Robert Wood Johnson - Class Of 2010!!!

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jingles said:
I am XX - do you really think that at this point they would choose men prior to women based on gender alone?

Hopefully the gender ratio would have been considered prior to the creation of the alternate lists!
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yeah, i agree too, and also, if they do look at gender at this point in teh game, then would all those other schools who have individually ranked waitlists take your gender into consideration when they give you your rank? in that case, they would also have to have some kind of mechanism to judge how many males vs. females are likely to withdraw. it sounds a bit farfetched to me. i'm a girl btw. and i got my letter around 5/5 or 5/6.
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being on the high priority alt list is not the same as being in the very competitive category. high priority is a section of the waitlist, while being in the very competitive category is a step before either being admitted or being put on the waitlist.

from what i know for sure, HP is the top of the list. then there are 3 tiers of the waitlist underneath. kramer told me that HP is for people that would have been accepted if there was space in the class. hence, when a spot opens up, HP people get accepted first.

the very competitive category is when the committee cannot make a clear cut decision on whether the candidate should be admitted. either the vote was split half-half on being admitted or being placed on the waitlist, or perhaps the committee had made too many decisions on that day that they wanted to decide next time....

so far, everyone that has been accepted off of the waitlist has been from the HP section. from what i understand, almost everyone gets off of the HP section.
 
jingles said:
I agree with you persianrug - I also think it would be unfair to outright accept somebody without them first being on the waitlist - it is just too late for that, right???

I guess we'll keep waiting - I still would like to know when abtornado's waiting list letter was dated - somebody else was accepted earlier from the high priority list on the thread - and his/her letter was dated 5/5/06 - mine was dated 5/19 - anybody with one dated in between?
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My letter was dated between those dates. I don't have the high priority letter with me but I believe it was around 5/5-5/6. I received the letter on 5/8, so it couldn't have been dated later than 5/8. To answer your other question regarding gender of accepted applicants from the waitlist, I'm a male.
 
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theunderdog said:
being on the high priority alt list is not the same as being in the very competitive category. high priority is a section of the waitlist, while being in the very competitive category is a step before either being admitted or being put on the waitlist.

from what i know for sure, HP is the top of the list. then there are 3 tiers of the waitlist underneath. kramer told me that HP is for people that would have been accepted if there was space in the class. hence, when a spot opens up, HP people get accepted first.

the very competitive category is when the committee cannot make a clear cut decision on whether the candidate should be admitted. either the vote was split half-half on being admitted or being placed on the waitlist, or perhaps the committee had made too many decisions on that day that they wanted to decide next time....

so far, everyone that has been accepted off of the waitlist has been from the HP section. from what i understand, almost everyone gets off of the HP section.
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This is very informative thanks.
 
roca88 said:
Hi!

They're still constructing the webpage, so we have to be patient on the info. provided there. For now it's still stuff from the Class of 2009 in many places. I too have heard from others here that orientation will begin Friday, August 4--and that makes sense, given last year it did start on a Friday (August 5). Last year's white coat ceremony was the last day of the 7 week orientation (Friday, August 12), so I have to assume that this year's white coat ceremony will be Friday, August 11, in the afternoon.
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I just called the office (by "just" i mean, this afternoon) and you're absolutely right. They're working on the website, but they've sent out a snail mail that have all these dates listed and finally, you're right August 4th for Orientation and August 11th for White Coat (be there by 9am, the ceremony begins around 2pm). SO that's the official story. :)

can't wait, guys! I guess I just got a bit anxious........
 
persianrug said:
yeah, i agree too, and also, if they do look at gender at this point in teh game, then would all those other schools who have individually ranked waitlists take your gender into consideration when they give you your rank? in that case, they would also have to have some kind of mechanism to judge how many males vs. females are likely to withdraw. it sounds a bit farfetched to me. i'm a girl btw. and i got my letter around 5/5 or 5/6.
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Well there goes my theory about what could possibly be preventing Dr. Terregino from calling me ;) Now I will have to find some other straw to grasp at. Maybe she is waiting to call me last because I am the most special. :D
 
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Hi Guys! I am just joining now... but I have just read every post on this thread!!!

I am also on the high priority alternate list, and I am just about loosing my mind waiting for that phone call!!! RWJ is my absolute first choice :)

I sent Dr. T a letter expressing my interest about a month ago, and I have spoken to Meryle twice. Last week Meryle said that there were not spots, but that they would be opening up in the next few weeks. When I called a day or two ago she said that they were not there yet but they were getting closer! Hope that helps anyone else out there thinking about the hpwl ALL THE TIME!
 
