VioletAyame

Ah the coordinator did say "reimbursement for mileage" - I just assumed it's the same as reinbursement for gas but apparently not. She instructed me to copy down the odometer reading when I start driving and the one when I arrive, and they will double that number, so it sounds easy and simple to get just the mileage used to get there. The reason I feel the need to tell them is because my friend will take the car for the weekend, and in my convoluted head when I stay with my host sans car there will likely be questions, in a friendly manner of course, but then I would tell them the arrangement and I'm worried it would look a bit not transparent and/or unprofessional. Does that make sense?

I would still email him and said his works and research were recommended to me by his colleagues (Prof. A & E), sorry I couldn't contact him sooner but I was swamped with apps deadlines. I hope we can talk more in depth about research interests etc. I know there were concerns about it looking bad to contact POI after app submission mentioned around here, but in your situation, you did research and talk to the department beforehand. You just didn't have time to get to this particular POI yet, and his colleagues knew about your previous contact, so I wouldn't worry about that. I would make sure to have adequate knowledge of his work prior to emailing him though.

You should post this in the Biology forum instead. On the main page, scroll all the way down to The Menu > Life Sciences > Biology. I suspect an admin can help you move your thread over there, but it's probably quicker and more efficient to create a new thread yourself and delete this one if possible.

Thanks fuzzy!

I agree it's a bit on the casual side, but I wouldn't worry much about the length of the skirt since you're wearing it with black leggings. As long as it's not too blatantly short, a bit above the knees should be fine with leggings. In fact, that's the outfit I usually prefer for all-day interviews or conferences. A dress is more comfortable than pants in my opinion, and the leggings keep me warm and modest. Of course adding a blazer would look even more professional and stylish, as well as provide more protection against the evil AC.

Were you not aware that the homework assignment and final project are worth 28% of your grade? Was the info not on the syllabus? If yes then I don't think your professor can allow you to redo it without giving the rest of your class the same opportunity, or else it would be unfair for them. Perhaps you can ask if there's any extra credit you can do, but again, it should be an opportunity available for everyone in your class. Either way, you should ask her about the actual assignment and project first, gauge how well you did in these assignments and in the class overall, and show your interest in learning in material instead of focusing on your grades and how to improve them, especially this late in the semester.

I like STEAM. But then where's the D?

Putting "Page X of Y" for each page is also a good idea, just in case the last (few) pages of something get lost when printed out.

Anyone?

As I understand, in most SOPs the "fit" part would be tailored to each program and the rest pretty much remains the same. The way you described it, you did the same thing, it's just that your "fit" part was substantially bigger than the rest of your statement. I find it definitely not disingenuous but a bit strange, since apart from my research interests, I also wanted to show my potentials, what I did and what I learned to make me a suitable candidate for the program, or as Starbuck put it, my qualifications, so that would take much more than just 2 sets of sentences. But again, I know nothing about the conventions for SOP in your field. I just think what he meant by "disingenuous" is you would be falsely presenting yourself if you changed your interests and qualifications part (a big part of the SOP in our cases) to fit each program. He was not referring to tailoring the "fit" part, which is what you did.

I did my undergrad there, but in a completely different department. I can't tell you much about your specific program, but I've known plenty of people who had no trouble getting into top-tier PhD programs after getting their Masters here.

I believe so, but of course it can't grade you. It's still good though to practice typing the essays in 30 mins as well as taking the whole test in the time allotted to get used to its duration. It's quite an exhausting test, especially if they throw you an extra experimental section.

Have you tried the PowerPrep practice test? You can download it for free on ETS website and it's almost identical to the real test. You cannot skip between sections, but you can absolutely go back and forth between questions in the same section. There is also a review page at the end where they show you the status (answered/unanswered) of all the questions. You can easily get back to the unanswered questions from that page. When I took the test, I also wrote down the number of all the questions whose answers I wasn't sure of and went back and check if I had had time.

Hi all, so I've got an interview at UCSB and I already RSVP yes for the event. The school is in driving distance, so I told them and I will be driving myself there and they will reimburse me for gas. The thing is, a friend of mine wants to take her sister to go see SB too, and I like to have someone drive with. They can take the car when I'm at the interview since I won't need it anyway. My question is, should I tell the program coordinator about this? I'm a bit uneasy about the reimbursement and I'll be fine not taking it, but how should I let them know? Will it seem unprofessional to combine the trip like this? We'll only be sharing the ride.

That's great to hear. I wouldn't say it's freaking out over nothing though, cause I tend to freak out a lot, so I learned to tell myself that at the moment I was freaking out, I did not know that it was over nothing, that I had a legitimate reason for freaking out, and I'm not at all unreasonable On the note of sending transcripts, I see your UIC story and raise my OSU one. They require uploaded unofficial transcripts (either PDF or scanned paper version) AND mailed official transcripts. Which wouldn't have bothered me so much if their app system had not been unable to read my junior college's PDF transcript (my other college doesn't do PDF so I had to order the transcript sent to my house anyway), so I had to print the PDF, scan it, upload the new file, then order a paper version to be sent there.

I believe there are a few old threads discussing this topic at length. You should check them out!

May I ask why they require you to submit 2 applications, 2 sets of scores & transcripts, etc.? Are you applying for 2 different programs within the same school? I'm just being curious.

Ah and I thought I had it bad. GRE + practice materials: 210 Score reports: 75 Books about grad schools & LORs: approx. 20 Transcripts: 45 And most of all app fees (7 total): 525 Total: 875 I do hope I only have to do this once.

Boo. I'm so sorry to hear that. How high is Edinburgh on your list? Was the letter nice at least?

Have they replied you yet? Hopefully they won't care sine they do have enough information to review your app in the meantime. I know several other schools that require mailed official transcripts like this, which is totally annoying and unnecessary.

Great, that made me feel not so alone. The thing is, I have no children - I just enjoy watching that show myself

I agree. I have not read any of my statements since I submited my apps or looked at my CV or writing sample. One of my recommenders sent me the letter he prepared back when he started to send it in about 2 months ago and I have not opened it. For my own writing, it's not just typos or factual errors, just reading it will probably make me groan. And the LOR, perhaps I'll read it when the dust settles, when I get myself into a nice program and start checking out apartments

I'm applying for Communication and/or Media Studies programs and would love to help you. However, I'm working this weekend and won't be able to give you detailed feedback until Sunday afternoon. If you still want some general comments, feel free to PM me!

Congratulations! I'm glad everything works out in the end

Come on really? You just said "And in "common areas" of forums and chats it's not cool to be in the arts... I'm pretty much over being marginalized by the vocal majority." So people assume in the common areas and you complained about the common areas. "Here" is the forum in general, not the Arts subforum. You're not even trying.