lpeppersauce

Why would you say that? I'm not necessarily arguing the point, but I'm curious as to where your information comes from.

It looked like you could get a 1-bedroom apartment for as low as $500-600/month if you don't mind the apartment being pretty small with a communal laundry room. Some of the nicer 1-bedrooms seem to be in the $700-800 range and I think the 2-bedrooms in those complexes are in the $900-1000 range. When I visited it seemed like a lot of the grad students rent houses instead of apartments, but I have no idea what the rents are like for those. I'm not certain about the cost of utilities or food, either, sorry. I'm pretty certain I can live decently on my stipend (the same as yours), but I'm unmarried, so it's a bit easier for me. I'm told that the bus system in Blacksburg is pretty good and free for students, so you could probably get along without a car if you lived on a bus line. It seemed like a lot of houses and apartments were within easy walking/biking distance of campus, too. Blacksburg seemed to be a pretty typical small college town. Right near campus are bars, a little artsy movie theater, coffee shops, things like that. There are probably concerts on campus, and I'm sure local bands play in some of the bars and clubs. I think the area around campus is probably pretty lively on weekends, though a lot of it will be undergrads. I'm told there's at least one bar that caters to the grad students more. I know there's also has a big farmer's market in the summer, and I think they do street festivals there sometimes. Christiansburg, about 10-15 minutes from campus, has chain restaurants, big box stores, a mall, and a decent-sized movie theater. If you like the outdoors, hiking and such, there's a big state park with a bunch of trails through the mountains. The scenery is absolutely gorgeous. If you're not looking for big concerts and shows, you can probably find things to do in Blacksburg. It's going to be pretty quiet, but there's enough around to keep most people interested. If you get bored, it's only 4 hours from DC, 2-3 from Richmond, and 4 from Williamsburg, so you can always make weekend trips to bigger cities. I posted to the city guide about Blacksburg and I'm hoping to get some responses from people who have actually lived there. I'm also planning to ask the graduate student coordinator for the contact info of some current students so I can ask them questions. Have you decided on Virginia Tech, then, or are you still considering your options?

It's official, I'm going to Virginia Tech in the fall for a PhD in Industrial Engineering. Anyone else heading out to Blacksburg?

Well, I'm officially heading to Blacksburg in the fall. Anyone have any suggestions for housing? I'd rather rent an apartment vs. a house, because I'd rather deal with a management company than a landlord, and I don't want to do yardwork. My requirements for an apartment are: 1. One bedroom, at least 700 square feet. 2. Washer and dryer hookups. 3. Dishwasher. 4. QUIET. This is a big one for me. I have no interest in dealing with undergrad or just-out-of-undergrad neighbors who are constantly partying. 5. Within 10-15 minutes driving distance of campus. Obviously I'd like something as inexpensive as possible, but I'd choose to pay a little more rather than sacrifice any of those requirements. Does anyone know of anything like this around Blacksburg or Christiansburg? Thanks!

I don't know anything about the Minnesota or Tilburg, so I can't really speak to those programs or the relative strengths of the universities. I can say that I visited Virginia Tech and really liked the program. All the students I spoke with seemed very happy (always a good sign), there was some really interesting research going on, and the professors seemed to be really involved with their students, both professionally and socially. The students also seemed to be a pretty tight-knit group, which is something I was looking for. One of the running themes of the visit was "the program has money." Basically, the students all said that they don't have a problem finding funding, that money is plentiful, and that if there's no funding for research, there are always TAships available. Because it's the #3 ranked program in the country, I think the university pushes a lot of money their way. One note, Blacksburg is a very small town. Christiansburg (the next town over) is a bit bigger, but they're surrounded by mountains and pretty isolated. The closest small city is 45 minutes away (Roanoke) and the closest large city is at least a couple hours. If you don't like small towns, Blacksburg may not be the place for you. That being said, it's also pretty safe. The people I spoke to said that there's really no problems with burglaries, carjackings, or anything like that. Hope this helps. Let me know if you have any more questions!

Just heard from Virginia Tech yesterday that I was accepted with full funding (half TA, half fellowship)! 33andathirdRPM, are you waiting on Northeastern? I'm still listed as "Under Committee Review" there and gotten those two "we're delayed" emails there. Funny thing is, I was invited to a visit weekend there last month and told in an email that I'd been recommended by the department for admission. I emailed a professor at Northeastern two weeks ago about possible funding, but so far I haven't even gotten an acknowledgement that he received it. I'm planning to call on Monday and I'm considering saying point-blank, "I have another funded offer I'm seriously considering. Are you going to be able to fund me or not?" I'll probably put it nicer than that ...

