GeoDUDE!

No idea, you should post the scores you got... that would help

GRE is important, but only if you are below 75% or so. 3.24 is a low GPA, but a strong Statement of Purpose and your research can offset that.

I am the only jew in my southern city

that was exactly what I was hinting at, there is a fine line between sounding knowledgable and being too narrow.

One would ask why you aren't applying to work with A,B and C.

I am wondering if you are getting too specific with your SOP.

They tend to look through people who cannot make it through the graduate school admissions requirements. People who have minimum GRE scores and GPA are considered "acceptable" and thus should not be rejected until all spots are filled and confirmed.

I would call them.

UC Davis is reviewing applications now if anyone is wondering... this from my POI there. (Also I have a phone interview with POI soon).

This is so obtuse.

I'm just saying, pinkster has gotten offers. at this point she's being picky

I did not

Baselines for most physics depts are 310, even if they don't mention it on their website.

What kind of response are you looking for? Your question is super vague. I am not really familiar with Postbac admissions, but my feeling is they are significantly easier to get into that graduate school because you often have to pay your way through them. I'd question though why you want to continue school if you are having such a bad time. My friend is in a postbac at columbia and she dislikes it a lot and says that you pretty much have to 4.0 it or get close to it for it to help you since the classes you take are mid level undergraduate. just an FYI, a 3.0 in graduate school = 2.0 in graduate school.

If there isn't a reading club at your school, I highly suggest starting one. There isn't one at my school, I tried very hard to start one, and thus I'm looking for another place to do my PhD. I think it speaks highly to the type of student that is in your department and the type of professor that is in your department.

To read papers and discuss them.

I haven't read most of what was said in this thread, so excuse me of i am repeating tips. I joined a paper reading club when i was a sophmore in ugrad, and basically we read over a paper a week and discussed it with a faculty member. That helped a lot. Another thing to do is read the abstract, then the results, than the discussion section. Don't read the body of the paper unless it's very interesting or there is a shocking result.

It depends on the topic. IMO, writing the physical paragraph can easily be the the least time consuming part; often the thought behind the paragraph is what is time consuming. If it is something i think about often, I can write a page in less than an hour, of something I would consider quality.

This post is very postmodern.

You know how some people go to nascar......

That sucks. I was sure your book would get you in. Did you happen to show them your twitter? You always seemed like you were very confident.

The types of problems that are addressed are often different in a calculus based course. At my school we had Intro Physics and "Enhanced Physics". Enhanced Physics went to an extra lecture which presented 2 calculus based problems a week, a long with an extra problem set. Especially in Physics 2, which deals with Electric and Magnetic Fields.

Wow I even get shot down on the internet. Man.