Crucial BBQ

@GeoDude, My top program of choice only offers a Master's degree. This was the program that wait listed me last year and ultimately denied me because my GRE quant score was too low. I am from Sacto and go back home a few times a year. I have visited UC Davis on more than one occasion and know for a fact they will not admit me into a Ph.D. program. So, I will be applying to UCD for a Master's w/thesis. I was not aware UCD requires Ph.D. students to complete the entire program, that is good to know. I was also not aware that Brown and URI require the same. I did know that MIT/WHOI requires students to complete the entire program no matter how many Master's degrees they may bring with them. To be frank I doubt I can handle their coursework and probably will not apply. I am on the fence with URI, but leaning towards Master's w/thesis. For UConn, they would like to see a Master's first before Ph.D. To my knowledge they will admit those with only a Bachelor's straight into Ph.D. only if the applicant has a stellar undergraduate record. They will also admit a less-than-"stellar" student into a Master's program with the stipulation that the student goes through a probationary period. I am cool with that. UDel, and VIMS need more consideration. When Maryland rejected my application last year I was told they would have recommended me for their Master's program had I only mentioned my GPA in my SOP. I am not sure why but for what ever reason not discussing my GPA really rubbed them the wrong way. This year my application will be to their Master's program. There are a few schools I am considering that are not in my sig. University of New England and Coastal Carolina are two of them. Both only confer Master's degrees. I am also considering UMass Dartmouth, who allows Master's students to skip their thesis and go straight into Ph.D. under certain considerations. Yes, I do feel that I can do well in graduate-level courses. My undergraduate GPA suffered for a few reasons of which have more to do with ill-formed choices that seemed logical at the time instead of a lack of ability. Lesson learned indeed. I am retaking the GRE in a few weeks.

The take away message I am getting here is to apply to a Master's program first, is that correct?

Are you saying this is true across all Ecology programs?

She was the professor of a course you have taken and you claim the two of you have "talked a lot", including about research. Why wouldn't you ask her for an LOR?

I am also interested

Currently I have a CV/resume hybrid. On it I list my more prominent experiences with ECs during undergrad. I want to write a more straight-forward CV and ditch the resume type of stuff. One included sitting on a committee as a student liaison; focus: student welfare and retention. One includes being VP of student government. One includes building robots for competition with zero prior experience. One is writing for the student newspaper (3 years total. Submitted and was published to every issue minus two). And one is for being EiC of student newspaper. (there are a few that I am not listing) All lead to an official recognition/award at the end of the academic year during an official ceremony/dinner event recognizing outstanding contributions to school/campus life; two years in a row. I have seven total awards/recognitions. I was even nominated for Student of the Year one year, but didn't win. Perhaps among other things, I believe my GPA was too low. None of these things are directly related to my course of interest except for maybe the robotics comp (it was an underwater ROV) and perhaps the committee (aren't committees a big part of academia?). I believe the student newspaper thing shows that I am familiar with submitting a piece of writing, having it reviewed/edited, and published. But I also feel like I might be stretching a bit there. I don't want to seem desperate. They are all feathers in my hat but nothing academic or research. These look awesome on a resume but not sure if on a CV. So I dunno. I tried googling this topic but found nothing so far except for a few articles that seemed to confuse CV with resume and some stuff relating to England. Any insights?

I contacted 6 programs last year and asked them this question. Was told that it did not matter when I applied as the applications would not get reviewed until sometime after the deadline. One program did only offer potential fellowships to those applying by Jan. 1, even though the application deadline was not until March.

@adran6; I know someone who was accepted into the neurobiology Ph. D. program at Duke three years ago, and her prior experiences were/are far less impressive than yours. I also know that she didn't score too high on the GRE, either. I am not implying anything about their admissions standards, just saying if you are worried, don't be. What you got here looks really impressive. Just be sure to write a solid SOP; you'll be golden.

