JasonB

I'll reiterate the above and approve ONE stereotype of Durham: Avoid neighborhoods east of downtown. Perhaps most importantly because Duke is west of downtown... but also because they're crummy. Don't be shy of NORTHeast of downtown, though.. if you find a place in that area I can be more specific. -j

Bob Schmitz is your basic landlord in a college town of 275,000: IT DEPENDS. I've heard of him (and really, not him, but his company, because let's face it the guy is loaded and has people to do his work) being ok to quite good, with a few naysayers. Pick the property well; if you see yourself wanting to get that screen door fixed at some point during your stay, maybe its not the place for you. But if you can live with a little of the usual landlord neglect, I think you'd find most of his properties quite pleasant. -j

Just found out that Bull McCabe's (downtown, @ Chapel Hill and Main, great pub food) has Big10 Network! Just ask Willie or Tracy or Jay or Malachy to humor you (erm.... let's just say I've been there)

As a die-hard Illini fan and a staunch defender of anti-BigTen trash talk, I have railed against picking one of the Triangle's storied ACC basketball teams to receive the honor of my fan-ship. Thanks to the 2005 tourney, I obviously can't be a Carolina fan, I couldn't care less about State, and I have found Duke and their fan base to be really, really annoying. Still, I am grateful to now become a Duke fan, especially because now one of my teams will not be a heart-attack-inducing disaster every season. I heartily recommend embracing Duke and their winning record as a nice warm and fuzzy way to start caring about basketball. :) Oh, and as far as getting SEC games on the teevee at area bars, etc., all I can say is good luck! It probably won't be as bad as my experiences trying to watch the Illini recently, when they were trying to blow a great lead, were down 2 with 2 minutes left, and every available channel seemed to be playing the tipoff of a Gonzaga game.

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! Thank GOD that's done with. Congrats to all!

Aw! Love from the allnurses gods! Merci.

Puke update: Almost did this morning, thinking about tomorrow. Be well, all.

I am so going to puke at some point this week.

Hoping the few people I spoke with today at the interviews who had flights in a northeasterly direction got out of town ok! I think the girl on the way to Philly is probably holed up here waiting it out (and hoping she gets back in time for a mandatory micro lab on Monday!) I think I did pretty well interview-wise. Drew an ace with my first interviewer, a man who has frequented the restaurant I ran... I am definitely more worried about the financial situation, though, as I am every time that nice woman from the financial aid office gets up to speak. I am choosing the path of blissful crossing-of-that-bridge-when-I-trip-over-it. And I'm sure as hell going to be networking my a** off in the ICU while volunteering there. Here's to being personally invested in the economy's improvement! Yours, as always, in nail-biting anticipation, J.

Crap. I would start saving some cash for the deposit, but I don't want to jinx myself!

Snow day! Work is shut down. Hope everyone from out of town has been able to leave safely! Thanks for the insights about the interviews; it has been really helpful. I guess it's time to hunker down and actually practice for the interview. I've never had a formal interview of any sort... as a cook a job interview usually involves showing up and getting thrown on an unfamiliar grill station for 5 hours on a friday night. The thing is, I'm really not nervous at all about it. Perhaps I should be?

Welcome to the worry factory, Amy! I've got the 5th as well, as I think one or two others do. The advice so far seems to relax and be yourself (assuming, I guess, that ones"self" is energetic and talented). -Jason

Good luck, all! Let us know how it goes. Hope the weather here improves a bit; you missed our usual January Indian Summer.

quick survey: who's interviewing on the 5th? Looking forward to it!

Count me in on being a bit ****** about the new interview process. Bass-ackwards if you ask me! I'll certainly be tailoring my ongoing internal monologue/interview practice accordingly, but I aint happy about it. Perhaps this is a result of their need to pack more interviews into the Duke Days since they canceled the "extra" day in February. How could you possibly interview someone without knowing thing one about them?! Grr...

I'll second Gator's impressions of the Farmers' market, and not just because many of the folks out there are my good friends :) Even midwinter, things are still going strong down there. Last weekend there was still plenty of produce, and my friend Bobby is starting his seeds for spring in his greenhouses now. The Piedmont is a great place for people who love to grow and/or eat food. Bull City Rising (the blog mentioned above in Gator's post) is a great up-to-speed resource, and I also wanted to mention indyweek.com, the Triangle's independent newspaper. I'm kinda over it personally, but their "best-of" coverage is a great resource for the newcomer in finding everything from restaurants to shoe stores. Well worth a look. -j

