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The Geography 2017 Applications Thread!


EscapingBrexit

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Welcome!

I figure it's time to kick things off for 2017, exactly a year to the date the previous thread was made. 

It's that time of year where there's a million things to do to get applications ship-shape, school choices need to be made and there is a lot to think about!

Best of Luck everybody- let's hear where everyone is thinking of applying to, research interests and the like. 

I'm a Brit, obviously, so will be an international student which will make the process that little bit harder, but hey- I love a challenge!

Research Interests: I have very disparate research interests, focusing on hazard reduction, land-use change, technology, humanitarian aid, disaster response, remote sensing and UAV technology. 

Applying to: 

At the moment, I have a firm list of 4, with 4 or 5 others to finalise. 

University of Michigan 

Michigan State 

University of Washington

University of Wisconsin-Madison.

University of Colorado (Boulder)

UC Berkeley

Penn State

Cornell 

Rutgers

Academic Profile: Consistently very good grades- GPA equivalent of 3.8/4.0. Led two research expeditions funded by major UK organisations. Strong extracurriculars. Should have very good LORs too. One very good GRE score, one very bad GRE score (we'll just have to see how that plays out). 

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I'm applying to these Schools for geomorphology and hydrology

University of Tennesse

Penn State

University of  Colorado, Boulder 

University of Illinois at Urbana

Kansas State University

maybe Universityof California, Davis

With 3.6

GRE scores are meh

But plenty of research, two publications with GSA, and great letter of rec :)

 

Edited by GeoMasters2016
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May I request all of you reach here and like to post, please give the details of the academic profile( CGPA, GRE, TOEFL, Years of experience, Publications......) . Choice may include giving the range of the score in many case.

 

Shameless promotion of self-inquisition.

Edited by shariful
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Nice @GeoMasters2016, sounds like you've scouted out your universities nicely. I'm not a hydrologist myself, but I got to have a play with some pretty cool hydrology channels in the Sierra Nevada- not sure which UC bit it belongs to, but it's definitely a UC owned thing!

@shariful I'm a native English speaker so don't need to take the TOEFL- GRE Scores are a mixed bag. Sub-150 quant (but achieved well in statistics modules etc), 160-plus verbal and a 5.0 AWA. No publications as of yet, plenty of research experience. Where are you thinking of applying?

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  • 2 months later...
On 10/29/2016 at 4:51 AM, EscapingBrexit said:

Nice @GeoMasters2016, sounds like you've scouted out your universities nicely. I'm not a hydrologist myself, but I got to have a play with some pretty cool hydrology channels in the Sierra Nevada- not sure which UC bit it belongs to, but it's definitely a UC owned thing!

@shariful I'm a native English speaker so don't need to take the TOEFL- GRE Scores are a mixed bag. Sub-150 quant (but achieved well in statistics modules etc), 160-plus verbal and a 5.0 AWA. No publications as of yet, plenty of research experience. Where are you thinking of applying?

Hey! I am new in this area, pursuing a job(for 4yrs) related to research work in natural resource management through GIS and RS. I am having trouble in finding my profile-suited university since my profile is at a bit lower end. I have posted my profile here in details. BTW what is your update!

Edited by shariful
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Helloooooo

(@EscapingBrexit, I too, am escaping Brexit ;) #sympathy )

I've applied for Clark (PhD) and MScs at UWO, UBC and McGill. I have a strong verbal GRE and a not-so-hot quant score. 3.8 GPA. 

I have very little idea of when I should be expecting to hear back. I'm guessing there is a pretty big window between late Jan and April..............:wacko:

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@whats-up-geog Oh my word another one escaping the UK! This is amazing! 

Good luck with your applications, UBC is supposed to be amazing in particular. I didn't even consider Canadian universities- evidently I should have done!

It's a long wait now, isn't it! I'm nervous already. 

I ended up culling my application list significantly... 

I've applied to UC Berkeley, UC Santa Barbara, Wisconsin-Madison (Masters), Michigan State and University of Michigan. 

Sounds like our GRE scores are very similar too. What kind of research are you interested in? 

@shariful Sorry for the late reply, this is my update! I really struggled to find many Geography departments in the US- it's a bit different from where I am in the UK. 

 

 

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Hey! I'm another geography hopeful. I'm constrained to the Northeast because of my husband's job, so I've applied to Clark (PhD), UConn (PhD), and Hunter College (MA).  

