CC2014

That is how I was contacted by my current adviser. Everyone in a department usually gets to see your application, and they will contact you if they feel you are a good fit for their group regardless of what you have listed as your interests. This does not mean anything other than that particular person is interested in you as a student. Its a good thing!

I don't think thats inappropriate at all. My current advisor has selected the students he's planning to accept and our deadline has not been reached. I believe is is pretty standard and there is no reason for it to be otherwise that I can see. Decisions are made based on how well the advisor thinks the student will work in his research group (at most universities) so when an advisor finds someone who he thinks is a good fit - or in GeoMex's case, Free AND a good fit - then I see no reason to move forward. At my school, after a professor wants you the rest is a formality and I believe that is the case at many other schools if not most as well.

Can anyone shed any light on Bryan's neighborhoods? Looking at houses there, I like that a lot more than the stuff I've seen in CS but I'd rather avoid sketchy neighborhoods.

I'm hoping to be able to bike most of the year. I've scoped out the streets on street view and it seems as there are few with bike lanes but hopefully drivers aren't jerks on lower traffic streets.

Bump!

Officially rejected from Washington.

Basically they wait to see who accepts out of their first round of admits and reevaluate at that point. Because the first round of admits has until April 15 you can conceivably get an offer after that. I don't know anyone who applied for their geology department, but my notification came from Atmo in February. I visited with a group in early March and they are currently making their decisions. Out of the 12 of us, 3 (including me) have accepted and another couple have rejected their offers. Thats just an example of how long the rolling decisions are happening. I assume those spots who were going to someone who rejected the offer will then be offered to someone else.

Got my official rejection from Scripps last night. So glad that email wasn't the first one I got cause it would have crushed me. Fairly cold.

I'm going to be attending TAMU starting this fall so I've started my search process for a place to live. I'll share the resources I've been using but most will have been mentioned in these threads: aggiesearch.tamu.edu This site seems to be run by the school itself and is actually pretty useful. Of note are the locator services. I plan to make use of these locators as I do not want to live in a complex but rather in a a house or at least a duplex/fourplex. I am married and my wife and I would like to remain out of the undergrad scene as much as possible I've also used Padmapper and craigslist a bit. Yeah, thats pretty much all I got.

I had this long post typed up when I reread your post and saw the word SUBJECT. I've never been told by anyone I asked about the process that a subject test could help. But that doesn't mean it won't? I basically have no idea.

Well they're obviously interested in you or else they wouldn't be contacting you. It might be that they want to convince you that their research is a good fit or that they're trying to gauge if you're a good fit. But obviously on paper they like what they see. My attitude would be one of information gathering and trying to put forth the best impression. Ask about what you feel is important in a graduate program and try to figure out if its a good fit for you! Try to be thoughtful in your responses to their questions. Good luck!

Congrats man!

Maryland conducted visits and at least a first round of admits. I have spoken with two people who attended their visitation weekend.

Congrats on your Stony Brook acceptance! Great school.

So, when I visited A&M I had a day jam packed with professor meetings. Sometimes they'd ask me about my research (I would suggest you be able to articulate what you've done fairly well) and sometimes they'd let me lead with questions. Most of the time, it was just a discussion about research although sometimes we talked a bit more about certain aspects of grad school there. It was fairly informal. I would suggest having some questions ready to go in case they ask you (generally things about the graduate program) or even just ask for advice. I find it very easy to talk to researchers doing interesting work so that helped me. Don't do anything rude like use a cell phone around them (one guy we visited with did this in a group meeting with a professor - it drove ME nuts so I'm sure it drove the researcher nuts) or act distracted or bored. Just basic things you probably already know. It was actually fun. I enjoy talking to people about their research even if its not what I directly want to do because its usually interesting. I was told that these meetings can have influence on who gets fellowships further on down the road. So even with an offer I think its still important to make a good impression.