I took the GRE more than once. If you want a book, the absolute best is the official guide from ETS, hands down. Not only are their example and practice questions taken directly from past tests, they also very in difficulty from easy to hard. To add, while the Official Guide from ETS does not "teach" you how to game the GRE their explanations to what types of problems are being asked and why they say the correct answer is the correct answer is pure gold. Nearly all of the "how to take the GRE" books get their information directly from ETS yet their example and practice problems are way to effin' easy when compared to the actual questions asked on the GRE. You might as well just go with the real deal. If you peruse the ETS website and/or through their Official Guide, one word pops up continuously throughout: comprehension. You need to comprehend how ETS writes their questions as much as you need to comprehend what is being asked. Sadly, all of those "how to" books only focus only focus on comprehending the question and how to spot the tricks and traps employed by ETS. Ironically, ETS does the same although it takes solid reading comprehension skills to begin with in order to pick out the instances where ETS is saying Wink, wink. Here is the trick to solve this type of question. You are welcome. You know, when comparing my Official Guide to say something like Crackin' The GRE it now seems obvious that Crackin' and its ilk are not designed for those who want, or need, to score high on the GRE. It seems more geared towards those who only need decent scores (50th percentile), are probably "afraid" of math, more than likely Humanities majors; hence all the focus on how to take the GRE. ETS spends tons of money and research towards crafting the perfect GRE questions. The "how to" books simply try to mimic those questions but cannot capture the nuances that make GRE questions truly difficult. Only ETS can do that and why some would avoid learning how ETS reasons their own questions is beyond me. Besides the Official Guide, the only other resource that is relevant is Magoosh and maybe Manhattan. They are the only test prep, perhaps outside of Manhattan, who really seem to grasp what is going on with the GRE. As an aside: my Calc II prof once told the class that it is better to work through one problem numerous times than to work through numerous problems one time each. The logic being that by working one problem numerous times you begin to see and understand the pattern and approach. You do not need to work hundreds of GRE problems.

Well, it is that time of year again. When I received all rejections last year I was actually stoked that I had a second chance to do it all over again, and doing everything right. Then summer hit and my enthusiasm entered into a lull. Then September, and I thought to myself Grad school, meh. It was easy to be excited about graduate school while I was still in school but I found that enthusiasm to wane since graduation. That feeling has since returned and I am once again eager to participate in the whole process. How about you? Getting excited yet?

In general a major GPA of 2.1 is going to be a challenge but your upperclass GPA of 3.5 is solid. Programs use GPA in different ways. Some look at every course you have taken, some only the courses directly related to your intended course in graduate school. Others will claim to only look at the last 60 hours and some might not care about GPA altogether; one program I am looking at flat out told me in email that they do not look at GPA at all and that what is most important is that the applicant finds a faculty member who is willing to advise/mentor (and thus, fund ) the applicant. That email came from the head hancho of the entire "School of..." that I am applying to. You do have some good things going for you (2.5 years of research experience, conferences, published papers, strong recs, good Q and V GRE scores). I was in a similar situation last year, except that my GPAs were reversed (major GPA of 3.0, cumulative of 2.6). I was wait listed to my top program because of my freshman/sophomore year grades but my SOP and LORs were so strong that they didn't want to outright deny me. I was ultimately denied because my GRE scores were a "little" lower than they would have liked when compared against my GPA. They said they felt it was an indication that I may not yet be ready to handle the analytical aspects of graduate school. Another program denied me for their Ph.D. program and said they would have recommended me for their Master's program had I only taken the time to explain my low grades and GPA in my SOP. The reason why I didn't mention those grades was because I thought my transcript showed a clear upward trend. Of course they saw the trend, they were just baffled over why I didn't mention it and without knowing the reason (they were not looking for anything fantastic, just a basic In terms of my GPA, here is what happened...). I got the impression they did not really care why, they just wanted to see an explanation...any explanation. As for the subject test: yes, there is conflicting advice about that. However, outside of the "advice columns" what I have found from my own research into my intended programs is that some will accept a GRE subject test in lieu of low GPA/grades and others will through the subject test scores right into the trash (not in those exact words, mind you ) Basically, some will accept them and some will not.

A major GPA of 2.1 is going to be a tough sell, but possibly doable if you show a strong fit, have strong LORs and a strong SOP. Your research, publications, and conferences are going to be a huge plus in your favor but you still are going to have your work cut out for you conniving the adcoms that you are prepared. You definitely need to explain your GPA in your SOP. Avoid any sob stories even if they are true. Just be honest about your grades, own up to them, and offer a few examples of how/why those grades are in your past and do not reflect who you are now. Master's programs are generally more lenient than Ph.D. programs. Edit: you are going to have to score high on the GRE and might want to also consider a subject test.

You should get in touch with potential LOR writers ASAP. If you are currently in school just stop by their office during office hours, tell them you are applying to graduate school, and then ask if they would be willing to write an LOR on your behalf. If you are not in school then just shoot them an email. 1. Don't wait to the last minute to notify your LOR writers. Professors have a lot on their plates and may not get around to writing the LOR, let alone sending it, until weeks later. 2. Work on both simultaneously. If you are a senior in college, or have already graduated, you surely can find at three former profs/PIs willing to write LORs. 3. Yes.