My GPA at the school I completed undergrad (last four semesters) is 4.0, but I visited a few other schools along the way (I'm...not young) and have some bumps in my academic history, and no idea how to divine an overall GPA out of all that.  My GRE scores are 170V/158Q/4AWA (the last one is BS; writing is my strength).  I have strong LORs and an SOP that is supposedly also quite good. 

I'm so nervous about my past grades.  There are a few ugly marks in there and even though in my SOP I explained moving constantly (big moves, too) during that time, I can see someone getting hung up on them.  I also didn't contact any POIs prior to applying; I received conflicting advice on that topic and my social anxiety eventually won out.  I'm not sure if I should try to do it now - again, conflicting advice. 

If it doesn't work out this year, I'm going to take more classes, get more research experience, and try again. This is the first time in my life I've ever been sure of what I wanted to do.

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  • 2 weeks later...

@EscapingBrexit I'm a GIS / physical geographer so I've applied a range of physical projects (mostly climate related) which require a spatial analysis element. I sympathise with trying to adjust to the US Geography vs UK Geography differences - my BSc supervisor prepped me by telling me "its Earth System Science not phys geog". Plus a small number of email replies I received from profs were questioning my transcript, i.e. "its...all geography and biology?? didn't you need to take calculus??".

@wet gremlin PSSSSSHHHHHHHH I wouldn't get too worried about past grades - your GPA and GRE scores all look ideal. Glad to meet another potential-Clarkie! Their Geography program looks really great!

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Please put me out of my misery, admissions committees!

 

Currently awaiting:

UCL (Geography)

Stanford (E-IPER) - interview upcoming

CSU (HDNR)

Duke (MSC) - got an email from POI informing me I wouldn't hear anything until LATE MARCH

 

This is just cruel.

EDIT: @EscapingBrexit I'm #EscapingTrump!

Edited by cefergus
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@cefergus Congrats on your Stanford Interview,  that's a huge deal and I really liked the look of that program! I also wish I'd applied to Duke, but didn't look closely enough at their programs- their UAV sci stuff would have been a great fit for me. 

Late March is CRAZY though, that's insane! 

Ha tell me about R.E trump, my tiny little English seaside town held a fairly major protest against him today!

UCL is a great uni, I know a couple of people in the London Unis so let me know if you want any advice/tips! :)

 

Waiting on: 

Berkeley (Unlikely)

Michigan State

Michigan

Wisconsin-Madison

UC Santa Barbara

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@EscapingBrexit Thanks! Those are all great programs (I've got friends at UCSB so the same offer stands to you)! The status of my UCL application has changed to "Currently being processed by admissions," and according to my hours of forum sleuthing, that means I'll have a decision soon. 

Not loving the toll this waiting is taking on my sleep! Good luck :) Hopefully everyone else will report well before LATE F***ING MARCH

 

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I got into University of Western Ontario :) 

Out of interest - is anyone here (applying to US universities) hoping for funding for climate related projects (e.g. from Nasa Climate), and if so, how do you think that is going to be affected under Trump?

 

 

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Well I'm pretty late to the game, to this thread and GradCafe in general. I applied to Master's/PhD programs at:

UCLA, Syracuse, University of Oregon, University of Washington, CU Boulder

I had a couple others I considered but didn't really want to live any of those places, so this is where I'm at. My area of focus is political geography. I was a geography (as well as international studies) undergrad, graduated with a honors and a 3.96 GPA. Been out of school for several years though, pursuing other things. One of my applications was to my alma mater, and one of the professors I'd like to work with was also a letter writer, and he just shot me an email asking how things were going and saying my materials "look good," so I guess that means it's in the process, at least there. 

I'm basically trying not to think about decisions at all, and hoping to be surprised when they show up. Though it's getting harder by the day to maintain that attitude. 

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Hello! Looking for others' thoughts / opinions on acceptance offers:

I got into the two PhD programs I applied to: University of Texas at Austin (where I did my MA in Latin American Studies) and the University of Kentucky. I am interested in feminist geopolitical geography and critical geography, and plan to study migration and border enforcement in the U.S. I know that UK has a great reputation for its critical geography program, and that UT isn't as strong in that area... but UT does host lots of border and migration scholars / conferences.

What do people think? Any advice on which offer to accept? In other words: does the school's overall reputation matter quite a bit in securing job offers post-graduation? If so, would Kentucky be the obvious choice?

Thanks for the help.

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