bamafan

Congrats, Lmac. I just got my first interview invite as well moments ago. I guess the floodgates are starting to open.

Our views may vary, but at least I'm not a hypocrite. No need to try and belittle me with your passive aggressive sarcasm about my experiences with discrimination or my reading comprehension; I read all your posts, though it's not clear that you have thoroughly read mine. We're adults, so we can and should certainly debate as such. If you're not interested setting aside emotion to discuss rationally, then I'm afraid there is no point to talking with you further. Emotions cloud your mind and lead you to hyperbole. For the record, I'm an Asian American, frequently mistaken for a fob, so I too can share in these experiences. It's funny actually; I grew up in the hood South Side of Chicago, so I had to attend ESL, not for my Asian accent, but because I grew up speaking ebonics with poor inner city black kids. Figure that one out.. I never said turn the other cheek to the problem. In fact, I've repeatedly said it is fair to be frustrated. What I did say is to ignore it when it comes from anonymous chat-users online, advice that is neither unhelpful nor insulting. It is a mature response to something that is simply just not that severe. It's not your parents, nor your friends, nor your boss saying these things to you. It's not a person in power making these statements. In fact, it is not even being said to you in person. It's an arbitrary off-hand comment posted online by someone you do not know and will likely never meet. They are nobodies to you, unless you make them important by holding on to their perceived slights. To react with serious emotions, as you also have, IS inappropriate, even ridiculous. And my issue is with the word hate... that is well excessive. Do you think the OP's experiences warrants hate on his part? Because that's what you're implying, and I sure as hell do not think so. If you get worked up over something this small... how can you manage to deal with anything in your life? There are bigger things to worry about, more important things, and if I were the OP, I'd forget about this stupid incident with stupid jerks online. It's not worth the negativity and emotions; go do something you enjoy with people you like and move on. What exactly would you have the OP do? Remain bitter or angry about the whole situation? If my advice is not what the OP "is looking for", what is he looking for? Remind me explicitly again, how exactly you've contributed to helping the OP? P.S.: I think you might still be confusing me with someone else. The "get over it and grow up" quote is NOT what I said, nor should it be attributed to me.

Something to consider is that even though the cost in rebuilding is more than shipping, will the upgraded components be worth the difference? For instance, I don't know what your #s are or how high-end the parts are, but you could potentially consider this as a time to upgrade. Unfortunately, I don't know about any exemptions, but you could declare a lower value for customs. Alternately, since you're dismantling anyway, maybe you could just bring in your checked baggage?

Also, I want to add, while I don't believe people should care about what anonymous internet strangers say, some people still do. We all do things we shouldn't sometimes, for instance, stereotyping and using incorrect generalizations based on assumptions and preconceived notions. However, let's look at the OP's original post. He asked, "So what do you guys suggest? My solution, unfortunately, involves bear mace. However that's not tenable in the long term is it? How do you get rid of the gut-wrenching feeling of hate?" He had a question, and I gave him an answer and my best advice. Just don't care, remember that these people who said these offensive things are nobodies to you, and their comments are worthless. Only your own views matter. While you may disagree with my beliefs, at least I gave the OP some constructive advice, as was the point of this thread. Reread your posts, and see what you've managed to contribute.

I'm not defending xenophobes; I just don't think such comments represent xenophobia. No one is diminishing the OP's experience, just commenting on how his reaction is probably well over the top. I think we all agree he has the right to be and should be frustrated, but come on... hate? That's a ridiculous feeling to have. I think you're confusing me with someone else. I practice what I preach. I'm new to this forum and really don't have any particular feelings toward you. I can't speak for the others here, but do I seem like I care very much? Haha, don't kid yourself. Reasonable discussion and debate is perfectly acceptable and in fact, should be encouraged. That I am debating with you should not be mistaken for me caring. I don't take this personally, and neither should you, yet you seem to be outraged and emotionally invested. I agree yet again that it may be very frustrating, but again, simply not worthy of any serious invested emotions, and certainly feelings of hate. I'm beating a dead horse here, but no one is dismissing or diminishing the OP's experience. We're just acknowledging that there is a reason behind it. As with all stereotypes, wrong though they may be, they derive from a seed of truth. Certainly, you can understand why uninformed individuals might generalize? In fact, I'm sure you can understand why informed individuals might also generalize and make these statements? Unless you suffer badly from the Dunning–Kruger effect, you should probably realize that you too likely do this all the time as well. There was no intent to harm, even if harm was done, so it shouldn't elicit hate. The reaction seems disproportionate to the offense. I'm not justifying such behavior. Those guys in chats were being dicks, plain and simple. But it's hardly xenophobia, and therefore, I don't think it's analogous to any of these examples of discrimination. The severity is just not comparable.