Of course! This way they get to keep your non-refundable application fee no matter how much you may later regret applying to their program. If you desire it you should always do an informal visit before you apply. Of the four schools I applied to last year I cold called the PI of my top program, told him I would be "in town" on such-and-such dates and would like to swing by. Got the go-ahead. When I arrived he told me he only had ten minutes as he had to make a telephone conference or some such thing, but he seemed really stoked that I stopped by. Not only did I get to see the lab, I also got a full tour with him describing the various goings-ons, courses, and so on. At the end I was only able to shoot the breeze with him for about ten minutes before he really had to going but he definitely took the time to show me around. I even stopped by two more universities while on this same trip and was able to meet with the program director of one program and the secretary to the Department Chair of another. The program director was probably just doing her job and was very helpful but the secretary did seem annoyed that I was there. The Department Chair was on vacation I was told. Also, about this time last year I was in Tennessee and decided to check out a local university. I had no intentions of anything except to just wonder around and waste time. I ended up in the Geology department. I was checking out some student posters that were hanging on a wall and one of them really caught my attention as it was somewhat related to my own area of interests. A spur of the moment decision and I was in the office asking if there were any faculty available I could talk to. I ended up meeting the Department Chair of Geology. It took him about 45 seconds to realize that geology was the wrong discipline (I knew that) for me but we continued to talk for about 30 minutes anyways. He really pushed me to think about what I really wanted to study in graduate school and gave me the best low-down on graduate school and grad school admissions I have ever heard or read. In a way I was lucky in the sense that I was already going to be in those locations and visiting these schools was truly an after thought. I get the sense that four of your schools/programs are near either based on your comment that if you were reimbursed $300 per program, that times four would cover the costs of the airfare. Fly Southwest, Jetblue, or another low cost airline and make a weekend of it. I can fly from BWI to California most times of the year for under $450 round trip. If I remember correctly it was even cheaper when I was flying out of Logan (Boston). I would imagine flying out of NYC would be cheap, too.

All of them? Not sure about CS, but for biology some Ph.D. programs require students to complete a Masters degree first before sitting for the quals.

Some programs do rolling admissions, which not only means that you can apply during any time of the year but also that you will receive a decision shortly after the application is reviewed. So if you were to apply to such a program today you more-than-likely will have a decision by December. The ability to matriculate over the summer is a heck of a lot more tricky to answer. It is not something that is common with traditional graduate school programs but there are outliers; particularly those programs that are geared towards "working adults". Two things to keep in mind: you can apply to graduate schools as soon as applications are open. There should be no reason why you cannot submit all of your applications prior to January 1. And, unless you are applying for Spring 2015 admission the matriculation date will more likely be for the 2015/2016 academic year (Fall admission). So, if you go through a typical admission cycle and defer your enrollment until the summertime the deferment would be for the Summer of 2016 if allowed, not 2015. Some programs might allow you to begin taking courses over the summer, though. To be frank this is a question that would be best answered by a program director.

My guess is that they are asking for a resume because they do not expect applicants applying straight from undergrad to have too much research, academic, or other scholarly experiences. A CV is a list of accomplishments while a resume is a snapshot of you as a professional and your professional self is a large part of what they want. The beauty of a resume is that you can include all of the "CV stuff" if it can be fit into two pages or less, and, that of a CV is that CVs have no hard-fast rules. My CV is a hybrid in that it contains stuff more typical of a resume (that is; non-academic, scholarly, or research related work experiences, for example), but it is presented in such a way that is more typical of a CV. My reasoning for the hybrid is that employers want to see research experience and employment history also. I have yet to come across anyone in academia who disapproves of my approach. As usual, when in doubt contact the program directors and ask. It never hurts. My guess is that they will be okay with a CV, though No. A CV can be 2 pages or 20; it is a complete laundry list of all academic, scholarly, and/or research accomplishments to date.

1. There are no steadfast rules for formatting, but you might want to avoid the "inspirational quote" approach that many take. Not saying that is what you intend to do, just an FYI. It is way to cliche and chances are that the adcoms will not find the same inspiration from the quote as you do. For my SOP, against the left margin I listed: My Name; "Depatment/School" Applicant; Specific Program/Lab and degree level sought (MS/Ph.D.); and year of application cycle (Fall 2014 Admissions, for example). Against the right margin I used two lines for my address; Phone Number; and Email address. I essentially wanted to give the appearance of it being a formal letter. However instead of using "Dear....," I had Statement of Purpose, which of course was centered and with a larger font. In the header of each page I had centered My Name 2014 Page X. 2. Yup, of sorts. I use LeTex for nearly all of my writings, which is a typesetting "program", not word processing. Line spacing and letter spacings are automatic based on best fit. With that, my left and right margins are set at 1.5 cm, which is roughly 0.6 inches. I went with 1.5 cm because in my opinion those margins produced the best looking document (printed). Out of all the disagreements, concerns, and general "that didn't work" feedback I got from my rejected applications last year, not one person/program mentioned my margins, nor my formatting, as an issue. In fact, I got some major kudos on my SOP instead. 3. For science, name dropping is essential. Many programs even explicitly state to name one or more "potential advisors" in your SOP or elsewhere in the application. However, for some reason English programs seem to the exception to the rules. For every "this is how you apply to grad school" advice articles out there is one that, specifically addressing graduate-level English programs, seem to state the opposites. Honestly, I do not know. The best advice is to email the programs you are interested in and ask. 4. A good number of graduate school applicants are coming straight-from undergrad and are more-or-less "traditional" students. Then/When they get to graduate school they realize they are on the younger end of the graduate school population. Marriages, mortgages, and children are common enough amongst graduate students, being a single mother will not cause discrimination. The issue is not that you have a child, but that your child is the reason you are in school. Graduate programs want students who want to go into academia and/or become researchers because in terms of career that is their life's passion. They do not want students who want to use their programs as a means to financial gains only. My guess is that you were advised to leave your son out of your SOP not to look away from your motherhood but to help focus your application/SOP on you and on your specific areas of interests and future career/academic goals.

