perfectionist

Sunday, as in two days ago, over the weekend? Give it some more time before you decide you're being ignored. 
 
If you don't hear back after a week, email again and give it a few more days. Then you can stop by the professors' offices and see if you can talk to them in person, preferably during office hours if you know when they are. You can browse department websites for information about the professors and perhaps their office hours, or call an administrative assistant if you're not sure. This is also where you can find out if a professor moved to a new school, and googling their name should yield a website at the new school if that is the case. Professors are normally very good about maintaining an online presence. 

I think it isn't too early. I like it but i can't because i live vietnam. 

The military trained me to never leave an answer blank, so I get all weird about leaving things blank. This is an application, so the goal is to truthfully present yourself in the best light. You could leave it blank, but I imagine one of three things will happen. They don't particularly care about the answer, so it won't matter. They'll care about the answer and it will affect you negatively. Or, they'll ask you for the missing information. I don't see how an unanswered application question will affect you positively.
 
Honestly? I think you should answer it. The aim of these questions isn't to find out what you did, but to find out how you've maintained your work and/or scholarship in the field. If you have been doing independent research, to stay in the game, you can mention it. For example: I have been independently researching effects of invasive pythons in the Mark Twain National Forest and participating in herptefauna cataloging with the State Herpetological Society while exploring employment options. If you haven't been doing research, don't say you are. The truth will out.
 
If you haven't been working, go volunteer somewhere. If you haven't been maintaining your scholarship, start.

DNA extraction from leaves. I have failed it for continuous 2 times....

What are the lab tests (we're talking things like pcr, western blot, etc) that you absolutely hate?  What's your gripe with them?  

Compartmentalizing like it's a full-time job (and otherwise living like I'm still a "regular" adult with a full time job) is helpful to me.  I try to force myself to work a full 8-10 hours during the day, like it's a regular job.  I then have evenings and weekends (minus some reading or grading on saturday afternoon sometimes) totally free as a reward, and the regular downtime is so helpful for sanity!  Especially having that buffer of a few hours of relaxation between when I put down my work and when I go to bed.  It also helps you avoid feeling like school is your entire identity, which leads to burnout for most of us I think (I know there are rare types that happily live and breathe their subject) -- you can compartmentalize it as your job and be a different person on weekends.  It can be difficult when my classmates don't understand why I won't go out at 8pm on a weeknight, or professors in the department want us to go to events on the weekends, but maintaining these boundaries works for me so I try to be assertive about it.
 
A lot of people seem to think studnt life means tons of takeout and not doing many domestic things beyond the bare minimum, but I find it soothing to cook for myself, grocery shop, keep my apartment clean, etc.  It is stuff that I do 100% for me to take care of myself.  I find it a little odd when people act like it's a charming "student life" thing to not take basic care of yourself or do the bare minimum domestically -- they are quite naive if they think they're going to have any more free time to start doing those things when they're working FT, even if not in academia.  (No offense meant to people who are truly happy living on boxed foods in a dirty apartment -- it's just that being a student is no excuse, and it won't get any easier to take care of yourself after graduating.)  Also, when you cook, make extra portions and freeze the leftovers -- you'll have plenty of nourishing meals for crunch times, and it's cheaper than buying lean cuisines.

Anybody living on campus in an apartment with undergrads? I am, and I feel...weird. On my floor, and maybe even my entire building, I'm the only grad student. There's another girl in the same situation as me in another building so we understand each other.
 
People that I've talked to said it was really strange for grads and undergrads to be housed together, and that usually grad student housing was in a seperate location. Is that true?
 
If anyone else is in this situation, how's it going for you? Right now I'm starting to see not only the age difference, but responsibility (or lack thereof) is apparent.

What ya mean, no one in my field has heard anything today on the results page?

A post from three years ago tells me...

My mail carrier switched routes and now my mail comes after I leave for work. Ugh

This must be some weird kind of masochistic defense/coping mechanism because I do the same thing like every two days. If I turn down a PhD with funding opp (since I only applied to one PhD), someone have me killed.

"No, not tonight. I have grad apps to work on."

Friend: "Are you building a grad school?"
Friend: "No, really, what are you actually doing with all of that time?"

Undergrad Institution: top 10 public research university, top 40 overall US universities
Major(s): Evolution, Ecology, and Biodiversity
Minor(s): N/A
GPA in Major: 3.52 cum. / 3.70 upper
Overall GPA: 3.56 uni. / 3.75 with CC
Position in Class: Top 16-20%, possibly cum laude
Type of Student: domestic female

GRE Scores (revised version):
Q: 164 (89%)
V: 164 (93%)
W: N/A
B: 750 (75%), retake in September

Research Experience:
~1 year (to present) undergraduate research assistant - plant ecology
          leading to publication in winter
          presented preliminary results of publication research at uni. UG conference
~1/2 year undergraduate research asssistant - plant floral morphology
~1/2 year undergraduate research assistant - plant cell wall protein analysis

Awards/Honors/Recognitions:
- Uni. honors program
- Uni. dean's list
- Phi Kappa Phi

Pertinent Activities or Jobs:
~6 years tutoring experience - high school, junior college, and university - core science, core math, and Spanish

Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help:
- possible research experience and publication with abroad course in tropical conservation in winter
- possible senior honors thesis
~1 year (to present) volunteer with local habitat restoration group
~1 year (to present) volunteer with Society for Conservation Biology
~1/2 year volunteering with uni. arboretum

Special Bonus Points:
- well-known PI at current research position
- postdoc I work under personally knows 2 of my POIs
- made phone/skype conversation with all POIs

Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter: N/A

Applying to Where: See signature
 

I've had professors that tell students to write their own letters of rec. They don't blindly sign it; they usually change it at least somewhat. It seems almost expected at my university. Think of how long it would take them to write you a letter from scratch. You are saving them time by giving them a draft.

