Hey,
In Chicago relaxing right now
I wasn't really impressed with NIU. I think it's because I'm comparing to Notre Dame, which is kind of a mistake.
The town is ugly. It's small and in the middle of nowhere. Chicago is an hour away. Housing prices are high for a midwest farming town. University is ugly cinder block buildings. I'm being critical, because again I'm comparing to Notre Dame's campus/city, as well as what I'vde seen of Purdue online.
The program:
Thursday night dinner with grad students: not one student came to our table to talk to us. Totally useless and a waste of my money (yup..department didn't pay for it).
Friday: 45 intro to the program. Nothing mentioned about funding, etc. Then had a 1 hour opportunity to visit professor's labs. I only got a chance to visit one, because prof was talking so much and I felt rude if I left in the middle.
Had 2 interviews. Each was 15 minutes long. Last one was myself and one other person.
I didn't even stay for lunch but cancelled my hotel room and headed straight for Chicago
They do have a psych services building which apparently sees a bit of clients (both adult and child). Nice integration of practicuum. No first year project for those who are into the research end.
I will not be going there.
Found out I got waitlisted for North Dakota - GOD do I suck that bad lol. My stats were wayyyyyyyyyyyy above their average. Oh well.
A prof from Notre Dame emailed me saying he wants to speak with me some more about my research interests, my future career goals, etc. They're supposed to have decisions done within a week to 10 days. So I hope this is a good sign
Sigh.....guess I'll just relax in Chicago and enjoy myself. Will probably be my last mini-vacation for awhile to come