Sorry to miss so many questions about Durham and housing.. I forgot all about y'all with the holiday craziness. For shame. Going back to some earlier questions about Durham's safety: Crime is down 50% or something over the past 5 (10?) years. I can't remember the exact stat, but Durham's naysayers are flat-out wrong about the city. It is a great place to live, and improving constantly. I've had stuff stolen here, certainly, but about the same amount of stuff I've had stolen in the four other cities I've lived in, and for the same stupid reason (just lock your door!). I personally live in an area that used to be absolutely terrible only 4-5 years ago, but through programs like Self Help, Land Trust, and Habitat, has been made into a quiet, pretty neighborhood of owner-occupied homes. There are many neighborhoods in Durham like this. Sadly, though, there isn't much to rent in those areas. You'd do best looking at the West Village ($$$) or the Trinity Park neighborhood ($-$$$) for rentals if you like to be close to stuff to do, or some of the apartment complexes near Duke ($$-$$$) if atmosphere isn't a priority. PLENTY of other options exist, though. Good neighborhoods relatively close include Old North Durham, The West End (mine), Walltown, Watts/Hillandale, and Old West Durham. Avoid East Durham in general, for both proximity and crime reasons. Good companies (just off the top of my head and by no means comprehensive) to rent from include Jeffrey and Co., Apple, and Schmidt (iffy at times?). Avoid Bob (?) Solie. Best bet though would be a private individual from my experience. Hope that helps! I'll be keeping an eye on the board for more specific queries. -J

Yep, ya beat me to it. The Marriott is a quick and pretty (except the part where you pass my neighborhood :) ) drive to DHS.. Less than 5 minutes if you drive like I do. Hopefully, they will reimburse your parking in the garage across the street from DUSON, as I think it's a buck an hour. I suppose I could smuggle all of you out with my ED volunteer badge, too. :) And yes, Maryash, Rue Cler was my baby. I've left it in very good hands with the new chef, though, and it is still excellent... if a little more italian. The new guy spent a long time in italy learning about pasta and prosciutto and sometimes can't help himself. If any of you end up at the Marriott or find yourself downtown in the morning, don't miss the coffee and beignets (it's actually just focaccia dough deep fried and covered in sugar... but who cares about authenticity when fried dough is concerned?) Lunch is ok, but I'd skip it for the aforementioned Toast. Dinner and coffee are Rue's reasons for being.

As far as hotels go, the Marriott downtown is a great option on the kinda-pricier end.. probably a good bet for those of you bringing s/o's in tow. Walking distance from Rue Cler, my French restaurant/coffee shop/bakery, and a couple great bars (recommend Whisky on Thursday nights for live jazz, Bull McCabe's for really quite good bar food), and my favorite lunch place, Toast (amazing paninis, etc). My mom has stayed at the Hampton Inn just off I-85 at the Hillandale Rd. exit, which is pretty close to campus and should be cheap, too, but for my money you should stay downtown and see what Durham has been working on improving for the past couple years. I'm often jealous of the fun that you ladies get to have with your clothes... I've got no option but the ol' grey suit, I think. But my tie will rock.

Wow! I leave for one day and you guys throw five pages of posts at me! Not surprising considering the AWESOME circumstances! Got my email a while ago, too! WOO! As I was going to tell you all before this all hit the fan, I nailed the GRE last night (then celebrated... a bit too much... :) ). While I was sleeping in, I guess the committee was being "favorably impressed" by my score. Anyway. Congrats to all! I still haven't decided which day to interview. Most likely the middle one, I guess, but I figure I'll let the out of towners fill up the spots they want before I make my move. As for barbecue, here's my take as a chef: Carolina barbecue is generally not my favorite, but that being said, Bullocks is probably the best around. For GREAT 'cue, I would recommend the Original Q-Shack on university drive. They have carolina pulled pork, AWESOME brisket (the owner is from texas), good st. louis/memphis style pork ribs, and decent smoked chicken/sausage. Its concept has been franchised nationwide, but the Original is much much better. If y'all have ANY questions about the area, let me know. I'm not sure if i can get/send PMs yet... I'll check on that later. For now I'm starving. More soon. WOO!

Hehe.. I think I'm still under quota for the moment in re: bothering *nice lady*, so I'll be glad to ask more questions when I call her with my GRE score on thursday if anything pressing comes up on the thread. :)

It does seem a bit odd.. Here's how I *think* they consider about it: One of their rubrics is your undergrad GPA, and another rubric is a sort of "pass" on that if you have aced everything since. It all seems very unspecific, and I would NOT worry about it, unless you're like me and have a really crappy undergrad GPA... But if you do, know that I have heard of and/or talked to what seems like a substantial (or at least inspiring) number of current and former students who got in with bad GPAs. Personally, I think I'll probably get passed on to the next cohort unless I can pull out a stellar GRE score next week (got an extension from the admissions dept. because of the run-around they gave us about whether it would be required). Curled up on the couch with flashcards all week... can't wait to get it out of the way. On a different subject, do y'all feel like male applicants are still getting into schools a little easier than their sisters? I hope so for my sake, although I hate the idea of quotas and such. Opinions?

I have been told that, while their overall GPA calculations only really take your undergrad degree into account, your grades in post-degree prerequisite courses weigh heavily in their decision making.

True, it's a waste of time trying to compare our vitals, as it were. It IS nice, though, to finally feel challenged and motivated by other students' experiences. Not to knock NCCU too much, but I never really felt like I had real peers there. So, thanks for being motivated, experienced, and accomplished, everyone! It also occurred to me (my fiancee actually brought it up while we were talking about THE NAIL-BITING FEAR of all this) that we here on this board are probably in the upper 10% of applicants, or at least the more computer-savvy 20%. Subjective, perhaps, but at least we're all seeking first-hand information and perspectives. So good for us. -j