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Questions about States/Locations of Grad Schools
TheNomadicCircle
Registered User, __BANNED USERS regular
Registered User, __BANNED USERS regular
So I have a question I hope those who are in America can help.
So I'm planning on going to grad school in 2014 and have started to get my writing statements and such together alongside recommendation letters and going to GRE classes. I've narrowed down my choices to these 4 or so schools for either their Inner Asian/Chinese history since that is the field I want to go in. My choice for now are:
Indiana at Bloomington
Princeton
Rutgurs
ULCA Berkley
In not particular order.
The money required in these programs, whether they are from scholarships or not, is not an issue. However, I know very little about either the state they are in or the area which they are in. So how would you say "safe", a relative term I know, are these cities? Also how is the general accomodations within the Universities and outside, sort of like student rooms? How is the state of public transportation or would I need to keep a car or a licence to do anything.
This is particular importance due to the fact I've never had a roommate. Hopefully, I can survive on my own without one but I'd rather not play outrageous rent to get one. So what are the rents like in the city where these Universities are? How safe, cheap and clean are they?
Thanks for you help!
So I'm planning on going to grad school in 2014 and have started to get my writing statements and such together alongside recommendation letters and going to GRE classes. I've narrowed down my choices to these 4 or so schools for either their Inner Asian/Chinese history since that is the field I want to go in. My choice for now are:
Indiana at Bloomington
Princeton
Rutgurs
ULCA Berkley
In not particular order.
The money required in these programs, whether they are from scholarships or not, is not an issue. However, I know very little about either the state they are in or the area which they are in. So how would you say "safe", a relative term I know, are these cities? Also how is the general accomodations within the Universities and outside, sort of like student rooms? How is the state of public transportation or would I need to keep a car or a licence to do anything.
This is particular importance due to the fact I've never had a roommate. Hopefully, I can survive on my own without one but I'd rather not play outrageous rent to get one. So what are the rents like in the city where these Universities are? How safe, cheap and clean are they?
Thanks for you help!
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Berkeley is hit or miss, as you don't want to be out super-late at night, since South Berk is sketchy and there are some people who commute to the campus to jack people coming out of computer labs at 2 AM.
As for safety, housing, and public transportation, don't worry about any of that stuff. If you get accepted into any of the programs you can just email current grad students (or talk to them when you visit, assuming they fly in international admits). They will know all of this stuff like the back of their hand.
A tip, though: I don't know any of those cities well, and although I've heard that Rutgers is kind of in a crummy place too, I wouldn't really worry about it to the degree that you'd ever pass up going to grad school because you're worried people will kill and eat you. America isn't Somalia - none of these places are dangerous enough to make it worth passing up a PhD or an MA or whatever you want.
Most of these universities will have that information on their website. If not, you can google 'cityname crime statistics' to find crime information. When I went to grad school, I called the local police departments and they were able to provide crime statistics.
Public transport and other information will be on their website, or googleable. The same with rent. You can call realtor agencies in each city and ask about their rates / available apartments, or just check online.
The graduate departments to which you apply also ought to be able to provide this information. It isn't a bad idea to contact them and ask these sorts of questions if you cannot find the information elsewhere.
In short, you are asking the same questions thousands of prospective grad students ask every year. This information is not kept secret. A few minutes of googling each university town with the keywords you desire will produce plenty of information.
Edit: As TychoCelchuuu said, most of these questions are the sorts of things one asks after being accepted. If any of these cities were insufferable, graduate students would not be there. So,
Step 1: Worry about being accepted.
Step 2: Worry about finding a place to live.
Another way to learn more about these places is to check up on the local newspaper website every so often. Most newspaper websites also have the crime maps like you were asking about.
Also, think long and hard about your intended field of study. There's a very good chance you won't be able to find a job after obtaining your degree.
honestly admission numbers mean jack shit since he is not a domestic applicant.
princeton is a safe town, its small very colegiate and affluent
assuming by Rutgers you mean New brunswick, its ok, the further out you get from campus it starts gettting sketchy, but you should be fine.
because i have served on graduate admissions committees and its first hand experience. we offered acceptance to maybe 1 or 2 foreign students out of maybe 20
foreign students cost maybe 10 times more than domestics since they can't become residents so most PIs are reluctant to add the cost since funding already sucks. o in order to get accepted as a foreign grad student you need to be the top tier
Short answer: Apply to as many as you can bear filling out applications for.
except its 5 to 10 % of the 5 to 10 % accepted
The answers to those questions depend on what you want to do. If you only want to study X with Professor Y, then only apply to that program. If you want to study "Inner Asia/Central Asia" wherever you can, then apply to every program that exists. Should you expand to Russia and China? Well, do you want to study Russia and China?
Why are you going to graduate school?
Edit: Also, when you're looking at programs, the thing you want to study need not be the primary focus of the department as a whole. If one guy in the department does what you want to study, that can be adequate justification for applying to the department. The tricky part about that, though, is that it places a great deal of emphasis upon your relationship with that one professor. So, you need to communicate with the professor, kiss ass, and ensure that the professor has a favorable opinion of you. It can also create issues with funding, relationships with colleagues, relations with other faculty, coursework, creating committees for your thesis / dissertation, etc. All things to consider.
Again, though, the main question is why you are going to graduate school. For grad school, you really need something more than "I want to learn about stuff."
You might spend some time on jstor or google scholar looking for articles on the topics you want to study. Putting in your Gok Turks got me (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hasan_Bülent_Paksoy) that guy. His wiki page lists some universities he attended or taught at. That could help you increase your list of possible programs. It will at least increase your familiarity with contemporary scholarship.
Edit: One thing I would strongly caution you against is lying on your applications about your interests. If you say you want to study Russia, for the sake of getting in, and then show up expecting to learn about something that is not Russia that will likely piss off many people in the department.
Just a quick plug for Georgia.
This is great, great, great advice. The only reason I know the people who are in the field I am interested in is from reading a ton of research in the field. The papers I found most interesting I would write down what university they were at and check out their graduate program online.
Bother me on steam: kabbypan
Or as many schools as your professors are willing to write recommendations for. This probably won't apply as much because you're an international student, but some professors write recommendations tailored to individual institutions (because they have colleagues there, etc.). One of my professors once told me that she was forced to apply to just four schools because her adviser was writing unique letters for each program.
Don't worry, she got in.
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New Brunswick is a straight up college town. There is a constant parade of morons (read: undergrads) outside at all hours of nights screaming and making your life a living hell. If you are alright with a super college frat trashy atmosphere, it's okay, but if it weren't for the prestige of having the degree I do from Rutgers, I probably would have bailed. There was a bit there where I was calling the police every few weeks because I saw someone being mugged or a group of people fighting outside of my house.
Princeton is a really nice area if you're in or around the college. The college itself is beautiful and worth a visit if only to soak in the atmosphere.
One thing I learned during a campus visit this year, though, is that schools love international (graduate) students, because they tend to pay in cash. That was right from the horse's mouth.
Applying to more than four places would be wise, though.
PSN: astronautcowboy 3DS: 5343-8146-1833
I have Sega, Nintendo and Xbox games and systems for sale. Please help me buy diapers.
FTFY
Let 'em eat fucking pineapples!