A CV is supposed to be academic/scholarly and is primarily a laundry list of all academic/research accomplishments. It is meant to outline your achievements and potential as an academic, scholar, and/or researcher only. A resume is more-or-less an image of your professional self. Only list employments/volunteer work that are directly related to academia (including TA or tutoring), scholarly, and/or research on a CV. So yes, list that summer research job. As for your most recent employments: follow the directions and only list the most recent four. Do not worry about them overshadowing your fellowship; the adcoms will see your fellowship listed in your resume and you can also mention it in more detail in your SOP.

Did you happen to attend SMCC? Yeah, I did undergrad in Boston. For those who are not aware, there are a lot of colleges/universities in the Boston metro; around 80 or so if I remember correctly. Of those, of course, are: MIT, Harvard, Tufts, Boston College, Boston University, Northeastern (okay, not on many radars, but still a large, prominent, Boston-area university), and Boston's only public; UMass Boston. Also, according to bls dot gov, there are 360K college students within the Boston metro. That is not only a lot of students, but since the 1990s more-and-more of them are deciding to stay in Boston. So yes, it is extremely hard to get a research position. I agree with adding other schools to the list. kSkye, why not UMaine Orono or UNH?

I suppose I have always viewed the Ivy League to more or less be of humanities, classics, Latin, rhetoric, and so on than science. You know, those who major in Letters and do Crew

This is a sticky situation. I had a few Cs in some intro courses and then came back with As and Bs in more advanced courses in the same subjects. The program that wait listed (and then ultimately denied) me did not mention my lack of clarification, or even if I did, as a factor but they were concerned about the "low" grades. Another program was downright baffled that I did not mention a reason for those Cs, and had I did, they would have recommended me to their Master's program. The reason why I did not mention those grades was because of the very clear upward trend that I assumed would not require an explanation. I was wrong. Perhaps there is a difference between a handful of Cs and only one, but I dunno; knowing what I know now I personally would not risk not mentioning it. It only takes one, perhaps two sentences tops; you do not need to devote a whole paragraph to it. While gradcafe is an awesome resource, another thing I have learned between last year and now is that it really pays (hopefully ) to go straight to the source and email program directors, potential advisors, etc. What one program my overlook another may not.

At this point in time, and with a "thin" CV, I would include that biology poster since it was at a legit conference. Just because it was during high school, and of a different discipline, should not mean much. The bottom line is that you had the experience of presenting a poster at a professional conference; use it. As for #4, my current CV lists all relevant coursework; partially because I do not list my GPA on my CV and partially because I took an excessive amount courses above and beyond a typical biology major. Then again, I have four different versions of CV depending on what I am applying to and the relevant courses are those that relevant to the position. I have yet to hear one person mention my course lists or presentations in non-relevant areas as negatives. Perhaps they were simply ignored, but I tend to get positive feedback on my CV (typically, that it is "strong"). Do what you want, but don't sell yourself short. There does come a point when something that is irrelevant truly is irrelevant, but some experience is better than "no" experience in the beginning. Just my 2¢.

Just an observation: it seems that nearly every gradcafe biology/life sciences user who lists their schools in their sig has at least one Ivy and one other prestigious school-typically MIT. Why so? For me, I am only applying to MIT and Brown because the program at MIT I am interested in is a joint program with Woods Hole and the program I am interested in at Brown has their lab at Woods Hole. In essence, I am applying to Woods Hole and if Woods Hole had a joint program with You-Never-Heard-Of-This-School-It-Is-Ranked-Dead-Last-In-USNWR, I'd apply there, too. Anyways, just curious.

Effin' sweet! Just got another response and one from the head honcho of the program none the less. Finding a lab/advisor that will fund students is the most important consideration, GPA, not so much.