MikKar

Yes, memorize the GRE-specific words.

Evil genius

Gold rings

Clown nose

Absolutely, they took their chance, they got caught. If they start whining then by all means go to the bitter end and pursue it until they are duly punished. There's nothing wrong with reporting them like you did. Unfortunately, it's also in human nature to be tempted to take short-cuts when you see them, so students attempting to cheat is something that we cannot change overnight. Just try to teach children from a young age not to cheat and make them realize that the shorter way is not necessarily the easier way, and hope it sticks.

I won't go as far as saying that you jeopardize your future in a given continent, but I would say that it depends on how well/strongly you build your network. If you have some really strong connections back in North America, then you could do your Ph.D in Europe, get a different experience and a different taste of working culture and come back from it a much better man than if you stayed in North America, where you only really saw one thing and one thing only. It is dependent on the field, but it is even more dependent on the individual. Someone can have a certain degree from Europe, work in Europe for a few years and build a good strong network from his workplace, and then further his studies by going to a different continent and expanding his knowledge and network there. In this case : the work experience is the key thing because it shows you spent time there and you know people who would be glad to work with you again in the future if you decide to return. Keep your options open, for me it really depends on how you keep your professional network active. This is the really helpful thing in my opinion.

Train yourself to write essays in a limited amount of time, that's the best training you can do for AW.

It would be much better if your Grad GPA was closer to 3.95, 3.63 for a Master's program seems a bit low as everybody tends to get As. Unless you know a prof personally and he's hell-bent on taking you, specifically, I think your profile is not the strongest in the pool of applicants. I mean, people applying for Top-10 schools can have ridiculously strong profiles...

GradHooting is right, I think this is the way to see things. When you apply for something and that you don't get it, it's obvious that you get frustrated. I mean, last fall I had applied for some PhD programs to get a taste of the whole application process so that I can be ready for my serious shots. Even with rejections that didn't mean the world to me, my blood was boiling. That was just a reminder that I bloody hate people doubting my abilities. In my professional experience, many (vastly experienced) people doubted me because of my inexperience when I first arrived on the job. I've been working in my current job for 3 years now, and my colleagues are like "How the hell we didn't find you before ?!". Those were the same ones who raised questions on my ability as a research engineer. In the end : I knew that I had all that is needed to prove people wrong (in the right sense). In my current job particularly, I've had many things to prove and achieve so I've had many situations where I had to face challenges and overcome them. Applications to graduate schools are no different in that respect : prove them wrong if they reject you, by becoming WAY better than the students they produced.

Manhattan books are pretty good. The Quantitative part of the GRE is nothing to be scared of. The Verbal part is a bit more awkward.

That sounds about right actually. I'll say your mentor is actually cool, because most will just not answer at all. I'm yet to receive even a one-liner from a professor saying "No, don't bother.", at least that would make it clear.

Arcanen summed it up pretty well. GRE is mostly a test on how well you perform in a given time-frame. If that time was shortened/lengthened, then the results will start looking different, purely because the whole preparation of the student would have to adjust accordingly (or not, that would depend on the student, obviously).

Did you apply in December/January ? And the start is due to be in September, correct ? It's awfully late...

Tea cup.

I most dislike how financially draining the whole process is, like : paying the application fee, sending GRE and TOEFL score reports, sending official transcripts by fast courrier services... And at the end of it all : just to get a stupid rejection letter. Makes you wonder why you bothered in the first place. I personally also highly dislike the fact that any professors I have tried to initiate contact with were all met with radio silence. I mean, I understand that they don't answer mails quickly, if at all, but I find this very frustrating. And I'm hours ahead of phase from the US/Canada so that's another problem. I think the whole anxiety around the admission process makes you a nervous wreck in the end, obviously we are putting our future on the line and then the decision still carries some large amount of randomness in it. Your SOP can be read by someone in a joyful mood in the morning and be well-received, it could equally by read late in the evening by someone you is just interested in going to sleep and he doesn't even bother reading the first paragraph in full and puts your file in the dustbin... Sorry, rant over. Needed to say it. I'll keep trying until I get something though.

Ha, I've seen everything now. So, they threw your application out and realized their mistake and took you in ? Jeez, I'd love that to happen for me

Spelling mistake.

It happens sometimes that the university you aim for accepts the best score out of all your attempts (though more than 2 will look awkward). Don't think about anything else, you know what the exam is like and you probably know where you are more likely to really improve your score, just focus on that.

It might be a bit extreme but I'll say that graduate schools don't give a **** about your past, if your present and future plans don't look solid and worth investing in. Obviously you have to be academically sound (it helps, always), but the most important thing is WHAT you are going to do with the education you received, HOW graduate study is going to help you achieve this and WHY that particular graduate school and not some other one. Any experience that helped define your vision of the future you want to build (for yourself) is relevant, but if it's something the graduate school also does, it will make it easier for you since they'll identify themselves with you better.

Graduate students are funded ?

Funny that. One of the reasons some people drop out of the Ph.D is precisely because of a second half appearing in life...

Hmm, I'll take it that nobody has found anything bad to say. Thank you to all who took the time to read my SOP

The SOP is way too long... I mean : typically graduate schools will limit the amount of words/characters in SOPs, this is almost 3 pages long ! I can't believe an admission committee read the whole thing... His research experience is pretty strong though, perhaps his publications were read by professors before they even read his SoP and needed his experience.

It depends on what program you are targeting, how they fit with your project, academic/career plans and other factors. I am in a relatively similar situation in that I will be applying to graduate schools soon and I am from France. We have the same situation grade-wise in that : it's very easy to fall from 20/20 to 13/20, so what can be a 4.00 becomes a 3.50... Bam ! Nothing can be done about that though. I graduated back in 2008, and I have some professional experience so I hope this helps. TOEFL and GRE are not critically important to the application but they're seen more as potential reasons to cut your application off if scores are too low. Likewise : GPA should be high but it's not because you have 4.00 that you will have a guaranteed admission, far from it. What can really make or break your application is the combination of SoP and your LoRs. For the SoP, you need to have a rock-solid project in mind and show how the program to which you're applying to is best suited to achieve it. tip3r makes a good point about not having scholarships. If you can finance yourself then the University don't spend a penny on you and you basically work there at your expense. So it's win-win for the University and you get to be in a program of your choice. Obviously this isn't as easy as I'm writing it but I think you'll get the idea. Best of luck,

Applying JUST to Harvard might be a bit risky though, if you absolutely want to nail an admission for whenever it is that you want to start. Surely there are other competitive/relevant law schools with programs that might be a good fit to you ?