Reloca-Phobia: A 6-Step Cure-All Guide for Finding Your New Neighborhood

Still frozen in panic after finding the “we will not house you” clause in your official graduate school acceptance package? Thaw out a little, Get Grad Schooled has your back. Here is a list of 6 things to look for in a new neighborhood.    




1. Safety. Graduate courses usually commence during late afternoons and early evenings. With run times averaging around 3 to 4 hours, there is a good chance you will be heading home after 10 pm; this is if you decide not to head to the library for a late night cram session. Therefore, it is important to make sure your potential neighborhood is relatively safe, especially if you are moving to a metropolitan area and are on foot. Your school will have provided you with information on surrounding areas where other students live, but to get the uncensored version, check out Facebook or your school’s Web site for student information pages. Don’t be afraid to send a message to the established users on those sites with questions. You never know, you could end up with a roommate, which means no awkward housing activities for you. Score. 

2. Transportation. If you were forced to leave your vintage 71’ Ford Pinto, Lucille, behind on your graduate school travels, see if your new neighborhood is accessible by public transportation. The “search nearby” function on Google Maps will allow you to quickly locate area bus and subway stops. If you do decide to drag Lucille along with you, you can familiarize yourself with your neighborhood’s parking statutes by checking your new city’s Web site and keeping an eye out for suspicious parking signs.

3. Grocery Stores. Everyone has to eat. Some would prefer not having to take three buses and a train to do so. For those on foot, take a spin through the neighborhood via Google Maps. Test the distance by walking to the nearest store from your potential home. Keep in mind that all the groceries you buy will have to be lugged, by you, back to your place. Do you really want to drag 10 bags of food with you onto the bus?

4. Banks. You bank with someone nobody has ever heard of, and now you’re at a loss as to where to put your money. (NOTE: under the mattress is never acceptable) Visit your area bank and open up a checking account. This will save you expensive withdrawal fees and provide you with an emergency source of cash should you need it. Go with a larger chain bank, as they generally have branches and ATMs everywhere. They also offer special student checking and savings accounts that won’t tie your money up for 20 years should you shortly choose to return to Small Banks R’ Us. Having a bank close by is also great for procuring the countless quarters you’ll throw away in the neighborhood Laundromat. Which brings us to,

5. Laundromat. You have to have clean clothes. We don’t even want to consider the alternative. And finally,

6. Shopping/Town Centers. Shopping and town centers are great because they usually have the knick-knack stores you need, e.g., convenience stores, specialty grocery stores, electronic shacks. They may also house delicious restaurants and take-outs for when finals hit and you just can’t bring yourself to cook a decent meal.

Before you hand over first and last to your greedy realtor, do a quick tour of your potential neighborhood and check for the items in this list. You’ll be glad you did. Happy hunting!

Unpaid Internships: the Tough Questions

Along with specialized coursework, internships are an effective way to gain experience in a specific field. They're very common for graduate students. However, the decision to pursue an internship might be a tough one if you're considering one of the many unpaid internships out there. Here are some key points to seriously consider before accepting:

What's the time commitment?
Some internships require only a few hours each week, while others demand an almost full-time schedule. Most importantly, you should have a good idea of how this commitment might affect your attendance or performance in school. Will you still be able to adequately prepare for each class and get there on time?

Another consideration that particularly impacts graduate students is the time unpaid internships take away from the time they'd normally be working other jobs for pay. Can you afford to take this time away from a paying job to work for free? Unpaid internships often make up for this shortcoming in the form of valuable experience and connections, but you have to establish a financial plan to cover your most important necessities, such as rent and food, before taking on an unpaid commitment.

What about doing an internship for credit?
Not all schools require it, but graduate programs generally allow students to earn course credit for internships they complete. If you're paying for your own tuition, either out of pocket or through student loans, keep in mind that you'd have to pay this rate for an internship, too.

What are your goals for this internship?
All internship programs are different. Are you hoping for hands-on experience and responsibility? Or, even if the internship involves a lot of time in the mail room, are you more concerned with the connections you could make with professionals in your field? Working for free could become a frustrating experience, so you should determine if the benefits will make it worthwhile. This may be true for some internships but not for others.

So, if you're thinking about applying for or taking an unpaid internship, be sure to determine if it's the right fit for you first.

Moving Out

Relocating to a new area can be anxiety-ridden whether you are moving to the next town over or across the country. Choosing to go to graduate school also meant that I would chose a new place to live, new friends and a new culture. All these new options, although thrilling, also can bring about many unforeseen headaches. Where are the best places to live? Work? Transportation? And why can't I buy liquor in this state with an out of state license? Etc. Etc.

