shadowclaw

I think I am gaining a better understanding of how this car stuff works. The only person I ever knew who moved to another state but didn't have the car registered to them was a girl I worked with for a while. However, she kind of stole the car from her mom. The loan and the registration were in her mom's name but she made the loan payments. Then one day she got into a big argument, hopped into the car with her boyfriend, and drove from Florida to Pennsylvania and stayed at a relative's house until she got a job. Coincidentally, she never made another payment on the car and never contacted her mother. About a year later, a private investigator finally found her and the car got repossessed while she was working. So she's not really a good source for information on how to go about these things. So to summarize what everyone's been saying: don't worry about the registration, the inspection only matters if I decide to drive back to PA, and make sure I get new insurance in my new state. Sounds like a plan!

I got UNC finished up last night, so I can breathe for a little while. I think my remaining applications will be easier, though. The four schools I have applied to so far had really different SOP requirements. U of Washington wanted a pretty standard SOP, while UNC and WUSTL each had two separate statements, and the requirements for each were very specific and unique to those schools. Indiana had a fairly general SOP, but I was limited to 500 words instead of 2 - 3 pages. The schools I have left follow the format of U of Washington with some minor differences, so I can pretty much work off of that statement and tailor it for each program. I will be glad to be done with them! I'm getting tired of writing SOPs and I really just want to get to the anxious waiting part of applications.

I think the issue of clarity has to do with it being very late and me staring at the computer all day working on my thesis and grad school apps. I get what you're saying about cheating and academic probation, but cheating falls under the category of a disciplinary infraction. Academic probation and dismissal are the result of poor grades only, while disciplinary probation and dismissal result from breaking some code of conduct. Also, I believe your statement that chibimolinero will have to sign off on any requests is incorrect. There is a nice summary of FERPA on the US Department of Education's website, and it essentially says that a school can release your student records to a school which you are applying for enrollment without your consent. It does say that they must notify you about this (either in the school's annual notification of rights or by way of e-mail, snail mail, etc. if it's not listed in that notification), but there is no requirement for you to sign off on it because they do not need your consent. So chibimolinero may or may not get a notification. If the school lists this policy in the notification of rights, then there's no way to know if any grad schools have requested the record. Either way, there isn't a way to stop the grad school from receiving it. However, FERPA does require your school to let you know what information was sent if you request it, so you could in theory find out if any grad schools having requested your student record.

Oh boy, I understand this. I got married over the summer on a cruise. It was almost eloping... only our parents came along. We were gone for 8 days, and needed someone to babysit my parents' dog and someone told feed my husband and mother-in-law's 4 cats. My parents asked my niece to come stay at the house to take care of the dog (she's a needy little yappy dog). I've done this for my sister for about 5 years, and do it several times per year when she goes on her many vacations (she has 2 dogs, 5 cats, and a bird, and used to have a 3rd dog until about a year ago). My parents bought a ton of food for her (really enough for two weeks or more) because she's a picky eater, and specifically told her not to bring the dog to her house. The aforementioned dogs are big and a little stupid at times, and they've unintentionally hurt my parents' dog before when they played too rough. So when we got back, we noticed that my niece only ate one little pack of poptarts. Nothing else. She didn't even drink her favorite iced tea. She eventually told us that she brought the dog to her house "just for a visit," which means she probably got bored after one day at my parents' house and decided to just go home with the dog for the rest of the trip. No harm done, I suppose, and at least she actually took care of the dog. I can't say that about the person who watched the cats! My husband asked his friend's girlfriend to stop by a few times to feed and water them and scoop the boxes. She lives about 15 minutes from the house, and normally drives by anyway. When we got back, we found that she did indeed feed the cats. It looked like she stopped by once, made a big pile with the cat food on the floor, and completely ignored the litter boxes. The cats must have peed on every fabric surface in the house, and they all decided that my mother-in-law's bed was the perfect place to shit once the boxes were full. The boxes were absolutely disgusting, and there wasn't a single bag of scooped litter in the garbage.