That Q score is abysmal, disregarding any major considering the math required for the GRE is at hardest secondary school. While structural engineering, in class and in practice is one of the least quantitative engineering, that score would probably get your application automatically rejected by software unless you have an IMMACULATE supplementary package. Seeing as you are international, your application must be much better than that of a domestic student; There are plenty of domestic students with less than desirable test scores that they would rather take than an international student whom did not perform well on the GRE. This is just the case; international admissions is tougher. You realistically need to get a 162+ on the quant for a top 10 program... but I would shoot for even higher.

I do not exceed the spatial requirements on any piece of writing. With that being said, I tend to max out on essays, especially scholarship applications and personal statements. Not to sound arrogant, but I have been offered full scholarships to law schools, and very generous scholarships for graduate school also. Trust your gut, follow your heart, and speak from the soul.

E-learning refers to the use of electronic media and information and communication technologoies in education. E-learning is broadly inclusive of all forms of education technology in learning and teaching.E-learning as an educational approach or tool that supports traditional subjects.

hi dudes ,what are ur opinions over following cv ?i am passing stressful days matching acceptance data available to predict my future study place .please help me:
u GPA 3.2
GRE 1500 overall
3 journal isi paper
1 us patent

I'm guessing you're applying for Fall 2015? I am applying for Fall 2014. That's a good idea to take it so early, in hindsight I probably should have done that this year. Thanks for your input!

I don't think it's a big deal to have a signature that says:

Firstname Lastname
Graduate Student, Department
University

But putting in individual fellowships seems a bit too much. But, that's just me... It seems a bunch of people did just justify your worry about being (or "seeming") pretentious.

Guess it's a matter of perspective...

Firstly, let us be clear in regards to what we think a signature is. I utilize the signature in my GMail to highlight two Scholarship programs I am currently apart of. This signature, found in options, has text that will attach itself to every email that I send out. Is this what you're taking umbrage with?

If so, I think you're taking the email signature too seriously.

The NSF Fellowship is, in its own way, a credential. Just because it doesn't personally affect you means nothing. No one is implying anything by having that small tidbit included in their email signature. In stating that the signature is supposed to promote you, I'm only implying that it's supposed to get a fact or two about yourself out there. Why not have a small tidbit of information that indicates you're apart of a select cohort of individuals? Every. Single. Career advice person I've interacted with has advised me to place those two fellowships in my signature. Who wins in that case? It's a personal snippet of you.

I can understand if the person is a professional, but for students it's a moot point. You're constantly having to promote yourself. This is an easy, non-invasive, way to do so. Of course, sending emails back and forth using a personal email address would have that information there...and you'd receive it 99.99999% of the time...but what do you want to the person to do? Turn it off? My school address doesn't have that information. I guess that appeases you?

The NSF Fellowship is NOT a credential - it is a financial award. Having an NSF Fellowship does not make you a better qualified engineer/scientist/etc than anyone else (but an MS or PhD or professional license would mean that.) It does not mean you have a specific skill that could possibly be relevant to the person receiving an email from you. It does not bring anything to the table for the people you are sending 99.99999% of your emails to. And your email signature is not there to promote yourself. If you are going to use a formal sign off, it is there only to let the recipient of your message know what position you are responsible for as part of your organization. If that person is interacting with you as an individual, and not as person representing that organization, it is not to be mentioned.

I'm not following why you all think it is pretentious to have fellowships that you applied for and won in your email signature? As much as the signature is about letting people know who you are, it's also meant to promote yourself and to let others know the credentials you bring to the table. Of course you don't put your entire CV in the signature, but something as substantial as an NSF Fellowship shouldn't be buried neither.

Hello,
 
Although the title of 'Statement of Purpose' sounds easy, trivial, not-to-worry-about, I have experienced during my graduate school applications that the SOP is the most important part of the application. Besides its playing a crucial role in admissions and rejections, it is also not easy to write. Surely, every school has their own admission process and their own selective criteria, which make us the prospective students seek to get some sample SOP or advice on our SOP drafts. We obviously know that getting into some schools, such as MIT, Harvard, etc., is very difficult. However, when we look at the results page of this forum, we see some students made into those high rank schools with very low GPA and GRE scores. When I contacted a few, I was told that they had great SOP!
 
Here on this topic, I would like to present my humble request from those who have been/were admitted to high rank engineering schools to kindly post their SOPs, if anyhow possible.
 
Are you reading this, if your answer is yes, could you please post your SOP which will be a sample for us?
 
Thank you and  wish you best of luck in your future endeavors.
 

LOL people in the humanities do not go on about their volunteer experience. We do research too. The SOP is about your particular take on the research you want to do as you work toward the Ph.D. Those in the social sciences, especially in fields like Urban Studies and Public Policy, have a lot more to gain by discussing volunteer work and unpaid internships.

Purdue just likes to send emails. They sent a bunch while I was applying, and a bunch now I have been accepted. Come on! just let me make my decision in peace.
 
Also, I was contacted by a POI to have a phone interview. I specifically told him my time zone because I wasn't sure which one he was in. Then he told me a time zone one hour ahead and I planned according. He was supposed to call me 45 minutes ago, and I googled that his school is in my time zone. Really? Is it that hard to get your time zone correct?

Check out the Pomodoro App; essentially, it's a timer. You get 20 minutes on task, then take a 5 minute break. After the third on-task, you get a longer break. Do not work through the break - get up, put the book down, and walk away. I've found it helps.
 
I take notes electronically; I turn my modem off in class, I have never asked for extra accommodations; I don't plan on starting now. Ritalin is as close to extra accommodations as I'm going to get.