The week of February 14 was a pretty big weekend: Chinese New Year (celebrated with a huge parade in Chinatown that Sunday), Valentine’s Day (represented on prix fixe menus from Jamaica Plain to Cambridge and everywhere in between) and the biggest thing of all: the financial aid refund!
FYI incoming students: Simmons usually distributes financial aid refunds a little later than some other schools, generally to make sure that students arenÂ’t receiving extra financial aid for classes that they may have dropped by the deadline, which is about four weeks into every semester. This is good in terms of not having to repay that extra money, but all incoming students should know that theyÂ’ll need living expenses for a few extra weeks while they wait. Of course this information is on the GSLIS Web site <http://gslis.simmons.edu>, but if youÂ’re like I was when applying for graduate schools, your eyes may have glazed over that little bit of information in the midst of studying for the GRE and rewriting personal statements for the application. Or you may simply underestimate how much money it actually takes to live during that time. But itÂ’s definitely good to plan ahead for that.
And now that itÂ’s here, I can pay bills and plan my trip to the winter farmerÂ’s market in Natick that ends on February 27. ItÂ’ll probably be cold but organic butternut squash and homemade jam are so worth it. ItÂ’s yet another one of the advantages of going to school in a major city!