R*ckstar said:
Hi Guys! I am just joining now... but I have just read every post on this thread!!!

I am also on the high priority alternate list, and I am just about loosing my mind waiting for that phone call!!! RWJ is my absolute first choice :)

I sent Dr. T a letter expressing my interest about a month ago, and I have spoken to Meryle twice. Last week Meryle said that there were not spots, but that they would be opening up in the next few weeks. When I called a day or two ago she said that they were not there yet but they were getting closer! Hope that helps anyone else out there thinking about the hpwl ALL THE TIME!
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hi rockstar,

thanks a lot for the info. it was helpful, although a bit depressing. i'm a bit surprised that at this point they don't have seats open and they haven't even gotten through the high priority list. the other thing is that how can meryle kramer say definitely that seats will open up, and that too soon ("they're getting there"). when i called the office they kept telling me that it was hard to predict, and now i find that they're saying something else. unless i'm reading it wrong.
 
This is just speculation but i think when looking at the HP list they take those who are not holding acceptances at other AAMC schools vs. those who at least have somewhere to go. and the reason im saying this is because when ms. kramer called me last week, the first thing she asked was if i was holding any other acceptances. i said no, and she offered me the acceptance. I think she would have offered the acceptance anyway b/c she said that she would have to notify the other school. perhaps, they want to avoid having other schools hassle over finding another student. again, this is just a theory.
 
neilious9 said:
This is just speculation but i think when looking at the HP list they take those who are not holding acceptances at other AAMC schools vs. those who at least have somewhere to go. and the reason im saying this is because when ms. kramer called me last week, the first thing she asked was if i was holding any other acceptances. i said no, and she offered me the acceptance. I think she would have offered the acceptance anyway b/c she said that she would have to notify the other school. perhaps, they want to avoid having other schools hassle over finding another student. again, this is just a theory.
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.......yet another facet to this unending discussion.

i find it amusing that even when you get to the point of getting the call, you still dont' really know how it all happened. as far as them not wanting to hassle other schools over finding another student, it sounds a bit funny, because i could never imagine them wanting to be so nice to rival schools when they're not even nice to potential students (i'm counting their ambiguity about hte waitlist as not nice). hehehe but thanks anyway for the info.
 
Hi neilious9 - so you also were accepted from the high priority list? Congrats! But that is so weird - they didn't call you - you queried them and Meryl just happened to offer you an acceptance???? Should the rest of us be calling???
 
jingles said:
Hi neilious9 - so you also were accepted from the high priority list? Congrats! But that is so weird - they didn't call you - you queried them and Meryl just happened to offer you an acceptance???? Should the rest of us be calling???
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it says in the post that ms. kramer did in fact call.

it might make sense for them to offer acceptances to those who haven't heard from anywhere else, because then they know that the person will definitely accept the offer. but how do they know in advance whether or not you have other acceptances?
 
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I've just graduated from RWJ, and I just thought I would chime in here a little bit. For admissions, the board meets and apparently your rank gets hashed out (with lots of arguing at times) In my experience, I was told that the one doc that went to bat for me (he was the one who told me he did after I had started) said I was very close to not getting off the waitlist, but he insisted.

So for those of you still waiting - hold on, you may get your acceptance afterall. Good luck, and just think, this is only the beginning ;) I heard nothing from them, until the phone call - and its all history from there.
 
Poety said:
I've just graduated from RWJ, and I just thought I would chime in here a little bit. For admissions, the board meets and apparently your rank gets hashed out (with lots of arguing at times) In my experience, I was told that the one doc that went to bat for me (he was the one who told me he did after I had started) said I was very close to not getting off the waitlist, but he insisted.

So for those of you still waiting - hold on, you may get your acceptance afterall. Good luck, and just think, this is only the beginning ;) I heard nothing from them, until the phone call - and its all history from there.
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thanks for the info poety, i didn't know that the board met to decide on teh waitlist as well.
 
so much for the "random" theory - right??
 
Yes I was told that the waitlist is ranked. So you are given a number when you are put on the list and then they go down the list and admit in order of rank. So those of you who got in off the hpw list already were ranked the most highly, and those of us who are still waiting are ranked lower.
 
So who actually calls to offer acceptance - Dr. Terregino or Meryle Kramer?

Does anyone know if the high priority list is ranked or in the order that the spots were offered?
 
R*ckstar said:
So who actually calls to offer acceptance - Dr. Terregino or Meryle Kramer?

Does anyone know if the high priority list is ranked or in the order that the spots were offered?
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The high priority waitlist is ranked. That is what Meryle told me.
 