I know that academic probation and dismissals can be included on transcripts, which is why I said "if it's not on your transcript." However, disciplinary actions are part of a student's academic record, and FERPA keeps unauthorized people (parents or otherwise) from accessing that record... or I guess technically, your identifiable information in connection with that record... the wording makes it seem like anyone could look at what's on the record if the information isn't there to identify you. But either way, FERPA makes it so no one knows what's contained in your academic record unless you authorize it. That's why you have to sign off on your transcripts. I'm sure there's a statement somewhere at every school that states what goes on your transcript so that you know what you're sending when you request a transcript, which is probably why they can release disciplinary information on a transcript. Although there is a difference between academic probation and what chibimolinero is talking about. I don't remember off hand the term for that kind of disciplinary action is, but it's not called academic probation. However, the point is moot, because while looking up information on FERPA to confirm whether or not I was correct in that disciplinary actions are covered by FERPA (which they are), I also discovered that there are a number of situations where schools can give out your information without your consent. One of those situations is when a student applies to another school. So regardless of what FERPA covers, your school can provide whatever information they want to these graduate schools.

I'm not an expert, but I'm pretty sure disciplinary actions on your school record would be covered by FERPA and thus a potential grad school will not be able to access this information without your consent. So if a school didn't ask about it in the application and it's not printed on your transcript, then they aren't going to know about.

You're not the only one! I guess I have finished all of my December 1st applications, but UNC is December 2nd, and I'm still working on my two statements for the application. After that, I still have 3 more to do (possibly 4 if I get some positive feedback from a POI at Yale). I've got a lot to do this last week of class, but after December 9th, I'll have a lot more time on my hands and I can bang out the last few!

Yes, I am finding the majority of these announcements on Ecolog. I did find a few on the Texas A&M wildlife job board and the Ornithologists Society of America's job board during my initial hunt for grad programs, but I found that almost everything posted to those websites is also posted on Ecolog. Plus Ecolog is very convenient... I set it to send me the digest each day, and for the most part, professors and grad schools put useful descriptions into the subject so I can scan through the list quickly for ads of interest. I also really suggest applying to that last school. Unless you're broke and can't afford the application fee and sending GRE scores, there's no harm in applying and you might miss out on a great opportunity.

Wow, you are quite fortunate to have that amount of money saved up to support you during your education! I don't know if it is true for all universities, programs, etc., but I was recently checking out the wildlife ecology program at the University of Florida after seeing an ad for a PhD position. Under their funding section of the website, they specifically mention that self-funded students (i.e. money from parents, savings, etc.) are very undesirable. They don't actually list any reasons, but do say that there are a variety of reasons for it. So I would say that yes, being self-funded could be viewed negatively. This could just be something about the culture of that particular program... they don't seem to like the idea of grad students having more money than what is necessary for the very basic necessities. Their stipends are quite low (and I can't imagine being able to pay for more than just an apartment, food, and clothes with it... I think something like a car payment would be impossible on top of that) and they justify it by saying that the education students receive is so good that they should be happy to be even getting that much money. However, I think I can understand why a self-funded student would be somewhat undesirable. As you said, it could be considered buying your way in. There is only so much funding to go around, so someone with their own funding can sort of bypass the funding restrictions and get a spot in the program that otherwise wouldn't be there. Plus, funding from places like the NSF, NIH, etc. make schools look good, while a self-funded project doesn't really say anything about the caliber of the school. A self-funded student also doesn't have to deal with timelines in the same way, either. In theory, a self-funded student could take 10 years to accomplish what a fellowship-supported student could do in 4, simply because they don't have the pressure on them of money and time running out. Schools definitely don't like unproductive students, so the threat of a self-funded student slacking off may also play a role. I'm sure there are other reasons, too.

