a running tally...

[anitazavrrr]

Pratt Institute (accepted w/ merit scholarship, no fin. aid info yet)
+most flexible, interesting-sounding program
+opportunities for study abroad?
+$3K scholarship already awarded
+very good availability of places to gain experience while in school
-highest cost of living
-two full years, at $42K per year
-no assistantships until second year

University of

Comments

UIUC

[loveislikegin]

-not nearly as many places to work/gain experience

I'm not sure that's true. I think that one of the reasons UIUC is ranked so high is their grad assistantship placements. From what I understand, the assistantships cover the cost of in-state tuition, meaning you only have to pay the difference.

What about trying to get a paraprofessional job at one of these places? I bet they do tuition remission AND you'd have great work experience when you finish.

Re: UIUC

[anitazavrrr]

off-topic: it strikes me as pretty absurd that a lot of programs have been updating their websites and making the information much clearer, AFTER their deadlines passed.

ha, this is just me being silly, but i really want to be in a real city if i can, which is why UIUC is sort of my last choice (although i would certainly not turn it down if it's my best financial offer).

i know that drexel at least is really proactive about getting grad students to work for them full-time, and then you get some tuition remission. this sounds amazing to me, but things are a little complicated relationship-wise so i'm sort of hestitent to commit to something that will stretch out school for longer than two years.

ahh, i realize how silly that sounds (and is). let's just keep our fingers crossed that i get a sweet assistantship somewhere, haha.

[semolina]

Champaign-Urbana is a really great place to live. I did an internship there one summer and I loved it!

Pittsburgh is pretty awesome, too.