SalseraDoctora said:
The high priority waitlist is ranked. That is what Meryle told me.
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arrghh it's so annoying that they have a different story for each person who calls......why can't they just be straightforward about the whole thing
 
SalseraDoctora said:
The high priority waitlist is ranked. That is what Meryle told me.
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afterthought: according to poety, if hte board meets for the waitlist as well, then what happens to the ranking and all?
 
Do you think that they would give us our rank if we call?
 
jingles said:
Do you think that they would give us our rank if we call?
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i highly doubt it....judging from my experience with them, i woudln't be surprised if you called and they told you something completely different from all that we've been discussing so far. it doesn't hurt for you to try though.
 
neilious9 said:
This is just speculation but i think when looking at the HP list they take those who are not holding acceptances at other AAMC schools vs. those who at least have somewhere to go. and the reason im saying this is because when ms. kramer called me last week, the first thing she asked was if i was holding any other acceptances. i said no, and she offered me the acceptance. I think she would have offered the acceptance anyway b/c she said that she would have to notify the other school. perhaps, they want to avoid having other schools hassle over finding another student. again, this is just a theory.
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Can't be the case, because when I was accepted off the hpw, I was already into another school. Ms. Kramer did call the other school to notify them, and I later called to follow up.
 
jingles said:
Do you think that they would give us our rank if we call?
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If you email and ask her she will tell you that there are a few people ahead of you on the list or not. At least she told me. It can't hurt to try.
 
Does anyone know if we have to include the $85 for the background check in the letter we send to them or will they bill us for it later? They said they included this amount in the student financial aid budget, but im not quite sure what this means.

Thanks!
 
beponychick said:
Does anyone know if we have to include the $85 for the background check in the letter we send to them or will they bill us for it later? They said they included this amount in the student financial aid budget, but im not quite sure what this means.

Thanks!
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They'll bill us for it later. I handed all those forms in when I was at the housing day and they didn't ask me for a check for the background check so I'm assuming that the charge will be added to our bill. I think the only money due thus far was the deposit.
 
ABTornado said:
They'll bill us for it later. I handed all those forms in when I was at the housing day and they didn't ask me for a check for the background check so I'm assuming that the charge will be added to our bill. I think the only money due thus far was the deposit.
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sounds good. Ill just send it without a check.
 
gotgame83 said:
I just got back from my interview. The actual interview wasnt until 330 and rt 18 was backup up due to construction. The First part of the day was good. I really enjoyed the school. The tour guides were great and Its definitly a school I would consider. Then came the interview....

This was not my best interview experience. The very first thing the guy did was try to call BS on my amcas application. He claimed that i marked that i was "underrepresented" on my application and that he can tell im not so why did I lie. Well I had a folder with my with my amcas application in it and told him that it doesnt say that then he proceeds to tell me that HIS copy does. So then he says no other interviewer probably ever commented on it because they didnt read ur file. And i said, " No they never commented on it because its not there." So it wasnt a good way to start off the interview.
Then came all the common interview questions etc. So then we talked about the admission process and he looks at my mcat score (29) and he says. " Wow ur mcat score is pretty bad" so im thinking (f$ck off pal) and then he says yea well the average mcat score for RWJ is 34.2 for women and 34 for men. And i said, " Well the dean just said it was around 30-31, and the website says its around a 30-31 and so does the MSAR, and he says again, " No its around 34-35, and we dont normally give interviews to people under 30" So i wanted to get the most out of the interview so i asked him about the selection process and where it was at now.

He told me that they have already handed out 156 acceptances and that everyone else is on a waitlist and as some people decline the acceptance they hand out more acceptances and why in the last few weeks acceptances were still going out. He also told me that last year they accepted people off the waitlist up until the first day of class. He told me its not an official ranked waitlist but everyone someone withdraws they reorganize it whatever that means. Oh and he also told me that he only interview one person a week on tuesdays and he has 3 more interviews after me so thats another 3 weeks of interview so I wasnt the last person.

Now most of that contradicts what the deal told me 2 hours earlier. She said that the class IS NOT FULL

Oh and I almost forgot, at the end I happend to notice the hospital name on his Id card(not RWJ) so i mentioned it because i was familiar with the hospital and then he started really talking down about other hospitals. I mean i might not know all the inside stuff but that was kind of unprofessional to me. But at that point i wasnt taking what he said to heart because at some point in the convo he told me and i quote " No applying earlier doesnt help your applications"

I appologize if this post had a negative tone. I LOVED the school, and i like how they keep track on the ping pong against NJMS lol. THe people and the atmosphere was great however Im not counting on my interview to land me a seat.
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OMG who did you interview with?!!? Ok, maybe pm me that. ;) Wow, I'm really sorry to read that... grrr--makes the rest of our school look shabby--shame on him!