I think that it is probably ok to shorten the name of your degree. For example, the major listed on my undergrad transcript is Natural Sciences: Environmental Biology. I only put the Environmental Biology when referring to my degree. Similarly, in the above-mentioned example of Physics, Engineering Physics, & Astronomy, I think it's ok to shorten it to Astronomy or Physics. Also, if your program has concentrations or specializations in some area, and it is specifically noted on your transcript (e.g. majoring in Biology with a specialization in Wildlife Biology), then I think it would probably be ok to list the specialization as your degree. So in the example in the OP's post, if the student's transcript had a notation on it that they specialized or followed a track in Science and Technology policy, then I think it would be ok to put that as their degree. However, if they merely took courses in science and technology policy (but there is no official specialization offered by the school), then I don't think that it is appropriate to list it as their degree. @TakeruK... I'm curious about why you use your department's name as your degree name. I was under the impression that all degrees are Bachelor of Science, Master of Arts, etc. (and the physical degree you receive states only this), but when you refer to what your degree is in, you put your major/program. For example, my undergrad department was Natural Sciences and Mathematics, but there were about 12 different majors to choose from within the program, ranging from Wildlife Biology to Geology to Math Education. My actual degree says Bachelor of Science, and my transcript says my degree is a B.S. and then lists my major, minors, and honors. Do Canadian universities not work the same way and only list your department rather than your major program? @JBurns1028... I wouldn't worry about the renaming of your program. As far as I know, the school shouldn't change the name of the program on your transcript, so you would still have a degree in X, even though they changed the name to Y in the most recent catalog. Something somewhat similar happened with my degree. After I graduated, they actually changed the requirements for my degree (Environmental Bio) so I would now not actually meet the requirements for the degree. However, they also added a degree in Wildlife Biology, and it is almost identical to the requirements for my degree under the old catalog and I meet all of the requirements. So in a way, my program has been renamed to Wildlife Bio. Personally, I think that if you want to list the areas you specialized in, you should just put the name of your degree and then list important areas of study.

My school list keeps growing! About 2 weeks ago, I saw a general advertisement for the ecology program at the University of Tennessee on a listserv, so I took a peek and saw that one of the professors was looking for a student to work on a bird project. The lab website gave some very vague information about the type of project the professor had planned, but it seemed like something I would be suitable for and I sent an email with my research interests and experiences plus my CV and a request for more detail about the project. She finally got back to me today and I am stoked. Turns out she has the exact same research interests as me (impacts of invasive species on birds) and the project is absolutely a perfect fit! She also seemed really excited about me. She said she was thrilled to read my email, asked to see any relevant papers I had written and a draft of my thesis if I had it available (or anything else I could send her), and concluded the message with "looking forward to continuing the conversation." I've received positive responses from other POIs, but not quite like this. As long as she continues to like what she sees, U of TN might just slide into my first choice. The project really is great. I've been wanting to pursue research in tropical ecosystems, and this will get me there! I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

I think the prescription analogy is very interesting. It's true that if I brought my prescription to the drug store, it better be on letterhead. Similarly, if my LOR writer was sending in a snail mail letter, letterhead would also be expected. However, we now live in an age where these things can be don't electronically or over the phone. When I get a prescription, my doctor calls the drug store and provides them with the required information. I imagine some doctors go to a website to accomplish the same thing. Likewise, the modern LOR can be emailed or uploaded to a website. As others have mentioned, the writers provide their credentials in the form of university email addresses and passwords. We don't need letterhead because we live in a digital age and credentials are being evaluated much differently than they were even just 10 years ago.

If I had any publications prior to getting married, I think I would have used that as an excuse to keep my maiden name. I was pretty set against changing it, since I think that it is a silly tradition, but my husband was a bit upset that I didn't want his name. So I met him in the middle and double-barreled my last name, which has honestly been a pain, especially since I didn't use a hyphen. Keeping professional and personal names separate would be a nice idea. At this point, most students call me by my maiden name (even though my full last name is posted around the building with my tutoring hours). Maybe I should keep it that way!

Hi everyone. I just wanted to let people know a little bit about what happens when you change your name after taking the GRE. First, if you want to take the GRE again after your name change, you cannot change your name on your ETS account. That means you will either have to make a new account in your new name, or you will need a form of id with your old name on it (in my case, I hadn't changed my passport yet and used that). After taking the test (if the scores you are sending are under your old name), you will need to notify the schools which you are applying to that your scores are under a different name. All of the applications that I've filled out have a spot to list maiden names for the purpose of matching up materials. However, that doesn't mean the graduate school actually looks at that information. I had to email 3 schools so far about missing GRE scores, and the response was the same from each: they didn't match my scores to my application because the last name was different. So keep this in mind when filling out applications. If you've changed your name since taking a test (or graduating from undergrad and have a different name on your transcripts), make sure your materials are matched to your application!

