UCLA Fall 2016

[pbnwhey]

Has anyone else (officially or unofficially) decided on UCLA yet? I'll be going for my PhD in Gender Studies. Haven't accepted the offer yet as I'm waiting until after my visits to do so, but I plan on attending.

[ilovelab]

I went to UCLA for undergrad. If you have any questions about living in westwood/life at ucla etc feel free to PM me or ask a question in this thread. Hope you choose UCLA its an awesome experience!!!

[dvdngu]

accepted for aerospace engineering MS, but waiting on other schools !

[kafcat]

accepted for PhD in poli sci!

[pbnwhey]

Is anyone here visiting next week?

[kafcat]

No, going during march 10-11 ! Excited but I am worried about surviving in LA with the funding package I received. 

 

 

[pbnwhey]

17 minutes ago, japaniia said:

No, going during march 10-11 ! Excited but I am worried about surviving in LA with the funding package I received. 

 

 

I don't get mine until I get there on Wednesday! What did they offer you if you don't mind me asking? My department's website said 18-21k, but I heard elsewhere that the minimum was possibly being upped to 20k -- glad I'm not the only one having those worries. I'm saving up quite a bit just for the move.

[kafcat]

6 hours ago, pbnwhey said:

I don't get mine until I get there on Wednesday! What did they offer you if you don't mind me asking? My department's website said 18-21k, but I heard elsewhere that the minimum was possibly being upped to 20k -- glad I'm not the only one having those worries. I'm saving up quite a bit just for the move.

yeah, mine is just under 20 k and that's ridiculous I will try to negotiate it

[overmorrow]

9 hours ago, pbnwhey said:

Is anyone here visiting next week?

I am! Looking forward to it.

[overmorrow]

7 hours ago, japaniia said:

Excited but I am worried about surviving in LA with the funding package I received. 

I second this. I got ~20k, but with housing as expensive as it is, I'm a little worried about this.

[kafcat]

1 hour ago, overmorrow said:

I second this. I got ~20k, but with housing as expensive as it is, I'm a little worried about this.

Yeah im super concerned...lets keep each other posted on funding negotiations with our departments. When are you visiting ucla? 

[Sura]

Hey,

UCLA Electrical Engineering PhD accept here. Fellowship offer with stipend of 2.5K$ a month. Is that good/bad for LA? Rent seems to be over the roof here.

[withoutdoing]

I just got my funding offer as well, for East Asian linguistics PhD - I'm so excited! I was also offered a little over 20k per year, which comes to about 1,660 per month for rent, food, etc. It'll be a big drop in income, but I figure I will do some translation work on the side if I need to supplement it. I'll also be moving cross-country, so I'm probably in for the longest road trip of my life. Anyone else looking to move there from the east coast? Congrats all around!

[dvdngu]

Will be visiting on Friday !!

[mini monkey]

On 2/27/2016 at 9:17 PM, withoutdoing said:

I just got my funding offer as well, for East Asian linguistics PhD - I'm so excited! I was also offered a little over 20k per year, which comes to about 1,660 per month for rent, food, etc. It'll be a big drop in income, but I figure I will do some translation work on the side if I need to supplement it. I'll also be moving cross-country, so I'm probably in for the longest road trip of my life. Anyone else looking to move there from the east coast? Congrats all around!

I will be moving across country too. Pretty much the same for stipend as well! Accepted into the Ph.D. program for Anthropology. Super excited; never thought I could get into my dream school <3 

[pbnwhey]

Sorry it took me so long to get back on here -- it's been a busy week! But I got offered 25k (plus summer funding for the first two years). Hoping I'll get to meet some of you at orientation in September!!

[overmorrow]

On 2/26/2016 at 10:51 PM, gatoski said:

Yeah im super concerned...lets keep each other posted on funding negotiations with our departments. When are you visiting ucla? 

We should definitely report back to each other on the funding situation. I'll be visiting this Thursday to Saturday. I plan on asking around the other admits when I'm there and seeing if their funding situation is similar.

[8bitsushi]

Hi all, I'm an international student who may be attending UCLA's Geography PhD program; pretty excited! Like other posters, though, I'm rather concerned about rent and the cost of living -- my department will be offering a first-year fellowship of 20k and guaranteed funding (in the form of TA employment) for the subsequent three years. This adds up to 20k per year. I'm still wondering if I should accept given that I have another offer at UBC, which includes a far more attractive funding package (four-year fellowship with no teaching commitments and reasonable stipend). 

@ilovelab, I too would love to hear your opinions on affordable and safe places near UCLA to rent, if you have the time to share! I don't think I'll have enough money for a car over there, so I'm leaning towards places within cycling distance of UCLA... 

Edited February 29, 2016 by 8bitsushi

[Sura]

@pbnwhey Can I ask you which fellowship you obtained? I am not sure about other schools, but the school of engineering says nothing about summer in it's fellowship, although my guide guarantees that I would either go for internships or be employed as a full time RA in her lab. Also, is your 25K package for 9months or 12? If 12, then what does the summer funding imply? Sorry, I have no clue how things work.