We kicked @ss at the ping pong tournaments. lol :laugh:
 
Ill PM u that, but I will say my second interview was with Dr. Kiss and this man was one of the nicest guys I have met, really down to earth and very easy to get along with. So far it doesnt look like I will be getting into RWJ but I have been accepted to NJMS, so watch out because I will see you guys in the ping pong tournament! lol
 
SalseraDoctora said:
Are there any non-traditional students among all you 2010 RWJSM people? Or anybody who likes to dance salsa? :)
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There are quite a few among the Class of 2009 [of both]. :) And we have a Latino Dance thing during the year with salsa lessons. Also, sometimes we go to Marita's Cantina, or Nova Terra in New Brunswick to shake our salsa-lovin' booties.
 
RWJ does leave messages... well ahem Dr. Terregino does leave messages. I still have mine, since it was my very first acceptance. ::beams:: what a dork...

persianrug said:
hi guys,

i was wondering if anyone knows if they leave acceptances on answering machines? because i just got a letter from buffalo telling me that they don't leave messages. so basically, if by any chance no one is home, or i don't have service where ever i am, then i'm gonna lose my spot. does rwj do the same thing?

i hope my fellow waitlistees are still hanging in there, as am i :)
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sweetpeamd09 said:
There are quite a few among the Class of 2009 [of both]. :) And we have a Latino Dance thing during the year with salsa lessons. Also, sometimes we go to Marita's Cantina, or Nova Terra in New Brunswick to shake our salsa-lovin' booties.
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Yay thanks :) I sincerely hope I will be admitted and can join the salsa expeditions. :D
 
So you emailed Meryle and she told you how many people were in front of you on the list? Did she give you an actual number or just an approximation?

Also, how does housing work if you get admitted just days before? Has anyone been through that? (I am a little paranoid)
 
Ill sleep in my car... I have thought of that and past a point Im just going to have to say its too late to go to RWJ and devote myself to njms.
 
R*ckstar said:
So you emailed Meryle and she told you how many people were in front of you on the list? Did she give you an actual number or just an approximation?

Also, how does housing work if you get admitted just days before? Has anyone been through that? (I am a little paranoid)
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when i emailed her, she just told me that we are getting closer. it sounds like helpful information, but then, it's not like you can get further from me on the waitlist.....

as for housing, there is no housing at bobby wood. you're on your own to find it. i think what i'm going to do is live at home for the first semester, and find a buddy and shack it up in the second semester at an apartment or something.
 
gotgame83 said:
Ill sleep in my car... I have thought of that and past a point Im just going to have to say its too late to go to RWJ and devote myself to njms.
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hey gotgame,

have you heard from bobby wood yet?
 
im expecting a waitlist letter 2morrow...no official word yet though
 
I live in South Jersey, so I feel like the commute would be really rough... do-able but rough!

Has anyone really searched for housing up there?

I am so freaked out by the idea of having to pick up and go right into med school with only a few days notice... although I would totally do it in a heart beat.

Also, does anyone who is already in have RWJ's computer specifications? I have the specs for the school where I am currently enrolled and would like to buy a computer soon... but I want to be prepared just in case Dr. Terregino decides to make me one happy camper :)
 
R*ckstar said:
So you emailed Meryle and she told you how many people were in front of you on the list? Did she give you an actual number or just an approximation?

Also, how does housing work if you get admitted just days before? Has anyone been through that? (I am a little paranoid)
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rockstar, why don't you email/call ms. kramer and ask her if she can tell you anything about your position. it doesn't hurt to ask, and that way the rest of us will also know if they tell you. i was surprised when salsera doctora said that ms. kramer told her her position and also told her that the list was ranked in a specific order. i guess it's because she told me the exact opposite. but then again, salsera is high priority and i'm not, so maybe ms. kramer didn't feel the need to give me correct info. i read in an earlier post by someone that the office is nicer to you if you're high priority, or something to that effect.
 
I will definitely ask Meryle about all that next time I talk to her. I am not ready to call back just yet because I called late last week and I don't want to be too much of a stalker! Last week she said we are getting closer but we are not there yet... I am not totally sure how to read that, but I would think it means that they are indeed moving thorugh the list.

Also, how often is everyone contacting the office? Lately I have been calling Meryle every week or so. Also, do you guys call Dr. Terregino or Meryle Kramer usually?

Hope everyone is enjoying this beautiful summer!
 
R*ckstar said:
I live in South Jersey, so I feel like the commute would be really rough... do-able but rough!