The latest time I took the GRE, it took 8 days for the scores to show up online, and all 3 sections were posted at the same time. I believe it was the same for the first time. However, I'm not sure how long it takes for the schools to receive them!

I know that I'll either hear from U of Washington and WUSTL in mid-December for interviews, or I won't (and in that case I'll probably get a rejection sometime in January). The rest of my schools don't even start looking at applications until sometime in January. Hopefully everyone does get some good news in December, though, because that's when the anxiety is really going to kick into full swing!

@doomination... I obviously can't predict exactly what the reviewers will do, but a lot of the websites and blogs that offer advice on writing the personal statement say that the reviewers are going to read the statements very quickly. If that's the case, they might just skim right past the comment. Then again, you might have a reviewer with lots of time on their hands who will pick over every sentence!

Thanks for your thoughts! In some of my SOPs, I briefly mentioned that the poor grades occurred (something along the lines of "I stumbled a bit as I began my college career"), then followed it up with "look at my dean's list grades and wonderful research and volunteer activities" and commented on how my past experiences have made me really value my education and the opportunities that have come up. I'm hoping the strength of both my undergrad research project and master's thesis will be the factor that pushes the adcomm into a favorable direction. It's true that many schools state that they look at your last two years of undergrad and weigh it more heavily than the first two... but in my case there is a lot of really, really bad stuff floating around prior to my last three years of undergrad. Although there is also plenty of good stuff, too, like several 4.0 semesters. In any event, I still think it will come down to my research experience and my research interests rather than my grades. I still don't have anywhere to fit in any comments about the grade trend in UNC's application, though!

I'm thinking of adding Yale to my list. I got an advertisement for a PhD position in the EEB department in avian ecology the other night on a listserv, and the professor is doing some really cool research in Africa. The ad also mentioned the possibility of doing field work in Central and South America, which is pretty much my dream. My stats are a bit low for Yale (although I haven't seen numbers for accepted students posted on their website). My undergrad GPA is really hairy... 3.59 from where I got my degree, but when you combine all of my GPAs from the several schools I attended, it comes to 2.80. However, my major GPA is about 3.89 (depends on what exactly you call a major course), and for my last 3 years in undergrad, I didn't have a GPA less than 3.7 and only 3 B+'s amongst a sea of A's. My master's GPA is 3.72 and I've got a good thesis going on, plus two papers submitted to journals (one in review). My GRE scores are a mixed bag... V 160 (84%), Q 155 (60%), and AW 4.5 (80%), but I feel that even a percentile in the 80's is still low for Yale. On the bright side, I looked at some of the current lab members, and one had a 3.3 for their undergrad GPA plus a master's with a GPA similar to mine. She also didn't have the field experience that I do, but she did do some great internships. I e-mailed the professor a little while ago. Hopefully he'll get back to me before the holiday begins, but I guess it doesn't matter much if it's after, since the due date for apps is December 15th. I imagine he'll let me know if I'm competitive enough.

I agree with blinchik in that there are definitely instances when contacting a professor is necessary. Of the schools that I am applying to, most of them specifically require a commitment from a faculty member to advise you in order to be admitted, and instruct prospective students to contact faculty members. Some other schools do not have this requirement, but state somewhere (a FAQ section, e-mail confirmation after applying, etc) that it's a really good idea to contact faculty members to learn about their research and let them know that you are interested. I believe there is only one school on my list that didn't say either way. So it might be a good idea to check out the program websites to see if they suggest it. If the application has that box to list professors you've been in contact with, that's a sure sign that you should be doing just that.

That sounds absolutely wonderful. I have yet to take a graduate class without any tests. I've read plenty of papers, written plenty of papers, and given plenty of presentations, but I haven't escaped test taking yet. I honestly cannot say I have a definite answer for this. I've looked at several fellowships at schools that I am applying to, and the only requirements I've seen are to remain in good standing with the program (which means maintaining a 3.0+ and being registered for x amount of credits each semester, and in some cases not getting less than a B in more than one class). Obviously there could be fellowships with higher standards, but I don't think requiring a student to maintain a 4.0 would be a smart move. As GeoDUDE said, the point of graduate school is to do research, and having that stringent of a requirement on grades would be counterproductive.

