DeleteMePlease

I am interested in distributed systems and especially peer to peer networks. No I don't have to choose yet but there are two very interesting professors and one of them already approached me. Really excited.

Would one even want to go to school that you barely go it? I already accepted one of my offers as I don't see myself at an institution that has waitlisted me.

Got my first rejection today from Georgia Tech. Guess it is only downhill from here. Was waiting for a decision from UIUC, but as the visit days have passed I guess it will most likely be negative. However, I accepted Cornell's offer a few days ago. Time to look for a place in Ithaca!

More information please.... GRE scores, work experience, research exprienience? In other words: Do you have something that will make up for your bad GPA or at least explain it (e.g. you worked a lot during undergrad)?

Germany (pretty obvious )

You could also ask them if they are willing to write a strong letter. (I think) I got a very good one from a prof I just took classes at and had no other connection to. Of course I had good marks in his classes and gave him a CV of me so he had something to write about.

Maybe its good to relax a little before starting grad school. My last semester only consists of an internship/thesis at a company. While it is full time work, I have the weekends to just relax. Totally forgot how it feels to have a day or two off

Yeah that is so painful. I spend so much time looking for apartments and thinking about how my life at grad school will be. I want this experience to start. NOW!

Really? I thought as soon a I have accepted I have to stick with the school, but the school cannot pressure me into accepting. EDIT: Nevermind I read the resolution again

Show it to your family and they'll be like "OMFG I am so proud of you". But yes it is amazing. I never even expected to be admitted into my top choice and that I just laughed for one whole day when I read that

I don't know anything about UCI but as far as I know it is common that people change their research areas during Ph.D. studies. But I would suppose the difficulty of doing so depends on the professors at the institution. If you find somebody that will take you over then it should be no problem. You should check if funding comes from the professor or the department. If the professor (or his/her lab) funds you directly, then it will be more difficult i guess.

Just ask?

If I were you I would mail or call your consulate. They can answer you these questions very quickly and you can be sure the answers are correct.

Just in case somebody wonders. I got e-mails from profs at Northwestern and UNC. Both more or less offered me admissions. So, it seems they are still looking at applications. However, afaik UNC has rolling admissons. However, I told both that I will most likely accept Cornells offer. I am still certain that the systems group at Cornell is the best choice for me. One reason is that I am not 100% sure yet what area I want to specialise in (probably either Networks or Distributed Systems but I still have a "thing" for AI) and Cornell does department admissions that let me choose freely between profs when I am in Ithaca. Maybe I could gamble into a higher stipend but I don't really care about money that much.

I got into a very good school with similiar scores (Q161 and V157) and a worse GPA. I would suggest: Spend more time working on your SoP then on studying for the GRE.

Better ask in the physics forum. And you should also give some more infos (like which subfield you are in), otherwise we cannot know what is best for you.

My e-mail asked me to confirm the receipt so I just wrote a short "thank you for the offer" mail back.

I got an answer that a summer stipend is guranteed but its type will decided at a later point. Could be a TA as well as an internship. So it seems to be unclear what amount I will get. However, I have several companies that I could intern at in the summer (back here in Germany) if nothing works out, so I don't really worry. Can somebody tell me what amount of the stipend will be "lost" to taxes? Is the tuition that the department pays for me also income I have to pay taxes for? As far as I understand I only have to pay taxes in the US and not in Germany (thank god! they are much higher here), but I don't really know how high they are.

I sometimes put footnotes of papers that covered the research projects I was talking about. Not sure if that was a good approach though...

Not really. I am kinda scared that I will fail one of my tests and not be able to graduate in time so I study a lot. However, I have never failed a test so this is just me freaking out

Same here but they didn't mention anything about possible summer stipends. The link provided earlier in this thread said they are in the 5000-8000 dollar range though.

yeah they actually mentioned this resolution in the acceptance letter. I will wait a few more days and talk to the student and professor who contacted me and then I will enroll. I highly doubt that any school will offer me more money and even if research fit is much more important than the stipend. The only thing that I seriously worry about with Cornell is that it will be too competitive for me.

Hi All, as you can see from my stats I have been accepted in one school so far and haven't heard back from any other. I am about to enroll at Cornell as it is my top choice anyways, Just wondering, is this a stupid thing to do? I don't think any other school will give me a better offer anyways and I don't think I am the first choice of any of these institutions if I haven't heard back from them so far. So why wait? Still, it is weird not even getting notified by the lesser ranked schools like Northwestern.

Congrats Stevo! Didn't know that MS students are funded too at Cornell. In fact my letter mentioned the exact same amount. I still wonder if this includes the summer.

I thought that Ph.D. studies are always a little shorter when you enter with an M.Sc.. Maybe contact the programs if you can transfer credit? I would also look in Canada for such programs. They normally require a M.Sc. so I cannot image that they have that much coursework during the Ph.D..