wsc215

Very nice list, awkwardpants.
 
I want to add Upland and Lennie's, the two breweries in town if you're into beer. They're both excellent and also have excellent food.

Hi studentaffairsgrad! Welcome to Bloomington! For a small city, there really is a ton of stuff going on here and in the surrounding area. What sort of things are you into?
 
Here are a few of my favorite things:
 
1.) WonderLab -- This is an awesome science and technology museum that packs a lot of neat hands-on exhibits into a relatively small space. I put off going for a long time because I don't have kids, but when I finally went, I realized it was super fun for all ages.
 
2.) Bloomington Parks & Recreation -- Parks & Rec sponsors all kinds of fun events and programs, from the Farmer's Market (every Saturday morning from spring to fall -- basically the social event of the week) to painting classes and sports leagues and nature hikes. The quarterly program guide lists all of the things they have going on and also provides descriptions of the numerous parks, playgrounds, and pools spread throughout the city.
 
3.) Monroe County Public Library -- I know, I know, every city has a public library. But this one is one of the best in the country. The size of the collection isn't overwhelming, yet somehow they almost always have the exact book/DVD/music I want to read/watch/listen to. (I honestly don't know how they do it.) Plus they have all kinds of events and activities, including a summer reading program for adults.
 
4.) Tons of places to hike -- If you like hiking, there are almost too many options. A few of my favorites are Lake Griffy, Charles Deam Wilderness, Yellowwood, Lake Lemon, and Morgan-Monroe State Forest. The landscape around Bloomington is full of gentle hills, hardwood forests, and small wild critters. Some of these areas are also great for birding, kayaking, and whatever other outdoorsy things you might want to do.
 
5.) So many delicious restaurants -- Bloomington is a great place to eat. I try new places all the time and still haven't eaten at all the good restaurants. There's a row of international restaurants on Fourth Street (Thai, Indian, Turkish, Tibetan, Burmese, Italian, etc.) within walking distance of campus that usually have good lunch buffets/specials. Hands down, my favorite is the lunch buffet at Taste of India for its superior quality and excellent value. Then there's Nick's, which is a Bloomington tradition known for its delicious pub grub and iconic drinking game Sink the Biz. We have not one but two soup restaurants (Soup's On -- my favorite -- and Darn Good Soup). There's also the annual Taste of Bloomington event in June that showcases different area restaurants to help you find new places you might like.
 
6.) Cute shops -- Bloomington is known for its locally owned businesses, and there are a lot of neat specialty stores on the square and in the downtown area. A few favorites that come to mind are The Game Preserve (board games, card games, puzzles, and more), JL Waters (camping, fishing, and hiking gear), Indiana Running Company (running shoes and accessories plus expert staff), and Boxcar Books (new and used books).
 
7.) Music -- The Bluebird brings in great live music. There are also tons of world-class performances through the Jacobs School of Music. In the spring, the Union Board puts on a concert for Little Five (the famous IU bike race), and this year it was Macklemore and Ryan Lewis, which was pretty cool. There are also musical acts that the IU Auditorium brings in as part of their regular season, as well as musicals, comedians, and other notable figures (this year: David Sedaris!).
 
 
These are the fun things to see and do in Bloomington that spring to my mind. Are there other things you're interested in knowing more about?

Hey, I'm ESL, and the first time I took the GRE I got an 155. The second time I got an 164.
 
Depends on what you're having trouble with. For me, vocab was no problem. IMO if vocab is your problem, then it's straightforward. Just grind out a ton of words, I guess.
 
I had trouble with the reading comprehension mostly. I ran out of time often and fell into a lot of trap questions.
 
What I did was just grind out a ton of tests, identify the problems I missed and before reading the question itself, I'd try to categorize the answers. What they are talking about, what the claim is, etc, just broke it down. Then I went back to the question and I could clearly see what problem I missed.
 
I really agree with Octavia's post, too, reading challenging books will help your score quite a lot.
 
I got a 4.5 on AWA both times, doesn't matter for my field apparently.

I think your SOP is too long.
 
I suggest taking out the part about Nintendo motivating you to go into EE. Tons of people probably did that and plus you didn't put it in a very mature way.
 
You're repeating your CV in paragraphs 4, 5, and 6. Currently, it just says, I did A, I did B, I did C. Try this format: "I'm a good fit for this program"/"I want to do MSc in EE" because "<qualities> I gained from doing <stuff>".
 