In short, I moved to Boston from Boise, Idaho (kind of like a reversed Footloose experience). I often times reflect upon my experiences relocating during undergrad and now graduate school and how different those experiences were. It's amazing the growth that takes place from being an undergrad and now a graduate student. Looking back, I realized that the "experience" of undergrad was what was really important to me and the curriculum, although important, was not my top priority. Graduate school has proved to be less about the "experience" of college and more about the education. I rarely hear of graduate students transferring to other grad program, whereas in undergrad, you are in the minority if you haven't transferred schools at least once (I would know, I transferred twice).

With any change, comes discomfort and I tried my best in moving to Boston to minimize that discomfort. I think a lot of times, homesickness (even in grad school with big kids) is actually pretty common. I have learned that discomfort comes with change, such as relocating to a new place but overcoming the discomfort is something that I am personally proud of. Being able to successfully relocate is not only relevant right now, but prepares students for future chances of job relocations. Being able to conquer that now, means less discomfort in the future.

Change is not my favorite thing. But I know it's the best for me and know it will make me a more interesting and adaptable person. I like to compare change to working out. I hate the process, but I love how I feel afterwards.

Landing that "Grown Up" Job in the "Real World"

I took a year off in between undergraduate and graduate school because I didn’t decide to apply to grad school until I was almost finished being an undergrad. Once I made the decision to apply, I formulated what seemed like a simple plan at the time: move to location of desired grad school, find a job in a field of interest and continue working while taking classes. Armed with a bachelor’s degree and a strong desire to work, I thought it would be relatively easy to find a permanent, full-time, entry level office job. The past two years have taught me that a degree is not a free pass into the working world: dues must be paid to the gods of drudgery, boredom and coffee runs before the job with nameplate, paid vacation/sick time and health benefits is landed.

Although it’s not directly related to anything I hope to be doing in the future, I believe my job has given me valuable experience dealing with clients, co-workers, stress and the frustration that comes with being a cog in a corporate machine. All kidding aside, working in the “real” world has made me realize how important it is to have goals beyond getting a job that will pay the bills. I am happy with my job for now, but this is largely due to the fact that I know that I have other options and my “permanent” job is only temporary in reality.

If you are like I was and working in coffee shops, restaurants and clothing stores during your time in grad school doesn’t appeal to you, you may be wondering how to find that “grown up” office job with benefits. There are no hard and fast rules, but here are a few tips that helped me obtain my current job:

· Consider temp work. It may seem degrading, but working through a temporary employment agency is one of the best ways to gain experience and make connections at companies that may prove useful in the future. I was a temp at various companies before landing a position without the aid of a staffing agency. Some of the national temporary staffing agencies are: OfficeTeam, Kelly Services, Adecco, Randstad, Aerotek and Staffing Now.

· Listen more than talk during the interview process. Once I gained enough experience temping that my resume stopped falling into a black hole every time I applied for a job on Monster and CareerBuilder, I started going on interviews. After several failed meetings, I learned that successful interviews are not so much about answering questions as they are about carefully listening to the interviewer and clearly articulating responses that include their descriptions of the position, the skills required and the company.

· Write professional, personalized, thank you letters. My mother, along with every job hunting book I read, kept harping on the importance of writing a thank you letter after each and every interview. They weren’t kidding. The personalized thank you letters that I crafted to each one of the three people that interviewed me for my current position are largely why I was hired. My employers were impressed with my writing abilities and the initiative I took to reach out to them. It’s as simple as thanking them for their time, expressing an interest in the job and giving reasons why you are the best candidate.

T-Accessible Outdoor Fun

Most large cities have public transportation systems, and Boston's is likely far from the best. You might feel isolated without a car when you first move here, but--if you can ignore the crowds, urine-scented tunnels, and sweltering hot T stations--there are plenty of fun places the MBTA can take you for a couple of bucks on your CharlieCard or a $59 monthly LinkPass.

The commuter rail, buses, and ferry give you more options than you might think. But those take time, so let's explore more fun, free/cheap, and local options for these last months of summer.

Blue Line
After last year's summer of rain, the heat has been unexpected. The good news is that the T goes to the beach. Four stops on the Blue Line--Orient Heights, Suffolk Downs, Beachmont, and Revere Beach--are within a mile or two of Constitution Beach (East Boston), Winthrop Beach, and Revere Beach. You might have to do some walking or take a bus, but they're still easily accessible.

There might eventually be a casino at Suffolk Downs, too, considering dog racing has been banned, but we grad students don't really need to be throwing money away... right?

Orange Line
If you take the Orange Line down to Forest Hills (which is in Jamaica Plain), you'll find the Arnold Arboretum: 265 acres of gorgeous trees, shrubs, flowers, and other green life, open to exploration from sunrise to sunset every day. And it's free.

