GeoDUDE!

Just because you see people with research experience doesn't mean that there aren't people in graduate school without it, or that they put a particular weight on it. In other words: causation and correlation are two different things. You get a 4.0 GPA and a 900 on the physics GRE and come from an american university and see who rejects you?

The negatives of school A vs school B put me over: Cost of living is higher, but school A is willing to negotiate with her. That makes me think they view her as a top candidate, or is private, or is an overall much better funded program. Moving across the country may seem like a negative, but I personally have done it 3 times and have never regretted it. Working during the summer.... thats grad school. but for School B: Only female in a small cohort makes me think that her research isn't emphasized at the department. Also, being worried about that might make it harder socially in the beginning, and getting off to a good social start does wonders imo. Also she says its not the best location. And liking where you live is just about the one thing you can control. You can't really control if your advisor goes crazy. You cant really control if your going to like your peers (you just dont spend enough time with them before hand). But you can know that you really like the place your going to live. I think its a bit silly to say "perfect fit" when everyone in graduate school evolved so much intellectually. I think you just need to get into the ballpark.

sure. its certainly better then not being recommended.

It really depends. I've taught 1 upper division course which took up all my time. I've also taught 3 lower division sections (same thing but 3 different sets of students). It all depends. I've found myself never hitting 20 hours a week, always less.

Its probably a prerequisite for getting a TA position. Also, at least at my current and last departments, faculty members recommend many students for admission/funding (basically everyone they want to take).

The top school sounds a lot better. You will change as a scholar, as long as you are excited to do whatever is your going to do at a place, the % of fit doesn't really matter.

I don't know. But I'm not sure how adcoms evaluate a PhD student vs a MS student. Usually if the POI has money for someone and wants someone, they get them, and they either want a PhD or a MS student. I would think it weird for a adcomm to say, this guy isn't good enough, but you can have him as an MS instead of having him as a PhD. While its true the guaranteed funding is different, there are plenty of ways an advisor can get rid of a PhD student if he/she is bad. But I really dont know, and thats why I think funded MS students are more rare than not: if your going to fund someone, why not have them for 5 instead of 2 ? Constantly looking for good students to fill the department (mostly masters) means more work. Edit: In my department, even though we offer an MS, and fund all students (don't take non funded students), about 1/5 of our population is MS and the rest are PhD.

I think thats really the difference between heavy description sciences (traditional geology) and quantitative sciences (computational geophysics). A lot of geophysics is field based, and even most seismology isn't what I would call computer heavy. You see math, chemistry, physics and computer science students get into graduate schools without much research experience. Even a lot of lab based research is somewhat lenient. That being said... having research experience makes for stronger letters and probably a stronger SOP.

I don't even think research is that important to be honest... I know people make a big deal about it... but depending on the field in geophysics and how complete your skill set is, you might even more more qualified to do the research than people who have extensive research experience. If you know C++/C that will go a long way in computational work. I don't know the proportion of earth science majors that know how to code in C++/C (OOP) as an undergrad, but my guess is a fraction of a percent.

murder is also an option, fwiw.

It does not, I also do not have a BA/BS in Earth Science. Your international status will probably affect you more at public schools.

I would talk to them between late august and early October. If you figure out what types of geophysics your interested in your target schools might change. I know a lot of geophysicists at the places you are apply but all of those programs have much different strengths.

At top universities (ranked 35 or better) you will have a much harder time finding a funded MS vs PhD. I suggest you use this time to focus what kinds of geophysics you want to do and approach those POIs. Thats how you get into a top program. No one will admit you on numbers alone, they just arent important enough.

why wouldn't you just not say anything ?

What else could it mean?

I've taken a solid earth geophysics course based on Tourcotte and schubert and also a solid earth course based on fowler. I've also taken graduate level real analysis (that was actually hard, but thats a math course). I took a planetary physics course which was just paper reading. tectonics, which was the same. I've taken a earthquake seismology course that was based on stein and wysession. I took an applied geophysics course which was super easy (just geometry and fourier transforms ect). I also took a rock magnetism course that was pretty easy. Maybe I found it easy because I was a physics major, but they have all been less demanding, and maybe its just because i'm used to doing a lot of maths/physics all the time and programming is my bread and butter. Anyway, its really hard to get less than a B at both the departments I visited.

Unless they use it to go out in the field. But yeah... grad students and profs tend to work year round.

If you are interested in working with him/her, then he/she is your POI. Only you can stop forest fires.

That's a really good reason not to do a PhD. Also, fwiw, Grad school feels a lot less like school than undergrad does. After the first year or so you barely take any classes, and the classes are super easy anyway. My undergrad courses were MUCH harder than any geoscience course I've taken.

You might ask if you can plan your MS like a first chapter of a PhD thesis as well, since you have this admit. Lots of options. And fwiw, not trying to convince you of doing the PhD, but the PhD does qualify you for more jobs (and security) in industry. Having a PhD means you are much less likely to be laid off (Since PhDs in industry are more rare than MSc) as well.

I have never heard of this. Email your POI. It will all be sorted out. It could just be a mistake on the letter !

The summer before my masters I did nothing. I spent 3 months on the beach. The summer before my PhD I defended my thesis, wrote a manuscript, moved across the country twice. If you don't care about academia, there is no reason to work yourself. I'd try and save up money for the move.

I'm not sure what NSF grant they applied for, but NSF Geophysics tend to make decisions in may or june...

Hey nibbs. SIUC is an ok place to live if you dont require much... the town isn't hopping at all. Its a lot of undergrads, dumpy bars, and mediocre restaurants. The quality of student is very low, on average. I would never want to live there again. There is also a reasonable amount of crime, the town residents that aren't students and don't work for the school are very poor. The undergraduates are also very roudy. There are some golden nuggets, some decent outdoor/hiking activities, some cheap wineries in the area, but its very rural. I really liked working with my advisor, and made a few good friends, but I couldn't wait to get outta that place. For references, I have lived in LA,Boston,and NYC before living in carbondale. While I do prefer the city, I think that even for people who want a modicum of variety in their life carbondale is very sub par. There are very few people on this forum who has lived there, so you probably won't get many other opinions. There are people who like living there... but a majority of those people haven't lived anywhere else interesting.

Not only does it vary program by program, but also year by year. One year a department can offer to 20, next 5 depending on how many accept the previous year and grant funding. Huge programs in my field can accept 90 applicants where as there are programs that only accept 1 or 2 a year. Just ask them if they have come to a decision, though I would just be patient. You will find out soon enough... asking certainly won't help unless there was a mistake in your application or something.