While I agree that the average grade for a grad class is skewed towards the higher end, I don't think it's because classes are easy. It's because there's a different caliber of student taking the class. Also, a B is not the equivalent of a C or D in all cases. There is a discussion about this in the officially grads forum I think. Basically, the consensus was that a B is the kiss of death for a grad student in a subject such as literature. For the sciences, however, a B is a B. As someone put it, straight A's mean that you're not spending enough time in the lab. Regardless of the easiness of grad courses or how an adcomm views a grad GPA vs an undergrad GPA, I do find it irritating that some (or all) grad programs would put such an emphasis on the undergrad experience. As Crucial BBQ noted, a masters is in many ways similar to the first two years of a PhD program. So by having a high grad GPA and doing a thesis (which should lead to publications), one should essentially be proving to the adcomm that they are capable of being a productive and successful grad student.

I wish the quote button would work for me... @GeoDUDE... I have to disagree with you on your statement that graduate classes are super easy. I suppose they are easier to do well in than say a first year biology sequence, which a student goes into with little knowledge and is basically forced to memorize vast quantities of information. When you get to upper level and graduate courses, that element of memorization is gone and it's more about building on your existing knowledge base and integrating new ideas. There's less slaving over notes and textbooks and more critical thinking. However, I wouldn't say that they are super easy. I've taken graduate courses that were very similar in structure and workload as senior level courses, and I've also had courses where the workload was quite intense, especially when considering that there were other courses plus research and TA duties to attend to. Sometimes I think grad school is a test to see if you have good time management skills.

So I've been working on my SOPs for various schools (I'm applying to biology/ecology programs), and while some of them have fairly general SOP requirements, a few of them (such as WUSTL and UNC) have very specific prompts. For example, the UNC application asks for 2 essays. One is a statement of research interests, proposed methods, and career goals, and the second is a statement of research experiences and how they relate to those interests and goals. I have some cruddy grades in my undergrad record, though all from non-science majors (I change majors a few times). I've been trying to decide if I should briefly acknowledge the rough patch and highlight my near perfect academic record ever since and my success in my masters program, or if I should just leave it out entirely and let the adcomm figure it out for themselves from my transcripts. It seems the decision has been made for me, since some apps (like UNC) do not even give me the opportunity to discuss anything except research. I feel like I may be at a disadvantage by not being able to address the issue, but there really isn't anyway I can slip a sentence or two about it into the essays. I'm not sure if I really have question to pose to the forum since there doesn't seem to be anything I can really do about it. I guess I'm just looking for someone to tell me if I should sit and worry about my application for the next couple months, or submit it and forget it for a while (which wouldn't happen anyway, but still). Of course, maybe I really shouldn't worry about it, since two of my LOR writers are aware of my academic record and will include in their LORs that the adcomm should ignore that part of my history and focus on all the good stuff that's happened recently. Any thoughts are appreciated, even if you're in the same boat as me and just want to commiserate!

Well, I don't have too much advice for you, but as I've been filling out applications, I've been asked about criminal convictions and the like. Even if your charge is considered a traffic offense, I think you still have to list it. UNC's application makes a point that you must list drug and alcohol-related charges/convictions regardless of whether they occur as a traffic violation. I also agree that a DUI is definitely not a minor offense. The UNC app also wants all charges listed (even if they are pending), and if you receive a charge after applying, you must notify them. Sorry to keep referencing the UNC app, but it's the one I'm currently working on and it's fresh in my mind. On the bright side, in my apps there have been text boxes to provide explanations for charges, so you should be able to indicate that that you may get a plea deal. While I don't know for sure who sees this information, I suspect that it may have to do with funding. The school might not be able to use federal money (i.e. NSF grant money) to fund people with certain types of convictions, and having a conviction for something like child abuse would impact your ability to obtain a TA position.