Managing? What's that? As I've waited longer and longer to hear anything about funding ("Oh, you'll hear by March 22nd!" "Sorry, we meant April 1st!" Still heard nothing), I've mostly been eating too much, sleeping badly, and thinking about punching people who ask, "Have you heard anything yet?" in the head. On the positive side, I've been practicing my bellydancing a lot more, because concentrating on the choreography drives grad school stuff right out of my head and jingly coin belts, like ice cream, make every problem a bit more manageable. I've also been trying to knit more to de-stress, but I don't have much time.

I'm still waiting on Virginia Tech and funding from Northeastern. I called the graduate program director at Virginia Tech and was told that they're aiming to have everything out by April 1st. I've emailed the POI at Northeastern, but so far no response. I really hate all this waiting. Does it seem to you guys that we're hearing later than most programs?

I'm waiting on word about funding from two schools I've been accepted to (and for me, no funding = no grad school). They've blocked access to home email accounts here at work, so I can't obsessively check it every 30 seconds. Instead, all I can do it sit here and stress about it, and then run back to my car at the end of the day to check email on my phone. I'm so unproductive at work right now, it's ridiculous. So I actually like weekends right now. Even though I know I probably won't get those emails on Saturday or Sunday, at least I can do my obsessive checks. Being stuck without email during the week is killing me.

I spoke to the office at Virginia Tech, who said that they should be finalizing everything and posting them on the status website this week. It looks like a couple people have already heard, too.

Still waiting on anything official from Virginia Tech. Accepted to Northeastern, but no word on funding yet. I'm leaving this afternoon for a visit, and I'll talk to professors and beg for money while I'm there. No word on the fellowship I applied for at Rutgers, either. So, no news, really. I'm getting very tired of waiting on funding decisions.

I'm having this problem too! A school that was not initially my top choice is rapidly moving into that position. It's ranked #3 in my field, has plenty of funding and a good research fit, and is in a town I would enjoy living in. Unfortunately, it's also where my BF will probably end up in a year or two, so my mother is convinced I want to go there so I can be closer to him. Like you said, it's a perk, but definitely not my deciding factor. But now, everything good I say about the school, she filters through a lens of "making excuses to go there to be closer to BF" and tries to convince me I should go somewhere else instead. It doesn't help that it's in a town she would hate living in, and she's projecting that onto me and telling me how miserable I'll be there. At this point, I'm just keeping quiet about the whole thing until I hear about funding. It's probably terrible of me, but I'm kind of hoping I don't get funding anywhere else so she can't complain about me going where I want.

Sorry, just a bit of a rant: After I submitted my applications, I resigned myself to waiting months for admissions decisions, and I was fine with that (ok, stressed as hell, but that's beside the point). I didn't expect to have to wait this long to hear about funding, though. I've heard all my admissions results, and not a word about funding from the three schools I was admitted to. One, I applied to a particular fellowship, and when I submitted the application I got a reply that said, "It may take awhile." No idea how long awhile is. One, I've been invited to a visit in a week, and the invitation said, "You may hear about funding soon. if you don't, the visit is a great time to come meet the faculty and beg them for money." (It used different words, but that's what it meant.) The third, I haven't even gotten an official acceptance yet, but I was invited to a recruitment weekend almost a month ago, which I was told was an unofficial acceptance. While I was there, they said that they have plenty of funding, no one goes unfunded, it's not a problem. Well, that's great, but I'd love to hear something official. Is it typical to have to wait weeks or even months after an acceptance to hear about funding? I mean, acceptances are great, but I just can't afford to go without full funding, so I still can't make any real decisions. And the waiting game goes on and on and on ...

- "You should go to the school in Boston, because there are more schools and companies around to collaborate with." - "Well, so much collaboration is done over the internet now, and you really don't need to be there in person. Besides, the other school is much more highly ranked in my field ..." - "I'm not visiting you in Blacksburg, so go to Boston." And the truth comes out.

Has anyone heard from Virginia Tech at all? I was invited to the Recruitment Weekend last month, which I was told was an unofficial acceptance, but I'd love to hear something official and I'd really love to hear about funding.