Captain Crunch

Hell yea! I mean it depends where you want to go, I guess, but the fact that you have a B.S. in hand, with geography experience, with all of the supporting sciences done, with recommendations from professors you have actually formed a relationship is huge! Congrats, and the GRE scores are really good too. Just keep doing what you have been doing, research some potential schools and make contacts with potential advisors and see if they offer to fly you out. If you want to get into an uber-competitive program, you may want to retake the GRE, but from what I have seen, you can basically (IMO) go any where you want to. Best of luck in your future studies! Wherever it is that you choose!

Not a problem, at all. Basically any reputable school with a decent offer will at least give you a 4 semester TA position. Some extend it beyond that if needed. Lots of schools allow geo 101 to fulfill a science gen ed, so there is big enrollment in 101 classes.

See this:

Great, that is helpful. I know that I recieved a TA position, so I guess I will just have to wait and see on the specifics when I get the actual offer.

Thank you for your response. I will definitely follow up with the school, once I see the official offer. If it is true, I was just suprised that in-state tuition is not waived as well. I know A&M is competitive in many different fields, and this seems like it would be a deterrent to many applicants.

I was unofficially accepted to A&M, so I haven't seen the offer yet, but my POI mentioned that A&M only waives the out-of-state component of tuition for TA's and that students are responsible for the rest. Has anyone else had experience with this? I really would like to attend this school, but having a full tuition waiver is pretty important to me. Edit: I applied for a M.S. degree

I hadn't had any math since trig in high school (well, I took stats freshman year, but that is different). The next time, I had just completed calc I, which had forced me to go back and learn algebra in a way I never had before. The amazing thing to me is just how basic most of the math on the GRE is.

I improved my Q section by 29 percentile points. I was starting at a lower point, but still. I studied like crazy (not as much as some) and it really paid off. You can definitely do it. I would just suggest throwing everything you have at it- including getting tutoring or buying one of those expensive prep classes (I did Barron's, which was reasonable). I also would highly suggest this book: http://www.amazon.com/GRE-GMAT-Math-Systematic-Approach/dp/1453633987 You won't find it in stores, and it isn't just for the GRE, it is also for the GMAT, but the principle behind it is that if you go back and review almost ALL of basic math, starting with the number line, you won't have to rely on tricks to just get by on test day. Buying that book was the single best thing I did to improve my Q score.

Yes it does! Thanks for the info and your response

Amen! It is outrageous. I am thankful that I can afford it, but I can imagine that for some people that it is a barrier to them going to grad school. I mean a test book + taking the gre twice + sending the info to schools is probably 450 bucks. That is an injustice if I ever saw one.

I spent the VAST majority of my time researching individual professors and making contact with them. Probably 4 professors to every program that I actually applied to. Looking back, I wish I would have spent more time learning about the schools/departments in general and that I had applied to more "reach" schools. Also, I wish I would have considered school prestige a little more.

Thanks, that's helpful!

@ruud9 I just checked over my correspondence and the timeline was something like this: 1. Accepted 2. Contact POI that day 3. POI says it will be about 4 weeks until funding decisions are made 4. 2 weeks later I recieved an offer. Hope that helps. This school seems to do things earlier than most however.

Check out this thread: Also, I mentioned in the emails that I had started to hear back from other schools without actually saying "I was accepted at so and so... and now I want to hear your offer." I emailed/ addressed my messages to the graduate coordinators or the department chairs. The two I have heard back from seemed very polite and understanding about me asking.

I realized thats I made a very USA centric statement. That agreement is just for the States. I have no idea if there is a similar agreement elsewhere.

I get the feeling that it is still early for MS applicants. I have heard from 2 schools so far, one of which responded to me after I inquired abou the status of my application. Last year, I got an acceptance from a school just before the April 15th deadline, so there is still time.

