surprisecake

I don't know any official numbers but a 2013 Yale MEMer told me that there are around 20 students under the age of 25 in her cohort of 140 students. Depressing odds.

@Aayushi- Definitely apply to some safeties but don't disqualify the top ranked universities either. A killer SOP can go a long way. @cunninlynguist- I wouldn't be so pessimistic about Duke. It looked like SNRE and Nicholas are pretty even with admissions because a couple of people I know (including myself) were deciding between the two this year. SNRE hiked their tuition this year while Duke threw modest scholaships at all the intl students so the choice was pretty simple for me! I don't know any official numbers but a 2013 Yale MEMer told me that there are around 20 students under the age of 25 in her cohort of 140 students. Depressing odds.

I'm probably off about the US students' GRE scores. I've mostly talked to international students and I don't know one person who scored under 1400 during my application season. FES's "typical student" profile is really misleading IMO, they reject close to perfect GRE scores for the sake of work experience. UCSB values fit more than anything. It seems like a 1400+ score is just a qualifier :/ Indiana couldn't even fill their MSES incoming class this year! I don't know what the hell happened there.

Hi aayushi! My scores were GRE 1420 Quant 680, Verbal 740, TOEFL 116, GPA 7.7/10 (although this was pretty irrelevant since they have no idea what my Indian GPA is actually worth). I found my scores were not as important as work and research experience for some schools (I have research ex but was light on work ex, which kept me out of Yale FES). Most of the international students (and otherwise) admitted to the same schools as me had GRE scores in the ~1400s. You'll hear this a lot: a good GRE score can't get you into a school but it can definitely keep you out. Let me know if you want to know anything else about my application season. I will be attending the Nicholas school at Duke this fall!

hahah me too

Got a $10,000 scholarship from duke, $0 anything from SoS. I'm on the 'priority waiting list' for funding. I feel so unloved.

My final decision was between SoS and Nicholas too. I didn't have to stones to accept SoS's offer because they're so new... as much as I love the school. Something that tipped the scales in favour of Nicholas was the weather at Tempe. What did nicholas offer you in terms of scholarship/aid?

I wanted to start this topic but didn't know what to say! I am now 99% sure I will be attending the Nicholas school at Duke for the MEM program. When is everyone going to start looking for housing?

Does anybody know any past or present students at SNRE who have done the Conservation biology field? I have no idea how strong this department is.

So aren't they working out to about the same approximately? I forgot you applied for the MSES/MPA. I'm not considering SPEA because their MSES is not regarded as much as the MPA. Tough choice for you!

Did you get the email from bren saying decisions would be sent out "no later than March 18th" too? Or was that just for MEMs? I don't know anyone else who applied for the PhD but I can't find a singly lonely MEM applicant who hasn't got a decision. Were there any PhD submissions on the results section?

Wait... didn't tuition at SPEA go way up this year? Something like 24 or 26k a year? And Duke was 30k last year, what is it this year? You'd think I know these things by now, but no :|

So apparently everyone on the planet got a notification from UCSB yesterday except for me! I think they forgot about my application. It was my backup backup backup anyway... if no one else but they accepted me, I could always spend 2 years on the beach. Seahawk- I knocked IU out of the running because Duke was just way too high on rep for me to say no. The cost of living difference isn't that large and maybe you could find opportunities to reduce tuition in your second year at Duke? I'm pretty sure i'll be going there regardless of who else may say yes to me.

Heheh I'm sure red-faced, teary eyed potential grad school applicants around the world are being reminded of Japan by their friends and family. I got that line myself thrice

P.S. If you're listening to me, UCSB: where's my notification??

From the limited things i've heard, energy policy seems to be Nicholas's strong suit and UCSB is "disconnected from the action on the east coast" for policy issues. If you're looking at it as a terminal professional program, i'd go with Nich. If you want to build on a specific research interest, i'd investigate the fit more. Also, whats your situation with $$$? SB is beaaauuutiful but oh so expensive.

They wouldn't mind if you dropped them an email! I'm sure they will mail you back in a day or two with the updated approximate date of notification.

Yes, I did quite conveniently leave that part out These days, each field has its own common entrance test for that subject and your program ranks you according to your score. Of course I much prefer the holistic application system they use in the States, but in India, this system is a great leveler. There are opportunities that lower income and rural students just don't have compared to city kids. They simply never have the chance at extra curriculars and meeting prestigious recommenders. Thats why I love the common entrance test system- you get in based strictly on your aptitude for THAT subject. Our academic system is so cut-throat because of our huge population; if admissions included intangibles, our schools would be filled with privileged city kids. What would work better is a hybrid of both our systems. I believe the program I applied for at Berkeley uses a kind of numbers system. 60% of your application is your GRE and GPA and 40% is your LORs, SOP and CV.

Elizabeth- the Student Doctor Network has a very active Veterinary forum. http://forums.studentdoctor.net/forumdisplay.php?f=163

In India we rank every single application based on merit and then release "merit lists". For e.g. if there are 50 spots open, they first release the top 50 names. If 20 accept, they release the next 30 names for the remaining spots. They release a new list on a weekly basis until all their spots are filled! Its very time-bound and things get done a lot quicker.

You guys are the best family a girl could have Something happened that actually changed my view on everything that happened this year. It all started a year ago, when I started contacting people on gradcafe that got accepted to dreamschool's program. The 3 people I spoke to through the year were just like me- young, female, international, right out of undergrad. For reasons I cannot explain, i began to build a picture of their student body that looked like half of them were people like me. My newly found friends attending dreamschool were also convinced that I was a good fit and it went as far inviting me and my 3 cats to move in next fall. It looked like a done deal. I have an extremely strong profile for an undergrad so after a few months, despite myself, i started to wake up everyday, believing i'm going to go to dreamschool. Then the rejection came- and disbelief from everyone. It felt like an engagement broken off the day before the wedding. Like they were being this mean, cruel excluder's club, excluding me just to be mean! I knew that it had to be some small but dire technicality that kept me from being admitted.. some fluke that denied me my ultimate happiness. In the meanwhile, my friend at dreamschool had wondered aloud about why I didn't get in, and she told me all her friends thought it was because I had no work experience. "But half the class doesn't have work ex", i replied. And then...... she says to me..... "No, only 10 students out of 140 are under 25" !!!!!!! Jesus!! I can make my peace with those odds!! Talk about not being in touch with reality. It was an instant switch from "WHY GOD, WHYYYY" to "Duh, that's why". Sun began to shine, birds began to chirp. Looks like all i needed to move on was an explanation. So thank you for your kindness everyone. Life is good again

I tried watching some episodes of Lost so that my problem seemed smaller in comparison to you know.... smoke monsters and time travel... but after watching half a season at a stretch, it just put me in an anxious, sadder mood and gave me a headache. Ate too much pizza and it gave me a stomach ache. My cats just had minor surgery and are wearing those ridiculous head cones so they're in no mood to spend time with me!

I spent all of 2010 being convinced I am a perfect fit at my dream Ivy and got rejected yesterday. I was accepted by their rival with scholarship earlier this week, but I still haven't been able to stop crying because it did not occur to me that there was a chance I would be rejected by dream school and I was utterly unprepared for it (grad school applications have made me lose touch with reality). Someone please give me an e-slap in the face and tell me to get it together and stop crying just because I can't announce to the world that i'm going to dreamschool (like i've been practicing for months)