Has anyone really searched for housing up there?
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I can offer some advice on this:

As someone who just got in last week and lives in Hunterdon County (central Jersey) but still far enough away (45 min. minimum more likely 1 hour commute), I looked at housing this weekend. The good news is that there is still housing available. There seems to be plenty of "rooms" to rent in houses with other med students/grad students. There also are a number of apartment buildings in the area, many of the nicer ones have no availability or waitlists until end of August/September. Nonetheless quite a few had about 1 apartment or so available still, but I suspect those will go soon. The one uniform thing I found about the housing in the area is that its just quite frankly not as nice as the stuff in NYC and DC. For the same amount of money in DC many of my friends and I were living in what seemed to be "cleaner" apartments. I spent all day Friday, Saturday, and Sunday looking for an apartment and found one Sunday afternoon. You will have to sort through a lot of slums if you aren't familiar with the area (such as myself). I did find some housing that is absolutely repulsive. Nonetheless, in the process I found a lot of availability in the 2-bedroom sized townhouse. These were averaging around $1400-1500 (though there were plenty that were more money). If you split one of those with someone else who gets in around the same time, then you'd be pretty set at $700 a month or so for rent before utilities. I think I found more appealing options available in Somerset, NJ which seemed like a very close location. Its literally right across the Raritan River from Piscataway. It also seems to be a bit quieter and prettier than some of the stuff in Highland Park/NB. I think this will equate to safer (for you and your car), cleaner, and quieter. I ended up pushing my budget a bit, though I wanted to live by myself this year, and found a place that will be quite nice for the year.

The general concept is that if you're waiting to get in, there is still housing available. You will have to search harder than someone who looked in April or May (or earlier), but you can find it if you take a few days of very dedicated searching (internet, phone, and driving around). I suggest looking on weekdays as many leasing offices are closed on weekends (baffling to me as most people who work would look on a weekend). Also make sure to check out that apartmentratings.com website as I almost leased a place that had 29 out of 33 reviews dating back 6 years mentioning terrible maintenance, roaches, and no hot water for weeks at a time. That would have been a bad decision. Additionally you might have to push the budget a tiny bit, but know that its only for 1 year as you can look early next year. Additionally, just think about all the money you are saving with the tuition over many private schools and you are going to an absolutely terrific school.
 
gotgame83 said:
This has me thinking now. What is the purpose of the "very competitive category" letter. I mean if they already reviewed your application and there arent any openings why dont they just place you on the waitlist? Very confusing
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I was told that very competetive means that they actually HAVEN'T reviewed your file yet, at all. Sooo it actually would be fair for these people to go straight to accept without going to waitlist, because they just haven't been reviewed yet! (I only know this because, as I said a few posts back, one of my good friends is in this situation)....
Best of luck!
 
How could somebody be considered very competitive if their file hasn't even been reviewed? That doesn't make too much sense - I would think that somebody would be considered very competitive if their file was reviewed and considered as such - right?





Pepper1o1 said:
I was told that very competetive means that they actually HAVEN'T reviewed your file yet, at all. Sooo it actually would be fair for these people to go straight to accept without going to waitlist, because they just haven't been reviewed yet! (I only know this because, as I said a few posts back, one of my good friends is in this situation)....
Best of luck!
Click to expand...
 
Thanks ABTornado for the info and congrats to getting off the list! Hopefully I will join you soon :)

As far as the very competitive thing goes. I think that the admissions committee can review your file several times before coming to a final decision to accept, waitlist or deny. This can be because the committe is split or because they do not have available seats. Also, I am not sure if you can still be directly admitted. My understanding is that the high priority list is comprised of candidates who would have been accepted had there been an open seat, but I am not completely sure that is accurate. Best of luck to everyone who is still waiting :)
 
R*ckstar said:
I live in South Jersey, so I feel like the commute would be really rough... do-able but rough!

Has anyone really searched for housing up there?

I am so freaked out by the idea of having to pick up and go right into med school with only a few days notice... although I would totally do it in a heart beat.

Also, does anyone who is already in have RWJ's computer specifications? I have the specs for the school where I am currently enrolled and would like to buy a computer soon... but I want to be prepared just in case Dr. Terregino decides to make me one happy camper :)
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have any of you guys tried looking at blueberry village in edison? i don't think it's too far away from the school, and i actually know a few students who currently live there. the apartments are quite nice (compared to overall), and they are accordingly more expensive, but if you're totally disgusted by what you see out there (as i'm led to believe by abtornado's post), then you might find blueberry village decent enough.
 
Im still in the "very competitive category". I just spoke with admissions, she said things are moving very slowly. Its so lonely being in this category lol
 
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