Specifically in paragraph 6, it's good that you do stuff outside of school but you've got to relate it back to why that makes you a good electrical engineer or a Master's candidate.
 
I would avoid words like amazing and unforgettable, they say nothing to the admissions committee. Also, that paragraph has nothing to do with EE or grad school except the fact that it makes you a well rounded person that can work with diverse groups of people halfway around the globe. So say it! Just in a more mature way.
 
I think you should definitely include your vision. What you want to do after graduation, be specific, make sure you research what's in and what's out, and pick a niche that jives well with your CV and also increases your chances of admission.

I won't say I disagree, but for one program I applied to last year, I made my SOP by explaining how through my experience and coursework, my desire to do research came to be and solidified, ultimately I didn't speak as much as I should have about why University X was the right program and how they would help me grow with their program or what future I would build if I did my graduate studies there. I got no answer at all so I take it that my SOP was plain disastrous.
 
I think an SOP should really and only be about what you focus on, what makes you a right fit to the program you are applying to and what you are going to do with the path you choose. Your passion should be reflected through your commitment to the field you are choosing for graduate study. That's how I perceive it, after having read the enriching comments from intextrovert, fuzzylogician and others in the "SOP mistakes: what to avoid" thread. Of course, there can be variants depending on what recommendations a University gives about the SOP, but overall, the logic of elaborating on your focus, how you fit and what future you build remains the key thing.
 
That's my 0.02€/£/$/whatever.

You can also camp out in a Barnes and Noble and do tests from a book there for free (I love Barron's 6 GRE Practice Tests)--kind of iffy, I know, but I used to work at a BN and no one cares what you do there.

I would just to practice exams. I don't think any gimmick works, sure it's learnable, but it's contrived to make it as difficult as possible to learn.
 
I really don't see how The Poisonwood Bible would help at all, except to relax. For me at least, doing practice exams helped more than anything else by far.

never heard of LSE. go to Harvard.

Allow my stats to cheer you up... 3.83 GPA, cum laude, Lots of TA and research experience, 3 great letters, 4 great POI visits,1 very strong senior thesis, and... rejected from 4 out of the 6 programs I've applied to, the result being pretty much everything hinging on ONE waitlist slot (the one remaining non-reporting school is a top-shelf dream school, so a rejection is most likely imminent there). Wish I had your problems! Also, consider this: my undergrad profs warned me that interest in graduate studies (applicants) has gone WAY up in the past 5 years, while funding at most unis has not justified an expansion of faculty (thus admitted applicants/advisees). Result = Plenty of more-than-qualified folks turned away. I should have applied to 10+ programs... I will next year if I have to do this all over again. Keep your chin up, and good luck!!

I respectfully disagree. 
 
I was waitlisted last year, and it almost physically HURT. I got on the waitlist of my (at the time, #1 program) on April 4th. Yes. I remember the day, and the sour weekend following that. I was happy thinking "Hey, they kind of liked me. Almost there!" Then by that Saturday, April 7th, my thought turned dark "Why?" "How long will I have to wait?" etc. I finally decided to email them on Monday April 9th. They (secretary/coordinator) CALLED me back saying that they definitely wanted me -- funding issues -- my POI was running a crowded lab but may try to take me on etc. Now starts the most painful rollercoaster ride of my life. April 10th, this time the department chair emails me a super sympathetic email. "I know how hard it it to wait, but good news is there is a high possibility that someone will come off the waitlist, and it has happened in recent years.." and a similar vein. It was also obviously not a form email (in different font/style from previous form emails he had sent before). April 11th. The secretary confirms with me that I am on the waitlist through email. I shoot back an email replying Yes, and asking "why" she lets slip that one/two of their accepted students show hesitancy, and that again this is a good sign for me. April 12th. Radio silence. I'm letting myself feel happy around this point. "Maybe.. there's a chance!" April 13th. The Department chair and secretary sent me emails saying that one spot was vacated and the waiting list's first person got accepted. At this point they inferred that I was the second position on the list -- well now the first. Then April 14th. Keep in mind, this was a SATURDAY. I received a call saying that "I regret to inform you.." My heart dropped, and I really couldn't hear what he had said and had to ask for him to repeat. He said that "We will be unable to offer you admission to our PhD program this year. I'm sorry to disappoint you, but this year had an extremely competitive applicant pool." I thanked him and sort of phoned it in that day. I was planning to set up lesson plans for my TAing gig, and run some analyses for my thesis project. I did not have the functioning capabilities to do that. Instead, I indulged in comfort foods. I recall calling my mother and sister crying, but I can't remember what I said. I was devastated. I had been rejected everywhere else, except for one school that was way down the list, and I was considering saying No to regardless of the results. 
 