Judging by searching "geology" in the results page of this website, yes. Seems like MS students hear Feb-March and PHD's Dec-Jan

I mostly agree with you uromastyx. Personally, I studied really hard and dramatically improved my Q score. My point, which I believe is generally true, is that GRE scores are often used as a bar in admissions criteria; you simply need to get over the threshold. While I am sure there is a lot of variation between different programs (for instance,the Q bar for an engineering student is going to be MUCH higher than that of a history student), the principle is the same. I would strongly advise people to retake the GRE who have not cleared that threshold, but simply trying to kill the test for no reason is a waste of time. When the faculty are discussing potential applicants, they are looking for potential future colleagues, not standardized test whizzes. I repeat: do well enough on the GRE, but then move on to the other, FAR more important aspects of your application, like actually fostering a relationship with your potential future advisor. This is not false hope, this is sound advise. Of course, this doesn't take into account fellowships, and other admission feathers, but I am simply talking about getting admitted and getting funded. In the case of the original poster, I think my advice is more helpful, and well rounded, than simply telling him to improve OR ELSE.

At the risk of being annoying, I did email the remaining schools that I have not heard from. Within half an hour, I was emailed an official acceptance letter from one of them. Last year, one of the programs I applied for actually asked me to inform them if I was accepted anywhere else. I would strongly suggest against pestering a department, but at least in my experience, if you have already been accepted to another program and want to know where the other schools stand, there is absolutely nothing wrong with politely inquiring about your application status.

To whoever reads the above: don't despair. I was accepted (with funding, tuition remission etc) to UNC Chapel Hill last year with a 30 something percent in the quantitative portion of the GRE. And in the sciences to boot. A second hand anecdote: I spoke with a professor at University of Alabama who told me about an applicant who had dismal scores. After some deliberation, they admitted him anyway, and he turned out to be a rock star researcher and one of the best students the department had produced in recent years. So, after that experience, do you think that department takes the GRE too seriously? Yes, GRE is important. Yes, it can disqualify you from admission at some schools (but rarely or if ever qualify you). But in the end, other factors far out weigh it. Finding a POI in your prospective department, communicating well, and having experience (at least in my experience) count for so much more than your GRE score. Just score as well as you can, and if your score is low, aim to make a score that won't inhibit them from denying you.

That is an entirely unreasonable request (*their request*). By agreement, you have until April 15th to notify schools of your decision regarding their offer of admission. While schools appreciate knowing your decision as soon as possible, they cannot force you to make a decision this soon. I would plainly tell them that you need to know about funding before you can make any decision. For most people, funding is a major concern, and I would be surprised if they responded to your request for more time with anything but understanding. After all, every professor has been in our shoes at some point. See here: http://www.uni.edu/~gotera/gradapp/results.htm

Guess not that many people are attending UA, based on the activity in this thread haha! In any case, I am thinking about attending UA and would love some more info on Tuscaloosa. How affordable is it for a grad student, is there housing near campus, anything to do around town etc?

Hey, so I contacted some of the schools and.... One contacted me back within 30 minutes with an offer! Thanks again for the advice!

Thanks for the replies, all! I think I will go ahead and contact the schools that I am most interested in.

Below is a quote from the article "The Grad School Letter Arrives... Now What?", which is linked at the bottom of the page. "Before you decide, you should know that you can "play" the schools against each other. Maybe your top choice (let's say Stanford) has not offered you as good a package as your second choice (University of California, Berkeley). Call (don't e-mail) the graduate director of your prospective department at Stanford (or whoever signed your letter of acceptance) and tell her what Berkeley offered you. She'll call you back in a day or two and let you know what Stanford's counter-offer is. If Stanford decides to stick with the original offer, you will have lost nothing; since that offer will still stand you can nevertheless go to Stanford despite a less attractive funding package." Has anyone had any success doing this? It sounds sort of audacious to me. I do not want to come off as if I am trying to squeeze pennies out of the department and I definitely don't want to make poeple dislike me before I even arrive. Then again, some extra funding would be nice..... http://activetectonics.asu.edu/teaching/GLG494-ICOG/Gradschool_ApplicationGuide_Toke_Arrowsmith.pdf