only feedback I received about my applications was about the quality of those two things. If you have a specific question about the process, feel free to PM me, its hard to give out general advice that your haven't already heard from everyone else

[Globalist]

Hello all,

 

I'm on the waitlist at Michigan - and though I do have great offers from two other schools, I'm very anxious to know if there's any movement on the waitlist at all.  If offered a spot I'm pretty sure I'd come straight there!  

 

Anyone have any idea if they'll go to the waitlist this year?

[dmmar]

Hello all,

 

I'm on the waitlist at Michigan - and though I do have great offers from two other schools, I'm very anxious to know if there's any movement on the waitlist at all.  If offered a spot I'm pretty sure I'd come straight there!  

 

Anyone have any idea if they'll go to the waitlist this year?

 

During the visiting days, the DGS said that he didn't think they would be going to the wait list this year—but, that was, of course, two weeks ago, and things could change.

[BunnyWantsaPhD]

Hi bunnywantssomemoney, I would not worry about your GRE scores too much, I was accepted to U of M and my GRE scores were horribly low, which was not due to lack of preparation but just nerves I guess. When I went to visit U of M after receiving my acceptance I met with several people who were on the admissions committee and each of them mentioned the strength of my writing sample and SOP, so I would suggest that you work on making these strong. My strategy was to use my senior thesis as my writing sample and to show in my SOP that I have both direction and flexibility when it comes to my education. Hope that helps a little. Good luck! 

 

Thanks for the advice, justlucy. When you say your GRE scores were low, how low are we talking? I mean, do you think I should re-take the GRE if I had  580 for verbal? Also, as far as the SOP goes, I think that I have a strong one, but what I think and what others think could obviously be very different. Anyone willing to share what there SOP looked like? Also, for my writing sample, I think I'm using a chapter of my Master's thesis--I've edited it to fit the page length requirements and included the abstract for the entire thesis in order to have it contextualized. Thoughts?

[crazyhappy]

Hi bunnywantssomemoney, I would not worry about your GRE scores too much, I was accepted to U of M and my GRE scores were horribly low, which was not due to lack of preparation but just nerves I guess. When I went to visit U of M after receiving my acceptance I met with several people who were on the admissions committee and each of them mentioned the strength of my writing sample and SOP, so I would suggest that you work on making these strong. My strategy was to use my senior thesis as my writing sample and to show in my SOP that I have both direction and flexibility when it comes to my education. Hope that helps a little. Good luck! 

 

 

Hi crazyhappy, I was a comp lit major in my undergrad! I think that might actually be a plus when applying to the Women's Studies and English program. Like I said above, to bunny, the best advice I can give is to work hard on your writing sample and SOP. Of the four schools I was accepted to, the only feedback I received about my applications was about the quality of those two things. If you have a specific question about the process, feel free to PM me, its hard to give out general advice that your haven't already heard from everyone else

Thanks!  I have a B.A. in French and a background in German and Italian too. My M.A. is in English with a grad cert in Gender Studies.  Here's hoping that they are looking for something like that!  If you don't mind, I may pm you if I have any questions as I get into the nitty gritty of it.  Thanks again!