This school had raised my hopes and then brought it crashing back down on reality. I would have been happier not being in almost daily communication with them (though granted, they initiated it on some days. But I got the ball rolling). I really am not the sort of person to just fall apart like that, but the emotional rollercoaster just made it happen. I really think now I would have been happier if I had been flat-out rejected. I WISH I had been rejected. 
 
Sorry for the long story. Just ignore it. This was a bit cathartic for me (it still kind of hurts). I just wouldn't wish this on my worst enemy, let alone you congenial people of TGC. Good luck to anyone waitlisted out there, and I hope you don't go through the mental hell I went through in just a little over a week's time last year.

You could delete your entire 1st paragraph for starters...

Quantitative is all about practice IMO. It depends on how you like to prepare for exams but I prefer cramming. Well, "cramming" is such a dirty word, I think my method is closer to "total immersion".
 
Basically I put off studying for the GRE for two months, and one week before I took 3 GREs a day (I took 18 total that week) plus 4 hours each day. Essentially I spent all day just doing GRE stuff for six days. But it was just for a week and I ended up getting 164/169/4.5 (V/Q/W).
 
I think there are two ways to get a high score on the GRE. One, you try to learn the test. You can spend months doing that, dissect each question type and memorize different strategies in the GRE prep books. That's what both my siblings did and I outscored them by far.
 
Instead, I recognized that I have solid quantitative skills and that GRE math isn't much harder than SAT math... so for me, it was more about comfort, familiarity, and having confidence. I acclimated myself to the test environment over a week of cramming, so taking the test was second nature to me, and in fact I performed better on the actual test than any of my practice exams.
 
My point is, look at the problems in the quantitative section. They are not hard questions, if you had them in homework form you would probably blaze through them. What's hard to cope with is the time pressure, the testing environment, and the emotional stress. Find a way to deal with those and you'll do fine, after all if you got into college you must have done okay in the SAT/ACT quantitative sections and GRE's isn't much more difficult.

Quantitative is all about practice IMO. It depends on how you like to prepare for exams but I prefer cramming. Well, "cramming" is such a dirty word, I think my method is closer to "total immersion".
 
Basically I put off studying for the GRE for two months, and one week before I took 3 GREs a day (I took 18 total that week) plus 4 hours each day. Essentially I spent all day just doing GRE stuff for six days. But it was just for a week and I ended up getting 164/169/4.5 (V/Q/W).
 
I think there are two ways to get a high score on the GRE. One, you try to learn the test. You can spend months doing that, dissect each question type and memorize different strategies in the GRE prep books. That's what both my siblings did and I outscored them by far.
 
Instead, I recognized that I have solid quantitative skills and that GRE math isn't much harder than SAT math... so for me, it was more about comfort, familiarity, and having confidence. I acclimated myself to the test environment over a week of cramming, so taking the test was second nature to me, and in fact I performed better on the actual test than any of my practice exams.
 
My point is, look at the problems in the quantitative section. They are not hard questions, if you had them in homework form you would probably blaze through them. What's hard to cope with is the time pressure, the testing environment, and the emotional stress. Find a way to deal with those and you'll do fine, after all if you got into college you must have done okay in the SAT/ACT quantitative sections and GRE's isn't much more difficult.

As it reads now, the backbone of your SOP is your academic roller coaster of ups and downs. This is unnecessary and doesn't paint the best picture of you. Limit your explanation of poor grades to a brief sentence or two and then do not mention it again. Instead, give specifics examples of the work you did, and the work you wish to do. This SOP makes me want to know more about the campaigns you worked on and what you did for them. Provide those details! Don't be vague when discussing your meaningful work experiences. It will define you as more than an academic roller coaster.

Your opening paragraph is really negative and I could not read beyond it. You have only 500 words to explain yourself - speak only of yourself using positives!!!!!!
 
I suggest first writing an outline of what it is that you wish to convey. Here is an example:
 
I am interested in...therefore I'd like to...Graduate school would help me achieve this...how...The department of...at...is the place for this because... I have excellent preparation because...One example of my perseverance and dedication to academia is how I completed my undergraduate degree in spite of ...these circumstances...While these undoubtedly impacted my GPA, I have...this experience... and these accomplishments.My life goal is...Conclusion.