On the other end of the Orange Line, you can take a bus from Wellington Station to Middlesex Fells, which offers 2,575 acres of trails suitable for hiking, horseback riding, rock climbing, cross-country skiing, and picnicking.

Green Line
If walking, jogging, or dog-walking is more your style, look no further than the Chestnut Hill Reservation. Although you cannot swim in the reservoir itself, the Reilly Rink and Pool is nearby. To get to the reservoir, take the C line to Cleveland Circle, the D line to Reservoir, or the B line to Chestnut Hill Ave.

The assorted Green Line trolleys run to Brighton, Brookline, and Newton, so they're a good bet if you just need to get away from the hustle and bustle of the city proper for a few hours.

And what about the Red Line? Your best bet there is to get off anywhere between Kendall/MIT and Davis and just walk around. Check out the Davis Square LiveJournal for ideas, but Somerville and Cambridge are, in general, rich in culture, shopping, and community.

For something a little closer to home, be sure to check out Shakespeare on the Common. Each summer, the Commonwealth Shakespeare Company puts on a free Shakespeare play on Boston Common. This year's selection is Othello, and it runs from July 28 to August 15. Show times: Tue-Sat: 8PM, Sun: 7PM.

You should give yourself at least an hour to get anywhere on the T. You can subscribe to free T Alerts via email, text message, or Twitter to find out if there are any significant delays. Regardless, though, Boston's transportation system allows for much more freedom and enjoyment than one might assume. Maybe, one day, we won't even miss our cars. Maybe.

ROUTINE! ROUTINE! ROUTINE!

I thought I’d be free to do as I pleased coming to grad school in Boston—I’d get a job as a waitress in the North End and speak Italian with the regulars. I was going to live in a great apartment with just one roommate (who was a fellow Midwesterner) and I was going to write, write, write. I came to study Creative Writing and write The Memoir that I had planned to write for years but never even knew where to begin. Well, it turned out—I didn’t even know where or how to begin living here—much less writing here.

Yes, I ended up working as a waitress, but quit after the low season hit and I was making on average $8 a day. Yes, I lived with that roommate of mine from the Midwest, but quickly found our ideas of cleaniliness and order to be sourly mismatched. And the writing? Well, I was writing—whenever I managed to clear off my cluttered desk and find a moment when I wasn’t exhausted from work or a hangover to get the crazed jumble of words out and onto a page.

Well, let’s just say—things changed once I got a job with regularly scheduled hours. Yeah, you come to grad school with one goal in mind (for the most part): do well. Because if you do well, you somehow might manage to not waste the money and time you spent getting a master’s degree in the first place. If you do well, you might leave here proud of yourself and not knee deep in regret and failure.

I was headed down the latter route once I started working retail and never knowing what my week was going to be. After getting my new “regular job” (though a café worker at an all women’s gym is hardly “regular”) I started being able to actually plan my day. Plan my writing schedule. Plan my life. And now I find myself strolling into my apartment around the same time everyday and finding that my mind starts churning out coherent thoughts that actually make me think that maybe, just maybe—I’ll finally get this memoir finished.

Budgeting Your Money, Supermarket Style

One of the top priorities for every grad student (besides doing well in class, of course) is to save money. We’ve all figured out just how much we’re paying for every course, every credit, every hour of class. And yeah, it’s a lot. So you’re going to want to cut back on your expenditures. You have to get creative when saving money, especially in a city like Boston. One of my favorite ways to stay on track with my money is with my groceries.

For example. Yes, we all love cereal. It’s great in the morning, for an afternoon snack, or during a late-night paper-writing cram session. But do you know how much cheaper the store brand cereals are? Fine, I’ll grant you that they don’t exactly taste the same. But when you’re exhausted from pulling an all-nighter are you really going to know the difference? I vote no.

Sometimes it’s all about where you shop. Everyone loves a good Whole Foods, and not just for the tasty samples they provide. But for the duration of your graduate studies, say goodbye to Whole Foods (except maybe for the samples) and hello to Market Basket. Even if you have to take the T to get to one, it’s worth the difference you’ll be saving.

Once you’re at Market Basket, there’s really only one thing you need to remember: store brand, store brand, store brand! Seriously, you can practically feel the savings in your wallet.

Make sure you buy enough to make your lunch for work because you’re done with going out on your lunch breaks. It’s a great way to save. Just pack it all in a nice little lunch box, though you might want to call it a meal bag. Sounds much more professional.

Maybe you shouldn't say goodbye to Whole Foods completely. I mean, those samples can come in handy for a nice afternoon snack. You can consider it a weekend activity, and a free one to boot. Now you're thinking like a grad student

The one thing I would go name brand on: water filter. This way you don’t have to buy water bottles, which are mucho expensive. One water filter lasts a few months and is definitely more price-conscious than bottles. Now you know how to save money on food and water. What else is there?!