umniah2013

My research experience is very limited so I've been wondering how many feels the same. Was your undergrad thesis the first research you've ever done? When was your "publishable" paper? Sadly my undergrad school was not research focused so I wanna know what I missed out on. Would you please share your experiences and what do you recommend for someone who has not written any thing longer than 20 pages? How long did it take you to get to the level where you are confident about the quality of your paper? Basically what should I do to write a good paper? I want to be ready for gradschool.

I wish you could also do the same for international students where hundreds of students were denied admission because of the GRE and they were not lazy students or stupid. They just happen to have a different educational system where lots of skills tested in the GRE are not really enforced in their schools. I do not believe the GRE is predictive of the future of the student in grad school. I know 3 international students who got conditional admission for the first semester. They got straight Aaaas in all their gard courses , yet the university actually kicked them out because of the GRE! It doesn't matter what ETS puts on their website explaining how international students should be judged differently. Grad schools will only look at the percentile so even getting an average score by ETS standards will not be of any importance to grad schools as they look for those with 80+ percentile. Personally what really bothers me when some schools allows 88/ 90 TOFEL but demands above average (more than 50%) in the GRE. There is no way an international student could score higher than 150 verbal if he only gets 88 in the TOFEL. Anyway, I hope you highlight the flaws in the GRE in whatever research you are doing.

I really hope it is not true < can't drink caffeine due to heart problems. My sister, though, could not study unless she had coffee and I mean lots of coffee through out the day. I tried doing the same to see if it really helped during my studies. I noticed nothing but palpitation and severe anxiety.

Did you try with your cell phone? Some smart phones can scan documents with good resolution.

Hello everyone, This is my first time applying to universities in the US and I'm a bit worried. My recommendation letters were sent late to Michigan State University,i.e, 4 days after the deadline and my transcript was also sent late so do you think my whole application will be disregarded? I checked my doc.status and they have not added anything except the GRE! However, may be they're late in updating because of the snowstorm as the staff took a couple of days off. Should I lose hope? What are your experiences in applying to MSU??

Did you check University of South Carolina? They list their minimum GRE score. If you decide to go there I can give you some info about Columbia.

My major is not mechanical engineering and I do not know much about it. However, I know that funding is really competitive and if funding is what you are looking for ,then, you really need to raise your score. Try to score in the 90% in Quant as it would be the most important part for your field. Scoring in the 80%( or 70%) in the verbal and AWA, I believe would make you competitive enough as an international student. This is if you are applying to top 20 programs in your field. If you are applying to other than the top schools, then at least make sure that you don't score below 50% percentile in any part of the GRE and your chances would be good in funding.

Do as many practice tests as you can and you'll be able to raise your score. Good luck!

Comparing math and grammar is ridiculous! While it is true that both require practice, the amount of reading and writing that a student in Humanities do is far more than doing any algebra, geometry..etc. Thus, yes... the fear of students in Humanities is understandable. The Math in the GRE might not be that hard,but obviously those who have been practicing math in their undergrad have more advantage. Learning grammar is necessary for all students in Humanities and the Sciences. Students in the Sciences must "write" their research results so they get to practice how to write good research papers. On the other hand, a student in the Humanities doesn't get to practice algebra while writing about post-colonialism!

oh..I see...Thank you so much for replying...I was starting to lose hope that anyone would reply. I'm an international student and the whole application process is new to me. The certificate of Appreciation was for Teaching excellence ... so should I put this under Achievements?

10 days

What type of awards should you include in your application? More specifically>> would you consider a certificate of Appreciation and Thanks an awards to be included? I have many certificates of Appreciation but I'm not sure if they should be included. I got them for things I did as a TA like: 1.participating in a campaign (related to students) 2. helping in organizing a symposium 3. teaching

Thank you Lisa.....It was really a difficult time especially that she didn't recognize her own son. She was devastated. The boy also had trouble adjusting in the beginning. Daniele, thank you for your reply.. My nephew's story, though, has nothing to do with my interest in the field of linguistics at all. I was just thinking of discussing some of my low grades as I have no doubt in my mind that I could have gotten a higher GPA I thought maybe I could shed light on the circumstances during my undergrad years in which I was involved with the case. I'm still thinking...I'm hesitant as I also don't want to give excuses for myself!

Do we include an explanation for bad grades in SOP? My GPA is 3.39 Most of my grades are inconsistent like I have courses with 99, 92, 88,....then 66 My major was literature and I took about 4 courses in linguistics. These 4 courses also range from the highest 98 to the lowest 76 ! I'm applying to a Master's program in linguistics. Should I mention something about my grades? When I was an undergrad, my nephew was kidnapped and I was a witness in a trial outside my home country. Is this something I should mention? P.s. my nephew is back with his mom now after being away from her since the age of 1 month to 5 years !

Thank you so much for answering. I was freaking out...because there are lots of things that I didn't consider. I just saw a good opportunity to learn. I never thought of the Visa thing! It is definitely a collaboration right now. As I help with my knowledge of specific things in the study and arrange for analysis. However, he mentioned something about paying me..but it was just an idea he discussed. I don't intend to accept payment for the collaboration as I just want to learn and keep myself as a volunteer. Do you think it would still be a problem that way? I mean my understanding of what you said that as long as there would be no payment then it would be considered a collaboration?? I will talk to someone from the international office tomorrow. I just panicked and wanted to know what other people think...

I have F1 visa for a course I'm studying in the US. I got to know a professor from a close by university. We talked and I agreed to be assisting in his research as an opportunity for me to learn more about the field. I've not applied to any university yet. I intend to do so soon. My question is would assisting in a study be a violation of the F1 status? Points to consider before answering: 1. I'm spending almost two months oversees as a vacation ( & doing what I can to assist in the study). Thus, I never thought of it as a violation of F1 status. 2. It is not a full time job. I meet with him online and occasionally travel to his city for further discussions. Now...What do you think of my situation?

I know it's an old post ,but I'm in the same situation so I'd like to hear different approaches , in particular, from international students who improved their English to the point of fluency. I'm having trouble with that. I mean I can get high tofel score ,but still I'm not satisfied with the level of my English.