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Alexrey

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  1. The reason I'm applying for a Master's and not a Ph.D. is because I'm a Mathematics graduate who is changing fields to Aerospace Engineering. I feel that my lack of Aerospace based research will but me at a disadvantage come admission time, since I won't have as solid a plan for Ph.D. study compared to other candidates (I have a pretty good idea of what I'd like to do, but my general understanding is superficial as I have not done course/research work in that area, although my math background does allow me to understand most of what is going on when looking at all the equations). Secondly, how much more valuable is a Ph.D. relative to an M.S. for someone who does not want to work in academia upon graduation (I would like to be in a research based role in industry though), since 5-6 years is a huge amount of time investment. I'd love to hear your thoughts about this, thanks.
  2. Thanks; yup, I applied for Fulbright at the beginning of this year but didn't get past the interview stage. I'll definitely be trying again next year though.
  3. As it is extremely expensive to study in the US, I was thinking about applying to some external US scholarships or fellowships in order to ease the cost, but was wondering if there are any that allow international students to apply. Thanks guys. EDIT: I should mention that I'm specificity looking for engineering scholarships/fellowships.
  4. Great, thank you guys. I think I'll do what music mentioned.
  5. I'm in the process of applying to some graduate schools, and am required to list my GPA (I'm assuming a cumulative GPA from year 1 to year 4), but do not want to put down the wrong value in case I mess it up and get disqualified for reporting a "false GPA". I studied in South Africa, where a first class pass (equivalent to a 4.0) is >= 75% and I've calculated a yearly average for each of my four years, coming up with the following numbers: year 1 = 71.6%, year 2 = 71.5%, year 3 = 76%, year 4 = 89.1%. Now, I'd love to be able to add those four numbers up and divide by 4 to get a final mark of 77% which would be equivalent to an overall cumulative GPA of 4.0, but I feel like I may be doing something incorrectly and would be grateful if someone could confirm whether or not such a method is okay. Thanks very much guys.
  6. Thanks very much guys, I decided to give them a call and everything was sorted out.
  7. I've been trying to login to my GRE account, but have so far failed. Even trying to get ETS to send my password to my email address fails, as they don't seem to recognize my name or email address in their databases (even though I booked my test by going through their website). So I'm thinking of creating a new account but am scared that, since I've written the GRE already, creating this new account will somehow overwrite those scores and I'll have to do the test again. Ideally I'd like to be able to somehow contact ETS so they can let me get into my original account again, but when emailing them I get an automated reply, and when trying to phone them I'm told that the number doesn't exist. Does anyone know what I should do?
  8. I'm fairly confident in my writing ability, but what I'm scared of most is that I'll freeze up when I have to brainstorm ideas for the argument and issue essays on test day. As such, does anyone know if a document has been created that contains a brainstorm for all (or most) of the argument and issue essays? I'm not looking for full essays, just very brief brainstorms. For example, this is a rough brainstorm I did for argument essay number 3 regarding skateboarders in Central Plaza: "How many skateboarders are there? Maybe only 2 or 3 so effect is small. How much is a steady decrease? 1 to 2 people a year? Maybe some important shops closed down which stopped regular customers from coming. Similarly,how much has skateboarding been increasing? 2 or 3 people a year could be a 50-100% increase? Skateboarders may not be the litterers/vandalists. This could be from other teens or hobos or even dissatisfied customers (maybe Plaza maintenance budget is lower). Banning skateboarding may not kill the cause, skaters may rebel to this news." A document or website with brainstorming such as this would be ideal.
  9. Thanks very much for your help guys; very informative. Hmmm, so it looks like I have to tread quite softly. I've been reading quite a few research papers from professors at my top choice university, but looking at professors from other choices, I haven't been able to find any links to papers, as their profiles generally only give information on their research interests. Is there possibly a general repository where students can find some research papers without having to pay the $30 or so that some online journals require?
  10. I'm hoping to start sending a few emails to universities and profs in the next month or so just to touch base but, more importantly, to see if they are able to cater for my research interests. Currently I have a fairly (but not overly) specific idea of what I'd like to do as part of my Master's research, and I know my top choice will most likely be able to cater for it. However, I'd like to ask profs or admissions staff of other universities if they would also be able to facilitate such research. For example, I'm interested in doing research in a specific field of propulsion/fluid mechanics/combustion, so I'm planning on contacting profs in these fields, but they may not have specific interest in exactly what I'm hoping to do (but will have an interest in the general field). Would this be seen as something rude, where the norm is for students to read current research papers from each "professor of interest" and then align themselves with that, or is it okay if I ask them if they can help me? I was hoping this would show a hint of preparedness and assertiveness, but I'm scared they'll shoot me down then and there!
  11. Thank you guys, that puts my mind at rest, I really appreciate it.
  12. Okay a quick bit of background for context before I get onto what's worrying me. I'm a mathematics graduate from a good university in South Africa, where I graduated top of my class in my 3rd and 4th years (we graduate after 3 years and do an additional honours year before we can continue with master's study) and was also fortunate enough to graduate top of the science faculty for my 4th year as well. Currently I'm working as an analyst for a financial firm in London but I'm looking to try and get into some good aerospace engineering programs for 2015, such as Stanford, Purdue, Princeton and Boulder Colorado. There's one problem: I'm completely petrified about having to get a very high score for the GRE! Although it may look on paper that I should be able to ace the GRE and am some sort of gifted student, I'm not; whenever someone says "wow you must be really smart" I tell them that I just work hard, because that's exactly what I do and I honestly don't feel smart and never have felt smart. But all this talk of top schools requiring near perfect GRE scores has really got me scared. I'm not the sort of person who usually worries too much about things, but for some reason thinking about the GRE has worked me up so much that I wake up in the morning with the most horrible burning skin sensation (which I've read is to do with excess adrenaline due to an over-reactive "fight or flight" response). I think it may be that since the GRE is supposed to measure intelligence, and I don't feel naturally intelligent, this implies I'll do badly (even though I'm studying my arse off and I've been told repeatedly that the GRE can be studied for). So, if worst comes to worst and I somehow flunk the GRE, but have very good university grades, and great SOP and good references, but a horrible GRE score, will top schools throw my application on the rejection pile or will they still consider me for entrance?
  13. Hmmm, I'm thinking of going for Barron's or Manhattan for the Math, but I've also heard Kaplan is pretty good. Has anyone had experience with these? Manhattan claim that they can help you get in the 99th percentile but I'm highly sceptical about this.
  14. Hey guys, I've just finished going through the Princeton Review study guide and will be moving onto the practice tests next. But before I go any further, I wanted to know how good Princeton Review is with regards to its Math prep section? I'm a Math grad so I'm pretty comfortable with the subject, but if there are any guides or example question websites/books that are very close to the actual GRE Math section I would love to know. Just as an aside, how good are the Vocab and AW sections in Princeton Review? Regards, Alexrey
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