At the OP, I'd find out first of all if bad grades probation is even what they're asking about. I too read it as misconduct for things like academic dishonesty. Have you seen your official transcript to verify that it actually is on it or are you just guessing? Check with your school to see if you actually have any record of it on your transcript, because maybe it's not. For instance, at MIT (http://web.mit.edu/acadinfo/cap/endofterm/studentrw.html), they explicitly say that if you are on academic probation or forced to take a gap year, it will NOT be on your transcript and does NOT count as academic misconduct or anything like that (of course, you may still have to explain the gap in attendance...). It will depend on your UG school, but again check, as I don't believe you have to answer yes.

I agree with what Eigen said. This is hardly analogous to racial discrimination. Furthermore, I want to again emphasize what I said in my earlier post; it's one thing thing to get mad at what someone close to you says... but some stranger on the internet? Come on, immature people and trolls are plentiful around these here parts.

Grudge, much? It's no big deal, you're arguing with someone you don't know on the internet. Which is why I agree with fuzzylogician's advice for the OP. It IS easy to just grow up and ignore these things when you realize how trivial it is. It's not like your parents are saying these things or your best friends. It's strangers on the internet. That you will likely never meet. And have zero relevance to your life. People will always have biases and stereotypes of all kinds, and they exist because they derive from some basis of truth. While as the OP may be a native English speaker in a foreign country, most internationals are NOT native speakers. Hence the assumptions, which aren't fair, but they are what they are. Many foreigners regard Americans are fat, stupid, arrogant, or a combination. Some are, but it's not a fair generalization of this country. Do I get butthurt about it? Nope, and nor should I. Everyone is entitled to your their opinions, and it may prove annoying, but certainly not worth hate, which is a very strong word. If you really get worked up on what they say, then you should re-evaluate your own sense of priorities and what things actually matter.

Officially, it depends on whether the program is rolling or not. In practice, many schools start looking over materials even before applications are complete and before the deadline has passed (ie fwding things to professors mentioned in SOPs). As far as I know about MIT course 6, this does not happen, but of course, I'm not on the ad com. If someone has more info, feel free to correct me.

Just curious, I took 24.900 and 24.901, and they were two of the more interesting HASS classes during my UG. How many grad students are in the program? My TA for 24.900 was straight up awesome.

Thanks for the replies, appreciate it!

Was the question substantially longer/harder? If it's roughly the same as others, then you really have a case. However, if it was like a huge 10-part beast, it could one of those "use your judgment" situations where it would obvously be worth more.

What are your subscores? I'm not sure an adcom will look favorably whether or not you have the UG background; in fact, the will likely expect you to, especially since your a ChemE masters student. If it's required, you should send it. Otherwise, I wouldn't.

There is usually a question or two on a normal distribution. No thinking needed, just memorize what each standard deviation is %-wise.

I thought I would post this here instead of the general GRE forum since it's specifically about the GRE Bio subject test. Most schools don't ask for it, and I'm a bit concerned submitting my score will actually hurt my application. I did well on two of the three sections (Cellular & Molecular Bio 95%, Ecology and Evo 92%) but horrible on a third (45%)... The one that killed me is the organismal biology subsection. I am not really applying to any programs that I think would care about that per se, mostly MCB or bioinformatics/comp bio, but I'm worried adcoms will be wary of the low third subscore. Should I not submit to any program that doesn't request/recommend the subject test?

Get perfect or near perfect on your GRE. There's really nothing you can do to offset it, it will be a glaring black mark, but if the rest of your app is stellar, you can still get in. Also, be sure to write very, very well... without spelling errors like calibur...

You should definitely apply, there's no reason not to besides time and money. That said, the essay is out of 6.0, not 4.0. Are you a US citizen? If so, your verbal/writing is probably going to be a huge problem. Quant too, but I don't know how important that is for your field. If you have the chance, definitely retake the GRE.

Also, most institutions don't list test scores on transcripts. In fact, prior to seeing this thread, I've never heard of this before.

Congrats. That Bio score is very, very impressive.

Same with me, this is round 2. You'll deal and move on and be better for the next try.

Based on what I've heard, there is definitely a soft "age limit", or rather a gradient, where age does become a consideration in a committee, despite it being illegal to discriminate. However, you're nowhere even near that.

Still neither. You're hardworking and smart, but made a mistake. Everyone has a bad test or a bad assignment or an off day.

I wouldn't count on it. At 21%, that is very, very low and likely to not make the minimum threshold for review.

This. CV ≠ resume; it is meant to be a more detailed academic document regarding your educational pursuits. It's just not relevant for a CV.

Honestly, it's not hard in terms of the material, which really is barely more advanced than what you see on the ACT/SAT. The difference is you have to be careful about wording and other such trickery. There are a lot of trick-type questions.