[withoutdoing]

10 hours ago, Abendstern said:

How are you guys planning the move? I'd be coming from NYC and the cost of a U-Haul seems to be insane ($2,500+).

I am going to sell my furniture, cull my extra possessions, ship my books media mail, and drive across the country with my TV, clothes, and necessities. Probably going to leave my cat with a friend for a week or two and then fly back for him (he's a really bad traveler and I'd rather subject him to a 5-hour flight than a 50-hour drive). The cost of shipping a car is around 1,000, moving with a truck or Uhaul would be even more...luckily I don't own anything huge that's so valuable I can't sell it. 

[pbnwhey]

5 hours ago, Sura said:

@pbnwhey Can I ask you which fellowship you obtained? I am not sure about other schools, but the school of engineering says nothing about summer in it's fellowship, although my guide guarantees that I would either go for internships or be employed as a full time RA in her lab. Also, is your 25K package for 9months or 12? If 12, then what does the summer funding imply? Sorry, I have no clue how things work.

I was nominated for the Eugene Cota-Robles fellowship, but at this point, haven't heard back about it. The preliminary funding is just the department's "fellowship" (since the first year is not a TA position). The 25k is for 9 months and the 6k in the summer is through the Graduate Summer Research Mentorship program (not sure whether it's guaranteed for those first two years or not, but I'll find out in a couple of days). I'll be leaving tomorrow morning for my UCLA visit, so if anyone will be on campus Tuesday and Wednesday, feel free to DM me and we can hang out at the Guest House! 

[Sura]

@pbnwhey Wow! 25K for 9 months sounds awesome. I am nominated for the department fellowship (international student :/) which comes to around 23K for 9 months, but full time RA in the summer which should compensate for it  Unfortunately, EE department has not invited for visits, and neither have my other schools of admits (UIUC, UMD), so I have to skip open house. Got a difficult decision to make and a visit would have given some perspective. Enjoy your visit and do keep us posted!

[mini monkey]

19 hours ago, Abendstern said:

How are you guys planning the move? I'd be coming from NYC and the cost of a U-Haul seems to be insane ($2,500+).

We're using uPack. It's still pretty expensive but it was the cheapest option for us. 

[ilovelab]

On 2/29/2016 at 8:39 PM, Abendstern said:

I'd love to know what your experience is in terms of where/how far away to live and how best to commute. It seems like LA would be difficult without a car, but even with one I would think traffic is a nightmare. Are there any cheaper neighborhoods in the area that grad students tend to live in where you can still have a reasonable commute?

Congrats on being accepted!!  I lived close to campus my four years. Dorms for the first year, my frat house for the second (never again am I living with 50 guys), and apartments junior and senior year. My frat house and apartment were all within walking distance to UCLA. Commuting is tough especially with parking on campus. I swear UCLA gives out more parking passes than there are available spaces. 

Do you plan on bringing a car or biking to campus? If you can afford it I would bring a car. Yes you can take the blue bus (for free with you student ID) to santa monica/venice, but if you want to go anywhere else you will need a car. I would recommend looking in an area we call "South of Wilshire" which is basically an area in between wilshire blvd and santa monica blvd (the 405 is on one side and the beverly hilton on the other). It makes a weird trapazoid shape. This should make sense if you google map it. Rent prices are FAR more affordable in this area than say westwood. Then again I was in undergrad 5 years ago so prices have obviously increased and who knows if this area is affordable anymore. IF you have a bike it will be easy to commute, be warned though its uphill to UCLA . IF that is too expensive than I would recommend living in Santa Monica. Somewhere close to Wilshire or Santa monica Blvd. That way you can take a blue bus to and from your house if need be. 

Another option is graduate student housing. I don't know how nice these are though. 

Message me if you have anymore questions. I'm happy to help!

[ilovelab]

On 2/29/2016 at 8:58 PM, 8bitsushi said:

Hi all, I'm an international student who may be attending UCLA's Geography PhD program; pretty excited! Like other posters, though, I'm rather concerned about rent and the cost of living -- my department will be offering a first-year fellowship of 20k and guaranteed funding (in the form of TA employment) for the subsequent three years. This adds up to 20k per year. I'm still wondering if I should accept given that I have another offer at UBC, which includes a far more attractive funding package (four-year fellowship with no teaching commitments and reasonable stipend). 

@ilovelab, I too would love to hear your opinions on affordable and safe places near UCLA to rent, if you have the time to share! I don't think I'll have enough money for a car over there, so I'm leaning towards places within cycling distance of UCLA... 

20K at UCLA is going to be rough. If you want cheaper housing I would suggest Santa Monica. Somewhere close to Wilshire/Santa monica blvd. That way you can take the blue buses into campus. I don't remember if you can take your bike on the bus. Another alternative is "South of WIilshire" which is an area between Wishire Blvd and Santa monica Blvd. The 405 is on the left and the beverly hilton on the right. It makes a weird trapazoid shape on google maps. Apartments there used to be more affordable but who know now. I finished my undergrad 5 years ago. 

Are you planning on sharing a room? If so than 20K would work but the avg 1bd/1bath apartments prices are like 1300-1500 a month. Which is going to be rough with a 20K stipend.